All I Want For Christmas... I already have

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We did, in spite of the 2 feet of snow we received. And in spite of my falling on the ice two days before and messing up my back to no end. (It's getting better.) I realize how lucky I am to have such a wonderful life as God has so freely given me on this earth. And that that is not even the true reward for those who love Him and seek to keep His commandments. What a great life I have. Food, clothing, shelter, the love of a wonderful husband and a sweet little boy as well as an extended family that may not be all in one place, but loves me from afar.

This year Ian wrote Santa and asked him for a REAL toolbox with REAL tools. Oh boy did Santa deliver!

Opening Presents Christmas morning.

LOOK! REAL TOOLS!

All dressed up in our new tool belt and stuff. (Mom's not too sure what all she... er... SANTA got for Ian, only that there were no saws, chisels or really sharp things.)

Checking under the bathroom sink for leaks.

Nope! No leaks here!

Amy's Shuttle Cake

Amy asked me to make a cake for scouts and I agreed. It sounded like fun. So she wanted to know if I could do another Space Shuttle cake like I did for Ian's birthday. If I had just done that all would have been well, but my darling hubby convinced me I needed to do it a little differently.

I had seen this spray on color stuff and decided to make fondant frosting and just spray it on. AND this is where my trouble began. Apparently black is a color you can only find at Halloween. However I did finally locate some at the 4th store I tried. Then it turns out fondant doesn't much like being sprayed. It sort of ran and became all streaky. One can was supposed to be enough for six, eight inch cakes. This is how it looked after I used two complete cans. Darling hubby, who got me into all this to begin with, very kindly came along and told me deep space was dark purple and streaky anyway. (Okay, so I gotta love him.)

Then it was decided that I should make a planet in the background. And I came up with the bright idea of using one of those pictures you see of a dark planet with the sun just peeking around the other side. Which in photos looks pretty nifty. And probably would have on my cake if I had any idea of how to accomplish such a thing. So the dark part with no stars is supposed to be a planet and the white and purple part is supposed to be a sunrise.

Anyway, it didn't turn out awful, but I need more practice. So if you need a cake, let me know!

IT CAME!

Amazon sent me my cheap little 'ole Tales of Beedle the Bard book yesterday. This is me unpacking it.

This is the outer case.




The book is in the velvet bag.

These are the extra prints JK Rowling drew for this edition.

And here is the actual book. I haven't actually opened it yet, I'm afraid too. I do have an extra copy of the cheap version and I have read that already. But Calleen has it now so you'll have to borrow it from her!

More Food for Thought

Another refrigerator magnet at a friend's home.
"Boring women have immaculate homes"
Whoo-hoo! Concrete proof I'm NOT boring!

Rain

This morning I got up and it was raining again. I sighed and went to get Ian up and going. He looked outside and said, " Oh, great! It's raining again!" He was really excited. I asked him if he liked the rain and he told me, "Yes. I love the way it smells." We went outside and you know what? Rain does smell good. I'd forgotten. Thank God for children.

Family Pictures - BLAH!

Brian's folks were recently in Tenn. visiting family and took so family pics. I'm sure you'll agree they are very nice pictures.

Yet for some unknown reason, they wanted Brian, Ian and me in the picture too, and we were NOT there. So for the last while, I have been "adding" us to the pictures.

I know, it doesn't quite look right, but it will have to do. I got a HEADACHE from trying to make it look as natural as possible.

Ian's Trampoline Class

So, last night Brian, Ian and I went out to Thanksgiving Point to the Scarecrow Festival. There was a lot to see and do there, but the real reason we went was Ian was performing in a show for his trampoline class. Now, as you watch the video, please understand that Ian has only been going to these classes for a month and a half so in all actuality he is doing a fantastic job. He is in the "preschool gymnastics" level and his coach mentioned to us that he may move Ian up to "intermediate trampoline", skipping "beginners trampoline" after he turns six. Also the video missed the first few seconds since I didn't realize I was videoing this, but I decided it was a good idea anyway.

Birthday Cake

So I went to Spokane last week to visit my mom and Even though I was a couple of weeks late I decided to make her a Birthday Cake. I couldn't bring very many of my supplies with me as my suitcase was pretty close to the maximum allowable weight. However I did bring my new heart tip that I ended up using on the sides. The over all effect ended up pretty cute I think even though I had to make do with only the 5 (gasp!) tips and the few other supplies I could stuff into a gallon Ziploc bag.

I did not write anything on the cake as my writing is terrible. But I did make her a pink ribbon as she is a breast cancer survivor and October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. So everyone, go get your exams!

Class Cake

So this is my newest "Class Cake". I'm sorry I did not get it posted before I left for Spokane. All the flowers and the bluebirds were made with royal icing. I liked the basket weave design on the side. It was a lot of fun to make and not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. Time consuming though. I also liked the new border. A kind of twisted rope look. And easier for me. For some reason I cannot get the shell border even to save my life. Maybe I've developed a mental block. Or maybe I'm just mental.

Anyway I can't see myself making a cake like this too often, the flowers are a little frilly for my taste, but i learned some interesting techniques. And I'm all set if anyone needs a wedding or bridal shower cake!

Food For Thought

I just stopped and read a magnet on Mom's fridge, and it really got me to thinking. It says: "One in four people are unbalanced. Now stop and think of three friends. If they seem okay, you're the one."

Hmmm. Oh dear....

I'm Gone

So last Thursday I posted on my blog here, but it took me about an hour to write that little bit about Ian. The computer was having ANOTHER nervous breakdown. It's not the first one it has had in the last year, but it was the last one. Brian and I decided it was time to get a new one. We went to PC Laptops and found one we thought would suit us, but unfortunately it wasn't ready 'til Monday. And I left for Spokane today. So I won't be able to post my new cake 'til I can figure out my mom's computer. Or maybe not 'til I get home if she doesn't have the kind of card reader I need. (sigh) It's a pretty one too!

CRAZY Hair

Last Friday was crazy hair day at school and Ian Wanted Blue hair. No wait! Green. ...Or Blue. Maybe Green. This is what he ended up with.

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

I saw this post on a friends website and decided to try it out.

Your Eyes Should Be Brown

Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom People find you to be: Loyal, honest, and comforting Your best trait: You are comfortable with who you are, and you don't pretend to be someone you're not What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

Worked out pretty well, didn't it? Although I'm not too sure about the "wisdom" part.

Talk Like A Pirate Day Revisited. ARRRG!

I didn't get to do a talk like a pirate day post since I wasn't around, but that doesn't mean we didn't celebrate. We were at Brian's folk's house and I think his mom missed the "Talk Like A" part of "International Talk Like A Pirate Day".



Captain Ian, or should I say Cap'n Carl Bluebeard, waitin' to board the Blackhawk, the finest pirate ship in Everett, Washington!

Cap'n Bluebeard with his old Pa, Pirate Carlos the Black and his even older Papa, Pirate Harvey Snaggletooth.
And here is his old Ma, "Porthole" Avalon Cooke, who is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other but is still the scourge of the, well, kitchen apparently.

And here we all are together including Aunt Sword Jugglin' Sophie and Grandma Anita the Parotless. The fiercest pirates to ever find thierselves in Port O' Everett! Also the poorest pirates I've ever seen. Notice the burlap?

Brain's REAL Yearbook

Remember in my last post how I said the 1988 fake photo of Brian looked like pictures I had seen of him from that era? Well, I was recently reminded that I have Brian's yearbook wandering around here. We went to Brian's 20th year high school reunion this week end and I got to see the "1988" version of Brian quite a bit.


I swear this is his senior picture. I know he looks about twelve here, but I promise this is him as a senior. Anyway, now you can all see his "parted in the middle" look. VERY 80s!

Yearbook for Brian

Okay, that was too funny, I had to do Brian too! He's going to give me that long-suffering look after he sees this!

1950 - He looks like his Uncle John here.

1966

1974

1988

1994

2000

From the pictures I've seen, he pretty much looked like that in '88, maybe his hair wasn't quite so long, but absolutely parted in the middle! He's still cute though!

Yearbook Yourself

A friend of mine did this on her blog and I absolutely HAD to try it. Here are the results.

1954

1966

1978

1984

1990

2000

I think I like 1978 the best, I always wondered what I'd look like with a 'Fro. Anyway, if you want to try this for yourself check out http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ .

Oh! Fiddlesticks!

So Saturday we went to the fair and while we were there Ian had a snake around his neck, rode a horse, bungee jumped in one of those things where you strap a harness around yourself and jump on an air matress, HIGH up into the air, AND went fishing in the kids fishing pond and caught a catfish that was about a foot and a half long and fought very hard, and with Brian's help he reeled it in and even pet it before we let it go.

Now, guess who forgot her stupid camera!

ARRRGGG!

New Cake

Earlier this week I made a cake, just for some practice. As you can see drawing is not my strong suit, so the fish look a little lopsided, but it was fun to make anyway.


So anyway, next Tuesday I am supposed to start a new cake class. I was told it was supposed to start on 9/2, but I called to make sure it wasn't cancelled and they told me it would start the next week on 9/9. Then later I got a call from the instructor to find out if I was planning to come or not because there had been two different dates given out. ANYWAY, they decided to start it on 9/9 because most people weren't ready for it. I'm also kind of worried as the teacher has a strong accent and I hope I can understand her when I go to class!

Thank-you!

This is just a quick post to all the ladies in my neighborhood, at book group and "girls night out" who make the effort to be friends with me. When we moved here three years ago we had a lot of people tell us "There are a lot of Mormons there!" (Yes, we actually knew that.) "They'll try to convert you!" (I'm not interested, so they can try....), and finally, "They move in their own circles so don't be surprised if no one is very friendly to you!" Now that one scared me. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, but I don't like being lonely either. And while there are people from my church around here, there aren't that many very close to where we live or that are in the same stage of life Brian and I are.

So to all my neighbors and friends who mostly care that I'm just basically a nice person, (you know who you are)

THANK- YOU!

Image tag

All of my answers are images found on Google images. Guess my answer based on the image below.How much do you know about me and how much do you understand from the pictures?


My Age:







First Name:




















Middle Name: (Good Luck, you may have to just guess!)










My Last Name:










Grandma's Name: (again, good luck!)



















Place I Was Born:




















Favorite Place: (If you don't know why, ask me sometime....)











Place I'd Like To Travel To:







Favorite Thing:









Past Pet:




















Past Love:










Favorite Food:








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Bad Habit:













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What I'm Doing Now:






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I tag: Wrena and Amy (and anyone who wants to participate)
What to do: Use Google Image Search to answer the questions above and have people guess the answers and leave them in your comments. You have to pick from the first page that pops up!