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....