V-Day Cake

We are having a Valentine's Day chocolate lover's bake sale at work to make money for the Heart Association. I made a cake for it. Here are the pics.

Knitty for the Kitty

I'm learning to knit. S0, naturally, I made a scarf for Mac.

Maple at Christmas

New Living Room

We redecorated the living room. I made the curtains myself. We are still going to add some art and cool shelves to the wall with the stripe, but you get the idea.

Guitar and Record Cakes

I did these for my Dad's B-day back in June. I scanned them in and so I am having a difficult time trying to actually get them to post properly. Oh well - at least I am posting.

D's Bday Cake

Made D a B-day Cake and it turned out rather colorful and crazy. I had problems with crumbs getting in the icing, but this is the best border I have ever made and the smoothest I have ever got the icing.

Random Pics

I got D an outdoor fireplace for his B-day. He used it to trap the cat. That cat did not think this was fun.

A few weeks ago we had some people over and Terry wanted to drink the girly drink so I made him drink it out of the girly glass as I never get to use my cool martini glasses. So we took a pic. Nothing is funnier than a big man drinking out od a pretty glass.

That same night we bough corn to grill and we got a wierd genetically altered one. I took a pic and I won't lie, I ate the corn and so did D. My children will probably now have extra toes or something.

Mainly for Wes 1 - Den

Wes - These pics are mainly for you as you haven't seen my house yet. This is the den where we spend most of the time. I should have put the vaccum cleaner away before taking the pic but what the heck... In these pics the wood panel seems rather overwhelming, but actually it isn't that bad.

Mainly for Wes 2 - Kitchen

Here is the kitchen. See the little shelves with the terra cotta pots under the grow sign? I intended to have herbs growing in there, but they died. Apparently they wanted to rebel against the grow sign. I may fill them with fake greenery so they don't look so patheitic. Mac is laying on the table being bad. The hanging copper pot now has a plant in it too (which is doing well). I made the window valences all be myself and D did all of the tile after we both tore down terrible wall paper

Mainly for Wes 3 - Backyard

Here are some pics of the backyard, including the garden that we built and the cute little gnome that D got me as an anniversary present. He meant it as sort of a joke but I thought it was adorable! The one pic is of some of the tulips that were grew out front - but it is also a view of the back yard and deck from the kitchen.

That's My Dad!

So, Friday night Connie and I came home from work (we carpool) and noticed that my Dad wasn't home. Turns out he was working overtime. So, I go home and D and I went out to dinner and come home to go to bed. We were watching the news when a preview for the next story came on and mention a "different" kind of escape from a local prison. I started joking with D that my dad was going to be on the news - that perhaps he broke something, created such a big disturbance that the news had been called up. (My Dad does maintenance at a prison) Then the story came on. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that my Dad really was on the news! Luckily he had not broke anything! He was, however, rescuing a cat which funny if you know my dad because he really doesn't care for cats. So, here is a link to the story Cats Disappearance Prompts Frantic Dig 05/05/2006 11:35.

I watched the story on a different channel. It was on all 3 local channels and on two others the next day. The one that I watched actually mentioned his name - enjoy. He is the one with the jackhammer by the way.

Tonight Connie and I are going to create a T-Shirt for him that says "PCI Cat Rescue Team" LOL . He'll love it.

Easter Cake

This is my Easter Cake.

Dancing, Cakes, and Other Projects

Just a quick update. I am loving my dance classes. I get really sweaty, and yet do not ever have the urge to destroy the instructor. With most aerobics classes, I end up staring at the instructor with a look of intent to cause harm and wishind for Superman-like beams to shoot out of my eyes and drop the instructor so that we do not have to go on. LOL Seriously, though, I am actually having fun while working out.

I am makeing a cake this weekend for Easter. The plan is for it to look like a big, colorful Easter basket complete with handle and chocolate bunny. This is my most ambititous cake yet, but I was inspired by cakes from the likes of Colette Peters. Not that mine will be nearly as spectacular, but I do admire her work.

I was flipping through channels this weekend and on TBS Dinner & a Movie was on and they gave tips about what to do with leftover fresh herbs. This is always a dilemma for me as I do love to buy fresh herbs, but always feel I waste a lot of them. So, this weekend I made a crockpot chicken, apples, onion thing with rosemary and had a ton leftover and followed the directions of Dinner & a Movie and chopped up the rosemary and put it in ice cube trays with water to use later in soups, or other dishes that could melt the ice. Isn't that a super idea? I think so.

Some recommendations on the recipe though, I made it wth both boneless chicken breasts and with drumsticks. the drumsticks were so sweet and delicious, but the breasts were really bland. Also, the apples and onions became a big mushy mess. Perhaps I will use less liquid next time. I need a way to harness these flavors without the grey mush that resluts. Suggestions?