08/26/2008

I had fun with this cake! It's rainbow colored inside and out with classic buttercream frosting and hand drawn chocolate flowers, peace signs and smiley faces.

Did you know that the person credited with designing the "smiley face" was paid $45 for the design? That's what I read when I was researching this cake. The details have not been stored in my brain - like who the guy was, where he worked, or the date of the work - but I do recall the assignment was a feel good HR kind of thing. Marketing material was being created to support a shift to a happier work environment.

I thought it was interesting. It seems as if :) has been around forever - greeting us with the bright yellow skin tone, beady eyes and pencil line grin.

Have a nice day!

Sweets

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08/07/2008

Check out sozzled's flickr pic's to see a better shot of Cecelia Rose's baby shower cake. This was a Spice cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream. It was a nice combination and the brown spice cake looked very pretty (and trendy) with the pink frosting.

Sweets

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08/07/2008

Today's cake will be traveling 300 miles with me. It is for our friends' son's 1st birthday. I will add a hand-drawn chocolate Elmo after we get where we're going.

Cake is banana with buttercream frosting.

Sweets

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07/31/2008

Just because I really liked the look of this one . . .

Sweets

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07/31/2008

Here's a party I would have liked to attend - well at least desserts I would have liked to eat!

Almond Cake with Lemon Curd and Lemon Mousse filling (Ital. Meringue Frosting), Coconut Cake, Flourless Chocolate Cake 2 ways( plain & with Raspberry chocolate ganache) and reliable Carrot Cake (a favorite of the guest of honor).

I wonder what the 50th birthday party orders will look like.

Sweets

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07/31/2008

Back-story on today's kiddism:
Matthew has been having trouble sleeping through the night this week (and off & on for some time). He comes to our room & wakes Kevin up - clearly the fates are on my side, this week - and Kevin reassures and hugs & sends Matt packing all without sitting upright. During dinner, last night, we were talking about this & we told Matthew the things he CAN do in the middle of the night if he is awake: read, play Nintendo, stay in his room, use the bathroom, NOT wake other people up. He went to bed with a plan to wake in the night & enjoy his new-found independence.

That brings us to this morning. We have 1 bathroom. Often when I am using it, someone else needs it. Such was the case during my shower, today. There is a small familiar knock, to which I respond "Come on in, Matt."
and he does.

"Good Morning, Sweetheart."
"Good Morning, Mom."
"Did you wake up in the middle of the night?"
"Nope . . .

and when I just woke up, I tooted.

~flush~

and it smelled really bad (giggle)" door shuts - and I laugh the silent laugh for the rest of my shower.

Boys and farts - a classic combination.

Kiddisms

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07/29/2008

I seem to be lacking inspiration to blog (blogspiration? - no I think that may be what happens when you post frantically). Every once in awhile someone (often Kevin - but not today) will say to me "Oh, you should blog about that." This leaves me wondering what is it you want to read?

Family updates, the daily blah-blah-blah, keep it to cakes, cute kid stories, theme weeks/months (because I demonstrated how good I am at that kind of writing!!)? What? What is it you, dear readers, want to read?

Maybe that will spark some writing out of me.

In the meantime - I am baking - not because it is 90 degrees and sweaty like the jungle out there, but because I have orders. It has been quiet with Sweet since June and now it is picking up (I am resisiting the urge to be punny . . . moving on). For tomorrow I have an order for 1 cake for a book club & 5 cakes for a 40th birthday party: this was just 4 until this afternoon. I also need to have something spectacular for Thursday for a going away party at Kevin's office (not his, thank God) and a Sugar & Spice cake special order for a baby shower on Sunday (awwwww). So it is hot around here & the A/C is working overtime. I actually think it is losing to the oven as the thermostat still reads 80 degrees, although it is set to cool to 76.

What would I do without it? The cakes & I would be sweating like crazy with all of this action in the oven today. The frosting would be soooo weepy. It makes me think of the pyramid cakes that I frosted in front of the window air conditioner - oh and 320 truffles for an August wedding a few years ago. What a mess! I am so happy that we needed the new furnace!

I just have 2 more batches to be baked - I think I may save those & do them later in the evening when the A/C has a chance to do its thing.

Hope all is well in your world & tell me - what are you looking for when you pop over to dianalysis?

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07/21/2008

So we took the kids to camp and slowly made our way back home, driving through a couple of small towns looking for a place to eat on a Sunday night. Not so much in the small towns - except for Applebee's and the sort - and really - when we don't have the kids with us, Moms like to try something new, right? Well, sometimes - at least somewhere grown-up right? Again, sometimes.

After racking brains and trying to figure where would be good, different, interesting and what we are dressed for (other than dropping kids at a farm!) we ended up in the neighborhood - at Adrian's. Which is notable because it fit one of the criteria - we were dressed for it. But we could absolutely take the kids there - it wasn't a chain, though, and I had never been there.

Adrian's is one of those places that has always been there. The food is fried and greasy - you can get a burger that squirts (on your friend), onion rings that crunch and beer in an ice-frosted mug - the real glass kind. Of course, my beer was root beer (before E points it out in the comments) but frosted mug, no less. E had been completely flabbergasted the day I 'fessed up that I had never actually been to Adrian's, so here was our chance. While we waited for our onion rings, we called another friend who lives near by and made sort of a mom's night out of it. It was great fun - and now I can say I have had a Juicy Lucy at Adrian's.

I believe I have fulfilled my citizenship requirements, now.

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07/21/2008

Megan is in heaven. Heaven, as it turns out, is not so far away: a short 45 minute drive to the ranch for a week of horse camp.

We moms drove the girls down the road yesterday afternoon to deliver them to the much anticipated week of fillies, colts and all things equine. I have decided that dropping your kid off for camp is a whole lot easier when you take them to the bus and not the camp. I was surprised by this. I thought that seeing the bunk house and the ranch and all of the things that they would do for the week would feel good - great even - like I can picture exactly where she is. But no - it is harder. It is far easier to stand outside of the big yellow bus and wave as it pulls away to the great unknown. I am not sure why this is. Maybe because the bus leaves you - and in this case you have to leave them - driving slowly away checking the rearview mirror to see if they are chasing the car down the driveway.

It looks great though: horses everywhere, picturesque patures, gardens, a huge pool - big enough for all 17 campers, quaint (tight) bunkhouse, game room, petting zoo . . . and cats. This may have been the best surprise of them all - there are barn cats everywhere - it is almost like getting a 2-fer - Horse AND cat camp. She will definitely want to come back to this place. She is probably wishing she had brought a couple of Warriors (fantasy cat series) books along. I am confident that she and Annie will have named many of the cats by week's end.

So there we have it - Megan's 2nd overnight camp in as many years. 17 campers, 3 junior counselors, a head counselor, a mothering camp director, cats and her very own horse for the week. She may never buy gum again, as she may be saving all of her pennies to come back here.

Kiddisms

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07/21/2008

Ok - no surprise that teh daily blog posts didn't go so well in July. You didn't really think I would post daily, did you? No? Good, then not disappointed, I hope.

But, to stick loosely with the food theme and being a baker who regularly (somewhat) posts sweet treat photos - here are cookies!

These were a first here at Sweet - Thank You cookies: a dozen lemon and a dozen chocolate chip. I got to personally deliver them to the family birthing center at a local hospital - which was big fun for me, but I caught no glimpse of babies - just the nurses' station.

Sweets

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