I was lucky enough to have Miss O with me for Friday night and most of Saturday. Just to clarify our relationship, I love Olivia so very much. Susan refers to her as my neice. When people ask, I tell them she’s my neice. Olivia and her parents are family to me. And I couldn’t be happier about the situation. So I was thrilled to take Miss O for the night. We met up for the big drop off and there were 23 minutes of tears. Then O was a champ. We went to my Mom’s house (Gigi) for the night as Papa & Gigi were babysitting Jake and Joey. O & the boys had a big time playing. 
O took to Papa & Gigi again like a duck to water. That girl loves her Papa. And P & G just love her right back. Who wouldn’t? She’s smart as a whip, sweet as pie, and cute as a bug. We played and had story time and then all the kids got ready for bed. 
O & I slept in the guest room. Or rather, O slept and I spent all night worried I would roll over and crush her. Plus that girl moves like nobody’s bidness. I don’t know how she got any sleep. And people who co-sleep? I don’t know how (or why for the love of Pete) you do it. Saturday morning we woke up and I asked her did she want to go downstairs and see Gigi? And Jacob? And she jumped in with “And Jojo?” Those two are so cute together and so in love. After breakfast we went to a big Easter egg hunt. It was only about 10am but I was already worn out from chasing children. And don’t even get me started on O’s car seat! You had to put a puzzle together (the strap thingy) before you could even click it! I broke 2 nails. So we got to the park for the egg hunt. It was so cold though so we didn’t last too long.
We met up with Papa out at Red Robin for lunch. Then back to the house for naps. Finally it was time to take O to meet her mama. We had so much fun driving around in the car all day singing songs. She knows all the words & animal sounds for Old MacDonald. I swear her vocabulary is amazing! She was so excited to see Susan. I can’t wait to get Olivia again for another sleep over. As soon as I got back into my empty car I missed her so much. No little foot for me to tickle as I drove (child pulled off her shoes and socks EVERY time we got in the car). No sweet little voice to sing songs with. Talk about motivation to finish up my paper chase!
Bless Your Heart
Living out loud in the Carolinas
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So, I feel like my first fondant cake was a success! First I rolled out some white fondant and tinted it black then rerolled it out and cut out some daisies.
Fondant is surprisingly easy to work with, although not the tastiest of cake coverings. So after cutting out black & white daisies (17 of them) in different sizes I glued them onto the white fondant covered cake with marshmallow fluff. Everything was going along nicely until the flowers started to slide. So I called my neighbor in a panic and she raced over with some toothpicks. I skewered each of the daisies and topped off each flower with a dot of icing to cover the pick. I made the cake almond flavored with a cream cheese & marshmallow fluff filling and from scratch almond flavored buttercream icing under the fondant. It’s not as clean and neat as I would have liked, and I was in a rush at the end, but I’m still pretty pleased. And here is the final result:
click to enlarge all pics. Everyone liked the cake. Morgan had some girlfriends over and we had to dole out instructions before eating- don’t eat the black icing (stains your teeth), don’t eat the white fondant (tastes like cardboard and play doh), and beware of the 17 tooth picks. Papa said my cake was “like a white turtle. Can’t eat the shell, but the inside is tasty!” Here’s the birthday girl and her cake. 
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click to enlarge -
So far so good. Cake baked up well. Filling tastes great. I managed to tint the fondant and cut out flowers. Now I’ve got to put the flowers together, cover the cake with the fondant and add the decorations. Pray for me people. Yes I’m a bit crafty, but I’ve never been known as coordinated and I’ve got to get this cake 40 miles down the road in one piece. Bonus: I’m stopping off to pick up the fabulous Miss O for tonight and tomorrow!!! I’m so excited! Sticky out ponytails! Decorating Easter Eggs! Sleepover with my nephews! Pictures to follow soon!
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It has turned warm (hot really) except for this week when we have a nice temporary cool down. And warm weather round here means grilling time for CSP. So meal planning has been tough lately as I’ll ask what he’d like for dinner and suggest something from my little repetoire. Then he’ll shoot it down in favor of meat on the grill. Don’t get me wrong, my boy can grill the hell out of a steak or some chicken. But all this has led to the following recent conversation that demonstrates where CSP’s mind is lately regarding food- especially side dishes:
So what do you want for dinner?
Steaks were on sale so I picked some up.
Ok, so what would you like with the steaks?
How about some chicken? -
I was watching a dvr’d episode of Price is Right over breakfast this morning and I thought for sure they were pronouncing one contestant’s name wrong. Because no one in their right mind would name their child this. No one. And I’ve come across some crazy names. I’m pretty sure I’ve blogged about this before, but I think it was a good while ago. When I was a bookkeeper in college I processed a check from a J. Peter Seaman. I used to work with a Shasta, a Princess, and a Valencia. My Mom used to know a Harry Balles. And Uncle L went to high school with Ima Hoar. But now, after PIR this morning I’ve heard it all. This woman’s name was Lasonya. Pronounced Lasagna. Like the pasta dish. No lie. The announcer kept saying it over and over & I was waiting for Lasonya to pipe up and say “No, it’s LAH SONE YAH” but no. She’s named after an Italian dinner. Parents can be so cruel.
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So I whipped up a batch of icing while my first practice cake was baking this evening. Good thing I’m practicing.
click to enlarge and witness my pitiful first attempt. And thing is, it’s not the first cake I’ve ever baked! I bake cakes quite regularly as CSP is a big fan. But this is the first time I’ve used this pan and look at the fantastic results! Bake to the mixer for me! -
When I set my mind to something I go all in. But I can be a sprinter. Case in point: my garage. It is half full literally to the ceiling of boxes waiting to be unpacked. Most of the boxes contain my hobby materials. There are yarn & knitting boxes, jewelry supply boxes, boxes full of painting supplies, sewing supply boxes, boxes full of scrapbooking supplies, card making supplies, candle making supplies, there’s even one box that’s entirely full of ribbons. When I started each hobby I was so excited and pledged to CSP that my enthusiasm for that particular hobby totally justified the expense of the mounds and mounds of supplies. That I couldn’t create anything worthwhile if I just half assed it and bought the bare minimum. And sure, I’ve brought some of my hobbies to fruition. I’ve knitted quite a few scarves and hats. I’ve sewn a blanket, a few table runners, and countless dog bandanas. I’ve even completed 3, count em, 3 scrapbooks. CSP has finally gotten to the point where he doesn’t even ask how much I spent at AC Moore or Michaels. He just shakes his head and growns about how he’s gonna have to move even more crap. And now our kitchen (which is already filled to capacity with Pampered Chef items & gadgets galore) is full of powdered sugar, shortening, flavor extracts, icing bags & decorator tips. All with the promise to myself and CSP that I will become (once again) a world class cake decorator and will bake and decorate cakes quite regularly. My children will delight in home made, hand decorated themed birthday cakes every year. I will be the envy of all the other mothers in the neighborhood. Yeah right. I will sprint and make a handful of cakes and they will look good and I’ll preen and take photos and blog about them and then Ling Ling will come home and the only use I’ll get out of my icing spreader will be scraping play doh off the kitchen floor.
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Lots to talk about today people, so settle in and get comfy.
Ok, first off I’m scared. I’m getting older and that means my family is too. But you know how some people, especially the ones you don’t see every day, how they kind of stay the same age in your head? Then you see them at a wedding or something and all of the sudden the cousin you used to babysit has chest hair & a tattoo? Well, my aunts and uncles are getting old and sick and I don’t like it one bit. I told y’all about my Aunt L who was diagnosed with Leukemia a few months ago. She’s having to move across the state to be near a specialty hospital so she can get a bone marrow transplant. And then Sunday I found out that one of my favorite uncles, one of my favorite people period, has 3 tumors on his brain. They just found out over the weekend. We’re now waiting for test results. I called my mom in tears and she told me that once people hit 50 diseases can take over and that I should start to expect to lose some of my loved ones. Thanks for cheering me up Mom!
Last night I made a trip to the mega craft store and loaded up on supplies for my return to the cake decorating world. In 1999 I took the Wilton Course 1 & did pretty well. I remember making one basket weave cake with red roses all on top that was pretty kick ass. I’m going to make a practice cake this week so I’ll post pictures.
Also, something happened at Jake’s birthday that’s got my panties in a wad. I was chatting it up with some party goers when one of them who we’ll be referring to as MF (no, not for mothaf***er, but for Mutual Friend) said to me “So I hear….” and she repeated something I had told Hair Girl in confidence. My hair girl is a friend I met through other friends. We’re casual friends and I adore her, but we don’t spend hours on the phone sharing deep dark secrets. BUT when I’m getting my hair done we do talk. I’m usually there for like 3 hours so we talk a lot. And HG had promised me on more than 1 occasion that anything I told her would be kept strictly confidential. The way it should be! Well, Mutual Friend’s husband walks up and says “Oh yeah, don’t tell HG anything you don’t want MF to know!” The secret isn’t that big of a deal, but it has to do with our adoption and it was something we’ve only told our families and closest of friends. And now the whole neighborhood knows. This led to numerous follow up conversations where I had to explain myself unnecessarily. If HG had just kept her mouth shut I wouldn’t have been put in the position to give out information we weren’t ready to.
So now what? Do I call HG and confront her? Do I just quit going to her? She does a great job on my hair at half the price of salons. Or do I continue to go to her and just keep my mouth shut? I feel like she needs to know if she promises to keep something to herself then she damn well better keep it to herself! But I hate confrontations and I don’t want it to be all awkward at the next get together where I see her. But she broke my confidence, put me in an uncomfortable situation and that’s a big deal to me. Arrgghh!! Help!!! -
Bring April birthdays. Jeesh this first week of April is chock full. I’m gonna try my hand at cake decorating and make one for my sister Morgan’s birthday party this weekend. Oh, and if you enlarge the pic you’ll notice that we have our appointment for fingerprints! Woohoo! Progress! April 12th. 8am which means we have to leave by like 6:45 with traffic but I don’t care cause it’s progress and that’s 1 step closer to Ling Ling!
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Bless Your Heart 