Are You Smiling Yet? If not- You will be!

No one's looking, it's safe. Go ahead- Smile & have yourself a little giggle as you read about my life and the thoughts that come spilling out of my head. (Watch out for flooding though- my head's not as near as empty as my husband claims it to be!) If my ramblings don't make your day a little brighter nothing will! I promise I won't be offended if you laugh at my expense- I consider it an honor to spread happiness. Besides- if I can laugh at myself you certainly can too!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Reasons I’ve Smiled- March 18th

 

  1. I got the highest upsell percentage at work beating everyone- including my manager & assistant manager- AND got a kudos from our district manager.
  2. Got to go for a walk in beautiful sunshiny weather without a jacket.
  3. Listening to Eldest play at the band concert and realizing how GOOD they sound.
  4. Homemade Shamrock Shakes
  5. Finished 2 books this week- this one was really good apache heartsong cover
  6. Lunch with the Hubs at his work
  7. Getting a “cat-call” while walking yesterday

These are just a few of the reasons of the top of my head real quick why I’ve smiled this week. How about you- what’s made your week happy?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Rambling randomness about nothing really

It’s amazing that I get anything done some days. So many different thoughts pass through my mind in such a short period of time that I’m more often than not to spend all my time thinking instead of doing. If someone was able to record for a few minutes the thoughts floating through my head it would go something like this:

What’s for dinner tonight? I really need to start making a weekly menu again. Today’s Tuesday- I need an easy meal since it’s Scout night. What are we doing tonight at Scouts? Oh, yeah- making thank you cards. I should prefold cardstock. The cards will work towards an elective. What other elective can we do? We got a bunch of electives done, but we can’t get the beads till our Tiger Badge is done. All we need to get it is for each Tiger to see a sporting event. Oh, yeah- I told them at the last meeting I’d type up a reminder of that with the progress report for each scout tonight. Oh shoot- I got Port-a-pit chicken tickets to sell- that have sat in my bag since last meeting. I need to do that. Maybe we can set up a table at my work. I need to get my schedule for next week yet. I’m glad I don’t have to work today. Shoot- I gotta work tomorrow though and the auditor’s going to be there. Better make sure to wear something nicer than normal. Most of my work clothes are dirty. Actually- most everyone’s clothes are dirty. I gotta go to the laundry mat today. Should go to the bank too. But I better go grocery shopping first. I need to figure out what we’re eating this week & tonight first. The dog’s barking again. *looks out the window* Dang- it’s so gloomy outside. Where’s the sun? I need the sun! I want sunlight & brightness. Maybe I can make something colorful for inside to make it cheerful. Like a rainbow. with a pot of gold. Thursday’s St. Patty’s day after all. I should do something fun for the kids!  Gotta find the recipe for those shamrock shakes again. Green milk again for breakfast. And green food for dinner. Crap- dinner! What am I doing for dinner tonight? Maybe I’ll just see what’s at the store. I could stop at the consignment store while I’m up there. I need a new shirt. I’m bored with my wardrobe- I need a splash of something different. Maybe I can find something cute to wear State Weekend. Shoot-  I really need to find my wallet because that has my license in it and I’ll need it when we go in case I get carded. Hope I don’t have to get a new license. Because if I do I’ll find my wallet right after.  The dog’s howling- she hates sirens. *Looks towards the main road* There goes the fire truck. I need to get the dog food for her from the back of the van. *Sees someone leaving the gas station across the street carrying a gallon of milk*  We need milk. And OJ. Better make a grocery list.

Then I glace at the computer clock and notice almost an hour has passed and I have not done a single thing that I thought about. And then what do I do instead of starting to make a menu, a grocery list, getting laundry around, working on Scout stuff and the 3 million other things that need completed? I write a blog post about my inability to get things done. Totally, completely logical……..right?

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Crazy Hair

Yes- I sent my youngest to school with his hair looking like this. No- I didn’t loose my glasses this morning.  ;o) 

It was “Crazy Hair” day at Lil’ man’s school today. Since he’s managed to escape the clippers so far- we had a lot of hair to work with this year. And I didn’t need much inspiration for what to do with it when I seen him come down right after he woke up- it was naturally crazy itself already- I just improved upon it a little   :o)

.dante crazy hair collage

(Oh- and the last picture with the funny face was when I told him he looked like a mad scientist & he was trying to act the part.)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Wolf Cake

Eldest’s 14th birthday last month brought one of the hardest cake requests yet- a wolf. I asked for other ideas & options, but he really wanted a wolf cake this year. I warned him (repeatedly) that my cake decorating abilities might not be able to create it well. His response “You need a good challenge mom. It’ll make your decorating skills better.” Darn child- he’s getting way too old & good with words.

So I started by doing a sketch (because if I can’t draw it there’s no way I can carve it!) I had a hard time getting the muzzle right, but eventually I figured it out. wolf sketch for cake

Then came the research and just as I suspected- good wolf cake images are hard to find. And most of the one’s I found were made by decorators with much more skill than I possess. I pinned my favorites for inspiration- here’s the top ones that helped me the most:


  1. 3D Wolf Head by Muse_of_Dreams on Cake Central
  2. Howling White Wolf by Louise Hill at Love to Cake
  3. Howling Wolf Silhouette by Dragonsanddaffodils at Deviant Art
  4. Howling Wolf Head by sweetthang1 at Cake Central

And after a lot of thinking, researching, sketching and baking it was time to just go for it. I started with a stack of 6 8” rounds, some knives & a lot of frosting. I had a lot of doubt and trepidation about how I was going to manage it and I *may* of let a whole bunch few curse words slip, but I just kept at it and somehow managed to turn it into something resembling a wolf’s head. (It also reminded us slightly of a pig, a bear & finally a shark at some point of time during the process. You can kind of see how it could of been a good shark in the the bottom middle picture.)

Wolf Cake Collage Complete

But all that mattered was the last picture- Eldest was happy with the end result. And I’m glad this mom didn’t back down from the challenge despite all my misgivings. (But boy am I thankful I don’t ever make the same cake twice!) Oh- and the cake was delicious!!! One of the best tasting cakes I’ve made ever & it was very durable! I finally found the perfect recipe for carving cakes. :o)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Finding me, my path & some blogging thoughts

I have a friend with a blog. A good, dear awesome friend. Her posts have been really making me think lately. Reflect on my life. What I want, who I want to be, where I want to go with this life. I know who I am- somewhat. But I need to cultivate my person more. I need to define who I am beyond a mother & a wife. I’ve fallen back into my “comfort zone.” I need to be more in charge of my life and the path I’m traveling, instead of just letting life carry me along. I’ve started that by finding a part time job. And while that’s been (and still is) quite an adjustment & struggle at times- I enjoy it greatly. But that’s just a tiny first step- I need more. I want to be more independent. Not in the “I don’t need you” kind of way. But in the “I’m confident in my abilities” way. I know I can be a better partner to my husband if I was more self-assured of myself. And I’ll be a much better mother as well. I am very happy, content and proud to be a mom & wife.. But while those are extremely important and vital parts of me- I can not center my life completely around those two aspects of my life. I want to have an accomplishment that I can be proud of that- I want to be able to say that I have DONE something with my life. I want to have more declarations that start with “I’ve DONE”, “I’ve TRIED" and “I AM” than “I want”, “I wish” and “Someday….” statements.

So I decided a few weeks ago to do something I always said I should & wished I would, but never did. I’m going back to school. I officially enrolled in the community college 2011 fall semester. Now- I haven’t a real clue as to what I’m going to do- but that’s ok. That’s part of the whole “finding myself” thing I’ve got to work on. I’m thinking of some sort of business or education degree. Or maybe both- who knows. The important thing is- I’m finally going to DO it instead of just talking about it.  :o)

Another part of this whole finding me thing is I need to rediscover what makes me me. I want to get back in touch with things I enjoy- such as creating. I love to create in any medium. Be it with a pen & paper, glue & paint, colored pencils & a sketch pad or cake & frosting. I’m an artsy-craftsy person. It’s an integral part of me. And I haven’t been fulfilling that within myself. So- I’m going to aim to try and do at least one crafty thing a week. Even if there’s dishes piled in the sink, the hamper’s overflowing and instead of cleaning my craft area I have to shove the 2 ft high pile of crap that’s there into a plastic tub just to find my craft desk. I will find the simple joy of creation again. Oh- and reading. I need to do that again. I honestly can’t remember the last book I read or when. Yeah- that’s gotta start happening again too.

No- as for the blogging thoughts. My friend I spoke of above? Yeah- she is what inspired this whole posting. And I love her. And I admire her blogging style- she just writes what she thinks & feels and posts whatever & whenever she wants. Her blog is kind of random & I love it. When I read one of her posts it’s like I’m actually talking to her- it’s a true reflection of herself. I love it. And I need to learn from it and her.

I think one of the reasons I haven’t blogged is because I feel pressure to make sure every post is perfect and interesting and just right. I type & retype & spend a couple hours on just one post. And since I’ve added a job to my crazy life- I simply haven’t had that much time to spend on blogging. So instead of settling for an imperfect impromptu post, I simply haven’t blogged. That’s one of my “flaws” I need to work on- perfection. Everything I create- be it blogging, writing, crafting, drawing, cake decorating or whatnot- does NOT have to be revised & redone over & over again. I need to embrace the fact that every thing I do doesn’t have to be done to the best of my ability. Now- that seems like a strange statement considering that I always tell my kids to “Do you best.” But for me I always want to do things better- everything can always be improved and I strive so hard for that “betterness” that I don’t have time to do more than one thing. That’s not strengthening my abilities- that’s limiting myself. Because I often will not start something because I know I won’t have time to finish it. I need to learn to accept less to get better. And maybe I can start to learn that lesson with this blog. Perhaps. It’s worth a shot anyways.  :o)

BTW- If I totally lost you in this post- that’s ok. :o)

LinkWithin

LinkWithin