Done and Done

I actually feel pretty accomplished this weekend. Friday night I baked a 10 inch round and a 6 inch round cake - at midnight due to our attendance at "Honey Boo Boo Live" otherwise known as the Cleveland County Fair. (Special thanks to the Hubby for staying up after I went to bed in order to take the cakes out of the oven.)  Saturday morning I got up early in order to make the frosting and frost the cakes before class... and discovered that my hand mixer had bit the dust.  After a quick trip to Walmart I was able to successfully frost the cakes and run out the door five minutes before my tall cake class.  (Again, a special thanks to the Hubby that helped me to make the frosting and then cleaned up the kitchen while I was at class!).  I signed up for the class to learn how to stack cakes and to get some decorating ideas for the baby shower cake I am making in two weeks.  It is a nautical theme and I think I have a good plan for the cake! I am excited to work on it!  Today I cleaned the house and gave the dogs a bath.  I also did about 7 loads of laundry - no thanks to Jasper's early morning vomit routine on the bed. :/  I also put out all of my Halloween decorations today.  I love this time of year and being able to put decorations out in the house...

AND - most importantly - I am going to cross a few things off the list! I finally finished our name by printing out a few pictures - hopefully you are able to tell the letter.  I like that we were able to do this on our own and now we can make changes to the frames with our future travels - or even spell out other words. 

My other major accomplishment of late is that I have stopped drinking soda.  I honestly have had a few sodas here and there, but not nearly as many as I used to drink.  I think I have had about 5 total in the last 8 weeks.  Most of those came at the same time as a headache as caffiene has always been my go to when I had a headache.  I find that now I even opt for water when presented with soda. 

I am going to leave you with a few pictures from our Pigeon Forge trip with the family...

How could you not love this face?

Criss Cross Applesauce

I had a moment of panic recently when I discovered that apple season is very limited.  A local orchard stated that they only had apple picking for one more weekend and then another stated that you could not pick your own apples due to an early frost.  I was in a bit of a panic when I did a little research and found out about Hendersonville, NC - aka Apple Valley.  I picked a destination and we passed about 6 farms on the way to the farm I had inputed in the GPS - Coston.  Upon arriving I walked up to the counter and told them my plan.  They directed me to the wagons, gave me two large baskets, and some sort of contraption to get the apples from the top of the tree. When asked how many I planned to pick I stared blankly and was told that two baskets equaled a bushel - way too many apples for just the two of us!

 

 

In order to completely knock this one off my list I had to actually make something with the apples.  Tonight the house smelled amazing as I cooked up some apples and cinnamon for applesauce.  Homemade applesauce and ice cream as a snack - so good.  I was told I had picked a "peck" of apples meaning that I have many left.  I plan to make an apple crisp and possibly some apple butter. 

 

We spent the end of last week with my family in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge,TN.  I love being able to spend time with my family and wish that I could seem them more often, but distance and travelexpenses make it difficult so I make the most of the time I do get to spend with them.  We visited WonderWorks, the Titanic Museum, Dollywood, and did some shopping in downtown Gatlinburg.  I took a ton of pictures - I really need to do some work to catch up on my scrapbook! I will leave you with a few pictures from the trip out of the 200ish I took. :)

Less than thrilled for his photo shoot. :)

 

 

Miss me?

I would think not as I hardly have anything exciting to say even when I am writing consistently.  I have not accomplished anything on the list since the last time I wrote - meaning not much to write about. The Hubby and I have been talking about what to do for his 30th in about a month and mine in February.  More than likely I am going to be driving a convertible, listening to Atlas Shrugged, singing Karaoke at the top of my lungs on my way to the Gun Range on my 30th birthday. :) Well, it might not be that bad as I did buy the latest Living Social Deal and I have two tickets to the local range that will be used in the near future.

Yesterday The Hubby participated in a grueling 55 mile mountain bike race.  I tagged along as someone has to fill the water bottles, pass out the goo packs, and check to ensure that he is fully conscious when he comes to visit me about every hour and 15 minutes.  I brought the camera along as well and used it is an opportunity to practice my skills.  Not sure how he manages to crack a smile, but I think he actually enjoys himself - why else would you put yourself through that! My reward for a job well done was a trip to THREE vineyards on the way home.  I purchased 4 bottles of wine and added two glasses to my collection.  I do not own a matching set of wine glasses - I instead have about 12 glasses from the local vineyards that I have visited since living here.  I have never taken an official "Wine Tasting Class," but I have developed an education from talking to the owners.  I would like to take a class - that is why it is on the list - but that is not a cheap thing to do, so I may just make a trip into the country and hit up a few more vineyards and absorb as much knowledge... and wine... as I can.



Tomorrow night is my last cake decorating class of session 2 - flowers.  Over the last few weeks and I have been making tons of flowers and tomorrow night I will be putting them into an eccentric arrangement on the top of a cake. I am sure it will look weird, but I made all the flowers - what else am I going to do with them?

6 months...

Today is my half birthday, so I guess technically I should be done with half of the list - right? Wrong. There are still a ton of things left on the list to accomplish and I have only six months to do so.  It seems that what I thought was the "easy" stuff has been put off to the end.  I mean, how hard is it to drive a convertible? Well, it is really hard if you don't know anyone that owns one! I have also been staring at my scrapbook "stuff" set up on a table for about a month now and I have not made one step towards the table and progress.  The Hubby and I have discussed many times about how we "need" to plan and schedule the trip to New York, but have not done anything for that yet other than looking up the price of tickets.  I feel like such a slacker.

I did buy the living social deal of the day today and now have an all day pass at a local gun range - progress in the right direction. I still have to go before I can cross it off the list though.  That is about all the progress that has been made since last I wrote.  I am taking the second course in cake decorating - gum paste flowers.  One class so far and a couple of cute little flowers made. 

Hopefully in the next few months I can scratch a few more things off the list.  I am a realist and I know that I am not going to get it all done - I just want to accomplish as much as I can. :)

Giraffe.

I am officially crossing something else off the list – yeah! Yesterday I officially made my “fancy cake” (#2).  It was a chocolate cake and it was apparently very good.  I had a little sliver of it myself, but after making all of the icing and taste testing it I did not want any more sweets! I did learn a valuable lesson: Don’t use cake labeled “Super Moist.”  The cake was so soft I thought I was doomed as it fell apart.  Luckily The Hubby was around and he was able to help me with flipping it over and leveling it out.  Overall, I think it took me about 2.5 hours.  Sounds like a lot of time, but it was fun.  Another cake has already been requested for October and I have already been thinking of ideas. J

It is starting to look like Wilton has exploded in my kitchen at times.  I may be getting carried away with purchasing cake decorating items.  I ended up getting a “tool box” to hold all of the spatulas, icing colors, icing tips, etc.  I also have a turntable and most recently I purchased a stand that can hold the different icing bags while I am decorating.  I ended up having to clean out a cabinet in the kitchen – the liquor cabinet- in order to store all of the items.  No, I did not drink everything; I just moved it all down to the cabinet downstairs. The good news is that I have been getting tons of coupons so I have not paid full price for anything.  I did sign up to take the second class and that starts on Monday August 6^th, 2012.  I decided not to take a break in between the classes.  I find cake decorating to be fun and relaxing – a nice little “stress reliever.”  I am excited to learn how to make some different kinds of flowers and starting working with fondant. 

I decided to cross something else off the list as I feel as if I have “become a hugger.”  (#25) Last night I had to hug everyone in the group before I left for the night.  That would not have been something I did in the past.  I would accept the hug, but I did not initiate the hug.  I know that seems like an odd goal to have, but you don’t know the group I hang out with! Everyone hugs! J  I am glad that I have become more comfortable with accepting and receiving hugs.  I love that the group is so supportive of both The Hubby and I.  I feel like I have developed an amazing family here in the “Dirty South” and am grateful to have them as I am so far away from the rest of my family. 

Dollywood

I decorated a cake – a little 6 inch cake with a fish on it. Technically I could cross this off the list right now, but I am going to wait until next weekend when I decorate another cake for a baby shower.  A giraffe cake has been requested and yesterday I practiced making a giraffe.  Rocky seemed to really enjoy the first one as he stood up on the table and licked it clean as I was making another batch of frosting.  I also bought a couple of new cake pans, the icing tip, some new colors, and a frosting bag.  I might be slightly addicted. 

We made some cupcakes this past Thursday.  They were pretty good and I had fun making them - I got pretty good reviews on the frosting as well.

The last Intro class is this week and I may take the next group of classes as well, but not next month.  I think I need a little break.  I feel like I have been out “late” every night for the last few weeks with work, teaching, and the cake class.  I have tried to make up for that by not doing much of anything on the weekends.  This past weekend I cleaned the house all day on Saturday and went to see The Dark Knight Rises on Sunday – that was about it. 

We finally planned our trip to Pigeon Forge as well.  We booked a cabin – my rule was I wanted a Jacuzzi and The Hubby wanted a pool table.  I also wanted it to look like a cabin, inside and out.  Some of them looked more like a “house” on the inside and I wanted the wooden floors and walls – the whole nine yards.  My family is going to come and stay with us in September and I am excited to see them.  I especially want to see Payton who will probably be walking by then at the rate he is growing! We watched the travel channel last night and they were showing roller coasters and two came up from Dollywood.  The Hubby is excited for that.  I will be keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground holding on to everyone’s purse.  J

Lasagna

Last night I cooked lasagna for dinner.  The lasagna itself did not have 10 ingredients (#19), but I added a side of garlic bread and also a dessert and was able to knock something else off the list! I accomplished making a meal.  I realized yesterday why I don’t cook that often though. 1) We are going to have leftover lasagna for the rest of the week. 2) It was expensive to buy all the separate ingredients. 3) I am just too busy and don’t get home early enough during the week.  It was really good though – so good that we had it for lunch again today. J

I also decided to cross off (#28) as I have been attending church on a regular basis.  I don’t think that starting to attend church again has made me a better person.  I just needed a place to go, an “assigned place” where I felt a connection.  I have been struggling with some things emotionally over the last few months and having a comforting place to go has helped.  I plan to continue to stay involved in the church through volunteering and any other opportunities that come up. 

I bought some more items yesterday for my “fancy cake.”  I actually purchased a box for storing all of the decorating supplies.  I went in to get a smaller box for holding all of the decorating tips and ended up with a larger investment. I have a feeling that this might turn into an obsession.