Thanksgiving Planning!!

Can you believe that the picture above is a cake? How amazing is that? Yes, it’s that time again. Time to start looking through your Thanksgiving recipes, to make this holiday season the best! I guess I’m still a kid at heart, because I am a HUGE holiday fan. I could do without the spending…but the eating, the family and the, well…eating…I’m game for!

Even though I don’t get to cook our Thanksgiving dinner (THANK HEAVENS), I do wish that our little family had it’s own Thanksgiving traditions. Growing up we would celebrate Thanksgiving the Sunday before. This made it easier for the older, married kids to come so that they could spend time with their in laws or their mom on the actual holiday. And for us…it meant flying off to some exotic part of the world. When I was in Jr. High and High School I can attest to the fact that Delta Airlines served a darn fine Thanksgiving dinner!!

When my kids grow up it would be fun to do the same thing with them, but sadly…being married to a chef, Thanksgivings are big days in the restaurant field, so it may never happen.

Makin’ A Plan!!

I know this isn’t the type of blog you would expect to see someone talking about a weight loss product, but it’s something that has been on my mind lately. Mainly because we are going into my “birthday cake” time of year, as well as the holidays. Barrett’s birthday is first in a month, Jake in 2, Blake in 2.5 and then the holidays. Grayson doesn’t hit until February, but still–it accounts for a TON of cake and party food. So I’m looking at starting up my diet and exercise routines again…makin’ a date with my treadmill.

How I would LOVE One

Have you seen the new talking watches? They are amazing for people trying to maintain their independence while still having some reminders to help them make it through their day. Reminders to take their medication or of upcoming doctor appointments…things that would be handled by someone else if their memories were fading. Even though it’s mostly for a little older crowd, I would love a talking watch to remind my kids to get up, go out to the bus without forgetting their lunch money, bring their homework home…you know, just the important stuff that comes with being a kid!

A Great Birthday Cake!!

I would love to create a Grooms cake just like this one!  How brilliant is that?  Or maybe one in the shape of a playstation 3 for my husband’s birthday next year. He would absolutely love it, but I would choose the PS3 because the PS2 is a bit on the boring side–except for the controller, how cool is the X Box controller on this cake?  I’ve been thinking a lot about cakes the last few days because we are coming into birthday season for my kids.  I have an October, November, December and February!  Barrett is getting a monster truck, Jacob would like a guitar cake.  So it just leaves me Grayson and Blakelynn to come up with.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

My New Scene!!

Have you noticed the new blog design? I had to totally redo the site because the theme I had looked great on Firefox, but when you viewed it in Internet Explorer it was all messed up. Then, when I worked on tweaking the code to get it fixed…it was messed up in Firefox as well. So…you get something new all around!

What to Do For Halloween!!

The holidays sprinkled throughout the year have a way of speeding up the school year for me.  Once Halloween hits, Christmas vacation seems like it’s just a week or so away.  Every year, Halloween creeps up on me way to fast.  It was that way even before Barrett was born, but now with four kids and four different costume needs–it’s just here so quickly!

I used to make all of their Halloween Costumes by hand, and honestly, they were amazing!  But with four–that’s just out of the question!  This year, Blake will be a bride, because she has an incredible wedding dress that she plays with for dress up.  The three boys??  Clueless! I did ask Barrett what he would like to be and then added an idea of “Handy Manny” and my precious boy says, “That’s a great idea, Mom!” How cute is that?

I do love to see the Halloween Costume Stores start popping up all over town. They are my favorite place to stop into. Not only for ideas, but to see the new and creative decoration ideas they’ve come up with. It really wouldn’t be a bad place to work…definitely fun everyday!

Grave Digger Cake!!

Have you seen the air brush systems that the professional cake decorators use on their cakes?  I have always wanted one, but until I’m actually working in the cake industry and making enough money to cover one…I’m not thinking it’s something that I get to dream about!  They do sell them at the hobby store, but they are still pretty expensive for my little budget.

I was just thinking about Barrett’s Monster Truck cake and would love to be able to airbrush the Grave Digger design onto the sides.  I’m thinking I can cover it with fondant, but think how cool it would be!

I Just Got A B!!

On a debt test over at BillsIQ that is!  I knew going into the test exactly where I would need help…and yes, they were the ones I’m sure brought me down.  We have zero debt other than our mortgage payment…so I did expect a little bit higher of a score.  Unfortunately, we aren’t putting away much for college funds or retirement just yet–and that killed us!

I would love to have my husband retire at 65, but right now, I’m just not sure that will be possible. With four kids everything seems to tie into their needs. My hope is that when they are all ‘grown up’, I can get a good paying job and start saving enough to take some of the burden off of my sweet husband.

Also, with the way most colleges and Universities are going off of the Liberal deep end, I want them to get a college education, but it can only be at ONE University! It’s a pretty expensive place, but at least I know they won’t be indoctrinated in the ridiculous philosophies of the Libs…but I digress!!

I have found a new desire to rework the budget to see just where we can squeeze a little out for some extra savings!

It’s Coming!!

Barrett’s birthday is coming up in just over a month.  My baby will be four!  I still can’t believe it’s gone that fast!  I’ve been trying to think of a cute cake idea…and I’m trying to stay away from a Halloween theme, but with a birthday 5 days before…it’s kind of hard!  He has just discovered Monster Trucks, so I’m trying to decide between something easy like this…

Or something much harder like this…

Knowing my pathetic need for “cool” you can probably guess that it will be the carved cake…what fun is decorating a cake with cars??

Bad Dog

I now get to shop for a modern sofa! i have been hoping to hold off until the kids got a little older, but the puppy has decided to exact his revenge on my couch. He’s been eating the cushions for months, I’m not sure why or how to stop it…but this time he attacked the arm of the couch and there is just no hiding that one! So now, I’m moving the eaten love seat to the basement, and bringing the big sofa upstairs. Hopefully we can curb this horrible habit of his before I have to toss him out with both couches!

A Garden Party Indoors!!

We have hit the one year mark in our new home. That’s amazing! I have wanted to have a BBQ to celebrate. Nothing big, just the in laws. But the problem remains I have a huge yard and no garden decor! We moved in at the end of the summer last year, when all of the patio sets were on clearance, and we just missed all of the good ones. This year, there just isn’t a few extra hundred lying around to drop on it!

So I’m thinking that if the BBQ goes forward, we’ll just eat in doors! I would love to make the cake above for dessert. It’s so “Yard”ish and cute. I would want more of a flower pot shape, and heck–even some sugar cookie flowers on sucker sticks. How fun would that be??

Rediscovering Books!!

I think I’m the only one on the planet that hasn’t listened to an audio book! First off, with so many kids running a hundred different ways, there hasn’t been much time for reading anything at all. Recently though, I’ve discovered that I do love settling down at night and getting lost in a good book while I’m getting sleepy. I’ve just finished the third book of the Twilight saga and am starting the fourth book tonight. Aside from them, my favorites are The Goose Girl trilogy from Shannon Hale.

I loved to read as a young teenager, but it’s been really fun discovering my love of a good story again!

Future Finances!!

I think it’s the fact that we found a life insurance quote for my husband and I the other day that has gotten my head thinking about the future. He has a much higher amount on him because of all of the support we would need if I was left alone with four kids. If something were to happen to me he would simply need some help with child care. Well, that and paying off the mortgage. But he would still have his livelihood. As a homemaker, if something happened to him I would be left with nothing. Nothing and a whole lot of bills! So yes, at this moment in time, his life is far more valuable than my own…but I’m hoping we’ll never have to touch a dime of it!

Finding Alternatives!!

It’s been a long time since I’ve made a cake to decorate! I know, I lament about that a lot. I was thinking this next week end it would be fun to try something new and fun. I don’t know what, but I’m itching to make one. If I had to find something to fall back on career wise, as much as I would love to be a cake decorator up at the local grocery store, I could make a little more money finding one of the many IT jobs out there. It would require a little more schooling, but how fun would that be? I’m hoping nothing becomes too necessary in the near future because everything seems to be going pretty good right now, but it’s nice to know there are things to fall back on if an emergency arose!

The Man & The Sauce!

I have been working really hard on my husband’s company blog. There is a button in the side bar that can take you to his bosses MySpace page, and I wanted a picture to go along with it. But not just any picture, I wanted one of him in one of those company logo shirts. I don’t know why it was that important to me, but it just was! He’s the NAME! The name on the shirt, the name on the sauce, the name on the restaurants! He had to be in a company shirt!

I’m not sure he’ll like the one I found…but if he’d like it changed, he better be willing to step outside and model his t-shirt for me! Head on over to the blog, and let me know what you think!!