My second (cup) cake

Next week is my final cake class for this course. Then I have to decide if I want (and am good enough) to advance on to the next course. We'll see. But they sure have turned out pretty yummy! I'm excited about the finale, because I get to use all that we have learned so far to make my own cake creation, and in my head it looks really nice. :) Stay tuned....

My first cake

Here's my first cake! After the first baking attempt with the infamous "cake release" liquid (which acted like glue, not release), we finally got a double layer, filled cake that frosted and decorated quite nicely, if I do say so myself. It has a yummy filling, that we've dubbed "dented can filling" because its main ingredient came from the dented can section at the grocery store. :) More pictures to come, hopefully next week.

Clearing the cache

So, this is going to be completely random, a bit soap-boxey, and full of rhetorical questions I'm sure, but I'm gonna write it anyhow. My doggie snores, louder than anyone else in the house. I think it's cute.

This life is not candy and roses and days off and free money and easy-going, discipline-free happy times. This life has rules and trials and tribulations and hurt and pain and confusion and disappointment and worry and missed opportunities. And it sucks if you have nothing to look forward to, and no one to lean on.

Couples marry for lust (for each other) and divorce for lust (for themselves, and sometimes for someone else). How many people do you know that have fallen in "love" and one, or both, of them "fall out of love" just as quickly? I wonder if they ever realize that it was never love; it was physical lust, or co-dependence, or a pacifier for the fear of being alone, or just plain selfishness. But hey, why not? It's all about what we want anyway, right?

I'm willing to bet that most of the people reading this post will skim over the next few questions and not REALLY answer them, truthfully, in their own mind. Oh well, here goes.

Are you feeling lonely? Sad? Scared? Depressed? Frustrated? Guilty? Empty? Worthless? Angry? Why are you feeling that way?

Who are you accountable to? What happens to you when you die? Who do you care about? Do you love anything, truly, more than you love yourself--i.e. would you give up all of your selfish wants and even your life? If so, what/who?

(And now for the squirming, heavy sighs, and general uncomfortableness, because these questions are just "too personal", right?)

Is anything keeping you from surrendering your heart to a loving and merciful God, who knows all of your pain and the desires of your heart? How long are you going to wait?

Jeremiah 29:11
Hebrews 11:1
Psalm 37:4
John 3:16
Hebrews 8:12

Even if you don't have a Bible, I challenge you to look up these 5 verses. Just Google them. Aren't you tired of feeling the way you do?

Life still sucks sometimes. Honest, it does. But I know that I have wondrous times waiting for me, and I'm not in control, which is the best thing of all. Because my life gets screwed up the most when I try to take the wheel and drive. And there's only one insurance policy that will insure me now, after all of the accidents I've had. Thank God that He's willing to take a chance on me, and you.

Cake! Et al.

I know, it sounds good, huh? :) I'm taking a class with my sister-in-law at the local Michaels on cake decorating; more specifically on Wilton cake decorating, which is apparently high-end professional stuff. Not cheap, by any means, if the supplies are any indication of the quality of the final product...anyhoo, I was surprised that our first homework assignment was to make AND frost a two-layer round cake using the buttercream recipe the instructor just showed us tonight, and bring 4 cups of the same frosting with us to class next week, in differing textures and five different colors, with which to decorate our cake, using the starter kit we had to buy this evening.

Good golly, I thought this would be like the cake decorating class I took in high school. You know, show up for a hour, try out different tips on the paper boards using the icing in the communal bowl, blah blah blah. Boy, was I wrong. And who's going to eat the cake I make every week? My poor, deprived hubby is lucky if I make a cake twice a year. I can say with great certainty that my waistband is not looking forward to the larger numbers in the near future. But at least my cakes will be pretty, even if I can't fit into my pants anymore....

We took care of the doggies today, after a minor (ok, major) freakout on my part about an isolated flea that I saw on my pup three days ago. They had been in the garage and backyard since then, because I will not have any kind of insect infestations in my house. I'll be honest and call a spade a spade here, I can be a bit neurotic at times. Yes, I was somewhat harsh, and no, we didn't find any other fleas on them, but regardless they both earned a full bath at the local do-it-yourself washing place/pet store combo. Poor things. At least we got them a couple of bones and a bag of horribly pricey, unnecessary gourmet treats in apology. Sheesh.

Tomorrow: the car and its associated problems are improved. Never a dull moment.

My sides hurt