Sweet 15

My niece Amanda's 15th birthday was last week, and she asked me to help her make her birthday cake. She came over Saturday night, and we decorated the cake that I bought "naked" at the grocery store bakery.

We borrowed this idea from Women's Day Magazine. Here's how our version turned out:


We giggled so much as we worked on the various parts and pieces that Amanda lost her voice! When we brought the cake to the party the next day, everyone was amazed. My nephew Bryan was the only one who figured out right away what this was:


(Tom Hanks and Wilson escaping the island in "Castaway").

Then it was time to cut into the cake, and big laughter. Seems when we iced the top of the lower layer of the cake we failed to notice that, because it was originally the bottom of the cake, it had a sheet of parchment paper baked into it! Made it a little harder to cut, to say the least. But it still tasted great!

Happy Birthday, Amanda! Start thinking of the cake you want next year...I want to do this again!

I'm sleeping with Alton Brown

Well, actually with his book.

It takes up a lot more room than the usual books I read in bed, but we all make sacrifices for love.


You can keep George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Give me a man who makes me laugh and makes me dinner, and my heart melts like butter.

Eat it up

Good Daily Bread today.

A journey of a thousand miles...

...starts with one step. Or several hundred in my case.

I joined the gym located in my apartment complex. This morning I walked 1.3 miles on the treadmill. I also weighed myself for the first time in two months. My total weight loss is 51 pounds since September. I really do need to post an updated picture in my profile.

Whatever your journey, take that first step or you'll go nowhere.

Thought for today

Guideposts Magazine is a treasure. Sometimes it's a longer article that gets me thinking. Sometimes it's just a few words in The Up Side quotes section (only available in the print edition):

"The antidote to fear is action."

Sometimes I don't realize that my hesitation to do something is actually based in fear because I don't think about it. I guess it's the fear of not doing something right that has most often caused me to not even try. But sometimes I did move past the fear, and it lead me to important and sometimes wonderful experiences.

Like what? Let's see...my year living in California when I was 20 (remind me to tell you about that)...my marriage (not all wonderful but mostly)...my job (which I had to step foward and claim when they didn't want to give it to me)...and lots more.

And what if I had let the fear of not doing it perfectly prevent me from embarking on my cookie adventures? I'm doing so well with the cookies that it might just turn into a real business for me. Look out Mrs. Fields!

Action truly is the antidote for fear. Move forward. Ask for God's blessing and step out in the faith. Don't pray and ask for the fear to be removed before you act...ask for the guidance and strength to take the next step.

I love Chicago radio

The only time I listen to the radio is in my car. Reception both in the office and at home is spotty, unless it's a really powerful station.

When I moved last year, my commute tripled - from five minutes to 15! So I've been able to enjoy more radio variety. I probably change stations at least three times every trip.

I listen mostly to AM talk radio. The six preset buttons are positioned in such a way as to allow me to move from news to talk to Christian talk to sports (that one I hit usually by accident).

My favorite time is the drive home after work. I've got three stations going...one comedy guy from Chicago, one super-liberal political gal from Florida and one super-conservative guy from San Francisco. I especially love it when the political hosts are both screaming about the same subject. It's fascinating to hear two sides of the same story spinning in different directions. But when the screaming gets to be too much noise, I go back to the comedy guy.

Give it a try. In Chicago, its 560, 850 and 890 AM.

Monday Cookies

I'm running late, but wanted to make sure you saw this weekend's results.
Aren't they pretty? I tried a couple new icing and cookie recipes. And I started playing with fondant (the flowers).

But my favorite new thing is the shiny accents. It's an edible paint called Lustre Dust.

I'm off to work now...more later!

Life Lessons from Music Class - Part II

Read Part I

The other thing about Bach I wanted to mention was that, well, let me quote from my textbook:

Bach was a deeply religious man--a Lutheran--who wrote the letters J.J., standing for Jesu Juva (Jesus help), at the beginning of each of his sacred compositions and S.D.G. for Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone the glory) at the end.

(Music: An Appreciation Fifth Brief Edition by Roger Kamien)

It may have appeared to the casual observer that Bach was writing music just for the paycheck. But ultimately he was doing it for the glory of God.

What difference would it make in our lives if, no matter what we do, we made a conscious decision to do it for God's glory? What if we put aside the notion that we have to impress our friends, our boss or co-workers, the world? Would it change the decisions we make?

I bet it would.

Life Lessons from Music Class

In my Music Appreciation class, we are currently studying the Baroque period in music (1600-1750). And I'm finding that this class, besides teaching me the basics of music theory and history, is also teaching me life lessons.

Have you heard of any of these composers? Tomoso Albonini, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Christoph Willebald von Gluck, Johann Sebastian Bach, Girolamo Frescobaldi?

If you're like me, the only one you may have heard of is Bach. But guess what? Bach wasn't a very well known composer while he was alive. These other guys were famous in their time. They were probably admired like the rock or rap stars of today.

Bach was known more for his church organ and harpsichord playing. When he wasn't on tour, he worked at his "regular job"...he had to write an "cantata" - an entire church service worth of songs - every week! Back then, musicians were primarily hired by the church or nobility. It was his job to compose music and he had quotas and deadlines.

So he lives and he dies, and he leaves behind hundreds and hundreds of musical works (many which have since been lost). And it's not until 80 years after his death that his music becomes not just popular, but revered for its beauty and genius of musical architecture.

Once of the things I sometimes struggle with at my job is boredom and drudgery. Most days lately it is just not any fun. I do mundane tasks and wonder when I will next get to do something creative or meaningful. I wonder if Bach ever felt that way. Maybe he liked composing, but sometimes felt it was boring because he had to churn out so much of it.

But we don't know what impact our lives and our work will have now and in the future. At work, I may never be known as the "Bach of project management", but the work I do is contributing in an important way to the success of a company that employs 30,000 people.

And in life we all contribute, in many ways, to either the good or the bad of this world. We all have an impact, even if we never know it.

More Cookies

I'm off work today for the President's Day Holiday. I've got lots of tasks on my list for today (including putting away the Christmas decorations), but the first thing was to finish some COOKIES!


Mostly I'm just practicing. But the teapot is a variation of a design I did for my first paying gig...I made 40 teapot cookies in pink/ivory tones for a friend who was hosting a bridal shower at a Teahouse.

These are the first cookies I've made since the bridal shower cookies that my niece Sarah and I made just after Christmas. Wait...I don't think I showed you those:


The nice thing about this hobby is that even if you screw up the design, the cookies are still good to eat. My co-workers will be very happy tomorrow!

Busy busy busy

Just checking in to let you know I'm here. I've let myself get too busy and I just need to make more time to write.

This past weekend I had guests for dinner, went to church, worked in the church office, and attended an opera. And I've got lots of homework to do tonight.

I wasted a lot of my life being lazy and doing not much of anything. This is a nice change.

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone. I promised my sister I would post today no matter what. One of the character defects I've been working on is my perfectionism, which is directly related to another, which is procrastination. I put things off until I can do them "perfectly". Of course, there's no such thing.

So here I am, rushing to get a post out there so the pic of me in my Christmas pajamas can get off the top (even though it's a nice picture, I'm sick of seeing it too). Speaking of pictures, I am going to change my profile picture because I've lost 45 pounds and it's showing on my face. But the one I want is on a disk in my car so I'll have to do it later.

The new year is going great. I've been getting ready for school, which starts next week. Yesterday I put the window decal on my car that declares that I am a college student. My books are bought and I've done a dry run to the school to time my arrival. I went to the New Student Orientation this week and I ran into a friend there who is also taking classes at night!

Have you made any New Year's Resolutions? I haven't done that in years, opting instead for setting goals. If you have made resolutions, you may have broken them already. Don't worry. The power to change your life is available to you in every minute. Don't wait until next year, or next month or next Monday. Pray for guidance, set a goal, make a plan to achieve it. Then take the first step. If that step is upon the right path, God will reward you with what you need.

The best Christmas ever!

We had so much fun yesterday! Pajama Christmas was great! Almost everyone participated in the pajama part. Here's me in my Ice Skating Polar Bear pjs with matching slippers:


We started with a fabulous breakfast of two kinds of egg puffs...wait...here's the menu (a little rubbed off cause somebody leaned against it):


After the brunch dishes were done, we opened presents! Another new tradition this year was to pull names from a hat to see who opened the next present. Previously, we started with the youngest opening all their gifts at once and moving up in age. That used to be great when I was younger but now it stinks! My name was pulled about 4th or 5th. I received lovely earrings and a contribution to one of my favorite charities (The Smile Train).

I spent most of the afternoon scanning pictures. We ended up with 330 pictures on a CD we gave to every household at the end of the day, including lots of pics of my dad as a young man. This is one of my favorites:


Around 5 o'clock we had our supper...yummy ham sandwiches, cucumber salad, fruit and two kinds of potatoes (mine plus a sweet potato casserole). Dessert was cookies and cake. The day ended shortly after "da Bears" beat the Packers (woo-hoo!).

Everyone had such a good time. The day was relaxed, comfortable and fun. The only thing I would have done differently is to move the photo project into the living room instead of working on it in the bedroom. They offered me a table out there, but I had already set up and didn't want to move.

And Christmas isn't over for me! Tomorrow I head to Michigan to celebrate Christmas with Daniel's family. What a bonus to have two families to love and who love me!

This Christmas was the best ever, not just because of what I have described above. I have been so blessed this year, especially the last few months. Through what can only be described as a miracle, I made it through the baking and decorating of hundreds of cookies, the daily availability of wonderful goodies at the office, the preparation of six pounds of cheesy mashed potatoes, and the two biggest eating holidays known to man, and not once was I tempted to overeat. Through God's grace, I have been released of my food compulsion (and approximately 40 pounds so far).

I am enjoying life, moment by moment, living an attitude of gratitude in everything. I have never been happier. Thank you, Lord, for the best Christmas ever!

Merry Pajama Christmas!

It's early Christmas morn. I've got lots to do before heading to my sister's home for the day. Our Christmas Day tradition has been an early dinner there since she and her husband got married. It is wonderful! They are extremely good cooks, and we have a different menu every year. I usually start asking "what's cooking for Christmas?" sometime in October.

This year we are starting a new tradition. Because my niece really, really, really didn't want to get out of her pajamas when company was due last year, she came up with the idea of "Pajama Christmas". We're starting with brunch in our pajamas, and if you want you can stay in them all day. We're also having the fabulous dinner, and this year several of us are bringing side dishes or desserts so the cooks don't have to make absolutely everything. I'm bringing my own invention...cheddar ranch mashed potatoes with fried onion topping (mmmmmmmm).

And since we're going to be there all day long, I came up with an idea for a project to do. Everyone is bringing pictures that they think the family would like a copy of. We're going to scan them all and at the end of the day give each household a CD with all the pictures, including pics taken today in our pajamas! I just love digital photography!

Well, gotta get going. I need to start packing up my red shopping cart (it really is red) with gifts, potatoes, cookies, my computer and scanner and CDs and labels, a change of clothes in case I get tired of being in my pjs, and probably more stuff that I'm forgetting about. I'll report back later.

Have a wonderful day!

Some more cookies

I made these for a friend to take to a cookie exchange:


And I'm not done yet...I have a few more batches to make before Christmas, to give as gifts. Plus next week when I'm visiting the Michigan family, we're making wedding cookies and Happy New Year cookies.

Too much fun!

You can call me Martha Stewart Jr.

I really am having fun with my home projects. First the cookies. Now this:


With the limited space in my kitchen, and my renewed interest in cooking, I needed more efficient access to some of the tools I use alot. I had this fancy curtain rod left over from my previous apartment.

The first thing I thought of was a place to hang my coffee mugs and kitchen towels. After some internet surfing, this idea came to me when I saw an ad for a similar, but smaller, hanging basket/utensil system. I used coat hooks, ribbon, key rings, chrome racks and s-hooks.

I also bought this chicken utensil holder which goes well with my cooking lady from Poland and Big Boy salt and pepper shakers:


Unfortunately, still no room for the kitchen towels. Oh, well...it's still a good thing.

The Rose

Heard this old song for the first time in years the other day.

The Rose
written by Amanda McBroom

Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
and you its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dyin'
that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been to long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose.

I am 45 years old, and I feel like I am finally blossoming into the person God meant me to be. Some flowers take longer than others to bloom.

Never give up.

The Great Cookie Experiment of 2005 is a Success!

It's finally done! More than a week of my life dedicated almost solely to cookies. But I think it was a huge success. My cookies got lots of "oooh" and "aaahhh" reactions at the cookie packing event. Here is part of the assembly line:


And here is the end result:


Somehow when the cookies were weighed in to give each person credit, we came up with about 180 pounds (my contribution weighed in at just over 10 pounds). Once they were all packed, we had 190 one-pound boxes, and several large trays of leftovers for serving after the concert tonight. Sort of like Jesus and the fish and bread, in a tastier but much smaller and historically insignificant way.

I ended up with a lot of leftover ingredients. So I made two batches of sugar cookie dough - one with lemon and one with orange - and they are triple-wrapped and in the freezer for future use (just let me know if you need some cookies and I'll bake for you). I made macaroons from the leftover coconut that I'm bringing to church. I made twelve individual egg casseroles for quick breakfasts that are in the freezer. Plus I did grocery shopping, made a pot of soup, and did the laundry...all last night after I got home from a whole day at church. One of the most productive days in my entire life. Feels good!

I'm off to church now...gonna be another very long but satisfying day!

Cookies - Snowflakes, Bells and Stockings

I baked one more batch of sugar cookies, this time with pineapple flavoring. I was going for a coconut-pineapple combo. But adding coconut to the top of the cookie made them too big/thick for the cookie sale (we pack lots of different cookies in each box to sell).

The snowflakes were decorated in a variety of ways:


My favorite snowflakes are these:


I would have finished all of them like that, but I was running out of time. Same with the bells...I would have liked to spend more time making them fancier, but they are still pretty:


And when the hour was late, I knew I would not have time for the icing to dry if I did the last of the stockings with the flow icing like before. So instead, I just painted on a thin coat of the red and white icing, and dipped them into the big sugar crystals:


I kinda like that almost better!

Well, I'm off to the church for cookie packing. I ended up with five shirt boxes of cookies (multiple layers in each box). I'm gonna take some pictures there and post a wrap up later today.

Cookies - First Finished Product

We're down to the wire. Today and tomorrow is all I have left to finish the cookies for the cookie sale.

Here are the candy canes:


And here are the stockings:


More to come tonight!