Tagged on Facebook...here are my 25 random things about me just off the top of my head.
1. I get really frustrated trying to figure out simple things on the computer...like writing this? Did I put it in the right place on facebook? Did I do it right?
2.I love the snow! I love to ski, snowboard, snowshoe, throw snowballs and snow cave!
3. If someone else is remembering it or it is written down then I won't remember it.
4.I like to argue.
5.I like butter not margarine or other fake spreads.
6.I hardly ever ever read a book twice...I like suspense and if I already read it then I know what is going to happen next and it isn't as fun.
7.I put lotion on my hands about 6 times a day.
8.I always add water to the 100% juice container when the kids aren't looking, it makes it go further. Last night I added too much and my husband said it tasted nasty and wouldn't drink it. Ha Ha.
9.I look forward to Sundays.
10. I always go 8-10 days overdue. My babies like to bake!
11.My birthday always lands on or near Pres. day so it is like I get a holiday just for me!
12.I don't like to touch dog fur, if I do I wash my hands as soon as possible.
13. I don't mind handling and cooking raw meat as long as I hold my breath.
14. I love to talk. I am working on listening.
15. I have always wanted to go to Alaska.
16. I have never touched warm ocean water.
18.When I was growing up my family owned a small farm and I milked goats twice a day.
19. I am a really good shot with a rifle.
20. I really enjoy learning. I love to teach what I know to others.
21. I went to Wood badge this summer and am working on my two last tickets.
22. We moved in December but I haven't made any new bosom friends yet. (A term used by Anne of Green Gables if you don't know what I"m talking about.)
23. I love to read Jane Austen. I also like fantasy and fiction, but right now I am reading a history book for the new city we moved too and it is just fascinating!
24. I wore braces on my upper teeth for 2 1/2 years.
25. I am turning into my mother and I try to resist but it isn't working!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Incredible Edible? Egg...
Well, sometimes it really gets cold in Utah. Especially in North Logan. We suspect that the poor freezing cold chicken had a very hard night in the old chicken coop and out plopped this.
Amazing. Do you feel sorry for the hen?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The Wedding Cake!
This is a long overdue post about Geoff and Anita's remade wedding cake, by me!
So first they had a reception and Anita's mom's friend made the cake. But long before that my mom planned to have an open house so her ward would get to see the newly wedded couple too. This was scheduled around the 1st of the year a few weeks after they were married. Mom asked me to do the cake. I did a few other cakes for family and they were so much more work then I ever imagined...I was thinking this time around I will do something simple, yet elegant. Fondant! Instead of using my favorite whip cream icing that can only be found in CA I will try a new kind of smooth cake.
I viewed a ton of youtube videos on how to do the fondant, originally called marzipan...it's a type of almond paste. It tastes disgusting, unless you are from Spain or Germany. It is fun to make into all kinds of shapes. It feels like slightly dry play-dough and you can make it any color. It just needs to be smooth without air bubbles for the cake and you have to do it fast or it will dry out. Simple enough, right?
I found it on sale at Michael's and it was also available online or at Walmart but not at such a good price as Michael's if you have their coupon. I also needed a few other tools and stuff for the cake so I saved the coupon each week and bought the needed supplies one at a time at 40% to 50% off. I'm so thrifty!
This is the original cake for the reception (I didn't make it.)...when I saw it I couldn't believe it was almost exactly like I was going to make it! Ribbon on the bottom of each layer and I wanted a topper on the top and maybe a bow. Her colors were green, black and white.
I was talking to Anita's mom afterward when she was just about going to chuck the whole thing...it had three layers, two were made of Styrofoam. Ah Ha! I could just reuse the bottom of the cake. Only the top was real cake and I could make another real cake for the top and change it a bit! Her mom thought that was a great idea and we took it home!
Here are two fake layers. I had to clean it up a bit and I changed the ribbon.
Then I was ready to operate:
The girls helped me make the little balls to match the bottom layer. They made quite a few before we had enough that were relatively the same size.
TA DA! Now three layers...you can't even tell one was added!
The problem was we had to take out all the roses that went up the side of the cake. Then there were holes on that side. I then needed to fill in the holes or cover them. I thought I would add a few flat flowers that I cut out with a little tiny teeny cookie cutter but it looked so tacky. So I needed a ribbon bow to cascade down the side to hide the mess. Only I don't know how to tie ribbon bows that are beautiful. I asked all my sisters and sister in laws and finally my mom said her neighbor used to work as a florist and she would probably tie it for me. She did in less then a minute...perfect!
Then I had these really poky little bride and groom toppers that I found at the dollar store for 60 cents each. They were just so cute I couldn't pass them up! I think she looks like a little Anita and he almost looks like a love struck Geoff. I covered the bottom blue part with the same green ribbon and it looks like it matches.
They are so cute!
.jpg)
The funniest part is the bride is actually allergic to cake and dairy and stuff. So she just pretended to eat it. That was nice of her.
AND after all that fussing and work... the rest was just thrown into the garbage. You can see the Styrofoam layers. And I walked away. The End.
So first they had a reception and Anita's mom's friend made the cake. But long before that my mom planned to have an open house so her ward would get to see the newly wedded couple too. This was scheduled around the 1st of the year a few weeks after they were married. Mom asked me to do the cake. I did a few other cakes for family and they were so much more work then I ever imagined...I was thinking this time around I will do something simple, yet elegant. Fondant! Instead of using my favorite whip cream icing that can only be found in CA I will try a new kind of smooth cake.
I viewed a ton of youtube videos on how to do the fondant, originally called marzipan...it's a type of almond paste. It tastes disgusting, unless you are from Spain or Germany. It is fun to make into all kinds of shapes. It feels like slightly dry play-dough and you can make it any color. It just needs to be smooth without air bubbles for the cake and you have to do it fast or it will dry out. Simple enough, right?
I found it on sale at Michael's and it was also available online or at Walmart but not at such a good price as Michael's if you have their coupon. I also needed a few other tools and stuff for the cake so I saved the coupon each week and bought the needed supplies one at a time at 40% to 50% off. I'm so thrifty!
This is the original cake for the reception (I didn't make it.)...when I saw it I couldn't believe it was almost exactly like I was going to make it! Ribbon on the bottom of each layer and I wanted a topper on the top and maybe a bow. Her colors were green, black and white.
I was talking to Anita's mom afterward when she was just about going to chuck the whole thing...it had three layers, two were made of Styrofoam. Ah Ha! I could just reuse the bottom of the cake. Only the top was real cake and I could make another real cake for the top and change it a bit! Her mom thought that was a great idea and we took it home!
Here are two fake layers. I had to clean it up a bit and I changed the ribbon.
Then I was ready to operate:
The girls helped me make the little balls to match the bottom layer. They made quite a few before we had enough that were relatively the same size.
TA DA! Now three layers...you can't even tell one was added!
The problem was we had to take out all the roses that went up the side of the cake. Then there were holes on that side. I then needed to fill in the holes or cover them. I thought I would add a few flat flowers that I cut out with a little tiny teeny cookie cutter but it looked so tacky. So I needed a ribbon bow to cascade down the side to hide the mess. Only I don't know how to tie ribbon bows that are beautiful. I asked all my sisters and sister in laws and finally my mom said her neighbor used to work as a florist and she would probably tie it for me. She did in less then a minute...perfect!
Then I had these really poky little bride and groom toppers that I found at the dollar store for 60 cents each. They were just so cute I couldn't pass them up! I think she looks like a little Anita and he almost looks like a love struck Geoff. I covered the bottom blue part with the same green ribbon and it looks like it matches.
They are so cute!
.jpg)
The funniest part is the bride is actually allergic to cake and dairy and stuff. So she just pretended to eat it. That was nice of her.
AND after all that fussing and work... the rest was just thrown into the garbage. You can see the Styrofoam layers. And I walked away. The End.
Friday, January 16, 2009
These Three Remain: A novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan
Wow this was the best book to finish the series written as a spin "in" not "off" of Pride and Prejudice but from Darcy's point of view. I had so much fun with it that I pulled out my Austen book or the original P.P. and read about every other chapter going back and forth so I could hear Elizabeth's perspective and then Darcy's with all the small details filled in. He was so in love with her it was amazing he could ever get anything done...his whole life was filled with her in his thoughts and actions.
I think the author did a great job keeping faithful to the people and the events in Austen's original P.P. but adding details of Darcy's life that paint a whole picture!
SPOILERS:
If you remember in the middle of P.P Darcy gets rejected by Elizabeth when he proposes to her while staying with Lady Catherine, his aunt, for Easter. Darcy goes into a depression, treats everyone mean, then gets really really drunk one night...almost makes the worst decision of his life while attending a party of people trying to blackmail him and ends up getting saved by his really good friend that turns out to be a gov. spy! (never heard it like that did you?).
Then Darcy takes a journey of self-discovery as he tires to be the man his father would have wanted him to be and who he always thought he was...a gentleman. He has to come to term with his flaws and over come all the lies in his life about his character. He ends up thinking more about others then just himself and his family. He reaches out to help Elizabeth's little sister, he rights the mistake he made by discouraging his best friend from marrying the person he loved. He takes back some mean words he said to some friends and he confides in his dear sister and treats her like a grown up not a child anymore. He has a really funny Valet, Fletcher which he takes advice from as he quotes Shakespeare too. He puts his pride away and in the meantime Elizabeth is putting her prejudice away as she learns the truth about Wickam the evil, lying, gambling younger sister stealer and as she sees Darcy from a different point of view.
In the end it is "happier ever after" and a sigh of relief as they are finally married.
Whole Book
I think the author did a great job keeping faithful to the people and the events in Austen's original P.P. but adding details of Darcy's life that paint a whole picture!
SPOILERS:
If you remember in the middle of P.P Darcy gets rejected by Elizabeth when he proposes to her while staying with Lady Catherine, his aunt, for Easter. Darcy goes into a depression, treats everyone mean, then gets really really drunk one night...almost makes the worst decision of his life while attending a party of people trying to blackmail him and ends up getting saved by his really good friend that turns out to be a gov. spy! (never heard it like that did you?).
Then Darcy takes a journey of self-discovery as he tires to be the man his father would have wanted him to be and who he always thought he was...a gentleman. He has to come to term with his flaws and over come all the lies in his life about his character. He ends up thinking more about others then just himself and his family. He reaches out to help Elizabeth's little sister, he rights the mistake he made by discouraging his best friend from marrying the person he loved. He takes back some mean words he said to some friends and he confides in his dear sister and treats her like a grown up not a child anymore. He has a really funny Valet, Fletcher which he takes advice from as he quotes Shakespeare too. He puts his pride away and in the meantime Elizabeth is putting her prejudice away as she learns the truth about Wickam the evil, lying, gambling younger sister stealer and as she sees Darcy from a different point of view.
In the end it is "happier ever after" and a sigh of relief as they are finally married.
Whole Book
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Duty and Desire: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan
BOOK 2:
I am hooked on the Pride and Prejudice by Austen and this is just more to feast on. The book is all from Darcy's point of view and what he was doing the whole time he left Elizabeth's town and convinced his best friend Bingly to also.
The whole entire book he is going back and forth in his mind comparing Elizabeth to other ladies he meets, he dreams of her, he thinks of her he obsesses about her and he relies on these memories to help him through a tough decision. She was always the example of good and grounded.
This book has a bit of a twist...in fact it takes on its own adventure/mystery and is somewhat, I think, out of character for the always fair and unreadable tightwad Darcy. He shows emotion and he shares opinions and he almost falls for another girl! Yikes!
Luckily his trusty valet comes to his rescue more then once. They are really quite tight when it comes to confiding in each other about women, his love life, future and what to wear...(obviously the author was a women). It is still interesting and a good read.
The last book in the series should be even better because it will actually have the rest of the story and Elizabeth in it...this book didn't have her there once...only in his thoughts and memories.
Healing Book, Slightly Broken but kind of in a gray area.
I am hooked on the Pride and Prejudice by Austen and this is just more to feast on. The book is all from Darcy's point of view and what he was doing the whole time he left Elizabeth's town and convinced his best friend Bingly to also.
The whole entire book he is going back and forth in his mind comparing Elizabeth to other ladies he meets, he dreams of her, he thinks of her he obsesses about her and he relies on these memories to help him through a tough decision. She was always the example of good and grounded.
This book has a bit of a twist...in fact it takes on its own adventure/mystery and is somewhat, I think, out of character for the always fair and unreadable tightwad Darcy. He shows emotion and he shares opinions and he almost falls for another girl! Yikes!
Luckily his trusty valet comes to his rescue more then once. They are really quite tight when it comes to confiding in each other about women, his love life, future and what to wear...(obviously the author was a women). It is still interesting and a good read.
The last book in the series should be even better because it will actually have the rest of the story and Elizabeth in it...this book didn't have her there once...only in his thoughts and memories.
Healing Book, Slightly Broken but kind of in a gray area.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Sarah by Orsen Scott Card
This was a surprisingly good book. Of course it is fiction but the author tried to keep all the facts from the Bible in there plus give an accurate description of the time and place. Abraham and Sarah lived near Egypt, in Egypt and in the dessert near Sodom and Gomorah during one of the pharaohs reigns and during the destruction of those two greatly wicked cities. Card really got into the head of Sarah and what she was thinking all that time she was barren, couldn't have children yet the Lord had promised her seed to rule for generations after her in the land of Cannan.
The only fault I found was that Sarah was a bit too sensitive to her infertility and obsessed over it a little too much...she must have done so much more in her life that it wouldn't constantly have been on her mind every single day every minute of her life...for almost a hundred years! I think she would have come to terms with it long ago, especially with a wonderful husband like Abraham that loved her no matter what. (But then I am not infertile so I really can't say what was going through her mind...but I would think with enough faith the Lord could heal an aching heart even if it was not being able to have children.)
So I guess I will read the other two books in the series...I'm hooked!
WHOLE BOOK
The only fault I found was that Sarah was a bit too sensitive to her infertility and obsessed over it a little too much...she must have done so much more in her life that it wouldn't constantly have been on her mind every single day every minute of her life...for almost a hundred years! I think she would have come to terms with it long ago, especially with a wonderful husband like Abraham that loved her no matter what. (But then I am not infertile so I really can't say what was going through her mind...but I would think with enough faith the Lord could heal an aching heart even if it was not being able to have children.)
So I guess I will read the other two books in the series...I'm hooked!
WHOLE BOOK
Friday, January 02, 2009
Book List READ in 2008
It is time to reveal the list...did I waste my time or did I read stuff to improve myself and the world around me? Well, to be honest I am a little disappointed with this years list...I can blame it on moving and not having a library card or I don't have my two book groups that I love in CA here in UT and haven't joined one here yet..or that there is just so much junk to read out there in the main steam right now and I gave into temptation. Excuses excuses...Anyway, my goal each year is to read 50 or more books but I have come up short by 2 books this year. If I counted magazines or some more smaller children's books I am way over this goal but I don't count those so I am under. Still I read a lot and had fun!
1,2,3:Addy An American Girl Series book 4,5,6 by C. Port...
4:A Dog's Life by Anne M. Martin
5:Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis *
6:The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
7:An Assembly Such As This (Book 1) by Pamela Aidan
8:A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett *
9:The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett *
10:Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
11:Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne
12:Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale
13:Prince Caspian by CS Lewis *
14:The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis *
15:The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis *
16: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis*
17:Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
18:Boy and Going Solo by Roald Dahl *
19:Sherlock Holmes selected stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
20:The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey *
21:Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
22:Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey
23:Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter *
24:The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
25:The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin *
26:Specials by Scott Westerfield
27:Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
28:Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
29:Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
30:A Series of Unfortunate Events Book 13 The End By Lemony Snicket
31:Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
32:The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
33: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
34: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
35:Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
36:Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
37:Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
38:New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
39:Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
40:Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
41:Out of Nowhere by Ouida Sebestyen
42:Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
43:The Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark
44:Rules by Cynthia Lord
45:Joseph Smith the prophet by Trueman G. Madsen *
46:Aesop's Fables retold by Ann McGovern
47:The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
48:Your Mother Was A Person: A Work In Progress by Louis M. Palmer *
* Are the books I would recommend and read again that I feel were not a waste of time! Sadly out of the whole list there were only 12. *
1,2,3:Addy An American Girl Series book 4,5,6 by C. Port...
4:A Dog's Life by Anne M. Martin
5:Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis *
6:The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
7:An Assembly Such As This (Book 1) by Pamela Aidan
8:A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett *
9:The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett *
10:Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
11:Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne
12:Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale
13:Prince Caspian by CS Lewis *
14:The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis *
15:The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis *
16: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis*
17:Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
18:Boy and Going Solo by Roald Dahl *
19:Sherlock Holmes selected stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
20:The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey *
21:Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
22:Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey
23:Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter *
24:The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
25:The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin *
26:Specials by Scott Westerfield
27:Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
28:Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
29:Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories
30:A Series of Unfortunate Events Book 13 The End By Lemony Snicket
31:Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
32:The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
33: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
34: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
35:Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
36:Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
37:Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
38:New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
39:Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
40:Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
41:Out of Nowhere by Ouida Sebestyen
42:Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
43:The Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark
44:Rules by Cynthia Lord
45:Joseph Smith the prophet by Trueman G. Madsen *
46:Aesop's Fables retold by Ann McGovern
47:The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
48:Your Mother Was A Person: A Work In Progress by Louis M. Palmer *
* Are the books I would recommend and read again that I feel were not a waste of time! Sadly out of the whole list there were only 12. *
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