Wednesday, August 10, 2011

It's 1:00 am and I refuse to go to sleep. I don't know why I'm so backwards. During the day all I want to do is sleep. At night I hate the thought of shutting down. This time of night, when the house is all quiet and dark has become my favorite time of day. (Even though it's night). It's just me and my phone and a million things to look at, read, and write. Without the guilt of thinking I should be doing something else, cause, hello, it's 1:00 in the morning.

I have begun the countdown for school to begin. I love my kids but they are wearing me down emotionally, which wears me out physically, with their constant fighting. And I know when I say constant fighting you picture typical sibling bickering that happens periodically throughout the day. But no. When I say constant, I mean constant. As in all the time. As in they are literally incapable of talking nicely to each other, or even neutrally. I honestly believe it causes them physical pain to be nice to each other. And I reached my breaking point about a week ago. I've tried threats, grounding, guilt trips (you know, that it breaks my heart as a mother that my children hate each other. I may or may not have lied and told them I cry myself to sleep at night over it), sending them to their rooms, forcing them to give each other compliments, you name it. More often than not lately I come hide in my room and take a nap just so I don't have to listen to it for a couple hours. (oh yeah, I used that one, too: "It's your guys' fighting that makes me want to sleep all the time." I really thought that one would work. They hate it when I sleep. Apparently, they hate being nice to each other more.)

We are definitely in the lazy days of summer. After the chaotic whirlwind that was June and half of July, I've simply boycotted anything that requires me to do more than sit and play Angry Birds all day. My greatest accomplishment of the day today (who am I kidding, of the entire summer) was completing the game. Like, 100%, 3 stars on every possible level. You laugh, but I've been working on this for months! It wasn't easy. Is it sad that it's a toss-up between that and being published for the thing I'm most proud of?

Speaking of being published, did I mention I'm writing the book that never ends? "It just goes on and on and on." Not unlike the Energizer Bunny. New release date: April 2012.

For some time now I've noticed my typing on my little iPhone keyboard seems to have slowed down and I couldn't figure out why. I was worried I had some neurological disorder that was slowing my hand-eye coordination. But then I realized what it is, and it's even worse: I have a permanently flattened thumb pad. "Texting Thumb." I'm not even kidding. Before, my thumb could fly around my qwerty like nobody's business and hit every intended key dead on. (I've even won texting wars because of my super-human speed.) But now I have to go slower to make sure I hit the right key with my sausage finger. It totally makes me feel like Homer Simpson when he's trying to push the right button on the phone but he keeps hitting multiple buttons cause his finger's too fat. That's me and my iPhone thumb. So sad.

Which, by the way, is starting to go numb, so I'm gonna call it a night and try to do that thing you do at night called sleep.

Over and out.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Mas Pasteles

I came to put on the cakes I've done since the last time I blogged about them and couldn't believe how many I'd done since then. Wow. So here they all are, in no specific order. Sorry to all of you have seen them already on Facebook. Feel free to avert your eyes if you have.


Sombrero Cake


This cake was for a friend who loves all things Mexican. He was turning 30 and his wife requested a sombrero cake. This cake also happened to coincide with my book deadline, so my sweet husband jumped in and baked all the cakes (8 of them) and carved the sombrero. Then he helped me cover the base in fondant as the Mexican flag and I took it from there. The maracas are fondant and the words are piped out of buttercream.


Macy's Birthday Cake

My daughter was turning 10 and loves turquoise, and the colors that make up turquoise. I saw a cake similar to this on a YouTube video and knew it was the one for her. It is still one of my favorite cakes ever. The top says Happy Birthday, done with my Cricut Cake, and that's wire sticking out of the top with little balls of fondant on them.


Pool Party Cupcakes


My sister-in-law had me do these for my nephew's 5th grade graduation pool party. They were so fun, my first cupcake order. All the toppers are fondant, sitting on buttercream. Pretty self-explanatory.


Treasure Chest Cake

This was my very first official order ever, by a friend from high school for her son's 7th birthday party, a pirate theme. It's by far the most elaborate cake I've ever made. It even has a wooden infrastructure made my my sweet hubby. I could never have made it otherwise. The entire chest is cake (other than the wooden support), covered in hand-painted fondant and filled with chocolate coins, ring pops, and plastic necklaces because I wasn't about to make them. The "sand" is crushed Nilla Wafers and the map is gum paste.


Pool Table Cake

This was also an order from a friend from high school, for her dad's 60th birthday party. This cake was my closest Cake Wreck ever, but--again--thanks to my hubby, I managed to pull it off. (Fifteen minutes before it was due at the party I had a bare, frosted cake still.) For being the near-disaster that it was, I'm pretty proud of my little pool table cake.


BYU "Y" Cake

This was for my 14 year old nephew who loves basketball, loves BYU, but doesn't love fondant. His mother requested a simple, buttercream one-tier cake with a fondant Y. Very easy. He loved it. He even had a tiny piece, even though he doesn't eat sugar. Now that's a compliment!


Soccer Cake


This was an order for a 10 year old girl's birthday who lives for soccer. She wanted a hot pink and purple three-tiered cake with a soccer ball, her name, and a 10 on it. I think I did a pretty good job of realizing her vision. The soccer ball was a first for me, and a huge challenge, but now it's one more thing I can add to my list of things I can do.


Payson's Pool Cake


This cake just makes me smile. It was for my son's 8th birthday party, a pool party. He drew me a picture of what he wanted, that, if I'm being honest, didn't look anything like this does. But he loved it anyway, even sans sharks. All the decorations are fondant, except for the slide and diving board, which are gum paste, and the water, which is buttercream.


MacBook Pro Cake

This was a very last-minute order for a boy's 16th surprise party. He desperately wanted a MacBook (a real one), and that's what his mom wanted for his cake. It. Was. Tricky, and I was disappointed that I couldn't make it silver like she wanted (if ANYONE knows where I can find a silver spray or powder that doesn't smell like death and actually turns things silver, PLEASE!! Let me know!) but she said white was okay too. The desk and Mac are both cake covered in fondant, (the desk hand-painted to look like wood), the Stick-It note and pen fondant, the writing done with a food coloring marker.

Thanks for looking!