Cake Wrecks

 

 

I just stumbled across this hilarious site, cake wrecks.  The site features professional cakes that have well.. wrecked.  It’s the witty comments by author Jen that really made me giggle though! 

Shopping Cart Fail

see more pwn and owned pictures

Happy Birthday Dad

 

My Dad turned 50!  We celebrated with him on Saturday and I’m glad to see that he seems to be in a very happy place in his life.  His fiancé got him a flat screen TV and my brother, sister, and I all went in on a HD DVD player (or something) and a game he wanted.  Neither my sister or I had much money to spend.  She is in the process of buying a house, which is amazing.  We are buying a car, which is exciting.  My Dad is so deserving of good things I wish I could spend millions on him.  He has always gone above and beyond the call of duty with his family.  My Dad is a source of inspiration to me.  I have never known anyone with such self control and selflessness.  All my life he has worked harder than anyone should have to but I have never heard him complain.  He has kept every single one of my cars on the road through sheer determination and through the sacrifice of many a weekend.  He has always had a way with Ara.  When no one could calm her, he would take her and within minutes there would be silence.  My Dad can hold still for longer than anyone!  He is like a safe statue.  Ara knows he will hold her still and silent until she stops, so she just gives up.  He fights the good fight.  I have always known that my Dad would be there for me and I hope that I can do the same for my family.  Happy Birthday, Dad!   I love you.

 

After we did cake (pecan pie) and presents the adults set up the DVD player to enjoy a movie in all it’s high definition glory and I took Ara out front with Joey’s helmet and scooter.  She was a natural right from the start.  I didn’t have to show her how to do anything.  She had fun riding and I had fun running along trying to get a picture of it!  If you look very closely you can see our new white car in the background of the picture! 

I had a more elaborate post planned with videos but I am being attacked by an awful cold so instead I am going to put Ara down for a nap, take some Nyquil and take a nap myself.

*cough*

Woohoo

Pass on the Shuffle

I watched the Mac video introducing the new Shuffle and I had the same thoughts.. just less funny and nalt's-like. I guess no one has told Mac that we HATE the ear buds that come with iPods. No one mentioned to them that the first thing you have to do when you get a new iPod is buy headphones because they ones they provide a) hurt anyone who has ears smaller than an elephant and b) don't stay in your ears at all. Putting the controls on the headphone is such a terrible idea it would have made a funny ironic skit or something. Plus the girl in the video wearing the grey shirt with the grey sweater creeps me out a little.

Craft Store Treasures

 

Ara and I went to a craft store today and I picked up a couple things from the $1 bins for her.  I found this place mat with the Alphabet written on it (lower case on one side upper case on the other).  It came with a dry erase marker that has an eraser on the cap.  The mat went over like gangbusters (hmm.. is that a real saying?).  She said she was “writing down her schedule” which is super dog cute.  We also got new list pads with magnets to hang on the fridge.  I had one that I used for grocery lists but Ara took a shine to making lists too so we needed more!  I also found a foam 3D animal creation kit and a pad of Disney’s Car’s characters that came with little markers.  All for a dollar each!  Woo hoo.  I have way to much fun in craft stores.  I spent a lot of time looking at the cake decorating isle.  I need a lot of equipment but I can’t decide if it would be better to buy individually or as a set. 

I need all things cake! 

I swear every isle in that store sparks my imagination.  I want to buy more beads, a canvas, more paint to use on the canvas, storage boxes, picture frames, photo albums… the list goes on and on.  The only place worse for me is a hardware store (craft stores for the serious people).  I managed to escape with under $20 in items and I have a few little things to keep my Ara’s mind and fingers busy!

 

Ara used the restroom at the craft store!  She still has a lot of worries about falling in and the noise of the flush but her successes are out numbering the times when the fears get the better of her.  Yay!  We were out and about from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm and she went diaperless and carefree the whole time!

Technorati Tags: crafts,craft store,dollar bins,letters,Ara,fluteloop

Thoughts from a Tired Mind.

I purchased a domain from GoDaddy on Tuesday and I still can’t access it through FTP.  And I have made no progress what so ever towards regaining control of fluteloop.com.  I am going to contact the company that is holding it tomorrow. 

I forgot to call Caleb back (sorry). 

We cancelled our cable TV through Cox.  Originally I had a multi line discount that worked out so that the cost of having internet and TV was only $5 more than not having TV.  That changed, however and I’ve watched my bill increase from $50/mo to almost $80/mo.  Finally I had to say, “no more”.  As a side note I hate Cox.  Every single time I have dealt with them I have had comical incompetence and/or rudeness.  From what I gather there is some sort of industry standard for this in the business of internet so I suppose they are just doing their part.  I don’t think I will miss the TV much.  I can always watch on Hulu.com and let’s face it the internet has plenty to fritter my time away on! 

Ara has come down with a cold and has a rattling cough.  I have the same thing.  Sucks.

We have been “test driving” the car we want to buy all week.  Today Ara and I took it in for a brake inspection because the warning light is on.  Brake Master’s quoted me $350 worth of work that needs to be done ASAP.  Hopefully we can have that cost knocked off the price of the car.  I really like the car.  It’s pretty and shiny and… well it’s a car!  I hope everything works out.

March is going by so quickly, the student recital is just around the corner and I have slacked off with my practicing.  (checks shiny spot on her finger) I am losing shininess!

Ok I think I have captured MOST of my random thoughts.  Now I just need them to stay here so that I can sleep!

 

Good night!

Let’s Do Something Good.

A 17 year old boy killed at least a dozen people on a shooting spree at his former school…

 

I don’t want to believe that this is the world we live in. 

 

As we prepare to send Ara to school I am continually reminded that this is indeed the state of things.  Mesh backpacks, metal detectors, elevated levels of awareness, and still it happens.  Doesn’t it?  Why? 

 

I’m going to go tell my daughter than I love her. 

And think some more about home school.

Peek

I've got my yellow eye on you!

Toy inspection

Taking pictures to amuse ourselves while the car gets an inspection.

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Ramped Consumerism

Ara, pretending to buy soda.  She only has pennies so the machine rolls them right back out.   

 

How she has grown!  Comparison pictures March 2008 and 2009.

Parade and School

I saw this Earth Day Festival advertisement on the bus today!  I am going to talk to Ara about it tomorrow.  We get to pick an animal to represent in the parade.  I am curious to see what Ara will want to choose.  Maybe panda bears!

Join the Parade
All species great and small-insects, plants and animals-the Earth needs them all! Dress-up and participate in the “All Species Procession” as part of the Earth Day Parade! Make a banner and tell us how your species is so important to Planet Earth. Are you helping clean the air (trees and plants)? Are you endangered or threatened species? The ice may be melting your home (global warming) or maybe there hasn’t been rain in a while so you are affected by drought or the threat of fire… let us know what we should do to help all species have a green habitat! Parade begins at 10:00 and winners are announced at 11:30.

 

Below are some pictures from our “Tot School” lessons last week!

This was a kit I found at a craft store on clearance from valentines day.  We had a lot of fun putting it together and decorating it with stickers and glitter glue.  Ara was completely engrossed and she was so creative.  Most of the actual construction was a little too complicated but we worked together.  Plus she was so proud of the end result!

 

 

This was water day.  I gave her different sized cups and bowls.  She loved pouring, dropping beads in, and pretending to make a cake.  She wasn’t big on the eye dropper for moving water.  We experimented by filling a cup and then adding beads until it spilled over.  Ara noticed that some of the beads floated and some sank.

 

This tray was filled with food pictures I cut out of grocery ads.  We used glue and scissors to make an “ara’s-favorite-foods” collage.  She enjoyed this for a bit but it didn’t hold her attention like the other trays. 

 

This tray was something I saw on the tot school site except that they used big plastic tweezers to move the balls from the bowl to the tray.  I didn’t have one so I substituted a spoon.  Ara was not interested in this one at all. She does like to play with the puff balls though.

Technorati Tags: tot school,fluteloop,activity trays,earth day,parade,panda bears,endangered animals

March is a good time to say…

Happy Birthday!

March is a crazy birthday month in my family.  My Brother turned 27 last week, today was my nephew (7) and my Mother in Law, and next week we will celebrate with my Dad.

For my Brother Ara made a special cake.  We used a small star shaped silicone cake pan and she did every step (with a little mom help).  She even cracked the egg!  Then she frosted it and added sprinkles.  We managed to stick all 27 candles into Ara’s little cake and she was tickled about it.  I made an extra regular looking cake that we used to back up but it was clear who’s cake stole the show! 

 

For Joe’s birthday he requested a Sponge Bob Square Pants cake.  I have never even attempted a character cake before so I was nervous.  My problem is that I make these elaborate plans and then when it comes down to it I don’t have the time.  I found myself stirring spaghetti sauce on the stove while holding a spatula covered in icing, trying to decide if I could put garlic bread in the oven with the second layer of cake!  I ended up at 2 am sitting at the kitchen table, too tired to think straight, scraping designs off with a toothpick.  It was all worth it though!  When Joe saw the cake today he said, “It looks even more delicious than I imagined”.  What a sweetie. 

My Sister went all out economy style for this party and it sort of made the day even more special and unique.  Everything was home made and just a little different.  She actually made a piñata by papier-macheing (spell check doesn’t know that word) a balloon and then she decorated it like some sort of festive egg!  It was pretty cool.  I think she may have added a few too many layers though because it took quite an effort to take that thing out.  All the kids took turns and then my Sister gave it a try.. then we gave the bat back to Joe and he attacked with a candy-craving-maniacal-glint in his eye.  He started with a downward stroke, breaking the piñata off it’s rope.  Then, once it was on the ground he gave it a few more swift swings with the bat.  As a last resort he used some sort of super wrestling/ninja move where he twisted up into the air and brought his new Heelys down, dealing a final blow.  I have pictures of the whole thing!  Muhahaha!

 

After the party, we had to rush home to change for my MiL’s birthday dinner at the Texas Roadhouse.  Unimpressed by the food and noisy atmosphere over all but it rounded out an eventful Saturday and now, I am glad to be home!

Party

FB Tweets

The Coming Facebook-Twitter Collision

Forget about rivalries with MySpace and LinkedIn. Facebook's real competition is coming from upstart microblogging site Twitter

Interesting story.. is facebook shaking in it's boots? I use both Twitter and FB but I mostly update my Twitter as a way of updating my FB. What a complicated web we weave on the web!

My Twitter: http://twitter.com/fluteloop
My FaceBook: If I gave you this I would have to kill you...

Square Pants!

I will have lots to post about soon... but we are waiting on some answers first.

Today Ara and I did Tot school for the second time and she is loving it! It's so fun. I'm actually not really following the program but I liked the basic ideas. Each day I prepared three trays with activities and let her choose. First she chose a 3D foam project and today she chose the water tray. I took a few pictures but Ara gets grumpy with the camera lately. "Mama NO pictures!" But I loved watching her discover and experiment with the water. I will have more detail when I put the pictures up.

I walked Ara to the grocery store tonight to get supplies for the gigantic Sponge Bob cake Ara and I will be making tomorrow. Oh! I have pictures of the cake she made for my brother too! She did it all, even cracked the eggs.. (I had to fish out the shells though).

I'm tired and not feeling well so I think it's bed time.

Parting thoughts:
I love office supplies!
And my "W" key is hardly working!

Eat Less Meat, says Hank!

It must be YouTube Tuesday? And I must be on a "save the environment" kick today. But I like to watch documentaries on animals and every single one has a message of doom.

Eat less meat, waste less, give a damn. The polar bears, sharks, blue fin tuna, and panda bears need us! I can do this, I don't need to eat meat with every meal. Of course Alex may not love that but Ara won't mind!

Homeless Polar Bear

I feel sad now.

Ara's Imaginary Monsters

Ara(tear streaked face): "There are red guys. Red guys in the trees. The wind is blowing."

Mama: "This is YOUR room, you need to use the magic word so they will leave."

Ara furrows her eyebrows and looks at me trying to understand if I am angry at her.

Mama: "They are afraid of the magic word, do you want to know what it is?"

Ara nods seriously

Mama: (loudly)"Skedaddle! You see they all ran away!"

Ara: "Ski-waddle?"

Mama: "That's right!"

Ara: "I can say ski-waddle and they will be very nervous!"

Mama: "YEAH!"

Ara: "SKI-WADDLE!"

Ara looks thoughtful

Ara: "Mama? Ghosts live in the rectangle (vent) I can say ski-waddle to them and they will run away."

Ara: "And, wolves will run away too."

Ara: "And monsters live in Sesame Street."

We also have skedaddle spray because she thinks the bumps in the plaster are holes that can bite her.

All of this seems to help empower her a little but when it comes down to it she is still a terrified little girl facing her worst imagined fears. Tonight when I went in she was under her covers sobbing and shaking. Her imagination is vivid and to her, the fears are real. I was exactly the same way, and to a certain degree I still am. So I tend to be really lenient with her, I want to make her feel safe and at the same time tell her I believe she can face her fears alone in the dark. Alex sticks to authoritative mode and in the end I think she actually feels safer when he does that instead of coddle her. It has been exhausting though. Our once tried and true bed time ritual has been disrupted and what used to be 30 minutes of story and kisses has turned into a 2+ hour ordeal. The good news is that the child development articles say that she will grow out of it.. in 5 years or so. Ack!