Cake

Those of you that have been reading my blog for a long time may remember that I used to dabble in wedding cake decorating.

You may also remember that I swore I would never be doing weddings again.

I lied.

About a month ago, a friend contacted me about doing her niece's cake, and after a little thought, I decided I would give it a go. It was an opportunity to earn a little income, and in this tight economy, I just didn't feel right turning it down. I was able to give the bride a much better price than she could find elsewhere (for a downright delicious cake, I might add), and I was able to bring home some income for my little family.

Surprisingly, I *almost* enjoyed the process this time. I had forgotten what it was like to bake, assemble, and decorate a cake without a baby in the house. My kids are old enough now that I can send them up to their room to play, or turn on Sesame Street, and they are content to let me focus on my task without too many interruptions.

Don't quote me on this, but I just might hang onto those wedding cake supplies just a little while longer...

Scary Day

Yesterday, I thought that my computer was going to crash. I can't tell you just how fast I worked to make sure all important files were backed up to my external hard drive! All while dealing with strange seemingly systemic errors and stalls and frozen screens.

I don't like it when my computer is being weird.

I was feeling distraught...

and preparing myself for the worst case scenario...

until my Hero, my Knight in Shining Armor, came home and used all of his Super-User abilities to Save the Day...

Discovering, after many Smoke Monster, Shark-Attack, Brink-of-Insanity moments, that it was...

Drumroll, please...





A FAULTY MOUSE.

Sweet

Forget-Me-Nots seem to be springing up in all sorts of "Hey-I-didn't-plant-you-there" places this year. Perhaps that is how they earned their name?

Jack calls them "Forgive-Me Flowers", a mis-interpretation that I just might keep.

Outbid.

I was SO close to buying this oh-so-sweet sampler on ebay yesterday. I really wanted to reproduce it for you.

But I have set an absolute pay limit, and it went over. This time, I wish I had broken my own rule. I try to live with no regrets, but this morning, I am regretting.

The good news is that soon I will be able to offer a reproduction chart of this sampler, which I successfully purchased several months ago...

The chart pack should be ready for a late Summer or early Fall release. This will be my very first true reproduction, and I have 2 more waiting in the wings (or should I say, waiting on my walls?).

Simple Pleasures

What is it about flames? Nothing seems to comfort and warm quite like a flickering (or blazing!) fire.

I look forward to woodstove season all Summer long, and look forward to campfire season all Winter long. The time in-between can sometimes drag on for what feels like forever. Too warm outside to overheat the house with a woodstove, but too cold in the evenings to start a campfire.

With warm days and cool-not-cold evenings this past weekend, we celebrated with the first outdoor fire of the season. Good friends, warm fire... ah, now that's more like it!

By the end of the evening, we were burning on one half while the other half froze, so the art of frequent body turning was being practiced, but no matter. We were in the Great Outdoors, gazing into a pit of flame and coals- I can't think of a more relaxing way to spend an evening.

On a Recent Outing

On a recent sunny day, (it was Mother's Day, to be exact) we went on a little adventure together, just the four of us. It was the perfect weather for a drive in the Columbia River Gorge, so we headed out to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, on the Oregon side of the Bonneville Dam.

This time of year, there isn't a whole lot going on there, since their Spring fish babies have already been released to the wild, but that is okay, because our favorite feature is the sturgeon pond, which is open all year round.

This bottom portion of a Douglas Fir tree has been placed in the pond for habitat purposes, and the old roots have sprouted a new little tree.
The sturgeon pond has a built-in viewing house, where visitors can see what life looks like under the surface.
It was perhaps the best fish-viewing day that I have ever experienced there, with sunlight streaming down through the water, casting light-shadows that played on the floor of the pond and on the backs of the swimming fish (the big one is a White Sturgeon).
I could have stood there for hours, just watching.Oh, and snapping a ridiculous amount of photos, too.But then I was almost eaten by a giant Rainbow Trout.I think Little Miss was more excited about the directional "FIS-IES!" painted on the walkways, than she was about the real ones in the pond.See how much has changed since our last visit.

After getting our fill at the hatchery, we drove a little further East along the Columbia River...to Cascade Locks and a little ice cream joint with a big reputation.This is their "medium" soft-serve cone. My stomach just about blew up after eating the "small".Big Brother thought that the "baby" size was just right. And I thought that our half-day adventure in celebration of Mother's Day was just right.

It was a gorgeous day, my sweet babies had a fun adventure, and I enjoyed watching them run ahead on the walking paths while I blissfully walked along behind, holding my sweetheart's hand.