Big 14!

My nephew had his 14th birthday yesterday. It was a big birthday for a big boy, or should I say 'guy'. He is now over six feet tall and has a big build. He comes by that honestly. My dad and brothers are big guys, and my grandpa was big. His other grandpa is tall, too. John William will be playing football this year. He is what I call a gentle giant, and he does not have a mean bone in his body. He loves to read, and he has his nose in a book all the time! The toughness of football is taking a while to get used to: the running, the weightlifting, etc. I hope he makes it! One of my brothers is the offensive line coach this year for John William's new school, so that is making it easier for him to feel okay about it. The upper classmen are urging him on with positive remarks and by helping him, so that is also a plus. Anyway, we went to Ruby Tuesday's for his birthday dinner and then to his house for cake (the baseball cake that I made).
I visited a different church Sunday, and my aunt and cousin went there with me. After church, I took my aunt out to the birthday party, and she had a good time. She is wearing sunglasses now when she goes outside. As we were leaving the restaurant, I told everyone to look at her new shades. My sister got her to do a 'thumbs-up' and took a picture of her. I am going to add it here. Then at the party, we put a big happy birthday hat on her, the shades, and gave her a pinata guitar to hold. We used to do stuff like that to my mom all the time and had lots of fun.



So, I had a good weekend with family. Family is what it is all about!!

A Saturday Ride

I spent a wonderful day with my daughter, Rachel, today. She came over early this morning and made pancakes. Then, we visited with my dad. I thought it would be nice to take a ride, so off we went. We traveled around downtown and on River Street. We stopped at a little teahouse called The Whimsical Teacup, but there was a baby shower going on in there. The sign said "Open", but there was only one table left open for regular customers. I wanted to stay anyway, but Rachel didn't want to stay. It would have been really crowded when everyone got in there I suppose. So, we left and were going to try Japanese at Hiranho's. That little place was already closed, so we ate at the little cafe next to that restaurant called Clary's and enjoyed our big club sandwiches. Then, we drove out through Isle of Hope, a really pretty part of Savannah. Rachel worked at the Methodist church there for two summers, so she knew her way around the area. When riding around out there, you can see the old South like what you read about in books by Eugenia Price, like the hanging down trees with Spanish moss, the big white houses with big front porches, and of course - the water. I enjoy just riding around that area, as it gives one a sense of calm. After we came home, Rachel watched the World Cup soccer game for a while before going back to her house. Rachel is the most terrific daughter in the world!
I finally finished a cake for my nephew's 14th birthday party. I attempted to make a softball. The pan is in two parts, and I haven't had much luck with three dimensional cakes, but this one worked out okay. I made a football cake for his 8th grade graduation, and I thought a baseball would do the trick for tomorrow. He plays baseball every spring. The cake turned out nice, but the red lines for stitches gave me a fit! I will put a few views of it here.



Yesterday,I attempted to make some pimento cheese spread. It tasted good, but I ate too much of it. The next time I make it, I better not eat all of it!
I took a break for a few hours to make that baseball cake. Now, I can't find my remote control!! What in the world did we do without those things? I am watching a recording of a musical that I was in back in 1995. I am watching it for the second time, actually. I really enjoy doing theatre, but I haven't done anything in quite a few years. Maybe I will get back into it soon. This play that I am watching is called "Working". It is about all sorts of jobs that people have. We all played multiple roles, and it was really fun. This is the first play of mine that I have ever been able to watch. I have never seen myself perform before, so watching this play is a real treat. Also, it brings back memories of all the people I got to know back then. Wow, fifteen years really makes a difference in your life. That time has passed by so quickly. Now, I would be scared that I couldn't remember any lines! I really miss doing theatre. Now that my children are grown and out of the house, maybe I should find a play to try out for and enjoy. I have taken a long enough break, I do believe!
So, I have had a good Saturday. I need to get in that kitchen and clean up all of the 'stray' icing that has found its way to the floor or all over table. Ha! I have quite a bit of washing up to do, so I better get at it!

Summer - Day 3

Here I am again...after being out of school for a few days. I love it! I am not quite sure what I will be doing all summer, but I know that it will be as little as possible! HA! What I mean is...I will not be stressed out by 'having' to be anywhere or do anything that I do not want to do. This is the life, even though it only lasts a couple of months during the hottest part of the year! hahahaha
I may take a few trips to the beach and just sit in the sun, wearing some heavy sunscreen continually. I may just stay home (my favorite thing to do) and figure out how to make that castle cake that I promised to make for my niece's 4th birthday, that is in August. She wants Snow White, so I went to some toy stores yesterday and scoured the internet for a small Snow White figure to use on the cake. I finally found one at Toy R Us. There are not many Snow White things out there. You can find plenty of Cinderella things, though!
I would like to take a day trip to Charleston, SC to visit an old friend. My daughter and her husband left on a spur of the moment trip to Asheville yesterday. I know that I want to go back to Tampa to see my son later in July. He is in Greece right now, and I want to see all of the pictures of his travels. Today was supposed to be a trip to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned. I say 'supposed to', because I ended up not going. I am required to pre-medicate with Amoxicillin, due to a little heart thing, but I am afraid to take any antibiotics any more. I am afraid due to a horrible experience with a horrible allergic reaction that I had to a pill called Avelox that put me in the hospital TWICE in two weeks! So, the dentist office said that they could not treat me without my medication. That is really like a Godsend anyway, because I do not have the money for the visit anyway. Isn't it interesting how things turn out sometimes? The MAIN thing I have GOT to do is buckle down and write my dissertation. I am being really frivolous right now by writing on this blog instead of studying. Oh well, I will get to it when I am ready and can wrap my brain around thinking about it. So, my summer has started off to be really calm and peaceful. I am very lucky and blessed to have my children and the family that I have and for them to all be healthy.
The neat thing about facebook is that you can find people that you knew years ago and catch up with their lives. I have found many old high school friends that I knew when I lived in Germany. Christine and Gary married after high school, and they now live in Georgia. She wrote on facebook yesterday that they lost their 26 year old son during the night to cancer. He fought a brave 8 month battle, but he finally succumbed to that horrible disease. They say he went peacefully in his sleep, so that is a blessing. On the day that my son graduated from college, I wrote a letter to Christine and Gary, because it was their son and my son that I was thinking about that morning. While I was expressing my joy for my son's accomplishments, they were mourning the imminent arrival of their son's last day on earth. Yesterday, it rained here in most parts of Georgia. They have written that when they heard the thunder and the lightning, they knew it was Justin telling them that he had arrived in heaven and he was at peace. I think it is interesting that his mother wrote that, because while it was raining here, I was thinking that the rain was tears from heaven. They were joyful tears telling everyone that Justin is at peace and free of pain. So while I am having a great few days of summer, my friends are having to exerience the loss of their son. They will be spending the summer learning how to live without him, to fill their days with memories of him, and to be at peace with the fact that he is now with the Lord and will no longer be their little boy here on earth.
I didn't really mean to end on a sad note, but I am thinking of my friends and Justin today. My son is away having the time of his life traveling in Europe and Greece. I am so lucky and blessed that he is still with me on this earth, and that he is able to have this special time during his young years.
So, summer is here bringing all sorts of experiences and thoughts. I hope the next few months will continue to be peaceful and calm and that we all will experience wonderful times together with our families.

Great Fathers

Hi there,
I had a wonderful day with my daddy and my two brothers, all who are great fathers! My daddy became a father in his mid 30's, and he has been a wonderful father and provider. Daddy was a career military man in the Air Force, and he had to be away a lot. He was stationed in Germany when I was born, and he did not get to see me until I was 9 months old! During my young years, he was stationed in what he calls North Africa, in Morocco, and he served in the Vietnam War. At other times, he was sent various places for temporary duties on what the Air Force calls TDY. Although he was away for a year and a half, or longer, each time he was gone, we had a wonderful family life, and he has always been a terrific, caring Daddy. There are four children in my family, and my Daddy has always been supportive of each one of us. He lives for his children and his grandchildren. We are what his life has always been about, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. My two brothers had a terrific role model in what a real father should be. They are now fathers themselves, and they also live for their children. Both of them had children a little later in life, just like my Daddy.













One brother is 50 and has a 3 year old and a 1 year old, soon to be 2 and 4! He has always wanted to be a dad, and he finally has his little girl and boy. He loves being a dad, and he is extremely loved by both of his little ones.



My other brother has a soon to be 14 year old, 6 foot something boy and 2 girls, soon to be 10 and 12, and they are his pride and joy. He works very hard to provide everything that he can for them, especially his love and his time.



My brother in law is also a wonderful father. He has always worked very hard to provide for his family. My niece and nephew have grown to be great adults, under his fathering influences.



I have had some terrific uncles who also proved to be wonderful fathers to my cousins, and they always influenced their childrens' lives in positive ways. These men stepped up many times to help my mom, when my Daddy was stationed overseas. My Uncle Marvin was here in Savannah when I was born, and he took on the fatherly role until my Daddy came home from Germany. My great uncle, Bubba, was a father to my mom and aunt during their lifetime. He was a wonderful person. My Uncle Ralph, Daddy's brother, never had children, but he was a fun uncle. My Uncle Johnnie was also great provider and father for my north Georgia cousins.

I am so proud to say that my Daddy and my two brothers are the epitomy of what a real father should be. They love their children, they love their wives, and they put their families as their top priorities.

So, there is the story of the fathers in my life. I anticipate that my son, my son in law, and my nephews will all become terrific fathers as well, when their time comes. With the wonderful influence and and role model of my awesome Daddy, they could be no less than wonderful fathers themselves!!

Summer Vacation - Day 1

Hello,
What did I do today? Absolutely nothing!! Today was my first official day of summer. I went to the grocery store last night for eggs to use for baking, and I came home with eggs and a pound of bacon. That bacon was to be my celebration on the first day of summer. Yes, I have high cholesterol and should not be eating bacon, but I splurged for a day. What else did I have for breakfast? Coffee and a piece of bread...Now wasn't that a healthy breakfast!! I should not admit how many pieces of bacon I ate, so I won't!!
I also bought some raw peanuts and boiled them. A man at the store told me that his secret is to put a bit of butter in them, so I tried that. It made them taste good, but I think I will just stick to putting salt in and nothing else. I ate a lot of boiled peanuts last night and some this morning.
Whew, I think I have had enough now.
Tomorrow, I must write some on my dissertaion. My advisor is rather put out with me, I do believe. I have done nothing all year. I was sick a lot during the year, including two hospital stays, school was not so great, and I just had no energy or interest in doing anything studious. Well, that has got to stop, and I must get busy writing - or I will be in big trouble.
So, what else did I do on my first day of vacation? I actually watched the Young and the Restless on television at its regular time rather than on the internet at 6:30 p.m.! That was a treat in itself. The characters of the Foster family came back on this week: Snapper (aka David Hasselhoff), their mother, and Greg (aka Wings Hauser). The family was reunited to be together furing their mother's final moments on this earth and to learn who Jill's real family is. (She found out a few years ago that she was adopted, you see). We will find out Monday about her real family, I suppose...CLIFFHANGER!!!!
So, I helped myself to a day of nothing, and it sure was fun. A friend of mine called a little while ago to invite me to a showing of a new movie about John Wesley. It is only here in Savannah for one show, and since we are Methodist, she thought it would be fun to see it. John Wesley started Methodism here in Savannah, Georgia, by the way. June Lockhart is playing Susannah Wesley (his mother), and it will be good to see her onscreen again. Do you remember her in Lost in Space? I will let you know how it is. The movie is showing at an old, historic theatre downtown, called the Lucas, that has been redone, and it is right down the street from a famous Savannah ice cream shop called Leopold's. Maybe we will stop by for ice cream afterwards! So, my first day of summer vacation will end with a nice movie and a good scoop of ice cream! This is turning out to be a great first day of summer vacation!!

Cakes

I haven't been much of a blogger lately. Since summer is fast approaching, maybe I will have more time to do this. I have made a few cakes that I would like to share. My cameras are all on the blink, so my phone camera has to do the job for me. Sometimes, the colors aren't as clear, but the pictures are okay.
The first fondant cake that I did myself was for my son's college graduation. I made a fondant cake in the class, but it was the model that everyone made. Using fondant is really easy. If you can roll and mold play dough, then you can mold and use fondant!!



Adam was a Marine Science major, so I wanted to do an ocean cake. As I was coloring the fondant, I noticed that it was getting a marble effect. So, I left the marbleized look and used it for the ocean. My daughter came by, and she helped me create some of the designs. She made a boat to put in the water. Then, she thought about putting a sleeping Adam in the boat! That was a clever idea, since fishing can sometimes take hours! She made a big brown hat and put it sideways, like as if it was covering his face. Then, she used a toothpick for a fishing pole. I found my kite string, and we made the fishing line. My dad came over and asked where the hook was on the fishing pole. He thought we should use a big hook. So, we got a really BIG hook and put it on the cake. I had some fish of all kinds and colors that we put in the water. I cut out fondant letters for the writing. Then, I used some gold shimmer dust to create the illusion of the salt in the waves. I also made the letters SSU to put on the boat. These letters had two meanings. One: the name of the boat S.S.U.(meaning YOU, Adam); Second: the name of the university - Savannah State University. I thought that was clever, too! HA!

I also made a Graduate Cake, with his school colors, diploma, and honor cords.


Mother's Day was the day after the graduation, so I recycled the big cake into a Mother's Day cake! I took off the fondant and made more regular icing to put on it. I made little pearls around the bottom, and then I made drop strings. I also made roses. I think it ended up looking very pretty. My phone camera does not show the bright pink very well, but you can see the details.



The next celebration was my sister-in-law's birthday. She had been in the hospital 29 out of 39 days, and I thought she deserved something special. They didn't really celebrate with a big party, because she had just gotten out of the hospital on her actual birthday. I made a four layer heart shaped cake! She turned 44, so I made one layer for each 11 years. HA! The cake was french vanilla, by request. I can only find that particular flavor at ONE grocery store in town. I made that flavor cake last year a couple of times, and she liked the taste. It is a nice change from a regular white cake, and is rather unique in taste. She asked for a heart cake like I made for the celebration we had in February remembering my mom. I made a bright pink layer, a white layer, a green layer, and a light pink layer. The trim was done in a shell border. The cake ended up looking pretty good. I made roses, too. I used the leaf tip for the green border, so it kept the flower look.



My nephew just graduated from the 8th grade, and he will be going to high school next year. He has decided to try to play football, much to his father's and his uncle's delight (they both played football and rugby). So, I made him a football shaped cake. I didn't do a graduate cake this time. I thought he would like the football. I made chocolate icing. Even the grass was chocolate, because I forgot to leave some white icing out to color! So, I colored the chocolate icing with green, and it worked out really well.



On the day that I made the football, I also made a french vanilla cake to keep at home. I always take my cakes places, and then I do not have any to enjoy! I played around with this cake and made purple icing for a change. It seems that I always make PINK icing! Anyway, I made a nice shell border at the bottom and a star border at the top. Then, I put star flowers on the top and sides of the cake. It looks very pretty. I don't usually get a chance just to play around with a design, because I am usually making cakes for a family event.



I hope you enjoy looking at my cakes. I will try to be much better at blogging during the summer.

I have a request for my niece's birthday in August. She likes Snow White. I have the fantasy castle kit that I am going to try to make for her birthday. I must practice first, though. I have until August to learn how to make it, so I might post some 'trial run' pictures, as I practice. I need to find some Snow White pictures, too, so that I can add her into the castle theme.
I hope you all have a great day!