Post Surgery Update

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Hair-Raising Day....

Yes, I got my hair done. No, I'm not doing the happy dance quite so much anymore. May I just say that I miss my friend Candy who used to do my hair? I mean I really, really, miss her! That said, I guess it's not horrible. It's just a bit more "hip" than I am. It's not so much "frosted" as it is streaked. It looked pretty good when it was wet, but once she dried it, it became a LOT more platinum and a LOT more stripey than I really like it.

And the cut is just weird. The idea was to trim off about 3 inches and then add some long layers to frame my face and give me some more options when I wear it up... The reality is that there is a distinct line across my hair separating the longer section from the shorter section...sigh.

On the brighter side, the man likes it. When I told him that I hated it, he said, "I think it looks good. It looks, you know, kinda like the way they do it now. I actually like it...a lot. It's kinda s*xy." And THAT ladies is why I married that man....well, that and the fact that he makes pretty babies and has great legs!

As for the continuing saga of my kidney surgery...yes, we're having it as planned, however, two different people wimped out and cancelled theirs, so mine got moved up and I have to be at the hospital at 6:00 IN THE MORNING!!! Have I mentioned that I'm not exactly a morning-type of person? Well, I'm not. And all I've got to say is that they are very lucky that they will be providing me with an hour or so of deep uninterupted sleep, or I would totally rebel! Yes, I am looking forward to the sleep. I am not looking forward to when they will forcibly wake me from said sleep and make me go home. You would think they would take pity on the poor mother of 4 kids and let her get a little extra sleep in! Then again, they charge by the half-hour, so I guess it's a good thing that they will wake me up and force me out!

One thing you can all pray for (besides the obvious-a successful outcome to the surgery) is that the payment will go through in the morning. Today, the insurance company was having issues with their computers and the payment wouldn't go through even though I have the money in my account there. If it doesn't go through tomorrow morning at 6:00am, I will have to find another method of payment BEFORE I can have my surgery. I don't know about you, but I don't keep $1200+ dollars in my purse...or in my bank account for that matter! So, I'd appreciate any prayers that it will all work out in the morning as planned.

Now, I need to get to bed. I have a lot to do tomorrow before I go in, and I'm in too much pain to do any of it now, so I'll crash for now and get up early in the morning to get stuff done before I go. And hopefully I'll be feeling a whole lot better and be relatively pain free in a day or two. :)

I don't know if I'll be back to update tomorrow or not, and I don't know if the place we are going for the weekend will have internet access or not, but I'll update as soon as I possibly can to make sure you all know how the surgery went and, of course, to post a picture of my hair...such as it is!

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig...

Well, we made it home while it was still technically yesterday. :) We were just having so much fun that it was hard to leave!

On the kidney surgery front, you may be interested to know that once I got home, I tried to call the various employees of the various hospitals/doctor's offices, etc. that called ME a bazillion times at least 3 times a day while I was gone, to try to get me to pay my bill, because, you know, they need to make sure they get their money before I go under...just in case. Anyway, I called twice to pay those bills, since I don't want anyone who might be holding a knife to be angry with me, :) but all I got was put on hold and then hung up on...I guess they don't need that money so much after all... AND I still haven't heard the radiologist's report on the whole matter. I think tomorrow I'll call and make sure we're actually going through with the surgery, and then I'll try to pay for it.

Now, I have a little personal business to take care of if you don't mind...I have been checking my sitemeter, mapstats, etc. over the past few days to see who is visiting me here in bloggy land, 'cause the site meter says that I get about 20-30 people a day, and yet I have only 1 or 2 comments......ahem! So, I was just checking on all you lurkers out there, and I discovered that someone from East Grand Forks, Minn. has been here recently....now honestly, that has to be a relative of mine. Who else in East Grand Forks would read this thing? SOOOOO, someone needs to own up and leave a comment to let me know you're here, because seriously, the curiosity is getting the best of me...and you KNOW what happened to that cat!!!

Now, sadly, that's about all I have to say...how sad is that? I didn't make any cakes today. I didn't take any pictures of the kids being cute today. And nothing remotely amusing happened around here today. Sigh. I think I'm going to give it up for tonight and go to bed. I am finally getting my hair cut and highlighted tomorrow... *doing the happy dance*... and I fully intend to update my profile picture with my newly highlighted do as soon as possible. Maybe I'll even put on my chef's coat for the picture and be all professional about it...LOL!

So, tomorrow promises to be a little better, blog-fodder-wise...and who knows, I might just get ahold of someone from the surgery center who wants to take my money! I'll be sure and let you know about that when it happens!

In the meantime, keep praying for Kelli, and Heather, and Baby Ethan. They are all still in the middle of their battles. And as always, thanks for stopping by...

Weekend Wind Up

Well, it's time for the Weekend Wind-Up even though since it's a holiday, the weekend is not technically over...

The graduation party went well for the boys. My sister-in-law gathered a bunch of pictures of them growing up, and I made a photo slide show of them with Wayne Watson's "Watercolour Ponies" playing in the background. It made me cry and they aren't even MY kids! I'd upload it for you, but I don't think my sister-in-law is too keen on the idea of putting her babies out there for strangers to look at! LOL!

And then there was, of course, CAKE!



It was a combination of chocolate layers and white/vanilla layers. YUM! And, yes, the cap on the top is made of cake, (the mortar board is cardboard covered in fondant) but that is a real tassel off of one of the boys' graduation caps. It was sooo hard for me to decorate a cake in Aggie colors, being the devout Longhorn fan that I am, but alas, those were their high school colors, so I bit the bullet and did it...sigh.

That was about it for the weekend...graduation and cake!

Although, my boy, Dario Franchitti did WIN THE INDIANAPOLIS 500!!! I was soooo excited about that! And sad that my other boy, Jeff Gordon, got wrecked in the Coca-Cola 600 later that evening...although Kyle Petty finished 3rd and if any of you follow NASCAR, you know how funny that truly is...and it made me VERY happy! I like Kyle. I can't remember the last time he finished in the top twenty, so every week, while I'm hoping Jeff wins the race, I'm quietly cheering on Kyle, hoping he breaks out of the 30's...I was tickled pink to see him finish THIRD last night!!!

And we aren't even going to discuss my Spurs...they let me down, and little Dave was even wearing his Spurs suit...they've never lost before when he wore his Spurs suit...I'm so very disappointed. (Even though he just got it, and had only worn it once before....still, we were on a roll. LOL!) I haven't even heard how my Astros did over the weekend...I know they lost at least once...sigh. So, if it weren't for Dario, it would be a sad weekend for me, sports-wise. Oh well, hopefully this week will be MUCH better all around!

So, today we head back home. I'll start tackling the house and trying to get things washed, and packed for our trip next weekend, as well as cleaning and scrubbing as much of the house as I can before my surgery...which I am assuming is "a go" since I've had multiple phone calls from the various doctors, surgical centers, etc. calling to get me to pay for it all ahead of time....you know, just in case I don't make it through the surgery...at least they'll have their money!!! As you may recall, we were supposed to be waiting on the final report from the radiologist as to whether or not the surgery was going to do me any good...and of course, that is the one person I haven't heard from yet! Sigh...

So, the next time I talk to you all, I'll be back home...on my own couch...sipping my own Diet Coke...ahh, bliss....

Everyone have a GREAT Memorial Day, and remember to pray for all the families who are mourning the loss of their soldiers today. Freedom, isn't free, is it?

A Few Quick Pics for You

Hello Bloggy Friends! In case you haven't figured it out, I'm out of town this week. I am in the lovely town of Magnolia, TX (near Houston) celebrating the High School graduations of two of my nephews by...you guessed it....BAKING CAKES!!!

Before I left, I made this one for J's "End of the Season Soccer Team Party". Kids just love pictures of themselves on cake!



And the day that we left, I delivered these three bouquets to my friend Heather. They were for her kids' teachers on the last day of school.





And once I got here, I made THIS for my sister-in-law's father for his birthday. He is visiting from Indiana for the graduation, and he likes John Deere, so we made a green and yellow tractor cake!




Today, I have baked the 5 layers for the graduation party cake and they are all chillin' in the freezer. I have also cleaned up my mess in the kitchen, and am now headed upstairs to clean up my kids' mess before other family members start arriving for the graduation. (Why is it always easier to clean someone else's house? It seems like it should be easier to clean your own, but I'd MUCH rather clean someone else's house than my own!) LOL!!

Anyway, I'll be here for a few more days, but will post pictures of the graduation cake when it's all finished. And Lisa, I tried to answer your email...and some other newbies who sent comments, but while I am able to receive email here without any problem, I'm having difficulties with the sending of the email. So, if you haven't heard from me...THAT'S WHY!!! I'll catch up on all my comments when I get back home...

Thanks for stopping by.

Scan Results

Hello everyone. I know you are all on the edge of your seats wondering how my scan went...

Not as well as I had hoped. I was hoping to hear "Oh yes, there is a big, giant stone in each kidney, and we'll just go on it and take those out." Unfortunately, what I got was, "Well, with the naked eye, I can see that there are definitely stones in the kidneys, but we don't see anything large blocking the tubes. We'll have to wait for the radiologist to read the scan and let us know if there are some smaller ones in there or not." And then, when I asked about the calcifications on my kidneys, I got this, "Well, there are a lot. I'm not going to comment until we hear from the radiologist who will compare them to the last scan. He will be able to tell us if there has been any change. I just know there are A LOT of them."

So, I'm still waiting...he kept my surgery scheduled for next week pending the report from the radiologist. Really, if there are stones in the kidneys, I'd just as soon have them go on in and take them out before they try to pass and send me into a Vicodin eating frenzy. Also, if there isn't anything blocking the kidney flow, then we have to look elsewhere for the cause of the pain and other symptoms. I don't know if just having hardened kidneys would make them hurt or not. I do know that while all of my symptoms are common with stones, they are also common with chronic kidney failure. I'm obviously NOT in acute kidney failure right now, but chronic kidney failure means that I would be losing function a little at a time. That is also one of the possibilities with the kidney disease that I have. I had thought that with the medication and new diet, we had caught it in time. I guess we're going to find out whether or not that is true.

If the calcifications on my kidneys have increased, then we don't have things under control. I have another full kidney function test scheduled for the middle of June and that will tell us if my function has dropped off at all. In the meantime, I'm still just waiting. I'm still hurting, but it's more of just an aggravation at this point. It's been way worse many times before. The swelling goes down if I stay off my feet...HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But the numbness in my hands isn't as bad as it was, so that's a good thing.

Well, I'm off to get my very busy day started, and to drink some water! I'll update when I know more.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Big Shocker...

Well, I had planned to stop in here for just a minute to give you the weekend wind-up and let you know that I may be MIA for a day or two while I try to get way too much stuff done in a very small amount of time...but then, I signed on only to discover that this is my 100th post! Wow, that's a whole lot of writing for someone with nothing to say except that the house is a mess, and the kids are driving my crazy, but, hey, I baked a cake, look!

So, I thought I would commemorate this occasion by FINALLY posting those 7 random things about me that you are just dying to find out....oh, you are going to be sooo disappointed....

1. My first record purchase ever was "Billy Don't be a Hero" by Bo Donaldson on a, um, 45. And in the interest of full disclosure, I also bought David Soul's "Don't Give Up on Us Baby", also a 45.

2. I have a BA degree in Bible Theology.

3. I actually LOVE to clean...really, I'd be steam cleaning carpets and scrubbing floors on my hands and knees in a heartbeat...if I didn't have to pick up all the STUFF first! I love to clean stuff, I HATE to pick up stuff. I go from one activity or project to another, and tend to leave out the stuff from the first project to be dealt with later...eventually, the stuff takes control and I must stop all other activities to regain control. Once things are in control however, I tend to vacuum the living room at least once a day, and mop the kitchen EVERY time something gets on it, even if it is 3 times in one day! I know, I'm a total paradox, but I like cleaning things that aren't dirty. Once it gets dirty, it's so much more unpleasant, I tend to put it off until I'm in danger of losing the kids to Child Protective Services!

4. I own a DVD copy of Lisa Whelchel's first movie, "The Double McGuffin" AND a copy of her record album (this one is a 33 LP by the way).

5. I used to want to write and publish my own curriculum for Kindergarten thru Third Grade...now, I look for the curriculum with the least amount of teacher prep! Our current curriculum is on the computer, so it even grades it for me, and produces a report card all by itself!

6. I paid for my last 3 years of college tuition and room/board with a singing scholarship, and got to travel around the southeastern United States singing with the "Trinity Singers". We even got to sing on a 5 day cruise through the Caribbean the summer after my senior year.

7. You know how some people are starters, but not finishers, and some people are slow getting started, but finish well? I'm a middler. I hate to start anything. The thought of getting up and cutting out 3 dozen cookies later today is putting me in a funk...however, once I start something, I really enjoy doing it. Even dishes, and laundry. I'll be washing dishes, or folding laundry and think to myself, why did I put this off for so long? Or I'll be decorating a cake or cookies and wish I had nothing else to do all day. But then comes the finishing, doing the dishes AFTER baking the cookies, putting away the dishes after getting them washed, putting away all that clean and folded laundry...I HATE all of it. So, if I could find someone who would start my projects for me, and then come in and finish them up...well THAT would be a match made in heaven!

So there you have it, and if you haven't done this particular meme yet, consider yourself tagged, and be sure and leave me a comment, so I can come and check out your list!

And now, because I think some of you may revolt and not visit me again if I don't post the pictures of this weekend's cakes, I'll go ahead and do that now.

Here is little D with his birthday cake. I know, I know, it's way too plain. But really, we were in the middle of a baseball tournament, I had four other cakes to do, and this was just for his actual birthday with just his brothers and sisters. I make Thomas Cookies for his little party at the park on Saturday. Besides, he didn't give a flip about the cake. He just LOVED that little Thomas that actually rode around on that track on top of the cake. Believe me, it was the perfect cake for the little man!



And here are the roller skate with the rainbow wheels for a little girl's skating party, the diaper for a diapers only shower, and the cowboy hat for the little boy's western party (complete with horses in their backyard I might add). I forgot to take a picture of the back of the hat which had that twisted rope thing tied in a knot and hanging off the brim.





And now, if there are any men reading this...you will probably want to run, run from the computer, NOW! I will not be posting this cake on my regular website where people go to order my cakes, however, I knew you ladies would want to see it. This cake was made for a friend who was giving a "Coming Out Party" to another lady who was having a hysterectomy after years and years of problems. They wanted to lighten up the experience for her and give her some good memories of the whole thing to counter the pain and sorrow that will inevitably rear their ugly heads. So, I agreed to make the cake...and this is a first for me, but honestly, I had fun with this one! And the next time someone wants to know 7 random things about me, I can say, "Well, I once made a uterus cake, complete with ovaries!!!



And now, I really must be going. I have a very full week with a To Do List a mile long, and in exactly 2 hours, I'll be in a CT machine having my insides scanned to check my kidneys for blockages. If one is found, I will have surgery in a little less than two weeks to remove said blockage and have a stint put it for who knows how long...ugh. However, a blockage is really the best case scenario. If there is no blockage, then we must look elsewhere for the cause of this pain, swelling, numbness etc. Really, as much as I hate them, kidney stones would be the best thing.

Anyway, I'll be a bit scarce at least for today and tomorrow. (I'll do a quick post later when I know the results of the scan, just so you're not all wondering....I hate not knowing stuff, so I figure you do too!) But I'll be back on Wednesday or Thursday for sure with a list of all I'm sure I will have accomplished by then and pictures to prove it!

Thanks for stopping by, and yes, I'll take any prayers you choose to send up on my behalf. :)

The End of an Era...

This is my favorite picture of my tiny little man. Exactly 2 years, 4 hours, and 13 minutes ago...that is what my little David looked like...

He was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 18 1/2 inches of perfection. I had lost two babies and undergone surgery for endometriosis on my way to having this little bundle of joy in my arms. And may I just say...worth every single second of it! He is my last baby, and although I am looking forward to watching him grow and change, and become the man that God has planned for him to be, I'm going to miss that little lump of snuggly goodness that he once was and will never be again. He is two years old today and officially no longer a baby...but all you mothers out there know that he will always be MY baby. They all are.

Just for fun, (and 'cause I didn't have a blog back then on which to display such things) here are some pictures of him on his very first birthday when he was still very, very bald, and didn't quite have the mouth full of teeth that he now sports with pride!




And this year...desperately in need of a haircut! (Even daddy asked if he was going to get one for his birthday!) Here he is in his birthday chair although he is more interested in his Thomas balloon than in smiling for my picture!





And, yes, if you were wondering, he will be getting some of those Thomas the Tank Engine cookies that I made a few weeks ago...I'm a bit overwhelmed at the thought of it, but I keep telling myself that I only need to make 2 dozen this time, not six!

He will be getting the cookies for his party at the park on Saturday. Today, he will get a cake. It won't be fancy, but it will have a real Thomas train and track on it and Thomas will actually ride around on the track on top of the cake. I think he'll love it!

Now, I just had to share with you his gift from his biggest brother.



Benji worked and worked around the house to earn money, and he actually saved it, to buy this for his baby brother's birthday. He was still about $7 short, but has promised to work off the rest this week, so I spotted him the $7. For him to have saved $18 without changing his mind and spending it on himself, is HUGE, so I decided to help him out.

Maddie worked hard too, and got a set of Thomas the Tank Engine dishes for her baby brother's birthday. They can be so sweet sometimes! It makes me all teary-eyed when they do stuff for each other like that.

Okay, well it is time to get to work around here. I still have four cakes, 2 dozen cookies, and 7 cookie bouquets to finish as well as David's birthday cake and 2 dozen cookies. Oh yes, and we're having roast with potatoes and carrots tonight, so I need to get it into the crockpot! I told you I planned to actually cook this week! I let each kid pick a meal, so last night we had french toast with canteloupe. That was Jon's choice. Tonight's roast was my choice, but I chose it because I know David likes it, and it is his birthday after all! His choice would have been cookies, bananas, and the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms, (he doesn't care so much for the cereal part) but the very idea of it puts me into a sugar coma, so I chose roast instead!

I'll be back with cake pictures for your viewing pleasure. And I'm STILL working on the 7 Random Things Meme...it's not as easy as you might think!

I just HAD to tell you about...

...the sign posted on the door of Target this afternoon. It said, "Manual door is out of order, please use automatic door." Can we just let that sink in for a second? The door that you PUSH open with your own brute strength, is on strike, but the one that has to open itself just because someone walked up to it is more than happy to take up the slack!

Okay, that's it for now. I just needed to share that bit of insanity with the bloggy world. And now, I need to get to bed...after I eat and take my pills that is...sigh. Oh, and I've been tagged by two different people to post 7 random things about myself that you don't already know, so hopefully I'll find some time to do that tomorrow in between the kids, cakes, dishes, and laundry...not to mention the vacuuming, and mopping!

Good night for now, and for all of those of you that haven't received any comments from me on your blogs lately...I'll try to rectify that as well!

Weekend Wind Up Part 2--Mother's Day

Well, the daisy cookies were a hit with the girls...and the moms!

And now, for the rest of my weekend wind-up...

For Mother's Day I made this for my mom, who likes apples and has her entire kitchen decorated with apples...even the wall paper is apples! I also gave her a copy of the "Glory Revealed" CD that Boomama has been raving about over at her place because I bought one for myself, and liked it so much that I bought one for my bible study leader as a gift on our last night, and she liked it so much that she bought one for someone else, and I thought my mom would probably like it too...so it just keeps going and going and going! I also gave her a copy of "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" that I heard about from Sarah at "In the Midst of It" and listened to on CD with my kids who loved it, and we just thought grandma would love it too!

I made this one for my mother-in-law, who loves flowers. Along with this we gave her a hanging basket with three different colors of impatiens in it, and a gift card to Sears Grand where she can get more plants, or clothes, or groceries, or movies, or whatever she wants!

We had Mother's Day dinner at my mom's house with my grandmother. I haven't seen my grandmother since I was very young...maybe 8 years old or so... I can't even remember it's been so long! My parents just moved her down here from Montana. I know the heat will be a big change, but being with family will be good. We had a great time Sunday visiting with her. She has no hearing trouble, so there was no shouting, or repeating of anything, over and over. We got to just talk and laugh together. And although her eyes get tired when she reads for long periods, her eyesight is excellent as well, so we were able to show her the photo-slideshow that I had made for my dad, her son, for his 60th birthday last year. It was a photo journal of his life and was lots of fun to watch again. At dinner, Grandma was concerned that the ladies at the nursing home had sent the wrong version of TUMS for her to take with her meal. It was supposed to be Extra Strength, and they sent Regular. (Yes, she could tell just by looking at the pill!) But when my mom offered to give her two, she immediately said, "No!! I hate 'em!" Which made us all laugh, and forced me to re-tell this story from my sister from another mother, Lisa, over at The Preacher's Wife regarding the dangers of mixing antacids with diet sodas. Everyone got a kick out of that one. Thanks Lisa!!!

And, since I know you are all wondering...

This was my gift for Mother's Day. This pot usually sits to the right of my front door, and for 10 years it held my "ficus benjamina", known around here as "The Benjamin Tree" which the man and I bought when we brought our little Benjamin (Benji) home from the hospital. It endured many freezes throughout the years and always came back in full force the next spring. However, the winter of 2005-2006 was just more than it could stand, and it never came back. I have been looking at that empty pot by my door every day with a very sad heart. So, when I saw these hibiscus trees a few weeks ago, I told young Benjamin that I wanted one for Mother's Day to fill my empty pot. And lo and behold, Sunday morning, I walked up to my front step to find my pot filled with a beautiful hibiscus tree in full bloom! I really should have taken the picture on Sunday because it had eight beautiful blooms on it. You can see from the second picture that it will have many more in the next few days. I'll be sure to post another picture if it gets lots and lots of blooms all at once again.

So that is it for this edition of the Weekend Wind-Up...better late than never, right?

And now, it is time to hit the list for today! Yesterday, we took out M's toddler bed, and D's baby bed and put in a new twin bed for them to share until he is big enough to join the big boys. Today, we have to go and buy bedding for it. We had one set of sheets for it, but no spread, or shams or anything like that. So, we'll be picking that up along with a rail to keep the little man from falling out while he's sleeping. I also need to get supplies for the 4 cakes, 2 dozen cookies, and 3 cookie bouquets I have on my plate this week. Oh yeah, and the grocery store hasn't seen my face in quite some time what with the whole, way too many cakes and cookies to make in one week, and then the plague which hit immediately after. Although the children are perfectly content to eat Burger King, McDonald's, and Taco Bell for two weeks straight...I am not. Therefore, I intend to hit H.E.B. and make some good, old-fashioned, home made meals for my family this week!

I'll be back with pictures of the cakes and cookies along the way, and maybe even a post or two...in my spare time, LOL! See you soon!

The Enemy is at the Gate!

UPDATE****Little Ethan has taken another bad turn. This time it's an infection which is EXTREMELY dangerous to a leukemia patient. AND Barb's sweet grandbaby, Cameron, was taken to the hospital with a severe onset of juvenile diabetes. He has since been stablized, but is now beginning a long road of daily testing, medications etc. Cameron, his mom and dad, and Barb and Rob could all use our prayers as they embark on this journey together. And pray especially for Cameron's dad as he has the same condition and therefore is feeling as though he gave this to his son...a completely unfounded guilt which I struggle with as well as I watch my boy show signs that he too may be developing the same kidney disease that I have.

And again, I will be leaving this post up as a sticky post for awhile so that the reminder to pray is front and center at least until the immediate dangers are past.

Ya'll Satan is trying to attack today. First Baby Ethan suffered a relapse of his leukemia. (See previous post for details.) And now sweet Kelli has received some really hard news about her kidney transplant possibilities. I'm in tears as I type over both of these set-backs. Please, please join me on your knees before the only One who can save and heal both Ethan and Kelli. Please.

Weekend Wind-up

Well, the recital was a complete success! After Friday's rehearsal, we weren't too optomistic, but they pulled it off and did a beautiful job! No one fell out of her flower pot this time, no one stood staring off into space while the other girls tried to dance around her, and no one landed at the wrong pot at the end of their butterfly run around the stage...all of which happened at the rehearsal!

Here is a picture of M with her VERY, VERY proud daddy...who also had a part in the show!

The dad's had to carry the girls, hidden inside their flower pots, out onto the stage in almost total darkness. Some of the girls had to have two dads/uncles/friends carry them, but my girl is small and my man is quite manly, so he carried her all by himself. He even got his name in the program as a stage hand, LOL. Now that you see my man, can you see how they ALL look just like him...except for little D? The man calls him "the mailman's kid", but I just call him MINE, 'cause he is the first to look like me! Although that blonde hair is still a mystery...

After the recital, we took the girl out to Applebee's for dinner. When asked what she wanted to drink, she declared "Give me a BEER..........ROOT!" Followed by fits of giggles. I think she was a little giddy from the whole show-biz thing. About that time, little D. starts yelling across the table, "Don!....Don!!.....Don!!!" (Which is what he calls Jon.) To which we all said, "Jon, ANSWER him!" Jon says, "What?" And Dave says, with his head cocked to the side, "mnkdoemrlfinslguine,f.ao mdksn,dlsfiaekem,d mdksojekl?" To which the entire restaurant (well, those within earshot) burst out laughing. Then Dave yells again, "DON!!" Jon says, "WHAT?!?" Dave sits perfectly silent but moves his eyes side to side to see if the crowd will laugh again...they did. And so it continued until most of his audience had left to get back to their own sad little lives that unfortunately did not include the round-the-clock entertainment of David!

I'll have to come back and post on Mother's Day later. It is time for our final ballet class before summer break. (Yippee! Two hours added to my Mondays for the next 3 months!) They will be doing their "fun" dances: The Teddy Bear Picnic, Late Last Night with Joe Scruggs, 5 Little Monkeys, etc. one last time and then eating cookies and drinking lemonade. And because I know you are curious, these are the cookies we made.

I figured since they were "Summer Daisies" in their recital, it was only fitting to make daisy cookies for the occasion! We are each supposed to only bring 3 cookies because there are 5 girls and 3 cookies each makes 15 which is plenty for parents, siblings, etc....however, nobody listens. Most of the mom's pick up cookies at the grocery store on the way, or have their daughters bake cookies with them to bring, and of course they want to make one for every single one of their friends! We bring lots because they fight over them. We have to have enough for each girl AND her mom...siblings are on their own to scrounge for what they can find. I made 15 of these this morning, but broke two of them while transfering them (those petals are delicate little suckers!), so we will go with 13. Oh wait, 13 isn't a lucky number...I guess I'd better eat one! Not that I believe in luck or anything, I'm just looking for an excuse to eat a cookie! Have I told you how tasty they are? They REALLY are!

Another long day...

Well, since I was sick all week, I had to get all my cookies and cakes made today. M had her dress rehearsal for tomorrow's ballet recital at 3:00pm, so everything had to be finished and ready for delivery before 2:00pm.

I got all the cookies finished without a problem. I didn't take a picture because they were just more baseballs and really, do you NEED to see any more baseball cookies? I didn't think so.

So, after I finished all the cookies and left them on racks to dry, I did this.



Now, I know that it is difficult to see from this picture and this angle, but that is a baseball mitt holding a baseball. The mitt came out beautifully. I was thrilled! The ball, not so much...if you look closely at the picture, you can see that the bottom of the ball is not quite round. That is because the fondant was lifting from the cake. By the time I got back from delivering the cookies and taking M to her rehearsal, the fondant was cracked and puckered and the ball was no longer anywhere close to being round! I realized, after a phone call to my favorite cake decorating store, that with the humidity here lately, the fondant wasn't drying fast enough and that caused the problem. Sooooo, I turned the AC down really low, and I removed all the fondant from the ball and re-covered it. It came out much better this time and the client was totally happy with it....whew!

Now, on to much better pictures...

This is a picture I snapped of the two littlest this morning. They both woke up WAY TO EARLY (4:00am) while I was trying to get all the cookies baked and decorated. I got them to lay down on the couch with a movie, and this is what I saw when I came back to check on them.

It's a little creepy seeing that the boy sleeps with one eye half open. Maybe it was a reaction to the flash, cause I've never noticed it before...ewww!

And here is the girl at her dress rehearsal for her ballet recital. She is a "Summer Daisy" and they dance to a very sweet version of "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary."





And that my friends is it for today. In all my craziness today, I forgot to eat, and take my medicine, and now I have a wicked headache and a big day of ballet tomorrow. So, I'll be back another time with an actual post, but for now I'm going to eat and sleep. Good night all, and don't forget to pray for Ethan, Kelli, and little Cameron.

URGENT PRAYER NEED!!

Hello everyone. I don't know if any of you have been following baby Ethan Powell at all, but he has been doing really well with his chemo, etc. while waiting for a bone-marrow transplant. However, today it appears as though his leukemia has returned in full force and he needs prayer NOW! You can click on his picture in my sidebar to get to his site, then just click on "updates" to get the latest information. This little guy was diagnosed at his 2 month well check with a very aggressive form of leukemia and has been fighting hard ever since. I believe the original projection was that he would live 72 hours. He just turned 5 months old! Prayer has kept him here and fighting, but now he needs even more. PLEASE, PLEASE, take a minute to stop and pray for little Ethan.

Thanks.

Today is the Day to Pray for Heather and Her Family

Today is Heather's surgery for a brain tumor. Kelli has set up a continuous prayer chain for Heather. I, myself, did not sign up for a specific time because with my crazy schedule, I was afraid I'd miss it and then feel bad. However, I have committed to pray for Heather whenever I'm sitting down painting cookies or decorating a cake. I started yesterday, and will continue throughout the weekend. If anyone would like to join in and pray, PLEASE do. And if you want to add the button to your blog you can go here to get the code. I believe Heather's husband will be posting updates on Heather's blog throughout this process until Heather can start posting herself again. Also, Kelli and Boomama have been keeping us updated on their sites as well.

And because Heather is big into music, and has been posting different songs throughout this ordeal, and Kelli has posted a song as well for this prayer chain, I'm posting one as well. This one was written for little Ethan, but I believe it is appropriate for Heather as well.




***Also, I will be keeping this as a sticky post so it will be the first thing everyone sees when they visit me until Heather is better. For new posts you will need to scroll down.***

American Idol -- May 8, 2007

First off, how different does Barry Gibb look? I am getting old…really, really old.

Secondly, I know I haven’t done an AI post in awhile. There has been too much going on, and I have been recording it and watching it a day or two later…however, being on my sick-bed and all, I’m writing tonight! And besides, that last rambling post just wasn’t long enough…you really wanted to read more, right?

Melinda: “Inside and Out” I’m sorry, guys…critique this performance all you want, Melinda Doolittle Rocks!

Blake: “We Should Be Dancing” (should be, or could be?) Is this the week everyone does two songs? For Blake’s sake, I hope so…this one wasn’t very good. Last week was amazingly good – amazingly, because I can’t stand beat boxing and yet I enjoyed it. This week, not so much.

LaKisha: “Staying Alive” In some spots this actually sounded like Barry Gibb singing…freaky. But I agree with the judges, no kissing on Kiki tonight.

Jordin: Best of the night, so far! Even better than Melinda…WOW!! And have you noticed how much weight Jordin and Melinda have lost since this competition began? They are both looking really good!

Melinda: “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” Her voice is just so good! Even though she doesn’t really do the whole “Disco Thang” that well, her voice is phenomenal. This one was definitely better than the last one. It ended really strong and showed off her voice well. Yea!

Blake: “This is Where I Came In” The vocal on this one was MUCH better than the last one, but still…he’s not really winning my vote tonight. If LaKisha does well on her next one, I’m afraid Blake might be going home…sorry Barb, I know you are a Blake fan.

LaKisha: “Run to Me” Sorry Blake. I think she got you on this one. It started a little boring for me, and it ended a little shaky with her losing her voice and all, but the middle was really good!

Jordin: “A Woman in Love” Beautiful, Simply, Beautiful. I just know however, that Simon will call it “Old Fashioned”….wait…for…it….and there it is! Simon never disappoints me, I’m telling you.

Okay, my votes tonight are going to have to go to Jordin and Melinda. Who do I think will go home? I think it should be Blake just judging on tonight’s performances, but I think Blake may have more fans that vote than LaKisha does, so she may go instead of him. If either Melinda or Jordin goes, it will be a HUGE mistake!

Again, just my humble opinion…

Totally Random Bloggy Thoughts

Okay, first things first. I! WANT! TO! WIN! SOMETHING! at the 5 Minutes for Mom Mother's Day Give Away, so I'm adding the button and posting this post to fulfill my linky requirement to receive said prizes. Just click on the button above if you want to win too! (But that IPod Nano is MINE!!! Just so you know...)

And I MUST tell you, just in case you haven't heard...Heather got a rather sobering report from her neuro-surgeon regarding the tumor they removed from her brain (man is that a freaky sentence to type!), BUT her neuro-oncologist gave her a MUCH BETTER REPORT that you can read here and HEATHER! IS! GOING! HOME! Did you get that? Five days after BRAIN SURGERY she is going home! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!!

****WARNING!!! This is an extremely L-O-N-G post full of mostly nothing. If you choose to continue, you may want to pace yourself and read just a little at a time. Otherwise, your brain may just explode from all the random nothingness entering it! Also, I have proofread this thing over and over, but I am not operating at full brain power, so please ignore typos and grammatical errors...I know they are there, but I just can't bring myself to see them!

And now, for the completely random thoughts...

I am sick. Really, and truly sick. Not just "sick-and-tired" as usual. I have a cold. And it is beating up on me pretty badly. Yesterday, I thought I was feeling much better, but then I took a shower, and the effort to hold my arms up while washing my hair was so great, that I got out of my shower and was sweating from the exertion. I rested a bit and then attempted to put on my face and dry my hair because I was going to take the girl to ballet, and I'm too vain to go with no face and no hair. I went with a face, and wet hair...the face did me in. Today, the coughing started...sigh. I had to take M and J to the dentist for their cleanings, then I HAD to go pick up "Marley and Me" from the library because the hold I had on it was set to expire tomorrow, and I have been waiting over a month for that book to come in! Then I HAD to go to Sam's because I was all out of water, juice, milk, etc. and people with bad kidneys MUST HAVE THEIR WATER! I know, I know, it runs out of the tap...but here in lovely Williamson County, Texas, the water that runs out of my tap contains enough calcium to destroy what is left of my sad little kidneys...so it's the bottle for me!

And now, I can barely move and all I want to do is sit and stare. However, I can not, for some reason, sit and do nothing. I never could. Even watching tv I have to be doing something. So, I decided to enter the blogosphere for awhile which has the added benefit of placing my face in front of the computer screen so that I can't see the mess that has accumulated in my house since I got sick! It makes me feel worse to look at it, but just the thought of cleaning it up would put me in a coma for sure!

So, while I've been sick and unable to be even remotely productive with my life, all these strange and random thoughts have been going through my head...I thought I'd share them with you because seriously, they must be removed from my head or it might just explode.

1. I noticed while at Sam's that I prefer to get my cart in the parking lot rather than in the store. Usually, this is because I like to put the giant boy, that I call a baby, in it so I can wheel him rather than lug him through the parking lot and into the store. I also realized today, however, that I also prefer the parking lot carts because somewhere in my subconscious mind I think that the hot Texas sun beating down on the cart will kill any and all germs left on the cart by the previous user. And if you are thinking that I have some serious psychotic issues, then you haven't read this, because if you had, you would already know how demented I really am!

2. I REALLY need a haircut and highlight. And after last week's cake extravaganza, I can actually spare the money to get it done. However, as is usually the case, there are problems: a)My dear friend Candy, who usually does my hair at a price I can afford, (and does it beautifully I might add) has developed Rheumatoid Arthritis and can no longer cut hair. b)The new place I have found and can afford is only open until 7:30pm, and since the earliest I can get there without 4 kids in tow is 6:00, and I have A! LOT! OF! HAIR! they can't get it done...they need more time. c)All of the other places I called that were open late enough to be able to finish the job before closing, charge so much I'd have to take out a second mortgage on the house to pay for it!

I am working on a new plan, because seriously, I haven't had my hair cut or highlighted since the baby was 4 months old...he'll be 2 next week. (I have so many grays at this point, I am almost achieving the "frosted look" that I like...but I like my frosting to be champagne colored, not white! I am fully prepared for the tongue-lashing I will receive for the hacking job I've been doing on my own bangs for the past 20 months. But honestly, the prices they charge would use almost my entire grocery budget for the week! (My man gets after me about not charging enough for my cakes and cookies, but honestly, I try to charge what I could afford for a cake, because I don't want people to not be able to afford my cakes, the way I can't afford a haircut!) So, once I figure it all out, and get it done, I'll have to update my profile picture because, who knows how long it will be before I save up enough to get it done again!

3. Red Vines beat Twizzlers...hands down.

4. Caramel Cream Diet Pepsi runs a very close second to Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke (aka-Heaven in a Can)

5. I still have my "To Do List" from last week's cake and cookie marathon up on the wall, because I like seeing all those pretty green highlighter lines where I have marked out EVERY SINGLE THING ON THAT LIST. If I were to put this week's list up, I would be looking at a white piece of paper with lots and lots of black typing on it and NOT ONE SINGLE GREEN LINE...sigh.

6. Bloglines totally ROCKS! I just got all signed up and got all my blogs loaded and I just LOVE it! I can see as soon as I get online who has a new post for me to read. And I also found out that something like 485 other people subscribe to "Rocks in My Dryer", 259 some odd people subscribe to "Boomama" (seriously, I thought there would be more, didn't you?) and exactly 1 person subscribes here!

7. I kept seeing "Blog Top Sites" buttons on other blogs I read with a little number beside it, so I clicked the button to register my blog, to see what number it would give me. ("Rocks in My Dryer" was #4..."Boomama" was #3 but they update that every hour or so, so it changes from time to time.) It turns out that Blog Top Sites is merging into Blog Flux, so all my registering had to be done there...sigh. Blog Top Sites sounds much more impressive, yes? Anyway, they say they have 34,365 approved blogs registered, so I was thinking I'd get a whopping #34,366 on my button. What I didn't know was that they take 7 days to review your blog to make sure they really want to include it in their directory. So, I got a nice round "0" on my button. I like to tell myself that 0 comes before 1, so I am up there baby! Anyway, that's what that new little button is on my sidebar...just in case you were wondering.

I also added a little thing on the sidebar that is supposed to let me know who is reading right! this! minute! I thought it would be fun to see who is here and when...so far it has told me that "No one is reading this thing at this time" Not as much fun as I thought it would be...sigh.

8. My buddy Lisa, aka The Preacher's Wife, gets visitors to her site by some odd google searches like "Are Preacher's Wives Insane" and "Submissive" and other such craziness. So far, the strangest one I got was someone searching for "sons doing laundry". I'm afraid he/she didn't find what they were looking for here...my sons don't do laundry...ever. However, this past week, someone came to visit by way of a google search for "doctor gowns"...which took them to this post chronicling my latest annual exam at the, um...g.y.n.'s office... I sincerely hope he/she did not find what they were looking for in that post, 'cause if they did...there is something terribly, terribly, wrong.


If you have actually made it through this entire post...give yourself a round of applause! You deserve it! It was actually a bit longer to begin with, but #9 on my list turned into a post all of its own, so I am saving it to post later. It's not that easy to come up with posts, so I must conserve my thoughts where I can!

Now I am going to go find something to eat that doesn't take too much effort to fix, or to shovel into my mouth...the thought of eating makes me tired, but my belly is speaking rather loudly to the fact that it is 6:18pm and all I have eaten today is one cookie left over from last week's marathon...but it was a really good cookie!

I'll see you all very soon...even as I write this more random thoughts are finding their way into my brain and will need to be released!

Thanks for stopping by!

This is a test, this is only a test

I'm just testing something...just ignore me.

And, we're finished...until next weekend!

And this was the final cake for the weekend. It is for a baby shower. M likes this one better than the wedding cake...do you think all the pink might have something to do with that???

A funny thing happened when I went to deliver the cake this morning. The lady I was delivering it to, asked me if I had made the wedding cake for a reception she was at last night...and guess what? I DID! She was at the wedding, and she just knew that had to be one of my cakes! (She's had quite a few of them over the years!) I just thought that was funny. Our connection is baseball, but I didn't think about the fact that other people I know would be there at the wedding!

Okay, now I'm going to take a nap while the little man is napping. Three of the little ones got colds this week, and apparently, we've taught them that whole 'sharing' thing a little two well! Hopefully I'll feel better by tomorrow. I don't have as many cakes this week, but I do have a few and some cookies, AND it's M's ballet recital next weekend as well as b's final baseball tournament...

On the bright side, after the recital, there are only 3 more ballet classes before we are out for the summer, we had our last soccer game this past Saturday, and unless b makes the All-Star team, (which he played well enough this weekend to make, but on the overall season, I don't think he'll make it) we are finished with baseball for the summer as well! We have a trip to a Dude Ranch with B's office scheduled for the first weekend in June too. So, it looks like maybe, just maybe I'll get to relax a little before the next 'wedding week' hits at the end of June. Of course, I've said that before, and it never actually happens...but I can dream can't I?

Crazy Cake Weekend Continued

I just got back from delivering the cakes for the wedding. There were a couple of things I wasn't satisfied with, but I think it turned out okay...

First, here is the picture of the Birthday Cake that went with the basketball, baseball, football, and soccer ball cookies. I think this may be one of my favorite cakes EVER! It turned out so cute, don't you think? What you can't see is that the balls are 3 dimensional. They are actually popping up out of the cake!



And here is the groom's cake for today's wedding. He's apparently BIG into Fords. The groom's table was covered with Ford Memorabilia!


AND! FINALLY! THE! WEDDING! CAKE!



The couple is actually already married. He is a soldier and was stationed in Iraq and they got married by a Justice of the Peace in between his two tours of duty. He is home now and they decided to have the wedding reception that they didn't have before. They had the reception in the American Legion Hall and decorated in a very Texas-Style with brown tablecloths and daisies, and bronze luminarias with Texas stars on them.

The cake is made to look like 3 gift boxes in cream with a slightly darker cream lid. The ribbons and bows are all made out of chocolate fondant. Oh my! Did it SMELL GOOD!!!

I did manage to get my living room cleaned up a bit today and vacuumed, and I did load the dishwasher. Unfortunately, not all of the mess would fit, so I still have some work to do in there...sigh. I also still need to bake one more cake for a baby shower tomorrow. For now, however, I'm hungry, NASCAR is on, and I need a little break from the world of sugar. I'll post tomorrow's cake, tomorrow, and maybe, just maybe have something to write about besides cakes and cookies.....maybe.

In Which I Collapse into Bed......Exhausted!

Here I am at 2:00am…I have delivered all of the cookies and the birthday cake, (I’ll post the picture tomorrow.) the groom’s cake is finished and boxed, the wedding cake tiers are all iced and ready to be assembled on site tomorrow, and I have MOST everything I’ll need to take with me to the wedding packed up and ready to go…I am exhausted!!! But I am really happy to be all ready to go, because both of the boys have games tomorrow, and I do NOT want to miss those! I have one more cake for the weekend, but it isn’t due until Sunday, so I’ll bake the cake tomorrow, and get it decorated Sunday morning before church.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday ‘cause I was in such a hurry to get going, was the fact that my sister came over THREE DAYS this week to help me with the cookies. I had already turned down another cake someone wanted me to do, but then a couple of people called that I REALLY didn’t want to turn down, so I called my sister, and she graciously agreed to come and help do the cookies! I just wanted ya’ll to know that I didn’t do it all alone! I can’t even image how tired I’d be if she hadn’t helped out….sigh!

Okay, that’s it for now. I’ll be back either tomorrow or Sunday with pictures and my weekend wind up to share with ya’ll. Good night for now….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Update On My Crazy Week

Okay, so the final 2 layers of the wedding cake have been baked. ALL THE COOKIES ARE FINISHED!!! The two cakes for the local high-school softball teams are finished, and I am ready to head out the door to make deliveries! (I am also going to the Wal-Marts to pick up a couple of things I ran out of and will need to finish out this cake-crazy week! AND I am going straight to the Outlet Mall to pick up the "Pour-and-Shield" for my recently acquired Professional 600 Kitchen Aid because they were out of the shield's when I purchased the mixer, and today I had massive amounts of powdered sugar flying around my kitchen!)

BUT before I go, here are the pictures I KNOW you are dying to see!

These are for my forever friend C. Her hubby has started a new business selling electricity, so she thought light bulb cookies would be fun for an event he has coming up!




These are for an 8 year old baseball team. They have a tournament or something this weekend, and one of the mom's wanted to do something special for the players and coaches. The baseballs have the players names and numbers and the coaches' names. The extra baseballs just have the team name on them. The baseball caps are replicas of the team hats.




These two cakes are for the local high school's softball team banquet. They are pretty plain, with edible images of both the varsity and the junior varsity team.




And FINALLY, these cookies are for a little boy's 3rd birthday party tomorrow. I'll be making his cake as well.



As soon as I return from making all the deliveries, and running my errands, I'll bake the groom's cake for the wedding, and the cake to go with the above sports balls cookies. I'll also be making the fondant/gumpaste bows that will top the wedding cake and putting the filling between the wedding cake layers. Tomorrow I'll bake the final cake for the weekend, decorate and deliver the sports ball cake, decorate the groom's cake, and ice and begin the decorating of the wedding cake. The final decorating and stacking of the wedding cake will be done on site an hour or so before the reception. Don't worry, I'll take my camera and get a picture of it all finished to post for you all to see!

So, now it's off to the races again! Oh yeah, and I'll feed the kids, load the dishwasher, and throw in some laundry somewhere in all of that mess! School is finished for the day, so at least THAT is done!

In Which I Breathe a HUGE Sigh of Relief...

After the great cake fiasco of 2007, I worried and fretted for THREE WHOLE DAYS waiting to hear from either the bride or her sister that they weren't angry with me and understood the misunderstanding. TODAY I received this email from the bride's sister (the one who was giving the shower).

********
Melody,

Oh no, I am so sorry. Honestly I was out and about so much yesterday I didn't get in front of a computer until this morning. We are really not upset at all.

I really don't know what happened. I sent you an email on April 2nd when the date changed, but I spoke with a friend of mine whom I sent an ecard to right around the 1st or 2nd and she never got that either. Our desktop computer had a nasty virus a couple months back and we thought the issue was resolved, but it appears we are not able to send or receive emails. It's very odd because I'll check email on my laptop no problem, but on the desktop appears that I haven't received anything since March.

Anyway, it is obviously not your fault and it didn't even occur to me to make sure we were on the same page last week, and I really should have made sure we were. I believe the cake for this coming up shower is taken care of, but I would love if you wouldn't mind doing the same cake for her lingerie party/bachelorette party. That one is June 16th and the invitations are already made so that date is NOT changing. :) I also do want to compensate you for the materials you used, please let me know what I can give you and I'll send a check to you. I feel pretty bad too, I am sorry you were worried.
****************

So, I can breathe again...and I can relax and enjoy my crazy cake and cookie week without that added stress!

I've just about finished all of the cookies, there ended up being 186 total that are actually being delivered. There were another 20 or so that were either practice, or extras in case of breakage. Man, that's a lot of cookies! I have also baked the first two layers of the wedding cake, and 2 cakes for our local high school's softball banquet. I'll bake two more wedding cake layers tonight. Then tomorrow I'll bake a birthday cake with sports balls on it, and the final 2 layers of the wedding cake, and I'll decorate the softball cakes. I will also make three deliveries tomorrow which will free up some space in my freezer for the rest of the wedding cake layers! I'll be back later tonight with pictures of all the cookies. I still have 2 dozen to add details to before I take the pictures....whew!