I would like to thank the Academy...

Oops, wrong award! But these are way cooler in my opinion.
First, I got this one from Linda . Aww schucks ! I love your blog too!

And I also received this one from Laura at "Confessions of a Diet Coke Addict" How cool is her blog name? If you've been around for a while then you might remember this & this & how about this? I'm sure there are many more, but I am ashamed to point them out. I even made my own Facebook Flair because I'm cool like that! Here it is...

Anyhoo, back to the award. Laura gave me the "Kind Blogger" award.

Thanks ladies, ya'll are too sweet! I need to pass these on, so I'll have to figure it out then get back to it.

I HATE storms! Prayers to all who are in Gustav's path. We are actually feeling some of the effects here. Lots of rain & wind bands. Every year around this time, I start looking at other options for places to live. I don't like the cold. I don't want to go where hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes or tsunamis exist. I would also like to avoid very humid places. Heck, I don't want very dry either, bad for the complexion ya know. Year round mild temperatures would be a plus. Any suggestions???

Today I completed the last cake decorating class. At least for course 2. Here is my cake. It was supposed to be ivory but I messed up somewhere along the line.

MIA again

I know that I have been MIA but I've been engaging in my favorite activity of all time... Travel Planning! As I mentioned before, I have tickets fo Cirque du Soleil Believe in Vegas. I've been searching for a sweet deal on airfare and old faithful Spirit stepped in. So now, Danny & I are flying roundtrip to Vegas for a total of $53 for the two of us! I've said it before, I cannot even fill up my car with that! Let's just hope that they don't go out of business before then. I did encounter something new that I was not aware of though. If you want to pre-select your seats now, they charge you $10 window, $5 middle or $10 aisle. Which considering our fare $30 extra is not bad. But I will wait and see. I don't mind paying for these things with these fares. It just irks me that regular price airlines seem to be doing the same thing. If I'm payin upwards of $300 per ticket, I don't like the idea o paying for my bags as well!

In other, oh so thrilling news, I am almost at the end of my 2nd cake decorating course. So I have been making all these flowers for the final cake. I have one thing to say, I do not like daffodils! They are the devil! And the pink ones are getting re-done because I was tired by the time I started those.

And finally, the rain continues. Today's storm was really bad. The vile, disgusting creatures are back and enjoying every minute of it! Just so you know, I took this from the safety of my house. I got nowhere near it. Fortunately the glass was pretty clean!

When will I learn????

Almost a year to the day of this post. Same place. Same drink. Same effect. I should know by now!

Fay was fortunately just a rain event. Although Fay is gone, the rain continues. My nephew was here through it all since my brother was working. And of course the woman was no where to be found. The kid could have been sitting under a mango tree in the middle of it all, but she couldn't take a moment to see if he was ok. Sad thing is that he was worried about HER!

I have tickets to see Cirque du Soleil "Believe" with Criss Angel in Vegas. I bought the tickets but now I'n not having much luck with transportation. Hopefully Spirit comes through for me on this one. Looking to go as cheaply as possible. I really want to see this show and the seats are fantastic! I may have to use my brother's buddy passes but I would have to go stand-by.

On darkness & Facebook

I need sunlight. My house is the only house in our neiborhood with the shutters on. Over-reacting? Maybe. But since Danny goes on duty once there is a warning, we can't risk waiting. So yeah, I'm in darkness and it's depressing. Fortunately, he left our french doors and the kitchen bay windows without shutters since those can be done quickly. So I have been sitting by that window all day today. No sunlight, so daylight will have to suffice.


In other news, I gave in and got a Facebook. Not for anything other than to bother Kari. You see, according to her, "it's just weird" and I'm too old to have a Facebook. Although I may be too old for some things, once someone says that I am, I will go ahead and do it. Just because. None of my "real life" friends have one. At least not that I know of. So if you have a Facebook please friend me as I don 't want to appear totally friendless! :)

I hate cones!

This is the #1 reason why I hate Miami!

Did you forget????

My kids are the most important things in my life. They are my life. I always believed that it was the same with all mothers. I do not live under a rock. I am fully aware of all the psycho moms who physically hurt their kids and worse. But when it affects someone that I adore, then the claws come out.

My mom calls me today at 6:55 PM. My nephew had just called her from camp because his egg donor had still not picked him up. Camp pick up is by 6PM. I would have to be DEAD to not pick up my child or if for any reason I was late due to an accident or something I would call someone to get my child or at the least notify the camp. No consideration is given not only to the poor child, but to the staff member who has to stay late. I bet she's never late for Happy Hour!

This & That

I'm getting faster at making my carnations roses. It doesn't take me an hour to make just one. That's a good thing. I started Course 2 today, more flowers to learn. Ugh. I'd be happy piping stars al the time. Easy Peasy.

I have started dabbling in Digi Scrapping and I have collected tons of supplies. I am loving the quick pages though. Just slap a picture in and some journaling if you want, and it's done. I am looking for a small external hard drive since, just like the paper stuff, I collect more than I use. Any suggestions?

(Left) QP by Lorene Hill (Right) QP by Monika Digital Designs

I won something!

I always participate in the Bloggy Giveaways but have never won anything. Well,it was different this time around. I won a gorgeous pair of earrings from Sharma Designs. The earrings are lovely and came in a super cute gift box. I love presents! So yeah, go check out her Etsy store. You might find something that you like, plus she ships super fast.

8/8/08

Although I don't always watch all the events, I do enjoy the opening ceremonies. I also love the gymnastics. As a kid, I wanted to be Nadia. I thought that hanging upside down on my swing set immediately classified me as a gymnast. I would flip around then jump off and pose. Then I got a rude awakening. After I whined and begged, my parents signed me up for gymnastics. It was nothing like what I imagined. It was HARD work! Leave me on my swing set. Thank you very much!

I also had this wild idea of being just like Dorothy Hamill. I even chopped my waist long hair into the "Dorothy Hamill" cut and my mom bought me some "Bouncing & Behaving" shampoo, because I couldn't have the cut without the shampoo and conditioner! Forget the fact that I had NEVER stepped foot on an ice rink, I was still going to be as gracefull on the ice as she was. So one day my parents took me to the only ice rink in Miami so that I could make my debut. It was freakin' cold! My thin Floridian blood could not handle it. My butt was on the ice more than my skates. The freezing cold is probably the reason why I couldn't move without falling. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. So right then and there, my ice skating career ended.

Oh, and in case you're interested, I also had a very short lived high diving career. The first jump from the high dive board resulted in a major belly flop. I swear, it burned for a couple of months days. So yeah. An athlete, I'm not.

Needless to say, I never made it to the Olympics!


Here is one of my favorite pictures from the Olympic Gardens in Beijing.

Go here to see more amazing topiaries.

Cosmetic Retouching

I'm not interested in enhancing my northern region. Size wise. Lift wise is a different story. Things seem to be going further south every year. They'll be in Key West before you know it. If I could, I would. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. Not only that, they can totally get rid of all my jiggly parts while they're at it. Actually, I give priority to getting rid of the jiggly over getting the lift.

Vanity? Call it whatever you like. I like to think of it as being more comfortable in my own tight skin. I have never been heavy. So this newly acquired squishiness makes me not only upset, but uncomfortable.

I try to eat right and exercise, but nothing seems to be working. Although my WiiFit seems to think that I'm the bomb.


Danny has issues with this. He thinks that I will die if I have elective surgery. I feel that I have been through so many surgeries, that my body can handle it. Plus now they have that Smart Lipo thing. PLUS, there are actually benefits to vacuuming out the fat. Here's one and here's another. I can fuel up your truck Danny! Think of the possibilities!!!

Happy Birthday

Today is my nephew's birthday. He's been here since Friday and counting down the days. My brother got in at around 2AM. That made him VERY happy as he thought his dad was not going to make it back for his birthday. We all went to Dave & Buster's for lunch and play. In total we had about seven $10 cards to play with. He had a good time and collected about 1200 tickets. For about $70 in game play, he could cash in his tickets for a $3 toy! I got him a bunch of tickets since I rock at Deal or No Deal. I found it kind of odd to be sitting in an arcade, playing games that have call buttons for cocktail service! :)

If anyone is wondering, I think the egg donor remembered at around 2PM. She must have talked to him for about one minute.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Visions of Cereal

The Sunday paper contained tons of coupons for Kellogg cereals. Plus one rebate for $10 when you purchase 10 qualifying Kellogg items. Then, Walgreens has 4/$10 and they give you $5 Register Rewards. Great! I buy 4 use 2 coupons pay $8 then get $5 back then go back do the same and use my RR plus $3 cash and another $5 RR. Still with me right? After 2 more items I send in my $10 rebate and I have 10 boxes of cereal for practically free. So, I'm getting my coupons ready and I notice the rebate says that all 10 boxes need to be purchased in the same transaction! Who buys 10 boxes of cereal at one time? The Duggar's maybe. But not us. I'm off to see what's on sale. Why can't they make it easier on me?

Speaking of cereal, have you noticed that now they put the toy surprise right on top of the cereal. Why didn't they do that when I was a kid? Since I couldn't wait back then, (ok I still have issues, whatever) I would dump the entire box into a large bowl then try to put it all back in so no one would notice. It never worked. And I always got in trouble for it. Heck, I had to get to it before my brother did!

Off to the great cereal hunt!

Just Kidding

I really hope that no one took me seriously in regards to that cake. It is quite frankly, pretty scary! I'm sure that it takes alot of work and talent, but no thank you. Here's another one that freaks me out: Nothing against the lady who design and makes these cakes. She has some really amazing creations. BUT, there's something about cutting this cake that is very disturbing. As you can tell, I've been looking at cake designs. Not that I will ever actually make anything so extravegant since you actually need some patience for stuff like that. I don't even have what it takes to make a stupid rose! :)


In other news, Yahoo mail is really aggravating me. Not only does it have loading issues every.single.day, but it also can't tell the difference between spam and non-spam. All the offers for viagara get through, but not mail from blogger. To top it ll of, I sent myself a test email and it sent it to spam! Geeze. You know what else goes to spam? My paperless statements. My only notice to make my payments. All of which are on my contact list. I'll probably be switching over to google pretty soon. It's just a pain to switch everything. Any recommendations for another email provider? It has to be free by the way, since I'm all cheap like that!

Back to School Giveaway

Another week of giveaways because ya'll know how much I love them. Not that I ever win anything, but that's not important right now.

This is a direct quote from 5 Minutes for Mom, Click on the button for more info:

With the turn of the page to August, our minds automatically think, “Back to School.” Whether your children start school this month or in September (or you keep your own homeschool calendar), there are preparations to be made–buying pencils and backpacks, new shoes and clothes, and getting organized.
5 Minutes for Mom wants to help make things easier.

This week we will offer product reviews and giveaways to make your back-to-school season easier. And what about those preschoolers left at home when the big kids go back to school? We’ll have something for them as well.

The Back-to-School Giveaway Event will take place right here from August 4 - 10. We’ll leave all the posts open through August 12, and then post the winners on August 13.

So there you have it.

Choo Choo

Kelsey over at My Sweet Life has come up with this Blog Train concept. You can read more about it on her blog. Hopefully it will work out. Since I like finding new blogs, this idea seemed intersting to me. It should be fun.

Planning Ahead

As I am sure you all know, I have amazing cake decorating skills. I kid. But I have promised myself & my girls to keep trying. I must practice, practice, practice. Because when my daughters get married, I want to make the cake. Not just any cake though. I want to make THIS cake:

Prepare yourself

↓

↓
↓
↓
↓

You're going to LOVE it!

↓

↓

↓

↓

You will want one for your friends & family

↓

↓

↓

↓

I will have a waiting list a mile long, so order early...

↓

↓

↓

↓

I'm gonna be one busy lady!

Annoyed

I have a ton of pet peeves. Sometimes I wonder if it is just me that finds so many things to be annoying. I don't think that I am easily annoyed, but I may be wrong. Maybe it's a character flaw. I hope not. One of my major pet peeves, aside from folks who can't wait their turn, is people who are always up on my rear. I mean, that when I am say...paying at the register or placing an order at the counter, they are right on top of me. So much so, that I feel their breath on my neck. Since I am evil, I usuallly just step back and squash their toes. Oops. Even worse is when I am paying, they aren't even behind me. They are right next to me watching my transaction. Maybe since it annoys me so much, I tend to give people their space. I will have at least two feet or more of space between me and the person ahead of me. I don't tailgate in my car and don't tailgate in line.

The reason for this rant is because it happened again today. We are at the counter at a fast food place. It was just my nephew & I. We got our food and when he backed away from the counter he stepped on the lady who was totally invading our personal space. By ACCIDENT. Being the sweet, polite little boy that he is, he immediately apologized. The woman scowled at him. WHAT??!!?? He was really worried and a bit scared. She didn't even acknowledge his apology. So that ticked me off even more than the fact that she was all over us in the first place. So I calmly, but loud enough foreveryone to hear her to hear told him that it was an accident and not his fault. That he wouldn't have stepped on her if she hadn't been so close to us, and that is just rude. That if we would have been in a car that she would have gotten a ticket for following too closely.

So yeah, annoyed. To top it all off, one of my other peeves:

In case you can't make it out. People who think they own the parking lot & hog up 2 or more spaces! It's blurry because I did a drive by. I'm afraid someone might chase me down for taking pictures of them. :)

Another dependant???

Guess who came home with us! The kids had a great time performing. All most of the parents were there taking picture and video taping. When we walked in and he saw us, his face just lit up. My brother did get a flight in but he has to fly back at 5AM, so the little one came home with us. My mom has her hands full playing nurse.

And the winner is...

Kirsten said...
I want to learn how to surf!kirsten_dash(at)yahoo(dot)comThanks for the giveaway!
10:33 AM

I have emailled the winner. If I do not hear back from her by Tuesday, I will draw another name. Thanks to everyone who played.

Award. For me?

I forgot that sweet Melissa gave me an award the other day. The Arte & Pico Award. The site is in spanish & even I had a hard time but scroll down for english. Anyhoo,apparently, Melissa thinks that I have an artistic blog! Me. Jack of all trades, master of none! I hope she does not have second thoughts after seeing my last "creation" LOL!

I'm supposed to choose 5 other blogs to pass it on to, but I have to think about that and get back to it later.

Right now I have to get ready to go to my nephew's end of camp show. He is dancing in it. His witch with a capital B egg donor does not want to take him. So yes dear friends, it falls on my mom. Who by the way is tending to my stepdad who was finally released from the hospital. So we are going so that the poor child has his own little fan club. My brother has been trying to rearrange his flight schedule so that he gets in on time but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen. Betcha he'll be comin home with us tonight. After all, it's friday night. The nighclub will be hot tonight!

Pain in my... head!

I have been MIA practically the entire week. So many fab giveaways and I haven't actually entered as many as I would have liked. I had a migraine on Wednesday that worked it's way into Thursday. When I have a migraine, my eyes get really sensitive to light. The computer screen is not my friend. So I have been staying away.

Thursday was my fnal Course 1 class. Which means that I had to make my cake on Wednesday. In the midst of my pain. I learned something. Don't try to do anythin creative, say like baking and decorating a cake with a migraine. First of all, I screwed up one cake by adding 3 tbsp instead of 3 tsp of baking powder. I should know better, but that is not important right now. I then proceeded to drop my flour canister and the entire contents on my kitchen floor. I decided to quit and resorted to my old, faithful friend Duncan. Mr. Hines has helped me through several crises and I will always be grateful . It was then time for me to make the dreaded roses. After a few hours I finally had 7 carnations roses that would serve the purpose. I Filled my cake with pastry creme and fresh strawberries and proceeded to ice. The supid thing kept sliding and it looked lopsided but whatever. I was done. As always, I would not go to bed with a messy kitchen, so by the time I was done it was 2AM.

The next day, I go to the class to get yelled at a bit and get my certificate. My friend Maggie took the course in Georgia and she had told me that her instructor allowed them to be creative with their cakes as long as they used the techniques learned. Not my lady. Whatever. Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I signed up for course 2.

Bright side of it all? The cake. The pastry creme and the strawberies were amazing. So much so, that although the cake was ugly as sin, I was going to share a picture. I share the good and the bad you know. When I came down, Danny had already dug in. So this is all I have.