Succulents and sweets

I was lucky enough to have this weekend off. Other than the regular errands of grocery shopping, laundry and whatnot, I had no plans. I spent this weekend relaxing at home and working on a couple of projects.

This is the first weekend we have had of real spring weather. I like spring, but I lament the coming Summer, because it means nothing but misery in this neck of the woods. I was anxious to get some stuff planted while the weather is still agreeable. There were two things in the way. The first being a serious lack of funds, and the second being an uncertainty of where I will be living in the immediate future. It would be a shame to spend all that engery planting a lovely garden and then having to leave it behind.

I made do by using two cheap, old planters I had lying around the patio. I planted two different typed of tomatoes. Hopefully they will do better this year, than last Our patio doesn't get much sun, so the plants tend to suffer. By being in containers I can move them around to take full advantage of the small bit of sun we do get, and I can also take them with me when I move.

A lovely shot that includes our spool table and a rail road spike I found.

I was at my Mom's house a few weeks ago, and was going through a lot of old stuff. There was a lot of the standard baby stuff. Also, random things that I had thrown away but my mom salvaged, thinking I might want it some day. There was also a small amount of stuff that I had asked her to keep when I moved out back in 2004. This was very exciting. One of my best finds was a turtle planter. This planter lived in the yard at the house I grew up in. One day I brought it into my bedroom and declared it mine. When my Mom saw the planter she said "It is hardly crazed!" I learned that night that crazed has another meaning that I did not know about. But it was funny thinking that she was amazed that the turtle had kept its sanity all this time.
I decided to plant some succulents. I am terrible at keeping plants alive, and succulents seem to be very forgiving. I have also been becoming fond of them lately and was excited to have an excuse to buy some.

Looks pretty sane to me.

I was overly ambitious when buying succulents and I bought more than could be crammed into this tiny shell. I was left with one left over succulent and no place to put it. Luckily I had a plethora of left over mason jars from last year's canning.

Not the best shot, but you get the idea.

After having a lovely time greening up my space, I knew I had actual work to do, and I was dreading it. I had to practice making a 5 inch wedding cake. It has been going only so-so thus far, and I was beginning to get nervous. I am happy to say that today was a great success. I made a lemon cake and slapped on some cream cheese frosting I had in the freezer. It looks beautiful. One of the cakes broke in half, the cream cheese frosting was a runny, weird consistency from being frozen and I left the cake at weird angle in the fridge last night, causing it to be all slopey and uneven. With all those things stacked against me, it still turned out super cute.

I know. So darling. And my little $6 cake plate- best purchase ever.

If it is this cute now, imagine how fantastic it will turn out when I am making it up to my usual baking perfectionist standards.


Since I have no excuse to eat an entire top tier of a wedding cake by myself, I will be making a second attempt at cake balls tonight. I will be so happy after this wedding is done. I am burnt out on baking. It is just getting too warm. I do think my newest obsession will be popsicles. I already make a mean limber de coco. I do think it is time to expand my repertoire.

I'm still here

Jeez Louise, it has been almost a month to the day since I last posted. My blog is still a newborn and already I am neglecting it. Just like I do in The Sims...

Anyway, much has been happening.

On the home front, Eric and I both had terrible, awful colds at the beginning of the month. I wore myself out running around, and eventually it got the better of me and I had to stay in bed for three days. Eric had mid terms and finals while he was sick. But he really is the epitome of awesome, because he got all A's.

On the baking front, I had my first wedding consultation with one of my coworkers sisters. It was wildly successful. I am so happy to be making cupcakes for their big day. And I couldn't ask for nicer people to have for my first wedding clients. In addition to cupcakes, I am also making a small wedding cake for them to cut for photos and whatnot. This means brushing up on my fondant skills, so there has been lots of practice there. I made a few new cupcakes for them to try out, and I will be posting those soon.

On the job front I have my most exciting news. I applied for a higher position, and they made me an off, which I happily accepted. This new position includes salaried pay instead of hourly, and also four weeks of vacation a year. This is a big improvement over what I have now. This feels like such a grown up job. My goal was to be in this position by the time I was 27, so I ended up two years early. To say I am stoked is an understatement. The only downside is that I am not sure where I will be working yet. I have been assigned a district that is absolutely huge, and includes my home town.  Upside, seeing my family. Downside, actually moving back there and having nothing to do except go to The Walmart. Not Walmart, but The Walmart. Things are very, very up in the air right now, which takes me way outside of my comfort zone, but it is all very exciting at the same time.

Coming soon, two new recipes and perhaps cake pops.

Oh the one other thing. I finally saw Black Swan, like a year later. I am an old lady who hates kids these days and they are always out in droves at the movies, or the talkies, as I call them. It reminded me of Carrie with more lesbians,and less talk of dirty pillows. Also, I have not seen Avatar, but recently a friend described it as being exactly like Fern Gully, only the blue people rape everything with their braid/tails. Now I feel like I have seen it without having given up three hours of my life. I win!