Let's talk about fun things

I've been pretty down the last 2 days with the drama that unfolded and then getting so sick. I'm finally feeling much better. I still can't seem to eat much, 7-up and Saltine crackers are my friend right now. I think I might actually leave the house today! I'm excited about that.

I don't really want to talk about the last couple days or my emotions right now so let's talk about some fun things. Next week I've got 2 cake tastings scheduled for upcoming wedding cakes. I'm very excited about this. This is when I'll figure out exactly what the brides want in their design and the 'vision' starts to really come together.

Another fun thing to talk about is how amazing I've been feeling!...well minus the last 2 days. I think this crazy diet thing is really working. My pain level has dramatically diminished. The month before I saw Dr. R I was having 2-3 endo pains an hour. Now, I have maybe 6 per month. BIG difference. I've also lost 16 pounds! Crazy. This stomach virus helped with the last 2 pounds...but I'll still count it! Chase has lost 17 pounds. We went to Ross the other night and Chase picked out a cute outfit for me. We guessed on the size of shorts because I didn't have time to try them on and they fit perfectly. This is 2 sizes smaller than 3 months ago!

Chase and I have been learning a TON about parenting recently. We've been reading The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis, who I've mentioned before, and it has been giving us a lot of great information. It is specific to parenting children who come from 'hard places' but many of the principles are relevant to biological children as well. I would HIGHLY recommend it for every parent.

Cakes, Baby M, and Update

We got our fun new camera in last Friday. We've (actually it's more like Chase) been reading the manual and learning all about the many buttons. I think we've got the basics down, f-stop, shutter speed, iso ect. but there is still so much to learn.

Cakes: I've done 2 cakes over the last couple days so here are their pics.

Baby M: My sister is visiting from Phoenix for the week. She brought her precious 14 month old with her. Here are some pics from today.

Update: There really isn't much to update you on. There has still been know news from the kids' caseworker so at this point there is very little chance we'll get them. We finished up the last class yesterday so our license may be in the mail as we speak. We'll let you know if we get another placement offer but for now we just hurry up and wait.

Stay-at-home-wife

Today is my first official day as a stay-at-home-wife and I LOVE it! Well, yesterday was really the first official day but Chase took the day off for his bday so we spent the day in Fort Worth. I know it's hard to believe but neither of has ever been to FW! Chase loves zoo's so I planned a trip to the zoo, a picnic lunch at the botanical gardens, and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Side note: there is nothing in cheesecake that is on my diet but I decided to cheat for hubby's bday...bad idea. I didn't feel so hot this morning. I was so tired and groggy. The cheesecake was good but not worth the way I felt this morning. As of last Thursday, I've lost 9 lbs!!! I've been on this diet 4 weeks exactly. I feel so much better and the changes just keep coming.

I've got a lot to do so I won't be bored for quite some time. There is a lot to do when trying to start your own business, even when it's going to be a really small business. I have to get my food handling certificate which requires a 2 day class and test, set up a website, get a logo, create legal documents, get my tax id number...and I'm sure I'm missing a few things. I would like to have everything done as soon as possible so I can start making some mullah. I've got several big cakes on the books for June so I need to be official at the latest by then, Which should happen even if there are a few glitches.

My mother-in-law is visiting us late next week and then my sister comes the week after that. My mother-in-law has only been here for the wedding so I'm excited to show her what our life is like.

All of our foster stuff was sent to Waco today. It got held up in the Dallas office because the director was out sick all last week. So we should now be getting our license sometime next week. I'll let you know when we get it!

Hoops and yoyo cake

I did this cake about a year ago for a co-workers birthday. She is obsessed with Hoops and Yoyo. If you have no idea who Hoops and Yoyo are, click here.

Foster Parents!...Almost

I've been wanting to write about this for MONTHS but I couldn't until I let my work know what was going on.

About 6 months ago we started looking into adopting. We looked at everything available, private domestic, private agency domestic, international, and foster-to-adopt. We met with a couple who heads up Tapestry, an adoption and foster ministry, at Irving Bible Church. They have walked through this process with hundreds of families and are a wealth of information.

For this first adoption we've decided to go the foster route which is by far the most 'risky' and complicated but it's where we feel the Lord wants us right now. The process to be licensed foster parents is rather lengthy and involved a slew of things including lots of paperwork, classes, various inspections, the home study, and a ton of random things (like putting a thermometer in your refrigerator....). Everything will be finished by the 4th and then it will take about a week to get our license in the mail to make us official. At that point, we wait. How long? Only God's knows.

The agency we are working with primarily gets infants from women in prison who deliver while incarcerated. Since our heart is to adopt and not necessarily be a revolving door, we have put a few limitations on what kids we will take. We do not care what about the gender or race, in fact, I've always wanted a 'rainbow' family. It is very possible that in just 2 1/2 short weeks, we could have a baby in our home. Crazy! But then again, it could be months and we are totally willing to wait.

We worked on clearing out our second bedroom several weeks ago to make room for a nursery of sorts. We are only getting the vary basics for now because we have no idea if we are getting a boy or girl or even when we are getting a child. We don't know if the first one we get will actually become adoptable or if we'll have to through several babies. There are so many unknowns so we'll just have to take it one step at a time and trust the Lord big time! Some sweet friends gave us their changing table and stroller. We still need to get a crib, bottles, and a car seat at the minimum before April 10. We will get a call one day and need to pick up the infant that same day so there isn't much wiggle room to collect stuff.

We are thrilled and excited for this new adventure. I start to get a little anxious when I think about all the unknowns. I'm scared to give up a baby after we've had them in our home for 6 months or more. I'm selfishly sad that we can't plan much for this child, pick out nursery colors, have lots of baby showers, experience a birth. But I know the Lord has us going in this direction for a reason and we have longed to be parents for a long time now. Please pray for my heart during this journey. I have no idea what to expect and desire to trust the Lord and rest in Him through it all...whatever may come.

I gave my 2 week notice today. I'll be finished April 10. I've offered to work 1/2 days the following week unless we get a call with a baby. I'll still need to bring in some income during this time so I'm officially getting my cake business up and running. I found a commercial kitchen to work out of and will be getting my food handling licence soon. This means I can actually start charging for my cakes!!! The business name will be 'Cake Me Bakery'. I'm working on a website, logo, and business plan. If you need a cake or know someone who needs one, let me know!!! I've got several to do next month and a couple wedding cakes to do this summer.

I've got more to update you all on soon but this post is already lengthy. I'll let you digest all of this before the rest comes.

BDay Extravaganza!

Yep, today is my birthday. I love birthdays! Random trivia, I share my birthday with Jennifer Aniston who turned 40 today. Chase gets home from his grandmothers funeral later this afternoon so last night I decided to make my own birthday cupcakes....I know I know, you aren't suppose to make your own bday cake. (ready? long run on sentence/tangent coming...) BUT, I've been wanting to try this flavor combo for a REALLY long time but I never make cake for myself, I'm always making it for other people and no one ever wants to risk their cake with a crazy flavor...they want the normal white, yellow, chocolate, or sometimes carrot cake with butter cream....bor-ing. Actually, those are really good cakes but after making them over and over again, I want try something new!

So, I love lemon cake, but not your normal lemon cake. It's basically a french vanilla cake with a hint of lemon. Also I LOVE mascapone cheese and raspberry so I decided to make a raspberry mascopone frosting. So you're asking, 'what in the world is MASCAPONE cheese???' It's the Italian version of cream cheese. It is softer and smoother than cream cheese and has a hint of nut flavor. You've probably had it before and didn't even realize it. It's in authentic tirimisu. If you've never had it, you HAVE to try it! Go now, Run! Walmart even carries it now in their international cheese section.

Baby Benjamin Cake

I have a friend from church, Leslie, who recently had a baby, Benjamin. I brought her a cake after they got home from the hospital. It is a french vanilla cake with lemon cream cheese filling, covered in buttercream.

More Wedding Cakes

Wedding Cakes

It's wedding cake weekend! Here are 2 pics for now and I'll post 2 others later this weekend.

Graduation Cake

One of our good friends, Chewy (aka Chris), just graduated from UTD and is going into the construction business. I gladly made a cake for his big day. The bottom cake is chocolate with cream cheese filling and covered in butter cream. The top cake is a vanilla cake with raspberry and lemon cream cheese fillings and covered in butter cream. The tools, small hard hat, and diploma are made out of white chocolate. The large hard hat is sculpted rice crispy treats covered in fondant.

Baby Andrew Cake

My cousin-in-law is about to have her third baby and I was asked to make a cake for a baby shower the day after Christmas. Congrats Nikki on another blessing from the Lord! I can't wait to meet baby Andrew.

Cake Week

Somehow this week started and ended with long nights, early mornings, and cakes! One of our friends turned the big 4-0 Wednesday and the surprise bday party is tonight. It's been a pretty busy week so this one was a pretty fast cake to put together. It's a lot larger than it looks, its a 12" round cake double stacked. One of the commonly asked questions I get regarding cakes is "How long does it take to make?" The 'fast' ones take about 4 hours start to finish. The more colors and fancy fillings you add the longer it takes. Once the cake is assembled, it only takes me 1 - 1.5 hours to frost and decorate. Most of the time is spent baking, making the frosting, coloring the frosting, make fillings, rolling fondant, etc. Some of the more elaborate cakes take me 3-4 hours to decorate, plus the 3-4 hours of baking and assembling.

The cake below is a white vanilla cake with a layer of raspberry and a layer of orange cream cheese fillings with buttercream frosting.

The cake below was for another bday party earlier this week. I really like how this one turned out. I like the texture I was able to do on the bottom layer. I think I'll make this style cake again soon. The roses I made with buttercream. They take about 2 minutes each to make. I made them while the cakes were baking so it didn't any 'extra' time.

Both cakes were white chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting. The bottom cake had raspberry filling and the top cake had a white chocolate mouse filling.....can you tell they like white chocolate?

cupcake fun!

My boss had a birthday on Friday. Now, I would normally make a full cake like these but I wanted to do something a little different this time. Bakerella makes cupcake pops which are SO adorable so I decided to give it a try. They were a HUGE hit. Here's how they turned out!



FYI, these take a LOT of time!

random pics

The below picture is my first attempt at 2 things: making my own fondant, and covering a cake in fondant. For those of you who don't know what fondant is, don't worry, I didn't either until I started watching Ace of Cakes on the Food Network Channel. Fondant is used in a variety of ways, covering petits-fours, filling chocolate balls, and covering cakes. My homemade fondant is mostly marshmallow. The ingredients are simple and few but putting it together is extremely high-maintenance. You can purchase fondant from a cake supply store from $5-$12 per pound OR you can make it for about $1.50 per pound. For the cake below I probably used 2 lbs.


My sister, Dayle, sent me these pictures a couple days ago. They are in the middle of moving to a new apartment and decided to pack up Martin as well. She is visiting us August 12-19! I'm SOOOO excited to see my nephew again. It will be 3 1/2 months since I last saw him!

Cakes!

The treatments that I was on a couple months ago caused extreme insomnia. One time I went 10 days with only 8 hours of sleep total! I almost went crazy. Since I had an additional 8 hours a night to kill, I decided to take up cake decorating. I took a class and then spent the wee hours of the night, practicing. Below are the fruits of my labor...at 2AM!