So-I got a new job. It's official today as I finally got my badge. It's a good picture so I figure it's kismet.
I am now employed by Hobby Lobby at their corporate compound in the Creative Department as a crafter. Yes people, you read that right, I'm a professional crafter. I get to spend the day making things with my hands, playing with glitter, glue, paint and scissors. I still have a hard time believing that this is a real job, but after one paycheck thus far, I guess it is, at least according to FICA.
I actually wake up and can't wait to get to work. I haven't ever known what it's like to make a living doing something you love until now. I hope it continues to be as exciting as the past two weeks have been.
I was leery about telling my boss I had defected because, well, because I sort of felt like I was a deserter. I knew they'd make it without me, heck, they did fine before I got there, nevertheless, I was nervous. The news came out and I felt a load rise off my shoulders as my boss smiled and said that she was happy for me and I think she really was.
On another note, I, along with fellow etsians Claudiasburningink, JD Star and TaranehsBazaar (check their links to the right) are heading to the big D, or Dallas as some call it for the Show Pony Show (See the flyer below or check them out at www.showponyshow.blogspot.com) on Sunday the 17th. If you're in the Dallas area or feel like a roadtrip, come see us! There's even going to be a real pony there from noon-2pm. Yeehaw!

Paste out
-kate


Hey-my name's on a flier!!! wootwoot!

Hello out there folks! It's been awhile and I haven't realy been riled up about anything lately thus, no blogs-since it is my free therapy and all, but things have been happining this week...

First, we are busy as hell at work and quite frankly, I'm sick of it.  There are tons of extra people running around the building, dirtying up the bathrooms and break rooms, taking our parking spots and being generally icky.  Now, some of them are great people but others, well, lets just say there's a reason they work for a temp agency...Anyway, they are gone in a week so that prospect makes me happy.  What a birthday present-the trash gets taken out.

Next, I am FINALLY getting better.  I have had the creeping crud for about 5 weeks now.  The highlight was two weeks ago when it hurt so bad to swallow that I cried...CRIED!  Those that know me know I do not cry yet, a sore throat brought me to my emotional knees.  Ridiculous!  Anyway, it is almost gone and for those of you with terrible, or not-so-terrible, sinus issues I present you with a solution.  The neti pot, or nose bidet.  It's a little teapot that you fill with warm saline solution (water and non-iodized salt).  Shove it up your nose and tilt your head and pour.  It flows into your sinuses, clearing them out and then out your other nostril.  OK, OK, now I know what you are thinking, "Kate, that is soooooo gross, and a little too homeopathic for such an advocate of better living through chemistry."  I know, right?  But seriously, if doing that a few times a month keeps me from having to shell out 25+ dollars a month on sinus meds, I'm a happy girl.  So, if you are stricken by terrible sinus headaches (and it IS the season) you might think about this.  You can pick them up at Walgreens and/or Akins Foods.  Seriously, it works!

Oh yeah, my birthday, or personal New Year is coming up.  the big 3-6 and I'm totally OK with it...now ask me how I feel about my birthday in about 4 years and I''m sure I'll have a different story, but for now, yeah, I'm OK.

Now, about this "I bought you", "Beat my score" bullshit.  That is, in my opinion, spam at it's finest.  Myspace generated spam delivered to my comments on a daily basis.  I'm happy to take a movie quiz (I missed two by the way-the Back to the Future and the Star Wars questions.) however when I did that, I took care to NOT sent comments to everyone regarding my score-which, ironically, don't even give your score-or send out bulletins-which I find less offensive than said comments-so it can be done.

As far as buying me...I appreciate intenet slavery as much as the next person, however, if you want to purchase someone, I am NOT for sale...if that were the case, I would have a shitload more than I do now.  I can work a skin trade with the best of them.

So, with all due respect, if you take part in any of the Myspace apps, while, I am happy for you, I will delete the comment.  No offense to anyone, and I think alot of people don't even realize that some big obnoxious comment goes out to EVEYONE on their friends list when they do it unless a little box is checked.  If you too are sick of your comments getting bitched up, there is a way to stop it...do this:

Go back to your home page. At the top, click on APPS where you can add all kinds of useless bullshit like the "I Bought You As My Pet!" app.

Click on the "Manage My Apps" link in the upper right corner.

First: Decide whether you want your photo and basic info shared by these "games" Click on "Don't Share Any Data"

Second: The very last box that says "Allow Apps To Send Comments/Messages" Make sure it is clear, no check mark.

Finally click on the "Save Changes" button, and you will not receive any more of this nonsense.

OK kiddos, I think that's about it for now. 

May all your cake be fries be crisp and all your cake be moist!

Paste out my homies!

-k

P.S.  Do not be offended by this post as I DID say "With all due respect".  I DO appreciate all heartfelt and personal comments so do not hesitate to send those to me as they make me smile!

So, I write this as a long time fan, first time concert go-er so it may be old news to some.  I spent New Year's Eve with a bunch of strangers and the Flaming Lips.  It was truly the best New Year's Eve I have ever spent.  If you want to feel like a kid again, go to a Lips concert.  There was a ton of confetti, huge balloons (lots of them), spaceships, Santas, lasers and spacemen and spacegirls.  Oh-and a Wayne in a ball.  For someone who had never witnessed such a spectacle, it was pure, unadulterated joy.

I went with my best friend Katie who has a friend that got us backstage passes-which by the way isn't really "back" it's more "side" but nevertheless, there was beer, water, soda and snacks...it was apparently a better spread than the opening band's dressing room (according to them anyway). 

I met my cousin and his wife (Hey Brian and Sam!) at Tapwerks at 5.30p and we commenced drinking.  We got to the Myriad-yes, to me it's still the Myriad-and I was advised that we were now on the floor.  I found Katie, got my pass, bid Brian and Sam goodbye and off I went.  Let me tell you, I have been to plenty of concerts and have always been happy to sit in the stands and watch from afar, but having a VIP pass around your neck kind of makes you feel like a bad-ass.  I strode through the crowd and headed to where I thought everyone else would be.  I tried to act like I belonged and knew what I was doing and where I was going, but as I get older I have less of a problem telling people that I don't know what I'm doing.  A nice security guy pointed me into a room and before I went in, I turned around and ran into my cohorts.  Whew, it's much easier to be cool with other people.

We go backstage, have a drink, hang out, look at all the people and wonder who they are then we meet Michelle (Wayne's wife).  We head out to listen to the opening band for a bit (I was pretty impressed with them) and then decide that the co-ed bathroom backstage is a little too rock-n-roll for us so we trek out to the bathroom in the concourse.

When we get back to the floor, everyone is just milling around waiting for the big show.  We decide that we need another beer and head backstage again.  We were hanging out in the back of the room when I saw over everyone head, something that looked like Wayne's crazy hair.  I poked Katie and said "Is that Wayne?"  She said yes and we both hollered at Leann to go get him. (she's a family friend of the Coynes)  She waited until he made his way to the back and then brought him over (Thanks for humoring us Lea!).  We met him and I had my camera so it was mentioned that I wanted to have my picture with him.  So, no one would take it so Wayne grabbed the camera, held it up "self-portrait" style and click!  It actually turned out pretty good.  I figure he probably had to do that a lot.  Well, I could have gone home happy at that point, but he left and we wandered out to the floor again.

Somewhere in there Katie mentions that her ticket says "Floor" on it which I find funny because I bought the tickets all together and they were in the 400 section.  She said that her Mom bought two tickets on the floor and she had one of them.  I immediately decided that I had to have those tickets and I had to find Brian and Sam in the crowd.  I scanned the sections where I thought they said they were sitting and lucky for them, Brian had on a green shirt or I never would have found them.  I got the tickets and off I went.  I found them, bragged about how I met Wayne and got my picture with him and they freaked out.  Then I told them that they were coming down to the floor with me.  Now apparently when you're on the floor, they mark your ticket and give you a wrist band to keep this whole ticket-switching thing from happening but I didn't realize that until we were in line to get on the floor.  I turned to them and told them that if they ask, they didn't get a wristband.  Well, they were asked and Sam took the lead stating that they didn't get a wristband, the security guy asked where they came in and she just randomly pointed down to the left.  We were then told to go down to that entrance and see if that guy remembered them.  We go down to the next "gate" and Sam asks the guy if he remembers them and he starts griping that there are too many people to remember and blah blah blah...anyway, Sam sweet-talked him and I flashed my VIP pass and long story longer, they got on the floor.  I guided them up and to the side and that's where we stood for the whole amazing show.  Katie and the other girls had seen them before so they headed up to some seats in the lower level, but I wanted to stay on the floor for the entire spectacle.

The lights went down and we were so excited, here came the Santas and the spacegirls, the superheroes and the spaceship.  Down came the band members and Wayne in his big ball.  I just kept looking at Brian and Sam and screaming at them how exciting it was, they kept screaming back they couldn't believe they were on the floor.  I took a zillion pictures and about 25 of them were good.  There were hands up, balloons in the way, confetti and general darkness that interfered with the picture taking, but certainly not the fun.  I was in awe-it was like a carnival with a lot of swearing.  Now, I curse like a sailor, but usually not in public and most definitely not into a microphone, but I ain't got nothing Wayne. 

After some sing-alongs we were told that there would be a countdown at 11.30pm so that everyone could get outta there to see the fireworks at midnight.  More sing-alongs, lasers and balloons then the countdown.  In the Myriad, it was 2008 thirty minutes earlier than anywhere in the Central time zone and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend it.  All the balloons came down, more confetti and it was like the biggest kids party you could have ever dreamed of.  One more song then they boarded their spaceship and took off to the rafters.

We stood there wishing it could have gone on for a few more hours, but so happy with what we had just witnessed that it was almost a relief when the house lights came on because really, we may not have been able to stand that much more excitement.

In short, I guess what I am saying is go see the Lips.  Even if you're not a fan, you will be by the time you get outta there.  And, if nothing else, who doesn't like balloons, confetti and lasers?  I mean, really...

 

Don't be afraid to deviate from the norm people, you never know what you may discover-

Happy 2008-make the best of it!

xo

k

As we approach the end of '07, I, like many others, are anticipating the upcoming year.  It's that time for self-assessment, list making and high hopes.  Now being someone that loves lists, it may come as a surprise to some that I haven't made a list of goals-ever.  Perhaps this is my problem.  Writing things down makes it so permanent.  Everything's just out there for anyone to see and hold you accountable when it doesn't come to pass. When it doesn't, you feel foolish for having those seemingly unobtainable hopes and dreams.  I certainly don't like to feel foolish so I keep my dreams and goals to myself and a few dear friends that know me well enough to know that I may or may not be talking out of my posterior.

I am making a list this year-a real paper list.  I might even laminate it and keep it with me at all times.  I am, however, still toying with the idea of putting it out there for all to see.  Possibly, I will share as I see them through to fruition, maybe not-only time will tell.

For now, here is a list of my favorite things of '07:

1. A plane ticket to St. Croix-and unfortunately a ticket back
2. My new digital camera
3. A 4G flash drive (it holds lots of music to keep me entertained at work)
4. Vera Wang shoes that I've had my eye on for months
5. The White Stripes-Icky Thump
6. House (yes, I just discovered it this year)
7. Knowing that there will be a Target and Old Navy in Yukon in '08
8. Baking and frosting cakes
9. Mint 3 Muskateers
10. Red Eye (on FoxNews-check it out people)
11. My friends-old and new
12. My family
13. Thursday Night TV
14. Sailor Jerry rum
15. Unexpected surprises

And, it can't be a list, without your kiss, your kiss.

 

Until '08-

xo

-k

So, first off, some Australian Santa's helpers are not being allowed to proclaim the traditional "HO HO HO!" in favor of a more PC "HA HA HA!"  Apparently "HO HO HO" could be considered offensive to women and possibly scare children.  I say you're only going to be offended by the word HO if you are one and then only if you are ashamed of it and kids have been afraid of Santa forever.  I mean really, who knows what's in that beard of his?  I saw the movie Bad Santa, and while I would have no hesitation in sitting on Billy Bob's lap, that was one bad Santa. 

Over the past few weeks I discovered that I do not like, nor do I get paid enough, to be in "charge".  It was a big headache and I was a cranky stressball and quite frankly, working 12 hours a day sucks!  I have informed my boss that she is NEVER allowed to leave again. It was bad for my complexion, my friends, co-workers and my liver. 

The Dolese truck has the lights on it-HO HO HO-RAY!!!  It's the official start of the Christmas season.

Thanksgiving is Thursday and it's supossed to get cold---finally, after a week or so of 80 degree weather.  Here in Oklahoma we have gotten used to not having Spring or Fall.  It's either too cold or too hot, but really, when I buy those sweaters at the end of Winter and those capris at the end of Summer, I know I'll get way more use out of them than people in other states. 

PLUS, it's the annual Wolf turkey, stuffing and pie-fest. (Yes kids, I said pie-fest)  There will be so many pies there that I won't even have to make a cake for this family festivity.  This is a good thing because I have made many cakes this month and could use a rest.  Plus I have to save up all my "good cake" vibes for a killer peppermint cake for our annual Christmas party and drunk-fest.  Hopefully everyone will keep everything inside of them inside and a good time will be had by all.

It's official!  I give good cake!  I have finally convinced myself of this as apparently in my head I have met the quota of people telling me so.  I did not know what the quota was per se however, today, as people were stuffing my cupcakes into their mouths and making somewhat inappropriate sounds for the workplace, I decided that I guess it had been met.  I will finally toot my own horn.  Let's hear it for self-assuredness!

The movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure will NEVER, EVER get old.  If you ever see me in a bad mood, tell me to go watch it and cheer the hell up.  I wish I had remembered that a few weeks ago...

Finally, I would like to say "Welcome Back" to a friend of mine that has been gone for a bit, I missed her, and a "Get Well Soon" to another friend of mine-he knows who he is-my house-boy Javier misses him.

Gobble til you wobble people!
xo-kate

 

 

     So, here's the latest edition of the Cake Blogs.  This week we were faced with the challenge of cornelli lace.  It's quite pretty and usually on wedding cakes so it's mostly white on white.  I wasn't making a wedding cake so I decided to make the frosting a vanilla cinnamon buttercream to compliment my chai spice cake that I made.  I had made that combo before and it was quite delicious.
     From the cake scraps, I discovered that the additional dry ingredients had caused a strange texture in the cake.  It was almost as if my cake wanted to be a muffin-a giant spicy muffin.  Still, it seemed like it would work.  I whipped up my frosting and went to bed.
      When I got home Thursday, ready to frost, I discovered that I was shy one cakeboard.  I was already running behind, hot and aggrivated, but off to the Hobby Lobby I went.  I came home, crumb coated, frosted and had time to check my e-mail before heading back out into the heat to pick up Jen.
We got to class and loaded up our pastry bags-I went pink thinking it would be a trendy contrast to the pale tan of the cinnamon frosting-and began practicing..

Now, here's a pic of the concept of cornelli lace:

Looks easy right?  Pretty random.  Well, random is hard.  It's easy to keep going up and down until you have a worm instead of a nice random pattern.       After quite a bit of practice, I was ready to tackle the top of my cake.  Off I went and if nothing else, I was excited at how good the frosting smelled and the pink looked fabulous with the tan.  For once my frosting was the perfect texture.  Not too soft and not so stiff that my hand was permanently clawed up.  I was excited!  The more I did, the more comfortable I got with it. 
     Jen's attitude was much better this week but she did begin to get a little put out with her frosting as it was beginning to seperate.  All we can figure is that Target shorting falls a little short of good ole Crisco.  (Next week your frosting will ROCK Jen!).  She mentioned that she got outside of her box and went with a lovely turquoise shade and I took her signature pink.  We're so unpredictable!
     So, I finally got the WHOLE top covered, stepped back and admired my work.  When you're not hunched up over the top of your product, it's easier to overlook what you think are mistakes.  From a distance, it was quite pretty.  I finished with shells, taking a que from Jen who alternated colors and decided that it wasn't bad work for an evening. 
Here's the pics-lemme know what you think!

There are some mushed shells on the left side.  I got home and discovered that I had a few "jumpers".  I managed to talk them off the ledge and mashed them back up on the top.  They were happy...until I cut their piece and ate it.  I have to say, I make a mighty fine cake!!!

     As for the Black Forest cake that I made for a friends b-day, it was a success but I did learn some lessons.  The first being, you can over-whip cream...I think I actually knew that, but next time I'll remember.  Lesson 2, next time I won't rinse the "goo" off the cherry pie filling.  It was very good, but the next time around, it will be better. 
     I forgot to take pics of that and of the next cake that I made, but they were very pretty and I guess they were good because there wasn't any left!  The second cake was devil's food with chocolate whipped frosting.  I know that whipped frosting isn't for everyone, but for me, it's the best!  I still have some left which I choose to think of as a mousse when I'm eating it with a spoon.

I guess that's all that I have to say about cake this week.  There will not be a blog next week as I will be in St Croix laying on the beach and drinking something with rum in it.  I would love to say that I will raise a toast to all of you loyal readers, but I will probably forget, so-Here's to you!

As always, thanks for reading!

-katebakes...cakes
"gotta get a piece of that"

    

Beijing 2008, site of the next Summer Olympics and the creators of a whole new bunch of lame-ass mascots. 

They are called the "Friendlies" and apparently they are a panda, a Tibetan antelope, a dragon, a mischievous magical monkey and something else with flames shooting out of it's head;  They are out of Chinese folklore.  They look like a whacked out bunch that rolls in a child molestor van and randomly offers kids candy to "pet" them.  Not a good combo if you ask me.  Anyway, this is a recycled topic and I have re-posted it (from Jan 2006) below.  Enjoy and feel free to chime in with your thoughts!  I like it when you do that!

 

Ok...here's the deal. I don't care about the Winter Olympics. I just don't! Drunken skiers, girl snowboarders, ice skating judging scandals. It just doesn't matter to me. The only thing that I care about is that this spectacle will be televised on a major network, completely disrupting my TV watching for 2 weeks...2 weeks! I know I'm not alone, and at least I'll be in school and working so maybe it will allow me more time to devote to my studies (that algebra isn't going to do itself i guess).

I would also like to add my view on ---Olympic mascots.
While reading some news online, I came across this picture of the mascots for this winter's Olympics

Now, first of all, I have an issue with having a mascot for something that only last two weeks every 2 years, and secondly, I have an issue with them being so lame. "So", you might be asking yourself, "What the hell are they? The Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man's long lost siblings?" Well, as you can see so clearly from the picture above, they are a snowball and an ice cube. (can you sense the sarcasm?) Yes, these are two things that the winter Olympics can't be without, snow and ice, but to make those two items mascots is a quite ridiculous notion. Seeing this, I decided to research some other Olympic mascots to see if they were as ridiculous as this. Well, my friends, they are! Here is just a sampling of what has gone before...

I must start with this one (and don't think me un-American)

Don't pick a known noble creature such as the bald eagle and make him wear a top hat, bow tie and a tank top. I'm pretty sure he's not too happy about it, unless he plans on going out to the gay bars after the games.
OK, this little fella was for the '92 Olympics in Barcelona, apparently, it's a dog, which has so much to do with the Olympics it's not even funny (again, picking up any sarcasm?) and apparently, he is a local favorite from TV. Is it just me or does the Olympic symbol look like some bizarre hairs that need to be taken care of? Here's yet another: Athens, 2004-I don't think that anyone knows what these things are other than they were named after Greek gods. If you can figure it out, let me know.Atlanta '96It's Izzy, short for Whatizit. How freakin' lazy can you be? We're America for pete's sake, can we not do better than an imaginary creature without a real name? Geez!France, '92 It's a snow imp-need I say more?Austria '76-Schneemann, the snowman

Now after this sampling, all I ask is, have all Olympic mascots been perpetrated against the world by the Wonder Twins? Think about it,

"Form of an ice cube and snowball"
"Form of a slightly gay eagle"

"Form of a snow imp"
"Form of a dog with strange hairs that's only popular with the locals"

"Form of a snowball"
"Form of two things that no one know what they are but have GIGANTIC feet and are named after Greek gods"

Well, my friends, I leave you with this final thought...I can only hope that I put as much effort into my classwork as I did this particular post! Hope you enjoyed it!

Greetings all!  I see you're back for the 4th installment of The Cake Blogs and I hope I don't disappoint.

First I have to say that I recieved my mixer this week-God bless UPS and their speedy and prompt delivery.  I am such a nerd that I left work early to go home and play with it-yes folks, it's just a mixer, but I love it!  It's so cute, yellow and efficient.  Here it is:

So, I decided on strawberry this week and I made a wonderful strawberry preserve filling.  It was a little slickery and I was afraid that the top would slide right off, but alas, it stayed put.

I usually bake and frost on Wednesdays but this week I had my bunco game so I baked Tuesday and frosted Wednesday when I got home.  (Wow, cake decorating and bunco-how old am I again?)  Once I got it covered with the plain ole white buttercream, it needed some color.  I wanted hot pink and lime green frosting on the white so I started on the pink.  I added some red and stirred, added more red and stirred again.  I repeated this process about 6 times and it didn't seem like it was getting any more pink so I opted to add some yellow.  Well, I had on an orange shirt and the frosting was in a stainless bowl so I couldn't tell what colour it really was.  Still pink?  Orange?  Was it a reflection of my shirt?  Sheesh-who knew?  I had to ask Joe what he thought-I didn't feel so bad when he couldn't really tell either.  My hand was getting tired of stirring so I decided, whatever color it was would be fine.  I opted for shells at the base of the cake-completed those and headed to bed.

Thursday arrived and it was time for class.  Jen and I headed off, cakes and frosting in hand, ready to learn lattice, or the general principle behind it-which, incidentally, is "let it fall and pull it straight". (Insert "That's what he/she said" joke here if necessary).  Again, I discovered that my frosting was too stiff (again with the jokes...) so my plan was altered.  I switched from the orange to the green frosting and began the lattice work again.  Success!  And I loved the two colors together.  I opted for shells along the top, same as always and stepped back to admire my handiwork.  It needed something, but I didn't know what.

Actually, I did know what it needed, but I said I wasn't going to do it.  Then the cake spoke to me and it said it wanted-nay needed polka-dots.  Now who am I to deny a cake it's happiness?  Seriously...

Off I went with dots of the lime green variety and when I got done with those, I put orange dots in the middle of them.  I was unstoppable!  Then Jen spoke up-"they look like nipples!".  She was having an irregularly negative day so I didn't really take offense to it, especially when everyone in the class said how cute it was.  (And Jen, your cake was adorable, and you're a great friend!).  I knew I liked it but didn't feel like it was of professional quality until the instructor said that people would go crazy for a cake like that, then I felt better.
So here's the completed cake.  Most people decided that the dots looked like olives, but feel free to let me know what you think.

As for the roses, I asked if we could learn them next week, but the instructor will be gone, so we're not learning anything.  I might play around with some fondant (or fondament-if I can find some) and see what kind of damage I can do, so a cake blog is up in the air but maybe something exciting will happen next week that's blog-worthy.  I guess we'll see!

After I took these pics, I tore into it.  I have to say it's quite tasty and at our house we now have portions of 3 cakes.  Anyone for a cake party?  Bring your own fork!

I now have a German Chocolate and a Black Forest on tap for a birthday gathering on Saturday-leave it to me to befriend twins right?
It's my second German Chocolate but my first Black Forest so that in itself may be blog-worthy.

On other subjects, I guess I'm going to see the Simpsons Movie Friday.  I'm excited about it, but am reserving judgement.  I hope it's good and I hope that my Ralph gets ample screen time.  I'll let you know.
Secondly, kids-when you get out into the world and get jobs dealing with money, take the time to learn how to count back change.  You'll be doing yourself and whoever you're helping a huge favor!

hugs and cakes

-k