Cricut CAKE!

Have you ever seen a crafting product that made your jaw drop? That's a silly question for crafters! We've probably seen a LOT of those! I was going through my Google Reader with blogs listed and clicked on "Everyday Cricut." The funny thing about me even clicking on it is that I don't own a cricut. It's one of those pricey items that never made it into the "I could use this for my business" (thus justifying the price) list. I have a dear friend who lives near me who has told me I can go use hers, but I have yet to do it. I think I'm afraid I might like it too much.

Back to my clicking. I saw the words "Cricut Cake" and thought, "Oh, ANOTHER version of the Cricut. This one must have some kind of cute little feature that makes it called a "Cake." You know how crafters are. Everything must have a cute little name. Then I noticed they were giving one away. For free. Yep! That got my attention! I clicked on the link to find out more about this "yet another" Cricut. That's when I found out when they said CAKE, they meant CAKE.

If you haven't heard about it, let me share this link with you: CRICUT CAKE GIVEAWAY. Why is it called cake? Turns out, it can cut shapes out of food items to put on CAKE! I'm thinking fondant or gum paste must be what it primarily cuts. Can you imagine? How many overnight Chef Duffs will we have?

I posted on Facebook that I have this random desire to be a cake decorator (I bought a Wilton "yearbook" in the 70's in junior high & started teaching myself how to make icing flowers & such). I've never had official classes. I want to do that. Again, one of those that hasn't made it on the list. It's way cheaper than a Cricut! LOL! I think the whole gluten free issue makes it not so much fun to take classes icing cakes I can't even TASTE. It's one reason Pampered Chef became so hard for me. I had to cook & serve food I could not taste to be sure it was made right. I mean, I trust PC recipes, but I couldn't tell guests anything about some of the food. So, my OTHER part of the desire to decorate cakes is to learn to make REALLY tasty and NOT DRY gluten free cake. I have found a way to make most foods taste decent in a GF formula. I've still not made a crescent roll, but that's another story for another day. I would love to be able to make DELICIOUS GF cakes AND decorate them.

I told my daughters this the other day & they both said, "I want to help you!" THey thought the idea of a Cricut Cake was amazing. Natalie would help bake, I know. Bethany would help decorate. I have not decorated a birthday cake in several years b/c she does them all. Actually, they both do. B. is on a GF diet now, too (hoping she'll gain weight), so I'd like her to learn to cook & bake GF. She likes to make food concoctions without recipes. Some are, well, interesting, to say the least. Natalie loves to bake and cook. Here's the only issue I have with the idea of a "bakery:" I don't do mornings. Not well anyway. So we could only REALLY do cakes. The kind you make the day before & they pick up sometime AFTER noon. LOL!

I suspect this Cricut Cake will cost much more than the other Cricuts, so it's not really on my justifiable list either. But if I win the contest, well, I'll start baking cakes faster than you can blink an eyelash!

The Beautiful Blossoms

If you live in Texas or know people in Texas, you may know that it is a law that you must take pictures of your kids in the Bluebonnets. I've broken the law for several years as we really didn't have great fields of our beloved state flower. This year, with a cold winter and lots of rain, God has blessed us with fields of waving blue flowers dotted with assorted other beauties.

We stopped at a field (along with a few other families) near my mother-in-law's house on the way home from Easter church service on Sunday. The wind was blowing and the sun was bright, so catching both of our blossoms with open eyes wasn't easy. We did get a few shots, though, and wanted to share these with you.





I cannot remember the fields of flowers having a scent, but WOW, was there ever a sweet smell in the air. Sandi Patty's song "Was it a Morning Like This?" asks about the morning Jesus rose from the grave, "Did the grass sing? Did the earth rejoice to feel You again?" I have to wonder if the bluebonnets were rejoicing with us with their sweet scent that Jesus is Risen!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

I'm alive!

Just a quick post for anyone who might be checking into my blog. My mom just told me my last blog post was on 2/19. We've been busy with life, homeschool, trying to get more items made for my Loribelle Bags Business, etc.

I'll try to post a better update soon!

Selling Girl Scout cookies & not eating them

For the record, I just want to say that having my girls sell cookies & not being able to eat a single one because of gluten is really a stinky deal. Stinkier still is that I can't eat the really good stuff, but the stuff I can eat is higher in calories & I've gained MORE weight instead of losing. The rheumatologist told me swimming is good for fibromyalgia, but to lose weight I'd have to "make foam in the pool." Yeah, I don't think I can swim fast enough for that! It's also stinky that Bluebell puts wheat in most of their ice creams, even those that don't need it for any reason.

You know what's not stinky? That God loves me even if I am overweight & that in Heaven there will be no more Celiac Disease! Yea!

That's all.

What can you not do online?

A week or so ago my nephew blogged about the incredible amount of resources available on the internet for ministry. You can read his blog HERE. His title was the same as mine. Is English the only language where we ask a rhetorical question in the negative but mean the opposite? Did anyone understand THAT question in English? LOL! I mean that he asked the question, "What can't you do...?" but meant, "look at all the things you CAN do...." My nephew has been in ministry for 6 years, at least professionally for 6 years. He's been in some form of ministry since he trusted Jesus to be His Savior as a teenager. His current position is (and I may say this wrong) Student Pastor and Internet Pastor. I may have totally messed that up, but he is responsible for finding ways to use the Internet for the church's ministry. He actually developed an app for the iPhone so you can watch Trinity Baptist on your phone. I find that kind of Star Trekish in a cool way. I, however, have a Zphone---zero dollars, provided by AT&T without bells & whistles, so I just read about how smart he is.

When I saw his title, I decided to take the question literally. I live with an autistic child. Literal is the norm. Here is a starter list for what you CAN'T do on the internet. I'd LOVE to hear from you about those things you just can't do with the click of a mouse.
You can't:

• kiss a boo-boo
• hold a baby
• cut the umbilical cord when your baby is born
• hold your sweetheart's hand
• give a hug
• taste chocolate (or any other food group)
• feel the wind or the power of a Kawasaki ZRX zipping down the road (jury is still out on if that's a good thing or not!)
• wipe your child's tears
  
• feel your child squeeze your hand when a doctor is cutting into a wound and it hurts like nothing she's ever felt before
• touch your parent's face for the last time before they go into the presence of the Lord
• tickle your child
• remove a tumor
• see your autistic child hiding beneath a table because of sensory overload
• use a cpap to help breathe at night
• drink a coke
• feed a plate of food and a drink of water to a Hatian who has lost all but hope in the Lord
• feel the comfort of your own bed and pillow
• put in earplugs
  

My list could go on & on. These aren't all good things, but they are real things that happen and make us grow and change. I am SO thankful for the ways the Lord uses the technology we have (and believe He is the one who gives man the ability to create such things). I am equally thankful for those things we CAN'T do online.

What's your list of what you cannot do online?

An unexpected sleepover in the hospital

Edited below with pictures & more info.

I'll have to post more from home or after Natalie's asleep. We came to the ER to see about a wound that had not improved since we saw the dr. on Thursday. The dr. said to go to the ER if it got worse. It did. We did. The dr. here lanced it (VERY painful as the local anesthetic did not kill the pain) but wants to keep us overnight to watch it.

Natalie is a tough cookie. She has never winced at getting shots. She seems to frequently be hurting herself (this happens when you are ADHD & don't watch where you are going). But her pain tolerance is high. We KNEW when she started crying that she was in pain. I told her it was okay to scream.

When we first got to the ER it was about 2. Natalie's main concern was that we be OUT OF HERE by 6 for her Girl Scout cookie booth. Funny girl!

I'm going to sign off & let her play on the computer (that Phil graciously brought to me!). She's having a hard time being still & is bored to tears but not sleepy yet! Will update tomorrow.

Edited 2/19: Our trip started with a bump Natalie got a few weeks ago. It started to improve. In this picture you can see it was healing nicely a week after the bump. She & her friend happened to be working on a photography badge for Girl Scouts, so we had a picture of it.

Then, a week later it started looking a bit swollen. Throughout the week it got worse, so we went to the doctor on Thursday. She put Natalie on an antibiotic but said if it got worse over the weekend we needed to get to the ER. I decided I needed to take pictures to be able to compare them (not trusting my brain to remember if it was better or worse!).

This was on Thursday.

Friday.

As you can see, it got worse, so we went to the ER. This is what it looked like on Sunday (the lancing was done on Saturday):
It seems to be doing better, but is a bit more swollen than I'd like. I'll have to watch it over the weekend & see if we need another trip to the doctor.
Now, I must show you another picture. It seems that the bumps were spreading on her face.

She & her friend both did this. I think her eye wound looked better than they did with these! LOL!

Dates that live in Infamy

There are certain dates that "live in infamy" meaning they are dates of bad news that are forever burned into our memories. For those of us in my generation and before, the first date that most of us was the one that caused this expression to be coined. December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day. The one that any of us who were older children and up know all too well is 9/11. Then there are personal dates that stay with us. Many aren't infamous, but rather joyful. Our family's birthdays, our anniversary, maybe the day you fell in love. But some dates are the ones we hate. Maybe it was the date someone you loved dearly moved away. Maybe it was the date your boyfriend broke your heart. Or maybe it was the date someone you loved passed away.

Yesterday Gina K. of Gina K. designs posted about the day her dad died, one year ago on 1/31. You can read her story HERE. For me, the date 1/19/78 was my first day of infamy. It was the date my brother Steve died in a car accident. He was 17, just 2 months shy of 18. I was 12. Many years later I distinctly remember the day my Grammie was buried in 1996: 3/15. My birthday.

Today, February 1st, is the date when my father-in-law, Bill, died 2 years ago. At least that is when his body finally quit. We think his mind had been gone for a few days. I know last year I posted that I had taken the girls along with some other moms & kids to the Hannah Montana Concert Movie. We were all giggling & I was watching these girls with their 3-D glasses grab at things on the screen that seemed to be floating in the air. Then she sang the song that I posted last year, "I Miss You," and I cried...a lot. It was about her grandfather who'd died. All I could think of was my little girls losing their grandfather at a young age. I never met my grandfathers (though Grammie remarried and I got to have one for a few years) so I've wanted my girls to enjoy knowing theirs (and their grandmothers).

Life hasn't stopped because Bill is gone. Ruth, my mom-in-law, has done remarkably well. In fact, if you know any single 70-something men who like to country western dance, she'd love to go out dancing! Yes, really! Ruth has gone on a trip to New York with some ladies & taken a few other shorter trips. For her birthday this year she bought herself a mini SUV. I guess she's going to go tear up the turf somewhere. Phil has done okay, too. I think we both cried so much the night Bill died that we got our grieving out all at once. The girls normally seem to just accept that he is gone. They know he's with the Lord & they will see him again. Today Bethany reminded me that when Grandma goes to Heaven she'll get to see Pop Bill again (and if I didn't share it before, she once said, "I wonder if he'll still have Elvis hair in Heaven.").

Every once in a while, though, something makes us stop in our tracks. There's a copy of a picture of Bill when he was in the Navy in the craft room. I'm not sure why it's there. It's an extra from when we did his picture collage for the funeral. When I see it, I think of him. Sometimes, especially in the winter, when we walk into Ruth's house, I expect to see him sitting in his chair with a blanket over his lap. A few months ago Bethany watched the movie "Up" with Phil. I only caught bits of it & was crying. If you've seen the movie, you may wonder with me why it isn't called "Down" because it provokes sad thoughts at times. After the movie, she was very upset & was crying. She missed Pop Bill.

For now we miss him, but one day we will see him again. For those who believe in their hearts & confess with their mouths Jesus is Lord, we will be in Heaven together. What a glorious day that will be. That day will wipe out every day of infamy that ever existed. Praise God!