Stars and Stripes Forever

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Candy Making

I'm making chocolate wedding cakes, wedding bells, and interlocked hearts for my soon to be sister-in-law's wedding shower next weekend.  Seeing that the temperature is predicted to reach 90 on Monday, I decided to take advantage of the cool evening to work on the chocolate. 

For as much as I bake and love confectionery goodies, I have never melted down chocolate into molds.  I think that the turned out pretty cute, don't you?  I haven't decided if I want to offer them with the cheese and fruit trays during the wine tasting (we're having the shower at a winery) or if I want to use them as a decoration on top of the cupcakes I will be making.

Her colors are black and white so I used dark and white chocolate.  Wait till you see the super cute cupcake wrappers I found.  They are white with black fleur de lis.  I'm going to make 1/2 dark chocolate with white frosting and the other 1/2 white with dark chocolate frosting.

Chai kept me company in the kitchen, although I think she just really wanted to go outside.  I don't blame her, it's such a nice night.  But I'm not climbing out onto the roof in the dark.  Sorry little girl.

3 months later

Oh, time.  You just pass by so quickly.  Has it really been 3 months since my last post??














Daisies in my grandmother's flower bed.

Remember...

I just read this and wanted to put some place where I wouldn't lose it.  I'm happy to say that I do remember a time like this and thankful that I grow up in that time.

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even the early 80s, probably shouldn't have survived.  Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.   We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking).

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.  Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.  We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.  Horrors!  We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.  We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.  

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of wood scraps and fruit crates and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.  After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.  We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

Now one was able to reach us by cell phone.  Unthinkable!  We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no ninety-nine channels on cable, videotape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.  We had neighborhood friends!  We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.  We played other games such as Kick the Can and Capture the Flag.  We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.  They were accidents. No one was to blame but us.

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.  We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did worms live inside us forever.  We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in.  Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.  Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Some of us weren't as smart as others, so we failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.  Horrors!  Tests were not adjusted for any reason.  Our actions were our own.  Consequences were expected, no one to hide behind.  The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.  They actually sided with the law.  Imagine that!  This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever.

-ANONYMOUS

Headstand

Today I did my first headstand in yoga class.  My neck and upper back muscles are definitely not strong enough to stay in the pose for very long.  I've had a stiff neck all day, like I slept on it weird.

Hope I heal up before I have to do it again on Thursday.

Taxes

I just finished my federal and state taxes.  I'm getting a little more than I had expected so yay!  I should be able to pay off some debt sooner than I thought.

Laundry Day

Now that the snow is finally less of a burden, I headed over to the very busy laundry mat.  But no matter how much I wish, laundry day is never like this...