Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I celebrate 31 years. Actually, I started celebrating yesterday. In the morning I went to get my new driver's license. I forgot that they took a new picture and I was not exactly happy with how it turned out. I really wish they would let you see it first. Oh well, I'll get another one in the year 2017, the year before I turn 40!

My co-worker and friend, Ellen took me out to lunch. We went to Stir Crazy and it was our second time there. We still haven't done the actual stir fry bar, but we did enjoy our lunch and I had enough left over for lunch today.

Jamie made dinner last night and his Mom, Debbie, brought brownies and ice cream. I got a Wii and Wii fit! We hooked the Wii up last night and played some tennis, bowling, golf and baseball. I have to get another controller and some fun games!

Tonight I am going to the Brewer game with my brother, Mike, who is turning 32 tomorrow which means we are the same age today :) Happy early Birthday Mike! And tomorrow night my Mom and Dad are coming up for dinner as well.

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes!

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Today my boss, Tom, celebrates his 50th birthday! He took a vacation day on Thursday, so we decorated his office with streamers, ceiling decorations and around 160 black balloons. He was a good sport and kicked the balloons all to one side of his office so he could get some work done.




We also got him a couple gifts. Sue went with the over the hill type and bought him a cane with a horn, rearview mirror and water bottle holder. I got him the All About Town - Milwaukee board game. This is kind of an inside joke because he always says that I am solid Milwaukee. I still haven't figured out what he exactly means by that but he says it is a compliment. He is also from Milwaukee so I thought he would enjoy this.




In case you didn't know, every Friday we get an extra hour at lunch time to do something fitness related. So the reason he is dressed like that is because he just got back from playing kickball and a run at lunch time.

The Clown Cake

I've had my 3rd cake decorating class and we finally decorated our own cakes. We had to make a clown cake. I was kinda disappointed that we had to do that one since I am not a huge fan of clowns, but I think it turned out very well.




My instructor gave us an awesome buttercream frosting recipe so I thought I would share it here.

2 sticks butter softened
1/2 lb crisco
1 tbsp meringue powder
2 lbs powdered sugar
4 tbsp water
1-2 tsp vanilla and/or almond extract

Cream the butter, then add the crisco. Once creamed well, add meringue powder. Slowly mix in powdered sugar. Add one tbsp water at a time. Add vanilla or almond extracts or both.

The other thing my instructor told us was how to do a crumb coat. You bake your cake and let it cool. Add a very thin layer of frosting and then freeze the cake. A couple hours later, or the next day take it out of the freezer and frost it right away. It really helped keep the crumbs out of the frosting the next day and the cake didn't move since it was frozen. Within a couple hours the cake is defrosted and ready to be eaten.

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Banachi Bookies book club just finished The Time Traveler's Wife. Overall, the group seemed to like it, but I thought it was a tad boring. I wasn't very into it until the last 100 pages (540 total), then things started happening. It took me the whole 2 months to read it. Here is what it is about:

Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she'd known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old.


I am very excited about our next book, Loving Frank. I already started it and I am caught up in the affair of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. I think this one will be a fast read for me.

A Perfect Summer Weekend

This weekend was the most perfect summer weekend. The weather on Saturday and Sunday were in the mid to low 80's with a few clouds and a light breeze. You can't ask for better weather than that.

On Saturday we went to my brother, Nic's, annual summer party to celebrate his birthday, wedding anniversary and the 4th of July. Since the 4th was on a Saturday he decided to move it back a week so everyone could enjoy the 4th however they wished. Each year I bring a new food item. This year I made a very fun dessert. These were burgers and frys that were made from cupcakes, brownies and sugar cookies. They were so cute and I got some awesome reviews on them. Here is a picture of this amazing creation:


Now I can't take all the credit for these as I found them on the web. Here is the website where I found them.

On Sunday, the Grandma's and I took Jake to the Great Circus Parade. He is too little for the parade, but since it hasn't been here since 2003 and the planners aren't sure when or if it will be back I thought we better go see it. A lot of people stake out their spot starting Friday night, but we just showed up at 11am and found a great spot in front of the US bank building. Here are some pictures:






I took 75 pictures in total, so I made a slide show and it is located at the right side of this page. Jake fell asleep right when it started, but he woke up about 1/2 way through and enjoyed the sites and spending time with the Grandmas.

Scantron

This past week I donated blood and started taking a cake decorating class. What would these two random things have in common? Well at both places I was asked to fill out a scantron sheet. I haven't had to fill out a scantron sheet in many, many years and I just thought it was so odd that I had to fill out two in the same week!

Okay, on to donating blood. I used to donate about once a year, but I hadn't since 2001, so I thought I better get back in there. I have O- which is the universal donor and anyone can receive my blood. Only 7% of the population has O- so I am going to try to go more often. They also say that less than 5% of the population that is eligible to donate blood do so. So if you have time (it only takes one hour), donate blood and be a hero.

I don't have too much to say about the cake decorating class since it just started, but I am excited to learn some new techniques. Stay tuned for some pictures in the following weeks.

4th of July, 2009

Jamie, Jake and I went up to Jamie's Aunt and Uncle's house on the lake. We enjoyed the wonderful weather with some swimming, fishing, golfing, fireworks and with some great food. I made some cupcakes and frosted them in blue and red and added a flag toothpick to make them even more festive. Jamie's friend, Brian, came along and brought with him some huge steaks. These were 1 1/2" thick and each averaged 1 1/2 lbs! Brian said he would give me $5 if I ate the whole thing(in honor of the old 96er). Here is the steak before I started:

I only finished half of it and I was plenty full at that point. $5 really isn't worth it to me.

Here is a picture of Jake on the 4th.

In the picture you can see the new OFF clipon that has been advertised this year. I am happy to say that it worked great. It was a much better than spraying him with bug spray since he sticks his hands and feet into his mouth. Jake and I only got a couple bites and I am happy to report that Jake's reaction to the bites are more like Jamie's and not like mine which are big and itchy.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!