Why is December so busy?

Tonight was Annika's third birthday party. (Happy birthday to her). The party went well. The food was good (Italian themed since she wanted 'mini pizzas') the cake was delicious and adorable. My kitchen needs to be recleaned and my kids need to be put to bed. Fun was had by all. Pictures to follow in the near future.

Tomorrow is the progressive dinner for the women at church- that I'm in charge of. None of it is at my house- but I'm bringing lots of food because I'm compulsive like that. I'm in need of a good soup recipe that can simmer in the crockpot all day. I'm thinking baked potato soup? But really I'm up for anything.

Friday is Steve's office party. At club tequila. Which is in a casino. So I need to find something slutty to wear (ha ha, just kidding). I'm making two full sheet cakes with the company logos on them though. So that's my project for Friday.

Saturday morning is a funeral for a friend of mine's 17 year old son. I'm terribly saddened by this and am helping out with the funeral luncheon after the family goes to the gravesite. I just can't fathom the pain of suddenly and tragically loosing a child.

Saturday night we're going out with some friends for dinner and then to 'The Forgotten Carols' which is a Christmas production that's pretty cheesy- but fun.

Then Sunday I collapse- except for the whole church thing. Woot!

Also- we bought tickets to Hawaii. We leave in less then a month. For 10 days. I'm freaking excited!! We're all going. Wahoo!

Um, I think I shot myself in the foot...

So I have finished, stuffed, addressed, stamped and sealed Christmas cards. They will be mailed as soon as I get to a big mailbox. I didn't make enough cards. I knew I didn't. But I thought there would be like 10 or 15 people that wouldn't get one. Turns out there were 30. Guess I shouldn't have joked about 'top tier' cards. Can I retract that? The hardest part? Trying to guess who might read my blog and want a homemade card and who wouldn't know the difference. Am I WAY overthinking this? Possibly. But don't be offended when your card arrives- either way.

So...

I've been busy working on Christmas projects and house projects and baking projects and church projects- and basically not being on the computer much. I've gotten some help installing wordpress on soggycheerios.com- but I've not completed the set up completely. I've been busy working on www.amberliciouscakes.com as well- not completely done yet- but if you want to have a look and/or give suggestions feel free. I'm officially done with all my niece (and one nephew) gifts, all my family gifts for extended family (with the exception of Steve's brothers- which I'm clueless on... thinking gift certificates to restraunts or something??) I've gotten stuff for the daycare ladies at the gym, Ashley's teacher and I'm almost done with Steve and the girls. I think that's all that's left actually. I'm also making Christmas cards... well- 40 of them. The 40 people I love most get 'top tier' cards and the rest get photo cards... just kidding, I'm sending the 'homemade' cards to people who'll appreciate it most.. I'm almost done with those as well. My goal is to completely finish those and have them ready to go in the mail Monday morning. I've also rearranged the office crap to make more room for my cake stuff in that closet.


So I've been busy. Really. But my house doesn't look like it. Right now I'm sitting down to wait for the dining room floor to dry and rest my feet. So I'm tiding you over with some picures... My friend Barbara was venting her frustrations over Christmas picture taking today over the phone and so I'm sharing some of the many that we took to end up with our final pictures, and I'm not even counting the mess-ups of Steve and I.

Hmmm..

So apparently I can post at Soggy Cheerios but no one can comment? That doesn't work for me. I'm working on it. Until then answer me this:

What kind of digital camera do you have? Do you love it? Ours is 1 1/2 years old and isn't working (grrr). I've not been overly impressed (Kodak easyshare) and was looking online last night (is window shopping online evil on the sabbath?) and was shocked at the cameras that are in the same pricerange as our dead/dying one is but how many more mpegs they have! So tell me why or why not to get a camera like yours.

I've Moved!

Check me out at SoggyCheerios.com

Yay for Adam!!

I volunteer at Ashley's school every Friday morning. I work with kids in her class who are struggling with reading. There is a little boy named Adam who was by far the one who needed the most help. They have sight words that they're working on and pink is the lowest level. The pink sight words are ones that Ashley learned in Kindergarten- to give you an idea of the level. Anyway, Adam has a range of issues, he doesn't keep his hands to himself, follow directions etc... He get's pulled out for lots of different help during the day- but hadn't qualified for the reading specialist yet. So we've been out of school for a month and I was fully expecting him to go from knowing 25% of the words to knowing 10%. But he came out (we work in the hall) and was chomping at the bit to get to the flashcards (usually he wants to chat about everything under the sun first). He knew all but 5 of the 50!! WOW!! Then we worked on those 5 and he remembered them well enough to get 100% YAY!! I don't know what happened- he said that he had a new teacher that was working on flashcards with him (previously he'd told me that his parents wouldn't do the cards with him because they were too busy) and that he was smarter now. I praised him and gushed over his good work over and over and told him how awesome he was. I talked to the teacher about it and she said he's not seeing the reading specialist until next week. So I don't know if his parent's got a tutor for him or what- but it's certainly helping. So YAY for Adam!

Before you make cookies this Christmas...

Don't use your mom's sugar cookie recipe!!! I am not a fan of sugar cookies. They're always hard and flavorless. I've tried several different recipes and just tried this one below. They're soft and puffy and pretty good. My new sugar cookie recipe of choice.

Here's a recipe for the cookies and the frosting. I've never made these, but saved the recipe when I saw it posted on another board, in case I ever need it. The cookies got rave reviews from everyone who made them at the time. There was also some speculation that using butter flavored crisco in place of the butter would make them softer - you can try it if the orig. recipe isn't quite what you're looking for! "Like Lofthouse" sugar cookies

COOKIES: 1 cup butter (using butter flavored Crisco makes them even softer) 2 cups granulated sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 cups sour cream 5-6 cups flour (until desired consistency for rolling) ICING: 4 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup shortening 5 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract food coloring (optional)

COOKIES: Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Roll out dough to a 1/4 to 3/8 inch thickness using a generous amount of flour. Cut out shapes and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Frost and decorate as desired. ICING: In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired. Can also change the flavoring using other flavors