Running

I went for a run tonight. Only 30 minutes. Heck, I keep expecting it to get easier . But. . .

it's still hard. It never seems to get easy.

So it's a lot of work, I still like to do it, even though my breath comes in heaving lungfuls, and my sweat starts to drip and my legs start to ache. . .it's fun.

How 'bout you?

Is there something you like to do that's a lot of work? Come on, share it.

Word for Wednesday

Word for the day: Sensei

Guess what it means.

Scroll down to see.




Further....




Further. . .



A karate or judo instructor


If you want to see more, read about it here.

FAIL - Cake

I am no CAKE-BOSS but anyone who knows me, knows I love my cake, cookies, and candies. It's no wonder I've become a member of Weight Watchers.

With baking as one of my favorite past time hobbies, unfortunately my scale shows the results of my cooking efforts... But, that doesn't mean my cakes always turn out perfectly.

Quite the opposite. Some times I envision the most wonderful tasty temptations and they turn out...terribly.

Like my recent endeavor: trying to sculpt rice crispy treats into a little-sized replica of my brother-in-law: Bo. It didn't turn out the way I pictured it in my head and it looked nothing like Bo.

Oh well...it's the thought that counts...right?

I certainly hope so because this cake was not my best baking attempt. It was an absolute FAIL.

A flop, but I had to take it to the party anyway. I figured it was good for a laugh--or at least a smile.

Here are some of the pictures from my attempt to bake a themed bee-day surprise for my brother-in-law Bo.


You see, Bo has become a recent beekeeping enthusiast and, since it was his birthday, I made him a couple of cakes. One was a bee, the other was the hive, and the third was supposed to be a mini-me Bo.

F A I L

But, it was still fun putting the pieces together. It might not have turned out the way I'd hoped but I think Bo had a happy Bee-Day anyway :)

Here's how I made the cakes.

First I baked a regular cake and a couple cupcakes.

Of course, when I got up the next morning, only one cupcake was left. I'd been hoping to use two for the eyes of the bee, b...ut I cut the only one I had left in two and used half-moon eyes for my bee.

I frosted the cake with coconut - yellow - frosting and cut black fondant strips for his little stripes.

I covered his eyes in white fondant and cut out round pupils from black fondant.

Next, I shaped his stinger out of rice crispy treats and covered it with the left-over black fondant. Then, I cut out a couple of white fondant wings and put the pieces together.

I had to add antenna and transfer him to a prettier plate with pretty paper. It's easy to lift the cake, if you have wax paper beneath the cake while you decorate.

I made the hive out of my barbie doll cake pan, frosted in brown icing and wrapped it with black licorice.


I obviously need a crispy carving class. I had no idea how to do it. But I rolled the rice crispy treats in wax paper to shape the body parts.


Then I put them together and put Bo on a stick.


And I tried to shape the pieces to look like Bo but there must "bee" a few tricks I'm missing because it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I used frosting as the glue for my fondant to stick to the little-sized Bo but it didn't turn out so well. . . as you can see above.

The good thing about having a CAKE FAIL or a CAKE WRECK is it's not so bad eating my mistakes ;)

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2

We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of . . . Hogwarts.

That's right, Saturday we all went to see the movie of the year...yep, the new Wizard of Oz...only better. Better graphics, better animated settings. I loved it.

But of course it's hard to close a book, finish a chapter, end a story. This was a great story tho' and we had a fabulous time.

My husband and sons talked about it like it was the new Star Wars for this generation. I thought of it like the new Wizard of Oz. I guess it was everything to everyone and maybe even a little bit more.

If you saw it, what did you think?

Earth-Friendly Friday

What way is more energy efficient to produce paper...

1) Recycling paper and producing new paper

2) Making new paper from trees?

Turning recycled paper into paper requires 58 percent less water and 64 percent less energy per ton than making paper from trees.

(According to the Sierra Club)

Word Count for Manuscripts

Here are a few links you can check out to make sure your manuscript is using the right ratio of words, according to agents, and those in-the-know.

Bookends Literary Agency

Editorial Anonymous

Guide to Literary Agents

And one inspirational post by Natalie Fischer

Word for Wednesday - Game for Writers

Word for the day: TOOTLE

Guess what it means...come on play along.

Hint: I used the word recently in my blog.

Now, scroll down to find the answer



Further....


And further....


Tootle is to drive or move along in a leisurely manner

But I bet you already knew that. Write ;) . . . ?