Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Have Your Cake...


Yesterday, out of the blue, Noah says, "Mommy, why don't you ever make cakes?" Now my first thought was, "WHAT? You don't know how good you have it, kid. Your Mommy idolizes Martha Stewart! You eat pretty well!" haha :) And then I thought, "you know, he's right." I don't really bake that much. Not because I don't like to bake, but because I don't need something else around the house to add to my thighs! So I promised Noah that today while he's at school I'd make him a chocolate cake. Black Chocolate Cake is on my agenda for later this morning. :) It sure will make the house smell good! Noah will be so excited when he gets home. He reminded me this morning..."Mommy, don't forget...you're making a chocolate cake today, right?" (Note: I'm going to substitute butter for the shortening and coffee for the hot water in the recipe.)

Speaking of Noah...he makes me laugh so hard. God gave him a wonderful sense of humor for which I am so thankful! Noah likes to sneak into our room around 4:00 a.m. and get in our bed. Usually I don't even hear him so I don't notice he's there until I wake up. (king-size bed) Every once in a while David will fall asleep on the couch so I just let him stay there. (Our couch is really big and comfortable!) This is fun for Noah because when he comes into our room he gets an entire 1/2 of the bed. So last night he was putting his Spongebob slippers on the floor by his bed. He said, "I can put them on when I wake up." All of a sudden he grabbed them, said, "oh wait!" and ran out. When he came back I said, "where did you go?" He said, "I put my slippers in YOUR room because that's where I'm going to wake up tomorrow." (Ugh, haha) So when I went into my room later I saw his slippers....placed neatly on the floor, on David's side of the bed. I guess he was counting on Daddy sleeping on the couch again. Silly :) That really made me laugh.

Speaking of chocolate...we just hung some beautiful chocolate brown velvet curtains in our bedroom. I just love them! Our big bedroom window faces east so the light that blares thru in the morning is blinding. These curtains will not only block out that light but they look great. The other day at Target I saw blush pink velvet curtains. They were SO CUTE! I have nowhere in my home that I could hang these, though. But they sure would be precious in a little girl's room or a scrapbook room. :)

Noah and I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday. While sitting and reading a few Halloween books together I made a new discovery. Everyday Food (pictured above) is a small-size cooking/recipe magazine from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living. How have I never heard of this until now? It is packed full of fabulous recipes, most of which I would make in my own kitchen. I usually don't buy recipe magazines because there are too many recipes in it that I wouldn't make. Not true with this publication. Of course...it's Martha! :) It includes shopping lists for entire meals and planning schedules for preparation. Thanksgiving is the focus of the issue I bought yesterday and since we are hosting Thanksgiving for about 18 people this year, I'll need it!

I should be receiving my November kit for Wendi Speciale Designs any day now. Oh boy, wait until you see it! I hope Wendi posts a sneak peek soon :) Lately I've been doing more organizing and domestic things than scrapbooking so I can't wait to get scrapping again.

OH...related to scrapbooking AND organizing. I have a big stack of photos from our Disneyworld trip that I have just sitting in a stack. They are alternating directions so I won't get them mixed up but it's not really the most efficient way to keep up with them! So yesterday I bought two 4x6 black index card boxes and two packs of laminated tabbed divider cards. I'm going to put my photos in the index card boxes, separated by the dividers. I'll write on each laminated tabbed divider with a dry-erase pen what the layout subject of those photos will be. (i.e. Epcot Japan, Animal Kingdom safari, Magic Kingdom fireworks, etc.) On a 4x6 index card I can write layout ideas including page design, embellishments, colors I want to use, etc. and put it in the divided section with the photos. When I'm done with those photos and that layout I can erase the tabbed divider and use it for a new set of photos. Note: the tabbed dividers usually come printed with numbers or letters but are blank on the back, which is where I'll write with the dry-erase pen.

If you love Christmas music as much as I do, then you'll love this! There is a free website where you can listen to Christmas music (or other genres) 24/7 on your computer. You do need to register (free) to have access to the stations but I've never gotten any spam email from them. Live 365 is the website and you click on "Holiday" in the menu to access the Christmas stations. The first one is my favorite. If you want to listen to the music commercial-free, you can register and pay a small monthly fee. I don't mind the short commercials, though. Lord, thank you for music that celebrates the birth of your son! It's wonderful ALL year long.

I'm off to bake a cake! :)
- Jennifer

"Leave the broken, irreversible past in God's hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him." - Oswald Chambers

11 comments:

Benita said...

That cake recipe looks really yummy! May have to try it myself someday :)

Can't wait to see what Wendi has in store for November's kit!

Hugs,
Benita

Carrie Anne said...

Hi! I am going to steal your little black box idea! I still have pictures from our DisneyWorld trip this summer. That's a great idea for any group of pictures.

Thanks for the Christmas Music link...I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE Christmas music.

Anonymous said...

That cake sounds wonderful! And your DS is a hoot! How cute!

Anonymous said...

You made that chocolate cake from scratch didn't you? lol! I am sure he'll be thrilled.

That's a very funny story about the slippers!!!

Very cool on getting your photos organized and have fun with your new stamps... I can't wait to see what they are. I might actually buy some! :-)

Caro said...

The slipper thing is SO adorable! you know you gotta scrap that now, riught? LOL

Anonymous said...

Oh heck...now I need some chocolate. LOL! Let me know how that chocolate cake is. I just might need to make that this week before baby is born.

I too am SO EXCITED to get the November kit from Wendi Speciale Designs. I think it's one of my faves so far. OOOH...I LOVE CHRISTMAS. Speaking of...thanks for the tip about the free stations on the computer. There are a kajillion stations to choose from....do you have a fave that you would recommend? Or do you just hop around from station to station?

I always look forward to your entries!!!! YAY!

Mary Jo said...

MMMMMM! Good luck with the cake. It sounds yummy! I'm going to have to check out that little recipe magazine. I need more recipes.

Heather said...

mmmmm . . .chocolate cake!

I'm going to have to go and check out the pink curtains. I've been looking for some everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your Everday Food magazine. I've been a subscriber since the first issue, in 2003. I love the ingredient "layouts"!

Anonymous said...

Okay, I've been catching up on your blog. I'm a little behind, but since you were talking about food and, a while back, school snacks, I wanted to share a snack that my mom used to make for my classes when I was in school. When I got older, I helped make them. They became famous, LOL.

Veggi-Mobiles
take a celery stick and fill it with peanut butter. cut some carrot circles and using a toothpick, stick a toothpick through celery on each end and attach a carrot/circle/wheel to all four sides. Affix another carrot circle standing up on the inside of the celery on one end to use as a steering wheel. Now if you don't want to use toothpicks, you can use a dab of peanut butter as a sort of glue to attach the wheels.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a favorite school treat of mine. And don't tell anyone, but it is sort of healthy.

Jana said...

I LOVE Live365 also.....they have a station that plays nothing but Duran Duran, gotta love that!!! ;-)