Spooky Pumpkins

One of the items 'on my plate' this month is helping decorate pumpkins for the classes at the twins' elementary school. And photographing the festivity, as I volunteered to be the PTO Photographer this year (a ploy to get the camera of my dreams, which worked, so everyone wins...) For the principal and her staff, I double-dutied by photographing them to put on the pumpkin. Then, tonite, I found this fabulous woman, who quickly taught me the art of easy silhouettes (mine were a bit more time-intensive and wrought with possible mishaps on a pumpkin), so I now can proudly take these little beauts into school in the morning - and then photograph all the other moms being busy busy busy, cuz I already finished mine!

And just because I uploaded this little (well, OK, big, actually) guy onto the computer at the same time, I thought I'd add him to my post. Cuz he's just that beautiful, too.

Well, he sorta looks like he has two heads and maybe my focus was on the weed in the front instead of him, but I'm working on it, people.

Still, makes a 5-mi. Saturday morning run worthwhile. That and the exercise and the heart health and the weight loss...

Hey, Abdon!

This morning we had visitors in church. They were young adults from Trinedad & Tabago playing in a steel drum band across the US to raise funds to furnish a home they built for about 30 young children whose lives during daylight hours may loosely resemble my own kids' school days. But whose lives at night turn nightmare as their parents choose lifestyles for them that make my stomach turn in on itself.

Their leader led us in our message, scheduled to be "Encouragement" in our multipart series. If I may, I would like to loosely summarize what this stout, leather-skinned, silver haired fireball had to share.


God loves to say nice things about His children.

Examples:
David. God called him a man after His own heart.

No greater compliment.

Nathaniel.
Daniel.

John the Baptist. "I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist..." (Matthew 11:11)


Now, look to Judges 12:13-15. 'After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years. Then Abdon son of Hillel died...'

Hey, Abdon! Are you satisfied riding on your donkey? Are you satisfied riding around on your donkey like your father did, like your sons do, as your grandchildren will? Are you satisfied, Abdon?


Our speaker's final words resembled these:
He was raised a Muslim. He met a missionary from the USA as a child. He converted to Christianity and absorbed every word of the Bible and the freedom God gives His children from sin by receiving Jesus into their hearts.

Traveling around the US over the past 6 weeks, his overwhelming observation has been that our level of Christianity has decreased.


Hey, Abdon! Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied riding around on your donkey? What did you do to allow God to praise you, the God who loves to say nice things about His children?


What are you doing to make sure that you don't lose your sons and daughters, when your sons and daughters are being lost at alarming rates?

Hey, Abdon. Are you satisfied riding around on your donkey?



Several weeks ago, I sat down and made a list specifying every. single. thing. I would need to do in the month of October to ensure that I would accomplish all I had on my plate in this month. I sat paralyzed one afternoon, unsure where to start in the myriad of things I needed to get started on. I spent one whole afternoon and wrote out a list 8 pages long with bullet points, open boxes to check, Roman numerals, etc. When I was done, Ithought to myself, "What does any of this have to do with glorifying God?"

I set about trying to figure out how I could demonstrate God as I went about the tasks requested of me in this life right now. I must say. I can't succinctly say that I have glorified God. Have I? Is there a way to glorify God by baking beans for the teachers hoedown country "Kick It Up" dinner during conference week? Is there a way to glorify God while teaching scrapbooking classes and stamp camps? Is there a way to glorify God while decorating pumpkins for school classrooms and photographing the festivities? Is there a way to glorify God by writing a blog post?

I guess I would have to say yes. Yes, there is. There is a way to glorify God by being Jesus on the Streets, which is what I encourage my children to do. But I think I am only at about a C grade. Maybe even a D. Because I do my fair share of teaching Jesus to my kids during normal every day tasks. But am I truly doing all I can and should be doing so that in my last days, God will look upon my life and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant?"

Or, will God look back on my life with me and summarize it by saying, "Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years. Then Abdon son of Hillel died."

I think Abdon lived about a C grade life. Maybe even a D.

I think I can do better. I think I need to do better.

Final Follow-Up

Ever wonder what I've done about my coffee addiction?

Well, my dear friend KF yelled across the parking lot at Bread Co. this week:
"HEY CAFFEINE ADDICT!"

I think she was referring to me. I could be wrong. (Thanks, K' for the shout out!)

Yeah. I gave it up cold. I did really well, too. An entire week went by without a drop of my liquid gold. It wasn't even that hard, actually. But you know, like a potato chip, if you try one. And it hits the spot, then you try another. And, well, you know the scenario. Pretty soon you've eaten the whole bag. (Well, that's what they tell me, anyway. I don't really speak from experience on that one...)

So goes it with an Icee Mocha. You reward yourself one time. "You've gone a whole week," you might say to yourself. So, you go and you buy one coffee. Not a problem. Not a sin.

But then, the baby gets sick. And she doesn't sleep a lot. And then you get sick. And for whatever God-forsaken reason you lie in bed wide awake until 2AM for several nights in a row, only to be waken by said baby at, say, 3AM or then again at 4AM and finally woken for good at, say, 5AM. And the next thing you know. BAM! You're a coffee addict again. And you've decided that, until the kids are older, coffee is a good thing.

And then you come clean to the blogging community. Because, really, when they see you in real life at the Bread Co. and the scream,"HEY CAFFEINE ADDICT!" it's really quite embarrassing if you haven't admitted to the world that that's what you still are. And you aren't afraid to say it.

Hi. My name is Karin. And I love coffee.
The End.

Follow-Ups

Ever wonder what happened to angry Sheen Park Automotive guy? Yes, I really did send the letter. No, he really didn't ever respond. And no signs/water along the trail, either. I just think that is an opportunity lost.

Ever wonder what happened to my CFL goes broke letter? No, I really didn't send it to Al. Surprisingly, CFLs are still being sold at WalMart. Shouldn't they get some Green credit for that? My local news did run an expose on CFL bulbs after my post, however. Coincidence? I think not.

Ever wonder about my phone call to Sheryl Crow? She doesn't accept calls from me anymore. It's really too bad. I have so much more to teach her now that I've traveled the broken CFL highway.

Ever wonder what to blog when you don't really have time to be on your blog? How about a follow-up post. It worked for me. Maybe it could work for you.

Classy Art

Well, if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I try to be a crafty person. Sometimes those crafts don't turn out quite like I expected. For example, if I can be completely honest with you, my cake plates. Now, Melissa's instructions and example of the actual making of the cake plates --- that went off swimmingly. Or, in the fall months, perhaps I should say 'hayridingly.' Or whatever. But, the aspect of decorating them with rub-ons? Now that was a mite-bit tricky. In fact, if you're attending the camp, you'll be given options [everybody likes options, right?! ;) ] In fact, the results of the cake plate poll have been so overwhelmingly arbitrary, you even will be given plate options! (Besides that half the pollants - pollers - polled people, voted on what cake they liked best, versus the cake plate...so, there you go.)

Now, other projects, if I can return to my original line of thought, well, those turn out just as brilliantly as I imagined them in my head (or CASEd...). This next one, Ladies, falls into the brilliant category. You'll have options with this one, too, so come prepared to make decisions! But, until then, here's mine!

Things That Go Bump in the Night

S slept through the night last night,

I, however, did not.

At about 4AM, Loud Dog started to bark. Several choice thoughts flew amuck through my mind in my grogginess, yet I rolled over and fell back asleep. A few minutes later, My Man said, "Karin, I think I heard the front door."

Chilling words at 4AM with a house full of children fast asleep.

I muttered something about it probably being the dogs (because, yes, our dogs CAN open the front door) when suddenly I. heard. the. squeak. of. a. door. And Loud Dog started barking furiously.

Time suddenly stood still.

Every precious thing in my life became perilously propped on the edge of an enormous cliff.

My husband leapt from the bed, and ran screaming into the hallway in a barbaric effort to scare the holy living whatever out of whatever or whomever lurked behind the darkness. Yelling continued, and I cautiously eeked my way out of bed.

The light from the bathroom was now on. I made my way towards it. I looked inside the room. I saw T. Sitting on the toilet. I knelt down in front of him and demanded what was going on. "Were you sleep-walking?" "Did you lose your way?" "Did you lose your mind?!"

He looked up at me, his face pale and confused. "My balloon," he whispered.

A host of emotions raced their way through my core. Relief. Disbelief. Frustration. Anger. Rage.

"Your balloon?!"

Seems that yesterday, at church, T created a project using two balloons. He received one extra balloon from his Sunday School teacher because of a project malfunction. T proceeded to spend the afternoon blowing up his balloon and watching it soar around the room. He told the neighbor about the balloon. He focused on the balloon to the neglect of listening to his mother telling him to put on his socks and shoes to prepare to leave for the Boy Scout Bicycle Rally. He lost the privilege of having his balloon. I put it into my pocket. Before we left for the bike rally, I cleaned out my pockets. The contents, which included a sticky wad of Kleenex, a few balls of lint, and a white balloon, fell into the abyss of our giant, smelly green trash can. Particularly smelly, as it held the remains of a dead, rotting squirrel left in the backyard over the weekend by the friendly neighborhood hawk association.

When T requested his balloon after the rally, I admitted throwing it away and declined climbing into the trashcan to retrieve it. But T, treasuring up his beloved balloon in his heart, secretly made up his mind that at some hour of the darkest night, he would seek the balloon's return on his own. Not knowing that Daddy put the trashcan out on the street in preparation for the morning pickup.

After discovering the trash was not in the garage, T made his way to the dark curb only to realize he had to pee. So he opened the front door to find his heroic, ableit somewhat insanely disheveled father, screaming explitives, and stomping down the hallway towards him.

Voting for A Little Bit o' Sugar

I'm starting my inaugural (and possibly only) poll. If you are here to see the cakes and cake plates, vote. If you aren't, vote anyway. (It's good practice for Nov. 4). I need help deciding which plates to buy for a class I am teaching on Sunday! Vote on plate design/color, but pay no mind to the rub-ons...the girls will choose their own!

Now, on with my post...

Here is my kitchen tonite:

(I don't show just anyone that reality!)

I work alone in my current bakery. For good reason! My life is filled with chaos --- and that includes my kitchen! Last night when I said I hoped I'd put all the vanilla in the various pans, I wasn't joking. I baked 6 dozen cookies for my SIL's baby shower last spring. Forgot the vanilla. For a good smelling, foul tasting little bit o' brown liquid, it'll mess up yer cookin' good if you forget to add it in! So far, I'm 1 for 3 on the cakes. We've only officially taste tested one. I'll keep you posted on the other two.

Now, you'll notice I Melissa Lester'ed these cakes and plates right up (I'm making that a word). I can't do it justice in the manner of The Original (Melissa), but I'm 'OK' with my P.O.O.P.I.E.'s.

But, enough foul chit-chat. Here's the moment you've all been waiting for!

Cake/Plate #1: Edgewood Bakery Carrot Cake

(My FIL's fave - it's a Florida thing. Go 'Gators...)

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 t. baking soda

1 1/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

2 c. sugar

1 1/4 t. ground cinnamon

1 1/4 c. vegetable oil

4 large eggs, room temp

1 t. vanilla

2 c. finely shredded carrots

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple, well drained

3/4 c. flaked sweetened coconut

Decadent Carrot Cake Icing (below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans or two 9-inch rounds; set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, slat, sugar, and cinnamon; stir well. Add vegetable oil and eggs; blend with an electric mixer at medium speed. Stir in vanilla, shredded carrots, pecans, pineapple, and coconut. Ladle batter into prepared pans, diving equally. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake layers cool for 10 minutes in pans. Invert onto cooling racks and let cool completely. Frost cake layers with Decadent Carrot Cake Icing. (Since this cake in very moist, it is recommended that you place the cake layers in the freezer for at least one hour before you frost the cake. You will like the results, if you try this.)

Decadent Carrot Cake Icing

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened

1 c. butter, softened
6 c. powdered sugar

3 c. flaked sweetened coconut

1/2 c. raisins

1/2 c. chopped pecans

In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter with an electirc mixer at medium speed. Gradually add the confectioners sugar, beating until smooth. Stir in cocnut, raisins, and pecans.

If you like carrot cake, you'll never forget this one!!!

Cake/Plate #2 Dark Chocolate Cake with Ganache Frosting

I'll refer you to the Oct. '08 Everyday Foods from Martha Stewart for this dark chocolate cake recipe, page 112, 113 for time sake. Later, I'll post the recipe for my kids...if you have favorite recipes, write them down for your future generations! My two grandmothers were wonderful cooks. To this day, I haven't figured out my paternal grandmother's recipe for chocolate frosting. My mom has given me a suitable alternative for the frosting and for her mom's awesome spring salad, but it sure would be great to have the originals! So. Write those recipes down!

Off soap box.

Cake/Plate #3 Southern Strawberry.

No more needs to be said. You all have seen this beauty before. But for cake plate voting purposes, here she is again!

And Plate #4 (I almost forgot it --- it was the easiest to place the image, but I don't think it'll be a favorite. Plus, where's the cake??)