A Great Birthday!

What a great day it has been! Here is a run-down of the reasons:

Church: We started off the day by going to church with my grandmother and we were surprised there by Bran who came to join us for lunch. The service was wonderful, and just what I needed after the past few days........Food: Mammaw then cooked me a birthday lunch and Jessica and her family came over to eat and share the wonderful meal.

Calls & Cards: My friends and family have a huge sense of humor with the birthday cards- thanks for your birthday greetings!

Coffee: On the way home, Josh drove thru Starbucks and got me a Skinny Caramel Macchiato- my favorite. It's been way too long since I've had one.Cuddle Time: with Slugger. Once we were home, I cuddled with Slugger and watched the Miss American pageant-- that missed last night. -- A great way to spend the dreary, cold afternoon.Josh cooked me dinner of my choice. Steak and baked potatoes--- he did a great job and is mastering the new charcoal grill.Now ---I'm flipping channels, and avoiding the laundry.

Thank you to everyone who made this a very special day.

Oh what a great day it is. No school, nothing I "have" to do, and it's sunny! Tomorrow night I'm hosting bunko at our house- so cleaning was the #1 task for the day- it's done...... I now have the entire afternoon to relax and enjoy the day.

My oh-so-charming brother is in Washington D.C. right now, on the trip of a lifetime. He had the opportunity to go with other college students from around the US to experience the history-making inauguration and other events of the week. He signed up way before the election results were in (think June) but hopefully is still having a great time. I got a text from him yesterday saying that he was listening to James Taylor- live. In his efforts to pack for the week, I suggested he represent Mississippi State by wearing this outfit to an event:

He laughed, but didn't follow my suggestions! I haven't heard from him today, but I think he's taking part in the MLK Day of Service project instituted by Obama. Tomorrow he will go to the inauguration and then to an inaugural ball. Can't wait to hear all the details-- even though I'm sure I won't get every detail as I wished I would!!

Off to watch the Coach and his boys scrimmage on this beautiful day!

An attempt......

During this busy time of the year for my husband, I often find myself looking for things to fill my time. I have enjoyed many projects since we have moved into our new house, but those projects have almost come to an end!! (Thank goodness). However, this leaves me with time to spare in the afternoons.
On a recent trip to Joann's, I purchased the Sports Ball pan and knew that it would get lots of use out of it, if I could ever pep myself up enough to take the plunge and make a cake! My mother is very patient with her baking, but I wasn't so sure I had it in me......
An obligation of being a head coach's wife (I'm told) is to cook dinner for the coaches and senior members of the team before the first game, and before division games. I got lucky! There are only 4 seniors on the baseball team- and so I'm preparing for the first feeding. I have planned to make the baseball cake for the night before meal, but I knew I must practice-- or it was sure to be a disaster!

Last night I decided it was time to make an attempt. So I did! The cakes had to bake 15 minutes longer than the recipe called for, the icing wouldn't turn red for the stitches, and using the #15 tip to make stars could have taken ALL night. I had the cakes baked and they were cooled, then then decorating began...... About the time I got finished with the 3rd row of stars, Josh walked in and said, "Have you every seen a baseball? I've never seen one that looked like that!"( I was following the directions for decorating it. It said use a star tip and make a bunch of stars---- it would give it texture.) A baseball, I was informed, is smooth leather and doesn't have ANY texture! So with a little coaxing from the COACH, I got out the trusty spatula and started spreading those stars out, making the cake appear smooth. After my first swipe, I knew that's the way I should have done it all along.

As I was trying to put the stitches on.... the piping bag busted all over me........and the floor.............and Slugger who was waiting for something to drop. And drop it did-- thick, red, buttercream icing. Poor little Slugger had it in his beard, eyebrows, and then he stepped in the red-ish icing on the floor..... and tracked it all over the white tile. I had a huge mess to clean up when the project was complete, but it sure was fun!!

For my first attempt, I'm satisified, but hope with practice the finished product will improve. They are 17 year old boys....... not cake decorating connoisseurs.

Back in the Swing of Things

Josh's birthday celebration was great! People started showing up at 2:30 and they grilled all afternoon and then played washers. He said it was a great way to celebrate his special day- and we didn't even have to leave the houseGetting back to work was great on Monday, especially since the first 3 days were 1/2 days! Josh started baseball practice this week it's been a busy week. The week flew by, and it was time for the students to return to the classroom on Friday. Wow- were they excited to be back.

Among other things, we had a few home spruce ups this week. We had some painters come and makeover our den. The walls were a stark white (very formal) wallpaper, and we decided it didn't feel very cozy. Burt Ivory now adorns our walls, along with some new metal panels.

During the time spent in Columbia, I had lots of help in making some new drapes for the large double door in our den. Mom taught me many tricks for dealing with lots of heavy fabric, and how to use lining, then after two short days of sewing, they were finished (besides the hem). Josh hung the rod this week, and the drapes are now hung!! There are still some technical difficulties with the rod (it fell and hit me on the head earlier) so we are still working out all the details.

Finally, I feel like we are down to the last few things on our "Make it Our Home" To-Do List!
Before:

After:
Mom brought me 2 Amarilis bulbs at Thanksgiving and I've been babying them ever since. When we returned from our time on the road, we found this:
one plant had one bloom, and the other had 4 blooms.

Hope your first week of the new year has been a great one!

Happy Birthday, Josh!!

It's my sweet husband's birthday today! I was going to post a list of top 10 reasons why I love him......and then I couldn't narrow it down to just ten.

Happy Birthday, Josh! Thank you for being the best friend and husband a girl could ever want.

I love you!