Thursday, July 29th, 2021
Friday Five
TGIF! Note here: I’m posting this manually on Thursday night because I don’t trust it to post if I schedule it. Okay, let’s dive right into sharing five random things about our week.
- Yesterday was hot but the humidity was better. Rumor has it the humidity is coming back. I has a sad about that.
- Daughter-in-law did my nails again. It’s a fun hobby for her and I’m her practice dummy, LOL! But I’m having fun and getting my nails done, so it’s a win-win for me!
- I made my cake. So the good: The homemade lemon cake, two fillings and icing came out good. I got the meringue to perfect stiff peaks before adding in the butter and lemon zest and it came out just as I wanted. But by the time I cut the two cake layers into four, then assembled and filled them, the heat was wilting the icing. I should have swapped out a 1/2 cup of butter for high-fat shortening to stabilize it a a bit more. But honestly the biggest problem is I’m not putting enough icing on the sides for the final coat before I smooth it. Practice will get me there. By the time I got to the top decorations, I was so tired, I just plopped them on. Here’s a picture of the cake whole and then cut to see the layers. When the knife when through the layers, it spread the raspberry filling, which makes it slightly resembled a crime scene :-). On the upside, my layers are straight and close to even.
- Our electric bill came yesterday. Wizard and I had both guessed how much it would be and I was right…but this is a case, I wish he’d been right since he guessed lower than me. But at least we have A/C!
- Youngest Son and daughter-in-law invited us for dinner on Sunday, so I’m looking forward to that.
That’s my Friday five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!
July 30th, 2021 at 7:49 am · Link
Beautiful cake! And maybe wait to make the icing until the cake is put together? Ugh humidity, yay nails and DiL, yay dinner, and utility bills are the stuff of horror novels! Okay, my 5:
1. There was something I alluded to earlier in the week that I was going to save for Friday Five and now I can’t remember what it was. My brain, it is Swiss cheese!
2. I went back and reread a book I wrote several years ago (in Rocki’s Barefoot Bay world). The bad guy in that book was from Boston and there was an incident where he’s “taken out” but I couldn’t remember the specifics. One, that book is way better than I think, if I can just remember to read as a reader and not the creator. And two, I found the incident which was like 2 paragraphs but it plays a part in the current WIP, so there ya go.
3. LG had out-patient surgery on Monday at oh-dark. It was partially successful so may have to redo it. Ugh. Jake went with me and he was a jewel the whole time we were there!
4. No Stormy time this week–mainly due to the post-op stuffs. That said, I think he’s coming Monday and Friday while Baseball Boy does his in-service training for school, which starts soon.
5. Speaking of writing, I did a little. Not much. I’ve mention my Swiss-cheese brain, right? Part of that I blame on two awesome audio books. I currently can’t settle on my next listen so maybe the brain will get in gear and produce new words.
It’s heat alert time here so we’re staying in all weekend. Have a good one, everybody, and stay cool! 🥰
July 30th, 2021 at 1:43 pm · Link
Ugh, the humidity is obnoxious here. Yay for your pretty nails! OMG, your cake is so pretty! I’m with Silver on waiting to make the frosting until the cake’s ready. And maybe if you put it in the fridge to set, your raspberry filling will hold better when you cut it. And cold cake right now has got to be awesome. (Cold anything right now is awesome.) I don’t envy your energy bills. Yuck. Yay for Saturday dinner with the kids!
1) I got a wild idea to make cookies today, but by the time the dough was ready to drop onto sheets, I was too hot to bother, so I smoothed the dough into a 9×13 pan and made bar cookies.
2) We have static in our phone line again. So I called the phone company again. It’s an ongoing battle.
3) I went out yesterday early to do some shopping. Wanted to get it done before the hot part of the day. Even then, I was cooking in my car. Come on, Fall!
4) I’m still slogging away, making edit notes on this fantasy novel. It’s a long road.
5) One of the hen turkeys has been bringing her babies into the yard. We haven’t seen a brood of turkey chicks (also known as poults) in years so we’re pretty excited to see these three. Fingers crossed they make it. Life in the wild is so hard on baby anythings, but as much as people like eating turkey, so does every other carnivore.
July 30th, 2021 at 2:57 pm · Link
1. So sorry that the humidity is on it’s way back. We always have it and know that it is AWFUL.
2. DIL is doing a great job on nails. It’s cool that she experiments on you and it looks great! I wish I could get my nails done, just to clean up the cuticles ;).
3. Oh man does that cake look good. Hubs was just up here and he even said it looked yummy!
4. I don’t envy you your electric bill. It’s been SO hot out your way. But you’re right to be thankful that you have AC. I certainly am.
5. Have great time at dinner Sunday!
1a. I was going to make brownies today but it didn’t cool off like they said and when the AC runs to oven doesn’t ;). I’ll try tomorrow morning.
.
2a. Had a very difficult time trying to get reservations for my birthday dinner in 2 weeks. All the nice places we like to celebrate at are having trouble finding workers. Sure hope this levels out soon before even more places go under :(.
3a. I got my check from jury duty and I will be sending the money minus gas cost to The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone MN. I could easily spend the money but I thought it would be better to pass it on to a great rescue organization.
4a. It’s a pizza night tonight. I’m looking forward to it. I think a margarita will go nicely with the pie.
5a. Middle is coming over tomorrow morning to go kayaking with hub and youngest. It will be nice to see him for a few minutes
Sure hope you are having a nice day and that your weekend is spectacular!
July 30th, 2021 at 5:20 pm · Link
Silver, I do make it pretty much right before I ice it, but then I have to let the crumb coat set. I’ll play with it. I can put it in the fridge, I was just trying to avoid having the rewhip it
1) I do that every single week, LOL
2) It’s very hard to read out own work as a “reader” but yay for the book being better than you remembered. I hope it all lines up for this book too.
3) Oh no on LG possibly having to have the surgery redone. But yay for Jake! (I’ve been thinking about LG, I hope he’s okay.)
4) Enjoy Stormy next week–if LG is up to it. Although Stormy is old enough now to understand, it’s more if you have the energy after doing the care and feeding required in recovery.
5) I’m with you on swiss cheese and I have distractions here since Wizard is always around right now (back stuff). Hope you can get some words down soon!
Have a good weekend and really hope LG feels better soon.
July 30th, 2021 at 5:29 pm · Link
B.E., thanks, the cake and fillings were all refrigerated. But I can definitely refrigerate the meringue icing, I just have to rewhip it to use.
1) Bar cookies are just as good!
2) OMGosh that reminds me of the YEARS of that we had on our phone line when we moved into this house. The phone company always swore they couldn’t find it. Good luck!
3) Fall feels like a long way off. I feel for you!
4) Edit notes are progress.
5) I hope the babies make it. And yep, a lot of predators out there make it hard on babies. We’re pulling for the baby turkeys!
Hope you have a good weekend.
July 30th, 2021 at 5:35 pm · Link
Viki, I know you guys deal with a lot more humidity than us. And thanks on the cake! Thank hubs too!
1) Understandable on not wanting to run the oven in the heat. But sad for you not having your brownies yet.
2) I think the staffing problem is wide spead and pervasive. I’m so sorry about trying to get reservations. We’re going to try to go out someplace simple, but saving an expensive night out for better times. Plus we just don’t know with Wizard’s back from day to day right now.
3) That is so generous of you, and thoughtful! I would think places like the wildcat sanctuary need donations even more now. Some folks just don’t have the means, so donations are probably down. They’ll really appreciate it.
4) A margarita sounds soooo good. Enjoy it and the pizza!
5) I hope you get a little time with middle! It’s always nice to see them, isn’t it?
Hope you have a really nice weekend!