Wow, I am exhausted. I hit a hard wall Tuesday afternoon, and it’s been a while since I felt like this. We’ve had a lot going on, but today things will calm (famous last words, LOL!)

Today I want to talk about Halloween. Do you like it? Hate it? Or just don’t care?

Maggie, our dog, LOVES Halloween. So when we got her in October four years ago as a foster dog, Maggie was submissive, unsure and skittish. She trusted me almost from the start, but was unsure of most others. Then Halloween night when kids starting coming to the door, Maggie lit up. It was the first time we’d seen her radiating that pure, sweet doggy joy. She was so excited, she’d deer hop to the door with us, wag her tails and greet the kids. Then she’d look at us with wonder in her eyes, like wow, they came to see me! She literally wore herself out running back and forth with either myself or Wizard. So Maggie definitely loves Halloween.

Wizard and I both love Halloween too. We enjoyed it as kids going trick or treating, as young parents taking out kids out while making sure someone was home to hand out candy to all the neighborhood kids, and going to adult parties. Once our kids grew up, we still love giving out candy. All three of our kids love doing it too.

For us, Halloween has a little magic in it.

How about you?

The weekend was fun but a little lonely with Wizard gone. I stayed home and worked on a cake. I’m also fighting off a minor illness (not viral, a stupid infection) that I’ll have to go see the doctor for today if it doesn’t clear up overnight.

So the cake–the short version is that I made a rock then put a dragon on it. Well it’s supposed to be dragon

The rock is stacked and carved cake covered in a combination of fondant and modeling chocolate. The fact that the cake didn’t collapse mildly surprised me as I didn’t have the proper dowel rods or thick straws normally used to support this kind of cake. Cake is a lot heavier that you might imagine. Anyhow, I used flimsy straws as support, but hey, it worked! Although I wouldn’t try transporting this cake anywhere–the could end in a major mess, LOL. The dragon I made from rice krispie treats covered in more of the fondant/modeling chocolate combination.  The wings are edible rice paper and floral wire. There was a lot of hand-panting too.

There’s a lot of room for improvement Like the fact that he doesn’t have a mouth, LOL. I’m not a fan of the wings, and the body needs work. However I learned a lot and had fun. But whew, that cake was two days of work. I don’t know how the professionals do it! My next cake is relatively simple one for my daughter-in-law’s birthday so that will be nice.

I haven’t talked about writing because it’s tiresome to hear my struggles and  I’m thinking hard about what I really want to do. So I’ll let that hang there.

So that sums up my weekend, how as yours?

P.S. Maggie says Hi <insert manic tail wagging>.

TGIF! How is it that I’m always surprised by the end of the week? LOL! Okay diving into sharing five random things about our weeks.

1. By the time this posts, we should have our car back. That’s good news since Wizard has a three day race this weekend and I’d be stranded at home
2. I am shocked how many people on FB page like Eeyore. I was really surprised by the response there to my cake. It’s been fun sharing something I enjoy and I plan to keep doing it.  It’s definitely better than sharing my other hobby of yoga. No one wants to see pictures of that!
3. It looks like we might have rain today which we desperately need (understatement!).  The shifting atmosphere pressure plays havoc with my sinuses, but that’s standard for me.
4. My legs look like a crime scene.  I have five new bites and one of them is an overachiever with exaggerated swelling. Add to that the fact that the dozen or more old bites are slow to heal from my meds, and my legs look like a crime scene, LOL. Hopefully the mosquitos will go away soon.
5. We’ve had Maggie four years now. I have no idea what I ever did to deserve such a special dog with the sweetest heart, but I try hard to appreciate her each day.

That’s my find random things, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope you have a great weekend!

Whoa, the last two days really got away from me! As a result, I’m super late answering Monday’s blog comments, but I’m heading off to answer those once I finish setting up this blog. Today, things will settled into a more normal routine for a few days. Instead of waiting for Friday, I’ll tell you know what I was doing. Yesterday was Biker Witch’s birthday. So I baked the cakes on Sunday, then Monday I tried caving and decorating something she’d like. She loves Eeyore so…

I used the fondant I made and liked working with it. That’s what kept me super busy. Hard to believe an innocent looking cake takes so many hours of work, LOL. Then yesterday, Biker Witch and I lunch and did a few little shopping things, then back to her house to have cake with her Biker Hubby. We always have fun. But whew, by the time I go home I was beat.

By the way, I saw your suggestions of a book cake and I’m thinking about it! I have a couple other family birthday cakes coming up, but I’m going to start looking for book cake inspirations One day down the road, I hope to make some kind of Wing Slayer cake too, but that’s a ways off yet.

So that’s my Wednesday Check In–how’s your midweek going?

Huh, that went by in a blur.

So Friday, I mentioned to Wizard that I might go to the hobby story that’s couple cities away, and he got right aboard the train. Since we only have the one car at the moment, we drove out there together, he dropped me off at my dealers, sorry, hobby store while he went to his hobby story across the street. We actually had a lot of fun–you know–like going to a bookstore

I found a cake recipe that’s supposed to be good for carving cakes. Then I doubled it, and now I’m not too happy with the cake as far as I can tell without actually cutting into it. I’m going to carve it today so we’ll see. But next time, I’ll stick with my other recipes. It’s supposed to be chocoate, but it’s a very light chocolate which is a strike against it right there. And I think the texture if off. It’s entirely possible I did something wrong, but I was rather suspicious of the recipe to begin with. However, it came from a well respected cake artist, so I’m giving it a try.

What I WANTED to make was a salted caramel cake recipe that sounded delicious, but using homemade caramel as part of the filling would make it too “slippery” for cutting and manipulating into a shape. Today I plan to cut another fairly simple shape and cover it in homemade fondant for practice–if it comes out, then I’ll show you all. By the way I made the fondant late last week and forgot to mention that. I’m anxious to see how it works when I cover the cake with it.

We also looked at a new home models. Always fun, and it’s good to see more housing choices popping up for when we’re ready to make the decision.

Writing didn’t really happen, or at least not the way I wanted it to. Maybe if I make this book into a cake it’ll transform itself to a written book?

How was your weekend?

TGIF! I can’t believe it’s October 1st! Okay let’s dive into sharing five random things about our week.

1. The car is in the shop, and so far, we’re managing with one car. Many couples only have one car, so believe me, I’m not complaining, just telling you all about my week. We’re both really used to coming and going, plus we generally divide and conquer chores, including running errands. Now we have to think ahead a bit more, but it’s all manageable.  At least until next weekend if we don’t et the car back by then–Wizard has a three day race he’s super excited about going to and I’m not about to stop him.
2. I’m still doing yoga usually three times a week, and this week, I’m trying to do some harder classes. I’m sooo going to feel that, LOL. There are a few things that I won’t do just because it’s not a good idea for me. That’s important in yoga (or anything really) to know and respect your limits. For me, it’s things like arm balances (those are pretty much what they sound like — you lift your legs off the ground and balance on your arms in weird contortions).  Considering I’ve had two discs in my neck replaced, I choose NOT to put that kind of pressure on my shoulders and neck. Plus I flat out don’t have the upper body and core strength to do it in a safe manner.
3. Maggie knows my yoga routine. She’ll come in the room while I’m starting, then leaves once I’m moving. But at the end when I lay down on my back in  the closing pose called shavasana (also called corpse pose, LOL), she’ll come in. I have my eyes closed, but I always feel her. Wednesday night, she laid down next to me. I rolled to my side to pet her, then flipped to my back into the shavasana pose. And Maggie flipped to her back in the same pose, only her with her legs sticking straight up. It was hilarious. I don’t know if it was intentional, but let’s just believe she was copying my pose
4. Yesterday I decided to pull out my carpet cleaner and do the coffee table sized ottoman. That took a while since I basically had to learn to use it, but got nice and clean. So yay! Then I remembered that when we borrowed Special K’s carpet cleaner, she didn’t have the stair cleaner attachment, while this one does. So then I cleaned the stairs. OMG that was hard and took forever! That sucked up the entire morning and my whole day ended up trashed. Plus the stairs take pretty much the day to dry because the suction isn’t strong enough to get much water out through the hose and attachment.  I don’t regret it, but sure wish I had the same energy I had when the kids were small
5. I’m not sure what I’m doing this weekend. I’d like to get this book moving again, I really would but it’s just been a tough and distracted road. I’m thinking about cakes too but we’ll see.

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!