Steffini's Spent Time

Oops... Has it REALLY been over 2 months since my last confession errrr post?!?!?!?!?! LOL!

2009-09-02T06:44:00.007-04:00

Well.... It's been a busy summer. Bear actually took some time off here and there so I have been spending some wonderful quality time with the love of my life. We have gone on a mini vacation to the lake. Which was nice! I had to be prepped for a week at the lake though!!! I went and got AT&T internet service LOL! There was NO WAY I would survive a full week with out internet rofl! Now what does that say about my life. The connection wasn't the best (Facebook was completely out and the withdrawals were tough) but I was able to chat with a buddy and check my emails and such, so I was good lol.

Let's see... what else has been going on... Oh! got a new laptop at the end of July. Made another cake, well actually made two more cakes but there is NO WAY I will put one of them on here... let's just say it was for (Bear hates when I say this lol) Bear's stepdaddy and was a risque one. LOL! If you MUST see it, drop me an email and I will send you a picture. Let's just say that all that saw it commented on how realistic it was and that they could tell the "model" must have been cold. LOL!

The other cake was for my mom's 65th birthday. It has been discussed alot this year about her being born in the year of the Monkey on the Chinese calender. So when I got the new Wilton's yearbook and saw the monkey cake, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for her. So my sister and I ended up with this cake. We had a blast doing it and it was a great hit.

I actually looked and saw that these 3 cakes weren't on there from before. The floral cake was my final "final" cake. I used a buttercream fondant on it and I really liked the way it looked. The only problem I had with it was that it was really greasy. I really enjoyed taking the classes!

The first bear cake on the green base was for a lady that saw my final "final" cake that last night at class. She had the cakes made but not decorated and asked me if I would be willing to decorate it. It was my first time to decorate a bear cake. It was so adorable that I had to make an attempt to do it on my own (the third one). I made the cake from a recipe on a pan I had and it was double chocolate pound cake. The frosting is chocolate buttercream. It was WAY to much chocolate for me (yes, a woman said it was too much chocolate!). Technically this was a triple chocolate bear. It was so funny, because no one wanted to make the first cut! Finally Bear sliced off an ear. Then Jon took a foot. I went out the next day or so and came back to a decapitated bear!!! I was like "OMG! Who cut off his head????" LOL!

Okay, enough cake talk lol.....

I am sitting in a hotel room right now in Dallas, well Arlington, Texas actually, with BAD heart burn! I have decided that me and mexican food need an added ingredient in the form of some sort of acid controller from now on. When you wake up at 4 am with heartburn, it's just wrong! 'Specially now in a hotel room that your sharing with the hubs who is sleeping the sleep of the innocent (yeah right lol) and you don't want to wake up. Oh the decision I had to make. Do I grab my book and mini book light and go sit on the floor in the bathroom so that he isn't disturbed by the light? Do I turn on the laptop and actually be productive and update the blog finally? When I turn the laptop on, do I turn it away from the bed because it seems AWFULLY bright so early in the morning? LOL! As you can tell the laptop won. But as I was responding to an email, all I could hear was the nails hitting the keys and I just KNEW that would be irritating enough to wake the Bear! So I played on Facebook for an hour and a half till he started waking up! The sacrafices I have to make for the love of my life lol!

I have finished one of my quilts and made it a "summer weight" quilt. It has no batting in it. It is the 30's BOM one my secret pal sent me last year. I don't have a finished picture on the computer yet but may take one today for the next installment of my boring life! I will be heading to Austin with Bear for atleast one week possibly two so I will have time to post some more lol. We are in Dallas until Friday, then home a week then off to Austin. He keeps going back and forth on wether I will go with him BACK to Austin the second week. He swears he can't work when I'm with him and the 2nd week is a major work week for him so it's up in the air lol. One day I'm going, the next I'm staying home....

I also finished another dress. This was is just too sweet. And am almost done with the next one so The next time I blog I will HOPEFULLY have it done to show off.

Okay. Enough for now. I may or may not blog again later today or tomorrow but it may not be till week after next lol. I know... nothing new with the way I have been blogging but still thought I would say that lol. Until next time........

So I missed two days... better than 7 months lol......

2009-06-25T11:09:00.016-04:00

Well, I did spend the day working on flowers (sorta, it was more like the afternoon lol) with my sister. I am going to be working on more flowers today in preparation for my final "final" cake. LOL! This is the last class to take at this time. Course 4 - Fondant and Gum Paste. *Sigh* What am I going to do without a cake class every week. I was suppose to "graduate" on Monday but as I will be out of town (going to Dallas with Bear), so I am going to "graduate" early lol!

I guess I should post some of the pictures of these said cakes that I have done so that everyone can see that I have done SOMETHING for the last 7 months lol!!!

This was my very first cake I made. It is a plain jane cake with orange flavored buttercream (home made) icing. I call it my "dreamsicle" cake. The icing was a big hit!

The second cake was made with raspberry icing. I'm real big on not being normal! LOL! Can ya tell???? I plan to make a chocolate cake with cherry flavored icing in the future for Bear. I'm thinking it will be like a cherry cordial, which I can't stand lol! So would be just for the Bear! And maybe the boys! LOL!

The third one was done for the Bear. It was a german chocolate cake with coconut flavored buttercream icing! Bear's fav! LOL! I was pretty much making a cake a week at the beginning and testing out different flavors! Can you say cake overload???

These two cakes were made for my sisters birthday. She requested Italian Cream Cake. There is history with that cake lol. This was a favorite of mine for a long time and every time I would go to make it I would have to contact my grandmother for the recipe. I mean it could be only 6 months since I had made it and would have to call her AGAIN for it! This went on for years and BEFORE the internet so it was an actual long distance phone call (before Vonage and all as well) or wait for it to arrive in the mail!!!! She was even gonna give me her original but I pointed out to her that I keep losing the one I get so why would she think I wouldn't lose the original????

Anyway, Shannon decided this was what she wanted as her birthday cake even though it was a hard one to decorate. I couldn't use butter cream ya know! It has a cream cheese icing that you use. That's the rule ya know!!! LOL! So I had to do a "crumb" coat in the butter cream and "decorate" in buttercream. I used coconut flavored buttercream since the cake has coconut in it. It was a hit. The small one was her "take home" portion. The picture on the right was the way it looked when I last saw it at the party. The picture on the left is the way it looked after Noble (her service dog) did his taste test lol!!!! I'm not sure it he liked it or not since it was only one swipe of his tounge and not a chunk out of it lol! Although he did take the best and my favorite rose with that swipe so maybe he has good taste!!!

My next class cake was my Course 2 final "test" lol! Shannon and I had decided after 4 straight weeks of cakes we would not make one until the final. So that gave us 3 weeks of no cakes! YEAH!!!! We just had enough time to get our sugar high down to a managable level lol!

This was the "basket" cake. I think it was french vanila cake with raspberry icing. I've sorta started blocking out some of that kinda thing. We also learned royal icing (which is buttercream that hardens lol) and color flow. The blue birds are the color flow. I did the handles out of the royal icing because a basket isn't a basket if you can t carry it, right??? LOL! Not that these handles are any good lol!

I like this so much that I made a brown one for my mother in law's birthday just two weeks ago. I did not do the color flow on hers but it was a HUGE hit out at the lake. This is the "pup" tent we had to exist in lol. It was a chore having to wait for the air conditioner to finally cool it all off!!!! LOL! I was roughing it ya know!!!! I did not have internet access and a 13" T.V.!!!! LOL!!!!

This was my next cake and my first fondant cake! It make is so smoooooooth but I don't care for the fondant taste. I explained it to my son that it's eatable playdough lol!

I will be attempting marshmellow fondant (from scratch) for tomorrows cake.

This was my Course 3 final cake. It is my first tiered cake. I really liked doing it this ONE time but I don't see me doing alot of tiered cakes lol! I did try a new technique from a book I of my sisters. The royal icing bows. They are really fragile though! LOL! But we should always try new things ya know! LOL!

The last cake I have done was for my "adoptive" son, Louis. He and Jon play their guitars alot so I had to get this pan and make him an electric one. It was a hit with them both. Jon has put in his order for his birthday in October. He wants a spice cake with vanilla icing. lol! Gotta love the boy!

Okay, I have spent a few hours on this that I should be spending on flowers for tomorrows cake lol! So this is it for today! I will be working on another insert in a few days with my final final cake! Until then......,

The rumors of my death have been greatly exagerated...... I just have a life now.....

2009-06-22T23:40:00.004-04:00

Well....... The good news is I did NOT fall off the face of the earth! The bad news is now that I am back in Houston.... I have a life! My family keeps me pretty busy now with the different things now. Between sewing classes at the community center, cake decorating classes, the pool, sewing, family and just life in general, I just find it hard to sit down at the computer for long periods to do the blog.

A lot has happened since my last post. We've moved half way across the country and that is not an exageration lol! We moved from the top of West Virginia to the semi middle edge of Texas. It's about 1400 miles, so I can honestly say it was half way across lol!

I have been spending time with my family more and more. We do a sewing class each Wednesday morning. My mom is the main instructor and has decided that I am the co-instructor now. So when her house flooded again, I was running the class so that she could take care of that stuff.

My sister and I started cake decorating classes. This was something I always wanted to try my hand at so I was thrilled to be able to do it. And it has been really nice to do it with my sister.

On an extremely sad note, we lost a loving and wonderful member of our family. My sweet cocker spaniel that was my baby boy, Bandit on May 4th. He was just over 11 years old. Even now, a month and a half later, as I type this I start to cry. It has been really hard on me and I find myself still looking for him from time to time. I know everyone says that eventually it will get better, and it has in a way, but it's still really hard to believe he is gone. Momma loves and misses you greatly baby boy!

Sorry for the trip down that road but I really do miss him and was an event that really did make a mark in my life.

I will try really hard to start updating this more and more... show off pictures of the cakes I've made, some of the sewing things I've been working on, etc. If I do this right, I will be updating either daily for the next week or so... or weekly. Tomorrow I will be making flowers for my final cake that I will do on Friday, so I may or may not post tomorrow lol... See ... I have a life and things to do!!!!!

Until the next time I post (I swear it won't be another 7 months!!!!).....

My adventures to find a home in Houston.....

2008-11-10T10:16:00.011-05:00

Well, I am not quite home yet but when I do get home it will be a whirlwind of activity for a while that I am not sure when I will be posting on the blog.

For those that are not aware of it yet, though I have no clue how you wouldn't be lol, I am finally going back home to my beloved Texas!!!

Bear and I left West Virginia on the afternoon of October 30th heading to Houston by way of family visits. First stop was at Bear's brothers in Bluefield, Virginia. We celebrated Halloween night with them. We stayed there until November 1st (Saturday) and then started the LOOOONG trip to his mom's in Leesville, Louisiana.

Got there on Sunday afternoon and had a wonderful visit overnight with her. Once we get moved down there, she will be planning to teach me to can stuff. That is a dying art.... Canning. I can not wait to learn that lost way of life!!! She is only about 3.5 hours from Houston so I will plan a weekend each month to get my "lessons".

We finally got to the end of our 1400 mile trip on Monday (the 3rd) around noon. That gave us just enough time to have our ritual Whataburger (those who read this who live in Texas do not need an explanation of a Whataburger, but those that don't ... it's the best burger ever! lol) and a quick visit with my family before we headed off to see the first house of many. We ended up seing 6 houses in 2 hours. Can you tell we knew what we were looking for lol!?!

We liked the first one (isn't that always the way) so we had to wait to get the yes or no from the owner. Two days later we find out that it was already rented so back out we went. Looked at two more and decided the 1st of those two was the one we wanted. It had a pool as well so it would be a nice one. We got lucky on that one as we were told late Thursday afternoon that we got that one! Signed the lease on Friday morning. Just in time to relax for a few hours before my nephews wedding.

This is my Grandmother. I think this is a wonderful picture of her that I took! I hope to be a beautiful as she is when I am 83!

What a wedding! It was at a bed and breakfast in the Heights (a part of Houston) that I had no idea was there. As we are waiting for the wedding to begin, we hear squealing tires and a crash. Turns out someone wanted to see how far a bike would fly lol. The person on the bicycle was okay but it gave us a wonderful flashing light behind the alter. It was a muted light so wasn't all that bad. LOL!

This is Bodie (I am not sure if that's how they spell his name though) and he is Michael and Libby's "son". As you can see he was part of the wedding since his Mommy and Daddy were tying the knot! LOL! He is such a sweetie! Don't you just love his Texas Flag bow tie???

Here is my sister and I. What a pair!

Here is the bride and groom, Libby and Michael. This is my oldest of two nephews and I am absolutely thrilled to be able to add a niece in to the mix finally! We all love Libby and she is the perfect fit for Michael. I don't think we could have asked for a better wife for him! She will keep him in line!

This is my sister, Shannon, and her family (pre-wedding). That is Christopher (my youngest nephew), Bert (Shannon's hubs), Michael and Bodie. Isn't that a great looking family?

The deal has be sealed! No backing out now! LOL!

I will be putting more pictures on my photobucket in the next few days, so be sure to look for them.

Bear ended up "enjoying" the wine just a tad much and was, errr "slightly" hung over the next morning lol. As we were planning to leave like by 8 am to head back, this put a small hold on that. LOL! It wasn't until almost 11 before he felt well enough to start packing the car up only to find that we somehow picked up a nail in the back drivers tire and had to go get it fixed lol. So that added to the delay in getting on the road. We finally were able to head out about 12:30, with me at the wheel so he could continue to "rest" a while longer lol.

As I said earlier, we are back at my brother in laws until tomorrow morning when we finish the long drive home. I am so glad to know that we will only be making that drive one more time back to Houston for the move. It is LONG!

I did work on a few projects while traveling. I made a scarf that I gave to my sister and two "wraps". They were too short to be a scarf so just sewed the ends together so that it was more like a wrap. These will be for April, of course. She can leave it hanging or wrap it again for a neck wrap.

I also worked on the bath rag some and my double moose. I will get pictures of the double moose soon. I took a lot of projects but mostly just read books instead of knitting lol.

I am sure there are things I am completely forgetting but this is long enough as it is lol.

I hope you enjoyed it.

The time between the last post and today....

2008-10-22T16:07:00.031-04:00

Well, I did say I wouldn't post daily lol. This just proves that my life is as boring as I said. The time being spent between the last post and today hasn't been real productive lol.

October 12th was my grandson's 2nd birthday and so we went to that and thoroughly enjoyed seeing him have a blast. He is getting so big! We will miss him when we are gone!

He LOVED his little couch we got him. We are told he constantly sits on it!

I have gotten a few siggies in the mail but not that many. They are all cherished no matter what though.

I did spend 30 minutes on the sewing machine (much to my friend Molly's happiness and disappointment that it was ONLY 30 minutes lol) making some tater bags. My mother in law requested an extra bag as she uses the one I gave her a year or two ago constantly. She goes to the lake on the weekend and so she has to remember to bring the bag back and forth from home to the lake. So I made 3 bags since they are so easy! I sent one to a good friend of mine in California by the name of Cyn F. She is the one that sent me the "gone quilting" thing at the beginning of my blogging.

I also made some siggies for a special brother of a special person on one of the lists I am on. I even had Bear actually sign one for him. That is not normal... he does NOT do things like that lol.

I don't see me getting back to sewing until after the 1st of the year if all goes right. I will be leaving for a trip to Houston on the 31st and will not be back until the 10th and hopefully will be packing the house up as of the 11th to be heading back to Houston as of the end of November. So, sewing does NOT seem feasible till after the 1st of the year!

I am knitting though.... I have not done much to my Lover's Knot afghan. Just a few more rows.

I have started a palindrome cable scarf that is the same on either side. There isn't a front or back side. This is to go with the hat that I already did. It is in the same Plum color as it. The only thing left to do for the set when this is done is the "smoking" gloves. I was asked to make a black pair for a friend of hers so I will probably do both of them at the same time. These will be fantastic projects for the trip!

I am making what I affectionately call the "double moose" hat for April. My buddy Cyn got me involved with this.... this is the first time I have ever worked with unspun thread. This is an experience! Ignore the pink around the edges as that is just my "invisible" cast on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know... not very invisible, but it won't be there when I'm done! LOL!

The other project I am working on right now is a set of Mary Jane slippers. Another first for me. Right now... I am not crazy about them but we will see..... If I end up liking them I will make another set or two for my sister. But as I said... we will see lol.

Just thought I would throw in a picture of my "boys" for the ending.... until next time.........

What a productive weekend....

2008-10-05T22:01:00.010-04:00

Well, my weekend was very productive! I made 4 fun fur scarves, finished the pink and black scarf, made my October birthday siggies and have them waiting to go into the mail tomorrow, and prepped some regular siggie blocks as well as got 3 done to mail out as well as a return for siggies I received. I even bought more yarn (like I need it lol) for the socks I plan to get started on lol.

I also received 3 siggies on Saturday as well. Jackie Vogel, Lori Marchbanks and Ulla Karlson.

These are the fun fur scarves. I have a funny (now it's funny but it wasn't at the time) story about the red and green ones... you see, normally you would use 2 skeins at once, which was fine for the blue one. Then, the chocolate one had more yardage in the skeins so it was longer. Well, the red and green was almost double the size of the blue one. So I had started to re"skein" them when about half way through I realized this fact! Well.... I decided to "undo" the combining. Bad idea! This is what happens when you try that.... LOL!

It took me ALL DAY Saturday to untangle the tangles! Will NOT do that again!!! LOL!

Here is the pink and black scarf that is FINALLY done! The black section done in the seed stitch was soooooo boring lol! Now to get started on a few more scarves. The oldest stepdaughter has requested some scarves as well now. So I have more to make. LOL!

We even started up the bikes! Alas, that is ALL we did. We did not get on them to ride but that is okay! Soon!!!

Well, that is the update for my weekend. Hope you had a great one!

Another boring installment of my life lol....

2008-10-02T16:10:00.012-04:00

Well, it's been a few days so I thought I would put another "installment" out for the world to go to sleep with....

Bear is back in town so I have not really been doing much. I am working on the scarf and have finally gotten to the other side and am doing the 2nd color now so it won't be much longer before it will be done. Then I can start on a new project lol!

I did get some new siggies this week. 1 is my very first Christmas siggie from Laura Lamb! She also sent me a one on one as well.

The other 2 siggies were also one on one siggies from the international swap I belong to. The are from Kerstin Holma and Laura Bruttini.

All I can say is those oversea ladies really are talented! They put soooo much attention to detail in their siggies that I really hate to send mine out that are just stamped and signed. I feel like mine are so plain compared to theirs! LOL! If you want to see bigger photos of them go to my photobucket site and they will be there.

I thought I would post a few pictures of my darling grandson Dillon who will be 2 this month! Sheesh, where has the time gone! That is his Aunt April with him. The recipient of the many scarves I have been making!

Here are some random shots! Just a few of my bears. Notice the big one in the bottom left. I got him when I got my V-Star motorcycle, which is in the next picture. I almost have a boy scout mentality! I am always prepared! This was for the "God Bless America" Ride for the VA Hospital here in Martinsburg. We get there and have a few hours before it starts so I am always ready with a book and an umbrella so that I do overheat or get sunburned more than necessary lol! The other picture is proof that I corrupted my sister when she came for a visit! This was her fist experience with slot machines and she had a blast!

This is of my family at Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. They figured this would be the only time they would get to go there and to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA since I would be moving back to Texas and there would be no reason for another trip back up here after that lol! That is my mom, sister and grandmother. It was a great trip!

Thank you for stopping by. I will post again eventually. Have a great day until then!

What I am working on.....

2008-09-26T15:32:00.008-04:00

Well... Just in case anyone is wondering what exactly I may be doing to make the day go by here it is....

My dear hubby, Bear (nickname, not his real name lol), swears I have ADD, my sister calls it "distractability". I like to think I have such a creative mind that I can't just sit still! Now the thing that gets me... is that all the creativity my mind is doing must be going to someone else as I am not ending up with it in my thoughts lol! But I just have to keep busy. I am a reader, crafter, gamer, etc... I have way to much to do and not enough time to do it lol!

If I am reading, I usually have the TV or music on in the background. If I am watching TV, I usually have the laptop up with either chat, emails or a game going. If I don't have the laptop on my lap, I have either a cross stitch project or knitting project going. I tell ya, I can't just sit and do one thing lol! Drives Bear nuts!

I am in a sewing slump right now! To the point that I can't even look at the sewing machine at this time. Which means my quilt projects are just gathering dust along with the machine. The sad thing is... my sewing machine is in my living room at this time. So I have to listen to it cry from neglect and see the sad face it gives me. *Sigh* I will eventually get back to it. I promise!

In the mean time, here's what has kept me from going nuts... lol....

I learned to knit in October 2006 at the young age of 41. I have fallen in love with knitting! It does take me forever to finish things sometimes lol. Took me almost as long to finish a pair of socks. Just got them done about a month ago. "Distractability" remember lol. If something takes a long time, I get bored and will start something new, then come back to the other thing.

Any way, I have at least 2 projects going on in my knitting right now. I just finished my first hat. I am not really happy with it but live and learn! The hat is part of a set that I plan to do for my stepdaughter April. It will be a hat, scarf and gloves in the same yarn. She loves scarves and I have gone a bit crazy making scarves left and right for her. You can see all the scarves and stuff I have knitted already on my photobucket site. http://photobucket.com/steffinid

This is the hat. Like I said, I am not all that thrilled with it but it will do!

The other thing I am working on for April is a scarf. I am at the part that I am bored with the same stitch over and over and over.... hence the hat being done! LOL! I work on it and try to do a few rows at a time but it is boring lol. I don't have far to go to do the other end and that part will go fairly quick. The camera doesn't do the colors justice though. The hat is a plum color and the scarf is a hot pink (color says watermelon) and black.

The last knitting project I am working on is an afghan called Lovers Knot. I got the pattern from Lionbrand.com. That is the first place I look for new patterns. I saw this and fell in love with it. It is going to be an ongoing project and I will take pictures of it from time to time to let anyone that is interested in the progress see. I have learned to do new stitches from both the afghan and the scarf. I love learning the new stitches and mastering them. Bear picked the neutral color saying it was nice. It is called Lace. Why? I don't know lol! Cream, Ecru or beige, I could see... Lace... no! LOL!

The other project I am working, and have been for about 4 years, is a cross stitch pattern for Bear. I have been cross stitching for more years than I care to count lol! I think it was the first "craft" I did. My mom taught me when I was young and it's something I've always had around one way or another. This pattern is called Gettysburg. The main reason I have been working on it for so long is I went to work for 2 years lol. Then for the last 2, quilting has taken over for any kind craft until about 4 months ago when the knitting bug bit me again. This is the next to last that I had planned for Bear. Again... I will update photos on occasion.

Well, that's it for today! Hope you are still awake! Have a great crafty day!

My trip to the mail box today resulted in the following....

2008-09-26T15:03:00.014-04:00

Well, here is another boring installment of my day.... LOL!

I received 2 wonderful siggies today.

I got a wonderful siggie from the international swap from Claudia Bantel. That is such a cute little mouse!

I also got a wonderful birthday siggie from Susan Fields.

She also sent a wonderful little gift that is just so cute! I am in awe of those creative minds that can think up things like this! How clever can you get!!! It's things like this that make me look forward to going out to the mail box every day! You never know the surprises that await you there!!!! LOL!!!

What a wonderful gift!

2008-09-25T13:16:00.000-04:00

I have to share a gift I received today from a wonderful friend in California by the name of Cyn! I think it is just the cutest thing! I will cherish it always! She also sent me some knitting dvd's! She is just a wonderful cyber friend!

Welcome to my boring life!

2008-09-25T12:30:00.000-04:00

Well.... I have gone and done it.... I have joined the blogging life. Why? I guess I am bored lol! I really can't see how anyone would find what I have to say or do interesting! But I guess I can just ramble on and if you find it interesting, YEA! If not, then I was right and I am boring lol!

Bear with me if this is extremely boring and not very imaginative as this is a new thing for me.

I will plan to update it as often as I can and it will be about whatever is going on at the time. It could be about my sewing, knitting, my move back to Texas (eventually, lol), my wonderful grandson, my family, my animals, my day on the motorcycle.... what ever strikes my fancy at that time. As I said in the title... welcome to my boring life!

Please enjoy.....