Surprise!!!

First of all, let me show you a cake my sister-in-law Niki made(sorry the camera quality isn't better):

This is the story behind the cake:

Stef is our friend at church-she is our choir director, and is very musically talented.  Stef's one glitch in life is that she never remembers how old she is.

So!

Since her birthday is at the end of October, friends decided to throw a 40th birthday party for Stef after our church service.  Stef just turned 38.

She caught on, and informed us, "I don't know how old I am, but I am NOT 40!"  I think she will probably remember her age now.  =)

The musical notes spell out the first line of the song Happy Birthday to You....

The balls you see are Truffles, which Stef loves.  Niki even made the musical note circles out of Truffles.

Isn't it adorable???

Anyway!

On to MY "Surprise" post!

Amber's birthday was October 23rd, and if you read my FAIL post, I forgot my dear daughter's 16th birthday.  Can you say HEEL!!!  ???

I felt terrible about this, and wanted to make it up to her-she was SO looking forward to turning 16.  Please don't ask-I don't know where my mind is half the time anymore!

So!  Aunt Niki had Amber come over and help with some things yesterday, and I decorated the house with balloons and streamers, and invited lots of friends over for a surprise party for Amber.  Amber accidentally saw a text on my phone about the party, but that's ok-she didn't know it was last night, and it was still all good.

Lots of friends showed up, and we had a nice time!  Amber had a very nice evening, and it made up for my previous FAIL as a mother.

I made monster hot dogs and sloppy joes, and I made two cakes.  This is the important part of the post!

I started out with three cake mixes, and I'm telling you, it wasn't my fault that I accidentally added 1 and 1/3 cups of oil instead of 1 and 1/3 cups of water!  The faucet and oil bottle played some horrible trick on me!  It was making me half sick just THINKING about eating all that oil!  That batch of batter went in the trash.

I made the other two cakes, one chocolate, one yellow, and they turned out fine.

I don't want to intimidate my sweet sister-in-law Niki by showing pictures of my two cakes.  I mean, she does a pretty good job with her stuff, but, well, I've decided to just be modest about my own creations and tell you about the cakes I decorated.

First of all, if you were AT the party, I need to make sure you know the FACTS!

1. I had chocolate crumbs all through the white frosting on the chocolate cake BECAUSE I wanted everyone to know that cake was chocolate!
2. I did NOT have to add that glorious vanilla/chocolate marbled design to the vanilla cake because I ran out of vanilla frosting.  I wanted those "Well, that's actually kinda cool" comments!
3. I don't care if you DID glance in the dining room while I was dividing up the cake-when I took the saran wrap off, half the icing topping was SUPPOSED to stay on the wrap-I didn't want the plastic wrap to harm the cake!  The icing did it's job!
4. The cake did NOT crumble while I was cutting it with my big knife, and I was NOT too lazy to go get something smaller to cut it with!  The cake was just so moist that it could be described as "melt in your mouth" yummy, even tho it hadn't made it to your mouth yet.

So please!  No need to spread rumors about my cake fail-and FOR SURE don't tell Niki!  =)

Anyway!  For those of you who weren't at the party, when the guests viewed my cakes-the marbled effect on the vanilla cake, and the speckled design in the vanilla frosting on the chocolate cake-the room was enveloped in a silent, reverant awe.

(And by the way, friends--I don't hold it against you that you didn't drown me with compliments at the party.  I realize my skills are so far out of this world that they often render people speechless.)  =)

My Final Fall Chocolate Bouquet Wreath

If you haven't yet read my post from this morning, be sure to scroll down to read it!  All the excitement I faced at the beginning of the week just wore me out!!!

This is my final Fall arrangement-hope you like it!
If you would like the directions, please go here:
http://www.achocolatebouquet.com/id150.html

I do not put all of the directions on my blog for two reasons:

1.  Not everyone wants to see an entire post on how to make a decorative arrangement.

2.  Loading all of the pictures will probably slow down my blog page, which I don't want to do to you.  On my website, I can break them up into two pages, to help them load quicker.

So anyway!  Here it is!  Talk to you all soon!

Up, Down, Up, Down.....

Ahh...what a week!  Actually, it is the beginning of the week that was such a roller coaster! (this post is half serious, half lighthearted, just so you know!)

The First Up

I just posted a very serious post about my friend who even the nurses did not expect to live thru the weekend, and guess what?  She is still with us, and she is looking and talking wonderfully!  Whether the good Lord takes her now, or she stays with us a little longer, I am warmed to see a life that has been touched by those who have come to show her love.  It also appears that some fences are being mended, and for that I am very, very grateful.

During my visit, I saw the new addition to my friend's bedroom-the video recorder.  Fancy stuff!  This belongs to her grandson, and the recordings taken were for the family to keep.

Well, I sat on the bed with my friend, and somehow mentioned I sing in church, and so guess what?  She told me to SING!  Uh.......I know I sing in church, but I'm actually quite shy about singing without a bunch of music drowning me out!  Umm....you want me to sing??? 

Okay, I could have declined, but remember, this is my friend who is very, very ill, and who I love so very much, so.....I sang part of a song.  Here are the words for you:

Consider the lilies
They don't toil or spin
But there's not a king
With more splendor than them
Consider the sparrow
He don't plant or so
But he serves the master
Who watches him grow

For we have a heavenly Father above
With eyes full of mercy
And a heart full of love
He really cares when your head is bowed low
Consider the lilies
And then you will know

Well folks, I had my first debut on camera!  I wonder if I looked heavy---hope I had my chin high enough so that no one can tell I have more than one!  I'm sure laying on the bed didn't show my most slender side!  Sigh....oh well.....the things you do for the ones you love!  =)  Hopefully any future viewing audience won't notice the parts where I hit the wrong key.....

The First Down

That evening, I stopped at a couple of thrift stores, ran into my pastor's wife from my former church in Ohio, and found some great deals!!!  I stopped by Taco Bell and called my hubby to tell him I was on my way home.

Fifteen miles out of Akron, with another 105 miles to go, my car decided to go from 65 down to 40-on the highway, and on the highway where construction work was going on, which means it was one open lane instead of two.  Oh no......

I pulled to the side of the road, and called my hubby to let him know.  He was in disbelief.  My car has been great!  How could she do this to me, on the HIGHWAY????  I told him I'd call him back--of course I hoped stopping on the side of the highway and giving her a break for a moment would cure her, but it was not to be.

I got a little further down the road, going 20 miles an hour now, and pulled over again because my girl just wasn't going to get better.  So if any of you were driving down highway 76 east around 10 pm on Monday, for your information, it wasn't a 90 year old grandma that the travelling turtles and snails were passing-it was me.  Sorry if I held you up!

Fortunately for me, the construction crew was just finishing up for the night, and one of the men saw that I was having trouble.  He came over to me and told me he would feel better if I would pull to the side of the road where they were working.  I moved to safety, and he checked to see if I needed a phone or anything.  Thank you, Mr. Construction Worker!

Folks, I know how to reach the Lord, so I was praying for my girl!  Okay, I wasn't praying-I was BEGGING the Lord to touch her!  If I had some oil, I would have even annointed her with oil!  For the Bible says,
 "14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."
Okay, so we didn't really call on the elders....and I didn't have any oil.  But I did pray, so at least my car is forgiven, if she has committed sins (like STRANDING me on the side of the highway!....)

Anyway!
I called my brother in Akron, and the dear soul came and got me.  We had to drive up to the next exit, get gas in his truck and turn back around, which was a good thing, because of all things, I forgot my purse in my car!

As we spotted my car on our return on the opposite side of the highway, we pulled over, just as a state trooper was pulling up behind my car.  Another very helpful man!  He just wanted me to pull further off the road, and gave us his card in case we needed anything.  He let me know my car could sit there for 48 hours, but we were heading to my brother's to call a tow truck that night.

Well, I called a few places, but my car was out of their area, and since I didn't know where I was having it towed to, we waiting til morning.

I had a warm place to sleep, got to visit with my wonderful nieces and brother and sweet sister-in-law, but oh the trauma that my memory foam pillow was at home!  And oh the double tragedy that the trash man's LOUD truck woke me up at 6 a.m.!

The Second Up

I called my beloved in the morning, and he turned into my second knight in shining armor(my brother being the first, since he rescued me off the highway in the dark of the night!)!  After a little coaxing, and reminding him that I would drive to the MOON for him if he asked me to, my honey decided to come get me!

We went to my car and he drove it a little further, but it finally got completely stuck in second gear.  So we had to have it towed.  But before the tow, Dan wanted it a little further off the road, and since it would drive, guess what my hubby did?  He had me steer while he pushed it several yards further down the side of the highway until we were past the guardrail, so that I could park in the grass.  THIS was SUCH a bummer to me since my knight has two major surgeries and his back and neck last year.  The good news is that he fared ok with it, and didn't end up in bed for two days over it.

The Second Down

We had my car towed to a garage in Ohio that has a very good reputation for their work, and left her there.  That's the good news-she is in good hands and may be fixed by tomorrow!

The not-so-good news is that it looks like it is my transmission, which is not a cheap fix.  So long, savings account!  Adios, Chinese restaurant and Burger King!  I'll be missing you!

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So there you have it, folks!  My eventful week in a nutshell!  And the LAST of the up and down events was a good one!  I came home to a beautifully cleaned house!  Amber cleaned the entire first floor, and it was a wonderful way to be welcomed back home!  Thanks Sweetie!

Check back real soon~I will be putting up my last Fall candy arrangement today or tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!