29 posts tagged “decorating”
I should have had this photo for a recent Photo Quest, but I didn't take it until this morning. I like the contrast of light and dark. I'm sure the slow shutter speed accounted for the blurring, but I think it adds to the interest of the shot.
Another cold day today. I wore three shirts, but was cold all day today at work. Our counters are close to the front door, plus most of the store is kept cool enough that you can comfortably leave your coat on while you shop. I bought a sweater/jacket to wear while I work tomorrow. I don't like being cold. I don't mind for a few minutes, but not all day.
We were busy again today. There were three of us, but we still didn't finish all of the orders for tomorrow. Mostly birthday cakes. We have gotten a few holiday cake orders, or orders for birthday cakes with holiday decorations. We are selling a lot of cupcakes with holiday decorations. Last year, I made a lot of cupcakes with poinsettias on them, but this year I haven't had time to make any. Yesterday, we had an order for a cake with spring flowers. That was weird! I made daisies, daffodils, and tulips. It was very pretty, but it looked out of place. This year, we have a dark green icing that they call Winter Green. I used it and a dark red on a couple of cakes for the case this afternoon. I should have taken pictures. I was in a hurry to get things done so I could leave early. My original schedule was for 31 hours. It got bumped up to 40 hours, but they don't want you to ever work more than 40 hours a week. Didn't hurt my feelings to leave early!
I was sure it was Saturday night when I got home tonight. I have been confused all week. Glad I will get to sleep in again in the morning. I stayed up until 12:30 last night so I could finish reading my book. I was reading Echoes by Mauve Binchy. She is one of my favorite authors right now. I need to go back to Amazon and order another one. Maybe I'll wait until after Christmas. I need to get my cards in the mail, and presents wrapped, etc. Plus I'm way behind on my magazines. Not much point in getting them if I'm not going to read them.
Have all of you seen the photos on the web of "Walmart" people? They are unbelievable! It is hard to believe that people go out in public looking like that. We always have a few who are underdressed, but we have just about as many who are "yesterday" dressed.
This woman is a regular. She must come in every week just after she gets her hair "done". Do they still teach this style at beauty school? She usually has the head scarf, too, to keep it in place, very high and piled on top of her head. We do have a set of regulars who are lost in the 50's. I'll try to get some more photos. Do these ladies exist in every town or just here?
We are being discouraged from making up our own designs for cakes, and encouarged to use the Walmart style book. They do have some nice designs, and it won't hurt us to try to make some of them. This isn't exactly like the book. To me, cake designs are a lot like recipes. You use them for a general outline, but you add your own touch.
I worked by myself again today, so I didn't get a lot done. But we weren't rushed, so it didn't matter. I was going to try to leave an hour early to make sure that I don't work over 40 hours this week. That is greatly discouraged. But I took a last minute order, so I only got out the door about 15 minutes early.
I also had to "remodel" a couple of cakes that didn't get picked up so they could be served at the company Christmas dinner tomorrow. We always joke that the true test of a decorator is if you can take an orphan cake and transform it so it can be reused or put out in the case. Most of the time I can come up with something. We did have to throw one cake away today. Cakes don't sell well on the mark-down rack, and they take up a lot of room.
It was bitterly cold today, but we didn't get very much snow. Some people were talking about slick roads, but I didn't have any trouble.
I am finally finished with my Christmas shopping. I think I spent at least four hours trying to get the last two magazine subscriptions figured out. First I tried to go through the publisher, but they kept telling me my address was wrong, or I hadn't selected a country. I finally gave up and filled out a paper subscription form, only I couldn't find the envelope, and the address was no where on the form. Ugh! Then I tried Amazon. They had both magazines, but since I wanted to send each one to a different child, I had to do the whole process twice! I could enter one alternative address, but not two. If I had wanted to send the same magazine to 7 different kids, I could have done that, but I couldn't send two different magazines to two different children. Mercy! I may have to pick up a few stocking stuffers, but candy or craft supplies will work in that department. I haven't started on my cards, but I don't mind waiting until the last minute to do that. I did check my schedule for that week tonight. I work until 6:00 pm Christmas Eve. I think I may wait until Christmas Day to put up my decorations. I'm going to be home all day, with no company. It will give me something to do.
I warmed up some leftover potato soup and added some shredded cheddar cheese tonight. I also fixed a bunch of fresh broccoli with a cheese sauce. And we had homemade cheesecake that I had fixed yesterday. I ate mine with a bit of cranberry sauce. Yummm! It really hit the spot. The wind is still screaming around the house.
We had time to make extra cakes yesterday for the cake case and to put in the freezer to save for the weekend. I'm on a roll making holiday cakes for some reason. But what else are you going to do this time of year? Here's a few of my examples from yesterday.
I rarely have a Monday off from work. Don't know how I managed it this week. I called the eye doctor first things 'cause I need to get my eye pressure checked. He was supposed to call me right back, so I was a good girl. I stayed off the phone and the internet all morning waiting for him to call. After lunch, I gave up and did a little computer work. Never did hear from him. I did get some laundry done, and some cleaning. Also got the carcass from the 24 pound turkey we had at our daughter's on Saturday broken up into two soup pots so I could get all the meat off the bones. Working up the turkey took most of the afternoon, but I got 8 cups of nice chucks of turkey to use later. I also made another cheesecake like the one I took to our daughter's on Saturday.
Tonight was our church women's group's annual Christmas dinner. We left half an hour earlier than we needed to so we could check out the new Walmart store in our home town. I'm glad I stayed at the one where I work. I could have transfered. I did get started on some of my Christmas shopping. A ring for myself, some gift wrap and tags, tape, tumblers for our Christmas dinner, etc. It's nice to have a few things out of the way.
The dinner was nice, especially after being sick for a week. I had eaten a plate of plain spaghetti for lunch and didn't have any complains, so I felt that it was safe to eat a small plate of food. I skipped the salad and the dessert, but I did eat a piece of my own cheesecake as soon as I got home. No cramps so far. This is good.
Sunday was an absolutely crazy day at work. I should have gone in at 7:00 because I was working for L who had worked for me on Saturday, but I wanted to go to 8:00 Mass so it was 9:00 before I got there. Then I had forgotten to take my work shoes, so I had to buy a pair of shoes just to go to work. I had a 10:00 order. No problem, even though it was a freebie. Then I couldn't find the 11:00 order, or the next one, or the next one. I was about to loose my mind! I called management and ask for someone to please come and help me figure out what was going on. All's well that ends well, as they say. Someone had pushed a cart of cakes into a corner of the cooler where we never put our cakes. I hadn't even looked there! The rest of the day wasn't bad, just weird. It was 2:30 before I got to go to lunch. I had tried to take a break earlier, but they had paged me to come back to the bakery. Phew! This was the last cake of the day. You can tell I was tired; the edges are sloppy. Plus the icing was so stiff that it was hard to do anything with.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with our family on Saturday. It was such a nice day. And a wonderful celebration. Everyone got to come, even my daughter's husband. The food was delicious, even though there was enough to feed an army, except for the stuffing and the turkey. We ran out of stuffing and I had used 20 cups of bread. I used French bread this year and it was really good. I'll post the recipe. I should have taken a picture. It is pretty.
I took my camera with me, but didn't take any pictures. I was having too much fun talking to everyone and playing with the kids, especially our new little great grandson. He is almost 3 months old now, and he is adorable. He is just about the happiest, chubbiest, most laid back baby I've ever seen. I'm sure I'm not prejudiced at all. LOL
I'm glad I get to sleep in in the morning. I do have to work, but I go in late. Hope I have a better day than I did on Sunday. It was nice and sunny today, but it sounds like the weather is going to change. Is tonight a full moon? It was nice and bright tonight. I was afraid there would be a lot of deer out, but I only saw one.
I really will get around to getting some recipes posted. I work tomorrow, but then I'm off for a couple of days. Posting recipes will be on my list!
Here's a cake I decorated yesterday just to have something to go out in the case. I think it was gone by the time I got to work this morning. At least I didn't see it. We got some new tips with very small openings that make it easy to make the "strings", as we call them.
We had more orders to do today than we usually do on Monday. We had one order for 10:30 that I didn't find until 11:00, so I made it right away. Then when I came back from lunch I found out that I had made it the wrong size, so I had to start over!
I don't think anyone makes pies or rolls anymore. I can't believe all the pies and rolls that we have sold already.
Since I went in to work early this morning, I got home in time to cook dinner. I made potato soup, and while the potatoes were cooking, I made a pumpkin pie. Of course it is still cooling, but hubby will probably have a piece before he goes to bed tonight. If I don't have room to put pies and such in the frig, I just stick them out in the BBQ grill. That only works when the weather is cool, of course. Right now, it is perfect, in the 40s.
I was busy all day today, but don't remember a lot of it. I did get a call late this afternoon that was interesting. The customer called to order a cake with Tinkerbell for a guy. It was a joke of some sort. So this is what I came up with. Hope they like it!
Hubby is into the pie already! Think I may go have a piece, too, then watch a little football.
Here's the Pooh cake I made with the new kit that we got in yesterday. Isn't it cute? We didn't have too many orders to do today, so I did some extra cakes, but nothing that was too exciting. I did another big rainbow with swirl cake like the picture from the other day, and it was gone before I left tonight. I have to work again tomorrow. I think we should have plenty of time to play. I did make a sample of the new Little Mermaid cake, but I forgot to take a picture.
There are only four of us now doing the same job that it took 6 people to do last year. Are we all that much faster and better than we were a year ago, or are there a lot less people ordering cakes? I'm guessing that it is a little bit of both, but I'm not sure. We really can get by with out current staff, but one of the girls is going to leave us soon. We may try to get by with just three people. It won't be easy. The worst part is that it will be really hard to get any time off.
I got home by 7:00 tonight, so I thought I would be able to get some other stuff done. Wrong! I collapsed in front of the TV for an hour, then got up and piddled around, made myself a cup of tea, and checked my email. I need to pay the electric bill, then I'm off to bed. Toodles!
I actually took this photo on Monday. It's a take off on the other tye dyed cakes I've made, but with a little twist.
We weren't too busy today, which is nice. I unpacked our orders from our suppliers, placed new orders, and made cakes to go out in the cake case. I made up three of our new kits: Nemo, Pooh, and iCarly. I took a photo of the Pooh cake but I forgot to bring my camera home.
The sun was shining when I left for work this morning, but sometime this afternoon I realized that it was cloudy. We work close to the front doors, but we have to make an effort to look outside.
I'm working again tomorrow. I don't think we will be too busy. It's nice to have time to make extra cakes for the cake case. It was full when I left today, but we didn't have any extras in the freezer.
It's bedtime already, but that's what happens on days that I work. Oh, well. I am thankful that I have a job, especially one that I enjoy.
I took time to make a cake this morning using one of the new kits we received yesterday. This is one of the kits for Princess Tiana. Our store is in a culturally diverse area, so it will be interesting to see how well these kits sell.
I usually try to avoid doing cakes in whipped icing, especially chocolate whipped. This order called for lots of flowers. I didn't leave too much open space!
Here's a close-up of the border of flowers.
I thought we had most of the Friday cakes done when I went home yesterday, but I spent most of the day today working on cakes for today. I only had time to make two cakes for tomorrow. We really needed a third person doing cakes today.
I left work an hour early today because I had already worked four days this week. I got home before the sun went down for the first time in ages!
I made homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner. I hit hubby's with the blender. Worked great. Much healthier than the creamy soups I have been making. This whole soft food diet is going to take some getting used to.
I go to work late tomorrow and Sunday. I'll have to try to get something else made before I leave in the morning. I baked a custard pie tonight while the soup was cooking.
We will have lots of deer hunters here tomorrow. May not be able to get to the computer!
This my my version of a cake with teal, lime green, and brown flowers. It didn't get picked up before I left on Monday so I'm not sure if this is really what they wanted or not. But I'm happy with it. Brown flowers are hard, but I like the way these turned out.
This is my favorite cake from Monday. My directions on this one was yellow and peach roses. I made another one almost exactly like this one to put out in the cake case.
We had a cloudy, cool, windy day today. I didn't go outside except to water the dogs.
I spent most of the day today cooking. I did take a nap and wash a couple of loads of clothes, and catch up on some computer stuff. I finally took time to check my iStock account, and was happy to note that I had sold another photo. It was one of the tomato worm from last year. I haven't uploaded any photos in a long time. Too time consuming. I should go down to my sewing room and do some sewing tonight, but I don't know if I will make it. I will more than likely go to bed early. There is always tomorrow!
I worked by myself on Monday and Tuesday of this week, but didn't have time to be very creative. I did do this cake, which I was rather proud of.
I'm finally digging out from under the pile of paperwork that has accumulated on my desk. I still have a way to go, but at least it is all on my desk now and not spilling over onto the floor. I think I have most of the bills paid. Still need to check my bank balances. I had received an Etsy order back in October, but didn't have time to get it shipped until today. I was totally out of practice. I hadn't received any orders in some time. I've been too busy to make any new things and get them listed. I'm still working on dresses for my granddaughter.
I'm also sending a lot more time fixing food than I usually do. I haven't found much good information on the web about soft food diets, but I did find a good site today about making homemade baby food. I've been afraid to try anything with meat in it. I'm going to give it a try today and see how it goes. My handheld blender has been a big help. I'm going to try to add a little ham to some navy bean soup. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all your prayers. If you think of any good ideas for soft food, let me know. If we can keep body and soul together without surgery, that is the way we are leaning now. He will still have a test on Monday, and a consult with his doctor on Wednesday.
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