Pretty Cake

So last night was the last class for Wilton Class number two. I think I should stop now for a bit,
but I think I will continue on because August is still 40% off, and I get a $5 break for taking the class right after another class.
When I brought this cake into work, everyone thought it was beautiful, and no one wanted to cut into it. I didn't get into the lunch room until about 12:30, and there was everyone circled around the cake waiting until I cut the first slice. They had pretty much finished their lunches, and wanted a piece. Within 15 minutes of me cutting the cake, it was
gone. The funny thing about this cake was it was accidentally a purple cake. I was actually trying to make it a red, white, and blue confetti cake, but I didn't use the correct sprinkles in the cake batter. I had used the small hard balls instead of the soft cylinder sprinkles. So just as the sprinkles hit the cake batter, they started to dissolve. I tried to quickly mix them in so they wouldn't completely dissolve, but it seemed they just more dissolved. I eventually ended up with a pink/purple cake. It was cut, and no one seemed to mind.

Stupid DMV!

So yesterday I needed to go to the DMV for work. We had sold three ATV's to a company in Shafter and they were attempting to get them titled. We had never titled them because they were farm equipment and we did not need to have them titled in the state of CA. However, we had the original paperwork and when we sold the ATV we turned the paperwork over to them, but it seems like one Certificate of Origin had been misplaced before they were able to title them. So an appointment was made at the DMV and the two of us went there to square things up. I got there and she was already there getting instructions on what I needed to do. Apparently the DMV didn't like our bill of sale that we created, so we had to create new bills of sale on the forms that the DMV had. I had to do this on all three of the ATV's. We have sold ATV's in the past, and not one has been returned because the DMV wouldn't accept our bill of sale. I think they just didn't like us yesterday. :-(

Then I had another section of paperwork I had to fill out for the one that the cert of origin had been misplaced on. So I filled that out and we had to wait in line again. Once we got to the front, I found out that there was another section that I was to fill out, but no one had told me. Apparently they had explained to the other girl, but she didn't tell or show me or I would have filled it out. So we sat back down and I filled out the section and then we stood in line again and waited. Finally we got to the front and it took anther 10-15 mins before they completed the one ATV that didn't have the Certificate of Origin. At that point, I had been in the DMV for an hour and 10 mins and didn't want to be there anymore. The lady still had two other ATV's she was working on, so I asked if that was all that was needed from the seller and they said yes, so I left.

Today, the girl showed up at my office saying the DMV needed my signature on two more documents and they forgot to mention that to me yesterday. While I was there, I did point to the paper I had filled out on the one ATV and asked if I needed to fill out something similar to that for the other two and was told no. However, I guess I was supposed to. So, now I hope that it is all resolved. I have also decided that I am going to look into whether or not we should be getting titles for our ATV's or not. That was sure a hassle. I am sure there are other people that had to title the ATV's they have purchased from us, but it wasn't this much of a problem.

RS Lesson

So the lesson went well. I didn't end up making cookies, but come to think of it, I didn't have the right chocolate chips. Plus I didn't really want to make and clean up cookies on Sunday morning.

The lesson went very well, I had a bit of participation, and afterwards there were comments on how much they enjoyed the lesson.

Pretty much I talked about how a few degrees in "attitude" adjustments could change the course of our lives. I gave a couple of examples of people that didn't make attitude adjustments. One of them was Korihor, he was given several chances to correct himself and not deny there was a Christ. However, he refused and then he was struck dumb. Then he admitted he always knew there was a Christ. At that point, it was a bit too late, and Alma didn't believe he was sincere and that if the sign had been taken away, Korihor would go back to telling people there would be no Christ. Another example was Laman and Lemuel and how they even had angels visit them a couple of times. Their attitudes would correct for a small while before they would revert to their old ways. Then President Uchtdorf mentioned Saul and that he had not done what the Lord had commanded and then had caved to the pressures of men.

Then I gave examples of people that did correct their courses. One of them was Lehi and his wife. When Nephi broke his bow, Lehi and Sariah murmured. However, they did repent of their murmurings and were forgiven. Then someone brought up that Nephi had a small course correction when he was lamenting about how wicked he was because he was upset with his brothers and his trials even though his brothers were trying to kill him at that moment. Then we talked about Joseph Smith, and how he had to repent after asking the Lord on three separate occasions to let Martin Harris take the manuscript, which was eventually lost.

It was a good lesson. At the end of the talk, there was a part that stated..."Remember: the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth."

Good words to live by. :-)

So, tomorrow I get to teach on President Uctdorf's conference talk A Matter of a Few Degrees. I am still trying to figure out how to put this lesson together. I read the talk, and figured it would take me all of 10 mins to relate it in Relief Society. I am hoping to come up with a small activity/demonstration on how a "few degrees" can really effect things. However, I am not really sure. I thought I could get some Jenga blocks and show a few degrees on the lower levels, however, I don't have Jenga.

Maybe, I can make some cookies...and cook them at different degrees in the oven....I will have to think about this. I really don't have ingredients to make cookies, and it is a bit late to go and buy them. I would have to go to Bakersfield since the grocery stores here are about to close.

I will have to give it a bit more thought and see what comes of it.

To Beach, or not to Beach??

I am trying to decide if I want to escape to the coast next weekend or not. I don't go swimming in it because I am a bit scared of what might be down there with me, plus at Morro Bay, the current is a bit cold and swift. However, it is a nice place to see and up the beach a little we can see sea lions.

I only made it over to the coast once last year, and I haven't made it this year. It is nice to just walk on the beach and have the really chilly water crash onto your feet and legs. Last year when I went, it was the Kite Festival, and it was neat to see all the different types of kites people had. We even got to watch a portion of the kite flying contest. It was where contestants made their kites dance to music. It was interesting....maybe for a couple of shows, but after the third "dance," I was done.

Pansies, Daffodils, and Roses, OH MY!

So, on Tuesday, we made five different types of flowers out of royal icing. We started first with the roses, then we went on to the daffodils, pansies, primroses, then daisies.

By the time I made it to the daisies, I could hardly push out the icing. The icing we were using was the royal icing...aka...cement. My hand was so tired. I didn't even take any pictures of my crazy daisies. They are very sad and wobbly looking. The more tired my hand got, the more it shook. I think I will try to make some more daisies on Saturday. By then my hand should have recovered enough that I should be able to squeeze out more "cement."

My favorite of the flowers were the pansies. I thought they were the prettiest and the most real looking. I can't say the daffodils are that realistic, but really, how realistic are purple daffodils? The middle primrose in the picture, you can tell I was starting to have problems with my hands. The leaves weren't quite getting out as far as they should. Then on the one that is closest to the roses, the leaves aren't as defined. The teacher did say that I had really stiff icing. I didn't put all the water in it since my buttercream icing is always way to soft. I figured I wouldn't be accused of having soft royal icing. :-)

Sunday School

So last week I was able to teach another Sunday School lesson. We are meeting in the chapel, and I hate trying to get every one's attention so we can start. I hate trying to talk loud so people can hear me because I don't think shouting in the chapel is appropriate.

A couple of weeks ago when I tried to start, someone "shushed" everyone, and within seconds it quieted down. So I first said quite loudly that it was time to start. Only the people on the first three rows heard me and turned around towards me. However, no one else did, so I remembered the "shushing" and tried it. Within a second or two, the noise level dropped so I could speak, and then about 20 people scurried out of the room because they weren't going to stay.

Other than that, I had a great lesson. I was able to teach about the anti-Christ-Korihor, and what happened to him. I have to say that I like teaching out of Alma. It is a good book. There are plenty of good stories in there.

So when we went into RS, I said to the person next to me that I think I got out of teaching RS for July as well. We have one too many teachers in RS, and I hadn't been asked to teach yet. Later at Linger Longer, the RS President came up and asked if I would teach this next Sunday. She didn't have the lesson, and would get it to me later. Of course I will teach. However, that same lady was sitting next to me and said that I didn't get out of it this month.

I thought I had a good chance. I taught the Enrichment, and two Sunday School lessons and so I thought they would have pity on me. Oh well, it is a lesson that I probably need.

Another Field Trip

So, yesterday we went for another field trip. This time we wanted to see the new equipment that is coming in for the harvest. The harvest will be starting in the next couple of weeks, and the equipment was already supposed to be here.

Here I am in one of the shakers. I was told not to touch anything. Not to worry, I didn't want to run around a break a $100k piece of equipment. I just wanted to get into it. This piece of equipment sits kind of low on the ground, but the sweepers, which I don't have a picture of are a bit lower to the ground. I know that everyone thought I was "nuts" to get into the cab, but why not.

After this we went over to the ground they are prepping for the 2009 planting. I was a bit more impressed with the equipment they were using. This machine that was approximately 20-25 feet tall was cutting a 5 foot trench every 20 feet across this block of land. Followed behind him was another trencher that was digging 3-3 feet trenches at the same time. This was a bit more impressive since they were digging though this dirt like it was butter. There were huge clods of dirt.

Field Trip

So last week I was told an exciting excavator had been brought on the property. It apparently took three semi's to bring in this piece of equipment, and that everyone that saw it was impressed. So all of us accounting folks loaded up into a vehicle to go see this awesome piece of equipment. I went more for the ride...why stay in the office if everyone else gets to go out and play, right?

So after a small drive through the orchards we happened upon the piece of equipment. There were actually two of them. They were digging 10-15 foot deep trenches by 8 foot wide. I have to say that the hole they were digging was slightly impressive. I would never want to dig a hole by hand that deep. What they were doing was connecting two irrigation districts together and so the trench was about 5 miles long. Then they were putting cement pipe in that was 50 inches in diameter. So this excavator was first digging the hole, and then laying the pipes. While I was impressed with the trench skills, I can't say the piece of equipment left me awestruck. I was hoping to see something quite a bit bigger.

Lazy, Lazy Laura

I have been thinking for the past couple of weeks that I need to do some serious writing. However, I just keep thinking I will do it tomorrow. Well, I think I need to do it today.

So how did the cake decorating class go???? It went pretty well. I can't say it was worth all the effort I put into it, but I know they had a lot of fun. At some point, the missionaries stopped in and started having a group chat off to the side, and no one was able to hear me, but it turned out okay. Also, I have to say that it was a lot of prep work and clean up. I am still picking bits of frosting off my walls.

The wonderful chocolate cake that I made was really good, yet a little disappointing. I thought I was being extremely creative by putting pecans, coconut, chocolate chips, and caramel sauce on a layer of chocolate buttercream icing on a chocolate cake. However, it tasted like the German chocolate coconut icing. It was really good, but I thought I was creating something unique.

I do have another cake I need to do this Tuesday, I am thinking of putting a key lime cheesecake mix in the middle layer and seeing if that is any good. :-)

Of the 25 people that signed up, there were 21 people, and 22 cakes. I think it was a great turn out. I did have plenty of leftover icing. I probably had 8-10 extra batches. However, I sent some home with people and then brought some back with me. The Linger Longer committee called me Saturday to see if I would bring in the extra frosting so they could frost cupcakes. So I really didn't have any extra frosting. Which is entirely okay.

13 down, 17 more to go!!

So I am beginning to wonder if my little Kitchenaid will hold out through 30 batches of icing. So far, I have made 13 batches. I did this in two parts. The first, I did 6 and then I did 7 two hours later. I wanted to give my Kitchenaid a break and let it cool down. I know it wasn't made for 8 hours nonstop of usage, but I wonder what it will take before it dies? Not that I want it to quit, then where would I be?

So tomorrow I am hoping to get a better count as to how many will be there on Thursday. I may have a few people cross their names off. But if they don't, I am beginning to wonder if 30 batches is enough. I just don't want to go home with much, if any, icing.

I am also a bit nervous that I don't have enough tips to go around. I already know that I will have to split the group up into sections and have one group work with one tip, while the other groups would work with the next type of tips, ect.

I am sure it will be fine. :-)

Powdered Sugar!!

So I finished sifting 50-60 lbs of powdered sugar. I can't believe I actually finished. I went pretty fast, and it only took 4 hours to do. :-) As I sifted the Costco powdered sugar, there were small boulders of powdered sugar, and I was very much tempted to take one out and let it melt in my mouth, but I decided to be a good girl today.

I do have powdered sugar from one end of the kitchen to the other, and now I need to clean that up. I thought I would take a small break and sit down for now.

I have been trying to plan on when I would bake the couple of cakes I am taking in to show them how to decorate. I don't want to bake them during the day since it is hot enough here anyway. It only got to 100 today. Currently it is 98. I was thinking of staying up all night tonight to bake during the night, but perhaps not.

I plan on making two cakes for them next Thursday to show a couple of techniques. I have been thinking of what I want to do with one of them. I have decided that I would bake a chocolate cake. Yum. Then I would ice it with chocolate buttercream frosting. In the center, I would first ice it with the chocolate buttercream, then I would put some mini chocolate chips, chopped pecans, perhaps some coconut, and then drizzle some caramel sauce on it. I would then put the second layer of the cake on and finish icing it in chocolate buttercream. Next, I would melt some darker chocolate buttercream frosting in the microwave and pour it on the cake so it would look like chocolate melted on top of it.

Doesn't that sound good???? I can almost taste it. I will have to take a picture and post that. Maybe even a picture of me enjoying it. :-0

Crazy, Crazy Day

This month is a bit stressful so far. Work has been one thing after another, and I know it is only 11 days in. However, I am not sure how much more I can take before I need to take a mental health day.

I say that, but that will actually never happen.

On Wednesday, my alarm went off at 5:00 am like normal. I get up that early because I have high hopes of actually getting up and running. Most mornings, that doesn't happen, but I still have the alarm set so I will keep trying. Anyway, I had stayed up too late on Tuesday, so I decided to reset my alarm so I would wake up around 6:30. I should never do this when I am half asleep because I actually just changed the time on my clock, and didn't really change the alarm.

Around 7:30, I rolled over and thought that it was sure light outside for 6:30. So I looked at the clock and it said that it was 9:00. I bolted out of bed and the idea fleeted across my mind that I should just call in sick. I had been thinking of this since January, but I just can't seem to do it. I can pretty much only take Monday, Wednesday, or Friday off because of commitments on the other days. However, every time I thought I would take the day off, I would remember that I had something happening that day, or I was really swamped and I couldn't take off.

This Wednesday was a bit different. I didn't have anything that wouldn't wait one day to get done. When I realized it was only 7:30, and I could actually call in sick, I realized I had been fooling myself for months. I never would call in sick if I wasn't actually sick. So all of these months, I kept just telling myself I would, but I was too busy to call in sick. Truth is, I won't call in sick even when I am sick. I will go to work to get things done and taken care of, then leave early. When I say early, it is like an hour or so.

Thanks Mom and Dad for instilling such a good work ethic in me. I just don't want to stay home and wash walls when I could go to work. :-)

Oh, by the way, it is already staring to heat up. It is 5:08 (usually the cooler part of the day, right before the sun comes up).

However, it was 86 around 4 am, and now it is 89. So the low today was 86 degrees. :-(

What was I thinking??

First, I just went into the bathroom and found Sam lying in the bathtub (empty of course) trying to stay cool. Poor cat.

Anyway, remember the wedding cake?? How could anyone forget, right? Anyway, when some of the ladies at church heard I was making a wedding cake, they mentioned they would love to learn how to do that, and that I should do an Enrichment night on cake decorating. I kind of didn't really want to. I had done a cake decorating Enrichment about a year or two ago, and really didn't want to teach another one. However, I got to thinking that I shouldn't hide my talents under a bushel, and that I don't use my talents, I may lose them, and I should be using my talents to help the people.

So, I talked to my friend who is the Enrichment counselor and told her that is she wanted, I would teach a class. I talked to her last month before we had Enrichment in June. She called me back and told me that she didn't think that we could do it in June. I let her know that I wasn't thinking June, but I just wanted to throw the idea out and we could do it later in the future. So we decided July.

I told her that I would make the icing for everyone so that they would have the right consistency, but they would need to bring their own cake. I did have a few instructions for them for their cakes they were to bring, and wanted to announce them.

The sign up went around two weeks ago when we had a combined meeting, but I didn't think much of it. The turn out for the regular Enrichment is about 4-7, and a good turn out is 10-12. So this Sunday I got up in RS and told them the details about what they needed to bring for their cake and some tips for it. One lady raised her hand and asked, "So, we need to bring a cake to Enrichment to decorate?" I wasn't going to make cakes for everyone. I had learned my lesson with the gingerbread houses...or so I thought.

When the sign up came around to me, I about fell off my chair. I couldn't believe it. There were 25 people signed up. TWENTY-FIVE. This means that I will need about 30 batches of buttercream icing. Let's break this down a bit.

30 batches of frosting =
60 lbs of powdered sugar-30 2 lb regular sized bags, or one 50 lb Costco bag, and 5 regular
45 cups of Crisco, which I think will be 7.5 of the regular sized cans
4 cups of Karo Syrup
30 teaspoons of vanilla
30 teaspoons of almond extract
15 teaspoons of butter extract

Since I will be purchasing the powered sugar at Costco because a 50 lb bag is only $19.99 (2 lb bags about $1.80) I will have to sift the sugar. I have roughly estimated that it will take me 6-8 hours to sift 50 pounds of powered sugar. It took me 2.5 hours to sift enough sugar for 8 batches last month, and I figure I will just have to go faster this time around.

Then once the sugar is sifted, my little Kitchenaid will run for 7.5 hours nonstop. Each batch of frosting takes 10-15 minutes to beat to the right consistency.

With that said, I should stop typing and start sifting. I may get done in time for Enrichment next Thursday night. :-)

Enough griping, I know it will be fun, I just wasn't prepared for that many batches of frosting.

Sunday School

So I was able to teach Sunday School this past Sunday. I also get to teach it next week. The regular teacher was going to be out of town the next couple of weeks. Thank goodness there are actually two Sunday School teachers, and then I am the substitute. I have come to realize that I am a good story teller, but not much of a scriptorium. I can keep the attention of the class when I am telling the scripture stories, but when I try to teach chapters that don't really have stories in them, I have a hard time, and I swear I hear crickets chirping when I ask questions.

I was happy that I got to tell the story about Ammon tending King Lamoni's sheep and having to defend them. As well as converting King Lamoni, his family, and people. It was a good Sunday.

I didn't want anyone to say that I wasn't prepared enough for the lesson, and I think I did okay. :-)

Got Air Conditioning?

So, I woke up about an hour ago. I had a small nightmare. No big deal, but then after about an hour I decided to haul myself out of bed and do something productive.

It is sooooooooo hot here. I know, I know, I could move somewhere where it wouldn't be this hot, but then I would have to deal with below freezing temps in the winter. :-)

Yesterday was 107. It was to get to 111 so 107 was great. However, after 105, it all feels the same. Today it is to be 108-111 (depending on the weather station). This trend is supposed to last through the weekend. So it is HOT....that really isn't the worst part. It is currently monsoon season. Which actually has started a month early. We don't actually have the monsoon season, but Phoenix does. Phoenix starts to get unpredictable rainstorms in August, which is attributed to monsoon season. This is where the air is coming up from the Pacific Ocean, then circling over Mexico, then to Phoenix, then to Southern CA. This brings in the humidity.

When it is over 100, it isn't too bad when the humidity is 10-15%. However, currently it is 86 degrees with 37% humidity. I know that it will get one to degrees cooler this morning before the sun comes up, but I can't really say that 86 should be the "low" for the day.

When I got to work yesterday morning, it was 40% humidity and 87 degrees!!

You know it is bad when you go outside and your glasses fog up from the heat/humidity.

So we started getting notices that CA is on a Flex-Alert. This is where we know that there will be a major draw on energy and we are called to conserve power. I had to laugh at the commercial because it stated that we were on a flex-alert. We should put off using electricity until 7. This means that if you need to run the dishwasher or other non-essential things that we should wait until after 7 to do so. Then it went on to state that "If you must use your air conditioner, please turn it to at least 78 degrees, or wait until after 7 to turn it on." Are you kidding? At 107, who wouldn't need to use their air conditioner????

Stay cool!!