You Could Win This for Free!!!

In honor of my YouTube video making it on the Café handmade site (go to http://www.cafehandmade.blogspot.com/ ) I have decided to start Once a Month Mondays as FREE Giveaway Day!!! So in tribute to my YouTube the Cupcake How to Frost

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx7aMdOf61s

I am giving away one new FREE 2D tip and Pastry Bag!!! All you have to do is leave a maximum of 1 comment per post (this post and future posts until the giveaway end date Sunday, April 12th) and/or scroll down to the bottom of my blog where it says Follow and…Follow!!! So comment on every new post and Follow this blog to increase your chances of winning! I will post a video on Wednesday, April 15th (Tax Day!!! Something good’s gotta happen that day!) of my oldest daughter drawing the winner out of a hat!!!

I had a crazy week this week! I’m not gonna bore you with the details but the highlights are: I worked 2 days this week because there were a TON of cake orders!!! I also ran/walked one of the worst runs ever (13 miles but it was really, really, really hard this time and I was suppose to do 15 miles!!!) So here are some of the pix of the cakes and don’t forget to leave a comment and Follow my blog for a chance to win the FREE giveaway!!! Remember that 2D tips are great for frosting not only cupcakes but a cake as well!!! They are great for trim and décor as well as making it easier to frost a cake smooth (I’ll have to do a demo of that nifty little trick!!!).

If there are any video demonstrations or written directions of crafts/decorating/desserts or anything…just let me know and I will figure out the easiest, most fun way to do it…if I haven’t already!!!

This was for my mom's B-day. It looked and tasted sooo rich and yummy!!!

This was for my Mom's B-day party as well and my personal all time fave! This was sooooo good! It tasted like a See's Candy raspberry truffle! This is a brownie cake frosted in fudge with raspberry Comstock on top! Soooo good! You have to try it!!!

The customer wanted something bright and neony! This was soooo bright you had to wear shades :)

This was part of a double fudge layer brownie wedding cake. It was sooo busy that day that this is all I could get a picture of before they took it and left! This is the base and they were going to put Gerber daisies under the pillars and place the other smaller double fudge layer brownie cake on top on!

I wanna be a little girl again!!!

This was a Baby Einstein cake!

I gotta new YouTube Video in the works that I plan on putting out this week! It's about how to make easy jewelry without any special tools! It's buying the fancy tools that kills ya as well as the wallet!!!

YW Cake Decorating Class

Last night Jane and I taught a beginning cake decorating class to the Laurels. They did such a great job for their very first cakes! I didn't get pix of all the girls (there were 10) and their beautiful cakes but above is just a few. It was one of the funnest (it's a word in my vocabulary), least stressful classes I have ever taught. Thanks to Jane!

Happy Birthday Scott!!! Your 11 today!

Today will go on record as one of my favorite days of the year! Today my son R. Scott Olsen was born 11 years ago! He wanted Cheese Pizza from Papa Johns (the best delivery pizza around)! This is huge! He just very recently began to eat the "All American Birthday Food". He use to only eat the crust but now my 11 year old will eat the entire thing! There is hope for his future wife after all! His big sister Nina, fully decorated her first character cake! She did a great job. She filled the bags, drew the picture, frosted and trimmed the cake and everything BY HER SELF! I knew she could do it and she did a great job.

She's only 12 and already following in her Mom's footsteps :) Here are some of the cakes I did at work on Saturday! There were a lot of cakes! Even some weird cakes that I did not post because they were just...weird...the things people ask for?????

These were mini cupcakes that I decorated like a flower. I saw it on YouTube for cupcakes. I tried it on cupcakes but thought mini cupcakes would be soooo cute for a tea party! I'll have to do a video someday on it! Mums would be easy and adorable as well as roses! I am sooo in love with mini cupcakes right now. They satisfy and you aren't downing a million calories for the pleasure....did I mention how adorable they are too!

Here is a before and after cheesecake. We thought it needed something more!

This was a Super Fun cake!!! The ears are cookies painted with black royal icing! Can you see the mini Mini's on the side? Too cute!

Here is a picture that Nina took of Jack pre-stitches. Sorry I have no gruesome pix's. I don't even have pix of the kids in their costumes that I made for the Variety show that they were in this weekend! What has happened to me!!!! I'm going to start gluing that camera to my hand! I don't want to miss a thing in my kids lives :)

Well the story behind Jack is that Wednesday he locked himself in the garage with one of our dogs. When I went to get him he was crying and a face full of blood! The bleeding stopped soon after but it still did not look right. It was just a small cut on his lip but I Googled and I read that even the smallest of cuts on the face can leave a scar as well as infection. So with that we were off to the ER and Jack got 2 stitches. They asked if I wanted to be in the room...Heck yeah! Why would I want to worry and be away from my son when he needs me? The nurse told me not too look because it would be too traumatic! What! I love surgery! No way was I gonna miss this and I wanted to make sure the doc. did a good job! The nurse also said that he would sleep like a rock...Ha ha ha h ah a! He was back to his old tricks as soon as we got home, jumping on the couch, singing songs, acting out Spiderman and going to bed late!

So needless to say that Goofy is gone. I told the pound to give him to a family without small kids!

Oh! By the way! See the water bottle he is holding! You can't see it but it is the perfect thing for a baby/ messy kid/ toddler/small child to drink out of! Why? My son Samuel thought of this. One day he just grabbed a pencil and popped a hole at the center of the lid and ...Voila! Instant, non-drip baby sippy cup/water bottle. It works with a pen or key(makes a larger hole but still works)! Try it when you are on the road if your kids often spill their water bottles! It works great!

Nina took this of Charlotte this week too! Isn't she sweet! Beautiful inside and out..I am soooooo lucky!

Also a catch up on the running! I did 10 Wednesday and then today seven (both with hills, and not little ones either...big long hills). I can't believe how quickly the human body recovers! I went from nothing to 13 mile in 2 months! Rick also ran the 7 miles with me today and he wasn't far behind. He is athletic (he rides his bike to work everyday up a huge steep hill) but he was right there with me the first half and not more than 100 yards the last half! Men are soooo lucky. It took me 2 months to get here and he is this far on his second run in 2 weeks! He can definitely do the marathon. He will be dead tired but he can do it!

cupcake how to frost

I finally finished the sequel to Cupcake Wraps! Hope you enjoy and go out and try it! It's easy and fun too! Have your kids give it a try with you. Yes! It's that easy. Don't forget that practice makes perfect :)

Cupcake Wraps

Early Saint Patrick's Day

This week I did a 13 mile run! WOW! I know! It was not easy peazy though. When will it ever be? Well by mile 10 I could no longer continue jogging because of knee pain, so I started to jog walk. Then at mile 13 I could no longer jog so I walked it! I did a half marathon and lived! I stretched a bunch and I felt fine the next day! Even so , I saw my family doctor today to get a referral to a podiatrist (gotta love hmo's...it's gonna take 2 weeks until I can even make an appointment!!!). So while I was at the doc this morning I got a bunch of routine blood work done as well...so we'll see if everything is in working order.

I did cakes this weekend of course! There were not a lot but here are the pix:

On Sunday I went to my parents house for the traditional St. Patrick's Day celebration. We had to do it early because of everyone's schedules. We made ribs, fish, Irish stew, mashed potatoes with rings, buttons and coins in it(rings signify good marriage, coins= wealth and buttons= good health), green colored sprite, asparagus, green died chocolate chip cookies and lucky charms marshmallow treats!!! To top it off we played settlers with the older kids! I love days like this: Good Food, Good Company, Good Games!!!

One Day @ a Time

My sister came over on Thursday! Yey! I cut her hair and we hung out for part of the day. We went for a walk and the sky was just beautiful! I had to take a picture.
On Friday we went out with Rick's sister Tina and her hubby, Art. We went to sushi and I totally pigged out until my stomach hurt...Why do I do that to myself? We then played a fun game of Settlers (Cities and Knight style)!!! I gotta stop winning because then people don't want to play it with me!
There were a LOT of cakes on Saturday at work. I was there 8 hours..standing...on my feet!!! I was soooo tired I wanted to go to bed but Nina had road show and it was up to me to take her! That pretty much killed it for my run on Saturday. I was pretty sad. That was my first missed run!!! But I am back on today! Here are some of the cakes I did this weekend!

This is Nina in the dressing room at the road show. The "Popular Girls" wore my jewelry and Tie It Up shirts for their wardrobe! Cool!!!

I had my family over for dinner and we had soooo much fun...I forgot to take pix even after telling myself that I have to take pix because I wanted my kids to remember this time with their grandparents, cousins, Aunt and Uncle!!! But alas! I forgot! I love my parents. My Dad led us in Family Home evening after dinner. He did a great job! Now that is what I call a pretty perfect day! Church, family and great family time!!!

I finished another chapter in my Lost Art of Parenting book. It's been going pretty

smoothly ever since I brainstormed for two weeks and made an outline. Nina is gone to Sacramento with the Maloy's and I miss her already but I know she is in most excellent hands!!! Jack has made it another day with out sucking my finger!!! Yeah!!! You heard right. It's weird but my kids would never take a pacifier, they sucked on my finger. Ever since we stopped he has been acting like a bigger boy and wanting to go to the potty! Cool! Now I just have to get him out of my bed...One thing at a time.

I also ran 12 miles without stopping and I felt great (of course I must add that it was on the treadmill because of the rain so 12 miles felt like 7 miles on pavement. It is much easier on your body to run on a treadmill. But putting that aside it was a big accomplishment for me. I actually ran for 2 hours straight!!!) After the marathon I am soooo going to run half marathons a couple times a year! It is sooo easy compared to full marathons. It could actually be fun and not a lot of work comparatively speaking :)

China Town/Cakes/Work

I've been so busy with writing, kids, sickness and work. I haven't been able to update. So here is the quick version. I am still good with the 3 and 4 mile run (it's longer that I haven't felt Great after but I am sick so maybe that should be taken in account for my sluggishness, I have officially lost weight (It's been 3 years that I haven't been able to break the 163 mark and I am officially 161. I need to loose another 20 lbs but hey. It's a start). I went to a Chinese market to get some real Chinese/Thai food in L.A. with my friend Panada. Above is Jack and I looking at the live crabs. We even went to a Chinese restaurant afterwards! Here Jack is trying to eat with chopsticks and it actually works!

Later that week I cooked some of the food and I officially love Americanized Chinese food and I hate fish oil/sauce or whatever it is they put in the authentic stuff. My husband and kids don't like it either and when my husband came home he had to open the doors and windows and put the air purifier on it's highest capacity.The oil stank up the house!
In between writing, cleaning, running (yes I am still running), researching for my book, getting kids to activities, doing homework with kids and the like, I made some fun cakes at work on Saturday. Here are some of them. I no longer transfer drawings and I haven't for the past 6 months. I just find an image and free hand it now. I never thought I could freehand an image but when you are forced to do things sometimes it's the best way to find hidden talents.Well here are the last pictures of pre-school for a while. I was laid-off!!! Yes the down turned economy has even affected my little ol' job. My friend's husband's work hours and pay was cut so he has taken over my position. Until things get better I am out of the pre-school business. Melanie might add another day if she gets enough students and then I would work one day a week, but who knows!?! In the picture below the kids are making moon pies! I am kind of glad to have the extra time for writing but I will miss the money (however small, it will still be missed)!
Well enough of the catch up. Today was full of excitement (LOL)! My baby (he's 2 but still a baby to me...oh and he is huge for his age..off the charts...but still a baby to me and I carry that little lug way too much!); well last night he poked his eye. I have no idea how,who or what. I was taking a shower and all of a sudden I heard,"Jack hurt his eye and he's crying!" Jack came in the shower crying (not a normal I'm hurt cry but a I'm REALLY HURT cry). I was kinda freaked out but his eye wasn't too bad but bad enough to where I knew he needed to be seen by a doctor. So this morning I called my sister's best friend (since high school) and asked if her husband could see Jack asap (he's a really good eye doc.). They fit him right in! I only had to drive almost an hour to get there and pay $33 (that's really cheap but my insurance co-pay is $5 and it is down the street from my house. That's how good of a doctor I think he is and how much I trust him and in today's world you can't put a price on great service..it was worth it!). So after the drive (I really hate driving to new places without my husband. I can do it alone... I just don't like to) Jack indeed had a laceration due to blunt force trauma (sounds scarier than it really was but it kinda felt CSI to say it!). His eye was cut but not perforated and his eye lid was cut as well. I have to put antibiotics in his eye and make sure he can see out of it for the next two weeks but the doc thinks he'll be fine. The swelling has already gone down a lot. You can still see the blood clot and a little puffiness but it looks a lot better!