Freak Magnet Dave

A few weeks back I tried to make my first carrot cake. I've enjoyed eating them in the past, and I figured, hey, carrots, it's gotta be good for me. The recipe I was using was a healthier version that I found in the newspaper and quite frankly, I was a bit suspicious. The recipe was a bit vague about the amount of carrots to use. It called for five large carrots. Large. According to who? I set out to use the largest carrots I could find because I figured they meant really large. Otherwise, they would have just said "five carrots", right?

Well, I baked that sucker for about twice the length of time suggested because every time I went to check on it, it was still very wet in the middle. It finally got to the point where it looked like it might be ok and I took it out and let it cool. Later that night when I tried to cut it in half to ice it, I realized it was a wet goopy mess. The Squeeze, bless his heart, thought it might not be too bad, and he tried a small piece of the cooked edge of the cake.

"Ya, that's not going to be enjoyable" he said.

What a diplomat.

Into the trash it went.

I came to realize after looking at other carrot cake recipes that my five large carrots was more than twice the amount every other cake required based on cups of grated carrot stated. Most called for 2 1/2 cups of grated carrot. I had about 6 cups.

But I digress. I took pictures of the first cake I decorated in my class and saved them on the computer. It was a cute little cake with a rainbow and clouds. It looked cool. The second cake was a more elegant one with icing roses and sweetpeas and leaves and shell borders.







This past weekend I made another carrot cake that I decorated with a cream cheese icing and decorated with carrots I made out of marzipan. It was a great tasting cake. The friend who I made it for as a birthday surprise was blown away. I took pictures of it and put them on the computer in my "cakes" file.

What the hell? Where are my pictures of the rose cake? Maybe I saved them in another file by accident. I scoured every folder and directory that computer has, and I couldn't find it. Checked the recycle folder and every folder in it, and still nothing.

They were gone. The Squeeze even checked it out with no luck. I was pissed. How could I have lost them? I checked the memory cards in my camera bag, and they were all cleared out too. I'm beginning to think that perhaps I never uploaded them to the computer. It's the only thing I can think of, but I was pretty sure I did.

It appears that I'll have to fake it and bake another one and decorate it the same way. Of course, I'll tell everyone the story of how it isn't really my second cake, but a replica. So what's the point? I didn't take pictures of the lousy carrot cake I threw out, so maybe things have just balanced out.

Oh God, I've become one of 'them'. One of those irritating people who have a blog and don't post for a month. Sorry to disappoint my smattering of loyal voyeurs.

As I mentioned in my last post (you know, the one a month ago?), I have been going through some stresses over work and fear of finances, etc. I have been taking the Imovane two or three nights a week to allow myself to get some sleep, but I haven't needed it for the past week or so. WooHoo!

I've been seeing things come together here with the business changeover. I've set up my bank account, I was approved for a business line of credit and have used it to pay off all of our suppliers. It feels good to be current. Work is coming in, money is being deposited, and the line of credit is slowly being paid back. Hopefully it will be paid off within two years while allowing me to be current with the bills, and maybe even paying myself! What a concept.

I even managed to go out to a movie with a friend on Friday night and actually enjoyed myself. Got together with friends on Saturday evening, did some shopping and visited the parental units with the kidlets on Sunday. Work was not even on my mind from Friday to...well...about 1:30 this morning. Hey, it's getting better. For the last two weekends I've been stress-free.

The Squeeze and I have admitted our limitations of time and ambition and have hired someone to renovate the master bedroom and ensuite. That might also be why I'm de-stressing. Things around the house have been at a stand-still for months and I think it's kinda bringing me down. We know things need to get updated at the house if we ever want to sell it, and we're actually toying with the idea. I know. We just moved in nine months ago, but there's an interesting idea being thrown around out there. Weezie is looking for a new place for her and the girls and her mother. She jokingly said "we should buy a semi-detached house and live next door to each other." We laughed. Later that night, The Squeeze said, "you know, that would actually be a pretty good arrangement." The more we thought about it, the more sense it made. We would be right there so we could have more involvement with the girls. Overnight stays would be SO easy. I know The Squeeze would love to see them more than he's able to now. He could see them for an hour or so after work each night instead of for just a few hours on Sundays. I can't get enough of them either, even though Zoe is now two years old. You all know what that means, I'm sure.

Something else that I've been doing the last couple of weeks is taking better care of myself. I've been cutting back on what I've been eating. I cut out junk food, fast food, sweets, etc. I have a small bowl of cereal for breakfast, a salad with grilled chicken for lunch and we do a sensible dinner after work and I avoid eating in the evening. The biggest change is that I'm going for a brisk 30 minute walk every morning. Occasionally I'll get in an additional walk in the evening with The Squeeze too. I love that it lets me clear my mind and lungs, and it gets my heart beating. The best part is that I'm down two pant sizes and a shirt size. It's so cool to see that I can now wear pants that I tried on a couple of weeks back and couldn't even button up then. I just need to get rid of the bigger sized items. The negative part of me says "better hang on to them so you have something to wear when you pack it back on". I need to convince myself that I'll never need them again. Sadly, I've been on that roller-coaster a few times, and I want off.

So that's the update for right now. A bit disjointed and/or scattered, but that's me.