Long Month

Well peeps and peep-etts, Its been a long month since I last wrote. It feels like a ton has happened but when I sit to actually write it down the only real thing that has happened is we moved. But with all the hustle and bustle and trying to get stuff moved and out of boxes it feels like something new is always happening.
We found a great duplex in Lake Tapps its much more rural than our last abode which is awesome in my ever so humble opinion. Nikki rather enjoys the dogs around here and she can wander without a leash and no one gets upset.
I am able to practice my archery in the yard and no one cares, its amazing I must say. The neighbors are really quite well Neighborly which is a HUGE change from the last place- Will lived there for 8 years and didnt know any of the neighbors. Ive met the 3 that live nearest us and that was in the first week. Everyone is so friendly and helpful it really reminds me of Chicago Park or Montana.
Its been a lotta fun setting up an entire house for the first time. Its a bit overwhelming but exciting at the same time. Working at Hobby Lobby has been very nice when it comes to getting decorating ideas (not to mention awesome discounts on all of it)
Here are a couple pics of the place for anyone interested :)

 Before shot of the living room

 After shot (looks waaaay better dont it)

Why is it...

That it is always so much easier to focus on the negative things that happen in life rather than the positive? Its not necessairly even that there is more bad than good we just seem to be better at remembering the bad. Is it caused by being a glutton for punishment and living through the bad once isnt enough? Is it so we can learn from it and avoid similar situations in the future?
If its the latter then wouldnt it make more sense to focus on the good so we can learn from that and try to have more good in the future rather than just avoiding the bad?
And why- when it make so much sense when I am writting it- do I have so much trouble when I go to put these same thoughts into actions.

Its often said that bad comes in threes and that does seem to be the case often but Good often does the same. In the last 2 weeks I have had some really wonderful things go on (3 of them in fact) and just a bunch of petty little things for annoyances. I keep getting worked up over the petty stuff and not spending enough time appreciating the happy so I am going to attempt to put things in perspective for myself.

My awesome bf bought me roses for my birthday yesterday. He had them waiting in a vase when I got home from work. Its really awesome because he is allergic to most flowers but he wanted it to be special for me. We went to dinner last Sunday for my birthday and he was so awesome he DIDNT make them sing to me :)
I ended up going in to work on my day off which also happened to be my b-day and when my co workers found out they all came up and sang happy birthday to me as I was leaving. I was bright red by the end of it but I felt very loved. I havent really worked anywhere before where the whole crew would do that. I may gripe about being the center of attention but it was still nice.

I already posted about my promotion so I wont get into that again but that was one of the 3 goods in the last couple weeks. (It has been a major adjustment going back to working 40 hrs a week as opposed to 23 ish)
The final major good is that we are going to be moving! We got the call today that our rental application was approved and we can sign papers next friday and start moving in. It will be really nice being able to start with basically a blank canvas and make it our own.
         (For those of you who want it you can get ahold of me for the new address)
I've heard that even if you dont feel like smiling you should make yourself smile and before long you wont have to work at it any more. So I hereby charge me and whoever is reading to think of 2 good things every day and when you feel gloomy... (in the words of Ronald McDonald ) Put a smile on, put a smile on, everybody come on, put a smile on!

Woot woot

Well 3 days ago now I got a phone call from work. Of course since it was around 10 am I promptly freaked out thinking I had gotten my days mixed up and I was late for work. Luckily that wasnt the case it was just my boss seeing if I could come in a couple hours early. I said sure cause who would turn down hours right? She also asked if I had plans for Thursday (my day off) it bein middle of the week and all I didnt have anything set in stone but I didnt think I had the hours to do it. I figured I would end up not workin another day or something.

I got to work and Jenny said she needed to talk to me, now in a relationship, those are the dreaded words that signal the end of a relationship however since she had just given me more hours I seriously doubted that would be the case so the little wheels in my head started a spinnin (actually they had been all day I just hadnt let them get goin too fast) By the time we got upstairs I had it fully figured out. I was gettin a promotion.

Boy was I wrong... just kidding. I got full time, a substantial raise and benefits. Yay for me!!!!! Im pretty excited. Im gonna be the full time CSM (customer service manager) the other CSM is going to be mostly in Home Accents and over seeing the front end- aka cashiers and csm stuff. Its gonna take some getting used to actually working full 7 or 8 hour shifts again. Ive been working mainly 4-5 hours a day since I started workin at Hob Lob last June.

Im pretty sure that Nikki isnt gonna be real happy with the change. She may be a bit spoiled with the amount of time I spend with her lol. Who knows, maybe we will end up getting another dog to keep her company or just do more playdates with her 2 friends. Im gonna have to be sure to hide my shoes and books from her since those are her favorite ways of getting even with me for leaving her home.

Peach Jam!!!

I made jam!

Ok freezer jam so its nice and easy but still!

I was looking at houses on Sunday and happened upon a rather nice fruit stand that had last of the season peaches. They looked so amazing I just couldnt say no and they were only 6 bucks for a half box. So I brought them home and called my amazing older sister and she walked me through what I would need. I now know what Pectin is and folks. Its wonderful

Since the peaches were end of season there were a good few with bad spots but after cleaning them all up and chopping them into peaches I ended up with 10 cups of chunky peach puree.

After adding in some sugar and the aforementioned pectin and letting it boil for a whole 5 minutes I ended up with 10 whole containers of freezer jam. I am pretty excited. It tastes pretty much like peach cobbler or pie filling because of the cinnamon and you can pretty much eat it with a spoon (not that I would ever do that of course)

And I even have room in my freezer for it all. Yay for peaches all winter long!!!!!

Books- this is a rant fyi

Everyone has their favorite author, series, genre, whatever. It is my firm belief that an author shouldnt allow others to write books based on their series. Sometimes authors colaborate and thats not usually too bad since the orginal author is editing and making sure the book stays true to the series. One of my favorite go to authors is Anne McCaffrey. She just tells such vivid stories that you feel like you are there. There is always a good plot without getting to crazy or political and boring.

A couple years ago Anne died and her son decided to take over the series. He had done 2 or 3 books with his mother before she died and they were fairly decent but the ones he has written since her death 3 years ago are just bad. Plain and simple bad. He took a fantasy series about dragons and turned it into time travel, voices speaking through time from ancestors to decendants. He even went so far as to change the general use and shape of the wher-watchers into basically dragons. They are supposed to be quite small and similar to dogs. Used to guard things not to ride like a dragon.
Time travel should be used sparingly at the best of times because it gets way to messy, you cant go back in time unless you already have but you dont know if you already have unless you have seen you somewhere else or heard something in history that says oh hey, that was me I need to go back in time.

Todd (the son) decided that time travel would be the premise for his trilogy and spends all three books confusing you by jumping from time to time and back again and then getting stuck in the middle of the time jump and now there is a "fear knot" there and so no one can go near that time. Its so confusing and annoying and its just ruined that part of the series for me.

I suppose if you arent way into fantasy books like I am you probably wouldnt know the difference between the mother and son but I have read every single book Anne has written and her son is a poor substitute. I would rather never read another book from the series Dragonriders of Pern than have her son continue to destroy what she has created.

Once in a while an author will die and if the series is popular enough another author will be selected to complete the series. It is usually an author that has been established in his own right, in the same genre as the deceased author and those can turn out pretty good. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time that was finished by Brandon Sanderson is a great example. Sanderson is an amazing author in my opinion. Actually better than Jordan so I think he did a stellar job of completeing the series. (Im sure there are those who disagree with me but they arent here so I will say what I want.)

So, go read books by Anne McCaffrey but avoid Todd McCaffrey books. Shudder

The good

As focused on themselves as many individuals are here in the US  it never ceases to give me a small thrill to see everyone working together in emergency situations. I dont think thrill is quite the right word since it is usually in emergencies that this happens and those are never good but I do get goosebumps.

The last couple days as I've been driving around there have been a few different times where an ambulance or fire truck comes through with sirens wailing and it always does my heart good to see everyone working together to get out of the way for them. Even if you think theres no way you can move cause there is no room, the other people will make room so you can get out of the way of the emergency personel. I dont want to say I've enjoyed experiencing this in action but I just like seeing people work together who minutes before were cutting each other off, flipping birds, honking horns and generally not liking the other drivers.

I have a couple vidoes saved that are compilations of random acts of kindness, everything from a police officer stopping traffic to let a duck and her babies cross the street to a guy stopping his car and getting out to help an elderly lady cross the road.
I guess this is on my mind because I was at Walmart yesterday and I found a phone on the floor. At first I thought mine had fallen out of my pocket but I noticed the case was different and was obviously not mine. I took it up to customer service and told them where I found it and they just looked at me like I was a saint and said well God bless you thank you so much for turning it in. I find it sad that doing the right thing is so shocking to people that they feel they need to make a big deal out of it.

Last year I was at a craft expo and I lost my wallet. I didnt notice until I went to buy something and then promptly freaked out and retraced all my steps searching and asking everyone if they had seen it. Someone finally pointed me in the direction of the help desk and low and behold someone had turned it in. I was pleasently surprised to find everything in it and that all the cash was still there. Then I had to stop and wonder why I was surprised and I think its because when you watch tv or movies, it only ever shows the bad. Someone loses their wallet and their identity gets stolen and their credit is ruined and they have to deal with legal stuff for ages.
Anywho.
The point of this post was to enjoy the good that people do without thought of reward or recognition.

(These posts always end up way longer than I expected.. sorry :))

Adorableness

I was driving home today from the store and saw some caution tape on the beach and people with cameras standing around (more like cell phones but you get the idea.) A friend had mentioned something about something going on at the beach yesterday so I decided to rubberneck and see what was going on. I parked and walked back down the beach and read the sign that was posted next to the caution tape.

Apparently this is seal birthing season in the Sound and there was a baby seal up on the beach. They cant swim well enough to keep up with the mothers for long periods of time so the mothers leave them somewhere safe to sleep and rest while they go hunt for food.
So here are some pics of a cute very furry baby seal

How Topics wander

Now if you are one of the men that has married into the family you have probably noticed that my sisters and I are very good at starting on one subject- say cooking- and end up on something totally unrelated- buying shoes, or something of the sort.
Poor Will has had to try and put up with my leaps on many occasions and for the most part he deals with it well. I remember one day a while back we were driving somewhere and I had been quiet for a while (yes I know thats highly unusual for me) and I just turned to him and said  "you're 38 now" He got a weird look on his face and said "um ya... what made you think of that?" Now even at the best of times my thought processes are something like a ball of twine that a cat has been playing with for 20 minutes. Theres no logic or rhyme and reason behind the process... at least not to the male brain. To me it makes perfect sense to go from thinking about the long drive to the book I'm reading to thinking about food and I wonder if I have any of that at home, to thinking about Minions, and then trying to remember what number I put on his cake the previous year before happily exclaiming Yep, you're 38.

The reason this came to mind just now is because I was reading some comments on a blog I follow on occasion and over the course of around 30 comments (probably 10 different people talking back and forth) the conversation went from proper verbage for guns to making fun of anti gun nuts (I was rooting for those comments) to contemplating the value of a live t-rex versus a dead one, and if a t-rex eats kittens and then someone then eats the t-rex does that make it sorta like a turducken?  It could be called a trexten. There was also talk about taking over Detroit with the t-rex but it was decided that its arms were too small. (Surprisingly a few of the commentors were of the male variety but I think it was a woman who got started on the t-rex thing)
Anywho I was just enjoying the random leaps of the mind that seem to occur on a fairly regular basis.

And while I'm thinking about it,  here is a giraffe in a tree

Say hi to Casper everyone :)

Its the little things

It doesnt always take much to make me laugh. For instance.. today is Sunday meaning both Will and I have the day off. We had decided to go look at some places for rent and then head to Cabellas for some browsing and arrow and target buying. Will and I had different priorities as far as what to look for so we kept splitting off from each other. Will- apparently getting tired of not being able to find me decided it would be appropriate to pat his leg and say... here Shawna, come here, right here! So after done giving him the evil eye I decided he would get exactly what he asked for. I decided I would stick SO close that there was no way he couldnt find me. This resulted in me laughing so hard I couldnt breath and Will saying "Really? Really? Now stop that!" (We may have gotten a few funny looks from customers but oh well) Now if you arent familiar with Cabellas, they have very large indoor displays of animals with plaques that say what they are and sometimes where they are from. Well there was a Caribou but it had been knocked over. Now normally this isnt cause for any amusement but if you read the rest of the plaque it says... Ground Caribou. Naturally seeing the pun in this I cracked up, sadly no one else seemed to comprehend the complexities of the funny so I laughed alone. Finally on the way out of the store, Will was carrying my large targets and I was leading the way. Since he had been quite snarky I turned to him and said "This way to the car my good man, do be a dear and keep up" I even made sure to say thanks! Apparently thats not the thing to say either. I mean there is just no keeping this man happy, first he wanted me to stay close and then he complained when I did, and when I thank him for carrying my targets he gets all huffy.

Finally I made some banana bread after we got home. I called him up when it was done and he came upstairs, stole the slice I had just cut, proceded to slather it with butter, took a bite and turned around and said HEY, THIS IS THE HEEL. So being the kind caring girlfriend that I am, I proceded to guffaw, laugh, chortle and generally make fun of the bread thief. I dont think I've laughed this hard in a very long time.
It really is the little things that make days good :)

Life after Facebook

Well a couple of my sisters and I decided to bid adieu to the time hole that is facebook.
 I figured maybe I could attempt to keep up with my blog this time around... maybe. Last time I posted was Sept 11 of last year.

Lets see what has happened lately that is note worthy. I got promoted to Customer Service Manager at Hobb Lobby a couple months ago. Its actually been a lot of fun and surprisingly less stressful than being a cashier. At first I wondered if that ment I wasnt doing it right but have come to the conclusion that only dealing with the few large problems each day rather than 50 petty issues is much easier to deal with. That combined with the fact that I know have the authority to fix those problems make my days enjoyable.
We have been very much short handed the last month or so, we had a total of 10 people quit or transfer to another store and only 3 new people hired. This means that everyone is doing 2 or 3 jobs to pick up the slack. I am trying to get into a full time position however that means I would be in a department rather than being a CSM all the time. I think it would be a fun change but mainly I'm interested in the jump in hours (and pay )

Our dog Nikki is doin great, she is gonna be 2 years old next week. My friends laugh at me but we do dog playdates with one of her friends who is a lab/rot/pit mix about 1.5 years old or so.

This is usually how they end up after a day of playing. (Nikki is the black one, Shasta is the brown)

 They both know each others names and Shasta will say Yes! if you ask if she wants to see Nikki. 

Nikki just runs in circles prefering the more silent and dignifed approch to excitement. 

I decided to pick up a new hobby. Ive been lookin into it for about 8 months now but finally got the beginnings of what I need. 

It is pretty much the awesomest thing ever! Oddly enough I am right handed when it comes to archery. I guess it has to do with eye dominance or something. Im not a horrible shot but I havent gotten to do much shooting yet since fall has come and since its Washington that means rain. We are gonna clear out a space in the garage so i can shoot from inside out into a target in the driveway. Im super excited about it. 

Religion/Health

    I have been thinking the last bit after talking to some people- at the dog park that I frequent- that some people LOVE health. They view healthy diet/exercise as the axis around which all things should turn. It seems like I almost offend them by not being the 6 days a week at the gym, counting calorie type of person. My diet (or lack thereof in their opinion) has become the topic of conversation the last week or so and I find that I strongly resent it. Today at the park, one of my friends actually brought me a protein shake because she doesnt like that I dont usually eat breakfast. She tried to force me to drink it even though I told her no flat out. Thats going too far.. waay to far.
     I assume that most the people that read my blog know that I dont go to any church or meeting of any kind right now. I grew up going to meeting and I dont really have anything bad to say about it, its just not for me. That being said, I have no problem with accepting other people and their chosen religions and the practices that go along with it. For the most part people extend the same courtesy to me with my lack of such.
   When it comes to food/health/nutrition/exercise people are a lot more willing to share their opinion whether its asked for or not (usually not). Im sure Mom has gotten her share of this in her cancer fight. What I am coming to realize is that in some ways, the health becomes a religion. It is very consuming and the need to convert people to your way of thinking is very strong. I realize that being healthy is well good and beneficial to your health (as the name implies) but everyone should be allowed the choice of how they choose to go about being healthy. People believe very strongly that the way they are choosing to do health is the ONLY proper and right way to go about it. Over the last few years I have heard a lot of different views, from dad, sisters, mom, cousins, friends, etc. And it seems like they all work to varying degrees. What some people dont seem to realize is that what works great for one person might not be so good for another.

   Some of the views I have heard are as follows-

• Butter/fat is good for you depending on what it is eaten with because the proteins/sugars change as they react to the other foods. 
• Conversly- butter is the devil, you should never eat butter because no one needs to eat saturated fats, there is no good that can come from it. If you need to grease a pan, use PAM
• Fruit- most people seem to agree that fruit is good for you.. in moderation due to all the natural sugars
• Vegetables- Are good for you, some better than others but mostly good. There are some exceptions such as corn since thats mostly starch
• Potatoes- Some say they are good for you, they can provde nutrients you need and when accompanied with butter are pretty good.
• Conversly- Potatoes are full of starch and carbs and nothing good comes from them, they should be eaten only rarely and then with no butter
• Soda/Sugar- now this is one that everyone agrees on- including myself even though I still drink soda and probably eat more sugar than I should- soda is horrible for you, it can cause heart burn, upset stomach, bladder problems, not to mention gaining weight if you arent really active. 
• Pasta- pretty much considered a not good food due to the carbs and the fact that we tend to eat bread with it thus compounding the problem
• Side note- some people believe that pasta is better than spuds because you can do different things with it- add protein and etc
• Bread- Bread is kind of useless carbs, much like pasta. You dont get much benefit from the normal store bought bread. Some types- like the stuff dad makes- are probably much better although I have never tested that (I take his word for it :)) 
• Meals- The argument is that there is no way to lose weight unless you eat a large protein filled breakfast. This goes with the "you will feel better if you eat breakfast"
• Conversly- I feel sick when I eat a large breakfast -or even a small one- and I have never lost weight from eating food in the morning. And yes I did give it a solid try.

*I am not trying to offend anyone with this post, I am not talking about anyone in particular. Somethings just brought it to a head today and I needed to vent. I know people disapprove of my diet but ultimately its my business and my decision what and how I eat*

Long Delay

Well its been 5 months since the last post. In that 5 months quite a lot has happened. It just hasnt occured to me to blog any of it. Maybe I should make a quick link to my own blog so I actually see it more.
So we left off with me giving my notice at Safeway. Well... that 2 weeks turned into 2 months. It all began when I went to turn in my notice. They were apparently all taken quite by surprise like they had no idea there were any problems. I talked to them in depth about my concerns and problems and they asked if I would be willing to stay and give them a chance to take care of the problems. I thought that sounded fair so I said ok. The conditions of my staying on were- 1. D would get talked to about her treatment of me, 2. I would be getting $1.50 raise effective immediately.

  Well D got talked to... 3 different times and things got worse rather than better which had been my fear all along. My raise was supposed to have been put through the day I agreed to stay.. that didnt happen. I talked to the store manager about it and he said oh its going its going, it just takes a couple weeks to get processed. 7 weeks later he let slip that he "forgot" to send in the raise and it still hadnt been sent in. I said ok Im done and left 2 weeks later. I spent the next 2.5 months kinda just relaxing and enjoying an extended vacation.

In April- the week after I quit- I got myself a dog. Her name is Nikki, our best guess is that she's a black lab/border collie mix with possibly a little bit of german shephard. She was 7 months old when I got her and pretty neglected/abused/ and sick. Now, 3 months later, she has put on weight, gotten all healthy, fixed, all shots and is really enjoying her life. She gets spoiled pretty rotten I must say. We got in the habit of going to the dog park every day for a couple hours while I wasnt working so she gets to play with all sorts of dogs every day. Her best friend is a Yellow Lab named Bama (short for Alabama) He is 3 months older than Nikki but they have the same energy and temperment. Bama has taken Nikki under his wing and whenever she gets unsure or scared she runs over to him and he pushes the other dogs away until shes comfortable again. Its pretty awesome to watch.

This is Nikki running around at the park, she gets SOOOOOO excited when I say the word "Go" or "Park" I think if she knew how she would be doing back flips along with the circles she spins.

The next picture, we were at Bama's house because I was dog sitting Bama, they sat on top of each other for a good long while just havin fun chewing on each others faces :) They usually end up so tired that they lay facing each other and half heartedly put out a paw now and then. 

Lets see, what else happened in 5 months...
 I went to Montana in June and got to watch my Grandpa graduate High School. He asked me if it was weird seeing him graduate but I said " are you kidding? I dont know anyone else that can say they went to their grandpa's graduation" (other than my cousins)

Not to mention the fact- My youngest sister can tell people that she and Grandpa graduated the same year. It was awesome being able to see so much of the family that came up for the graduation and the ones that live in Shelby anyways.  I stayed in MT for a week I think it was and got to see pretty much everyone I was hoping to. 

Back in WA, I flatter myself to say that my presence was sorely missed by a couple individuals. Nikki I know for sure and Im just going to assume the same for Will ;) if only because it ment I was taking care of Nikki's messes again. 

Just about a month ago I started working at Hobby Lobby. The best way to describe it to those who havent heard of them before (I never had until one came to Federal Way) think Pottery Barn crossed with Joanns. You could think Tuesday Morning instead of Pottery barn but a customer informed me that that was doing Hobby Lobby an injustice because TM has a lot of shoddy products. Whatever way makes more sense for you-- go with it, I dont mind at all.. really.

Um, I think thats all the news for now. Not much writing to sum it all up but there it is. 

New Beginning... again

Calvin and Hobbes tells us to "Go do something you hate, being miserable builds character" (said by Calvin while mocking his dad) However, after deep consideration I decided that I have more than enough character and there is no need to be miserable at a job any longer. I have spent enough time at jobs I dont like or hated and heck, I can make minimum wage anywhere and be happier. So tomorrow I am giving my 2 weeks notice, and going back to the temp agency that I worked at about a year ago. I went and talked to them yesterday and they were happy that I was thinkin about coming back to them and they were pretty sure I could get at least as many hours as I am now and probably more come spring when companies start wanting long term help- 2 or 3 months at a time. I am going to try to get my butt in gear and start applying at small bakeries where I can do what I want to do. Decorate cakes. I am going to take a caligraphy class and some flower making classes at Michaels while I am doing other stuff. Im a tad nervous about having to talk to my bakery manager but I kinda have my fingers crossed that she will be sick again tomorrow and I can talk to one of the store managers who is more easy going. Wish me luck :)

To be determined

As I was thinking about writing another blog post, it occured to me that since getting this job with Safeway all the posts that come to mind- with exception of the football one- seem to revolve around work. And more often than not- its the stupidity of the person I work closely with. Well today is no exception to the rule. I thought of the perfect quote to go at the beginning of this post while I was at work today but as soon as I got on the computer out the window my brain went. (yes it took the quote with it) I have a couple more cake pictures to put up today as well as a story to go with them.
Ninja Lego cake anyone?

 And his loyal minions of course

So the story behind this cake. A lady called asking if we had any ninja lego cakes. I said well I dont believe I have heard of them so I would say no we dont. She asked if she could bring in a pic and see if it was something we could do. I said sure why not and she came in a few hours later to talk to me. Now if coworker D had been on the phone or talking to the customer she would have told them flat out no it wouldnt be possible. Now it is my opinion that if the customer wants something that isnt super difficult to make then we should go ahead and make it. The customer will think its the best thing ever and will tell her friends how wonderful we are and we will get more business because of an extra 10 mintues of work.
I got to work at 9am yesterday and started working on this cake that was due at 11. D had been there since 6 but the customer specifically asked if I could make it for her (go me :)) I got going on the cake and cupcakes and got everything done. As I was putting it in the fridge, D came over and said well it looks nice but thats why we cant do special orders that arent in the book. I had a rather perplexed look on my face since D has a rather annoying habit of speaking in the middle of the conversations she is holding in her head that I am not privy to. She went on to explain that it had taken me 2 hours to do this special cake that wasnt in the book. Well I stopped and looked at her and said "D, How is it possible that it took me 2 hours to make this when I wasnt even out of BED 2 hours ago?" This conversation took place at 10am- if you will recall I started work at 9am She stopped talking to me for a while which was rather nice for a change. Sadly all good things must come to an end and she talked my ears off today.

I was working on some cake orders today and I couldnt figure out where all of my icing tips were. We should have a full drawer of them all sorted out but at least 4 of the spots were totally empty. After D left I started going through our tranist where we store icing bags and stuff in and guess what I found. Yep 33 icing tips, 12 couplers and 19 coupler ends. Dont ask me how so many got in there but it may have something to do with the 3 bags of purple, 3 bags of green, 2 bags of blue, 2 bags of orange and 2 bags of pink icing.
Really, why would someone feel this need to make a new bag of icing every single time they need a color. D's theory is that "oh I want to use FRESH" Even if I tell her I just barely made it she will make more. Honestly I think she does it because she has some control issues. Oh well, to each their own?

Football Season- sigh

I have learned in the last few months that I have a boyfriend that likes Football. I suppose his growing up in Texas and playing football himself might have something to do with that. At the moment we are into the playoff games of 2013 (or is it still the 2012 season? I really have no concept of how they label seasons of sports) The current game is Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings- Greenbay is winning by 19 points so far. Since learning of this football "enjoyment" lets call it, I have been learning many things about the game. I will take this time to list them out since the game is playing and talking isnt encouraged.

1. The Running Back runs with the ball- makes sense right? I guessed that one all on my own
2. The Quarter Back does not give out quarters like the name implies, instead he throws the ball. Seems like they should call him the Toss back or the Throw back but I suppose that doesnt sound as cool or something. Actually it should be the Toss Forward or Throw Forward since thats the direction the ball goes.
3. Apparently while watching a game one should not yell out "Run little man, Run!" This is apparently not proper football watching etiquette.
4. Also saying "aww, the little man fell down" is considered not ok language. This strikes me as interesting since there isnt a single offensive word in that statement and some of the language people use while watching a game is nothing but offensive. (Bf is not one of the foul mouth ones just to clarify)
5.Never try to talk to a male when the game is on. Period
6. It amazes me the people that are chosen to play football. Almost all of them have HORRIBLE balance and sense of direction. I mean they run back and forth on a field and constantly trip over and into one another creating large piles on the field then they have to line up and start it all over again.
7. A game consists of 4 quarters, each quarter is 15 minutes long. This equals a 1 hour game. WRONG! The current game has been going for 2.25 hours so far and there is still 16 minutes left on the clock. Figure 45 minutes per quarter so far that means the total game will be 3 hours long. Need I say more?
 8. If team A throws the ball and team B knocks the ball out of team A's hand while team A's hand is going forward it is called an incomplete pass and the play starts over, still team A's ball. If the ball is knocked out of team A's hand while it is not in motion and is then grabbed by team B, it is called a fumble and is then team B's ball. See I actually learned something not amusing. Not quite sure how I feel about that....

I think thats all I have learned from the current game. Not to bad, 8 things in 2.33 hours when Im not even really paying attention

Here's your sign

Ok so on Facebook I mentioned that I have a very "special" co worker. For sake of ease and protecting her identity I shall call her D. I believe I have mentioned her before in my writings. The latest amusements have been all the "Here's Your Sign" stuff that comes out of her mouth. Some of the stuff honestly makes you stop and look at her and see if shes actually serious. Sadly on her part... she usually is dead serious. I really dont know what makes a person so totally clueless about so much stuff but hey I suppose we need to be entertained by someone.
 On to the here's your sign stuff.
First one I really noticed was about a week ago now. I was standing over in the cake decorating area with a bowl of frosting in one hand and a spatula in the other. I was using the latter to stir color into the former. D looked at the frosting, looked at me and said "What are you doing?" I really wish I had thought a little bit faster and come up with a snappy here's your sign come back but as it was all I did was stare at her and say "mixing........ frosting......." she looked slightly puzzled for a minute then said "ok" and walked off. I dont understand her most of the time lol.
The first one of today was a pretty amusing one really and for a change I was thinking fast enough to not just tell her what I was actually doing. I had just grabbed a 6 wheeler (used for hauling boxes) and some gloves and was heading to the freezer. I hollared to D that I was goin to the freezer and she said "are you going to bring our stuff back with you?" Huzzah to me that I was thinkin on my feet and I replied "No, I was planning on standing in there til I was cold and coming back with nothing" She didnt say a word.
And the final one to date. D was apparently expecting an important phone call for something so she had her phone downstairs where its not supposed to be. She hid it and then aparently forgot where she put it. Upon realization of its absence she started freaking out and asked me to call her phone so she could find it. I being the helpful person that I am said sure and got my phone and called hers. After finding her phone she looked at it and said "OH!! They called and I missed it!! I have to go in the back room and call them back right now!" I said ok go for it. She trots off to the back and about 30 seconds later my phone starts vibrating in my pocket. She saw the missed call from when I called it for her and for some reason assumed it was them. I cracked up when she got back. She had a rather sheepish look on her face it was amusing to say the least.

Ok thats all for now. I will try to keep updated on the Here's your sign as they come up.
P.S. I just found this pic that seems perfect for this post

Ok thats all now

Bein Better At this... for the moment

Well since I have the time and a few pictures I figured why not post again. After a few months away maybe I'll pretend that I will stick to posting more. Realistically I wont but hey.

I have for your viewing pleasure a few pictures of some of the cakes I made today. Today was totally INSANE! I have been working by myself for the last 5 days and have an additional 2 before my coworker comes back. Every friday Safeway has a $5 sale. Something from every department is on a really good sale for Friday only. This week I had not just 1 item but 2 on sale and since I was alone that means that some of my other stuff got neglected. Soooo needless to say when I got in to work today I was out of EVERYTHING and since Saturday is one of the busiest days for special cake orders ya know it bein the weekend and all. I started out with 8 cake orders but got calls for 2 more during the day. Normally thats not a huge deal but when the store manager is getting mad at you for having empty shelves it adds a liiiiitle bit to the stress factor. Luckily the bakery manager had my back and told the store manager to back off I was doing my best and then she rolled up her sleeves and helped me get product out.

Here are a few of the orders from today- all the large ones

Lightening McQueen anyone? This is a very popular cake for some reason. Ive done three in the last couple of weeks. This type of cake is called a funtastic cake and is at least 2 full layers of cake (4 if you count each layer as bein split in half and filled)

The Sponge who lives in a Pineapple... under water. Does anyone else see the problems with that? I mean really wouldnt a sponge soak up the water and be unable to move? And how does all the food they eat not get soggy. Cant say as I would really want to eat a hamburger or bun that had been submerged down on the ocean floor. I must say that this is the best Sponge Bob Funtastic cake I have ever made (I will now fail to mention that it is also the first one that I have made) I actually thought it turned out pretty good. Nice and simple unlike this next one...

Talk about your pain in the butt cake. Looking at the picture I like it even less now. I think it needs more color to it. Maybe some pink and yellow or something to brighten it up... and thats coming from a person who LOVES dark colors on a cake. It might have been more fun to make if I wasnt racing the clock to get it done before I had to leave, overtime is not condoned at Safeway. Not the worst cake ever but not my favorite either.

Final cake for the day- I didnt make this one, I just needed a picture of it cause I have to make it later and I didnt want to have to look it up in the gi-normous book that holds all the cake stuff. 

I think its rather cute. Not overly xmas-y which is good since I am a self proclaimed Scrooge when it comes to a lot of things xmas related. The whole season sorta annoys me. I did decide however that there is something worse than listening to xmas music all day at work. Sitting on hold listening to scratchy elevator type xmas music is FAR worse. Who ever knew they would invent a torture that could be sent through the phone lines and have people willingly submit themselves to it in a desperate attempt to talk to a human.
Anywho thats all for today. Maybe more tomorrow, probably not but who knows. Maybe I'll get crazy and post again tonight... but I doubt it :-)

Safeway Wisdom

Safeway wisdom seems kinda like an oxy moron to me, kinda like sophomore means wise fool. I'm going to attempt to add photos to this to better illustrate the wiseness, lets see how this works.

Ok so this is a knife... a large knife... with handles on both ends. Said knife is rather sharp and very handy to have when cutting lots of large items.

This is a cutting glove, made of some kind of metal mesh stuff designed to keep idio- erm, people- from cutting themselves. Now looking at the aforementioned knife one would assume that to properly use said knife one would use both hands.

Today my boss yelled at me for not having a (singular) glove on. Now I must ask.. what good is 1 glove going to do me. Especially considering that both hands are on the knife at all times when it is in use, it rather seems to me that I would be in more danger of cutting off a leg than a hand and I am pretty sure a glove isn't going to help my leg. Maybe I should suggest a full Kevlar suit when I am cutting a 4 inch cake. Things can get real scary when you do big jobs like that and I wouldn't want to lose a foot or something. Course I could collect disability pay and not have to work for the rest of my life... hmm I might have something here...

On the other hand check out the awesome cake I made last week. My inspiration was LMFAO ( the music group) and tie dye. I think it turned out pretty stinkin awesome.

My evil.. err I mean wonderful co worker started to do this cake but I told her I would finish because she couldn't figure out what tie dye was. She read the order and said oh they want the stuff  that soldiers wear. I said um yaaa no. They want tie dye. She kept insisting that that's soldiers wear. I am very glad that I insisted on doing this cake, after it was done she said Ohhhhh thats what it meant, I would never have guessed that lol. Oh the joys of working.

On my way down to Oregon a couple weeks ago, my wonderful car rolled over 100,000 Miles. Lucky for me I was at a stop light when I noticed it was rolled over.

Of course now it has a few hundred more miles and another trip to Salem and back on it but I am glad I have a picture to commemorate the monumentis occasion.

Well the final parting thought for the blog
Outside of a dog mans best friend is a book. Inside a dog its too dark to read anyways.

Adult Sea Turtles

Now that I have you rapt attention with that ever so catchy title, I must post a disclaimer and say that the following post has nothing to do with sea turtles at all. As my dear mother and sister learned at lunch today, most subjects in my head are connected by a 20 foot leap and a hand spring or two while other subjects arent connected at all and they just pop into my head like little kernels of popcorn.
Speaking of popcorn- did you see the storm that was rolling over Bozeman last night? I was driving into it and I could see all the lightening streaking across the sky in full sheets as well as the jagged stuff.
Bozeman- I am back in Montana for the summer, I have been here for about 6 weeks ish now I think working for cousin Lance Wickum (he married Brenda Benjamin) and I will be here for another 2 months or so before I head back to Seattle to start my 3rd quarter of school. 3rd Quarter means bread station which has Dad sorta excited and me not really caring :p
I am actually working north of Shelby not Bozeman but I came down to see Ma this weekend before harvest starts and theres no such thing as time off then. I have found it rather amusing that my very first M-F 8-5 job has been working for a farmer... dont get me wrong, I love it I just find it a bit ironic. Come harvest that will most definately change but I am enjoying it for now.
Brenda's kids have been keeping me rather busy with all the "help" so lovingly given. I do believe I get much more done when they stop helping but its a lot of fun having them be so eager to help. I could probably write a lot of stories about spending time with them but that would take away from the sea turtles.
Lance attempted to teach me to drive a semi the other day. Im not sure who was more nervous about it, him or the truck. (That was a trick question, everyone knows Lance doesnt get nervous) Needless to say__. (See what I did there? It was clearly needless to say so I didnt say it and if you dont know what was gonna be said then you clearly are not very good at reading my mind so shame on you)
I didnt realize how much I missed having a cat around til just now when one hopped up in my lap and decided I wasnt supposed to type anymore. I wonder if I could smuggle a cat into my trailer at Lances and then smuggle it home to Rick and Julias...
I would say my book was calling to me now but its common knowledge that while a book may have a spine it doesnt have a tongue and therefore cannot call me. A shoe on the other hand... is a rather silly place to have a shoe, they belong on feet.

2nd quarter almost done

Well the 2nd quarter of my college career is drawing closer to an end. I have exactly 10 days of class left- not that im counting- and then I will be heading to montana to work for Lance this summer doing whatever.

Since May I believe I have done quite a bit. The last post that talked about school I was just getting ready to switch to Cake station from Pies/ Tarts and just this week I switched off of Cake station and am now on Mousses/Creams, laminated doughs, and pate a choux (the stuff eclairs and cream puffs are made out of).

Cake station was ok, I did learn a few different flavors and kinds of cakes but I was really hoping to learn some more decorating skills to broaden what I already know but sadly they didnt really teach me anything I havent done already as far as that goes. I got rather bored and frustrated on that station because I felt like it was a bit of a waste of time and the teacher wasnt much help when I asked if I could try some more advanced cakes and such. Alas my wondrous skills were not to be overly tested this quarter :p

Plain white cake with buttercream

 Chocolate Cream cake

 White cake with lemon swirl

 White cake with coconut pudding in the middle with buttercream

 Drizzle cake- choc cake with butter cream

This last week I started on the Mousses and Cream station and got to make a Charlotte Bavarian- see pic below- yes I made it all. It was a lot of fun to do. This charlotte is a raspberry roulade (jelly roll) with an orange bavarian cream in the middle, coated with a glace and the border is whipped cream

This next picture is a white chocolate mousse pyramid with raspberry filling, poured with chocolate and the lines are white chocolate. Ganache rosette on top with some chocolate filigree

Showing the inside- this one has a bit much of the raspberry filling according to the teacher but it tasted amazing let me tell you!

So thats the up to date on that. I will try to add photos as I remember to take them and as we make cool stuff :)