Chocolate Cake Castle



I made my birthday cake again this year. I found the chocolate cake castle on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to try. My niece helped me build the towers. 

 

 



 

 

The picture online used Hershey's small candy bars but I don't really like Hershey's so I went with some Andes mints. I should say the cake is Hershey's Ultimate Chocolate Cake from their website. I don't like Hershey's candy bars (there's just better tasting and less waxy out there, IMO) but they do have some good recipes. This was great tasting cake, if I do say so myself. 



We cut into it and pretended it was a fort that got destroyed in a battle. I'm going to say it might not look like the picture from Pinterest, but it's pretty darn close. We're calling this one a Pinterest win.

It's not quite my birthday yet, but this was the family celebration. Mom made Navajo tacos for dinner, which is one of my favorite things to eat. Then we had cake and ice cream. I've been sick and still am not feeling great but it was a good time with the family.

Birthday Shopping

I have a tradition of buying myself a birthday present. I get a few gifts from my family but I don't expect them and don't want them to spend their money on me, not really. I can spend money on myself. And I do. My tradition has morphed into "birthday month". I buy myself stuff all month and call it a birthday present. Then when February is over, I'm back to normal shopping (meaning I buy books constantly, and other stuff only when I need it or when it's on sale or when I can use a little "retail therapy"). Ha ha... I probably shop a lot come to think of it. Anyway, it is Birthday Shopping month and I took the day off and went shopping. I needed a break from work anyway. 

It was a fantastic day. I woke up without an alarm clock and spent the day doing whatever and wandering through a lot of stores. I ended up with some stuff from Sephora, a couple books, a new pair of shoes, a new shirt,  and some random stuff for around my house. Then I headed home, made dinner and am now watching Guardians of the Galaxy for the third time in 3 days (I'm getting my money's worth from Amazon instant video). :)  

Anyhow, I've got my birthday shopping done for the month, unless of course, I see something else I might want before the month is over. I had a great day off and going back to work tomorrow doesn't sound as bad as it could. Life is good. 

Winter Blues

We've had a pretty mild winter but I still get a little bit of the winter blues now and then. There have been a couple of really nice days so I used my lunch break to go to a nearby park and walk a couple miles. It's a good way to enjoy the sunshine and get my exercise in. I've noticed that it is getting lighter because I can just make it home from work without using my headlights. I should get out and enjoy the little bit of sunshine we have today. I've just got to figure out how I want to spend my free Saturday. So far, being lazy is winning. I can think of lots of things to do but I'm still sititng on my couch on my iPad. I'll get up eventually. :)

Best Books of 2014

Well, I read 79 books this year. It’s down from last year’s 99 but I’m not complaining. As busy as I have been with relief society, I’m kind of surprised I got the 79 in. My average over the last 5 years is 80.5 so I’m right in line with that.  Anyway, this year I was supposed to read a classic, a non-fiction, and a Shakespeare play. I got the classic in by way of Maud Hart Lovelace’s “Emily of Green Valley”. I got some Mary Stewart, Daphne Du Maurier, and Agatha Christie in there also, all of which could probably be considered classics. I didn’t read any Shakespeare or non-fiction this year.  My reading time became precious and I was not in the mood to branch out all that much.  

My favorites this year (in no particular order) are:

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown – Holly Black: I just really loved this take on vampires. I also love the cover and title.

Fangirl –  Rainbow Rowell: Without a doubt the biggest book hangover and the biggest book-boy crush. I can’t even count how many times I’ve read this book this year. I loved it!

Fortune’s Pawn – Rachel Bach: I read the entire trilogy this year. I think the first book was probably my favorite but I just really enjoyed this whole “romp in space” series.

Night Broken – Patricia Briggs: This series has just been consistently good and from one of my very favorite authors who never seems to disappoint.

The Road Home – Ellen Emerson White: This is the final book in a series set during the Vietnam War. I loved it. Talk about being transported to another place and time.  It’s my second biggest book hangover and I’ve read it multiple times also.

Silence for the Dead – Simone St James: I’ve really enjoyed her books and I think this was my favorite yet. I’m not big into ghost or supernatural stories but I do like the way she does them.

Every Breath/Every Word – Ellie Marney: I’m counting both books here. I adored them. Fans of Sherlock Holmes should read them.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue – Maggie Steifvater: The third book in an amazing series and I’m going to be sad when it’s over.

Honorable mention goes to:

The Shape of Desire – Sharon Shinn

Murder of Crows – Anne Bishop

Dreams of Gods and Monsters – Laini Taylor

Dreamer’s Pool – Juliet Marillier

A Grave Matter – Anna Lee Huber

There are a bunch of other books that I really liked. I have noticed I’m stingy with my 5 star ratings but I have quite a lot of 4 star books on my list. 

Most Anticipated books for 2015:

Vision in Silver – Anne Bishop

Dead Heat – Patricia Briggs

The Shadow Revolution – Susan and Clay Griffith

Every Move – Ellie Marney

The Tower of Bann- Juliet Marillier

A Study in Death – Anna Lee Huber

The Other Side of Midnight – Simone St James

My only reading goal for next year is to just keep digging away at my TBR pile. I’ve come to terms with the fact that it will never go away and that I add books to it faster than I can read them.

Popcorn Cake

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is popcorn cake. My mom makes it every year. She gives a lot of small ones away to neighbors and friends and always makes me one to share with the people at work. Then the final one is for us to eat during Christmas when we're all together as a family. I love it. It's got popcorn, and nuts, and spiced gumdrops in it and it's held together with marshmallows (like a rice krispy treat). Yummy!

I had a great Christmas, spending time with the family and celebrating the birth of Christ. It finally snowed for us during the night on Christmas Eve so we got to really wake up to a white Christmas. My 2 year old niece and I went outside and tried to make a snowman. We did make a small one, but the snow was so fine and powdery, it just wouldn't stick together.

Now I'm ready to spend the evening curled up with some cocoa and a good book.

Merry Christmas! (a day late)

Cheesecake

This year I decided to get sick for Thanksgiving. I got a cold the day before and it stayed with me for over a week. It didn't help that the week after Thanksgiving I had to go to Kentucky for work. I'm finally feeling a lot better and wanted to post a picture of the cheesecake I made for Thanksgiving.

I got the recipe from this website. It was pretty easy to make and was very rich and tasty. My sister did the actual piping of the snowflake with the pattern provided on the website. I have to say it was a thumbs up all the way around. My mom had to take it to the dialysis center on Saturday to give away. We just don't have the people to eat it up and nobody could handle more than a small piece at a time anyway.

Christmas Comes Early

I was very excited when I got home on Saturday and found a package on my doorstep. Merry Christmas to me. I’m not even ashamed to admit I bought these books from the Australian publisher. I wanted them and didn’t want to wait. Plus, the US cover for the first book is not that great.  I like these covers better.

 

I’m dying to get to Every Word. I’ve already read Every Breath on my kindle and loved it. I also just got my copy of Blue Lily, Lily Blue from the library so I’m afraid that book might have to come first. It’s not a bad thing to have two books I really want to read waiting for me.  Next week I’m having a staycation and even though I’m rapidly filling up the time off from work, I should have plenty of time to get some reading done.