A Productive Day

I got the cake made and then attempted to make the icing while it cooled. I'm not sure what on earth I did wrong, because I can usually make some pretty fabulous icing (if I do say so myself) but everyone agreed that this one tasted like coffee for some reason. LOL Coffee. I have no idea why.

Anyway, I scrapped the "new" recipe and pulled out my old tried and true (on the box of confectioners sugar) and *finally* got the cake frosted. Then the girls and I wrote "Happy Birthday Beth" on it, put 4 candles in the corners and we were all set.

So now it was time to get my housework done. So today was vacuuming. I only had an hour before I had to get a shower so I did each room, but didn't get to edge any of them. I will start that next week, God willing. It took me the full hour to simply vacuum and do it well.

Side note: We've got a Dyson vacuum cleaner. I don't usually brag on specific products unless they are beyond great. Let me say that my Dyson is beyond great. We have 2 big dogs that stay inside as much as outside and one of them sheds quite a bit. I simply can't imagine the state my carpets would be in without that purple Dyson.

In 40 years I've learned some things. Dyson = good. Believe it.

So we got all cleaned up and then headed out to my mom's house. You never know what you're gonna get there. Sometimes it's "tense" but today it was all good. My sisters boyfriend had brought over his nephew so the girls had someone else their age around. Beth's dad (not my dad) had already brought her a store bought cake and it was all pretty (with a little missing already) and so our cake looked kinda pitiful. Don't get me wrong, I can decorate a cake as well as most, but I didn't this one. Taste was the object here.

Well as soon as I brought it in, the family pounced on it and everyone wanted to try some. Beth said it was the best cake she'd ever eaten. And so did the nephew (who also said it was the first homemade cake he'd ever tasted, and he's 12, and that's another story all together). Everyone ooohhhhed and awwwwed. How nice.

Oh, and the girls and I had also made Beth a "Surprise Ball". We put a bunch of quarters as the "surprise" and she got the biggest kick out of it. I highly recommend it as a low cost, fun, thoughtful gift for all ages.

Don't know what a "Surprise Ball" is? Well I just happen to have found a website that showes one. http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/surpriseball.html

It got me kinda excited about the girls upcoming birthdays. Now the ideas are flowing. And I'm so happy with the house this week. On my day off tomorrow I may even tackle another job. There is really a lot of decluttering that needs to happen. That's not really true. Not a lot. But some. And I look forward to getting it done. This week has felt purposeful. And that's really nice.

Really nice.

I've even managed to almost keep up with my Bible reading. And I'm working on Fascinating Womanhood too. And trying to implement that even more in my life. And DH has promised that we'll try to go look for a travel trailer on Monday.

Life is good.