Daily Stresses

Jim left this morning going to Delhi (very close to our hometown) to work. Ty and I had planned to go with him, but we really don't have the money. He had a cutback at work and we have a lot of things to be saving up for.

First of all, my friend Taylor is having a baby boy and her shower is the end of this month. I have bought her several things for the baby, but I have also been asked to make her shower cake. Unfortunately, I don't have everything I need to take her cake... I want to try a few new things with this one to make it really special and I am going to have to buy several things.

Second, my Ty man's FIRST birthday is next month!! I'm so excited! I want him to have a great party (even though he won't remember it). I have already ordered his invitations and dinnerware for the party. I still have to buy his presents and a few odd and ends... I am going to make his cake, too. We are having a farm theme. His invitations have cows, horses, ducks, and pigs on them. I am hoping to have a really awesome party for him. I'm really nervous about making his cake because I want to sculpt cows, pigs, and ducks to put on it.

So, I have been trying to find a job to help with all of our added expenses. I must have applied at 50 companies in the last month and I have only gotten one call-back. Unfortunately, the hours I would have had to work wouldn't work out with having a baby. It was very hard for me to turn that job down because it payed VERY well. But, I just couldn't do it. It's just driving me crazy that I can't find ANYTHING!!! I didn't finish college... Yet anyway.... But even to get a simple secretary job here, you need a bachelor's degree! And even entry level positions here require experience... I only have experience in sales and waitressing.... I have so many things working against me:
1. I have a baby, so I can only work M-F 6:30- 5:30.
2. Little to no experience (depending on the job I am applying for)
3. Minimal education.

All I can do is laugh about this. Because if I don't laugh, I will cry. I have been so stressed out lately. I don't know what I am going to do. But I did finally surrender it to God. I prayed that he would take it all into his hands because I know that I can't do this alone. I really need help. So, if anyone knows where a good job is for an unqualified, undertrained worker.. LET ME KNOW!!!

I plan on going back to school as soon as Ty starts school. We can't afford to pay for daycare and tuition... So I have to wait.

Another big issue weighing on my mind these days is my TERRIBLE case of the 'baby fever'.....

(to be cont. )
; )

Our Mini- Photosession

Here are a few pictures I took of Charity (my niece) and Ty. I did notice how bad my grass looked after we took the pictures. I still think that they turned out decent. I mean, they couldn't very well be BAD pictures when I had two gorgeous subjects!!
So sweet....

My Ty man and his Woof-Woof. He never goes anywhere without him.

Terrible grass.....

This one is my FAVORITE!!! He tipped over and they both thought it was hilarious. He started clapping!

Let me know what you think about my new pics!!

I will be giving a full detailed blog (with actual text instead of pics) soon. I have a lot to rant about!! ;)

Sunburn, Rash, and Baby FEVER!!

Introducing baby Spence!! A couple of our friends had their first baby! He's so adorable. He looks like a little porcelain doll! He weighed 5 lbs and something.. He was TEEEE NEEE tiny compared to Ty (who was 8lbs 4oz). OHHH... He made me want another so bad! But, I doubt I will ever have another.. I still have yet to find a career and we really need a little more income before we could even consider it. But I do REALLY want one... BAD! We went to Tensas to fish last weekend and had a blast. Ty stayed with my mom for the first time ever. Jim and I went to Lake Yucatan two days in a row and had a BLAST! We caught some awesome fish. Jim caught 6 large-mouth bass. Only one of them was less than 3 lbs. The biggest one (the one he is holding on the left) was at least 4.5 lbs. I didn't catch any large-mouth; however I did catch several striped bass. They are really fun because the fight hard.

We had a really good time while we were there. I got a terrible sunburn though. I got 'coon eyes' because I left my sunglasses on all the time. So, my forehead and nose burned really bad but everything else was normal. Yeah, I look funny.

Also, I have a rash behind my right ear that has been there for about 6 months. It is red and scaly looking. I finally mentioned something to Jim about it and he completely freaked out. See, my mom had skin cancer several years ago (close to the same place). And it looked very similar to what mine looks like now. So, I found a dermatologist here in Lafayette and I am going to make an appointment soon. I am really nervous about it..

This is my sweet baby giving his daddy kisses through Nana's sliding glass door. He's so sweet. The picture looks really funny because Ty's reflection in the door looks like he is kissin himself (but with his daddy's hair). LOL

Jim just took a pay cut at work... They essentially cut his hours back. So, that was the kick I needed to jumpstart me into job hunting mode. I bought some pretty ivory paper and printed all new resumes out. I have to go work with my SIL Daina tomorrow, so I plan on kidnapping her daughter and having her watch Ty Tuesday while I try to find a job. This is really a bittersweet time for me. I really don't want to leave my little man. Golly... I'm gonna miss him so bad. It breaks my heart just thinking about it. But, he's almost a year old. And it's about time for him to be exposed to other kids and some different surroundings. Plus, I need to get a life too. LOL. I'm ready to have my own money again to go shopping or whatever. And we are obviously going to need more money anyway with Jim's loss of hours.

So, this week begins my search for a job. Jim and I toured daycares a while back and only found one that we liked. It is only open M-F 6:30-5:30. So, I am going to have to find a job that can work around those hours. Or.. find another daycare in another town. As far a daycare goes, I don't know if those are normal operating hours or not. I guess I need to do some more research. Wish me luck!

Oh... and I haven't made any new cakes... Money is tight, ya know?

Franken-cake!!!

This is my latest cake. It is not a beauty. I had some problems with it; however, it tasted WONDERFUL! It is a White almond sour cream cake with raspberry fruit filling and buttercream icing.

Here's the story. I was bored. I had a big ball of brown fondant in my fridge leftover from my polka dot cake. I also had all the ingredients sitting around to make this cake and filling. Jim is away. So, I decided to make the cake. I had never tried this recipe before, and was anxious to. Well, the cakes turned out beautifully. They were so moist and had such a fine crumb. Oh my! The raspberry filling came out great too! So, I put a small slather of buttercream on the bottom cake so that my filling wouldn't seep into the cake. I did the same for the top layer that would be touching the filling. Then it was time for the filling. I thought I had all of my bases covered, so I put a generous layer of filling in, being careful not to get it so close to the edges. Of course I didn't want it to leak! LOL!!! Well, when I put my top cake on, my yummy raspberry filling came OOZING out of the sides! OMG! What to do? Well, I smooshed my cakes together (trying to get some of the filling out) and wiped the cake down. I then proceeded to ice my cake with the buttercream.... Well, the cake continued to ooze! My beautiful white BC was turning RASPBERRY RED!!!! And it was VERY hard to get my BC to stick to that cake after the filling smeared everywhere. Needless to say, this cake was ugly! It looked like a Frankencake!! LOL! But let me tell you, this cake tasted gourmet!

I have since learned what I did wrong. Obviously, I should have made a 'dam' around my filling to prevent oozing. Well.. practice makes perfect, right? I'm a work in progress.

I friend of mine just let me know that she wants me to make her baby shower cake. I have an idea of what I want to do.... But I'm not gonna share it yet! You will just have to wait!!!

Jim has been gone for a week. I'm missing him SUPER BAD! He's trying to be home by Friday. That would be awesome. Oh, and my mom is coming to visit tomorrow. I don't know how it's gonna go, but we will see. For the past year and a half, I have been having mommy issues and haven't really been talking to her much. But I hate drama and I want my son to grow up knowing her. I don't want him to ask me one day why I kept him away from her, so I'm gonna try to deal with it all just for him!

Proud Owner of a John Deere Boat!

Day 2 of Jim being gone. It's gonna be a long two weeks. For some reason Ty is so grumpy while Jim is gone. I don't blame him, I guess I am too. Jim called us at lunch, and Ty got to 'talk' to him. As soon as he heard his daddy's voice, he started smiling ear to ear. It was so sweet and very sad at the same time. Maybe he won't have to work out there very long. If I find a decent job soon, maybe he can switch it around so that he doesn't have to go offshore. It just breaks my heart that Jim is missing so much of Ty's 'babyhood'.

I found a site online today that has cookie cutters for $.59. That's awesome. I was going to buy them out of my Country Kitchen Sweetart catalouge for WAY more than that. I am going to buy about $20 worth tomorrow. I plan on picking up little things along the way so that maybe one day (if I am ever good enough) I might have everything I need to open a shop. I am so determined. I want to do this so bad. I just need a little instruction. I plan on ordering some instructional DVDs soon also. I have heard RAVE reviews about them. I may never have a 'formal' education, but I believe that I can teach myself. I WILL make something of myself!! I really wish I could get a job at a local bakery. That would be so wonderful. It would be that little bit of instruction I needed. Plus, it would be a paying job.

I did a little research and here in Louisiana it is illegal to have a home bakery. I don't fall into that category though because I have yet to sell my cakes! But, that means that is I ever DID want to start my own business, I would have to buy/rent a building. That would be a lot of overhead. There are a lot of states who allow home bakeries. All you have to do is have your kitchen inspected. But, of course Louisiana can't ever make anything easy.

OH! Jim's boat registration came in today! YAY!!! We are now the proud owners of a John Deere boat! WOOP! He has actually owned this boat for over 4 years, but had yet to have the registration changed. I guess it didn't really matter because it wasn't finished and he didn't have a desire to put it in the water until it was done. Actually, I think he's a little scared to put it in the water now because of all the hard work he has done to it. He made a comment that every time he put it in the water, he would be touching it up. LOL!

Cake Crazy...

Jim just left us this morning. He will probably be gone for about 2 weeks. It's gonna be tough.... Ty really seems to act up while he's gone. I guess he just misses his daddy. Or gets tired of me. ; )

Anyhow, I got my braces off yesterday!! YAY! And let me tell you it HURT!!! My ortho 'shaved' the bottoms of my teeth down so that they would all be even. That hurt!! And about 4 hours after I got them off, my bottom teeth felt like they were going to fall out. I guess they were settling. But, I am very pleased with how they turned out. They look great! I bought some Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal. I started them yesterday because my teeth do leave a lot to be desired in the white category. Let's hope they work!

We had Allyson's birthday Monday. It was a success. Everyone loved the cake I made her. And they all thought that it tasted great too! Hopefully, they will have me make some of their cakes. I am so determined to be good at this! I want to do it so bad! Maybe when I start applying for jobs, I can find one at a bakery.

I am already starting to plan Ty's birthday party. He is already 9 months old. I can't decide what I want to do for him. It's not like he is into any of the cartoons or anything. Plus, I don't really like a lot of those 'themed' parties... I'm going to figure something out. And it's gonna be adorable!!


Allyson's Birthday Cake. 6/22/09

Someday

Jim is coming home today. He will be here in a few hours, but the sad part is he will be leaving to go back to the rig Monday. I can't wait to have him here! I'm so excited! I have been missing him so bad.

I went to pick up Jim's Father's Day gift earlier and while I was out, I stopped by the local bakery just to look. I told the girl that I was interested in a birthday cake for Ty, but in all honesty I just wanted to be nosey. Not really nosey, I did it more for research. As soon as I walked in the door, the heavenly smell of buttery cake batter almost knocked me over. I got the girl to give me a sample price sheet and list of cake and filling flavors in case I might actually get good enough to start making cakes for money. I swear, I am going to keep practicing until I do.... It might take me years, but I WILL do it.

And actually I wasn't all that impressed with their cakes. Don't get me wrong, they were pretty. They are way above my present skill level. But some of the buttercream cakes weren't smooth and some of the fondant ones had tears (more like wrinkles). I'm just saying, if I had a shop... and had paying customers... I would take my time and make sure EVERY cake was as perfect as I could make it. And I will. Someday.