Charli's Contemplations

More Yummy Cakes

2009-06-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

I will freely admit that I am a cake snob. I never had a flat cake or bakery cake for any birthday. My mother made all my cakes and I don't remember one that was not 3D. My favorite was a Cinderella cake. The main cake was made to look like the pumpkin coach, with 2 small angel food cakes (dolls set in the hole) made to look like Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother.

My oldest son started me on the path to creating 3D cakes, in my mother's footsteps. We moved to Southern California when he was 4. On his 5th birthday he wanted a Sherman tank cake. So on the phone I am asking advice from Mom. Sorry I don't have a photo of this cake. But...

My oldest son was into challenges...that's challenges for me!

My youngest son was into the Land Before Time movies -

This cake was for his 4th birthday -

These are just a couple of the cakes I have done through the years. Recently I was able to play with cake again, realizing that I love to do this.

Can't wait for the grandchildren...

Yummy Wedding Cake

2009-06-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

One of my many loves is making cakes. But...

I just made a wedding cake for a good friend's daughter. I think I am going to save wedding cakes for my kid's weddings.

My kitchen is just too small for something like wedding cakes. This is my counter space. I was shifting cakes to the dining table and piano bench to cool while shifting cakes to the counter top to frost and decorate. Quite a feat in my mind. I am still finding little bits of Red Velvet cake to clean up.

But the end result makes it worth it! The best part was very little cake was left on the plates after it was served and many went back for seconds!

My Mom

2009-04-07T07:44:00.001-07:00

My mom was raised by her grandfather and grandmother. We won't go into her mother. Mom's grandfather came to the USA from Wales when he was a young man and her grandmother came from Bavaria with her family at the age of 6.

I often hear tales of growing up on a farm; hand mixing cake batter, reading by kerosene lamps because the barn got the first electric line before the house or working at the soda fountain during the summer. I keep telling my mom to write a journal of all those memories. Hopefully she will.

During the war my mother became a Nurse, going against family desires. She joined the nursing corps. She is so beautiful, inside and out.

I think my mother was the one with the camera as there are not many pictures of her with me. But here is one!

My mother was always in kitchen baking, canning or cooking. Summer was cucumbers in the bathtub soaking . My favorite was eating a peeled cucumber. yum! Christmas time was baking!! I think my mother made 8 different types of cookies and 4 different types of nut bread. The house smelled wonderful. Mom would make 2 types of cut-out cookies for us to decorate with butter cream frosting and colored sprinkles. The table would be loaded with those cookies.

I am carrying on with the Christmas cookie decorating tradition. My kids now insist they be done no matter what. Somehow the tables have been turned on me.

My mom is still living and I hope for a long while. We still do crafts and baking together.

My Dad

2009-03-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

My dad was the baby of 10. He had 7 sisters and 2 brothers. In that bunch are 2 sets of twin sisters. You can image what I was thinking each time I was pregnant! "Twins? Please, no!"

I have always said that I was 'farm stock'. I just didn't know how true that was until I found out that my Grandmother delivered all but the last 3 children on the farm. That means she had 2 sets of twins on the farm in the early 1900's. All 10 survived to adulthood and marry and have kids of their own. All I have to say is, "WOW!"

He loved planes and flying. He joined the Air Force during WW II and flew prop planes. His squadron was split, with half going to the war and half to train other pilots. Luckily my dad did not go to war. The ones that did go did not return. I have always loved this picture of him in his pilot gear.

I was Daddy's girl. Being the only girl was a big help in that department! There are so many pictures of us it was hard to pick one. I think this is my favorite. I always did like to color in my coloring books.

My dad passed away 2 years ago from ALS, (Lou Garrett's Disease). He had been diagnosed 18 years ago. When this happened, my parents both decided that they were not going to wait for him to die but live their life. Their love for each other kept him alive and active up until the last 5 weeks of his life.

Their 50th wedding anniversary.

Just a few of the things I will always remember: his silly jokes, his being there when I called for help, his grumbling, his political debates, and his love for the chocolate cupcakes that my mom made for his lunch.

My Son

2009-02-19T08:13:00.000-08:00

Today Cam asked for my opinion on his class choices for the last 2 years of high school. I almost fell over!!!!

He is being offered the chance to take a 2 year program in finance. The only thing is that this program will take 2 class periods in his junior year. He is trying to figure out how to fit in all that he wants to take. He wants to take AP stats, AP Physics, AP Computer Science, Animation and 2 years of Spanish. That is along with all the require High School requirements.

My suggestion was to talk with the counselor and find out if and what he could take at the Junior College in the summer. Maybe History or Spanish to get those out of the way. College classes can be more fun. I also told him he might not be so bored during the summer months. :)

I love Kids (part 3)

2009-01-12T05:44:00.000-08:00

My third and last child...Cameron. He is now 15 and very proud to be much taller than me. (He will always be my 'little guy'.) Where did the years go? Today he is going to apply for a job. His sister has connections in this town and he will benefit from this.

I had so worried about him growing up. My worries were for nothing. He grew up going to very small private schools. Then he started public high school...wow! Going from 25 kids to 3000. He has taken to it like a fish to water.

He was my one child that could not resist touching things in stores. If it moved, he touched it and tried to figure out how it all worked. Drove me crazy! Come to think of it...he still does this! When he was 2 years old he would say, "What dat?". You answer. Then, "What it doos?" I just couldn't ever correct that knowing that it would soon be gone.

The Holiday Season

2009-01-05T04:54:00.000-08:00

Wow! The time ran away from me.

My mother came to town the week before Christmas. For the last 3 years she has spent the holidays with me. It is great to have her with us at this time. She will be flying home to Lodi, CA tomorrow.

It was so busy this time around that we didn't get to do our usual 'Starbucks in the morning' until yesterday!

It is interesting to realize what Christmas traditions you carry on and what ones you've created. What are some of your traditions? I would love to hear.

The main one that I have carried on is Christmas cut-out cookies. My mother did them every year. She would invite the kids on the block to help frost and sprinkle with colored sugar. Well this year I finally got them baked on the eve of Christmas Eve.

You read that one right. My daughter informed me that it wouldn't be Christmas without those cookies. That made me think of when I said the exact same thing to my mother! So we all gathered around on Christmas Eve afternoon and frosted cookies. Yum!

I love Kids (part 2)

2008-12-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

My second is my daughter, Alexa.

I remember when she was born. All I could say to myself..."It's a girl." And is she a girl through and through!

She would not wear pants until she was in second grade. Her words - "Pants are for boys." Even though I would point out that the pants were pink or had lace or something girly about them. Not only would she not wear pants but she would put 5 skirts on at one time when she was 2. Then she would get mad at me because she had run out of skirts before wash day. I told her that she didn't have enough to wear 5 skirts at once, she switched to 3 skirts. Way too cute!

She is married now and a fabulous daughter to do stuff with.

The Holidays

2008-11-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?

Mine was very nice. I made the Thanksgiving feast as usual. I love making Thanksgiving dinner! Colin (son), Alexa (daughter), Jake (son-in-law) and Cameron (son) were all there. Perfect!

This year I tried dry brining my turkey and it work very well. Cameron had mentioned he didn't like the breast meat because of it being dry. Now my turkeys are moist, but...I thought to myself...why not try and make it more moist!

Colin always does the honor of carving the turkey and every year he tells me this is the best turkey. Then he turns to me and says, "I know I say that every year but this is the best."

All the food turned out tasty and warm on the table. Yum!

I Love Kids

2008-11-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

I love kids. Kids a give me the warmest, fuzziest feeling in the world.

Colin is my oldest...sheesh, he is going to be 30 next year!!! How did that happen? I remember the day the doctor laid him on my stomach after being born. It was like..."Well hello! Long time no see."

He was the prettiest little boy you ever saw. I will try and dig up some pictures and scan them in. He looked like a little angel. Giant brown eyes with lashes you could trip over if they got any longer. Colin went every where with me and he would just tag along, happy to enjoy the ride.

I remember trying to explain the use of "me" and "you". He would confuse them and used 'me' when he should use 'you' and visa versa. That was a challenge to get straightened out!

I so enjoyed our "talks". He would try to figure out the physical universe from his 2 year old viewpoint. My favorite being - "Mommy, the sun melts into the trees at night and when the moon comes up it freezes it and the sun comes back up."

One of his favorite things to do was take walks and collect things. I always had to remember to bring a bag to carry rocks, sticks and whatever else caught his eye.

Now he is grown and loves to carry on a debate over anything! He likes to think that he is smarter than me, he can think that. But I do learn new viewpoints from him! And I love it when I can pull one over on him!

First Blog

2008-11-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

I am new to this blogging...so bear with me.

There is a lot that goes on inside my head and I thought I would put some of them out there for all to read and comment on. Maybe, just maybe, it will help to organize my thoughts. They are all over the place!

So stay tuned and I promise to try and post something weekly.