Michael's Grand Opening Sarnia

I was so excited when I found out that Michael's was finally coming to Sarnia I had hoped for years that we would get one here so I wouldn't have to go to London every time I needed something unique for cake making. We have a bulk barn and that is great and all but it's lacking the many things that Michael's offers. I was counting down the days until it was finally going to be here I watched each week as we went to puppy and advanced training the building becoming well a building rather than an empty space. I said each week for about 6 months that it was going to be opening soon. This whole week I was like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to come, I would tell anyone who would listen the exciting news of it opening soon. I got my fliers in the mail on Thursday and that made me even more excited. This morning we got up early to make sure we were one of the first to get there. I was one of the first 200 customers I got an awesome Michael's reusable bag. I walked each and every aisle to see what they all had. I only a few things time, but I did sign up for the Wilton cake decorating course one class which I have wanted to do forever. It starts Tuesday Sept. 6 and goes for four weeks I can't wait its gonna be a blast. I spent about an hour in the store is total they had so many wonderful sales, things to look at, and the staff was amazing. I can't wait to go back this week to get a few things I need for Matts going away party, but I am still going to need to go to London because Sarnia has yet to get a decent party supplies store that carries as many different items as Party Packagers. Oh well guess I can't win them all and I defiantly shop far more at Michael's than Party Packagers!

Stuff I got at Michael's

Wilton Class

Canning

So last year mom and I talked about wanting to start canning. I wasn't sure where to start so we didn't end up doing anything. The year I was at hobbyfest and a lady from Canadian Superstore was there handing out flyers to their canning class that they were going to be offering I thought this is a great chance to see what its like. At the class we learned how to make corn salsa and we all got a jar of it to bring home. After class both mom and I bought the canning starter kit which is awesome it comes with everything you need to get going. Well I came home from the class all excited about wanting to try it out. I had some blueberries that needed to be eaten so I made a batch if blueberry jam. It turned out great a bit sweet for my liking though. The next day still excited about my new hobby I made strawberry jam but used a cup less of sugar and it turned out perfect!!!! Now I just bought beets and I am going to pickle them. So far I am loving it :)

Richard's Birthday Cake

So I guess its been a while and I have a lot to catch up on lol. I am going to start with Richard's Birthday Cake. It turned out awesome everyone loved and all the DND people knew what it was. I am still unsure of what it is other than some DND God symbol. It took me 3 days total time and I got to try out some new stuff for it kinda cool. Richard picked all the flavors for it as well, he picked my homemade cinnamon icing which is his favorite, and Swiss Chocolate cake. I did all the cake work three days ahead as I like to freeze my cakes  before I ice them. I did all the fondant, icing and pulled sugar work the night before. all the fondant is free hand cut and hand painted this was my first time hand painting fondant it was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again. The pull sugar was supposed to blown sugar however I tried to blow it myself and that just didn't work I need a special pump so I just created pulled sugar ball. This was my first time making pulled sugar it was alot of fun I can't wait to do that again too. All in all the cake turned out awesome and Richard was very happy about it and I am pretty proud of it. My next cake will be for Kandice's Birthday

This is the finished cake

This is the picture I was given

Dinner Convo at our house.....

Len starts talking about how homemade corn dogs are not pogos, like all fingers are not thumbs but all thumbs are fingers and then Keith explains that the bone structures of thumb makes it not a finger in fact and then there was a wiki war and then Len says to Keith " I'll Finger you!!!" Keith says " I don't think so" Kandace say's she "wouldn't be very happy about that either" Keith says " I don't think you really feel that way about that" Kandace say "TMI" Lem says "whats TMI?" Keith explains that it means to much information. Then they start talking about weather or not Mexico is part of North American or not and Keith brings up a picture of North America which seems to include Green Land. I said Hey so now North America now includes Green Land and he said yes because its special..... Wow what a conversation night!!!! Then it went on to how the United States came to "buy" Alaska....Next time I am going to record it so much better lol

Canon Canada on the Canada Post website

So today while I browsing the Canada Post site getting ready to ship Ebay items I noticed that they have e-stores now and one of them happened to be Canon Canada. I got browsing and its kind of neat. They seem to have a little bit of everything from their printers to Artworks Oil Paintings. I think because it is tied into the Canada Post site they can offer free shipping which is handy. When I click on an item to get more details it opens a second tab which directs you to the Canon E-store with all the information for the product that I clicked on. Click the link and check it our yourself if your interested in buying Canon Products!

Camerons 24 Birthday cake 2011

I was asked to create a Batman cake for our friend Cameron's birthday I said of course I would love it and it turned out awesome everyone loved it. It took me three days total not including the a trial cakes lol. I had a hurt hand and required help with this one as it is very hard to do anything one handed. I made add on cupcakes as well!

Hurt Hand

I may or may not be able to get the needy crocheting done for Aug due to the fact I have hurt my hand. A week ago I pinned my left hand between a metal piece and a chain that is used to open a garage door. I have done muscle, Tendent and Nerve damage. I have limited feeling in two fingers and a lot of pain when I use my hand, more so now that the swelling has come down. I go see a hand specialist in London on the 10th of Aug. It sucked for the first few days I had no use of my left hand at all and now I can use it a bit more but it hurts like the devil :S...Doing things one handed was hard, now that I have some use of my left hand with the pain it causes when I use it, it is very frustrating to say the least. In the short term I have four cakes that need to be done, crocheting for the needy that needs to be done. In the longer term I have school in about 6 weeks and it requires use of both hands. I can't wait until it heals. Until then I guess I am just going to have to make due and ask (reluctantly) for help when I need it. I hate asking for help! The ER doc said its going to be about 6 months until it fully recovers and that depends on how much I allow it to rest. I hope the specialist has better news for me. Me hating to ask for help and thinking I can do everything on my own is what got me into this guess I need to learn something here!