October 1st

Ok, it has been a few weeks but in my defense things have been insanely busy. But now they are slowing down and we can sit down and chat about a few things.

This past week was my final Wilton Cake class. The assignment was to build and decorate a 2 tiered wedding cake. Well since it isn't really the wedding season and football is in full gear I decided to show my badger pride with a cake. Nathan played a significant role in its construction. I decided to start building this cake fairly late on a Sunday night not realizing that you can't buy a 6 x 6 pan in every grocery store. So using an 8 x 8 disposable tin pan, Nathan reformed it into a decent 6 x 6 pan. So on to the theme....WI Badgers. You can't have a badger cake without the "W" logo. Nathan took some cheap metal cookie cutters, unbent them, and rebent them into a W using the official specs of the logo as his guide. He did an amazing job not once but twice. While he was doing this, I had my own experience with marshmallow fondant. And I learned a few things.

- Don't leave marshmallows unattended while nuking in the microwave.

- When disposing of exploded marshmallow goo, don't use your bare hands. It is hot and very sticky.

- Lesson number three, remove lid to trashcan prior to disposing of marshmallow goo stuck to your hand, other wise your hand will be stuck in the trashcan.

- Rubber gloves are useful when making red or black fondant.

Here is the final product: (the rest of the photos can be seen at our website).

I also posted a few pictures of our new house to the photo website. The closing is Oct 12th, so we should be able to take our time and paint some of the rooms and do odds and ends while we slowly move in.

Next weekend is the North American Reptile Breeders Conference & Trade Show

. This show is being held in Chicago and most of the major reptile retailers from around the country are expected to be there. I am going to meet Grand and Sheryl there on Sunday and I will see about getting Harry a wife :-D

Well it is getting a bit late so I am calling it a night.

Monday Updates

I have a few updates for today.

1. Looks like Blogger has increased user friendlyness. So I took a little stab at playing with their new beta version. Do you like the look? Do you want your blog added to my links? Does something look weird? Comments welcome.

2. This weekend I got "spoofed." Now. thousands of people around the country have reieved e-mails from my domain name on how to "enlarge their penis". And now I am getting a bazillion returen e-mails into my mailbox. So let's take a daydream into Brooke's mind. What kind of person can sleep at night knowing they are an internet spammer. After several contestants competed in my head for the rights to trigger a mental image when I think of penis enlargement spammer the winner is....(drum roll please).... a 35-45 year old while male, with black greasy hair, sleezy eyes, skinny as a rail, sitting in the dark basement of his mother's house trying to pass the lonely night. Enough about that, I am making myself nasous.

3. Well we found a house! Actually it was one we found a few weeks ago but now Nathan is on the bandwagon. So we are making the offer today, trying to keep Nathan's words of wisdom in mind "Don't come to the negotiating table, being emotionally attached to the house". We will just try to forget that yesterday we went to Menards and a furniture store to look at paints, curtains/window treatments, browse at flooring, and chat about small projects for the next 5 years.

4. You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks but no one ever said an old dog can't teach you new tricks. Mason is on Rimadyl for his arthritis. He is doing wonderfully on it. He gets his chewable pill (aka treat) after our morning walk and after he goes outside around 7pm. Over the last couple days i noticed that every 15-30 min he wants to go outside, when he comes in he goes to his Ernie cookie jar to await his medicine. If you don't give him a treat he whines to go back outside.

5. Oscar has found a brand new place to sleep. In our apartment we have a stackable washer and dryer. We usually leave the dryer door opened a little. Well if the there are clothes in there and the bell has just recentely went off, it is nice and cozy and this is where we can find Oscar.