Monday, March 30, 2009

Frustrations

I'm not usually one to get easily frustrated or let things bother me. And all things considered in the events of the past 2 years, 2009 has been going fairly okay for us. But there have been a few things lately that have been frustrating for me and I guess I need to let this all out.

I posted a while back about needing hearing aids. I decided to go ahead and start the process and paid my half of the cost with some of our tax returns. Thankfully our insurance paid for the other half of them. When I paid for my half, I had already gotten my ear molds done so as soon as I paid they sent them off to the factory and told me that they should be in in 2.5 weeks. Last Wednesday was 2.5 weeks and I hadn't gotten a call, so I called them. The gal at the office said that she would call the factory and get right back to me. She called back later that afternoon and said the factory was still working on them but they should be done by the end of the week and they would have them overnighted. Fast-forward to today and the main guy himself called. He said something had happened and that the factory had lost my molds and that I have to go back in and have them redone. I'm frustrated by this because I am ready for them. I know I'll survive 2 more weeks without them- I've survived 21 years without them. But I have already come to terms with the fact that I need them. I want to know what I'm missing out on. I may not always want to hear my boys' constant chatter sometimes, but to be able to hear them clearly would mean a lot to me. I'm tired of waiting.

I have been waiting for a paper route from the Record. They offered me a route to Hagerman, but I turned it down because I'm not driving a 100 mile route every night. Last week, again on Wednesday, they called me and offered me a rural route west of town that wasn't as many miles (60 instead of 100). I figured that beggars can't be choosers and accepted it, even though it's still a lot of miles. They told me to come in at 1am and they would show me the route and then I could do the paperwork the next day. About 2 hours later, someone else called and said that the original paper route driver changed her mind and decided to keep the route. Why couldn't she have changed her mind BEFORE they called me!? Why couldn't they tell her "oh, sorry, we already gave the job to someone else!?" I'm anxious to get a route because I know I would do well at it.

I've also had a few problems with my cake business that I'm not going to dwell on here because I'd rather forget it. And business has been a little bit slow after my inital rush at the beginning of the month.

And I'm ready to plant my garden, dangit! The weather here has been all wacky. Warm for like 2 weeks and then a nice cold front comes and freezes us all. I want things to be steady warm so we can get our garden started.

Oh well, I'm sure things will right themselves and this will all be a moot point soon. One can hope, and one can pray.

Patience: A minor form of despair disguised as a virtue. ~Ambrose Bierce

Monday, March 23, 2009

My new camera

Back in November, my Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera broke. The piece that held the lens in place completely vanished. Apparently it fell off somewhere when I wasn't paying attention. So I've been without a camera for almost 5 months. Not fun, especially since I have two growing boys I want to photograph all the time.

I finally got my new camera in the other day. A Nikon D40. I LOVE it! We went to the zoo on Saturday and I got to play with it a little bit. I've still got a lot to learn, but I am beyond thrilled with the quality of the photos I've taken so far. I'm hoping for some big photo wins at the fair this year if I can learn more about composition, and of course learn more about all the vast aspects of more professional quality photography. One would think that I should know a lot about composition since I took 4 years of art in high school, but when it comes to photography, I still struggle a little. I'm just glad to be able to take some new pictures of my boys that aren't with my cell phone camera.
A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. ~Eudora Welty

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

My New Business Venture

For about 8 months now I have been dabbling in cake decorating. I took 3 of the Wilton cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby and I love doing it. I love the challenge that every cake gives me, even if I have similar requests. I don't even mind seeing my cakes get eaten- in fact, I kind of prefer it, because then there's less cake for me and I don't need it.

I did quite a few projects for friends and family, and for our playgroup last year, but I've only had a few "real" orders so far. I'm still trying to figure out my price set, and need to write up a basic contract, but I'm making a little money. I promised little Loren that I would use any money I made from my cakes towards riding the Durango train and our annual camping trip to Ouray this summer. I'm not sure what I'll save up for after we do that.

I posted a picture of one of my cakes from the fair back in October, but here are my most recent creations, which have not been posted on my website yet:

Bad Boys Basketball cake was for a local youth basketball team. I never did find out what exactly they were celebrating, but I did hear they absolutely loved the cake.

This cake has a bit of a bittersweet story that I won't go into on here. But I do have to say I am positively thrilled with how this Hannah Montana cake came out.

I'm very excited about this new business venture. I don't anticipate "getting rich" off of it, but it gives me a little extra money to put towards something special (like the train trip). And I enjoy doing it, which is, of course, the most important thing. My website for my cakes with a full gallery of my most recent creations can be found here: Treasure Heart Cakes.

If the people have no bread, let them eat cake.
-Attributed to Marie Antoinette