cake

(Princess)Ogre…to Birthday!

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Room clean……..check!

Party had…………check!

Teeth brushed……check!

Old………..check, check!

Saturday-ay? was a wonderful day.  Truthfully.  Aside from the minor attacks from the neighborhood dogs, cake attacks from the siblings, or the blind dodgeball game my little brother and our cousins decided to play……OR flat out being called an OGRE in the middle of the mall today!  That was probably the highlight.

So, this will definitely make you pee your pants with laughter…adult-dipers in place….check!  Ok you ready for the story?

I met my friends Katherine (Special K) and Catherine…..which is confusing on its own accord! (the really bad thing is that I am by birth right a Catherine too!  ThankgoodnessIgobyyyyysomethingelse!) at the mall today.  I was finding them a million and one things to try on–they all looked fabulous!  So needless to say I was enjoying playing Barbie’s and getting them new clothes.  Well as you can imagine yelling “K/Catherine, how’s it going?” over in the changing room direction would be not so smart.  I did that about a billion times!!  I really don’t know what my deal was!

So then we walk into this accessory store and I am looking at rings.  Then this little almost 4-year-old girl walks up and we start to converse.  Mind you, I was half asleep when I got dressed this morning…but I was wearing a neon green shirt and a grey zip up.  I also was holding my bright green puffy jacket.  Our conversation literally moves from “wow, that ring is beautiful!”, “oh I do like that one, but this gold swirly one is pretty neat too…WHOA YOU LOOK LIKE AN OGRE!  I quickly proclaim….”AN OGRE????? What constitutes ME looking like and OGRE?”  She then states, I am wearing all green.  I gave her the “I am offended” look and she goes, “NOOOOOooooooo! You look like princess Fiona!”  OH Great…at least now I am Princess status!  As I was walking out she blew me a big kiss and it made things all better!

Aren't I beautiful??? hehe....that stance is very familiar to the feisty CatMan...dun dun dun!

Well I must say I had such a wonderful birthday weekend.  I went shopping with my girls.  What could be better??  All of Sunday was really low-key.

SIGH. 🙂

Went to church and family breakfast.  I then had my cousins help me clean up my house from the party we had the night before….next SUNDAY NAP!  Oh that was totally my favorite!  Next, my mom asked me what I wanted to do for dinner because it was my day.  That was really sweet of her to ask.  🙂  I love my mom.  Well I briefly told her lets just make all the left overs up and let’s have a feast!  No fuss just company and good food.

I was trying to get a group of girls together to get some wine…nothing worked out and everyone was so busy.  I must say I really didn’t get all that disappointed!  Well I invited my friend Laugh-a-lot out and the two of us ended up at the most random of spots!  We laughed, chatted about all of the idiot boys in our lives who will never realize how wonderful we really are….and ease dropped on the table behind us talking about onsies….”They have a onsie for that!”  It was such a random and beautiful day!

It was an amazing transition to a Quarter of a Century!  YAY!

I realized that I am above all blessed with such great people in my life.  I love my girl friends for all that they are and what they give me as far as perspective and hope goes.  Truly, to all the men who think I’m going to give you the time of day when you treated me like I was no greater than a speck of dust:  Skip You!

I just thought this was funny.... hahaha!

LOVE YOU GIRLS!

xoxo

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Feel like a circus animal?

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Some days I feel like a circus animal.  No not one of the cool ones like a lion…OR the elephant…or EVEN the bear!  Sometimes I feel like all I do is juggle.  I get to be the caged juggler.  How uncool is that??   I feel strapped down, locked away…like a damsel in distress…..swoon!  But all in all, I feel trapped in my office and to my desk.

Yesterday I got my quilt back.  I had a really awesome thought of taking all of my t-shirts from high school, finding someone else to do this for me of course, and then making a quilt!  My idea of making a quilt would include the magic Genie where all I would have to do is rub the lamp and up she comes!  TAH-DAH!  Here it is!  Well it sort of happened that way…I think.  Essentially, we have a client named Keepsake Threads (www.keepsakethreads.com) whom I had received an announcement that their new website was up and kickin’!  That’s when it hit me….I had to call and see what they could do for me.  They were easy to work with, very friendly and overall just a peach of a company!  Essentially, what they do is take articles of clothing from whatever (whether it be a deceased grandmother’s decorative hanky’s or your uncle’s funky ties OR in my case high school memories thru t-shirts!) and create it into some other form like a bear, scarf, quilt…or whatever you could think of!   I personally wanted a quilt.

Meeting was a breeze.  I literally had three full bags of t-shirts from cheerleading, gymnastics, track and some random ones from Saint’s Alive (my high school’s biggest fundraising event).  I talked briefly to the designer and gave her free reigns.  She is the designer, this is her job, and I felt like she had connected with me enough to provide a quality quilt.  Boy, did she ever!

 

Beautiful swirled gold backing with navy and white polka dotted fringing.

 

Here is an example of what the back of my quilt looks like.  Because Red was a predominant color she used that on the front and complimented it with the Navy and Gold (my high school colors).

 

Vanna White and Mix Master Mike (my little sister and brother)

 

I wish these pictures were bigger but, the detail work, the time and effort involved was such a pleasure to see.  They really did a great job at capturing my memories into a tangible item for me to use and keep.  What a completely amazing piece of art and comfort.

I was very pleased.  Currently, I am trying to juggle about 6 different projects, report to 10 different bosses, all a while keeping my sanity!  YES wishful thinking…I only pray that cheer practice this evening goes smoothly, sushi is not tainted, and the roads remain clear! (fingers crossed!)

LAUGH OUT LOUD MOMENT:  Freaked myself out with my own shadow last night (I saw it in the moon light–as you can tell I am a big chicken…)

 

This would be THIS GIRL!! (pointing to myself!)

 

 

CYNICAL MOMENT:  Facebook stalking last night…someone I was talking to changed their status to single?  Does this mean they want to date the CatMan?  Or use her for her beautiful body?  Does he want a relationship?  AHHH the suspense is killing me!

BEAUTIFUL MOMENT:  Receiving a birthday cake from a friend and getting to blow out my b-day candles a whole 3 days sooner!  YAY!

 

TOTALLY made my day! Happy b-day to meeee!

 

 

LAZY MOMENT: right now……….3…..2……..1………..OK I am done now.

POSITIVE MOMENTUM MOMENT:  Telling three more people about my fundraising endeavors for our Special Olympics Polar Plunge 2011!  I am so excited!  Anyone want to come visit and plunge with me??

 

Today has been slow but sure.  But isn’t it the slow and steady that win the race?  I am keeping with that philosophy.  Being patient will pay off and prevent me from looking like a dumb butt.  I am convinced.

I am going to leave you all and go eat my cake!  Have a beautiful Thursday!!

CatMan

PS: Remember to smile!  You never know when a warm happy smile might make the difference for a friend, fellow co-worker, or random stranger!  Give Love.  Receive Love.

 

awww see now you are all warm and fuzzy inside!

 

 

Fail. Fail. Fail.

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OH the irony!  I swear something funny always must happen to the CatMan!  I was trying to behave myself today too!  So today, I decided that I was going to help my mom make a cake.  I really felt like I was helping when I realized I was doing it all wrong.

 

I definitely bake like this lady...High heels and all...

 

 

The problem is I really don’t bake…now cooking is another story!  But the last time I baked anything it was in college and my Zucchini bread ended up smoking out my kitchen, exploding everywhere and making quite a mess!  Definitely wasn’t what I had planned.

This mess started as soon as I tried to pull the flour out of the freezer.  Being vertically challenged causes all sorts of grief let me tell you.  On my tippy toes reaching as far as I could…I was closer, and closer, and finally had the little booger in reach when all of a sudden my toe cramped and the darn thing fell on my face!   Now I always teased about being a white girl before but now I really was a white girl!  🙂

Next issue was mixing all of the items together.  Granted I was having issues before hand but now it really became apparent baking was not for me!  I mixed the eggs, box of “mix”, water and the oil started stirring when I realized I was totally mixing the wrong proportions!  How could this happen?  2 eggs instead of three…1-1/3 cup water not 2 cups, 2 tteaaaaasssppoooonnnss of oil not 2 tablespoons……then I learned this after the fact….when something is too liquidy…like soup for an instance if it is too runny, add some flour to it to make it thicker.  Guess what?  In this circumstance, you can’t!  Why doesn’t anyone tell me these things!?

 

OH NO!!!

 

 

Next, I forgot to preheat the oven in all my dismay.  That was the easy fix…next I got everything established .  It called for a 2-9″ round pans OR 9″ pan greased.  I made do with what I had…let me tell you it was totally not either of those options.  Minor details.  I then shoved that thing I called a cake in the oven!  AH-HA!  I will show you my little friend what it’s like to be baked!  I was praying that it tasted alright!  My mom mind you is laughing at me the whole time!  Not just a little tee-hee laugh either.  It was more like a deep belly laugh.

5 minutes later, the oven was smoking because apparently the pan was too small…sigh.  It was too much for me.  It blew up, then I blew up!  I couldn’t even bear to look at the mess that was surrounding me.  I actually laughed at my stupidity.  Today was not the day for me to bake a cake apparently!  At this point my mom felt a little sympathetic and helped me address this “hole” we called a kitchen.  It was a hole because that is what happened when I tried to jolt thru baking a cake.  (HEAVY)  Sigh.

 

It was like a party in the oven if you ask me!

 

My mom gave me a big hug as we laughed at such horrible baking skills!  She did say that I could be on the one Food Network show, “America’s Best Baker. Wink!”  HAHA.  Oh well what to do but just laugh!  Life is still good whether you can follow directions, bake, or preheat an oven….I think I need to get new glasses!

I don’t smoke but, if I did…someone hand me a cigarette!!

CatMan