are we there yet

Wednesday, 19 December 2007

 

The cake on the left has taken about 20 hours of work including cooking time and has a street value of a bit over $400.   The house on the right has a wider market (every single child in the world who is under 14)  took about 3 hours yet  would probably have a street value of about $5 (unless all those kids pooled their pocket money).  Now I think about it, you don't see many gingerbread wedding cakes do you - when they wouldn't be entirely inappropriate really when you think about it. anyway. it's clearly getting late (as usual) .  Tomorrow  I've just got 50 cupcakes and a 10 inch mud cake to make and I 'm then I'm nearly at the packing the house, tidying my bags,  and vacuuming the children stage in preparation for our trip to adelaide on saturday.

 

excuses..

Sunday, 16 December 2007

And just to prove i'm not just staying up late so I can watch the weird stuff on SBS , here is some of my recent cake work.

sparkly shiney things

Sunday, 16 December 2007

In a stroke of genius (if I do say so myself )  I managed to come up with a great thank you present for our excellent creche staff which didn't involve cupcakes, chocolates, copious amounts of money or an enormously guilty conscience for not actually getting around to doing anything... These gift christmas tree baubles have all been tagged with the message 'Thankyou from zali, jett, cathy and jnnoo' - My writer was insistant that the order of the letters didn't reeeally matter and  I really needed to get it done before Jett began to cut everything into little pieces (he's scissor happy at the moment) .

Speaking of Jnnoo, him and I have been up past midnight every night this week and I guess the chances of going to bed earlier than that at any stage before we head off to adelaide next weekend are fairly slim. oh well.   Still it is our own doing so we don't deserve any sympathy.

simple pleasures

Sunday, 9 December 2007

It's the simple pleasures of home ownership such as being able to staple-gun your christmas lights to the balcony that make a great big mortgage really worth it I think.  As you can see we did christmassy stuff today such as purchasing* and decorating a christmas tree and putting up the christmas lights. It turned out Jett is coming down with something (hmmm let me guesss... chickenpox?) so he didn't enjoy it all as much as he could have but the rest of us had fun with it all. I also did some light out-door furniture painting, some cupcake and birthday cake producing for pickups tomorrow (today now since it's after midnight) and general housey gardening stuff which was nice. 

In other news, last night was my works christmas party - now I have to say that when compared to the christmas parties of a public broadcaster, and the christmas parties of an employer who makes a habit of surprise lunchtime-no-payout-redundancies,  the christmas party of an animation studio is wayy wayyyy better. My new employers had put a lot of thought and effort and $$ into making it cool fun. It was a pity we had to make it a relatively early night so to relieve our poor overworked babysitter. 

 

* $20  for a tree so big it  needed to be trimmed to fit in the living room ! - sydney siders I don't know how many more reasons you could possibly need to move here.

Yay

Thursday, 22 November 2007

Tomorrow I will have two reasons to celebrate - firstly I'll be able to have my first night off cake decoration for a few weeks, and secondly the settlement of the sale of newtown road should (fingers crossed) have gone ahead smoothly. to celebrate I intend to partake in the dual delights of  sorting some washing while watching a dvd - something I haven't done for months and months and months. This puppy dog is to accompany a set of figurines  for Saturday. I think he looks a bit anxious cos the groom is wearing white.

 

Brmmm Brmmm

Thursday, 15 November 2007

It was very convenient that I had two cakes in orange, black and white this week - black is a real pain to mix so you don't want to do it unless you have to -  I also have a couple of figurines (with grooms in black)  to do in the next few weeks so it will be even more satisfying. 

Finding Nemo - Losing Sanity

Tuesday, 13 November 2007

Once again, while the rest of you were busy at your proper jobs, I was sweating over something silly. Not the cake itself mind you, just the fact I've charged the customer roughly half of what I should have charged. In fact charging three times as much would have been an even better idea as I would have hopefully avoided the whole order.  Happily it's mostly finished now though, which just leaves a harley davidson cake, some wedding cupcakes (for a Bridezilla), a set of figurines and some birthday cupcakes to do in the next week.  

And in another lesson in life, Zali's sports day was postponed until next week due to..um..  overcast weather. I'm not sure what sort of day they are waiting for but this is hobart, so it could be a long time coming!

 

Beautiful Brides and Lovely Weddings

Sunday, 11 November 2007

On Friday we ditched the kids (more about that later) and headed off to Canberra for a childfree weekend in honour of our good friends Dave and Stacey's wedding. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was lovely and after a few of stressful moments getting the cake to the venue (it was lurching around the back of the car like it had already partaken heavily of the excellent selection of wines on offer) we were able to really relax and soak in the event (yep - and the wine too) and enjoy the childfree-ness predicament we were in. It brought back lots of memories about how we used to be pre-kids. Of course this made us notice  the fact that the majority of our friends aren't like they used to be either.  We're all getting old - even the people who are heaps younger than us!   I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing but boy - when only two less-than-enthusiastic people line up for tossing of the  bridal bouquet you know times have changed since the first of our friends started getting married many years ago - and it's a world away from when all these mums and dads and house owners and corporate high-flyers and academics and writers and other respectable citizens were all juniors being illegally served vodka and raspberry cordial (just an example - they'd run out of orange juice in that particular establishment) at a random junior orienteering squad camp in some South Australian country town.   Don't get me wrong I'm glad to be here now rather than be back there (cos boy did I feel sick the next day) but passing of time is scary as well isn't it.

Endless weekend

Sunday, 28 October 2007

Due to the Hobart Show Day public holiday on thursday (yes read it and weep NSW people),  and a self declared creche holiday on Friday, this weekend seems to have gone on FOREVER. We didn't manage to go anywhere or do anything particularly spectacular but luckily it included enough fun stuff to stop us all from going a bit crazy.   The highlight was dad's 70th birthday celebration on Saturday - and the incredibly well controlled cake decoration session which all the cousins participated in beforehand. Unlike recent cooking activities everyone demonstrated extreme control whilst decorating their cakes to take to mum and dad's place. Denny did Dad's which the rest of us all shared when we got there after some delicious pizza. 

Jon did a lot of pottering around in the garden including participating in his most recently acquired hobby - planting kangaroo paws. He's planted about five now despite my gloomy predictions of their demise (we had a few in Sydney which died faster than you could say  'gosh it's hot out there'). 

I threw three runs together on consecutive days which is a record for recent times and today I took grandfather and granny out for a drive which although enjoyable and peaceful (compared to my usual back seat passengers at least!) is quite tiring for all of us.

Laundry Art

Monday, 22 October 2007

I'm back again after another adsl service interruption!  And also back after a nice weekend of pottering around with the kids, going for a run, taking everyone to get a hair cut and dabbling with a little bit of craft. This laundry art was actually going to be a far more significant piece - my plan was to do a single large mosaic of laundry box pieces but I really have to settle for what I can actually do within the time I have available (none) - so I'm happy with the result - it makes me smile.

And if cupcakes absorbed any of the noise around them while they were being created, these ones would just sit around all day and SHOUT.  On Saturday Zali and Jett were having quiet time and nap time respectively so I decided to try out a new recipe for cupcakes thinking that by the time they were out of the oven Zali would be up and she would enjoy icing them. Two minutes into preparations Zali got up and about ten minutes in, Jett got up and also insisted he play his part in every last baking operation.  So rather than a quick bake, it was a drawn out, messy and intense affair (as is everything i guess with 2 and 3 year olds). Anyway the result was good and once my ears stop ringing I'll be able to watch tv again.

In work news I'm staying on at Blue Rocket until the end of January at least, by which time there will hopefully be new projects on the horizon although a break wouldn't be all bad!  After christmas I'll just be working 4 mornings a week so I can still fit in the cake orders.  Cool.
 

Ahead of the game

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

In Tasmania we are now enjoying daylight savings time. Well most of the time anyway - I have to admit I'm not enjoying the morning part of it, but the light evenings are great.   The other advantage of daylight savings is that I don't have to listen to the half an hour news & current affairs program "Hack" on  the youf radio network "JJJ" as we drive to the creche after work - I find Hack really annoying and I know there are other radio stations I could listen to but I find them even MORE annoying than Hack what with their advertisements and the like.

In general news, Jon was in Adelaide last weekend living it up at his school years  20th-reunion thingy - he came back pretty tired and husky voiced so I'm pretty sure he had a great time.  Somehow Jon always manages to go away when I either have a zillion cake deliveries, or the children are sick and last weekend he hit the jackpot as both these events occured -  we all survived it though mainly due to our Hobart luxuries of having excellent support people available and the fact that deliveries nowadays never really take that long as there's next to no traffic and not very far to drive.
The cake pictured is what I delivered to a restaurant on blackmans bay beach. As you can see the beach was packed out.

In sporting news I've been inspired by both the recent world cup and being awarded my soccer teams best and fairest trophy   to play in a 7 a side soccer for a short season over summer.  I'm thinking that 20 minutes halves will both suit my current fitness level and also have me skipping dinner/bath/bed time routines at home for a few weeks. yay. Luckily I didn't actually throw my soccer boots in the bin at the end of the winter season as I had planned to although I probably would have if the house was tidier and I had found them sooner. Along the same lines I'm hoping my orienteering compass turns up before this weekends sprint championships but given our childrens ability to relocate useful objects I'm not holding out much hope. Last night Zali and Jett relocated all of the towels in the towel cupboard  to the full bath. 

 

 

 

What a treat

Monday, 1 October 2007

Today I had the whole entire day off work so I could do cake stuff outside of the 9pm to 1am time-slot. What a treat!  I took some photos of me working but I didn't like any of them so you all miss out I'm afraid.  Instead here is Zali working on the weekend - a picture of concentration I think you'll agree.

In other news, last night I watched the final of the  womens football/soccer  world cup final. Germany won which I was sort of happy about because whilst Brazil was exciting, they were also a bit pushy, and they took too many dives for my liking.  For any Australians who have missed it (the other 17million 999 thousand of you), the Matildas made the 2nd round and they played really really well - way better than I've ever seen them play before.  . 

Sun and Rain

Sunday, 30 September 2007

This morning we left the kids and Robin and Denny's and went for our forth run together since arriving in Hobart (And about our tenth run together since 2003) .  We ran on the mountain along the pipeline track and despite the occasional bout of horizontal rain it was really nice.

In other news,  I had a very smooth cake delivery yesterday despite experiencing a few gale force gusts of wind while bringing the precariously balanced figurine endowed top tier in from  the carpark (ahhh - hobart weather!!).   These spanking bride figurines have been a bit of a mini-hit here - they are a bit fiddly but I don't mind them too much as I charge more for my suffering.

 

Two good things

Friday, 28 September 2007

Here are two more good things about out house:

1.   We can see the sunrise over the water from our bedroom in the mornings

2.    There is NO flagpole.  This means we don't have to argue about whether or not it is appropriate fly the port power flag during the week before the grand final, or whether you should have to win the grand final before being allowed to fly it.  phew.  Go Power though.

In other news it's been a week of late nights as my cake holiday came to an thudding end with 30 mini cakes, a set of spanking figurines and a couple of top tiers.  Next week I've overbooked myself and I need to get three cake orders including 110 cupcakes - out the door. Luckily work is fairly flexible and I'm taking a couple of days off to manage it all - then it's quiet in cakeland again until November.   noice.

 


Procrastinative Baking

Sunday, 23 September 2007

Last week  I had a million things I  should have been doing, including preparing for the end of m y CakeWoman holiday by checking the orders, buying in supplies etc etc. Instead I made some yummy  coconut an d lime  cupcakes. What we didn't eat we gave to the  creche carers.
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cakes2007summary
are we there yet Wednesday, 19 December 2007
excuses.. Sunday, 16 December 2007
sparkly shiney things Sunday, 16 December 2007
simple pleasures Sunday, 9 December 2007
Yay Thursday, 22 November 2007
Brmmm Brmmm Thursday, 15 November 2007
Finding Nemo - Losing Sanity Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Beautiful Brides and Lovely Weddings Sunday, 11 November 2007
Endless weekend Sunday, 28 October 2007
Laundry Art Monday, 22 October 2007
Ahead of the game Tuesday, 9 October 2007
What a treat Monday, 1 October 2007
Sun and Rain Sunday, 30 September 2007
Two good things Friday, 28 September 2007
Procrastinative Baking Sunday, 23 September 2007
it's all in the planning Wednesday, 12 September 2007
End of my season Sunday, 26 August 2007
Other news. Tuesday, 21 August 2007
book time Saturday, 18 August 2007
aaaah - that feels better... Friday, 17 August 2007
Garden Projects Saturday, 4 August 2007
send batteries! Saturday, 4 August 2007
woe is me Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Current Cakes Thursday, 19 July 2007
How Ironic Thursday, 19 July 2007
Happy Birthday to Me Sunday, 15 July 2007
Cake Withdrawals Friday, 6 July 2007
Black-out Monday, 25 June 2007
Procrastination Wednesday, 13 June 2007
su-do-ku anyone? Friday, 8 June 2007
Cake Makeover Saturday, 2 June 2007
Not suffering enough Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Product Research Sunday, 20 May 2007
My Weekend Sunday, 20 May 2007
Big Week Friday, 18 May 2007
ok ok .. Sunday, 13 May 2007
Getting an early start to the day.. Friday, 11 May 2007
Cake Stuff Saturday, 5 May 2007
subject to finance Saturday, 5 May 2007
hello from sydeny Wednesday, 25 April 2007
late late late.. Sunday, 22 April 2007
Rolling Along Thursday, 19 April 2007
why oh why oh why Monday, 16 April 2007
Breathing Space! Friday, 13 April 2007
maybe not such a good idea afterall. Friday, 6 April 2007
craft moments! Saturday, 31 March 2007
Yellow Cake mark II Wednesday, 28 March 2007
Three weddings and a cupcake.. Saturday, 24 March 2007
they must be useful for something right? Thursday, 22 March 2007
not the plan Tuesday, 20 March 2007
over this week's finish line Friday, 16 March 2007
whooosh Friday, 16 March 2007
Cracker Weekend Monday, 12 March 2007
smooth sailing Saturday, 10 March 2007
crossing my fingers.. Thursday, 8 March 2007
Cake anyone? anyone?... Tuesday, 6 March 2007
rainy weekend Sunday, 4 March 2007
ye olde style cake Friday, 2 March 2007
Other News Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Stuck with the evidence.. Thursday, 22 February 2007
Sinking not Swimming Thursday, 22 February 2007
couplacakes Thursday, 15 February 2007
Appliance Update Thursday, 8 February 2007
28 Days Thursday, 1 February 2007
Supermarket News Thursday, 1 February 2007
missing items.. Monday, 29 January 2007
Quiz Time. Sunday, 28 January 2007
Cruising.. Saturday, 27 January 2007
ok ok maybe I was a bit harsh.. Saturday, 27 January 2007
I hope ugly IS the new beautiful Saturday, 27 January 2007
The Riff-Raff Thursday, 25 January 2007
Not the perfect cake day Saturday, 20 January 2007
The Soiree Wednesday, 17 January 2007
can't chat... busy Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Getting there.. Friday, 12 January 2007
Party Girl Friday, 12 January 2007
Rainy Day Fun Saturday, 6 January 2007
want more time.. Friday, 5 January 2007
1 year anniversary - let's have some cake! Thursday, 4 January 2007
Best Buddies Wednesday, 3 January 2007
ahhhh - relief.... Sunday, 24 December 2006
Gingerbread Workshop Saturday, 23 December 2006
Cute Little Cupcakes Friday, 22 December 2006
I'm still here. Monday, 18 December 2006
not waving, drowning..... Tuesday, 12 December 2006
two of four Monday, 4 December 2006
Cousins and Cake Monday, 4 December 2006
it's KI to the locals Wednesday, 29 November 2006
Cupcake Frenzy Wednesday, 22 November 2006
weekday flurry Wednesday, 22 November 2006
numbers... Friday, 17 November 2006
More Appliance Love Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Fun at the Park Monday, 13 November 2006
spare me Saturday, 11 November 2006
giddyup. Thursday, 9 November 2006
Whaddaweek. Sunday, 5 November 2006
Appliance Love (and hate) Monday, 23 October 2006
Homework Saturday, 21 October 2006
bored bored bored Friday, 20 October 2006
Frogs Tuesday, 17 October 2006
sun, wind and smoke Thursday, 12 October 2006
My Mona Lisa Tuesday, 10 October 2006
can there ever be too many cupcakes? Monday, 9 October 2006
Cakegirl Sunday, 8 October 2006
All of the people, some of the time! Saturday, 7 October 2006
Happy 95th Birthday Dad! Thursday, 5 October 2006
another day another zillion cupcakes.. Tuesday, 3 October 2006
What did you do today? Thursday, 28 September 2006
Enough already.. Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Getting Lost in the Middle Monday, 25 September 2006
yum... Tuesday, 19 September 2006
New CakeWoman Website! Sunday, 17 September 2006
Everyone has got to start somewhere!! Tuesday, 12 September 2006
setting the dance floor on fire.. Wednesday, 6 September 2006
Playing second fiddle Wednesday, 6 September 2006
Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes.. Wednesday, 6 September 2006
more bad habits Wednesday, 30 August 2006
is this the future? Sunday, 27 August 2006
Orchids.. Friday, 25 August 2006
Yay Thursday, 17 August 2006
Straight Forward English. Monday, 31 July 2006
ho hum Thursday, 20 July 2006
shoe story Saturday, 15 July 2006
happy birthday to me! Friday, 14 July 2006
Hoop-la Thursday, 13 July 2006
Suddenly it's nearly Wednesday Tuesday, 11 July 2006
Blerck Monday, 3 July 2006
Happy Shoppers Friday, 30 June 2006
It's the little things.. Wednesday, 21 June 2006
It's Sunday already! Sunday, 28 May 2006
the more I see you Friday, 12 May 2006
Honeymoon is over Friday, 5 May 2006
pretty as a picture Monday, 1 May 2006
are we there yet? Saturday, 8 April 2006
box after box after box Friday, 7 April 2006
First and Last Tuesday, 4 April 2006
tick tick and TICK Saturday, 1 April 2006
If you go down to the cake cupboard today.. Saturday, 25 March 2006
My handsome boy (the little one) Sunday, 19 March 2006
ho hum.. Wednesday, 15 March 2006
We've all been busy Monday, 6 March 2006
busy busy busy... Tuesday, 28 February 2006
Wedding Flowers Saturday, 18 February 2006
Five UNcool things about being CakeWoman* Saturday, 18 February 2006
Five cool things about being CakeWoman Saturday, 18 February 2006
can't help myself Friday, 17 February 2006
or.. Saturday, 11 February 2006
A Different Perspective Saturday, 11 February 2006
2 alcohol units! Sunday, 5 February 2006
3 Favourite cakes Saturday, 4 February 2006
Perfection Wednesday, 1 February 2006
Almost Done Friday, 27 January 2006
Quiz Time Monday, 23 January 2006
4 down. Saturday, 21 January 2006
bleary eyes Thursday, 19 January 2006
2 down. Tuesday, 17 January 2006
Back to Work Monday, 16 January 2006
I don't have time for this! Friday, 13 January 2006
Chugging Along Monday, 9 January 2006
Party Time Sunday, 8 January 2006
Cakes, babies and more cakes Saturday, 7 January 2006