Beautiful Cakes and a Rant

What is the revolution, or could it be evolution, with themed parties for the last several years? Weddings, children's birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, grooms parties, or any ol' plain party for that matter. I think I've seen them all while searching for cakes.

I'm seeing the most elaborate cakes, decorations and themes I could never even have imagined. Some are just parties for no reason at all with what could only be several hundred dollars spent on the little cherub for whom the party is being given. I'm lucky I can even remember to get a cake for hubs' birthday, if even that! Caroline had a cake on her first birthday but no glittery decorations. Am I missing something here? Is this really for the kid or are the mommies competing to see who can throw the most elaborate Hollywood-type party for a kid who has absolutely no clue what is going on? I'm talking ELABORATE parties, the likes of which I've never seen or truly never even imagined—fantastic cake and cookies and candy and designer lemonades, candy beyond lollipops but handmade gorgeous candies, popcorn in designer holders, pretzels dipped and done up in gorgeous hangers, just beyond my imagination.

In doing a tiny bit of research on the cost of cakes, I found that they can be priced from $17 a slice to $200 a slice! Can you believe paying that much money for one cake? So if you're having 250 people, which I'm guessing is a close to average number for a middle class wedding, you'd maybe be paying $3,400 to $50,000 for a cake? Beyond insane in my book.

For Love Bunny and me, we've stopped going to most weddings and receptions as most of the couples have gotten a divorce within a few years. That's even in the Mormon community. What's up with that? We've gotten invitations to weddings that we've never even met the kids. I think they just scatter the invitations around for gifts. Well, I'm old enough now that I don't have to do anything I don't want to because I don't care what other people think. That's the advantage of obtaining senior status. ;-)

Rant over. Now, on with showing you some gorgeous cakes.

This one is French looking.

Is this chandelier divine or what?

This is actually a tiered cake that looks like it has tiered cakes. Very clever. However, it is not the prettiest of cakes; it looks more like a silo on a farm.

Cute decorated bottles in a very vintage container.

A ruffled cake which is one of my favorites.

Sweet decorations for a luncheon. I'm getting ideas for one I'm having soon.

Cute for a kid's party.

Neat storage idea for bathroom items.

This is a crêpe cake. One of my favorite desserts is crêpes stuffed with blueberries and whipped cream.

I would call this cake Nutcracker Suite Cake.

Oh, yeah, my idea of a great craft room!

I tried to see if a local bakery would make some like this but they said they would be cost prohibitive. I didn't care about price but they seemed reluctant to take on the job.

Can you even imagine having these in your garage to store items, much less somewhere in your home? Darling idea for a cottage.

Is this a sweet sweet shop or not? I'd love to visit it but I have no clue where it is; however, you can rest assured it isn't in Idaho!

My all-time favorite cake—coconut. Actually, my favorite dessert is coconut pie. Just love coconut!

And this actually is a cake. I don't know how they did it!


And this apple basket cake.

We all are lusting for this look in our cottages.
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In Hollywood a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk.

I'm thinking age is a very high price to pay for maturity now that I've got it. ;-)

~*~

Room Eye Candy

I'm just going to relax today and not tell you a story, just let you peruse the photos I've collected for your enjoyment. Wait, wait, wait...I just thought of something I've been wanting to mention to you bloggers.

A while back someone asked me about the dimensions of my blog because I could fit in wider photos. I have an iMac with a 21" screen so it's big but someday I'm hoping to get a 27" iMac. ;-) Yeah, right, like that'll happen.

Anyway, because I like large screens and a lot of room for my pictures I went into the template and made it the maximum width I could possibly do. Do not try this if you're not familiar with templates; you could screw the whole thing up.

Oh, if I could only get my space to look this good. Sigh.

Hanging a pretty blouse in a window is a very creative idea. This looks like a living room but also a studio with the bolts of fabric resting in the corner. Could it be a small apartment somewhere doing double duty?

Magnificent in white with a touch of beige.

So much eye candy it's giving me a sugar high! I love this vignette.

And this one, too.

And this very simple nostalgic one also.

Don't you just wish?! ;-)

And for lovers of quilts. I'm especially drawn to lavender and pink ones but my granddaughter's favorite color is purple and variations of that color. She would love this one.

Can we say caauuute her?! Look at all that red punctuating that darling island in that darling kitchen.

I especially noticed how this homeowner worked these gorgeous fabrics into her living room wall decor. I find it absolutely stunning what she has done. Inexpensive and very innovative, not to mention the teapot/teacup lamp.

Elegance and...

Sentimentality

A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind.
~*~

The Redo of the Family Room Wall

Okay, I promised you the results of the redecorating of this wall. I think I'll put a new "something" on the left side. Plus you get the view of what we see when we look in from our dining area with the lace curtains framing the family room.

Yep, I'll put something on the left bottom. Maybe some pretty storage boxes that are in abundance around here. And something on the right wall just above the mantel. I'm a symmetrical chick, maybe not totally, absolutely symmetrical but balanced better than this. I'm OCD about symmetry.

These chairs are 25 years old and don't especially go with the decor of this room but I've had them recovered 3 times with the last recovering about 6 or 8 years ago with this kilim-looking fabric and loved it. If I suggested recovering them now, Love Bunny would have a fit. Besides, they're gorgeous in person and still look almost new. They are Baker chairs and I paid about $800 each 25 years ago. So they're well made and last a long time. Plus I'm on a frugal kick and don't want to spend.

The tale of these shoes is: I couldn't part with them. I loved these shoes and bought them about 28 years ago at Macy's. I wore them out on the bottom but just couldn't throw them out so I made little princess shoes out of them by painting them, adding some froufrou stuff to them and using them as decorative items in this room. I know. I'm pathetic. But what can I say? I'll never love a shoe like I loved these simple red, plain 1" heel shoes.

And did you bloggers know that blogging is the test site for my photographing things around the house? I play at photography. I am definitely NOT a pro at this but I love doing it to experiment with my Canon Rebel XS. Love this camera!

See how my macros turn out? Great little camera for $500.

You all know how I absolutely hate camping. Love Bunny even bought a pop-up camper so I would go with him and be happy about it. I still hate it. I love suburbia and Applebee's, Olive Garden and Outback. I'm not a woodsy-type person. I love being home in my bed with my pillow. I love plugging my hair dryer and curling iron into a socket. I love eating indoors instead of fighting the horseflies. I hate the sound of four wheelers all night long. I hate the thought of being eaten by a bear. I hate having to go to the bathroom by a tree out in the woods; it throws off my digestive system. I hate not being able to craft, surf the internet and having to read by propane lantern at night. I. Hate. Camping. It's that simple.

However, if hubs could accommodate me with one of these slick little cuties, I just may change my mind a fraction and venture into the wilds of Idaho with not much groaning and moaning. Maybe.

This is definitely stylin'! And who would have thought the horns of an animal could be made to look shabby chic?


This looks like it could just possibly have my name on it also.

This could also fill th' bill for me.

This is darling also. The jealousy windows are a plus for me. Isn't this adorable?

And I'd definitely want it painted these colors.

I'd want this in the woods with me also... If I ever want to go camping, that is.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
~*~

A Story about Guests

Several years ago when we moved to Idaho from California, we bought a house. Little did I know at the time we bought it that it was the most famous house in that small town simply because it was built and owned by a prominent family. It didn't even have a house number on it. We just had to tell the craftspeople who came to fix something where it was and they'd say 'Oh, the old ****** house.' We finally ended up putting numbers on the front of it. I just couldn't live in a house without numbers on it.

As life would have it since it was a huge house, we were asked to house visiting people from our church when a group of young people would come to town. So we ended up hosting basketball teams and volleyball teams. But once we were asked to help a family in need.

A friend, whose hubby was a leader in our church ward, asked if I could help with a family with 2 children living in a motel and invite them to stay with us until they could find a house to rent. I said I would and went to the motel and packed them up into my car with all their belongings and brought them to our house. I don't know why but I was thinking the kids were girls but they turned out to be 2 very lively, hyper boys.

After a day or two I realized how active young boys could be but the mother tried keeping them in the daylight basement downstairs which was a huge area for all of them—about 1600 square feet. They had to use our kitchen to cook though and that turned out fine. I had to tell the boys to stop putting their feet on the walls (I'm very persnickety about my home.) My kids never did things like that, but boys will be boys. I just sat down the rules.

Well, after several days and through a set of circumstances, I found out the father had just been released from prison. I was flabbergasted and when I told our bishop about it I just blew up. While they were trying to preserve the family's confidentiality, I told them they had no right to ask me to take in a family with a father who was just released from prison without telling me about it. He could have been in for robbery or murder for all I knew. I think it was a white collar crime but I don't know for sure. I was furious and told them to please find them a house to rent asap. They did and actually turned out to be nice people and active in the church. They moved and divorced not long after that. But I told my hubby I wouldn't take in any more people that I didn't know. It's not a holier than thou attitude; it's a matter of safety and extra work for us now that we're getting older. It just takes so much more energy and time to do things now that we could accomplish much faster 20 years ago. But anyway, that's the story. I didn't like being deceived and not knowing what kind of individual I was hosting.
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We see many of these types of homes in California and I just loved the quaintness of them.

Another duvet I love.

Beautiful window, balcony and hanging flowers.

Another beautiful window.

A very brave homeowner indeed to have these colors in her kitchen.

Beautiful bedroom and she can hang things above her window with those coat hooks. Very clever!

Do I even have to say anything here? Sigh...

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
~*~