Ficklin Fam

Jungle Baby Shower

2009-10-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

I sold my first cake yesterday. This is a custom order for a baby shower. I had so much fun doing this custom cake knowing it was for a special occasion. I had some trouble with techniques but practice makes perfect.
Of course I was really excited to the car cake for Matt, but I was not happy with the way it turned out. I tried to fix the boo-boos but it never looked the way I wanted it to. With this one I had a lot of trouble putting the fondant on the layers, next Wednesday's class will cover that one. I've just been figuring it out on my own and I still get big folds at the bottom of the cake. With this cake I had the folds but I could camouflage them with the decorations. What a difference!! I love the way it turned out and I know that it was a hit at the party. I can't wait for another order.

"Snow"-man's land

2009-09-30T19:23:00.001-07:00

This awesome book Hello Cupcake was purchased on a lark and became a passion that started things off for me. This is one of the first projects I tried to make I think it turned out pretty well all things considered. The very first one was the "Shark scene" for any family members that were unlucky enough to be around for that one, my sincere apologies, it did not make it to the photo opp. It quickly became obvious that there were skills that I did not posses and I really, really wanted them. And here we are one class down and two more scheduled for October, I'm loving this.

Car Wreck?

2009-09-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit divided on this one. I made a replica of my bro-in-law's Scion for his birthday. I'm really proud that I accomplished it all on my own but I'm not really happy with the final product. Of course I am overly critical of my own work and all I can see are the flaws when I look at it. Wreck or not, it tasted good and that's what matters in the end...right? The thing I really love is the license plate I rocked that.

Roses in bloom

2009-09-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

In my last session of beginners cake class I completed the "coveted" Wilton rose. Voila.

Looks pretty, but is a pain in the butt. And that my friends is why they created fondant! That's coming up in the next session.

Burger anyone?

2009-09-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

This is my second hamburger cake. I did this one on my own with tinted frosting and fondant accents.

The one I made at class was decorated with the airbrush. I need a lot more practice with the airbrush, take a look. My cake is the one on the left. Not bad but I really like the way the second cake came together.

New obsession

2009-09-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

Like I really need another one? But seriously how cute is this puppy? This is the result of my first cake decorating class. Well technically it is my second class. I wanted to take the more advanced classes at Joann's but in order to do so I had to take the basics class first. Boring. I had already figured out most of that stuff on my own. But the instructor Tracie, who is very cool, also offers classes outside of what the Wilton program offers. So after the first class at Joann's I signed up for the soonest she had to offer. LOVED IT. I am so happy that I did it. Now I have three more basic classes to get through.

Puppy Power

2009-05-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

We have two puppies now Piper and Lila. Piper is a 12 week old Shi-poo (shih tzu/poodle mix) and Lila is a 8 week old Chi-a-poo (chihuahua/poodle mix). They are such fun loving girls. Lila loves to be held, and Piper loves to play tug.

Tough decisions

2009-04-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

We had to make a very hard choice last week. We realized that Daisy was not the right dog for our family and took her back to the shelter. This was so hard for me, but I know it was for the best. Andrew and Wayne were not bonding well with her, or Daisy with them either. She is a very hyper playful dog and even taking her to the dog park to play and run, usually twice a day, she was still to rough with Andrew and he became very nervous with her. There were a couple of times she snapped or growled at him, not during play that scared him. I tried to get him to use the training techniques that I have learned about to teach her not to nip at him or jump on him, but he just wasn't getting it and there was only so much I could do without his help. It all came to a head when out of the blue Andrew asked me if we could have a vacation from Daisy, just for a week. That's when I knew there would probably never be the right connection between them and that's why we wanted a dog in the first place. When we took her in she wasn't upset or nervous, and didn't even look back when she was taken away. So in the end it was heartbreaking, but totally right and honestly a big relief. There were some good life lessons learned from this experience and I checked up on Daisy and she was adopted before the week was out.

Morning fun

2009-04-28T08:40:00.001-07:00

We are all playing outside this morning and Cleo decides to climb the tree. It was crazy and I had to get a step stool and get her down. Dumb cat.

Happy Birthday Andrew

2009-04-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Andrew's birthday was on the 25th, we had his birthday party early on the 21st. It was a Star Wars theme so we had jedi "training" activities. We made light sabers out of pool noodles and duct tape, we saved jedi's from carbonate (action figures frozen in ice then melted with sponges in a relay race), and a target practice, but the biggest hit (har har) was the light saber training. Translation: the kids beat each other up the whole time. Andrew loved it, and they all had a great time. He got a pile of gifts and only two of them were not Star Wars items, we have a very happy boy.
I have been getting really into cake decorating lately so I went wild with the cake and made Captian Rex's helmet. Now, don't look to close because I really need more practice with fondant, but for the most part I am very proud of myself. It was a lot of work but the kids were in awe and one girl told me that I was amazing, that was fun.

Welcome Daisy

2009-03-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

This is Daisy, she is a dog, she lives with us now.

What? I know what you must be thinking, yes I have never had a dog before, but I didn't know how much I wanted one until we got her. All three of us had different reasons for wanting a dog, Wayne wanted some security, I wanted a playmate/companion for Andrew, and Andrew, well he's a young boy he just wanted one. Yes dogs are a lot of work, and yes most of the work falls on me, but look at that face. We met Daisy at the local pound, they told us she was a stray but they said she is a Labrador mix, and that she's about 7 months old. Wayne and I think she is mixed with Boxer, and others have guessed she is mixed with Pit Bull or Beagle. I personally don't care what the mix is, I just know that she is adorable and she is ours.

Year? What Year?

2009-03-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

Yeah, okay so it's been an entire year since my last post, what-evs. Record keeping is seriously not one of my strengths, oh well. I have a bunch of fun things to talk about so... let's try this again, shall we?

Master Manipulator

2008-04-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

Andrew hit me with a new one today. I made popcorn and he wanted me to share some with him. I teased him telling him, no that it was mine. He then looked up at me and with all sincerity said “But I’m your only child”. Man he is getting good at that.

New Hair

2008-03-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Here is the picture of me with my new hair. I totally love it.

Bad news, Good news, and Fantastic news

2008-03-20T05:32:00.000-07:00

Well, first the bad news. I have developed a skin condition called guttate psoriasis. “It often shows up after a sore throat, with many small, red, drop-like, scaly spots”. About 8 weeks ago I had a really bad sore throat which I think was strep as Wayne was diagnosed with strep a couple of weeks later. I was given an antibiotic and a cream to treat this and was told that it usually clears up completely in 4 to 6 weeks. I truly hope so because it ‘aint pretty.
Now on to the good news, I got a new haircut yesterday. I went to Angela at Hot Box Salon, my sister Lauren found her and she is soooooo good!! I have not been this excited about a haircut in many, many, many years. I love it!! (I will post the picture as soon as my mom e-mails me the one she took afterward.) It feels really good to be very excited about my appearance, it’s been a while.
And now, the fantastic news, Wayne applied for an Architect position at his current job at McCarran Airport, and he got it! I am so very proud of him. There is one condition, he needs to get his architecture license within one year or there is the possibility that he could be fired. For the last year he has been working on getting his architecture license, there are a series of 9 tests involved. Wayne has taken and passed the first 5 tests, and is about to take the 6th test on the 31st. So he only has to take 4 tests in the next year. I know he can do this without a problem, he of course is cautious and concerned as ever, poor guy just can’t help it. I on the other hand, am not worried at all. He has passed 5 of the tests on the first try, and I have no doubt that he will be able to do the same for the rest. As an added “yay” he will receive a raise as well as his annual raise. That is a very happy thing indeed.So, all in all things are looking pretty good in our lives and it feels great!

I'm branching out

2008-03-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

I have started another blog. I have wanted to write about my experiences with being bi-polar, but I just couldn’t seem to make any fit and just deleted the posts.
I am not shy, nor am I embarrassed by what I feel like I need share it just felt to “heavy” to put in between posts about Andrew, and other fun stuff.
So I am adding it as a sister site where I can just let it all hang out. Give voice to the “other” side of me.

My kid cracks me up

2008-03-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

We have become big American Idol fans over the years. By the time Carrie Underwood came around I even started (gasp) voting. Never thought I would get that into it. So we have been watching avidly and last night was the first top 12 show. They were singing from the Lennon/McCartney songbook. It was great, loved some and was disappointed by others. But one girl sang "8 days a week". We got through half of the song when Andrew turns to me and says "There aren't 8 days in a week, she's singing it wrong". He was totally serious, I love my son.

Andrew is a poet

2008-03-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

I found this poem that Andrew must have done in school a while ago. (because I excavated it from the bottom of my desk). It reads

Friendship

You are tall

You are little

Friends are nice

like some mice.

I love it! Of course I love it even more knowing that I will be able to use this against him someday. Hey! I need all the help I can get.

If I had only taken a shower

2008-03-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here is the conclusion of the scrapbook saga. The scrapbook was to be presented at the retirement party, Thursday at 4pm. The due date for the entries was set for that Tuesday by the end of the day. There were 3 entries turned in at that time. Yes I said 3, out of 80. Sooo, needless to say an inter-office e-mail was sent out Tuesday with an extended due date for Wednesday (which I had totally planned on from the beginning, as I am clued into reality). By Wednesday after school there were a total of 26 entries, and that does include the 3 previous "early" entries. Now I would like to veer off track for a moment and tell you about the entries I did receive. Now the plan as I understood it was to have each person write a note of congratulations, thanks, remembrance, etc. to Linda on a 7" x 9" piece of white card stock and I would scrap those into the 81/2" x 11" book. Apparently that was not clear and even though I had attached my phone number and e-mail address no one had the guts to ask me what was up and did their own thing. I personally did not have a problem with this, some had done up their own complete scrapbook page on the provided 7x9 paper and some had just written their note and left it plain. Now here is the problem with this, each entry was a different color, theme, or orientation. I had purchased all the materials in a coordinating theme and had planned on creating basic page layouts that I could simply add the entry to and I would look fabulous (naturally). Now I have 26 different entries that are all over the place. Now back to Wednesday, I take home everything I have and start scrapping, I worked for 3 hours and then go to bed. On Thursday I started scrapping at 7am. I do not pass go, I do not take a shower, I stopped for 1 hour to have lunch and refocus. Now this may seem silly but I can't just slap a note on a page and go on. I am not capable, it does not compute. I had to take each individual entry and create a page that would complement the design they gave me and still flow with the rest of the book. So needless to say it took me 3 times as long to get this done. 26 pages, plus 11 blank pages for people to sign at the party, may not seem like that much and if I had one more day to work with it would have been fine. At 2:40 I am just starting my last page, when get a call from the office that there are a few more entries that have been turned in if I wanted to come pick them up. That totally threw me over the edge. I was so stressed and so not done (and by the way had to leave in 10 minutes to pick up the boys after school), and be finished with the book in an hour, and now I was so mad. How rude can you be? Seriously! So I pack up all the rest of the materials, the book and rush to the school looking like crap I remind you because I haven't showered, put on make-up, brushed my hair or teeth. I slap together the front page, take the 5 entries that were turned in and put them with the supplies. Then I found the vice principal and told her (very nicely) that I was done, here are all of the supplies and if they wanted to anyone that wanted to add to the book could stick theirs to a piece of paper and stick it in the book. I told her I was sorry but I did not want to be scrapping this for the next week as things trickled in. Then I left. Well, I tried to leave. I got Andrew and Peyton, and went to the car and found that my battery had died. I had to call Peyton's dad and he came and jump started my car so we could get home. So I am convinced that if I had taken 20 minutes and showered that morning the universe would not have decided that it was a good day for some kidding around.

New Look

2008-02-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

So what do you think of the new design? I've been trying to learn how to create my own blog templates. I did not make this one, I haven't figured out the technical stuff yet. But I did find some sites with free templates. The one I have is from pyzam.com (see the link below the banner) They have lots to choose from.
I am very busy this week I "volunteered" to make a scrapbook for the office manager at the school. After not scrapping for the last year it is very difficult to get started again. This will be a good thing though, it will kick start me. Hopefully I will be able to retain the motivation. Wish me luck!

Andrew's Awards

2008-02-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was the award assembly, Andrew received the A-B Honor Roll and the 100% Attendance awards.

I am so very proud of him.

Andrew with his two certificates

Andrew and his teacher the adorable Ms. Stone

Here are some of Andrew's classmates. left to right. Sean, Andrew, Victor, Janetsa, and Andrew's best friend Peyton.

Proud Mom

2008-02-11T21:04:00.000-08:00

Week 2 Day 1
Andrew came home with exciting news today. For the first time he has made the "A-B" honor roll. I cannot tell you how great that feels. It is a testement to his teacher Ms. Stone. Being happy and comfortable in his classroom environment has made such a difference. Even knowing that there is so much more that I could (should) be doing to make sure that he is doing his best in his school work, I am relieved that he is doing so well.
Happy happy day.

Learning to FLY

2008-02-05T17:11:00.000-08:00

I have started a fabulous program that promotes cleaning and organizing your home with baby steps. This link http://flylady.com/pages/beginbabysteps.asp will send you directly to the baby steps page.
The key to this system is forming new healthy habits with baby steps and a great support system. I have gathered a group of friends and family who like me are lost in the clutter and chaos of our homes.
I started the program yesterday. Yes I know it is only the second day and I haven't had time to burn out yet. But the steps are easily controlable just remember slow and steady wins the race. Do not jump ahead thinking "I've got to get more done."
I truly had a significant impact on how I spent my day today. Those who know me know that I am bi-polar and some days just getting out of bed and washing my face seem almost insurmoutable. I was able to easily talk myself out of the sludge and improved my day.

So any of you who are interested please come Fly with me.

Why did I start this blog?

2008-02-04T13:52:00.001-08:00

Week 1, Day 1

Sooo, basically I only started this blog because I wanted to post comments to my sister Erin's blog http://www.ncwoodys.blogspot.com/. And since I had to sign up I figured I would make my own. Erin's blog btw is amazing, she truly has inspired me.

The problem is what do I say? I mean I have never been good at keeping a journal and that's private. What can I write about that anyone can read? What if I sound stupid (which is my biggest ANT (automatic negative thought) I'll get into that later) And truly my life is totally boring. But on the flip side everyone thinks they may be stupid or boring at one time or another so why should I leave myself out?

I also love being able to check out what's happening with my sisters as they all have blogs now (check the links) so of course they would love to check out what's happening with us.

So what it really boils down to is peer pressure, yup my sisters have one so I have to have one too! How mature is that? Just kidding.

When I really sit down and think about it there is at least one thing that is funny or interesting that happens everyday. Most of this of course comes from Andrew the nut. Here is the most recent.

The other morning Wayne was up (horribly early as usual) and heard Andrew talking so he checked on him. Andrew was talking in his sleep and said "I was the first person to taste it on Mars." I would love to know what he was dreaming!

What the?

2008-02-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

It has been 14 months since I started this and then did nothing. How lame-o.

I am going to post every week and see if that gets my creativity flowing. So hang on they might start out boring, but I'll keep on trucking so please stick with me.

Super Cute Kid

2006-11-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Andrew from our photo shoot Saturday.
Chris Jenkins is our photographer. I just love her eye for the perfect shot. Here is a link to her blog http://chrisjenkins.typepad.com/

Finally hopping on the bandwagon

2006-11-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

I am finally starting a blog. Still don't know much about them but it is time to learn I guess.
So...here I go.