Raptor-ous!

Hello All!

Old man winter is giving his last gasps and they're cold and snowy.  Fortunately, (& I can't believe I'm saying this!) it's currently raining.  Good news for snow blowing (or lack there of), bad news for driveway drive-ability.  We're more than ready for spring, despite the fairly mild winter, but OMW just won't let go...fighting to his dieing breath.

But things here move on.   I've decided to self-publish my book, so feel free to preorder.  I'm not sure what the time line on having hard copies, but I'm sure I'll tell you all about it when the time comes.  As to other endeavours, I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that we've completed another cake.  (Oh, have I been griping about it?)  We completed a 40th birthday cake in the shape of a Ford Raptor Truck.  (Now, to be honest, I've never even heard of a Raptor Truck, before the order, but what do I know, I'm just a girl.)  Here's what they look like:  (again shamelessly stolen from Internet)



Here's our version (please note the purchaser didn't want the fancy black paint job):

It was truly a team effort, Ron helped with the shape, wheel wells, front grill and side venting, plus all the finishing work, like painting on the paint finish, covering the board with graham crumbs and various other items.  It was quite stressful.  I find it much harder to recreate something that already exists than to make something completely original.  Of course, there are 100 things that we would do differently now (like centering the tail gate handle better), but as always, this is a learning process for us.  The license plate says "BAD RAP", I hope they get it...as in bad ass Raptor...but who knows.  I resisted making the banner read "Happy Ford-ieth Birthday", but it was a close call.   We battled dry fondant...not fun, mild hysterics (on my part - PS Ron might debate the "mild" description) and a tight deadline.  In my own defense, all I want is a really good product and when things go wrong, or I have to redo work, I get cranky.  I guess it's part of my creative process.  (I don't do that when I'm writing, however.)

We aren't quite sure where the business is going (if anywhere) and I'm not crazy about working 6 days a week, plus extra hours during the regular work week.  Most of you know that I'm fairly lazy by nature, so it pains me to work any more than I have to.  All I want now is a good night's rest and maybe a nice soothing bath.  (We're currently watching the Montreal/Toronto game...there's something a little bit sad about two of the bottom teams trying to beat each other...but on the up side, one of them HAS to win.  Go Habs go!  Not that we're partisan in any way!)

To all of you, (as always) be well and know you have people out there who love you and think about you often.  (PS Why is Don Cherry such a blow hard?  I know that seems absolutely random, but he's ranting on the TV right now.)