Barrel Of Piggies ~ Fun Cake To Bake and Enjoy!

I had a weekend sleepover with the grand-kids baking a whimsical chocolate cake. Kit-Kat bars, chocolate cake, Hershey's Cocoa Frosting, and homemade fondant (melted pink jumbo marshmallows, a little water, and confectioners sugar, mix and knead to texture of fondant) mold in the shapes as pictured, and use a toothpick to decorate piggies.

Creativity Runs In The Famiy ~ My Daughter Jami...

Jami made these for a baby shower for her son's teacher. She made her own fondant from scratch too!

Her very creative snow globe birthday cake!

The Pink Girly "Ruby" Cake from Max & Ruby 

Max's Wormy Cake from Max & Ruby

Cupcakes for her son's birthday party in his school. He is a huge fan of the Lego cartoon Nnjago!

Back in the day when he was so into cats, this is his cat Max

Perry the Platypus from the cartoon Phineas & Ferb. These went on top of cupcakes.

For her eldest daughter's school birthday party.  She's our little Hippie,  loves all things Peace Sign!

Stenciling A Pie Crust

I just had to share this idea. You all know how I love to bake pies with my grandchildren. Well, here is something I have never tried but will try in the near future. 

 

Here is the Facebook page regarding some marvelous stencils!http://www.facebook.com/designerstencils

New Songs I Really Love...

A Truly Wonderful Concert I Attended...Many Years Ago...

My daughter Jamiann and I were at this concert with our friends Cheryl and Georgeanne. My favorite part of this concert was when Julie Andrews sang "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain..." and the audience rose from their seats in thunderous applause(At 9:10 on Part 10 below)! A botched operation to remove non-cancerous throat nodules in 1997 had permanently limited her range and her ability to hold notes. This appearance was her first attempt at singing again and it was just nine bars if my memory serves me correct.

This was the second time Jami and I had seen Julie Andrews in person.  We were in the audience of The Rosie O'Donnell Show previously when she appeared with both James Garner and Christopher Plummer during two Thanksgiving holiday tapings.  However this concert was our first chance to hear her sing in person even if it was just 9 bars it was a glorious 9 bars and even now when I watch this video it brings tears to my eyes!

The main reason we attended...Barry Manilow:

We went to the stage door before the show and Robert Goulet was so nice and stood there speaking to us for a few minutes. I have to dig out the video I made of this conversation. Among the many stars we also saw Chita Rivera, Nathan Lane and Michael Crawford as we stood there.

A Rocky Mountain High Concert

Last night I attended the 'Rocky Mountain High' Concert with seven other family members and my life long friend Cindy.  It was held at the lavishly decorated vintage State Theater in  Easton, PA.  The extremely congenial Jim Salestrom narrated the concert and was often featured playing the guitar, banjo, and singing. 

The other former members of John Denver's band participating were saxophonist and woodwind player Jim Horn, who also has played with all of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Elton John, U2 and Garth Brooks; keyboardist Chris Nole, who played with Faith Hill and Travis Tritt, and guitar, banjo and fiddle player Jim Salestrom, who is an Emmy Award-winning songwriter and played with Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Kenny Rogers and Steve Miller. The musicians also include Nate Barnes, drummer for the band Rose Hill Drive, and a string section.

John has such a tremendous collection of our favorite songs and this concert included most of them.   My sister, daughter, and I were all brought to tears when Chris Nole played the piano while on screen John sang "For You" one of John's most beautiful love songs.  I must admit that I had tears in my eyes throughout most to the concert.   

My youngest grandchild had memorized the words to Country Roads and we couldn't wait for them to play it. Well, they played it near the end and Maggie who is almost six fell asleep and her Mommy couldn't get her to wake up.

I can remember wondering what would become of Richard Carpenter's musical career after Karen had passed away.   It was never more obvious after seeing this concert's tribute to saxophonist and woodwind player Jim Horn that these musicians are extremely accomplished all on their own!  On the screen flashed tons of famous recording artists that Jim accompanied on some of their albums while Jim played a woodwind solo to Canned Heat's "Going Up Country".

The audience was packed all the way up to the balcony.  Just like the many John Denver concerts that we have attended in the past there was lots of audience participation that John had always encouraged.  Two women ran up front and started dancing to "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" and boy were they having fun! 

At the end everyone stood and begged for an encore, in fact the audience stood several times throughout the concert.  If one could bottle up the love and energy of that concert last night the world could be a much happier and peaceful place. Yes, John may have passed away in that plane crash October 12, 1997, but his spirit was surely there last night in that theater in Easton, PA! They did three encore songs and the second one was "Leaving On A Jet Plane" a song that John gifted to Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Forty years ago I fell in love with the music of John Denver with the release of his first big hit "Rocky Mountain High" and that was the last song of the evening.

One thing we who have followed John's career know is this: "John's spirit was always larger than life when he was living and surely that spirit continues through his music always and forever! "

A Truly Open Mind

The truly Open Mind is a Mind with very strong BELIEFS.  The truly Open Mind believes that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, fed 5000 people with five loaves and two fish, raised Lazarus from death, died for our sins and Rose to Life Again! We believe in his promise: I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

I praise God for giving me an OPEN Mind through free will.   The problem is this: Most people don't make decisions with their intellect but very often use confirmation bias to substantiate acting on emotion instead of the facts and reasonable solutions.

May I never lose the wonder
The wonder of the cross
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost
Undone my mercy and left speechless
Watching wide eyed at the cost
May I never lose the wonder
The wonder of the cross