Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day. I have many mixed feelings about today. I am glad we have people willing to give their lives to the service of our country. I just don't feel our country gives them enough back. I now know of at least 4 young men around my age who have been affected by PTSD from this ongoing war in the middle east. One is afraid of loud noises like fireworks. Another has dreams. He wakes up and realizes he has been messing with his gun in his sleep. He drinks and does drugs to try to cover these things in his mind. He can't get proper help or counseling from the VA.I worry he will do something he doesn't really mean to. Another I know also uses alcohol to cover his PTSD. He has bad dreams. The latest young man I learned about having PTSD died yesterday after battling with life for 4-5 months after trying to commit suicide by shooting himself. He was married with a wife and little girl.

I hate that our VA services don't seem to be able to handle this returning problem with PTSD or they make it very very difficult for the soldiers to get help.

As I said before I am grateful for these people and their families who sacrifice. Thank you for your sacrifices; body, mind, and soul. I think about you more than this one day a year.

American Flag Cake Surprise

Josh sent me a link to a page for making this flag cake. I wasn't going to make it till next year since I didn't really have a reason, but couldn't help myself and decided to take a stab at it and bring it to the lake for the family to see.

It was fun, but definitely difficult to cut the cakes and layer them neatly. I put them in the fridge like the instructions said to make them easier to cut, but I don't think it really helped. I am going to have to freeze them next time like they do in the cake baking shows.



Boy what a mess this was.

All in all though it did turn out even if it was somewhat of a nightmare to assemble and frost with all the crumbs due to its coming apart. Everyone was delighted and surprised with it. They all had thought that it was just a white frosted cake.

Baking with Love....

I did some more cupcakes, this time for Valentine's Day. I made them to bring to work since I am still sans a Valentine. These were just my idea for design I didn't have a book I was following this time. I liked melting the chocolate to make the hearts on top and will definitely be using this again to do other desserts and such in the future.

Friends of Pavillion Park Holiday Ball 2009

So my friend Josh works in Liberty Lake and attends and helps put on a holiday ball yearly at the Davenport Hotel. It's a night of auctions, dinner, and dancing. I wanted to go this year, just like every year. I got to go this year since he happened to break up with his girlfriend before the occasion. I wore the purple prom dress I bought from Mariposa for $20 when they closed. It was great because it was a dress I had wanted for senior prom, but it had cost $300 at the time so I wasn't able to buy it. I wore it to the ball and got so many compliments. It was really nice. I also got some glue on nails since I was done with clinicals. :)


Here is a pic of Josh and I by the tree.

We looked good. :) Anyways I always end up working for Josh when I go to these things. You are just about never only a date. I helped do the slide show during the auction and helped check people out for the items they won at auction. I got to work with Josh's mom to do this. It was nice getting to talk to her and stuff. She got to know me a little more that way.

Dessert was good too. Here is a pic. I loved the vanilla strawberry thing the best.


We stayed at the Davenport that night. Hadn't had the chance to stay before. Glad I got to go. :)

Halloween

So our cat Skeeter sorta had two costumes this year as opposed to the none he usually has. Earlier in the month a feral cat and him had been fighting and Skeeter got a large abscess hole in his chest. So we wrapped him up so he wouldn't lick it. He kinda looked like a mummy.


On Halloween I put a costume my mom has on a teddy bear on him. So he was a witch. Not too happy about it, but he actually left the costume on for a while. It was hilarious though.




As for going to parties tonight. I decided not to. I had originally planned not to do anything until I was invited to Chad's party. I was planning on meeting Brandon M. downtown to hang out with him and some friends at the Knitting Factory, but just decided I didn't feel like going and sitting around at the bar. Or driving downtown and parking and such. So Kara and I just sat around watching movies and I fell asleep. She had like 6 trick or treaters visit her apartment and we had nobody at the house. Too bad. Now we have like a ton of candy still to eat. My mom froze some and is taking a bunch to work. I would say maybe next year, but I won't be living there and my parents hope they get to move in the next 6 months too.

Halloween Parties

So here is my Halloween costume this year. It was a cadet girl. I actually fit into a costume this year and didn't have to make anything. Found it at 50% off Card Shop for actually 50% off. It was a M/L which is suprising. Kara did my hair like a 50s pin-up girl that she learned from a girl at work. It was super cute.






Anyways, I bought a costume cause I got invited to a party at Chad and Tammy's house. Chad said it was gonna be an inside costume party. It ended up being basically outside by the bonfire in the pouring rain. I did not stay long. I was also dressed up way more than anyone. Oh well. I am invited to another party for tomorrow or I may go to The Knitting Factory.