One Down, One to Go

Well, birthday party #1 is now over! Yesterday, I went out searching for all of the various things I would need for birthday party #1 and #2, made the train cake (I have a train cake pan), decorated it with icing and candies (I can't imagine the kind of patience cake makers/decorators must have to have), put it on a Thomas the Train track covered with cling wrap, made the cupcakes with my nephew's name on them, etc. Took a while, but he was so proud to have the cake all for him and the cupcakes with his name on them (he's four, and this was his big day). Next week, it's trying to make a Philippe Petit cake (two cake towers with someone walking between them on some sort of rope). We'll have to see how all of this works out.

Unfortunately, I have given my camera to my brother and his wife to take on vacation with them. They came back with NO battery, which means I couldn't get digital pictures. I did get some video with my flip camera, but when I tried to get the video from my camera to my computer I had some problems, so I need to do it on a different computer. Hopefully, though, I'll be able to post some pictures, or at least a video, of the cake sometime in the future.

Today, I'm finally back to working on the revised manuscript. Well, I will be once the kids leave for the afternoon. I should be able to make a good amount of progress on it today, I hope. Then, tomorrow more on the paper and possibly preparing some various herb vinegars for canning (that is for sealing and longer term storage) so that I can use them with pastas and veggies and salads in the future. I might go out and buy some tomatoes for tomato sauce, but I'm not sure I'm up to do any of that this weekend. I bought peaches yeterday to make pie filling, but unfortantely, do not have any clear jel, so I ordered some on line and now must wait for that to arrive before getting much done. I'd like to do some blueberry pie filling too. If I can split both with my mom, she'll be able to make pies relatively easily for desserts while I'm gone - I can always help her prepare things when I get back.

One idea I have, and of course I have great plans now but I have no idea how they will work in time, is to make soups and chilis for canning during the fall, and then when I come home at Thanksgiving, I can give 1/2 of the stuff to my parents so that they can use them for dinners. This is especially important if my mother does, in fact, have a recurrence of cancer or a new cancer. Having to take care of four children at night for dinner (even if there are two more adults here) is tiring for her now. I can't imagine what it would be like if she were ill. So, perhaps getting helping as much as I can would be a good idea. Sauces are another thing I could can, and maybe I could cook up a storm within the next week and freeze a bunch of things for her to use later. Actually, I can ask her if that would help her out. I'll have to do some searching on the best way to freeze things.