Meet Finnighan

So, it has been so long since I last posted that I am not even going to try and catch up on all the things I wanted to/should have blogged about.  The only thing of major importance that I will backtrack for is Finnighan :) Our adorable spoiled kitten.

and there he is

Just how cute can a kitten be? well according to Finnighan there is no end to his cuteness or silliness! Here is some basic info on this fur ball. He is a 4 months old doll face persian, tabby in color and very fluffy/scruffy (don't ask how those two can coexhist but they do?. His paws are about twice as big as necessary and that makes him very clumsy. You know how cats are light on their feet, nimble, graceful and with perfect balance? Well, you can forget all about it cause Finnighan is none of the above. He is adorably clumsy, totally unsteady on his feet and has  no sense of decorum. Exibit A: 

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Need I say more?  He likes sleeping on hard surfaces

And he loves to play with things he shouldn't :

His favorite toy of all times is shelled hazelnuts... go figure.

I have become one of those crazy people that is forever uploading pictures of their pets on the internet..... I just can't help myself he is just so darn cute... and does so many things worthy of picture taking!!  He is spoiled rotten, very chatty (please read "constantly meowing for no reason") and loves water... he even climbed in the shower with me.

All in all he has made our household a much happier place if you can believe it. And he is great company to me while Dana is at work. We are having a blast!!  All I have to say is pets are amazingly therapeutic, best pick me up out there!!


Till next time....

Last picture :  Jail time for Finny

Author's Note:
He was not posed for any of the above displayed pictures, he was just doing his thing while I photographed him.

It's Been a While

Well, it's been quite a while since my last post. It's not that I haven't had anything to post about, it's more that I have had too much to post about and couldn't make up my mind about what to blog on first!

Well, too much time has passed so I am wiping the slate clean and starting from today! There, no more anxiety about blogging!  Whew, that was a close one...

So, just in case anyone was wondering, we are moving... AGAIN!!  sigh... this is going to be our 6th move... in 6 1/2yrs of marriage. It's not my fault I have itchy feet!! So here is the scoop on how this whole thing came about......

It was a dark and stormy night.... err, it was too darn hot to sleep..... and Corinne found herself awake with nothing to do... so she started browsing rental listings (shocker, I know) and she started to see really good deals on better apts than what she was currently living in. She tried to ignore them but their siren songs were strong, and so the seed was planted and the inevitability of an imminent move was... well inevitable!  A few weeks went by and still the nagging need to move grew stronger.

When she discussed the possibility with her husband, things didn't go so well.... NO he DID NOT want to move, again; and was it such a good idea to move when the possibility of buying a home was fast approaching? (well, it is a year or so out , but that's still pretty fast) He had a valid point, so she bravely eradicated the need to move and was for the most part successful.

A few more weeks went by, when I friend mentioned that the other side of the duplex they live in was coming available for rent!! Bells started ringing, fireworks exploded everywhere, the need to move once again sprung back to life with renewed vigor! Who wouldn't jump at the chance to move out of an apt and into a duplex with the added bonus of having your friends just next door?!?!? Certainly a stronger person that Corinne!  So, after some cajoling, begging and incessant nagging, she garnered a somewhat reluctant approval from her husband to go see the duplex!

Let me interject here a quick side note, our current lease is up at the end of September and even though I called our landlord at the beginning of the month to see about possibly signing a new lease and/or not, we still have not heard back from them, nor have we received the letter they said was forthcoming in regards to our situation....
Anyways, so the viewing of the duplex happened and our couple went back home to discuss the pros and cons of  moving :
PROS:

• It's a Duplex, NOT and apartment!!
• Our friends live next door
• It has a small shop in the back that can be used for Custom Kingdoms (which means we can move it OUT of our living room!!)
• We can get a pet if we want, meaning either a puppy or kitten! :)
• It's within walking distance of the library =D
• It's NOT and apartment!!!! (did I already mention this!??! )
• We would no longer need to deal with our current landlord or neighbors... did I forgot to mention that they called the police on Josh because he was outside talking on his cellphone?!?! No joke, it really happened.
• It's being remodeled as we speak so everything in it is new! =D

CONS:

• It's smaller than our current place, square feet wise  (better set up though)
• Packing and unpacking!! Not my idea of fun!
• moving expenses.... even though we are only moving about 2miles from where we are now, it's still probably going to cost a few hundred dollars
• New Deposit! Yuck! oh and $80 for credit checks! here is to hoping our criminal history does not bite us in the butt!! Joking of course, we are squeaky clean, promise!!
• Did I mention the packing and unpacking?!?!
• No Dishwasher! that's a rough one... almost a deal breaker

(Author's note: from this point on I am dropping the third person narrative... sorry folks, it's just got too complicated! =D )

So as we were making this list we realized that we should check with our current landlord to make sure we can move out at the end of the month without any problems.

So the next morning Dana called the landlord.... and obviously there is a problem, as usual.
Apparently they require a written "moving out" notice, 20 days prior to actually moving out.... that was never mentioned in the afore mentioned phone call, nor is it specified in our contract; and even though if we were to send it in now we would have only been 3 days off of the deadline, our landlord refused to help us out. "The rules are the rules" and as far as they are concerned we are responsible for October's rent and that is it. Thank you very much!

After that phone call it was very easy for us to make the decision to move, we are sick and tired of dealing with our landlord... they are always messing up something (read previous posts for further details) they refuse to meet us halfway on anything and they are generally unpleasant to work with... enough is enough! so long, adieu, we are so out of here!!

Thankfully our new landlord was accommodating enough to help us out and push our official move in date to the middle of October so we can pay only half rent for that month, even though he'll give us the keys to it as soon as the remodel of the unit is complete!! Isn't it just so lovely when people are actually nice and easy to work with?!?!?
I just hope we don't get buried in orders as we try to move... that would put a pretty big dampener on the whole thing... oh well, what will be will be.

Till next time....

4th Of July!

I was going to start this post with "Happy 4th of July!!" but since it's the 5th I guess I'll have to say "Happy Belated 4th of July!!"  ;)

I am grateful for all the freedoms that we enjoy! Grateful to live in this Country and even though it is not the place of my birth, it feels like home.

Grateful for whoever invented the barbecue so we can all have amazing food to eat on the 4th!!! :) and all thru summer... and for the hardcore grill masters out there, all thru the year!

We had a great 4th, ate good food with great friends, watched the fireworks (after a rather lenghty walk, well maybe we enjoyed them more because of that).

Well.... I guess I am not feeling too talkative right now, so I am going to leave it at that.

Till next time...

It happend one Thursday night... late

Let me just start by saying that Dana and I are night owls... we can never seem to go to bed before 1am... and for the most part I actually go to bed much later than that. Can anyone say insomniac? I can :) In fact I would say I am very well versed in the subject matter.

What often happens when we both stay up past 1am is better left unsaid.....     alright, since you insist I will write of it!  We lose our minds a little.. or a lot..... we usually throw caution to the wind and come up with wild schemes.  We have made our most expensive purchases at or just past 2am and here is a list to prove it:

• 42" Flat Screen LED TV  $650
• Professional Hair Straightener  $150
• Warmachine $150
• Warmachine  $100
• Warmachine  $150  (I am starting to see a trend here....)
• Professional Curling Irons  $100
• Corinne's new computer  $450
• need I go on?!?!....... I didn't think so

So, 2 am is not a good hour for our bank accounts!

When we are not busy spending our hard earned money, with wild abandon I might add,  we find ourselves contemplating the most absurd and often bizarre things!  I do believe some of our most crazy plans have been hatched in the wee hrs of the morning... on too many cookies and not enough sleep! Let me tell you about one such idea... 

Before I go on, I think I should point out that our overstimulated and overtired selves cannot be blamed for coming up with such ideas... however, what cannot be denied is the foolishness of our no longer tired and well rested selves that gleefully follow the craziness!

It happened one lone and dark Thursday night.... late.... very late.  We find our protagonists lounging, slack-jawed and bleary-eyed, staring at a computer screen as ridiculously large amounts of food were consumed on screen. [Man Vs. Food rocks our world!!] A stomach rumbled, the other answered the call...... As the on screen picture moved from one restaurant to the next, with more and more delicious food being prepared and ingested by the host, the empty and craving stomachs hatched a sinister plan.   As their human hosts were mostly comatose, the evil villains started chanting an old and powerful song...."Feed us.... feed us.... feed us.... feed us......" and so it went. 

Our poor tired protagonist could not hold against the siren song but being too tired to actually make anything to eat devised a plan to assuage the chanting beasts!!  Let's remember this hunger and create a magical feast!! Nothing on a normal scale would do, so they came up with the great Burgers and Dogs extravaganza. The plan was simple:

1. Find several friends who like to eat
2. Purchase a month's worth of groceries for one meal
3. Convince said friends that yes, we need hamburgers and hot dogs! "Don't worry, we aren't eating full hamburgers... we'll make them Slider size!"
4. Then talk them into letting you make fries and bring an insane number of "fixings"

And so the date was set and preparations began!  A whirlwind of action packed narrative would now follow if I wasn't too tired to write it all down... I am sure you can imagine. Start with going to 3 different stores to get all the ingredients one would need.... then picture the heroine slaving away chopping, seasoning, slow cooking, blending, processing and blending some more.... peeling, cleaning, packaging and finally loading the car.

A short car trip later (and what do you know we were actually early for once!) we arrived at the agreed upon location where such feast was to take place.  Cooking, frying, grilling, sauteing and microwaving ensued, more chopping and peeling. Finally the feast was ready.

**Reader disclaimer: what follows is a detailed account of the foods that were present, if you are in any way, shape or form even the least bit hungry, I would suggest pausing and going to get some food. Once you get past this point you may either get some ideas that may be bad for your health or be horrified enough to swear off food for life. You have now been warned**

The table groaned under the massive weight of such a feast, we prayed it would hold up until we could dig in; heavenly smells were wafting thru the house, so much so that the dogs were going crazy trying to get to the food.  And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for, here is the list:

• Slider sized hamburgers
• Hot Dogs
• Buns
• Grilled Pastrami
• Pulled pork
• French fries
• Guacamole
• Chili
• Avocado slices
• Grilled Onions
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Hummus
• Muenster, Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese
• Homemade parsley, garlic and sun dried tomato mayo
• Mac & Cheese  (yup, we put it on the burgers! :) )
• Bacon!!!
• Ham
• Relish
• Sauerkraut
• Watermelon  (no, we didn't put that in the burger!)
• Fried eggs
• Cheesecake (nope, not in the burgers either)

There may have been a few more... but after a while it all became just a bit hazy... mostly I just remember a lot of food... and needing a major nap afterwards!

The hungry stomachs rejoiced and scored another point : STOMACH 14 - HUMAN HOST 0

We prepared, we cooked, we ate... and maybe slightly regretted it afterwards... but I say: Well done! It was so worth it!  (we also took pictures of it with someone else's camera so I need to hunt them down, I'll post them later... I hope)

So the question "How many things can you put on your hamburger and/or hot dog?" can now finally be answered .. and that answer is at least 22

A word to the wise.... you probably DO NOT want to try this at home!

The Great Sickness... and the medicine that made it worse.

Wednesday morning, last week, I woke up with a sore throat .... didn't think much of it as the rest of me was feeling pretty good. As the day went on, a cough was added to the sore throat, then a runny nose and finally a fever..... Fun times!! My mantra for that day? Don't panic... you are not getting sick, this is just a fluke!!! I hate it when I lie to myself!

Thursday came and it all got worst.... my day was spent in bed.... with chills running up and down my body (while I was under 3 blankets...) and my fever spiked. Dana came home to a nearly comatose wife... that must have been fun for him. So at this point my mantra changed to .... OK I am sick, but it can't last long, all will be well!! .... once again, I TOTALLY HATE lying to myself!!

Friday I was feeling so poorly that Dana elected to stay home just in case I decided to up and die on him.... who wants to come home to a corpse anyways?!?!? You'd never get that smell out of the sheets!! =D

And so it went, cough cough, sneeze, sneeze, blow nose.... blow nose some more... rinse and repeat!! Fever continued... went up and down.... chills continued and persevered.... little sleep followed. That certainly didn't help anything! 

Saturday arrived and a new sympton added itself to the afore mentioned menagerie.... an itchy painful rash!! Yeahy for me!! I am so lucky sometimes! :)

Well, Sunday came and went, with very little changes and an ever increasing rash.... with that in mind, Monday we decided to do something I haven't done in about 5 1/2yrs , we called a doctor and set up an appointment!!!  Finally putting to work that Health Insurance we have paying for!

Now, on a side note, let me quickly explain why I don't go to the doctor..... I have a wide and mostly unexplored hate/hate relationship with medication: aspirin, Tylenol, penicillin, antibiotics, cough syrup... you name it, for the most part I can't take it.  Everytime I have gone to the doctor, whatever they prescribed  (and yes, I always go into a detailed list of known incompatibilities and the subsequent allergic reaction) has resulted in an allergic reaction of varying degrees.  So what is the point of going to the doctor I ask you?!?!?  Not much point in it if you ask me.... but oh well..

So, getting back to the story..... the rash was just weird enough that we thought it would be good to have it checked...  The appointment was set and this time it was going to work, darn it all!!!

So we headed to the doctor... sat in the waiting room... followed a nice but distant nurse to the scale (why, oh why does that HAVE to be a step in seeing the doctor?!?!?) measured my height, then we  answered questions.... we waited some more.... the doctor came in, examined my rash, asked a lot more questions and left, another nurse came in, she was very nice... until she stabbed me in the throat with a Q-tip, I thought she was supposed to lightly "swab" the back of it... I didn't realize she was going for a killing blow!!! Many coughs/gags later, the doctor came back, prescribed some medicine, tried to sell me some sort of vaccination, no thank you, and then sent me to be exsanguinated! After giving away a lot of my life giving blood, guess I didn't need to have as much as I thought to survive (btw, first time getting blood drawn where she found the vein on the first try, it usually takes about 3-4 ) I was sent home, prescription in hand, to a speedy recovery!!! YEAHY, I might make my trip to San Diego after all!!! 

Oh wait, I don't think I had mentioned that yet! But yes, all this drama is mainly because I was trying to get better in hopes of being able to go to San Diego tomorrow. Fun, food and general relaxation was the order of business and we were going to meet Migey and Mindee down there so they could share all of that with us...

On our way home we stopped to pick up my prescription... question: how long does it take to grab a box of pills off the shelf put it in the bag, then count 15 pills of another medication and put those into a bottle, add that to the bag and give it to the waiting, SICK, patient?!?  approximately 40min... it's a good thing I wasn't terminal, otherwise I might have died waiting for the saving medication to be counted out!! :P

Finally got home, took the prescribed medication, had some food and laid down for some much needed rest.  About 3 hrs after the fact, a glance at a passing mirror revealed the horrible truth!!! No, this doctor's visit wasn't going to be any different. What had been a mild and irritating rash had now turned into bright red, angry hives that covered about 90% of my body, face included.... Freaking out ensued!! Panic showed up to the party and a righteous anger was coronated king of the Emotions!!!  So we called the clinic back and got the on call doctor, who fortunately was the one I had seen that day, so I was spared the task of having to explain all of the events of the day. She suggested that I take some Benadryl and see if that helped.  Another trip to the store... thankfully Benadryl is an over the counter medicine so we were able to skip the 40min wait time and just purchase the stupid thing..

Miracle of miracles, it actually worked and got rid fo the rash! Yeahy!!!   Unfortunately though, it only treats the symptoms so whenever its effects go away the rash returns.... redder, angrier, more painful and much much itchier!!  (is that a word?!?!?)

So now I am going to miss my San Diego trip, I am still sick, and I have a rash from hell that won't go away... fun times!

A big thanks goes to Dana for taking such good care of me while I have been sick! You are the best!

On a interesting note..... yesterday, authorities restrained and removed a 200lbs black bear romt he parking lot of an apartment complex a block from my doctors office, while we were there!!  Where it came from noone knows.... but it will be released back into the wild once the tranquillazer wears off!

I guess it was just fated to be a weird day!


Till next time.....

He said what?!?!?

Heard in Church today, during Sacrament meeting:
"Mommy, can we just go and sit in the car? This is boring."

Well, when I was little sitting in the car was a pretty harsh punishment.... what happened??!  It was pretty funny and cute though! :)


Till next time....

Yay!! Chinese food in the awesome little containers!!!!

Ok, so when I first moved to America (many, many years ago)  there were a few things that I was really excited about....

1. Hot dogs Stands!!! (WOOT!!)
2. Driving at 16
3. Chocolate Chip cookies
4. High school (that was before I actually went there.... )
5.  Drive Thru!!
6. Finally being able to understand song lyrics!!
7. Snow!!
8. And ordering Chinese takeout that comes in those adorable take out containers!!

If this sounds a little crazy you must remember that I was only 15yrs old when we moved here and as such I didn't have the wisdom I do now!  =D   (and if you believe that you don't know me very well!!)

 

So after many years in the States I can finally say that I have crossed out everything from my list, last of which, surprisingly enough, was getting Chinese takeout!! I know, I know, very hard to believe, but there it is!!  Not that I have never ordered Chinese takeout before... it's just that it never came in those awesome containers like you see in the movies!!

 

To commemorate the occasion... and to show what I am referring to, I have immortalized our meal for all time and eternity!!   or until my hard drive dies and I lose all my pictures!!

 

Yeahy baby!

Chow Mein - check

White Rice - check

Lemon Chicken - check

Way more Fortune cookies than we wanted or will eat - check!!

And so it went... oh so delicious.... even more so because of the containers it came in... oh and did I forget to mention that it was Delivery?!?!  At no extra charge mind you?!?!? Yay for Chinese!!!

Till next time...

Will the Pain..ting EVER STOP?!?!

OK, so it was 3 and a half years ago when we had the brilliant idea of having me quit my job while Dana was also jobless and just out of school; figuring we could make ends meet by actually putting effort and time into Custom Kingdoms. I mean, why couldn't we make bundles of money selling our totally awesome terrain to crazed wargamers with more money than they knew what to do with it?!?  No reason at all..... except that you have to spend money to make money... and we had little to spend!!  And oh, yes, I guess you do need to advertise your business..... just so the people who want to give you gobs and gobs of money can find you!!!   You would think we would have thought of that.....  sigh...

Anyways, when it became apparent that no, it wasn't going to be making enough money and Dana still didn't have a job, we went into super cheap mode and prayed for a miracle!!!  Some time, and several miracles later, Dana now has a great job and we are doing ok.  Custom Kingdoms has been holding its own, not making us gobs of money but enough extra to get us where we need to be.  That was until October 2010 when our little side project became a frenzy of activity and stress!!!

In the past 6 months we have made more money with Custom Kingdoms than the previous 3 yrs put together!!! Which is in turn awesome and frightnening.....

There is no reason for it to have happened when it did.... we didn't do any extra advertising, we didn't go to any shows or any of the other million things you do when you try to promote a business. Of course this great success came right AFTER we decided to move into a smaller place because hey, no need for the bigger house when we don't need the extra room for Custom Kingdoms.... sigh...

So now are squished in this little appartment that has been completely taken over by Custom Kingdoms and we are constantly trying to catch up to our orders!!  Gasp!!

So the question remains.... will the PAINTING EVER STOP??!?!  But then again, do I really want it to stop?!?!   I think I just need to start having kids so we can have them paint the houses :)  Yup, that sounds like a great plan :) 

on a side note, Dana just did some custom work and it looks amazing, check this out:

A graveyard complete with Crypt

A Blacksmith's Shop!

Here is a better picture of the interior

The Dreaded Gallows!!!

Pretty nifty uh?!?  He is awesome :)

Well for now we'll keep painting along and hoarding our new found money and success like Mr. Scrooge!

Till next time.....

6 Years Later.....

It's hard to believe that I have been married for 6yrs and one day!!!  Sometime it feels like it's already been forever and other times it's just like we barely said our "I Do's"  Does that make sense to anyone?

As I look back I am glad to see that we have been so blessed in our lives.... no that we haven't had any hard times, but rather that we have always been provided with all that we needed to get thru them.  We have a beautiful relationship and a healthy and exciting marriage!!! I can't wait for the next 6yrs and beyond!!

Here are a few fun facts I was reflecting on. Since we got married we have:

• Moved 5 times (almost once every year!!)
• Taken 3 International trips
• Gone on 9 road trips
• Taken 4 airplane trips
• Visited 6 different states and 2 foreign countries
• Had 2 pets
• Had 10 different jobs between the 2 of us
• Had 12 different callings in the Church between the 2 of us
• Started our own business
• Been broke 4 times (always dug ourselves out!!)
• Had accounts with 5 different banks
• Had 4 cars
• Replaced 10 car tires (what is up with that??!?!? Doesn't this number seem a little high?!?)
• Gone thru 10 cell phones between the 2 of us
• Bought 5 computers (plus endless parts for my piece of junk machine!!)
• And we have had way more fun than it's probably allowed!! :)

For the next phase of our lives I wouldn't change a thing!! ... well maybe a couple of things, like moving a little less.... and not go thru so many cell phones!!

I have been so blessed and am so grateful for all that I have and the people in my life.  Dana you are such a treasure to me and I will love you forever.


Till next time...

Valentine's day update...

So... remember when I said that I had the best husband?!?! Well, I am about to prove it... for Valentine's day he bought us a chocolate fountain machine with all the fixings (strawberries, bananas, rice krispy treats (no idea how to actually spell this....), marshmallows, cookies etc...) and Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" to watch while we gorged on over 2lbs of chocolate and I don't even want to know how much in dipping items......

Best night ever.... even the tummy ache afterward was totally worth it! :)

My guy really is the best!!

Now off to the gym to work out all this chocolate!!......

Yay! It's Valentine's Day!! :)

Every year, right around the middle of February something happens that turns one day into a special celebration!!  Though some say that it's just another day made "special" by greeting card companies to assuage their greed... I don't really see it that way :)  What can be more special than a day dedicated to celebrate LOVE?!?!?  if you ask me... nothing!!

I used to hate this day (I never really dated before I met my wonderful husband so I never had  a date for the big day) until I realized that it wasn't about me, or about what someone would do for me, this day is about telling the people you love how you feel and a day to make them feel special!
So date or no date, today is a GREAT DAY!!

..And also it's Migey's birthday! so that alone is cause for celebration!!

I am married to the most wonderful man in the world... (sorry all of you ladies out there... but I did see him first! ) He works so hard to provide for us, he is strong, righteous, a worthy priesthood holder, really funny and full of life, he is kind and generous, calm in the face of trials (namely an OCD wife!!) he never complains and is happy with whatever meal I prepare (yes, even the not so great ones!) he somehow manages to deal with all 10 Corinne's equally well and most of all he is not freaked out that there are ten of us! He pushes me and motivates me to be better, to do better and to try harder.   And so much more that I can hardly list everything!!  Today I want to celebrate him and tell him how much I love him and cherish him; my life is so much richer because of him.

To all of you out there whom I love, I take this opportunity to say how much you all mean to me, whether we are friends or family, or both!! I am truly grateful that you are in my life and that I get to share this journey with all of you.

And to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ I wish to say that my life would be meaningless without Them in it. Their love and support of me is what gets me thru and inspires me to work hard to become more like Them. There is no greater example of love than that which we read of in the scriptures and that which we fell as The Lord's Spirit and Comforter touches us in our times of need.

John 3:16-17
"For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should no perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world may be saved"

May your Valentine's Day be filled with love for those around you and may we all be a bit kinder, more understanding and more open with one another and make this day one to remember!!

Oh and don't forget to hug and kiss your Valentine, because without him/her it wouldn't be as sweet!

Till Next time....

Gasp!!

Gasp!! It's been 5 weeks since I posted anything..... too much work to do and not enough brain cells to do everything!  At least we are making money! :)

I'll have to write more later... I just didn't want my blog to feel alone and forgotten!!!


Till next time.....

CAKE!!!

So, for my first post of 2011 I wanted to do something cool..... and it was really hard to think of something I could blog about that was indeed cool.... for those of you that know me you can see how this could have been the case! ;)

Then today I made the most spectacular cake and thought! AHA! that's cool, I should blog about it!!  And guess what?!?!? I actually have pictures to attach to this post! another first for me!!  So, here is picture number one..... (If I can figure out how to do this....)

Alright, here it is!! and it's a thing of beauty if I do say so myself!!

Cake ID:

• Base: Delicious Italian Sponge Cake
• Filling: Chocolate Ganache and fresh Blackberries
• Garnish: Homemade whipping cream, chocolate ganace, fresh blackberries and sponge cake crumbs!!!

Results: AWESOME!!

Here is a view of the delicious inside!!

Ah, the slice of pie that was consumed by me!! no wait... this was consumed by the Birthday boy, Callen, it was for him that I made this cake.

This is what is left of the cake as of now.... not sure if it will make it to tomorrow ;)



It was a lot of work... and I forgot to soak the sponge cake so it was a little heavy but the chocolate ganache make up for all of that... and yes it is loaded!!

(I don't know why all of our pictures come out so dark... this apartment must make our camera feel depressed.... we have tried everything to get them lighter... nothing has worked so far.. sigh )

A great thanks goes out to Dana for sifting the flour for me, most of it made into the bowl!! ;) Another thanks goes to the box that gave up it's shape so I could have the base the cake sits on, I couldn't have done it without you!!  And a great big thanks to whoever invented chocolate ganache, this world is so much better because of it!! Oh, and thanks to Callen for having a birthday that brought all of this about!!

Till next time........
Corinne

P.S.  I can hear the cake calling me!!!!