Monthly Archives: February 2015

Speaking of sharks and my daughter…

Speaking of sharks and my daughter…

I want to share the beautiful job she did on my grandson’s birthday cake that same year: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAShe bought a basic white cake with white buttercream, then added vanilla wafer crumb sand and colored blue Cool-Whip waves. She molded that shark from fondant herself, and beached it on the cake!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My daughter also embedded red gummy sharks in blue Jello and added Cool-Whip waves. I was able to give her a couple of tips because of something I tried with my students. I poured warm blue Jello over gummy fish, using only one orange one (for finding Nemo!) When the Jello set up, the gummies rose, belly-up, to the top; they took on a rubbery texture, and their color bled into the “water!” I covered the whole dish with whip cream waves, and it was edible (hungry eighth graders will eat just about anything!) Unless you want your creation to look like a toxic waste dump, let Jello set, and then push in any gummies you choose to use! Serve them soon, before they “bleed out!”

Shark Infested Soaps!

Shark Infested Soaps!
Shark Infested Soaps!

I’ve got quite a lot of catching up to do since my blog was hacked about a year ago. I hadn’t posted much for almost a year before that when I started taking care of my mother. I had mentioned some soaps that I had made as favors for my grandson’s third birthday party. Here are some photos:OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I bought a “TOOB” of toy sharks and placed them individually in some molds I already had. Then I melted some cubes (4/bar) of clear melt and pour soap in a Pyrex mixing cup in the microwave. I added a drop or two of blue soap coloring, but no fragrance, as some little kids are sensitive.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I didn’t use the usual alcohol spritz to get rid of bubbles, either. I thought the waters should be foamy, so I gave the melted soap an extra stir before I poured it. I filled the molds, leaving dorsal fins and sometimes tails exposed. I confess to making a lot of “dun uh, dun uh” Jaws music noises while I was working! I left the soaps to harden on their own. (You can refrigerate them to speed up hardening, but when they come out of the fridge, water will condense on them, making them wet and slimy. You have to wait for them to dry, so you might as well wait for them to harden at room temperature. I made these in my kitchen, but I have a “soap station” in the basement where I usually work. The cool air down there is perfect for soaping and there’s a dehumidifier that keeps the soaps from “sweating.”)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My husband packaged the soaps for me in clear cellophane bags, and my daughter added them to favor bags for the children. (I’ll see if she has a photo of the favor table.) One father sent my son-in-law a message that the soap was a big hit with his son, and had to be used in the bath that very night!

Learning already!

Learning already!

Well, it seems that there are themes on WordPress that are similar to the templates on Blogger. I am using the Interiors theme which includes the repeat of your first photo as a “Featured Photo.” It is centered and larger than the original photo. That is why it appeared that photos had been imported twice. You can remove the original, and the featured photo stays put in this theme. If you change themes, and choose one that does not have the “featured photo” option, you lose that original photo.

Hmmn, so what to do? I created a folder called, “Blog photos” in “My Pictures.” I am right clicking on the featured photo in each post in this theme, and saving a copy to “Blog photos.” I have only edited a couple of pages, so it shouldn’t take long to save copies of the deleted originals.

Now, I need to decide if I’m going to continue using the Interiors theme, or choose another. You can create a preview if you “install” the theme on your dashboard. Each theme has different options for customizing. One thing I’d like to change about Interiors is the font size and the post title color (pale gray on beige.) I can’t. I do like that I can change the header image and the background color. I can also add an image as a background. That’s too busy for the bold, simple, focused design I’m wanting, now. Who knows what I’ll want tomorrow? I’m just going to look at it and think for a day or two.

Success!!! (I hope)

Success!!! (I hope)

Well, what do you know! After months of being hacked at blogger.com, I have moved my blog to WordPress! It only took 23 hours to import everything! It looks like it imported two of every photo, but that can be fixed! There’s still a lot to modify, but whew, this feels good!