Every year for the past 10 years, I have spent the day before the girls’ birthday party creating their requested custom cake.  This carries on an important family tradition handed down both from John’s side of the family and mine.

In John’s family, it all started with the bear in the wagon – the traditional first birthday cake for all John’s siblings and cousins that took 4 boxes of cake mix and three people working all day to accomplish.  On my side of the family, the most famous and remembered cake was the doll cake, with an actual doll IN the cake and the cake as her large, old-fashioned hoop dress.

For me, the annual cake odyssey has become a welcomed challenge.  No two cakes are ever the same and they are all custom designed and made, so I know no child will ever have a cake like my kids have!  Past years’ cakes have included Caillou, Dora and Backpack, Blue from Blue’s Clues, Elmo, Bert & Ernie, Pocahontas, a 3-D lamb, a 3-D barn with barnyard and silo, and the unforgettable Amazon bowling cake.

This year, I decided to document what goes into making one of my custom cakes!  I start with the kids’ request and an idea.  Sometimes, there is a Wilton cake pan for their request, which makes things much easier.  Usually there isn’t, so I go from scratch.  This year, a unicorn was requested.  It was to be white with a blue mane and tail and a pink horn (my children have very definite ideas about their cakes!).  This clip art I found online made the perfect pattern.

Next, I cut the cake into the shape I need.  I started with two 9×13 cakes, blew the clip art up to the size I needed, then cut around the paper.  Easy!  (The lines have nothing to do with anything – they are lines from the cooling racks when I turned the cakes out and righgt side up again!)

Where the paper ran off the cake, I cut pieces to create what I needed (like for the mane and head).  I made my unicorn a bit fatter than the picture to waste less cake and feed more people.  I also had trouble with the curvy tail, so I just made it straight.  There are no rules, so sometimes you have to make things up as you go along!

Next comes what’s called a “crumb coat” of frosting.  This is a thin, easily spread layer which seals in the crumbs and binds the various pieces of cake together into a whole.

After the crumb coat, I start the decorating.  I start with the smallest color or area first – in this case the blue mane, tail, and hooves.  I also add some piped detail to show the legs, body, nose, and eye.

Next comes the l-o-n-g part – piping white stars onto the body.  It took 6 bags of frosting to cover the white areas alone!  I made 12 cups of frosting altogether for this cake.  In this picture, the stars are only half piped.  I used Wilton tip #21 and the cake is sitting on a full sheet cake board, so that gives you an idea of the size!

When the cake was fully piped, it was time to add the unicorn horn.  I took a waffle ice cream cone and stuffed it full of cake.  Then I iced it with thinned buttercream colored pink, sprinkled it with pink sugar, an shoved it into the cake, keeping my fingers crossed that it would stay.  So far, so good!  I added some pink detailing to the ear to pull in more of the pink color.

And finally, I added the words, piped in more thinned pink frosting.

Happy birthday to my two quickly growing-up girls!

Hysteria annoys and appalls me.  Today at church, instead of greeting fellow congregants with a handshake or hug, it was suggested that we bow – to be sensitive to the people who are worried about catching the so-called “swine flu.”

First, this viral strain has as much to do with birds as pigs.  It’s a hybrid pig-bird-human flu strain with no demonstrable link to pigs at all.  The more appropriate name is H1N1.  So let’s get some perspective on the H1N1 flu:

People in the world: 6,777,490,406

Confirmed cases of H1N1 world-wide: 900

Cases of H1N1 in Ohio: 1

Deaths from H1N1 in Ohio: 0

Deaths from H1N1 worldwide: 20

Incubation period of the H1N1 flu: one week

So unless you’ve been to Mexico in the last week – or interacted with someone who has – you have no mathematically rational reason to be concerned about catching H1N1. But apparently, many people are not rational.

Maybe the price of pork will go down.

My life has many soundtracks.  Sesame Street and Walt Disney songs are my earliest recollections.  I had a kid’s record player and still have singles like “There Are Five People in My Family,” “It’s Not That Easy Being Green,” “The Alphabet Song.”  I was also a big fan of the Mickey Mouse Club.  Old time-y church hymns also remind me of my childhood.  (I’m Lutheran; we sing – lots!) Not so many weeks ago, “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again” in church brought tears to my eyes and the ghostly sound of Grandma Wilt’s strong singing voice right to my mental ear.

I remember the raging musical debates over Shaun Cassidy and some other pop star (maybe Andy Gibb?) at the time when I was in 3rd grade.  I remember not caring much about either one as a singer, except that Shaun Cassidy was one of the Hardy Boys on TV, so I put myself into his camp.  I did have a Shaun Cassidy album I found at a garage sale.  It skipped during “Da Doo Run Run“.

My dad was a HUGE Beach Boys fan.  We’d listen to “Endless Summer” on 8-track in the sky-blue 1970 Chrysler convertible while cruising home from wherever.  That album is still THE summer album of choice and must never EVER be played in the winter unless you are in Florida.  I think the Beach Boys were the first group I saw in concert at Blossom Music Center – with my parents.  It didn’t even feel weird.

My mom liked lots of music, but the Lettermen stand out in my mind.  We saw them live at the Front Row in Cleveland.  The seating was circular, around the stage which itself turned.  It was a neat place.  My mom also liked show tunes, though I don’t remember having tapes or albums of anything but “Annie.”

I think I got my first walkman when I was 12.  The whole world was amazed at the thought of carrying your music with you in your pocket (pockets were LARGE back then).  The first tapes that I personally owed were Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”  I have no idea why I received those – I know I didn’t ask for them, but they were “hot” at the time, I guess.

Jesus Loves Me was sung at my 8 year old sister’s funeral when I was 12; my kids don’t get why that one makes me cry in church sometimes but one day maybe they’ll understand.

I went to high school in the 1980’s, so those are the “oldies but goodies” for me.  Certain songs conjure very specific memories of school dances, but nothing I can recall specifically at the moment.

When I started dating, every boyfriend of significance left his own musical mark on my life.  My first serious boyfriend was – and still is – a Mannheim Steamroller fan.   The next long-term boyfriend was a serious Rush fan.  Tom Sawyer is my favorite Rush song.  The Beatles will always make me think of  John. And John Denver, too. I sang the Steven Curtis Chapman song “I Will Be Here” for John at our reception.  Still don’t know how I pulled it off without crying.  I was the only one NOT teary.

Some music crosses life stages. The “Jesus Christ, Superstar” album always comes out this time of year.  I have vivid recollections of my younger self flopped on the rainbow-colored shag carpet on the floor in front of the  entertainment center in our “New Room” trying to follow along with the lyrics inside the album and figure out their meaning.

The several hours of Christmas music my dad taped from the radio some year became THE Petersen Christmas tape, the one we always decorated the tree to.  I still have the original tape with his handwriting listing the songs and singers.  One of John’s most thoughtful Christmas gifts to me was splicing that tape back together when it broke and digitizing it so I would have it forever.  I wouldn’t let him edit it, though.  The skips in the “on, on they send; on without end” part of “Carol of the Bells” still give me chills.

The Sound of Music meant staying up late to watch the whole movie as a kid, then going to the real places in Europe on the oh-so-cheesy but fun “Sound of Music” tour.  We using the wedding processional from the movie in our wedding (sans the ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria’ motif, though that might have been apt foreshadowing!) and later went on the same Sound of Music tour together and stood in the church where that wedding scene was filmed.

When we had kids, we knew each one needed to have a special song and a special mix CD.  Emily’s song was “Baby Mine” from Dumbo and her CD is called Schinklet Songs (because “Schinklet” was what we called her before she was born!).  We used “Borning Cry” at her baptism (and for the seating of the moms at our wedding.  I cannot even hear the first few notes without tearing up!)

Megan’s song is “La La Lu,” the lullaby from Lady and the Tramp.  Her CD is called Toddler Tunes because we like alliteration – and also had a toddler running around by then.  “You Are a Masterpiece” was the song sung at Meg’s baptism.  I have the sheet music saved in case she grows up and has never heard it.  It’s a gorgeous song.

James Keelaghan’s music has been a large part of our family life.  We discovered and heard him live before we had kids; several of his songs are on our kids’ mix CD’s; and we’ve heard him in concert every few years for a while now (when he can make it down from Canada).  A few years back, we took the kids to hear him live in Kent and this coming May, he’s going to be in Columbus so we are all going down to hear him again.

There are probably more songs in my life’s soundtrack, but this post is long enough for now.  HUGE hat tip to Bonnie at Crib Chronicles for the inspiration for this post!

Part of my most recent blogging hiatus can be blamed on Plurk, a social microblogging site I discovered in December of 2008.  Though I haven’t stayed up ’til all hours  – or even all night – chatting like I did when I discovered my first online community in college in 1990, I have met many neat people from literally around the world.

Two of my Plurk friends – one from Vancouver, Canada and one from York, England – are poised to meet face-to-face next week, and they are both a bit nervous about it.  This post about one of my earliest face-to-face encounters with an online friend is largely for their benefit.

Back in the old days of the internet (1989-1990), this whole online chatting-connecting-texting phenomenon was in its infancy.  I came home from Europe, fell out of a three-year romantic relationship I’d had since high school, and found respite in a strange new digital world, albeit one basically restricted to the campus on which I was attending college.  I fell in love with VMS Phone, a comparatively primitive messaging system through which you could actually talk by typing in real time to people who were simultaneously online on campus.  Radical!  It was neat to watch each letter appear as the other person typed (there was no “instant” in instant messaging in those days!).

I spent hours glued to either my own computer or to a computer in one of the campus labs, unless it was time for class, studying, or a broomball game (my favorite sport, but that’s for another post).  I even joined MCUG (Miami Computer Users Group) so I could meet face to face the people I was “meeting” online.

In addition to VMS Phone, our school network had installed CoSy, a bulletin board system.  With this software, anyone on campus could create a profile, basically an info page about themselves.  If there was no one online with whom to chat on VMS Phone, I’d sometimes go browse the profiles on CoSy.  Mostly, I just read the profiles, but every so often, I’d find someone who looked interesting and I’d email them a message.

On March 27th, 1990 (or so I’m told), I sent one such message to someone who I thought, from his profile, might have gone to school with some girls who transferred into my high school.  He didn’t know them, but we got to talking about lots of other things via email.  Frequently. Long-windedly.

Eventually, there was a MCUG meeting coming up and I invited him to come so we could meet face-to-face.  He begged off, saying he had too much Calc II homework.  I went anyway and did what people always did at MCUG meetings: plopped down at a computer, logged on, and chatted with people all over the room via computer.  Pretty soon, I saw that HE was online.  I promptly chastised him for saying he had too much work when he clearly had time to be online.  He asked how I knew he WASN’T there.

Well, THAT got my attention!  So I ripped my eyes away from the screen and looked around the room, only to find a guilty looking, grinning guy sitting DIRECTLY BEHIND me.  He had been there the whole time!  Apparently, the plan was to scope me out and make sure I wasn’t hideous before he admitted to being in the room.  This was easy to do, since I was one of only two women in MCUG at the time.

To make a long story short(er), our 15 year wedding anniversary comes up October 22, 2009!

So I don’t worry about meeting online friends face to face.  It’s always turned out ok for me.

Email is NOT new. Email as we know it has been around for at least 25 years. If email were a person, (s)he would be well past drinking age and probably married with kids by now.

I apologize if you’re the choir and I’m preaching, but I need to get this out of my system.  (In my defense, I lasted almost a year and a half longer than John at Taste of Tech before blogging this.  He has particular problems with #7 and #9 ).

DEBBIE’S TOP 10 EMAIL DO’S AND DON’TS

1.  DON’T forward ANY email that says, “Forward this to all your friends.”  Ever. Period.  You know the old question, “If you friends all jumped off a bridge…”  Expect a terse email back if you send these types of emails regularly to me.

2.  DON’T forward every “funny” email you receive, and especially don’t forward them to me.  I’ve probably already seen them.  MAYBE send me the occasional REALLY GOOD ONE if you truly think I’d enjoy it.  Only my dad can get away with sending every dumb email “joke” email he gets – and even HE is going to get reprimanded one of these days!

3.  DO use the “bcc” – blind carbon copy – line and not the “to” line if you insist on forwarding the types of emails listed in #1 and #2.  If you don’t use BCC, you have just potentially sent my email address to thousands of people without my permission.  That makes me grumpy.

4.  DO check SNOPES.COM before sending me a “warning” you received via email.  I know you are well-intentioned, but the thing against which you are warning me is most likely bogus, wrong, or outdated.

5.  DON’T send an email that says only, “Thanks.”  And especially don’t “reply all” with a “thanks” email!

6.  DON’T TYPE EVERYTHING IN CAPITAL LETTERS.  IT MAKES YOU SEEM LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING AND IT IS RUDE!

7.  DO use “Reply All” if you answer via email a question I emailed you with other people copied in.  Otherwise, I just have to forward your message to the other people, which wastes my time.

8.  DON’T click on any links in email.  Copy the link location and paste it into your browser.  Just because your friend sent the email to you doesn’t mean your friend checked it for viruses OR didn’t pick up a virus from another “friend.”

9.  DON’T send an email with a blank subject line.  It only takes a few seconds to title your email.  If it’s important enough to send, it’s important enough to title.  I know people who won’t answer or even acknowledge emails with blank subject lines.

10. DO keep all emails you send for at least a year, if not longer, and DO create a folder filing system for your incoming emails.  It’s simple, it’s fast, and it saves me from having to re-send something you should already have.

So there you go.  I feel so much better!

Before I posted this, I did an informal survey of my Plurk friends.  Their most annoying pet peeves were #1, #2, and #9.  It’s nice to know I am not alone!

So do me a favor and email the link to this blog post to anyone you know who is still email illiterate.  And if a friend sent you to this blog post, don’t be mad, be grateful!  For every one friend who tells you that you are annoying, there are probably 10 who are thinking it and letting you stay that way.

Sometimes, the simple solution staring us in the face still eludes us.

I’ve had a mini-van for over 7 years, and for at least 5 of those years, the placement of the plastic garbage cans has caused me a problem: they get in the way of my sliding door.  I have long, unsightly white scratches on my van door from frequent collision with the cans.  Until today, it was a problem without a solution.

There’s simply no better place for the garbage cans than where they are.  Slimmer cans are not to be found.  My van won’t fit on the other side of the garage without MAJOR rearranging, and there are sliding doors on both sides anyhow.

But this morning, I came home knowing I would be leaving twice more.  I usually crawl through the front seats from/to the passenger side to get in and out, but in the winter THAT becomes a major pain with drippy, heavy boot on my feet.  So I decided to back into the garage for today. That’s when I noticed that when I’m backed in, the garbage cans are not in the way at all!

My front door clears the pole, the sliding doors are obstruction free, and the problem is solved!

I know why I had never considered this solution before.  Somewhere along the way, I picked up the impression that backing into the garage wasn’t as safe as pulling in forward because exhaust fumes get trapped in the front part of the garage instead of being vented out the large open door in the back.  It probably does increase the amount of trapped fumes, but cars today emit a lot less exhaust.  I don’t ever idle my car in the garage so I bet the “increased risk” is minimal, if measurable at all.

Just to be safe, I posted over in NPR’s Car Talk forum to see what others had to say.  But at this point, I’m pretty sure the increased blood pressure I experience every time my car door hits the garbage can is a larger health risk than the exhaust fumes.

From now on, I’m backing in.  Problem solved!

It’s been 12 momentous hours.  More words have and will be written about this day than one person could read in a lifetime.  People far more qualified an insightful than I will dissect every aspect of this day.

There’s no doubt that President Obama is an outstanding orator and an inspiring leader.

“We will extend a hand, if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.”

“Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed.”

“We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.”

“We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and nonbelievers.”

Wow.  And yes.  To it all.

Let me add just a few personal, and uncharacteristically non-sentimental observations on the day.

1.  President Obama spoke thousands of words today.  Many were well-crafted, profound, thought-provoking.  But these words, spoken near the beginning of his remarks at the Congressional luncheon after the swearing-in ceremony, stopped me in my tracks:

“I want to think the devoted staff and volunteers, including our wait staff here today who were putting up with me wandering through the tables.  It’s always hazardous duty serving in a room full of politicians, but I thank all of you for just an incredible, incredible event.”

In the midst of his 12 hour marathon academy acceptance speech, he thanked the luncheon wait staff.  Complete class.

2.  President Obama is left handed like me.  I didn’t know that until I saw him sign his first official documents, then I noticed immediately.  He is only the 8th left-handed president in history.  (I love the internet!)  Here’s the list.  This is also a cute article that discusses his lefty-ness.

3.  The watch President Obama wore to the inaugural balls was ugly!  A big clunky, chunky black thing – ugh.  But it’s interesting that he wears a watch.  So though he’s young, he’s not quite young enough to be of the “let me check my cell phone for the time” generation.  The 39 your old me likes that, because I am still a watch person myself.

4.  He’s been in office just over 12 hours and he’s already starting to fulfill campaign promises. Within the last hour, he suspended for 120 days proceedings involving prisoners at Guantanamo.  And there’s this from the new, improved, and completely redesigned www.whitehouse.gov website that went online at 12 noon:

“One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.”

What?  We get to SEE and COMMENT ON legislation pending signature? Yes.  And wow.  (Go sign up for the White House blog RSS feed – and if you don’t know how to do it or what “RSS” even means, I challenge you to go find out and learn something new!)

History’s been made.  The future awaits.

I was going to blog about something totally different today, then I found this article in my Google reader.  Apparently, cosmetics manufacturers and retailers were caught colluding to fix prices.  Their “punishment” is a requirement to give away product for free.  And no, this is NOT a hoax!

If you puchased a cosmetic item in the last 10 years, you should read this document closely because starting THIS TUESDAY, January 20th, 2009 you might be eligible to receive one free cosmetic item.

Now, I don’t wear makeup very much.  I probably buy makeup once every 5 or 6 year, in flagrent disregard of all the warnings that you should replace your makeup every 6 months.  But even I do legitimately qualify for a freebie under the terms of this settlement.

No receipt or proof of purchase is needed, but this is a “first come, first served, while it lasts” offer, so I suggest getting to the store bright and early on Tuesday.  And I am printing a copy of the settlement and the Snopes.com page in the very likely event that I run into a clueless store employee.

Happy freebie shopping, everyone!

With the internet, it is easy to learn something new everyday.  Now, whether what I learn is particularly USEFUL is a different matter altogether!  Take the concept of “yak-shaving.”

What I’ve learned from SkyDaddy and Seth Godin is that “yak-shaving” is the term given to first thing you have to do to accomplish what you really want to accomplish.  A comprehensive example is given here on Seth’s blog, but here’s a personal example that popped into my mind.

Let’s say I want to wash a particular load of laundry, but I find that there is already a load in the washer.  I need to dry that load, but there’s a load in the dryer already.  THAT load needs to get upstairs, but there are no laundry baskets – they are all full of clean kid clothes.  I need to put the kids’ clean clothes away, but the weather has turned colder and there is no room in their drawers for winter clothes.  I need to make room by removing the summer clothes, but I have no more storage tubs.  So in order to do the laundry, I have to go to the store and buy some storage tubs OR clean out existing tubs and take clothes to Goodwill.  Yak-shaving!

Now, according to SkyDaddy, a yak-shaving razor is a tip or tidbit of information that helps you shave the yak faster or helps you avoid shaving the yak altogether.  This lengthy introduction-cum-explanation (whew!) is leading to my five yak razors:  tidbits of information I know which others may not.  I aspire to be a Renaissance woman, a Jill-of-All-Trades, if you will, so my tips cover a variety of subjects!

#1.  Cooking: If you are out of eggs and in the middle of a recipe that calls for some, you can substitute mayonnaise. Use 3 to 5 tablespoons of mayo in place of each egg.  This usually makes your recipe much more rich, so don’t try it in anything that’s supposed to be low fat!

#2.  Sports: Good downhill skiing happens from the waist down. Your upper body is basically along for the ride, centered over your skis.  Once you feel what it’s like to put this into practice, you will float over the snow!

#3.  Relationships:  Keeping secrets from your spouse is the same as lying, which undermines your relationship. If you’re buying a Christmas present, planning a surprise party, or arranging a romantic weekend away, then secret-keeping is temporary and fine.  Otherwise, you are laying the groundwork for marital problems.  I am always amazed and saddened by people who admit to keeping secrets like their shopping habits, sexual fantasies, and life dreams from their spouses.  If you can’t talk about these things with your spouse, with whom CAN you talk about them?!

Corollary:  Anyone who asks you not to tell your spouse something is asking you to lie.  I always refuse.  If you tell me, you’d better assume John will know it, too!

#4.  Organizing:  It’s much harder to change your habits than to change how you deal with your habits. Example A:  if you’ve always thrown your clothes in a pile by your bed, put a laundry basket there and fold/put away when the basket gets full. Example B:  If your mail accumulates in a particular spot, put some paper bins there so you can sort the mail immediately. Example C: Put a hook in the wall where you always throw your keys.  (Learned from Julie Morgenstern’s book “Organizing from the Inside Out” which truly changed my life!)

#5. There is NOTHING you cannot learn if you really want to! Sure, some things take more effort and time to learn than others.  Along the way, you may discover you don’t want to make the effort (that was my conclusion about learning to play the guitar, even though I love the sound of it!), but that doesn’t mean you CAN’T learn.

So there you have my 5 yak razors.  Bravo if you got this far in my lengthy post!

I’m not sure this topic really works as a meme since it requires so much explanation, but if you have nuggests of information you’d like to share, and no one interested in hearing them, consider yourself tagged!  Feel free to leave your razors as comments or blog about them yourself and leave a link back to your site in the comments.

I haven’t felt the need for resolutions this New Years, perhaps because the last seven months have been a time of focused change for me. But I know lots of other people are making goals, some for the first time in their lives. This post is for them.

As with everything, there are no hard and fast rules for setting goals, but there ARE some tricks and tips that could help you set goals that last beyond January 15th! One of my favorites, that I have used for years and taught to many other, revolves around the acronym SMART.

I mentioned SMART goals in a past post, but I really didn’t elaborate aside from linking to this summary website, which is an excellent resource! A SMART goal has these five characteristics:

* It is Specific.
* It is Measurable.
* It is Attainable or Achievable.
* It is Realistic or Relevant.
* It is Time-Bound or Tangible.

SPECIFIC - What do you REALLY want to do? Lets say your goal is to lose 50 pounds. That’s a great start! But WHEN do you want to do this? A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a vague one.

Make sure you can answer the 5 W’s: who (you), what (lose 50 pounds), when (by 12/31/2009), where (from my body!), why (hmmm…) Sometimes the “why” ’s the hardest, but most critical one to answer! When you hit the wall and feel like giving up on the goal, remembering your “why” can get you back on track.

MEASURABLE - How will you know when you’ve reached your goal? How will you measure success? When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continue the effort required to reach your goal.

Some goals are inherently more concrete than others (“lose 505 pounds” versus “learn to ski” for example). But all goals can be measured in one way or another. “Learn to ski” might mean being good enough to make it down a certain run in control without falling or it might mean completing 5 ski lessons.

ATTAINABLE or ACHIEVABLE - When you tap into your true inner goals, the things you truly most want to accomplish, you find ways to make them happen. Your desire to accomplish creates your ability to accomplish. You start to discover the means to achieve your goals.

In other words, attainability or achievability is largely determined by your true inner perception. Change the little voice inside your head that tells you that you can’t, believe that you are not only able, but deserve to accomplish your goal, and you can accomplish anything!

REALISTIC OR RELEVANT - In general, goal attainment doesn’t just happen by chance. You have to be both willing and able to work toward it. This takes motivation and focus.

Why do most New Years resolutions fade away after a few weeks? Our motivation, which was strong when we were on vacation and feeling the clean slate of a new year, fades when we lose focus within life’s daily distractions.

Don’t plan to do things if you are unlikely to follow through. Better to plan only a few things and be successful rather than many things and be unsuccessful. Start small, with what you can do, experience the joys of meeting your goal, and only then gradually increase the amount of work that you ask of yourself. Setting goals in which every minute of your day or every penny of your money are accounted for is unrealistic; unplanned events will crop up and wreak havoc with your schedule. Give yourself some flexibility so that you continue to experience success through unpredictable change (this is hardest but probably most critical for us type-A perfectionists who want ti done perfectly or not at all!).

TIME BOUND or TANGIBLE - Setting a time-frame for a goal, as discussed under “specific” up above, is so critical that it deserves to be re-iterated here. I have heard it stated that a goal is a dream with a time-frame! The time-frame can also impact the attainability and realism of a goal. Trying to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks is a far different and more achievable goal than trying to lose 50 pounds in 5 days.

But a good goal should also be tangible, meaning able to be experienced with one of your 5 senses (taste, touch, hearing, smell, or sight). When you lose 50 pounds, you will FEEL your clothes fit better and SEE a healthier person in the mirror. A tangible goal is more likely to specific and measurable, which means a greater likelihood of attainability.

So – what are your SMART goals right now? I can’t wait to hear how you are achieving them!!

If you are like me, the years seem to be rolling by at an ever dizzying pace. Didn’t it *just* turn to 2008?  Heck even 2000 seems like it was just a few short years ago!  And if you’re even more like me, you have items in your closet that have seen more than one decade.

Most of the items from high school are long gone.  I will admit to having and occasionally wearing (with slimming undergarments) the knit dress I wore for confirmation in 8th grade, which used to blouse and tie at the waist back then but is a nice slim, straight dress with no tie now!  And I probably look better now then I did then in the strapless dress I wore under my gown for college graduation.  Though the plastic stays leave marks around my middle now and the elastic back is certainly stretched more than it was, my cleavage has greatly improved!

But the point is, I keep clothes for a  l-o-n-g   t-i-m-e.  I don’t consider this a bad thing.  I’m not a clothes horse or fashionista, so I buy for durability and versatility, not current fashion.  Actually, my definition of current fashion is “what I feel like wearing today.”   I *like* most of my clothes and I do prune out what no longer flatters my figure.  But it started to annoy me to have to push aside items I never wear to get to the items I like.

So in December of 2007, when I read a blog post suggesting an easy way to keep track of what in your closet does – or does not – get worn over the course of a year, I thought, “I can do that – and it will be fun!”  So I did, and you can, too.  Here’s how:

1.  Turn every one of your closet hangers backward.

2.  Wear what you want, when you want, for the next year, but when you hang something back up, hang the hanger the right way – forward.

3.  In one year, you will know which clothes you HAVEN’T worn because the hangers will still be backward in your closet!

Isn’t that easy?  Hardly any work at all, really.  Just the kind of organizational system I like.

So today was closet clean-out day 2009.  Some of the items surprised me.  (What do you MEAN I haven’t worn my favorite suit in a year?  There’s no way I’m getting rid of it!  It fits well and looks good!)  In that case, I wrapped a white twist-tie around the top of the hanger and put it back in the closet.  Same with a few skirts and one blouse.  I’ll have to think hard about keeping them next year if they’ve gone a second year without wear.

But most of the items I hadn’t worn in a year got folded up for donation to charity:  hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law that didn’t match anything else I had, shirts I’d had since college, and dresses from my mom’s storage unit that made me look 60 years old.  It felt great to get them OUT of my closet.  I have more hangers, more room, and things in my closet that I love!

And when I’m out shopping for new ski pants this week to replace the ones I’ve had since high school that no longer stay snapped when I breathe (I’m sure it’s bad hardware causing that problem and not my leftover baby belly!), I might even be tempted to take a glance in the women’s section for some bargain clearance items.

Now I’m off to tackle my pants drawer.  I think there are 5 or 6 pairs of old stirrup pants that need to join the items from the closet…

Jen Wagner tagged me for this meme where I’m supposed to list 7 things you don’t know about me.  It seemed like the perfect post to revive my dormant blog in 2009.

Happy New Year!

#1.  I got a pony and joined 4-H when I was eight years old.  I was too inexperienced to ride at my first county fair, so I was the stable girl.  We won the Golden Shovel award because I shoveled stalls so well!  I got a huge pink ribbon and my my first picture in the local newspaper.  I still have both the ribbon and the newspaper article.

#2.  I studied & traveled in Europe for 7 months when I was 19 years old.  I happened to arrive in Vienna, Austria just before the funeral of the last Hapsburg queen.  There was NO PLACE to stay overnight and no trains where we were headed, so my three traveling companions and I accepted the offer of a stranger in the train station to stay in the living room at his “boarding house.”  We slept on the floor in a roughly constructed “living room” and never saw another person there (he left as he was not, apparently, living there). It was very weird.  We left quickly very early the next morning when my friend woke up with a rose on her pillow!

#3.  In July 1992, I sang in Carnegie Hall with Akron’s Masterworks Chorale under the direction of THE John Rutter.  We sang Mozart’s Requiem and some Rutter works.  It was amazing!

#4.  I knew I wanted to marry John on December 28th, 1992 and wrote him a letter that day that I gave him when we got married.  He proposed on New Year’s Eve 1992, but we didn’t get married until October 22, 1994.  Sadly, the letter got lost sometime on our wedding day and was never seen again.

#5.  John planned our entire honeymoon himself and didn’t tell ANYONE  – including me – the destination.  I didn’t figure out where we were going until we got there – 24 hours after the wedding.  My mom insisted on knowing how to contact us in case of an emergency, so John said he’d leave her an envelope.  The envelope actually contained a note that said, “We’ll be back on October 29th” with no other info.  The envelope was never opened and is in our wedding scrapbook to this day!  My mom never knew.

#6.  When we learned we were going to have a baby, John and I read every book we could, went to all the recommended birthing classes and made a 3 page birth plan (yes, it’s in Emily’s scrapbook!).  Virtually nothing went according to plan – especially the emergency C-section.  In fact, “Nothing goes according to plan” is a pretty good definition of parenthood.  Megan was a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section), so I have experienced both type of infant deliveries.  (The C-section was MUCH easier!)

#7.  In our pre-romance years, John and I played pinball on a Williams Cyclone machine at the student center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  Three years ago this coming April, we found a full-sized, working 1988 Williams Cyclone pinball machine on Ebay which now lives in our basement.  This machine actually came from Middletown, Ohio near Oxford where we went to school!

So now you know FAR more about me than you wanted or needed to.  Apparently, the last step in this process is for me to”tag” 7 more people to participate in this meme.  In the interest of continuing to get to know more personally the authors of the blogs I frequently read, the following folks should consider themselves tagged – and YOU should definitely check out their interesting blogs!

Bonnie Stewart from Crib Chronicles

Lisa Palumbo from qualcosa di bello

Julie Styles Mills from Pragmatic Compendium

Sarah Rohrer from A Princess and A Sailor

Allen from blog of kaiyen

Amber G from Skyward Journey and amber g photography

Jules from The Way I See It, Generosiprocity,and Late to Life (which I just found TODAY!)

There are lots of lofty, intellectual topics on which to post today, but I’m not addressing any of them.  Instead, I want to talk about my appliances (HOUSEHOLD appliances, before you get too excited out there!).

We got a new range and fridge last week.  Yea!  They both replaced 26 year old appliances, one of which (the oven) had stopped operating correctly years ago.  I finally got tired of food being half raw and burned on the bottom.  It was WELL past time to upgrade.

Let me say that I love – LOVE! – my side-by-side fridge/freezer WITH ICE AND WATER IN THE DOOR!  (Yes, I am easy to please!).  I was worried about space, but it is about 40% larger than our old unit.  Who knew?  And the new self-cleaning ceramic topped range with DOUBLE OVEN, delayed start, true convection, hidden electric element, and turbo boil burner makes me drool.  I am in love with both of them!

Is it just because those appliances are new?  Nope – here’s an older one I love:  our coffee maker that grinds the beans just before brewing, which can be pre-programmed with a built-in timer.  (You can barely see it up there to the right of the range).  I don’t even drink coffee, but I can “make” John’s coffee just in time for him to walk out the door in the morning with a completely fresh cup without ME having to wake up at the crack of the middle of the night when he gets up.  That appliance is almost 2 years old and I still love it.

My laptop is also two years old, and I still love it, too.  Many of you may not consider a laptop a home appliance, but mine is stationed in the kitchen and gets as much, if not more use, than any appliance in my house except maybe the fridge!  So to me, my laptop is DEFINITELY an appliance and one I love dearly.

But my dishwasher is about 5 and a half years old, and I am pretty indifferent to it.  Yea, it gets the job done.  And when it broke a few weeks back, I missed it sorely until it was fixed.  But it is starting to show signs of wear on the racks and I really don’t think it’s worth $200 to replace those racks yet!  The clothes dryer is about 7 years old, I think.  And the washing machine was new when we bought the house, so it’s 12 years old.  I’m pretty indifferent to them, too.

But it can’t be ALL about age.  My trusty Honda Odyssey is 7 years old and I still love it!  Of course, it helps that it got all new interior throw rugs this summer AND a portable GPS unit last Christmas.  Maybe it feels new again and that’s why I love it still?

So how about you?  What is your favorite household appliance and why – and how old is it?!

In March of 1989, I was a 19 year old student studying abroad who had the opportunity to go with my class behind the iron curtain for a day and visit East Berlin.  To say it was life changing is a gross understatement.

Here was a city divided in the most literal sense; where a wall sprang up within a week, dividing neighbor from neighbor, making thriving thoroughfares into dead-ends.  It was a wall that anyone could touch without incident on one side, yet on the other to even approach within 100 yards meant near certain death. It was a city where a mere 200 yards meant the difference between total freedom and complete captivity.

This wasn’t the movies, and it certainly wasn’t a joke.  I saw with my own eyes the guards armed with machine guns patrolling the “death strip” and I felt in my soul the fear of the state that East Berlin residents lived with for 28 years and one day.  I was transported back in time looking at dilapidated buildings still pock-marked with World War II bullet holes.  I wandered down rows and rows of empty store shelves on floor after floor of one of the city’s largest department stores.  I saw people afraid to make eye contact with a Western teenager under the gaze of the all-seeing eyes of security cameras.  I held in my hand an essentially valueless currency.  The resignation of a people from whom all hope had been systematically stripped was palpable and horrifying.

In all, 125 people lost their lives trying to escape the oppression that was East Berlin.  In fact, just weeks before I personally experienced the degradation of this once glorious city, two people about my age tried to breach that monstrous wall.  One was fatally shot and the other was badly injured and later imprisoned.  Their crime was yearning for freedoms I took for granted.  The only difference between us was where we happened to be born.

I vowed never to return to Berlin until that wall came down.  And I was certain that I would not live to see that day.  Yet fewer than 8 months later, on November 9th, 1989, I sat sobbing in front of the television in my dormitory basement as ecstatic East Berliners stood atop that wall and crossed freely into a West Berlin many had only dreamed of ever seeing.  And in 1998, I returned to Berlin, blessedly not the city I remembered.  And I sobbed again as I walked freely beneath the Brandenburg Gate where 9 years before I would have been shot for walking.

So will I vote tomorrow?  Yes, I will – reverently.  While I vote, I intend to hold in my hand the small, graffittied piece of the Berlin Wall that a fellow student, with whom I travelled in March of 1989 and who returned soon after the wall’s fall, collected for me.  And if I have to stand in line amidst what I hope will be the greatest turn-out in the history of this democratic republic, I will think about great moments in the history of freedom and reflect on what it means, the people who have died to attain it, and what a privilege I have been granted to have it.

Yes, this is a momentous date because I was born on this date in 1969.  </trumpet fanfare>  And please, when I say I’m 39 this year, DON’T ask me, “How many times?” like someone did at work last week!  I have lived a good full life in my 39 years and don’t intend to wish any of them away any time soon.

Ok…maybe I do wish that all those great years didn’t show on my face.  For years, people would tell me how young I looked and how, someday, I’d appreciate looking so much younger than I was.  It was annoying then and now – even more annoying to discover that they were RIGHT!  I wish people mistook me for someone younger these days.  Advice to all grocery store clerks:  make someone’s day by carding them when they buy alcohol, even if they are nearly twice the legal age and don’t look like they need to be carded.

Take a look at what life was like way back in 1969, according to Wikipedia!  There were, of course, some interesting musical happenings that year, too.

And don’t pay any mind to my husband this week when claims to be SO much younger.  His turn is coming just 8 short days!

Tonight – or rather, this morning – I finished re-reading “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” for the 2nd time – a year and 10 days after I finished it the first time. (Yes, I waited in line until after midnight to get my book in the wee hours of July 21st, 2007.  The proof is in the picture to the left and here.)

The first time through, I read hungrily yet hesitantly, wanting to know, but not.  The first time through, I had to stop after the chapters called “Kreacher’s Tale,” “The Silver Doe,” and “King’s Cross” because they were so earth-shattering, my mind couldn’t continue for its racing.  The first time through, I sobbed over Dobby’s sacrifice, but not over Harry’s, because I felt in my heart  – or maybe I wished – that there had to be a happily-ever-after in store for him after all he had endured and learned.

This time it was different, of course.  I started with “Half Blood Prince,” because I’d read all the others at least twice, some many more times, but not “Half Blood Prince” and not “Deathly Hallows.”  This time, on reading HBP, I cried at the shocking part, because I knew it was real, he was gone.  The first time through, I was waiting for the twist that never came, sure that Mrs. Rowling meant a different reality to reign.  It was much more poignant this time around.

This time I got to move right from HBP onto DH without having to wait the eternity it seemed to take her to write the last chapters of the final book of the saga.  What a relief!  This time, I read DH more carefully, noting a few – but not many – details I missed the first time around and marvelling at the plot twists and turns that I had forgotten in the years since my last read.  This time, fewer tears were shed over Dobby, though that chapter will always have a soft spot in my heart.  But this time, I did cry over Ms. Rowling’s favorite chapter of the series, “The Forest Again.”  In it (or just before it), she clearly points out that Harry must die, a not-so-minor detail I missed in my haste to learn his fate.  And Lupin and Tonks – yowza.  Get me some tissues.  Last year’s shock turned into this year’s sorrow.

But the fiercest tears were reserved for Harry’s use of the Resurrection Stone.  Lupin again, and James, Lily, and Sirius (STILL not a character I like) – but curiously, no Dumbledore.  I’ll have to explore that omission in the discussion boards at The Leaky Cauldron someday.  Even knowing what was coming – or perhaps because I knew – the tears flowed.  Little details of plot and battle came clear, made more sense this time.

And finally the epilogue – truly one of my favorite parts of the entire series.  So much like real life, circles within circles, history laughingly, lovingly repeating itself.

Say what you like, but Ms. Rowling is a genius and the world she created, a classic.  I will be re-reading this series for decades to come.  Emily, who just turned 9, has already read the entire series – 3 times in the last year!  And Megan, who just turned 7, is three quarters of the way through Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time.  It will be interesting to hear how their perceptions of the books change as they get older, if they ever choose to share that information with me.

For now, I bid farewell to Harry and his world for a few short months when the movie adaptation of HBP comes out!

Fellow blogger Colleen over at MommieDaze posted about an interesting conversation with a woman she had met just five minutes earlier.  This woman confessed to these strangers that she married a man who reluctantly agreed to one child with her knowing that she wanted more than one, assuming she could “talk him into” having more kids.  Go here to read the details!

Colleen posed some interesting questions at the end of her post, which I was planning to answer in her comments.  But when I saw how long winded and passionate I was getting, and how long it’s been since I’ve blogged, I figured I’d better make it my own blog post.

Q: Did she wait too long to start thinking about a family?  Should she have prioritized that over career sooner?

No one can say that she did or didn’t wait too long, since it’s such a personal decision.  But life is about choices, and when you open some doors, you close others.  That’s reality – and why it’s important to plan for the big stuff.

Q:  If she’d started looking for a husband sooner, would she have found a more compatible Mr. Right?

I don’t know that it’s a timing issue as much as a priority issue.  My parents were both teachers, and nearly all of my grandparents had college degrees, so I was late into high school before I realized that not every kid goes to college.  (Yes, really!)  Therefore, in my head, all my studies were to prepare me for college and the life beyond.

In much the same way, I always assumed I would get married.  Therefore, dating was a way to learn more about people and help me figure out what characteristics I wanted and didn’t want in a man (versus just a way to have fun).

If you don’t get serious about college until senior year, how prepared are you?  If you don’t think about serious relationships and what it takes to have one – and keep one – until you are late into your childbearing years…

Q:  Did she settle by marrying presumably the first guy that came along?

That question assumes a lot.  I don’t know that he was the first guy who came along.  But it DOES look like she focused on her goal of “getting married” without thinking through what it takes to STAY married.

Q:  Should she have waited for the guy who wanted as many children as she, or was it right for her to heed the ticking of her biological clock and cut this deal with him?

She didn’t cut a deal, really; she went into the marriage dishonestly.  She makes it clear that he said one, she agreed on the surface knowing she didn’t agree in her heart, and thought she would or could change him – a sure recipe for disaster.  I see divorce or at least great unhappiness in their future.  I would also venture to say that she is insecure and immature.  Insecure because she didn’t respect herself enough to keep looking for someone with her same goals and immature for thinking she could change someone to be the way she wanted him to be.

Q:  What if she did wait, and never found Mr. Right, and never had a family at all?

There are far more ways to have a family than marrying and having a child.  I honestly believe not everyone who can SHOULD have a child.

Q:  What about her plan to “talk him into more”, which in girl speak usually translates to manipulate?

Yeah, I think I made my feelings on that point perfectly clear. (-:

Q:  I’m not judging her choices…

Sure you are.  We all are.  It’s human.  And we are all judged by OUR choices every day.  Our choices reflect our priorities, and therefore shed honest light on who we are inside.

…I just think it’s an interesting example of what today’s woman is faced with. Do you try to have it all? Do you have to make a choice between career and family? What do you do if your biological clock is a ticking time bomb and you haven’t found Prince Charming yet?

It’s not just today’s women who are faced with those choices.  Women have ALWAYS been faced with those choices throughout history.  It’s just easier to carve one’s own path nowadays. (-:

Yes, I try to have it all.  And I believe I CAN have it all, but not at the same time. (-:  Choices.

Yes, you have to make a choice between career and family.  Sometimes career will win, sometimes family will win.  It’s a balancing act – and truly reflective of what you value most in your life.  I am not comdemning people – men or women – who chose work over family, but I do feel sorry for them.  In trying to have both, they often get neither.  Choices.

And if you have’t found Prince Charming, I think you need to look at YOURSELF.  I know someone who never married, ever, because no one was good enough.  Expecting perfection is unrealistic.  After all, YOU aren’t perfect!  Expecting to find someone “close enough” and change him or her is also unrealistic and selfish. The alternative?  Decide what’s REALLY important to you, focus on those characteristics, and let go of the rest.

Relationships that last take compromise, trust, and mutual growth.  He will change, but not always the way you expect.  And if it’s a strong relationship, YOU will change, too – and love it!

My husband adds a whole other dimension to who I am.  We are alike in some ways and different in others – thank heavens!  After 13 years of marriage, he has become more like me in some respects, and I like him in others.  We balance each other – and he has made me a better person.  I wouldn’t want to raise our children alone, though I am a strong person and could do it if I had to.  He’s not perfect and never will be – neither am or will I.  But he IS my Prince Charming and my knight in shining armor.  And I wouldn’t chose to have it any other way.

I love Christmas!  It’s by far my favorite time of year.  I don’t mind when the stores start playing Christmas music before Halloween.  The earlier the music starts, the sooner that sense of anticipation begins which both thrills me and revs my holiday preparation engines.  I love all the special activities, the decorating, and the music.  And although I could do without the shopping, wrapping, and Christmas card sending, I do love the traditions, the foods, and the general spirit of goodwill that overtakes the entire country that time of year.

Having musical children with minds (and ears) of their own, I’ve become accustomed to hearing patriotic tunes in December and the Nutcracker Suite in July.  But THIS July has truly been a strange juxtaposition of holidays!

It all started on July 3rd with the Blossom Festival Band.  They played the usual Independence Day fare – Sousa, the 1812- but they also played a tribute to Leroy Anderson, who would have been 100 years old this year.  Even if you don’t know Leroy Anderson by name, you’ve heard one of his most famous compositions played incessantly around Christmas.  Appropriately for us, this famous composition was made popular by the Boston Pops, for whom he was orchestra arranger.  So it was that we heard SLEIGH RIDE on July 3rd.

And even though it was a delightfully warm summer night here in Ohio, I could see a snowy vista, smell  crisp winter air, hear the jangle of bit and bridle, taste snowflakes on my tongue and feel a soft fleece scarf pulled close around my neck.

A few days later on July 16th, I was coming home from Pennsylvania and had picked out a few CD’s to help pass the 4 hours of driving.  At the end of new James Taylor’s “October Road” cames his version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”  Weird, but not spooky…yet.

The next CD was John McCutcheon’s “Water from Another Time” which had both the song “Christmas in the Trenches” AND a hammered dulcimer version of “For Unto Us a Child is Born” from Handel’s Messiah.  Now my “Christmas in July” was officially in full swing!

On Friday, July 18th, I logged into the Creative Memories‘ consultant website to find a sneak peek at some new products coming out.  Among them – yes, you’ve guessed it – some Christmas products, including a neat Christmas card and tag project and some cute wintery albums.  Inspired by that collection, I themed my customer crop on Saturday “Christmas in July,” though I didn’t have the energy to get out the Christmas decorations.

Then today, I walked into church, looked at the bulletin, and laughed out loud.  Yes, the top of the bulletin said it was “Christmas in July” at church, complete with readings from Isaiah and Christmas carols.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS in July to all of you out in cyberspace!  And remember, at the time of this post, there were only 158 days left until Christmas, so start your shopping now and avoid the usual last minute Christmas rush this year!

…that the determination & conviction of our ancestors created this country.

…that people die every day to have what we have in the United States.

…that we must be ever vigilent.

…that democracy requires education and enlightened opinion.

…that change is the only constant.

…that dissent is to be protected and cherished.

…that the will of a motivated people trumps all.

…that freedom cannot be taken for granted.

…that fighting for peace is an oxymoron.

…that one vote always matters.

…that we can still be the land of the free & the home of the brave.

…that we, the people, established this country and must preserve it.

…that America is an ideal for which we must always strive.

Happy 232nd Birthday, America!

Strange Maps is one of the 33 blogs I follow (it’s not as hard or time consuming as it sounds with Google Reader on my protopage!). This post there a few days ago really caught my attention and imagination!

In January of 2002 29,000 plastic bath toys washed overboard en route from China to the US. Their journey has revealed duckloads of information about ocean currents to scientists, largely because they are made of durable plastic, watertight, and much more likely to be reported when seen.

It’s taken 15 years, but the ducks are now predicted to reach the shores of Britain this summer. Now stop and think about that for a minute. Ducks lost in the PACIFIC OCEAN are about to reach Britain, in the ATLANTIC OCEAN! Their journey has included a five year freeze in arctic ice, moving a mile a year through the Bering Strait before thawing and resuming their watery trek toward Britain. There’s another article here about their predicted landing.

Sometimes truth IS stranger than fiction!