Weekend Happenings

My daughter Caroline just returned home after spending a year in Americorps.  She spent the past 12 months working in communities all over the Southwest from Joplin, MO to Yuma, AZ.  She had many great stories to share of her adventures.  She will be with us for the next two years as she attends graduate school.  I am so happy to have her home!

Mini Carrot Cake-Take Two

I made her favorite cake for her.  It is a carrot cake with cookie dough frosting.  Its super sweet so I made half a recipe and baked it in a smaller, deeper cake pan.  I was so proud of my great idea until I went to cut it in half to frost it and found out the center was raw!  I had cooked it a little longer and stuck a toothpick in the center to check for doneness, but the toothpick is about the color of the cake and it doesn't go in very deep.  I couldn't believe it!  How was I going to salvage this?

I decided to cut out the uncooked center section and make a doughnut cake. I frosted it with a cream cheese frosting which we usually do (except Caroline only likes cream cheese on a bagel not as frosting).  Needless to say I had to bake another cake for Caroline.  I did learn from my mistake and cooked it much longer and inserted a knife to test for doneness.  It all turned out okay, but I spent much more time baking that day than I had planned.

At the top of the hill.

Sunday mornings are the best time for long bike rides, because the roads are practically empty.  I had a great 19 mile ride and despite the heat it felt great out there. (maybe because I created my own breeze)

I almost didn't go, but as I laid in bed debating a ride, I made a deal with myself.  If I weighed less than I did last time I didn't have to go, if not I needed to go.  I stepped on the scale to find I weighed exactly the same, but that still meant I should go, so I did.  I needed that push to get going, but it was a perfect ride and I felt great!  (If only my running felt this good) There were many other bikers and runners out too, which is very motivating for me.

On my ride I pass through some neighborhoods and by some cow pastures.  The cows were taking an early morning dip in the lake to cool off.  

We had a visitor on our back porch. This guy was perched on top of the door to the garage.  He was about the size of my hand.  He reminded me of Jaba the Hut from Star Wars. Not sure how he plans to get down - that is a long jump.

I have only one more week until I return to work.  I have a huge list of things I would like to get done before then.  We'll see how that goes...