Giant cake and a bump on the head

It turns out that my debit card was somehow compromised and the bank canceled it. They sent me a new one, but it would have been nice to have a heads up. You know, like a phone call or even a letter saying something along the lines of, "Yo, we didn't want anyone to steal your money so you won't be able to use your card anymore." Whatever, at least I know now. We don't know why Andy's card is having trouble. The bank said they didn't see a problem with it and we used it a couple of times today with no issue. Let's hope it stays that way.

While I was at the ATM today testing my card, I managed to give myself a giant welt on my head. As you know my car is, once again, out of commission, so I've been driving around Andy's monster truck Jeep. When I get into my Jeep I can pretty much just open the door and sit down. Not so with Andy's. He has a lift and giant tires which cause me to have to sort of hoist myself up into the car and swing in at sort of an angle. I guess I was agitated from my debit card problems and didn't pay enough attention to what I was doing. So basically I slammed my forehead into the door frame as I was getting in. Luckily, I hit the padding around the frame so that helped not give me a concussion. I'm pretty sure I would have been unconscious for a second if I had hit just metal. But my head hurts and I'm counting on it being blue tomorrow. Right now it's just red and swollen.

After I got everything sorted out and ran some errands I came home to get my bake on. Our friend Ally is leaving Saturday to go to Europe for the next six weeks. She's an awesome cyclist and is getting a free trip to go race with the US National Development team. How great is that?

So in celebration of her achievement and to send her off in glutinous American style I made her a giant cake. With 14 layers. It was really fun and not as difficult and time consuming as I thought it might be. I got the recipe from Bakerella, who is everything I aspire to be. Truly she is my baking hero.

Anyway, here are some pictures from today's baking marathon:

14 cakes, cooling

Icing phase 1

Icing phase 2
Ally with her cake

If you want to see Ally in action she'll be on Versus on April 4th riding in the Tour de Flanders.

Just so you know

This is a picture taken this past Sunday during the snow storm. It's local. These guys apparently did this for fun, and that is an actual road they're driving on, not a random field.

Post Script

I meant to include in that last little tirade that my new niece is here.

Lilianna Eileen
March 4, 2009
12:15 am (roughly, I don't know the exact time)
7 lbs (the largest of all her siblings)
19 inches (short like the rest of us)

I haven't seen her yet, which makes me really sad. I've been able to go to the hospital to visit the first three and somehow I think I'm neglecting her by not being there. If it weren't for my damned car I'd be on my way instead of typing this.

They have told me that she has lots of hair and a very round face with skinny legs. My mom said at first she didn't bear any resemblance to anyone, but the more she looked at her the more she saw my grandfather on my dad's side. I'm sure she's beautiful and I'll have pictures just as soon as I can carry myself off this mountain to get some.

This isn't funny anymore

In the last month or two Andy and I have been having trouble with our debit cards randomly being declined. We always have money to cover what we're trying to purchase and often we have just used the card at a different location.

It's really starting to piss me off. And we always know that money isn't an issue because we get messages like "card has been canceled" or "cannot accept card" or "data is not activated."

It has only happened to one of us at a time though, until today. We were in separate locations trying to make purchases and we were both denied.

How weired is this?

I don't understand what's going on. We've been thinking that it's a fluke, but there have just been too many situations like this for that. I feel like the bank is targeting us for embarrassment.
I guess we'll have to call them tomorrow to find out what the problem is. I really hate calling the bank. We have three branches near us and somehow every person employed at those three banks have the personality of a green pea. It makes me uncomfortable to even think about it.

I think I'll go gorge myself on fudge bars to make myself feel better and wallow in self pity for having to deal with my money institution tomorrow.

It's Tuesday

Just another day on the mountain.

I don't think it got about 25 degrees today. That is not helpful when we're trying to get rid of all this snow.

Also, my car definitely won't start. The battery is dead as a doornail. Andy went out last night to try it and then when we came out this morning to leave the driver's side door was wide open. Apparently the cold froze the latch and we had to wait for the sun to warm the door up before it would close. That was awesome. I guess it really isn't a big deal unless some small rodent decided my car was warmer and more comfortable than whatever tree it was living in. That would be bad, very, very, bad.

People come skiing because of all the great snow we have and then they come in the shop and complain about how cold it is. All I can do is show them our thermal underwear and make suggestions. Clearly they want me to pull out my magic wand and raise the temperature ten or fifteen degrees. Soon I'm just going to start suggesting that they don't go. It's a freaking outdoor sport. One that can only be enjoyed in the winter time. Suck it up and deal with the cold or find something else to occupy the time.

On a brighter note; my sister-in-law went into labor today with her and my brother's fourth child. She's probably going to deliver in the next couple of hours. A new baby is always exciting. Hopefully I'll have a functioning vehicle so I can go down this weekend and meet my new niece. I'll let you know when she's here.

I think I'll go sit on the couch with a warm beverage and a blanket and watch all the stupid people out on the ski slope freezing their butts off. Have a great night!

After the storm

There is only one word to describe how I'm feeling right now: exhausted.

We had one hell of a snow storm last night. 12-15+ inches across the region. I know compared to some places that's small potatoes, but we haven't had a good snow like this in at least five years. It's the kind of snow that we pray for each winter and it finally came. I love snow so I'm ecstatic and I woke up in a really good mood this morning. Even though I couldn't get in my car to find out if it would start. The door handle was a block of ice and Andy had to come back and get me to take me to work. He could have opened my door, but I was already so late it would have taken too much time to clean off the Jeep, and then if we'd gone to the trouble it probably wouldn't have started anyway. That's life.

So, work today was a zoo. There were just two of us because the season should be winding down. We shouldn't be busy. We shouldn't have gotten over a foot of snow last night. But we did. And work has been hosting a demo these last couple of days so there were all kinds of new people for me to meet and greet. Lots of new faces to put with names and voices I've heard on the phone. Lot's of questions like, "Did you get out on the mountain at the demo today?" and my reply of, "Nope, I don't ski." followed by a blank stare and the inevitable, "But you work in a ski shop."

Yes, that's right and I don't sell equipment. I sell clothing. I can still do that and keep my feet firmly planted at the bottom of the mountain in my 700 down fill snow boots thankyouverymuch!

We were so busy in fact that I didn't get a break today. I just worked straight through. When my relief came I wanted to give her a kiss, but I didn't because that would have been weired. I did however tell her she was the most beautiful person in the world and carry my happy ass to the car as fast as I could get Andy into it to take me home.

So now I plan on takin' it easy. I looked myself over when I got home and even my hair looks tired. It's all flat and not shiny anymore.

Thank goodness I only have to work half a day tomorrow.

Cabin Fever

Wow, six posts in February. I've outdone myself

So in honor of nearly a year of blogging (and to get myself back into the swing of things) I'm planning on posting once a day until my "blog-o-versary" on March 26th.

Why are you laughing?

Stop it!

I can do this... really.


Anyway. It snowed today. It's still snowing as a matter of fact.

I knew there was supposed to be some kind of inclimate weather, but this time of year you really can't count on anything. With spring right around the corner you never really know what's going to happen. So when I woke up this morning to a dusting of the white stuff on the grass and not much else, I wasn't so surprised.

I have spent the last two days cleaning my apartment. Which hasn't been this clean ever. Including when we moved in. No kidding. To treat myself I planned on taking a little trip to town this afternoon and picking up a few things. Not really necessities, but things we could use none the less. I decided to wait to leave until lunch time to give all the stores a chance to open since it's Sunday. At around 12 I sat down to use the computer and the weather was the same as it had been hours ago; soggy with a mixture of precipitation.

Thirty minutes later I get up to leave and look out the window. Sometime in the past half hour it snowed at least half an inch and there were no signs of stopping. But I'd been locked in my apartment with Comet and rubber gloves for two days and no amount of snow was going to stop me from getting to town. I briefly went over various family member's reactions to my resolve.

My step dad: "Oh no you're not going out in this."
Andy: (knowing me better, but hoping to discourage me anyway) "I really don't think it's a good idea."
My mom: "OK, will you bring me (insert product) back from Walmart?"
My grandmother: (who thinks I'm capable of doing anything) "Well, be real careful and call me when you get back."

I decided to go with my grandmother's imagined seal of approval and set out on my journey. Now, by "town" I mean the nearest place hosting more than a grocery store and a Riteaid. At least a 15 mile hike. I knew it was going to be slow moving, as I live in a tourist town and it's the weekend. Lot's of out-of-towners who don't know how to drive in snow. Not that I'm all that adept myself, but I'm not as chicken as I used to be.

On the way to town

My trip there was relatively uneventful. I made it without incident. The people behind me didn't tailgate and I kept a wide berth from the people ahead. I made it to my destination. No one had what I was looking for, but I made a few purchases and used a coupon, picked up some lunch and got back in my car to make the trek home. My cabin fever was satisfied.

This is where things get tricky. Remember when I told you my alternator was acting up again? Turns out there was just a bad connection that was easily fixed with a saudering iron. My car has been doing well ever since then. Doing well until today that is. I guess Andy didn't make the connection quite as strong as it needed to be so when I got back in my car to start it up my check engine light was on. Fabulous. All I need is a broken down car in a snow storm. But it was running so I stiffened my resolve to make it as far home as possible before I was stuck.

Driving back home

I won't go into all the details of my trip. I'll just say there was only one incident where I was sideways in the road, but luckily there was a car in the other lane that had run off the road so there was no oncoming traffic. It's not lucky that they ran off the road, but it's lucky that they were stopped and I managed to do the same and not collide with them. Then some idiot decided to pass everyone in my lane, nearly causing a multiple care pile up. People like that deserve to have accidents. And if you are one of those people I'm not sorry I wrote that.

My car did make it home, barely. I'll be surprised if it starts next time I go out. We'll probably have to put the battery in Andy's Jeep to charge it up and he'll have to revisit that faulty connection. But I'm pretty happy with the outcome of my trip. Mostly I'm happy to be home again in one piece.

That needle should be up around the 14

Next time it snows like this and I want to go out in it please remind me to come back here and read this.

Also, could someone bring me some hot chocolate? Like, right now?