Latest Happenings

Not too terribly much has been happening over in the King household lately....
~John's been working a lot and training a couple of new reps to work in his Law Enforcement Division of the Gun store working on confiscated weapons from departments all over the United States. Which is exciting and I know that he is really glad that this will be something that will be a load off of him for his workload. Especially wonderful since Caroline is just a short 4 months away (actually less than that!)

~I've been baking baking baking away. Not just with cakes but with cookies. Cookies are such a big demand lately. (And I love it!) We've been talking a lot lately about how much I will be working once Baby Caroline arrives. John thinks I'll pretty much just stop, but I enjoy this creative outlet. I think we've decided that once she arrives, I will cut back to just wedding cakes and grooms cakes, Large order celebration cakes (servings of at least 50+), cupcakes, and themed cookies. So, I'm not cutting back too much, just eliminating the little $50 cakes here & there.
I'm going to try to work in "Monthly" cookies- dealing with the holidays that come with that month. (Feb- Valentine's Day packages, June- Father's Day, October- Halloween, etc, etc). I will only make a limited amount for each holiday, so I'm not overwhelmed with orders- I control what I make. :)

My Easter Collection this year-

This is the box of cookies for $15.

Other super exciting news is our House happening. After the last disappointing day of house hunting, John & I were just stuck on what to do. We wanted to wait for that 'perfect' house to appear, but then again, get the ball rolling on something before Caroline gets here. After church a couple of Sundays ago, John & I went out on our farm for a little picnic/ nap time. (The farm that John proposed to me on.) It was a GORGEOUS spring day, and we packed up lots of blankets, pillows along with some snacks & drinks. We headed up to the top of our farm on the hill & just enjoyed the day.
At one point, John said, "Don't you just wish we could wake up to this every morning??"
N: "I know. I just love it up here. But I know we can't afford the huge house that we want to build. It would be wonderful if we could figure out a way to build & just add on without wasting $$."

Well, that got the ball rolling. The next weekend, I had a some big cake orders along with 2 wedding cakes to do, so I stayed in town while John had to go to Memphis to be in a wedding of one of his college buddies. While he was away, I took the mornings & evenings to work on house plan sketches. When he came back on Sunday evening, I told him that I thought I had worked something out on paper I wanted him to look at. After showing him the plans & how we could actually work this thing out, I was nervous about his response. But then he looked up, smiled really big & said, 'This looks great! Let's do it!'
(Wow! I didn't even have to pour him a strong drink first (which I thought I might have to do to coax him into the idea..... Something I learned from dealing with my Dad.... (Especially wedding planning. We'd go out to the country club; I'd arrive about 10 minutes early, head to the bar, order me a glass of wine & him a double scotch then proceed to tell the bartender to never let his glass get empty, that we were there to talk about wedding plans & 'budgeting'. And it worked 99% of the time.....)

We met with a potential builder last Sunday at the farm for him to see the site. We wanted a builder to see the site & let us know if what we had envisioned was even possible.... before we start to plop down $$ to start on plans, and utilities to be pulled up there. It was a great meeting & got us both super excited. He told us a little bit about what we'd have to do & layout ideas, etc....

So, we are in the process of working on the utilities. It's hard when you want to build out in the country, on a large farm, on top of a huge hill...... But we know that it's going to work out for us! We know that we won't be in before Caroline comes, and I have my serious doubts of being in before the new year, but at least we know that we are building what we want & what we've dreamed of..... YAY!!!

Hello there....

As usual, I'm behind on my blogging. Luckily, it's because we have been super busy lately with John's work, traveling, on the search for a house, and cakes!!

Orders Orders everywhere!

If anyone knows anyone in the cake business, they know that Thursday- Saturday are 'round the clock work! I have been averaging at least one wedding a weekend (with both a wedding cake and a groom's cake), along with at least 2 orders of other cakes (birthday, showers, anniversary, etc, etc). Needless to say, that I'm exhausted come Saturday evening and want nothing than to just relax for the next 2-3 days. I feel like being a baker is like having a schedule like a nurse. You work about 3 or 4 days/ week, but you are on 12+ hour shifts. Last Thursday I put in a 14 hour day, and last Friday I was baking, decorating, designing, etc for 18 hours!! Whew! Then Saturday is set-up & delivery day.... So, usually Mondays & Tuesdays are my "weekends". However, business has been booming, and I find myself back in the kitchen on Mondays or at the computer working on quotes, researching & sketching ideas for clients, scheduling or hosting cake tastings, etc... But I'm so happy that I'm busy and love the fact that I create my own schedule- (however, it can be my demise at times)-

I'm working on an Easter Cookie collection next week (Monday & Tuesday) , which I will be selling online, (Facebook, Etsy, here, email, etc, etc....)- I'll be sure to post pictures once I get everything tweaked to show examples of what will be available the week of Easter.

House hunting- who ever said this was fun???

However, I love to look at houses & see people's decorating style and what all I could do to make that house our own, but after the first couple, it's just pure disappointment.

John & I went out with John's mom, Sherry, yesterday to look at 5+ houses. I woke up & told John, "I just have a feeling that today is the day! We will find our house today!"- Well, after many letdown sighs, and "Well, it's a pretty house, but just doesn't fit our needs" later.... We are back at square one. We will find something soon- keeping our fingers crossed & praying praying praying!

Pregnancy- 22 weeks- (almost)

In just a few short days, we will hit our 22 week mark. 5 1/2 months pregnant! Woah!

Baby Caroline is a whopping 1 lb this week and 8 inches long- about the size of a small doll. She is seeing (if we shined a flashlight at my stomach, she would move away from the light)

gripping (the umbilical cord, since there isn't much else in there to hold onto)

hearing (voices, Cooper barking, gurgles in my stomach, TV, radio etc-)

tasting (everything I'm tasting)

Last Wednesday morning, we got out of bed and I went to the kitchen to make John's coffee, and noticed that I wasn't standing as close to the coffee maker as usual. Looked down and BAM! I have been told that the bigger bump will just appear one day and that was the day. I called John in there & said, 'John, look at this!" His reaction- "WOAH!" We had gone to our Dr. on Monday & he warned us about it. He told us that I was about to hit a growing spurt and to be prepared. Well, even though we were told, it took us aback for a minute.

She's been kicking and moving around a lot. She moves a little in the morning as I'm waking up, after I eat meals, especially dinner, and she feels like she's in there dancing away when I lay down at night. John always puts his hand on my stomach to feel her & he's even said how much stronger her kicks and punches have gotten.

I will try to update this more frequently.... I promise that the further along in my pregnancy, the less work I have taken on, so I will be able to blog more...

Also, if you are missing the "Recipe of the Week" entry, worry not. It will come back as well. I have started to sift through my recipes and plan on compiling them into a "cookbook" for myself. I have all my recipes on those little recipe cards at the moment, and have decided to convert them over to a typed book-style. It's one of my 'nesting' projects that I've already preplanned for myself since we haven't found our house yet, it is to fill the void of organizing & cleaning like crazy in this little cabin. :) So, once I start to really get going on that project, the recipes will be so much easier to blog about!

House update

Well, big news on the house~ We have accepted an offer from a couple that wants to purchase our house!! There were a lot of negotiations going back & forth, but we got it all worked out! Halleljah!!!!

The inspection is scheduled for next week, and if all goes well, then that is the last step for everything! The want to close on December 27th (!!!!!???) However, I'm an impatient person, so this is okay with me. We have started to pack up some little things here & there. The biggest thing is trying to figure out what can be put in storage until we move (or find) our next house, and then what has to come to us while we live at John's parent's cabin for the next couple of months.

So, I'm sure your next question is: 'So where are y'all going?' or 'What are y'alls plans?'

Well, we are heading on down to Columbia. John's business is down there and the hour drive (each way, every day) has really been tiring for him. Plus, all of our family is down there.... (or towards that way.) We are planning on staying at his parent's cabin on the farm for the next couple of months until we decide what to do.

Build or buy? Build or buy?

Both have the upsides and downsides, and we are debating each of them.

Purchasing a home can be such a headache. Trying to find that perfect house is hard!! I have an open mind where I can walk into a house and see what it could be. I can imagine a wall being knocked down to open rooms up, or hardwood floors there (instead of ugly carpet), fresh paint & landscaping, etc, etc... John is not that way. And he's thinking that we will find our perfect house, in our price range, out there that is completely ready to move in to, without having to do any work to it..... (I know it is out there too, however, it's yet to be built by us, yet! :) )

As you can see, I'm leaning towards building, and John just wants to purchase an existing home. We will see where this leads us!