I Finished it

I did it! I have finally finished my final project for my cake decorating class. I have spent the last two and a half weeks working on it. With this done I am official on the downhill run with school for this semester. I promised my sister pictures, so your suffering is because of her.

The Race

I heard this poem in class the other day and really liked it, so I thought I should share it.

The Race
By: Dr. D.H. "Dee" Groberg


Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”

But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten...
but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
head high and proud and happy -- no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

Midterm

Okay are you ready for our midterm? Midterm? What midterm you ask. You know the midterm you have been helping me study for? Okay okay, I know I have been slacking on the flowers but not tonight, I have my midterm tomorrow. It can be any of sixty of the ninety plants I have learn so far. Can you say "study overload" with me now? Okay enough procrastination here is today's lovely gems:

Daylily
Scientific Name: Hermerocallis spp.
Common Name: Daylily
It is a perennial that grows in zones 3-9
Height: 1-4'
Blooms: Summer to frost
Flower: Tubular/bell shaped
Leaf: long, linear 1-2'
Culture: full-part sun
Uses: borders, background, and cut flowers


The older varieties used to have each flower bloom for only one day, hence the name:)

Spiderwort
Scientific Name: Tradescantia x andersoniana
Common Name: Spiderwort
It is a perennial that grows in zones 3-9
Height: 1-2'
Blooms: Spring-Summer
Flower: Terminal umbels, pinks,purple, and whites
Leaf: alternate, 15"
Culture: full-part sun, moist
Uses: borders, background, naturalize


Okay last one:

Balloon Flower
Scientific Name: Platycodon grandiflorus
Common Name: Balloon Flower
It is a perennial that grows in zones 3-8
Height: 2-3'
Blooms: Summer
Flower: balloon-like
Leaf: ovate, 1-3" alternate
Culture: full-part sun
Uses: cut, rock garden, background

The Lump In My throat

When I was little I was extremely shy. Unless it was family or someone I really knew, my lips were sealed. I use to not even be able to order dinner whenever my family went out to eat.

I am happy to say that I am no longer that shy. I can order my own food and even ask a stranger for direction at a bus station or the airport. However one thing still lingers from my shyness as a youth and that is public speaking. I hate it!! I don't think it is so much the crowd that scares me but more my occasion lisp that creeps in when I get nervous or am in a hurry.

Today I am speaking in Church. Oh lucky me. It has been almost 3 years since I have had to speak in church and I am really not looking forward to it. Again mainly because of my lisp but also the tears. If you know my family even a little you know we are not afraid to cry. I cry when I am happy, when I am sad, when I am angry or pissed, and occasionally after getting hurt. So when it comes to speaking in front of other and bearing my testimony I tend to cry. My voice shakes, my lisp is magnified and I then I get embarrassed. All week I have had this lump in the back of my throat and I know it isn't from getting sick but more the fact that I have to speak. Oh dear, what a week.

What to Do

When you have one of those day when your face is red and your heart is blue, what can you do? You take the two and make purple. After thinking for a little while about if there is anything that is purple that doesn't bring a smile to your face, I couldn't come up with anything. Purple is happy. I think that is why I love color so much, it has the power to influence the mood of our surroundings and today I could do with a little less red and a lot less blue and a lot more purple.

Movie Review

Movies!!! I love movies. I always have and probably always will. I was one of those kids who could watch the same movie over and over again. I think I wore out our version of 101 Dogamatian when I was little(I know it is Dalmatians but I called it Dogamatian when I was small). I like all kinds of movies: live action, animated, Disney, romance, westerns, I think you get the point. Anyways back to the point of this post, Today I saw the third installment of Toy Story. This is an instant classic. I loved it. I laugh, I cried, and then I laughed again. It truly lived up to the Pixar/Disney reputation. As I walked out of the theater I looked around to gauge every one's reaction, lots and lots of smiles. A whole new generation of Toys Story lovers has been created. Most of the little ones weren't even born when Toy Story 2 came out in 2000 let alone the first Toys Story in 1995, I was six then. Fifteen years later I walked out of the theater feeling like a little kid again. Two thumbs way way up.

Flower(S) of the Day

Asiatic Lily
Scientific Name: Lilium hybrid
Common Name: Asiatic Lily
It is a perennial that grows in zones 4-9
Height: 2-6'
Blooms: Summer for about two weeks (thank heavens for greenhouses)
Flower: Trumpet shaped and come in a variety of colors.
Leaf: Narrow and curled
Culture: full-part sun, well drained soil.
Uses: borders, mass collection, and cut flowers

I think this one is rather pretty.

Bleeding Heart
Scientific Name: Dicentra spectabilis
Common Name: Bleeding Heart
It is a perennial that grows in zones 2-9
Height: 2-4'
Spread: It doesn't really spread but it does arch over
Blooms: Early Summer
Flower: heart shaped and come in red, pink, white.
Leaf: fern-like and serrated
Culture: full-part sun, moist soil.
Uses:background

This one I think is kinda cool but also kinda weird. This is a good picture. Some bleeding hearts look a little creepy.


I was told that by saying I was going to be teaching everyone about flowers that it meant more then one. I wasn't so sure that anyone really wanted to read a blog about flowers characteristics. So let me know, do I keep them coming?

Portulaca grandiflora

Yeah I want to hear you say that three times fast. I won't be saying it so fast but rather slow and more like fifty times. There are three identification classes I have to take for my major, flower ID, evergreen ID and deciduous trees ID. I have officially started my first Horticulture Identification class and therefore have crossed over to hell. So for those of you who don't know Portulaca grandiflora is a flower, I mean who wouldn't know that. Over the next six weeks I will be memorizing this bad boy along with his 200 most popular friends. I will be learning their scientic name as well as their common name. I will also be learning about seven other characteristics of each flower that will help assist me in identifying what kind of flower he-she is, and no, saying it is a pretty flower doesn't count.

I figured since this is a monday, wednesday, AND friday class and each class period I will be introduced to 10-15 new flowers and be tested on the flowers from the previous class period, I thought I could teach you in order to help me memorize them. Dont worry you won't get all fifteen, I wouldn't want to drag you down to hell with me.

So to Start we are going to learn about our dear friend Portulaca.

Scientific Name: Portulaca grandiflora
Common Name: Moss Rose
This flower is an Annual flower (only lives for one growing season)
Height: 6-8"
Blooms in the summer
The flowers come in a variety of colors and are aboout 1" wide
The leaf structure: succulant evergreen-like
Culture: full sun, hot and dry
Use: rock gardens and bedding


If you are sitting there thinking "its all Greek to me", I know what your problem is and why you are so confused, its Latin. ☺

What I Have Learned So Far

Oh you know this is going to be interesting. An entire blog entry about what a soon to be twenty-one year old girl/woman, has learned so far at school. Brace yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So the idea that school is to learn math, English, science and all that confusing stuff, is crap. There is a lot more to be learned at school. Some of the things you learn are good, some not so good.Some make sense and certain things don't. There are some things you learn about that you seek out and want to know more about and there is a lot of things I have learned that I could have gone a life time, scratch that, an eternity without knowing.So here is the list of some of the things I have learned:

*Just because an electric stove top isn't red doesn't mean it is not hot.

*Just because it is the middle of May does not mean that it can't snow. I learned this one on my way back from albertsons which is about a little under a mile away from my apartment, I was wearing capris and flip flops.

*Giving the sex talk to a roommate is never easy.

*you can never fully understand the importance of patience until you live with certain kinds of people.

*Giving each of your roommates nicknames they don't know about, is a good idea and helps with communicating with family.

*Captain Crunch and Pasta Salad don't taste so bad together in the same meal.

*There is a big difference between having your opinions and being judgemental.

*Sometimes when someone says something is orange you have to say it is purple.

*Five hundred degrees is very hot.

*Falling down concrete stairs...yeah it hurts.

*Repetition is not allows a good thing.

*Repetition is not allows a good thing.

*Somethings are meant to be thrown away...want more details ask me in person.

*It is possible to squeak your head (yeah this is one of my teachers)

*Never buy more then you can carry.

*There is nothing sexy about knees. Cue: Awkward silence.

*You should help others not because it is on you checklist of things to do, but because you want to help them.

*There is no way in hell I could ever have been a pioneer.

*A lot of decorating can be done with a glue stick.

*Talking to my door instead of to my face probably wont get the same results.

*What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...so I have been told.

*Facebook doesn't help you study.

*Maker of Tide pens should be sainted.

*When you inhale and you feel you nose seal shut, you know it is cold.

*Hawaii has chickens, Rexburg has squirrels.

*Being a poor college student after a long day, you learn to swing both ways. Pepsi or Coke Cola I mean. Get your mind out of the gutter.

*Laughter is the best medicine.

As you can see there is a lot more to be learned beside calculus and photosynthesis. And the list could go on and on. I had to leave the really good stuff out, just in case. Some say you can never learn too much, I strongly disagree.

Good for a Laugh

So I saw this a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to post it. Given how much my sister has always wanted to be the teenage mutant ninja turtles for halloween with her husband and children, I thought she would appreciate it. I saw it on campus when I was on my way to class. It goes to show that someone somewhere is very clever or has way too much time on their hands.

Is That Wrong?

Have you ever had an urge to do something that wasn't maybe very nice but made you giggle none the less at the very thought of it?(I know my sister Jessi has) I have. This morning I was so thoughtfully woken up by my roommate, long before I ever thought I wanted to get up, so she could wish me a Happy Memorial Day. I couldn't go back to bed so I thought I should probably call my family and wish them too a Happy Memorial Day. I did this all too knowingly that their time zone is behind mine, and that it was even earlier for them then it was for me. This very thought made me giggle. I know I am a sick and evil person, I blame the lack of sleep and this darn cold that won't leave me alone.

Don't worry you can rest at ease knowing I didn't do it...you can thank me later family:) Is it wrong to get a giggle out of doing something like this?

The Last Thing I Need

If you know my family even in the slightest bit, you know that we love our hobbies. When it comes to hobbies and me, I definitely have more then my fair share and the last thing I need is a new one. Well, when you say you are not going to do something, you usually go out and do it. For me I wasn't going to get another hobby while in school. And well, as nature would have it, I went out and found a new one. What is this new hobby you ask? Cake Decorating. There is something relaxing about decorating a cake, it distracts me from my thoughts, my surroundings, and just life its self. Best part about this hobby, I can eat it. I normally don't eat my hobbies, I don't eat pottery or a quilt or a drawing, but cake? I will eat a cake. GREAT, not only did I get a hobby I didn't need, but I got a hobby that comes with calories I don't need on the hips.

I have always felt awkward when it comes to sharing the things I create with others, except for with my parents. My mom has been on my case lately about the lack of pictures telling me that the whole point of a blog is to post pictures[Did you get that Mayor? Blogs= more pictures:)]. Since this is a blog and it is my blog I guess I have no choice; I have to post some pictures of my work. Enjoy! Well... enjoy the best you can, I think you can imagine what two layers of chocolate cake with a layer of vanilla cake in between can taste like.





I still have a lot of practice a head of me. But that is the whole point of hobbies, right?
P.s. Don't feel bad, I didn't get to eat this one either.

This next picture is one we did quickly in class and had only a little bit of time to do it. The whole point of the exercise was to learn how to use edible paper.


I love Cookie Monster!!! He has always made me smile, I guess that is why I choose to use him, I was in need of a smile.

Oh dear, if my mom has it her way, I guess I have two new hobbies I don't need: cake decorating and blogging. More hobbies... that is the last thing I need.

Alive and well

And here are pictures to prove it.



When I get bored I play with my webcam. I am smiling because I just replenished my Pepsi/diet Pepsi stash...as you can see behind me:)

What I have been spending a lot of my time working on:


The pictures of my model are more for my parents, however I do need people's opinion: should I add flowers in with the groundcover?