Minnie Cake

There's a new cake on my cake blog. Go check it out!

World Without End

Wow. This was SOME book. At over 1000 pages, this book is daunting. It is scary to behold. And it was superbly written.

Ken Follett's "World Without End" deals with the lifetime of one generation of citizens in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England from the 1320's, though the black plague, and into about the 1360's. It's too much for me to go into. There are a wide cast of characters that start out as children. We see them grow, evolve, become serfs, knights, carpenters, nuns, and everything in between. The book goes into great details on the lives of 4 main characters and all those around them. The scheming, the lying, the loving. I cringed, I yelled, I cried and laughed. So many things happened to these people, and when you think they are finally getting a break, something else happens that kicks them in the arse. Like life, the characters take a ride on their own wheel of fortune, bringing them up to glory and success one second and down to despair, up again and down again. Over and over, but not in a manner to bore you. I was enthralled the entire time.

Cake!

Don't miss my cake posts over on my cake blog.

Click Here for the practice one.



And here for the final one!

:)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

AND WE'RE BACK! SPOILER ALERT! Don't read this if you don't like being spoiled!! I do give movie details here.



I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night with my friend Mo (The Gamecock on AQ). She picked up the tickets on her way home from work and we met up at the theatre. It was very busy but they were very organized. You could feel the hum of excitement as it vibrated in the air. I am a Harry Potter geek and freely admit it. We got great seats and sat back to enjoy the ride.

There have been some negative comments about the movie (co-workers, on the radio, etc.) being too disjointed and a bit over the place. There were some crucial things left out, I agree. I would have LOVED to see the real way Harry and Ginny finally kissed (in front of everyone, after the Quidditch win), Fleur and her reaction to Mrs. Weasley after Bill's being attacked, Lupin and Tonk's hidden relationship, Snape yelling "DON'T CALL ME A COWARD!" and especially Dumbledore's funeral. Yes, there was a lot missing. At 652 pages, book # 6 was one of my least favorite of the series. Did you read how bad it was? When it was released, I called it "filler" or just set-up for book # 7. Six Hundred fifty two pages, and a 2 & 1/2 hour movie was not long enough; they still just ran out of time. (side note: I am glad they cut out most of the kids-making-out scenes. That bored me to tears in the book. I struggled to finish book 6).

That being said, this book being my least favorite, I really enjoyed the movie. There were so many funny moments which Daniel played so well (the comment to Dumbledore, when Dumbledore says something to the effect of "I know you're wondering why we're here," and Harry replied "Sir, after six years, I pretty much just go with it" (paraphrased) had me howling). Malfoy was still evil but oh-so torn. Good acting on his and Emma's parts. I love that they're "growing up." The special effects, especially in the cave with the horcrux and the basin of water, were great.

It won't win awards. It jumped all over the place, I agree. I was mentally dizzy and thankful I knew the plot before I went in, but I actually can't wait to see it again, at a more decent hour for someone my age. :)

Weekend Visitors

My older sister's son, Jon, called me on Friday. "Hey Kaaren, whatcha doin?" I told him we were driving to meet some friends at a Mickey D's for a hand-off of baked goods (more on that later. tee hee) and would be home soon. "So.......can we come up?" "We" being he and his mom (my big sis, Brenda). "Of course!" Their drive was about a 3 hours one.

After the hand-off (tee hee), we came back home so I could quickly clean the bathrooms and get the house looking ready for guests.

Jake and Jon on Jake's laptop in the "piano room."

Isabel and her Aunt Brenda starting an art project while I cooked lasagna in the kitchen.

Work in progress.

Isabel displays her art.

After Isabel went to bed, I showed my sister several of the techniques I have been learning in cake decorating class, including making roses.

Brenda and I then got to work on some gum paste pieces for a future project. Sorry, but more on that later.

Saturday morning, Brenda, Isabel and I went for a 40 minute walk around the neighborhood. We took the stroller and were booking it! After showering, Brenda and I headed out to Kohl's for some serious shopping. Three hours and less then $90 later, I walked out with 2 T-shirts, 3 nicer casual tops, 1 pair of jeans, 1 necklace, a pair of earrings and two pairs of shoes. I did pretty darned good!

We picked up Chinese on the way home for an early dinner and then headed to Uptown Altamonte for ice cream at Coldstone, and a walk around Uptown Altamonte and Crane's Roost park at night. It was beautiful.

They left this morning (Sunday). It was a fun family weekend.