Blogging for Books Review #1

The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck by Kathleen Y’Barbo
     This is my first book review for the “Blogging for Books”  program from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group. I’m reviewing a digital copy of The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck, a historical Christian romance by Kathleen Y’Barbo.
     The story flows seamlessly between the polished, cultured world of the English nobility in London during the late 19th Century and the open, natural setting of the American west in the same time period. The transitions could have been very jarring if they weren’t so smoothly written. It follows a very young woman with family ties in both arenas and an English astronomer who is the younger son of an English lord. It also weaves real historic people and events into a fictional story in a charming way.
     Readers who frequently read historical romances set in this period will not find the storyline to be strikingly original but as someone who does read a lot of these stories that generally isn’t what I’m looking for. There s one place where a 4 year gap in the characters lives is skipped and it does take a bit of time to adjust to the changes in their personalities and motivations in that space. One could wish for a bit more character development although isn’t too hard to fill in the blanks with a bit of imagination.
     The spiritual aspect of the book is fairly scarce early on and comes in more in the later chapters. It centers on the human tendency to rebel against the Lord'’s will for our lives in deference to our own desires and the havoc that such choices tends to wreak in our lives.
     Overall it’s a sweet, feel-good book with a witty, fast-paced storyline easily devoured in an evening or two.. If “chick-lit” historical romance isn’t your cup of tea then definitely move on to something else but if you’re a fan of the genre, it’s definitely one I’d recommend and I look forward to reading the other two in the series
     If you're interested in the Blogging for Books program, check it out at this site. :) A great, free mama-time resource for bloggy mamas and other bloggy book lovers too.

Appreciate the Man

     I need to report to you an historic event. Last Sunday evening, we went on a date. Why, you might ask was this such a big deal?  Well, it was our third childless date since Spice was born (one of those was SuperDad's company Christmas party which I don't really count) and the first time that both girls stayed with a sitter for the whole night. Yes, I spent eighteen hours away from my baby. We both survived and I somehow managed to avoid texting to ask how they were doing until morning. This post actually is not about leaving baby for the first time though. You're going to have to figure that one out on your own.

     Instead, this post is about remembering that our spouse's are not just parents. Generally I had thought I was fairly good at this. We try to get a little time that's toddler free every day and we do talk about things other than the kids. We watch movies and "stuff" (I won't get into "stuff", my mother reads this blog. Well, I like to think she does anyway.) It's funny though how something as simple as dinner, a walk and a second-run cheapie movie can change your perspective. (We saw Shrek 4 and I liked it regardless of what the critics may have said). It reminded me that I need to put a little more effort into having fun with my husband and remembering just how much I really like to spend time with him. There were reasons I moved 1800 miles across the country to marry this man and I'm cheating both him and myself if I don't take the time to look at him as the man I fell in love with (albeit in an updated model) instead of just as my husband or co-parent.
     All this just to say, take some time to make things all about you and your spouse. Even if you can't or choose not to leave the kiddos with someone else and get out alone, you can still make the activity all about you and let them tag along for once instead of planning for family. Or take some time after they're in bed to really reconnect with each other over something you enjoyed pre-kiddos as people instead of just parents. I know that I personally need to take time to appreciate the man in my husband. (And if you caught the TMBG reference you get double points.)

(A More Real) Love Story from Anita Renfroe

A Not-A-Real-Post Post For You

     I know, it's been a long time since I've posted and  this isn't even a real post!  I promise though, either tomorrow or Friday I'm going to get up a real post.  It's even going to be a long one, a review of several under $10 a pair pull-up waterproof training pants, how cool is that?  How can I be so sure I'm going to have enough of that ever elusive thing people without children call free time to do this?  I have a BABYSITTER for two whole days during the day and for Saturday night. This will be our first night without Spice and our first night away from Sugar since Spice's birth so it's a big deal!  Now if only I can keep my mind off of them long enough to enjoy our date night. He he!
     Anyway, on to today's not-a-real-post post.  It's a video on Vimeo that someone shared on my Facebook and I thought it was hilarious and totally relevant to this blog, so here it is. :) 

Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

I Like Cake! (do de do, do de do do do do)

     This post is going to be all about cake.  What exactly you ask does cake have to do with surviving parenting?  Well it's not so much the cake per se, it's more about the making of the cake.  Here's where you start saying to yourself, "I'm lucky if I have time to make a peanut butter sandwich, much less a cake.  Is this woman nuts?"  Just hear me out!  For me, making cakes is both a valuable mama-time experience that I enjoy as well as a useful endeavor that serves a function and saves us money since we'd be getting cakes for various and sundry occasions anyway that would be less tasty, less fun and much more expensive. This alleviates any and all guilt associated with aforementioned mama-time activity!  I know, most people will tell you that you shouldn't feel guilty as a mom for needing some mama-time and they're right but that still doesn't mean I don't feel just a wee twinge when sitting down to watch an episode of Dr. Who on Netflix with my feet up surrounded by two loads of clean, unfolded laundry.
     Now, if baking isn't your thing, then find something that is that fits the requirements of being something you really enjoy as well as serving some sort of useful purpose to your household or the world in general.  Cook new meals, knit diaper soakers, repurpose old furniture, plant a garden, volunteer with animals or whatever does it for you.  You don't even have to be good at it, you just have to enjoy it and feel good about doing it.  I am not a skilled baker.  I make crooked cakes and flatten them with generous use of a cake leveler.  I can't make a rose out of frosting or ice a cake so it's smooth which is why I use a lot of fondant because it's very forgiving and a lot easier than it looks.
     Ok, now on to the cake!  This is a cake I made for my dad's birthday while he was out visiting us.  He's in the timber industry and I don't know how to make a jelly roll for a log cake so instead he got a stump cake.  It's a devil's food cake from a mix with chocolate frosting from a can and homemade peanutbutter cream frosting as filling.  I covered it with a combo of storebought marzipan (for the top and mushrooms) and homemade peanutbutter fudge marshmallow fondant (recipe the very bottom of the post if you want to try it.)  There's coconut grass and the fondant and marzipan has been painted with paints made from gel food colors and green apple schnapps (I didn't have any clear alcohol and water melts fondant.)  I've decided that I don't have to show you the picture of the back where I tried out some "moss" effects and there are two green spots that look sort of like boogies.

Just for fun, I'm subjecting you to a few more past cakes. Remember, this is my mama-time activity so humor me. :)

 These are the guest cake (carrot cake with orange filling and frosting, YUM!)  and Spice's cake for her 1st birthday party.  She was somewhat underwhelmed with the cake.  She sort of picked at it for a few minutes and then decided she'd rather be picked up instead.

This is the cake I made for Sugar's 2nd birthday (at McDonald's as she loves "Burgers, Fries and Milk" right now.) Word of warning for anyone ever considering it, don't use marshmallow creme with fondant, they don't like each other.  That runny stuff that looks like an over abundance of mayo isn't supposed to be there.

 

We did cake every month for the first year on our girl's monthly birthdays.  I only made a couple of those myself as we usually did really mini cakes or itty bitty cheesecakes so we didn't have cake for two weeks every month.  This was the topper for Spice's 8 month birthday. She had swine flu.

This one was YUMMY! It's matcha green tea and vanilla flavored layers with strawberry preserve filling.  The icing is vanilla and the fondant is matcha flavored too.

Peanutbutter-Fudge Marshmallow Fondant:
I covered a large area of my sanitized, dried kitchen table with sifted powdered sugar mixed with 1/3 cup of cocoa powder, about 14 inches across and an inch deep. You can cover the table or whatever surface you're using to knead on with shortening, but I find it's easier to clean powdered sugar off the table than Crisco and if you use enough sugar, the fondant still doesn't stick.  I coated my bowl (I use a microwave safe ceramic one from IKEA) in vegetable shortening as usual and my spoonula too. Then added in one full bag of mini-marshmallows, about two tablespoons of water and roughly half a cup of peanutbutter and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the marshmallows are fully meltedand quickly coated my hands with Crisco before pouring the melted marshmallow mixture into the powdered sugar.   I kneaded it together until it felt just a little softer than I'd make regular marshmallow fondant as the peanutbutter makes it a little chewier once it's set. There are lots of good marshmallow fondant recipes and videos online and I'd try that enough to be comfortable with making and using it before trying this one because it is a little harder to work with.  This batch had a nice, mild chocolate peanutbutter flavor that I prefer to the straight marshmallow as it is less sugary tasting and you can knead in as much or as little cocoa powder as you want to adjust color and flavor but I wouldn't add more PB as it would be TOO chewy.  I've also done it without the peanut butter and used strawberry extract in place of the water for a yummychocolate covered strawberry fondant that I make darker.