Never Forget

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  Too many of us lost family... friends... acquaintances... innocence of man's inhumanity to man...

It would have been easy to give in to the anger and hatred and bitterness.  Instead, Oklahomans reached out and comforted each other... and the world. 

SMILE!

This time of year depresses me.  Between taxes and the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing, I have to force myself to get motivated sometimes. 

Today, I treated myself to dinner at I-Hop because I was procrastinating and dreading the tax deadline.  (I also had a Groupon coupon, which didn't hurt.)  I had not done any tax preparation other than gather up the W-2s and assorted documents - a grand total of four pieces of paper.  Itemized deductions are but a distant memory.  Sigh...

I was feeling somewhat melancholy.  When I opened the silverware packet, I discovered this small note wrapped tightly around the knife.  

What a good reminder that this time of year isn't all that bad.  I did smile - and I kept on smiling, even through the filing of the taxes. 

A Painted Easter

I was honored to be a part of an international group of sugar artists in a cake collaboration celebrating Easter.  Everyone had to hand-paint cakes, cookies, fondant, etc. and include a hidden Easter egg in each piece.  Please join me and view the video here:  

Https://youtu.be/6frruOuicCQ

You can check out the Facebook page here:

www.facebook.com/apaintedeaster

Here are the cookies I submitted.  They are gingerbread with royal icing, and royal icing animals.  They were hand-painted with Rainbow Dust Metallic Edible Food Paints and food coloring.