What-What?! Week of January 27th

This last week has been busy; my husband had his wisdom teeth taken out, and school started for me.  Most of this week, I didn't cook real dinners, opting instead to have things like sandwiches, eggs, macaroni and cheese, and so on.  I made spaghetti once.  I need to plan better for next week.

On Writing: Squidoo and School

I had some happenings with Squidoo this week; a few new articles, some squid-likes and comments.  My lowest ranked article is at about #124,000ish, which is a far cry from the 20,000 ranking that is my goal (that's when the money happens), but much better than many of my others, which are in the 300,000 range.

I'll be doing a lot more writing in general now that school has started, but I'm hoping that some of the assignments will lend well to incorporating onto Squidoo.

Food:  Lemon Butter via Tasty Kitchen

This I did do.  I don't have a real double-broiler, so I had a pot of water with a bowl over it, and that worked out okay.  It still came out amazing!  So delicious!

Osric’s Birthday:  Hot Air Balloon Ideas

After making cake bites last week, I decided to go looking for other hot air balloon birthday ideas.  Here's some of what I found:



I found these brilliant woven paper hot air balloons.  They are so cute!  The pattern doesn't look that hard, so I might try them sometime.



This hot air balloon cake is a pretty blah by itself, but I think the idea has potential.  I could see maybe doing a group of them, maybe creating some kind of scene?  Marshmallow clouds could work.


These little cake pop guys on the left have some potential as well. (if you follow that link, beware the million pictures).

News:  Tips for Getting Your Product in Big Box Stores via Entrepreneur
Not much by way of news this week, but I thought this article was worth a read.  It's pretty fantastic that small businesses can get stocked at large chains, but her discussion of the required infastructure you need to have ready is somewhat staggering.  What she doesn't talk about are all the services that help you with that infastructure; you don't have to develop a national warehouse system or worry about shipping your items to stores, because businesses like UPS will do that for you.

Well, that's it for this week.  Hopefully next week I'll something a bit more substantial.

What-What?! Week of January 20th

On Writing: Publishing eBooks

This week, I published a short eBook on Amazon; it’s basically a reprint of a paper that I wrote for school a couple of years ago.  It’s pretty short and basic, and I published it mostly to get an idea of what the publishing process on Amazon looked like.  If you want to check it out, it’s here, available for $2.99: Trader Joe’s versus Whole Foods Market.

My Squidoo articles have basically done nothing.  I’ve applied to one Squidoo database in order to get some backlinks, but I need to do more to work them up.  I have a couple that I need to update more by adding more information and fixing things.

 

Food: Pork Stir Fry

So, I’d had some foods already picked out for this week…and then I didn’t do any of them.

Instead, I made pork stir fry, using bok choy, cilantro, mushrooms, carrots and bell peppers.  I wrapped it up in rice paper, and made summer rolls.  This last Christmas, Peter got me a mandolin slicer, which I decided to use for cutting veggies.
And then, like a doofus, I cut my finger on it. :P

So, moral of that story is to be careful using a mandolin slicer.

News:  E-Filing andthe Explosion in Tax Return Fraud

This article is well worth reading; it discusses how tax return fraud works with e-filing and direct deposit or payments, and what to do if it happens to you.  Unfortunately, this seems to be one of those things where the government’s technology hasn’t kept pace with fraudsters, and there’s little that you can really do to protect yourself.

Something cute:  R2-D2USB Cufflinks

Okay, so this is pretty useless, and expensive, but it is very cute! :)

Food:  Cake Bites, ala Bakerella

A couple of years ago, Peter got me Bakerella’s (that is, Angie Dudley) Cake Pops book.  It’s a great book, and very nice to look at, but I’ve never made any of the pops because it just seemed like too much work.  Saffron, my eldest, found it the other day, and asked if we could make some, so I decided “what the heck?”  Because I’m still myself, though, I decided to do it using the least amount of actual work.

Rather than hand crumbling the cake, I quartered it and put it into a gallon sized plastic bag.  Then, the kids and I mushed it up, which did a pretty good job.

Then, rather than using a spoon to mix the frosting in, I used my Kitchenaid mixer, with the beater attachment.  I put it on Stir for a minute or two, and then it was perfect consistency.

Peter and I picked up some chocolate molds from the craft store, and Saffron helped by putting the balls into the cups that I’d filled with chocolate.

After that was done, we dipped the tops into some red candy melts, and then Saffron put sprinkles on for us.

 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed them, though Peter thought that they would be better without the chocolate pedestals. I think, in the right colors, it would make for a brilliant hot air balloon themed party. I have high hopes for my littlest boy’s first birthday party. Unfortunately, it’ll probably be ruined by my capstone class. Sorry Ozzie, your first birthday party will be after May 17th. D:<

 

 

 

(Photos via Bakerella, Amazon, and Squidoo).