this is how it started... 5:00 PM

So after Tom finally proposed to Courtney, this began. At work one morning:

Tom: Camille, will you make my wedding cake?

Me: No.

Tom: Why not?

Me: Because I don't know how to make wedding cakes.

Tom: But you made that wedding cake for your friend.

Me: Yeah, but it was small and my Mom was there. She knows how to make wedding cakes.

Tom: You made it once, you can do it again.

Me: No.

Then next day we were on shift:

Tom: So let me tell you about that wedding cake...

Me: No.

Tom: ...that you're making me.

Me: No.

Tom: The wedding is in October.

Me: No. I don't know how to make wedding cakes!

Tom: You're going to do great.

Me: No.

This continues:

Tom: So about that wedding cake.

Me: No.

Tom: Courtney has a picture of it for you.

Me: No.

Tom: It's just for like 200-250 people.

Me: No!

This continued for a long time. Finally one day I remembered how Tom had re-done our deck for just the price of materials. Crap. I probably owed him.

So I sucked it up and agreed to do the cake with the understanding that 1) I was not a professional so if it turned out badly it was not my fault; I had forewarned them. And 2) I had never attempted a cake of this size so if it turned out badly it was not my fault; I had forewarned them.

And that's how it began.

Also I asked Tom if Courtney had a KitchenAid type mixer I could borrow. Ashley has a Bosch, which is good but when you use powder sugar in it, the sugar puffs up into the gears and makes a horrible worse-than-nails-against-a-chalkboard noise. It's terrible. Tom said sure. But when he never got it to me, I just assumed that he had forgotten and didn't bug him about it.

A week before the wedding I came back to the firehouse after a call and Tom was there (he's not on my shift anymore so it was odd that he had stopped by). He came into the radio room and said that Courtney and he had gotten me a thank you present, it was in the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and this was sitting on the countertop (in its box of course):

A mixer. A real grow up mixer. Like the kind that married people get as wedding presents. Shoot, now I don't need to get married. I was only going to do it for the presents like this. I was totally surprised. I don't think Tom understood how cool this was. But he did good.

never forget 4:37 PM

Pentagon 9/11/2001

This morning I got up and the only thing on TV about 9/11 was a documentary on the History Channel. Really news channels? Nothing? At first I gave them the benefit of the doubt, I started watching TV at 0930 and the WTC attacks were actually earlier (first tower 0846, second tower 0903), but then as I was watching the Pentagon documentary I realized that it was not hit until 0943 and it was at 1010 when those brave Americans banded together to avert the fourth plan from hitting what they now believe was the White House or Capitol. see chronology here

It was really disappointing. Are the Today Show's diet tips really so important that they could not have been put off until Monday and some coverage given to the 9/11 memorial services at their respective places? How soon we forget, well maybe not forget but, at least minimize what was a huge travesty America faced today. Sorry to sound bitter but it made me really sad.

This afternoon I went to CNN.com hoping to fill that patriotic void left from this morning. There was a nice article covering the different services including what the new president was doing to honor the fallen. My favorite quote was from Secretary of State Collin Powell who gave the keynote address at that field in PA where United flight 93 crashed.

"No one could capture the terror the 40 people aboard Flight 93 must have endured," Powell said. They were strangers to each other who "represented the very best diversity that is America."

"In place of fear, they found the courage of attack," he said. "They seized the moment, and they lost their lives in so doing. We are here to ... honor their spirits."

Another article I read called 9/11:

A day for Baby Boomers that will live in infamy; it was our Pearl Harbor.

That is an interesting thought. I mean, I know that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was unexpected and horrible but I have never thought of it as the national tragedy that it actually was. But now I will.

Anyhow. I know this post is disjointed. Sorry. I have been going back an forth between writing this and reading articles. And I will stop now, before I get all mushy and start tearing up again.

This time last year.

ps, Susan said 9/11 stuff was on all morning. So maybe I was not flipping through the right channels.

Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

cape henlopen beach 2:41 PM

On the first of the month Erika invited me to join her and my favorite two little girls for a trip to the beach. We headed over to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware, a mere three hours away. Don't worry, Erika packed lots of snacks for me, I mean the girls, to get us through the drive.

Ella and her beloved doughnuts.

Me (as we were getting ready to leave the house):
Ella, what are we were going to do at the beach?
Ella (jumping up and down with excitement):
We're gonna eat doughnuts at the beach!!!

(l) Jane waiting for the big waves. (r) Chowing down on some pears.

Jane loved the beach. She is a water baby! She loved having her arms held (as she can't stand up well by herself, nor walk) as she stood where the waves were breaking on the shore. She loved the rush of water flooding her legs and waist, and the gust of wind in her face. As you can see in the above left picture.

(l) Mermaid Ella. (r) Her favorite interaction with the ocean.

Ella on the other hand is a land lover. She toyed around with the water but was more happy to run away from it than to let it touch her. We spent a large part of the afternoon playing in the sand and chasing seagulls. She was shy about scaring the birds at first, but as the day wore on it became her favorite game.


It was quite a windy day, but the temperature was perfect, the sun was out, the water was cool but not cold and the beach was not over crowded.


Erika was back in her element. She loves the beach. I'm glad we got a chance to go before the summer was over. It was fun to hang out with the girls.

Jane trying to head back to the water.

in the meantime... 12:01 PM

I am waiting for pictures from Erika so I can tell you about out trip to the beach last week. And I am waiting for Ashley's camera to come back to the house so I can download the pictures of camping this weekend. Because a post without pictures is no post at all. In the meantime, here is a quick picture I snaped at the kampground with my iPhone.

Really?
Thank you for clarifying.
Because I would have been confused had
you not sub-divided those bottom three.

street signs 5:25 PM

Secured by clear tape, written in ballpoint pen on two strips of 8 1/2 inch long paper, this gem was found on the corner of 25th and South Monroe Street today at 1323 hours. It made me laugh.

Stop Voldemort

Okay. I will get right on that.

*NOTE: Voldemort is the bad guy on Harry Potter
(just incase you live underground and were unsure).

Sonic 10:05 PM

So I was going to name this post "why i love Sonic: part 2", but when I went back to find the post that I most surely had written about my beloved Strawberry CreamSlush - there was none. None! How have I neglected this? I recall taking a picture of one, it was from the Sonic in Delaware, either on the way to Rehoboth or heading home from Pumpkin Chunkin'. I went back into the archives and found the above photo. I meant to write about it, so without further delay...

Ahh, behold the Strawberry CreamSlush. One word: fan-freakin-creamy-sweet-strawberry-chiller-tastic. For those of you who have not had the pleasure, allow me to describe it. Take one part strawberry slushee (with the ice somewhere between the consistency of a snow cone and a slurpee) add one part soft serve vanilla ice cream and add a nice helping of strawberry chunks in yummy syrup. Now mix all that goodness together and prepare to be whisked away to strawberry winter wonderland. I love me some Strawberry CreamSlush. But be warned that it is pretty solid when they first hand it to you, give it 10 minutes or so to soften up to a straw stirrable/sippable state.

The great thing I experienced yesterday at Sonic is below. Frito Chili Pie. This was on the menu back in the day when I first tried Sonic. Yum-ee. But sometime between 2002 and 2005 it disappeared from the menu. I have tried to order it since then hoping that someone would humor me and make it (the ingredients still exist in the kitchen for the new Frito Chili Wrap. Really? Yuck. Why mess with perfection.) but they have not humored me . . . until today.

My persistence finally paid off and a paper box tray filled with a warm crunchy salty treat was delivered to me. Picture this (or look below) a bed of Fritos covered with meaty chili and topped with cheddar cheese. Now taste the combination of crunchy/salty corn chips, the top layer of which has softened ever-so-slightly from the chili, spicy/sweet meat chili warming your mouth and a hint of melted cheddar bringing the concoction together for a party in your mouth so good you are sure it has to be really really bad for you. Yum.

If only I felt as passionately about exercise as I do about food.
This is my downfall.
A delicious downfall.