It's not over yet!

This morning is cool and very wet. But lets hope that's all it will be. Yesterday the radio was predicting 2 to 4 cm of snow for tonight. Let's hope they're wrong. Although we know it won't last if it does come, we really don't want to have to haul out the boots again this year. Last night I stayed home (for a change!) and worked on compiling the results from our admin day. Brenda also chose to stay at home and finish planting her flower beds. Tonight she has a wrap up meeting with the ladies that organized Dave's party. So I will finish up a few things and re-pack my suitcase. My plan was to take my carry on bag, but I also want to take my laptop so I will have to check my bag. I was taking two small bags but the laptop bag would be three, so I'll just take my bigger bag and my laptop and a purse. In the long run it's likely better anyway, as I will likely have things to bring back with me - I usually do when I travel!

Meghan (1), you're going to like this part of the story.
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching TV and one of those cake challenges was on. There were several teams of three ladies decorating massive wedding themed cakes. They were showing this lady working on a cake at the front but what caught my eye was in the background. There, sitting on the counter was a cricut machine. Now if you don't know what a cricut is, it's a die cutting machine used by scrapbookers. Your mom has seen mine in action as we cut out some words for a card she was making. Well, as this program unfolded, they showed the woman using the cricut to cut out sheets of fondant. With a cricut you can cut out endless shapes in any size you like. I was totally fascinated as she cut out intricate lace patterns on sheets of white fondant and carefully layed them over a pastel base. It was absolutely amazing and of course it set off all kinds of ideas. What a great idea!
But, how would you do that?

Well, last night I was flipping through the TV listings and there on the shopping network was the Cricut Cake machine. It's not quite the same as the paper cutting machine for obvious reasons, and you can't cut paper with it, but, boy what a job it did with rolled out fondant. There was a package for $389.00 but you had the option of paying six monthly payments of $65.00. It took every ounce of strength to not go to the phone and order one. They were actually just taking pre-orders as they aren't available in Canada yet. They don't call me the gadget queen for nothing - and this would be the ultimate gadget. But something to think about in the future. They had some amazing cakes on display with beautiful, intricate designs and lettering on them. It just boggles the mind what one could do!

I went on line this morning to read some consumer reviews and there seems to be a bit of a learning curve with it in terms of the right thickness, etc of icing to use, but I think it might be easier if you've already got experience using the cricut to cut out paper. One of the great features is it uses the same design cartridges as the paper machine and they are interchangeable so I could use the ones I already have besides the two that come with it. Being as the cartridges retail for around $90 each when they're not on sale, the price for the package doesn't seem too bad. (See, I'm already trying to justify it and I haven't even bought it yet!)