No One can change your life except for...Don't ever let anyone step all over you...Just hold on for one more day and things will go your way

This one is a long one, so grab a seat and a cup of tea, you're gonna be here a minute.....

I know the title is incredibly long but it pretty much sums up the past few days in my world. The words are from one of my favorite songs from 8th grade, Hold On by Wilson Phillips. My hubby cracks up whenever I put on their tape, I have been playing it a lot here lately. I have no idea why I still have the tape but it still plays and I still sing all of the songs as if I was 13 again. It sounds just as good on my son's Fisher Price tape recorder as it did on my boom box in 8th grade.



Anywho, I came down with a tummy ache and cold on Monday and have been out of wack since then. I still have not been able to track down anyone about our LOI. I pretty much started to get really peeved on Monday b/c it had been almost 2 weeks since we requested our changes. Pretty much no one would call us back. Has professionalism gone out of the door????Long story short I am so glad that we did not sign anything b/c we are not moving forward with our location. After consulting with my business coach and crying on Chaka's shoulder, I realized that it was not a good sign that the strip mall owners and the realtor did not return any of my dozen or so phone calls or that another business had closed up shop in the strip mall since we discovered the space right befoer the Christmas holidays. The sucky part is that we already gave the architect a deposit for a space that we are not moving forward with now. The good news is that the architect did a fabulous job so far (we met with her today) and I will definitely use her once/ if we ever find an affordable home for Harmony. So we are out @ $700.00 but hey, lesson learned.... sign the lease and then hire the architect. I think we got ahead of ourselves on this one. Please learn from my laps in judgement. I was just really excited about finding a location that already had a hood, 2 (yes I said 2) grease inceptors and a walk in cooler. The location was in one of the older(less than 5 years) strip malls close to our house. When the Kroger Supermarket left the strip mall to move across the highway last summer, the strip mall started to loose businesses. All in all it has lost 5 businesses in the 10 spaces that are left. Slowly the spaces have filled back up but their are still 3 spots open. I don't really think that the space is going anywhere b/c there are 2 more strip malls being built right up the road not to mention that the new Kroger is in a brand new strip mall. I just don't understand why no one has returned my calls.

I am still plowing forward, but man am I being tested. I am not use to surrendering and letting the universe provide the answers on its terms. But on this one I am going to be still and really listen.

This part of my journey is kinda comical b/c I have not had the "this is it" moment with either of our spaces. My feelings have been more like "this will do" or "It has potential". I can testify that throughout life when I have compromised on a decision and settled for something it never works out, ummmm can I say PPI.

Anywho, this is where the journey gets interesting. Can I endure this test? Do I have faith to keep the dream of Harmony alive or will it become a dream deferred? Only the universe knows. All I know is, for now I am swamped with cupcake orders this week and I have a kitchen that is being over taken by bags of flour, mixing bowls and decorating supplies.

Harmony is coming, whether it is 2 months, 2 years or 2 decades from now, you will be able to bring Harmony into your life. I am like the little engine that could, I am going to keep on moving.

Until, later, Peace.

It's all about ME ME ME ME ME, Forget about YOU YOU YOU......

A little Total to set the tone for the next 2 hours. As soon as I finish this post I am going to take 2 hours for ME. Since Thursday I have been working overtime for everyone else. From picking up Nalah-B from a High School Musical sleepovers in Dayton on Friday to spending 3.5 hours at Nalah-B's meet this afternoon I have been running across the universe for my children and god-daughter. This weekend has not had one min. of ME time.

As my oldest, the prince, says.........I'm bushed.

I am headed upstairs to light some candles, grab a book and soak in our jacuzzi. When we nickled and dimed to build our house almost 2 years ago, our bathroom is the one area that we completely splurged on. It is truly my sanctuary. I even wanted to give birth to Z-man there but my OB did not do home births. So I am off to clear my mind and try to take a moment and not over analyze or think about anything ,which is pretty darn hard for me. One of my nicknames is "the thinker" b/c I am always deep in thought. I am going to try hard and be still and focus on me.

I want fabulous, That is my simple request...I need a little fabulous is that so wrong?

I am still in High School Musical mode, so please forgive the title......

The above are the vegan chocolate b-day cupcakes for my god-daughter. They are truly FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!! They turned out nice, almost as fabulous as she is. My god-daughter wanted them decorated with pink sprinkles and just a tad bit of icing.

They even pasted the Nalah-B approval test.

Anywho, I am out..........

Together, together, together everyone, Together, together, come on let's have some fun

We're all in this together

Once we know

That we are

We're all stars

And we see that

We're all in this together

And it shows

All of you who have young and tween daughters all know where these lyrics are from.....Disney's High School Musical. Since I spent most of yesterday evening enthralled in High School Mania with my daughter, god-daughter and her cousins. Yesterday was my god-daughter/diva's 7th birthday. Her mother had an awesome idea to take the girls to see High School Musical(HSM) on ice instead of having a party for her. We had a blast. The evening started off with a nice pizza dinner at my house (on high school musical paper ware, of course!), then we headed down town to the show. The girls were dressed in the latest HSM attire. I also found the cutest HSM handbags that I filled with treats, lip gloss, and nail polish for the girls to enjoy. The girls screamed so much, you would have thought we were meeting Madonna, Michael Jackson or some MAJOR pop star. My goddaughter's mom and I kept looking at one another and cracking up at our daughters and all the other little girls going crazy over the show. It was truly a blast!

I feel so fortunate to have shared this moment together. The girls are still the happiest lil ladies on the planet this AM.

Up for today.......

More follow ups.........still now LOI update........I am starting to get really frustrated but I am channeling serenity and patience.

VEGAN cupcakes!!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep getting requests for vegan and gluten free cupcakes. So today I am working on Vegan ones. My Death by Chocolate's cake is already vegan but I need to come up with a tasty topping. I am hoping my days of developing non-dairy whipped toppings for Rich Product in Buffalo, NY will come in handy today. Pictures to come, of course.

Well, the timer just went off.

Peace and TGIF!

Whoa ooh ooh ooh ooh, just Hangin' Tough

A little NKOTB to start off Hump day, I know what you are thinking...YES! I was a huge fan of New Kids back in the 80's... no shame in admitting this one, doesn't every teenage girl obsess over a boy band at some point. My room was plastered with posters of all of the boys, I even had bed sheets (shh, don't tell anyone). You have to admit that the Wahlberg boys have done alright for themselves, and so has Joey.

Feeling a little under the weather today - a bit of a tummy bug. Hope it is just a 24 hour thing.

Still no news to report. I have put in a few calls and am waiting for return calls.

Up for the rest of the day:

Rest

Plan for the weekend - Nalah has back to back practices scheduled this weekend and a meet to attend on Sunday so I am going to have to carefully plan the weekend or we will be wiped out by Monday. Last night was her first weekday practice as a level 3 (6:15-8:15 (3x per week) instead of 4:15 - 6:15 (2x per week)) and it threw off the entire house. Serving dinner at 4:30pm is just not going to work for us b/c the kids were ready to eat again after practice. They also did not get in the bed until 9:30, a whole hour after their normal bedtime. To top it all off, Z-man was still going strong at 11pm. We are going to have to brainstorm something that will work better on Tuesday nights.

Anywho, I am out for now. Z-man is napping and I am going to have to join him and rest for a bit.

Enjoy the sunshine today, winter is making a comeback tomorrow.

Down on the Farm...the cows go Moo...Moo

The goal for today: Find a local dairy supplier.

I have been putting this off for a while and finally need to narrow my list down to one dairy supplier. My intention has been to purchase ingredients from as many local suppliers as possible. The 4-H office in Columbus was so helpful a few months back. They supplied me with an extensive list of dairy farmers in Ohio. Every last company that I talked to was so helpful and excited for our venture. It also helped that I got my degree from the OSU department of Agriculture, so I am an aggie and know a thing or to about dairy processing so I could speak the farmer's lingo.

Still no word about the changes we requested. I will be on the horn later today to bug a few folks.

Short and sweet today. I have a lunch date with some of the ladies that I used to work with.

I will post an update if anything transpires today.

You are my Sunshine, My only sunshine

Well, fans of Harmony, this post will be short and sweet. It is 60 degrees and sunny with a high of 67 today, so Z-man and I have been out walking this morning enjoying the weather.

The kids are back in school so I am going to open the windows and air out the house. This is the perfect day for a little cleaning and organizing. Besides it will keep my mind off of the waiting game that we are playing.

I also need to spend the day deciding what my Valentines day flavors are going to be. I am also working on a cupcake bouquet for folks to give to loved ones. Here are the flavors that I have worked up and tested on folks:

Chocolate covered strawberry ( strawberry cake topped with dark chocolate ganache garnished with strawberry cream cheese frosting and a dark chocolate drizzle)

Amarischino Cherry (named after my prince Amari) - Cherry infused cake with maraschino cherry bits, vanilla butter cream with a cherry on top

Pretty in Pink Strawberry- Strawberry cake, strawberry cream cheese frosting, pink fairy dust

The last 2 are from my existing menu so I decided to feature them for the day of love. If you have any other ideas, drop me a comment.

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.

I am out.