The Making of a Card Cake

So, as I've mentioned a few times in this blog, I've been working on something called a card cake (or at least I think that's what it's called given that's what it looks like). I got the idea from my friend Melissa E-T's wedding last October. She had one and I just thought it was cool. I also thought I could figure out how to make one too. And so with the help of my friend Kelly, we managed to figure out the basic parts. Here, my friends and loyal readers, is the making of a card cake.

First of all, what is it? Well, essentially, it's a structure made out of hatboxes built to look like a wedding cake. Its purpose is to hold cards that people bring to the wedding and reception. One could have a basket for cards; some people even use a birdcage as a card collector. I thought M.E.T.'s cake was cool and unique though so I wanted one myself. I bought 2 hatboxes during the holiday clearance sales at Hobby Lobby and picked up the third smaller one later with Kelly.

The first thing we had to do was cut the holes in the hatboxes so that the cards could "fall" through the layers (note the knife stuck in the top of the blue box to the right). Then we had to cover the blue boxes with white before we could cover them with fabric as we didn't want the blue showing through the white. After that, we had to carefully measure the white silky fabric so as to glue it on. It took a little while to figure out what glue, etc. to use, but it turned out that the glue gun was the best way to go in the end.

Now, I don't think of myself as much of a creative person when it comes to things like this, so I relied on Kelly to help me get a mental picture of how this thing would actually come together. I can usually do pretty good when I have directions to follow, but I didn't this time and the Internet wasn't that big of a help. Thankully, Kelly is really good at creative person-type things though and before we knew it, we had a plan for putting it together. Unfortuantely, she had to leave early that day, so it was up to me to do some figuring out on my own as well.

I spent the next two weeks or so in between teaching and other things staring at the structure and waiting for inspiration to strike as to how to decorate it. I'm glad I waited and didn't just glue things according to my first instinct because I was able to get some good ideas from Gail who's doing my flowers. In the end, I think it turned out pretty good for my first try and for having no directions. I may tweak it a little with some of the side flowers, but if I don't have time, I'll be happy with it the way it is.

The next project is assembling programs and table decorations, but those'll have to wait until February as it's time to start going to some fun showers! Next weekend I'll be in IL for a shower with some of my old Illinois gang and then the next weekend a shower here in IA with Iowa friends and family. Should be fun. Only 6 weeks to go until wedding time. It's hard to believe it's coming that fast!

See here the finished product.

Gatlinburg, TN - December 2008

Over the holiday break, Ken and I decided to do a little traveling. Initially, we wanted to make the drive out to the Black Hills in South Dakota, but were strongly recommended not to attempt doing so in the winter given that South Dakota is just as bad as Iowa when it comes to snow and ice on the roads. Instead, we decided to go someplace a little warmer but just as beautiful. We settled on the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee since neither one of us had been there before and because we could get a relatively good deal on plane tickets out of Iowa to Knoxville.

I'll spare you all the terrible details about trying to fly out of Iowa in late December, but suffice it to say that it took us 2 days and much switching of flights to get us out of here. First, fog in Cedar Rapids forced all flights in/out of CR to cancel. Then an ice storm the next morning meant that flying out of Waterloo would be just as impossible. We finally decided on just driving the three hours to Minneapolis to make our flight to Knoxville. From there, it was smooth sailing, er...smooth flying.

We spent about 5 days in and around the Gatlinburg, TN area. We started off in the Pigeon Forge area, the home of Dolly Parton and Dollywood, and made our way through Gatlinburg and the large area known as the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. As we drove around the park, we also dipped into a little bit of North Carolina and a Cherokee Indian Reservation.

We saw some fabulous waterfalls around the area and enjoyed being both low and high in the mountains, the low areas known as coves or hollows. In one historical area known as Cades Cove, we saw many of the original settlers' cabins built in the early 1800s when people (i.e., the white man) first came to settle in the mountains. It was interesting to learn about their way of life and how then 100 years later they were forced to leave those tiny communities so that the National Park could be established.

I was really hoping to see a bear there as they do inhabit the mountains, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) we didn't come across any. The weather was decent the whole time though and we were able to get away with wearing long sleeves and light jackets most of the time, except for when we were high in the mountains. There was at least a 20 degree difference between the bottom and top of the mountains. Basically, we got so used to the light jackets that we froze our tail ends off when we got higher up and actually got out of the car.

While in Pigeon Forge, we also took in a few shows. The whole area is really built up for tourists and is sort of a cross between Branson, MO, Wisconsin Dells, and Las Vegas. There is no gambling, but a lot of musical shows and family entertainment. Because we wanted to see a non-Christmas show, our options were a bit limited. We settled on two shows that featured more oldies-style music: one had a Grease-themed show with an Elvis impersonator and the other was all impersonations of famous singers: Conway Twitty, Buddy Holly, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, and of course, Elvis again. I liked the first Elvis better, but the second one had some good show credibility. He had the "motions" down better though the first one (pictured here in blue) was a bit better looking, in my opinion. The Tim McGraw was very impressive and as good as the real deal if you asked me.

By the end of the trip, we were pooped and ready to come home. A quick stop at the USO for some free food and comfy recliners in the Denver airport helped revive us for the second leg of the trip and then, of course, the 3 hour drive back home from Minneapolis to Waterloo.

The next big project is the wedding in March. It's hard to believe that it's almost here.

My Car Hates Cold Weather

"Princess" -- the name of my Honda Accord -- has made it clear that she does not like the cold snap we've been experiencing this week. On Thursday when the cold really hit hard, she decided not to start. She grinded and chugged and then promptly died. That was at 6:45 a.m. as I was getting ready to get up to school for my 8 a.m. class. So then I had to drag poor, sick Ken out of the warm bed so he could run me to school. Yes, Ken's been fighting a bad cold. He rarely gets sick, but he had Army duty last weekend and got a whole bunch of shots (7th round of Anthrax, etc.) and personally I think he's sick because of them all. So after I drug him out of bed, he ran me to campus and the secretary gave me a ride home that afternoon. (Her van had heated seats! I was so spoiled!)

Last night we had to run to Sears to get a new battery for my car. That's not a fun way to spend $100. Thankfully yesterday was also payday. When we got home, Ken installed it. I'm amazed that he knows how to do that sort of thing. He's turning out to be very handy to have around!!! I was worried about the car starting this morning, but the ole girl started up like a champ and we made it to school this morning just fine. I do have to say though that after this terrible week of 7.3 inches of snow on Wednesday and -25 degree weather Thursday and Friday, I have learned my lesson about teaching classes that start at 8:00 a.m. 5 days of the week. Maybe I'll do that in the fall, but certainly not in the spring again!

Spring Semester: A First Day Blizzard

Day 1 of the spring semester has us facing another lovely Iowa blizzard. Yes, a blizzard. As I was walking to my first classes this morning (I taught 8 am, 9 am and 10 am), I had no trouble until the 10 am class. Naturally all of my classes are in different buildings aacross campus so I have to suit up -- coat, hat, gloves, bag, etc. just to trek 5-10 minutes across campus to get to my next class. On the way to my third class, the blowing snow had already started though they said the full effects of the snow/wind wouldn't start until this afternoon. As I walked, I could barely look up to see where I was going as the blowing snow was so bad. I just have one more class to get to at 1 p.m. and thankfully it's in the same building as my office. I just have to walk down the hall -- no coat, no gloves, no nothing. Sweet!

I did just learn that classes at Hawkeye have been canceled starting at 3 pm today. What about canceling them now? I suppose I should be happy that I can get my last first class in today before they cancel them all, but still. I'm tired and would like to go home and keep working on wedding invites that I need to get weighed and mailed soon and that card cake that is just plain fun to actually work on (pics to be posted soon). I bought a glue gun last week and am having a good ole time gluing things to this 3-tired cake-like structure. I've just realized that the wedding is a mere 8 weeks away and there is still a lot to do.

I also need to ready our guest bedroom as Ken's parents are coming in tomorrow to stay for a day or two. His dad is going in for surgery to have some stints put in. It's kind of scary when you think about it. It's the same thing my Grandma had to have done last year. His appointment is at 6 am on Wednesday, so they're driving in from Oelwein to stay overnight and get there early enough in the morning. One of Ken's soldiers from Muscatine, IA stayed with us this weekend as it was their Army drilling weekend and needed a bed, so after having him here, I need to freshen up the room with some clean linens, towels, and a quick vacuum. I love getting into B&B mode! I wish more people would come stay with us as it's actually fun to get ready for them!

And so back to my classes at Hawkeye. At least the students in the first 3 classes I've had today seem nice. No obvious concerns just yet, or at least no one mouthed off or looked too bored during the 50 minutes we were together. One already revealed that he is a recovering alcoholic who's back in school after 20 years. So that makes 2 of them between last semester and this semester. That's always interesting. It always amazes me how open people are here about their personal situations. I also have some special needs students already that have more obvious needs. No one has shown me their special accommodations sheet yet though so there may be more.

On a syllabus note, I've made a greater point this semester of making it clear to students that I will not tolerate the following: texting on cell phones and making fun of other students during class. By "making fun" I mean students making faces/rolling eyes when another speaks, etc. I had a problem in one class with this last semester and it drove me nuts. I mean, seriously people, this is college. Grow up. I'm calling it my "Zero Tolerance Policy" and I told them if it happened, they get 1 warning and then they're out of class. I didn't say when or if they could come back. I just said they were out. I'm sick of the immature behavior.

Well, I guess I better get ready for class #4 which is coming up. Then I head home to hunker down and watch the blizzard unfold from the living room, glue gun in hand. The only thing is that I'll have to worry about Ken making it home from Deere on the far side of town. The big question on everyone's mind (ok - maybe just my mind) ....will classes be cancelled tomorrow?