Neapolitan Cake Amature Bake Party Ready

2 boxes of cake mix. Strawberry and Rainbow Chip Party (vanilla with colored sprinkles).

I made this for Amelia Rose. I hope like heck that the finishing touches for this cake come tomorrow! I ordered them from Amazon on Wednesday and they are due to arrive tomorrow. A little later than I had thought they would arrive. I thought I would have my adornments today... Anyway, I'm hoping to finish this up before Amelia's Party. I have a back up figurine to use if the special unicorn I ordered doesn't arrive in time...

I'm hoping the cake really pops when I finish it. A lot of color and a really pretty figurine will help.

These are in my special cake plan for tomorrow. I love using figurines and candies on cakes for kids. I'm not a great cake decorated but what I lack in skill, I try to make up for with heart. I enjoying baking cakes for my G-Kids Birthdays. It's my way of really celebrating them.

This cake is Neapolitan in flavor. It is strawberry and Rainbow Chip (vanilla with sprinkles) layers of cake. Between the layers, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla filling. I tinted some vanilla frosting for a soft, lavender color. Four layers in total, it's a tall cake. If it puts a smile on my 8 years face, I've accomplished my goal.

My sweet unicorn party plates, cups and napkins are also in the order due to arrive today, Amelia's birthday!

It isn't a big party, my daughter is bringing her 4 kids. Amelia and her cousins enjoy hanging out together. Liz my 9 year old granddaughter will spend the night. A sleepover with her cousin...

We had a nice dinner out at Casino Arizona last eve. We dine there frequently. The staff was very sweet to bring this piece of cheesecake and they sang "Happy Birthday".

Well my adornments came and here is my amateur looking cake. Ugh. Try as I might, I'm not pro anything! All I can say is, I tried lol!

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Pizza, Fruit and a Salad- dinner fare for kids... Fruit infused lemonade.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The Queen Of Something More ◀️ SoundCloud Track Link

Baking In My New Hand Me Down

My daughter and her husband bought their first home. It is a Pulte home in a neighborhood called Cadence, in Mesa AZ. It's a truly marvelous built! Plenty of rooms for her four children with a game room loft area! Truly a wonderful experience for all of them. Britt told me working with Pulte and the development staff at Cadence has been wonderful from start to finish.

The development itself will be amazing when it is complete. The recreation area and pool are amazing. Plenty of wonderful amenities are definitely a draw for family living.

We helped install blinds on move in day. I helped my daughter unpack all day on Saturday. It was a blast watching her run around from room to room living out her vision for each. Putting little decorating touches here and there. Watching her hopes and dreams come true. Extremely heart warming for me to witness. It truly is going to be a marvelous home for them!

I almost wish that I too could start over in a brand new build... fresh new everything. For now, I'm happy to have inherited this new to me range/oven. Britt has purchased this a few years ago for the home they were renting.

I decided to make a coffeecake. I created this recipe. Hope it's good! Apple Cinnamon Pecan CoffeeCake

Finished Cake ⬆️

I absolutely enjoyed every minute of baking this morning!

Happy New Years Eve. May you enjoy every last minute of 2018!

Playing By Ear My Interpretation -⬆️My YouTube Video Link

Elf Mission Completed Homemaker Burnout

Back to the North Pole. Our elf has left us and Christmas 2018 is now but a memory. As in every year, I did my fair share of elfing. I made several different types of cookies…

Hosted two separate large family dinner get togethers. A street taco party pictured here… The meat was still cooking and wasn’t pictured here.

Hamburger Corn Pie Casserole Party. A request from my oldest daughter who fondly remembered my casserole from her childhood…

A rarity that we are pictured together! My daughters are great ladies that I so enjoy being with! It strikes me as funny that they are both so much taller than I am…

Amelia told me she was practicing her “elf” look. I thought that was endearing so I snapped this pic.

I made a cake of my hometown, Morro Bay Rock. I tried to make sailboats out of mini pretzels lol. Hey it was my way of escaping the holiday stress and spending the afternoon at the beach that was home to me for 36 years!

I’ll Be Home For Christmas ◀️ My YouTube Cover Link!

I really missed my family and some friends that have passed this year. Every year I have a moment or two of remembrance and of missing them. This year, I really felt it deeply from time to time. Lonely inspite of having many things to do and people around. I suppose many others feel as I do the older that we get!

My taste testers…

⬇️

Camera shy kids and cats…

I hope that your holiday season has been full of joy and love! May you be at peace and feel fulfilled. Like our elf Huey, I’m finished elfing for the year. Or am I ???

It’s All Inside Of You

My creative focus has been everywhere this week...

Mostly on Christmas splendor lol. Also washing/ detailing the two cars, wrapping the presents, taking the cat in for shots, making appointments for getting eye and dental exams in before the end of the year. Just like a lot of you, the end of the year is a busy time!

Bye Bye Love Movin In Stereo My Cover ◀️ click

This was my me time on Monday. I took time out to work on these cover songs. The Cars are so amazing. I would love to see them live! When In my youth, I had every album that they made. They were just so cool... I thought it would be fun to cover these two songs as they probably aren't what most middle aged Grams from Phoenix would cover. They are near and dear to my heart as I loved these songs so much as a teen!

This part of me never wants to grow old... I feel a bit like Peter Pan... My love for these bands and the music of my youth will always be a huge part of who I am! I'm sad that I am limited in being able to post some of my artistic expression. Censored by the creator... I do several Supertramp, (Roger Hodgson) Covers that I would love to post on my YouTube channel. They are so fun to play and are some of my best Covers too! Unfortunately, I have tried and Rogers social media dogs find them and take them down.

Anyway, this Gram is having fun playing music and trying very hard to be authentic me. Have fun being you as well! Thanks for taking the time to support my endeavors! 

My Cover Of Win

I hope this video plays for you. If not please view it on my YouTube channel. Here is the link-

Win written by David Bowie Cover by Tyna J Phipps ◀️

My musical effort this week! I have loved this song since I bought and first listened to the "Young Americans", album.

Maybe it's strange to have a woman cover it? Oh well, I did!

All we really want to do is "Win" in life. Win a few anyway! I have been working toward getting a head of the Christmas craziness... Decorating inside and out.

My high school junior was in her school dance performance last weekend. It was an amazingly professional performance! So very well done by all. A fun holiday event.

The season gets so busy for all of us. Take some time out for a personal "Win", whatever yours may be.

The Queen Of Something More

https://youtu.be/3KK8QzuclgU

The Queen Of Something More

An affirmation ⬆️ of what I would love to change about my life. I'd love to be able to break out of the cocoon that binds and gags me lol ... I feel oppressed and depressed in the current state in which I find myself. Probably like a lot of you? So maybe this is a very relatable song! Maybe, you also play the woulda, shoulda, coulda game with yourself? You know the one, "what if I zigged instead of zagged"... That one, is especially tough to contemplate! Oh my gosh. Well, this song cuts straight to my feeling about what I didn't do to fulfill myself as a person. I'm good at being everyone else's cheerleader but when it comes to taking care of my own dreams and desires, I fall short!

It's never too late to dream and dream big. I'm not done as I am still breathing... I get up each day hoping I'll run across, create that magic formula that propels me into my self fulfilling fantasy. Sometimes I get discouraged and sometimes, I even lose sight of what that looks like in my head. I am however sure that I am not living up to my fullest potential. I remind myself of this every time I clean toilets and the cat litter box lol...

I am content with myself, just not with where I have gotten to yet.

Maybe, you can relate? I think it really hit me the other day when we were buying a car. Because I am a stay at home homemaker, with no job- I haven't amassed enough credit to be on an auto loan and or therefore the title of our car. I get to own nothing!!! How's that for a reality check?! Yet another reminder of Something More Than Nothing... What the hell did I do to myself? All of this and I've been stone cold sober my whole life! " Calgon,Take Me Away!"

He looks awfully cute in this box doesn't he?

Wonderful Wednesday

Practice, "Covers" day. Here are a few that I worked on. I'm just getting over the worst chest cold I've had in 20 years. This one was a real beast of burden. Right through the Thanksgiving Holiday. I was actually sick for 2 weeks. I was annoyed lol. Anyway, I'm back!

This was a great way to spend a Wednesday morning. I am glad for the distraction as I've been saddled with domestic chores, kid stuff and auto searching. I'm glad the search is over! Yay now I can catch up on some music I want to finish!

Wednesday Practice Covers ◀️click on the link.

Tender Years Cover ◀️

I have been doing a bit of holiday decorating too.

A work in progress. The weather has been so nice it's hard to believe that Christmas is near! Even my ornamental Pear tree is confused as to what season it is...It's blooming in places!

Craziness!