Explosion

I've been working slowly at developing ideas for my 100 theme challenge. It has been interesting to see what the first thoughts of each given topic are, as well as how I am going to relate everything together. I think I have figured out the latter issue but I've needed to take a break from outlining because I was getting depressed. I was somehow able to make topics relate to death more easily that should probably be possible. But I thought I would give something somewhat happy before I post about my life.

I am unhealthy. I've come to accept this. I am not overweight, nor am I excessively thin. I however need to state this so that I can come to terms with it and do something about it. Lately my nails have been flaking and peeling, and breaking very easily so I've turned to painting them to hopefully give them some strength while I figure out what is wrong. On the other hand, or foot I should say, my toe nails are super strong, they are easy to tear off should I not feel like clipping them (except my big toe of course), but I have ridges in them, horizontal which is the bad kind I guess. I've been doing some reason on what could cause these things and it's upsetting. I've always thought of myself as someone who eats rather well when it comes to nutrition. I will have poptarts, or cereal for breakfast, pasta with some sort of dressing and cheese for my lunch, and dinners vary because I eat with my brother and his girlfriend, but we almost always have a vegetable and a meat and starch too. I'm not sure what I am missing but given what is going on with my nails several sites have said the ridges are possibly caused by a Vitamin A deficiency and the flaking, and peeling can be caused by a deficiency in Vitamin A and D. My boyfriend says that I should take Cod Liver Oil, which is gross and disgusting. However the oils are good for the nails and hair, so I might be able to get stronger hair out of the deal. The one thing I saw online though was the potential for a toxic level of Vitamin A if taken on a daily basis, so I am going to have to research that more and talk to him about that.
To add to this list of things I am apparently lacking I've been feeling tired even after sleeping for 8 hours, waking up for a while to make sure the dog is alright and then going back to sleep for several hours. This is a habit that needs to be broken soon because of school. Supposedly though Vitamin B-12 is the go to vitamin. So I am going to look into that as well. This one is something I am pretty sure I will take just due to the fact that I know b-12 does work for me, and maybe it will help me get better sleep.
At the very least, once I am able to afford lots of food for myself I am going to start a new diet. Yes I will keep my normal foods because that wouldn't be a fun diet if I couldn't have chips or snack foods, but I am going to work on eating more fruits and vegetables as well as less meat again. I know some meat is good, but high amounts of it is not. I have had an issue with low iron in my blood so I need to keep watch on that. The main cause of this is the fact that I am female, and have been donating blood on a fairly regular basis.

Well now that I've said this I might actually start doing it, just need to get access to my money again and things will be better.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Semi-Hiatus

So, Summer 2011 I did not get everything done that I was hoping to. I really wanted to order materials and notions for a corset I wanted to make. I don't think I'll be able to get that done before the end of October sadly. I shall push this to next summers goals, and that will give me some more time to design the costume and everything.

Sadly I have just over a week left of summer, because school starts back up. The days will be busy with work and studies but everything will be worth it in the end and I make it closer to my goal of becoming a teacher. That being said, my super creative side will have to be set back for a while because I do need to focus on my studies and with a job now I don't want to risk getting to overwhelmed. On top of school and work I do, not that most care but I need to state this so I understand it myself, have Muggle Quidditch which will be a bunch of fun for me, as well as Kappa Delta Pi, and Delta Phi Alpha things to do. I do not believe DPA will have a lot to do seeing as our adviser is no longer at the school, but KDP I must stay active in because it will be beneficial for my future with teaching.

I will still bake and cook and make pretty things I just won't be as super active about it. However, because writing is something that relaxes me I will be able to keep up on that. A few posts back I made mention of the 100 theme challenge that I was thinking about doing for NaNoWriMo, and I've started writing out ideas for that. Hopefully by splitting the 50,000 words into 100 sections it will be a bit more manageable task this year rather than the brain dump that I did last year. I've already got ideas up to number 11 I believe? I'd have to look at the book.

I think I also want to take some time every once in a while to mention a book that I've read or plan on reading because I want to support the written word, especially the written word on paper. Today I will be doing both. I read the book The Long Walk by Stephen King (though he wrote it under a pseudonym). The book was a bit rough to get into at first because of how vague it was, not knowing why the walk was started or really what got you into the walk but I pressed on. Something clicked about a quarter of the way through, and I could not put the book down. I spent any free moment that I could reading. Only to have a somewhat of a let-down ending. It was not what I expected at all but it was still a good book, and one that I would recommend to someone wanting a quick read. Yes the book is just a hair short of being 400 pages, but once you get going it really is hard to put down. I actually had to finish reading it before I could clean in my room.

Now to a book I'm looking forward to reading. The Night Circus. I am an avid Harry Potter fan, and even though the books have been done for a few years, and the final movie came out just last month I still visit the fan sites and reread the books on occasion. I'm actually working on getting them all in the British English versions, as well as the complete set in German (both of which I have the first book). I'm also a beta for the new Pottermore website, though I patiently wait for my chance to enter the site. All of that being said, a few days ago the website MuggleNet  had a post about a Wall Street Journal article curious about who would conjure the next Harry Potter. They want to know what will be the next major hit. The Nigh Circus is that book, they predict. I read the information about the book on Amazon, and it sounds really interesting. Magicians from a past time are each training a new magician, and they pit the two against each other. Despite their mentors warnings they fall in love, in the middle of a battle to what sounds like the death. It was said that it is a mix between the Magic of Harry Potter, the star crossed lovers of the Hunger Games (another book I loved to read and will write about another time), and something from Twilight though I don't remember what. Twilight was an ok read for me, I used to be obsessed with it, but after the movies came out, and I moved away from my friends that enjoyed the series as well I realized I was using it to try and stay close with them knowing I would be moving 800 miles away. So Twilight is ok, but I'm not a crazed fan who will pledge my allegiance to one side or the other. More power to the fans who do, I love to see people excited about ink and paper even if it's not one that I'm excited about. That being said, the book comes out in just under a month. September 13th. Oddly a Tuesday, but I think I saw somewhere a while ago that Tuesday releases for books is very common. I'm debating pre-ordering the book or risking it and trying to get it at Barns-and-Nobel. I'll have to talk to the local store when I work next.

I do believe that's all I have for now. Hope you enjoyed!


~Luna Rae Anselm

Backlog of Creativity!!!

I really do need to get my camera again so I can have pictures instead of just text updates, because that is just boring. As it were though I've been busy for the past week or so. Since my last post I've made four dozen more cupcakes (all strawberry fairy cakes), one bumpy cake (that took roughly 7 hours to make), another batch of ice cream AND egg free cookie dough! All of that is just the baked goods, I've also done several chainmaille projects some that were decent others that were not.


Wow it has taken me forever to get to writing this. I started writing this three days ago, today being August 19th, 2011. Down to business as I have some free time today.


Lets start with the fairy cakes. Those have been spectacular! I set the oven to the prescribed temperature on the box and then just before I put the cakes in the oven I turn it down approx. 10 degrees. I say approx. because I do not have a digital oven and can not be that precise without a thermometer, and working with a twist dial. I ran out of strawberry frosting sadly and used a pink buttercream frosting that I had made (will be discussed in the next bit of information). I've stuck with the standard decoration of pastel multi-colored stars on half and then red sugar crystals on the other half. They have been adorable, and delicious and I think will be a staple of cupcakes in my future. Since I have already talked about the cakes I will leave it with I was wrong in my previous calculations and it only made 6 dozen cakes not 8 dozen as I had thought.


Next up. Bumpy Cake. This was an intense cake to say the very least. I made it from this recipe at www.food.com. The cake turned out to be tasty, however the seven hours it took me to make was a bit frustrating. That is more due to my inexperience at making such a cake and the bad timing for a heat wave than the actual making of the cake. The recipe, should you not want to visit the website was divided into three parts, and thus I shall discuss each section of the cake making the same way.

For Cake

• 1/2 cup hot black coffee or 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour

Not sure why there is a back color, terribly sorry I will go back and edit to remove that. Everything with this cake was wonderfully easy at this point. Coffee and cocoa powder go together and blend for thirty seconds (keeping in mind that I had to blend by hand because in a previous cookie excursion I may have killed out hand mixer.) I used coffee because it was listed first and I was guessing that was the original ingredient but not everyone likes it. My boyfriend didn't know so I went with the coffee to start, next time - no coffee. Each ingredient there after is added one by one (well both eggs were added at the same time but you get what I mean right?) and blended for thirty seconds, except for the flour which got five minutes of blending. I was so amused when it was bubbly, and it turns out that was how the cake batter is supposed to be. Now I did not have access to a metal 9X13 pan for this cake so I used a pyrex glass dish and it turned out pretty ok. I baked using the instructions listed on the website and ran into a problem. The edges were starting to get a bit to crisp, I attribute this to the different properties in glass and metal. The center of the cake was done but the cake had split, I thought alright that should be cooked better because it's exposed. I did not want to cook it much longer because I was afraid of burning the cake and I already had a lot invested. So out it comes and I check the crack, it's gooey. Like super gooey. I panic and decided after a frantic call to my mother that it's been in the oven long enough that the eggs will have been cooked and everything should be ok. I let that set up and then once it was cool enough to touch I flipped it and set it back in the pan and down into the freezer it went. I waited a while so the glass could cool I was afraid of that cracking going from the oven to the freezer. While the cake froze I made up the buttercream frosting (See I told you I would get to it!)

For BUTTERCREAM ICING

• 2 cups butter
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

This was probably the most fun I've had in a while making frosting. I had forgotten to remove the butter from the fridge to get it softening, partially because it just says butter and partially because I'm a ditz sometimes. So I cut it up as best I could and then added the sugar as it directs. This was the longest process EVER. I almost left the house and went to Meijer to get a blender to speed the process up. However just as I was convinced I couldn't do it by hand the butter finally hit the point of ease and I was able to blend properly. I continued on down the ingredients and found that it looked a bit to soft to make the icing bumps on the cake so I added more powdered sugar to try and stiffen it. The problem was the sugar content but the heat in the kitchen. Temperatures outside were near 90 degrees and it was rather humid. We don't have central air so the kitchen was still overheated from the oven as well. Needless to say I wasn't able to "roll out" logs of buttercream frosting. I piped them onto the cake after taking it from the freezer. Back to the freezer it went. The frosting is similar to that of my moms recipe just a few extra things. It's rather delicious but when you reheat it, the thing becomes a soupy mess due to the amount of butter.

For POURABLE FUDGE FROSTING

• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1 dash salt
• 1/2 lb butter, divided
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The final stage!
This was the most stressful for me because I had put it off until the night before I went home, AND I've never made candy like this before. I've done rock candy but that doesn't require cooking or specifics like temp and everything. Needless to say when I do this again I need a better way to hold the candy thermometer. I can also make it with a friend because this was rather hard for me. Getting everything done wasn't bad but I was almost a complete dunderhead! I got it cooking and was holding the thermometer to watch the temp I've been told not let it touch the bottom of the pan because that will alter the temperature which was difficult because the heat coming out from the bottom of the pan was hurting my fingers and I accidentally dropped the thermometer. I went to grab it and realized, OH HEY this is nearly 200 or 300 (whatever the temp for soft ball candy is) and stopped myself from grabbing it. Found some tongs and pulled it out. Because of that time some of the candy burned on the bottom sadly. So I removed it from the heat and the actual burner spot too. Mixed in the powdered sugar and vanilla and let it set for a little while I pulled the cake out, did some cleaning, just to let it cool off a bit because I knew it was hot. Also wanted the liquid to penetrate the sugar. After it was all mixed I started to pour it on the cake, and it was melting the buttercream icing. I was so upset. I had tried to make it red but it ended up pink. So my boyfriends cake was brown with hints of pink coming through. He says it tasted fine, a bit strong with the coffee but otherwise it was good. His grandma took half of the cake home.


Let us see, what is next? Ah yes, the ice cream.
I had originally wanted to make him Cookie dough ice cream but sadly my timing was off. So I had made vanilla ice cream, with brown sugar instead of white. That really did make a flavor different! Then I found this recipe on yoyomax12's page on youtube for cookie dough truffles. It was butter, brown sugar, uhm.... wow this is bad I have a terrible memory, I'll find the link again and make a post dedicated to it because it's really good stuff. There's sweetened condensed milk, and flour as well as chocolate chips involved. I had some issues with the chocolate because we only had white and not semi sweet or milk chocolate in the house but it worked out alright. It comes together really easy but at this time I was back home and was able to use a stand mixer which helped loads! The best part is this isn't meant to be cooked it is meant to be consumed. No raw eggs here which made me feel better about serving it to someone else. I know small doses of raw eggs aren't terrible for you but I'd rather not risk getting friends and family sick because of my failure to serve properly cooked foods! This has kept in the fridge nicely and just let it come to temperature and it's super easy to eat. I think I might try it cold next time because it looked so good solid instead of a semi-liquid state.


My chainmaille. Oh my word is this a fun project. I wanted to make a bracelet for my boyfriends birthday. Yes I know most guys don't like jewelry like girls do but I'm not good at much else with chainmaille right now. The only reason I wanted to is to so that I could give him a hint at his other present which was tickets to the Ren Fest in Michigan! The first one that I did wasn't so good, I used insulated wire and the colors were off so I wasn't really happy with out it turned out. We went to Joanns after I gave him the bracelet and we found color coated copper wire and I've been using that. I am still remaking his bracelet but I've set that aside for the time being so that I can clean my room up before school starts. I've also made two earrings which I find adorable but I need to get better at closing the jump rings because it just breaks to easily. I bought some premade saw cut rings as well and made an anklet and that turned out pretty well but I need a better clasp for it because I'm going to wear out the ring that closes it if I don't. Hopefully my next project I will have a camera so that I can take pictures of everything and then I can make separate posts about everything and have it look BEAUTIFUL! 
Stay creative!


~Luna Rae Anselm

Strawberry Overload

Went to the store this morning with my brother to get supplies to make the bumpy cake tomorrow. I also have had a major urge to make cupcakes since I've been watching YoYoMax12's Cupcakes on youtube. She's got some wonderful ideas for how to decorate full sized cupcakes. I have not looked at much else from her because I just needed a cupcake fix. While we were at the store I picked up three cake mixes, and some stuff to decorate the cakes.

I have come to love cakes from scratch but I have work today, and tomorrow will be dedicated to making the bumpy cake for next week. So cake mix it is. I got Pillsbury Confetti, Strawberry, and White. They were on sale, I couldn't help myself. I also picked up two cans of pre-made frosting. Also another thing I don't really like to do, but they were on sale and I just want to make the cakes. I may make my own frosting after because I do love my mother's recipe. My brother came over to help with the cakes, which I shall from here on out refer to a name I found on the internet as fairy cakes. Which are mini cupcakes. He has a nice system to use to make the fair cakes which places them in a gallon plastic back and cuts the corner out. This is much better than my spoon method and is something I will use in the future.

The batter makes 24 full fledged cupcakes, or 96 fair cakes. I don't understand the math that goes with it, but it works. We have a pan here that can do 24 fair cakes at once, which makes my life so much better. After they have cooled completely I will frost and decorate them. I am super excited to see how the fair cakes turn out.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Get down with your creative self!

For my boyfriends birthday I am kind of going crazy. I wanted to do something special but a lack of job made that difficult. Now however I have plans of what to make, as well as what I am giving him. Since I know he reads this from time to time, I cannot post some things just yet. His favorite cake is a Sanders Bumpy Cake, which he so kindly found me a recipe after I asked. I wanted him to find it because he knows the cake and would know if the recipe was correct or not.
The cake is daunting. There is a lot of Freeze Time for each portion of the cake, as well as some things I have never done before. The buttercream frosting isn't used to frost the cake, it is made into log rolls and used to make the trademark "bumps" on the cake. Then there is a pour-able fudge frosting to cover the cake and the frosting rolls. I have never in my life made fudge! So I am a bit nervous to say the very least, but the directions are laid out pretty well so it should not be to terribly difficult.
Next up on the plate. Pun intended. Is homemade ice cream. I have some tweaking to do from the last recipe. As I bought the flavor I want to make, and found some subtle differences that I want to recreate. However getting the dough, will not be a problem. I will make a larger batch so that there is more to enjoy as well. Hopefully this will turn out nicely, if not I'm not to upset.

The other parts of his birthday will be written about after he receives them. I will post about the cake as I make it though.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Salt Water Taffy Yes, Salt Water Ice Cream?

I'm not a huge fan of taffy to begin with, but I've heard that Salt Water Taffy would be DELICIOUS! That being said, Salty Sweets do not always go well together. Ice Cream is one of those cases. I made some homemade ice cream today, using the following recipe:
Youtube - Homemade Ice Cream  This was a single serve ice cream recipe, using milk, sugar, and vanilla extract all in one bag, and in a larger back put the ice and salt together. Put the small bag in the large bag and shake for ten or so minutes. I only needed to shake for about seven minutes before it was frozen. However after placing the ice cream into a bowl I realized I probably could have shaken for a while longer to get the very last bits frozen.
The entire process was simple and effective to make some delicious ice cream, I sampled some and decided I must make more. However as I continued to eat the ice cream, something was off. Turns out my double zip lock back had opened just a hair while I was mixing and some salt water made it's way into the mixture. This is also why there were unfrozen parts for the cream. That was an unpleasant experience to say the very least, but overall the ice cream was delicious and I do plan on making more.
Texture was similar to my favorite ice cream treat. An ice cream float, but instead of pop I put it in milk! The milk freezes on the edges of the ice cream creating a slight crunch, like soft ice. It is my favorite thing to eat, and the entirety of this homemade ice cream had this same texture. The flavor was still good too, when I ate around the potential salt watery parts.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Idea AHOY!

As I mentioned in my first post I like to write a lot and have been working to find an idea that I like for National Novel Writing Month. This year, I think I've got it!
I've thought of doing the 100 theme challenge before but something feels right about it this time. I know I'm not a novel or novella or novelette writer, I have a home with the short story writing style. It's something I've been fairly good at before and wish to give a shot at again. What is different is I am going to try and link the themes in some way. One idea is to set everything up as a Frame Tale and start off with the narrator telling about their life and everything they are about, getting caught up in the moment that someone is paying them any attention. Then they would realize that they are the story teller and will begin the tales of each theme. Some may be fairy tales, others cautionary, others just something that would come to mind.

Thoughts? Let me know. I'll post the themes in a little bit.

Here are the Themes

1. Introduction        11. Memory           21. Vacation               31. Flowers
2. Love                   12. Insanity            22. Mother Nature      32. Night
3. Light                   13. Misfortune        23. Cat                       33. Expectations
4. Dark                   14. Smile                24. No Time               34. Stars
5. Seeking Solace   15. Silence              25. Trouble Lurking    35. Hold My Hand
6. Break Away       16. Questioning       26. Tears                    36. Precious Treasure
7. Heaven               17. Blood                27. Foreign                 37. Eyes
8. Innocence           18. Rainbow            28. Sorrow                38. Abandoned
9. Drive                  19. Gray                   29. Happiness            39. Dreams
10. Breathe Again   20. Fortitude            30. Under the Rain     40. Rated

41. Teamwork         51. Sport                   61. Fairy Tale            71. Obsession

42. Standing Still      52. Deep in Thought   62. Magic                 72. Mischief Managed

43. Dying                 53. Keeping a Secret  63. Do Not Disturb   73. I Can't

44. Two Roads        54. Tower                  64. Multitasking         74. Are you Challenging Me?

45. Illusion               55. Waiting                 65. Horror                 75. Mirror

46. Family                56. Danger Ahead      66. Traps                   76. Broken Pieces

47. Creation             57. Sacrifice               67. Playing the Melody 77. Test

48. Childhood           58. Kick in the Head  68. Hero                    78. Drink

49. Stripes                59. No way Out         69. Annoyance           79. Starvation

50. Breaking the Rules 60. Rejection             70. 67%                     80. Words

81. Pen and Paper      91. Drowning
82. Can You Hear Me?   92. All That I Have
83. Heal                     93. Give Up
84. Out Cold              94. Last Hope
85. Spiral                   95. Advertisement
86. Seeing Red          96. In the Storm
87. Food                    97. Safety First
88. Pain                      98. Puzzle
89. Through the Fire   99. Solitude
90. Triangle                100. Relaxation

~Luna Rae Anselm

Amount of Income = Soon to be improved

Last update I mentioned that I had been given a job offer and had chosen to accept this offer to work at Payless at the mall. I had my first day there but I wouldn't really count it as a first day. I was there for only two hours to fill out paper work and start figuring out my training for the job. However, I got paid to do that. I'm alright with this though it does feel a bit strange. I work two more times this week and the following week I am unsure of when I have to work.

That being said the next two days I do not have very much going on. I am hoping that I will be able to get something creative done soon. Most likely something written as that will be the easiest to work with currently. I want to find a solid idea before I do though because I want to work on this whenever I have free time.


~Luna Rae Anselm

Possible Creativity = Amount of Income

Well the last few... weeks? has it been that long? I didn't really check before I started this post. Either way, I haven't been in a very creative mood lately. Or I should say I /have/ but I cannot afford to do anything creative as of current, heck I can barely afford gas money! As I had posted earlier in the summer I've been looking for a job so I can do fun things that I feel worthy of posting in this blog. I fail currently at remembering if I said I had an interview earlier this month, I'm pretty sure I had not. I was interviewed by Payless shoes store in the Okemos area, and needless to say it was a bit of a nerve wracking experience. I had also been told there were other candidates for the job and I could hear back later that week (which was last friday) or by the 23rd of this month. If I didn't hear by the 23rd I didn't get the job.

I got the job offer today! She called while I was home to see if I was still interested in the job and of course I am I really would like the experience, and of course an actual income would be WONDERFUL! So I leave home once again to head back to home in Lansing. She said the paperwork could take up to two hours, which I feel is excessive but hey, if it means I can get the job secured I will do it. The best part of it is, it's at the Lansing mall which is closer to home than the store in Okemos. I'm so very excited.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Cookie.....Cake?

I've seen in the stores these wonderful looking cookie cakes. They look delicious but I've never had or bought one so I thought I'd try making one. I still had some white/milk chocolate chip cookie batter left over. Speaking of that batter, my brother said it was more of an adhesive so that we could just eat straight chocolate chips, which I'm ok with, because they are delicious cookies!
Back to the cake issue though. I had some problems to say the least. I coated the pan with butter and then floured the heck out of it so the cookie would come out safely. Filled the pan with the batter and smoothed it out as best as possible. In the oven it went at 375, and let it cook. Cooking went semi ok. There was just the issue of the outside started to burn or more so over cook, and the inside was still gooey and delicious looking. I let it set up so it could harden a bit. Unfortunately now the cookie refuses to get out of the pan. This makes me very sad. I will make an update with a picture of the giant cookie stuck in a pan now once I complete the next task.

The reason for this project is tomorrow is Father's day and I wanted to do something nice for my dad. This failed. Horribly. I will still bring this for him but I am also going to try and make a different cake, which will hopefully be as equally as tasty.

This will be worked on after dinner is started, and I will post picture updates about this.
I worked from this recipe Fun Cake Time. If you do not want to visit this website the recipe is as follows
Basic Yellow Cake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift the flour)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
Vegetable oil
1 stick butter (not margarine), softened
1-tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°

Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of (3) 9 x 1 1/2-inch round pans. Spray the pans with cooking spray, place the wax paper in the pans and spray the paper.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing well.

Measure the 1-1/4 cups of milk in a 2 cup measuring cup….then add enough vegetable oil to bring the liquid up to 1-1/3 cups.

Add the milk/vegetable oil mixture, butter and vanilla to the flour mixture and beat with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed.

Add the eggs and continue beating an additional 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near center of cake comes out clean, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center.

Cool cakes on wire racks for 15 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely.

Frost as desired.


However, I had to make some alterations given the ingredients in the house. Instead of the grain sugar, I used approximately 3 cups of powdered sugar. I didn't have crisco to grease the pan so I used butter and flour. Speaking of the pan, We did not have round pans so I just used a pyrex pan. Seems like it cooked ok, only a bit of it is "over" done but not burned. I think mine took lover than 25 minutes but I didn't actually time it I just checked it every so often by stabbing it.
The website said that it was supposed to be a mix of two types of recipes. A traditional Pound Cake, and a yellow cake mix. I am finding that I really enjoy making cake from scratch, it just has a more unique flavor and is tasty. The cake is currently cooling off, but it feels like a denser yellow cake. I am going to make a frosting in the morning for it, unless I get an urge to do that before bed tonight.
I will update this post tomorrow about how the cake tastes and things like that. I unfortunately have no pictures of the creation process because my batteries were dead and I didn't have time to charge them before making the cake. I should have pictures tomorrow of the finished product though.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Toxic Fumes

I know I am not the only one who likes the smell of nail polish, but it has been a while since I've painted my nails. I did so this morning and boy did it smell beautiful. My nails are a wonderful purple color now and it has me curious of what it takes to make nail polish. I think this shall be another project that I try at least once.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Fae: A Tale

Spent some time thinking this morning about another possible story. I've been fascinated with Fae and their lives for a while. Not like Tinker Bell (don't get me wrong she rocks, but I'm looking for something not geared towards children). but the true Fae from mythology. I've got a bit of research to do before I could begin this but my general idea is that the Fae are starting to dwindle in numbers, more specifically the males have been targets from other supernaturals, and there worried their bloodline can not carry on. Desperate times call for desperate measures they they mate with anything they can, other supernaturals, and humans. In hopes that one day when the bloodline carries on two half breeds will create a full Fae and start their true blood line again.

I have to do some research on what it was believed Fae were, and how they may have lived their lives, and possibly find a new spin to give them.

~Luna Rae Anselm

Failure of Epic Proportions

So after I post that I'm finally getting into the habit of posting on this blog I disappear of the face of the planet. Not literally of course, I just forgot to check in on this for a while. I haven't had much in the creativity department but I am thinking this afternoon I will design some clothes to work on. I sadly have not worked on the shifter story any more, I kind of hit a wall because I was relying to much on True Blood to work the story but I may have some ideas in the near future, again based on True Blood, but ideas never the less.

I've applied to several jobs and tomorrow I'll be calling in to see if there are any chances of me getting employment. I only have 11 more classes including today's class which starts in about twenty minutes. I'm rather stoked about it because this class has been taking a while.

Until I have more free time-

~Luna Rae Anselm

Habitual Training

I didn't realize this fully until today. I've been posting every couple of days, and this is starting to become a habit. I actually like this, but unfortunately I am back at class now and creativity must take the back burner of my life. This makes me sad but I know it is for the better. As the beautiful weather rolls in, I am inspired by so many things, and the beauty of nature is breath taking. I love the feel of the sun beating down on my skin as I was to class every day, I feel almost at peace. If I was in the water, and away from the every day life activities I would have no doubt in my mind that I would be in the perfect place.

I have made a goal for my Summer (summer ending when the fall semester starts) is to improve several aspects of my life.

• Become a more organized person so I do not have to clean my room as often
• Allow for time to be creative, these activities I find to be relaxing
• Get a JOB, to fun these creative activities and so I can support myself while in school
• Be healthier in my choices of food and habit

These should all be manageable for the summer, the most important are the last two. Without money - sadly life is not possible. I want to be healthier because some choices of healthy foods are actually cheap (like bananas) and being healthy I'll feel better about myself, and will have more confidence as well. I have already noticed a change since I started adding a piece of fruit to my daily consumption.

Now I must study for an exam tomorrow, and then get back to the weekly grind of class.

Until my next desire to write, 

~Luna Rae Anselm

Bad Dreams

The other night I had some rather upsetting dreams. Just woke up and felt like I wanted to cry. They were not scary or anything like that, just an event that I hope never happens. The other two dreams I know what caused them, actually I know what caused all three dreams but the other two were not as upsetting as they were strange and somewhat familiar.


That being said. I do not want to have dreams like that again. So I made my own dream catcher. I have not hung it in my room just yet because well I decided I had to come home again for the weekend. Really what happened was I found out we had Relay for Life and I just had to be in town. I'm so glad I did because I got to see some good friends, and my parents again! Had two friends come over after we were done at Relay for Life and I purchased materials to make a dream catcher.

Above are the materials I needed to make the dream catcher. A mental hoop (which was actually supposed to be a necklace hoop), strong string (leather like), some beads, and feathers. I also needed scissors and a clothes pin to work with the string easily.

On the right is the hoop after tightly, and I do mean tightly because I had indents on my fingers, wrapping the larger string around the hoop. This probably look the longest to do. You may see some green thread, because I was trying to use that for the webbing inside but it just kept getting caught. I think I tried it three different times and it just did not work. So I switched to the same string as the hoop is wrapped in but it was thinner. I don't have any in process photos of this, which I actually regret. This was a lot of fun and very simple to do. I'm not completely thrilled with how the weaving came out but it looks very pretty.

There are three charms, because Meijer did not have any beads that I really liked, and four feathers. Below is the finished product. If I can find materials cheaper I may just make these for fun, because it really was. I hung this on the lamp so it could be seen decently. It was night time when I finished this, but overall I am pleased. I want to do this again!

~Luna Rae Anselm

Designing - Halloween

Something you may or may not know about me. I.LOVE.HALLOWEEN! It is my absolute all time favorite holiday of the year. More than my birthday or Christmas. Why?! Because I absolutely love the creativity it can bring out in some people. Myself included. Sure there are people who get drunk and wear store bought costumes (and no these two are not related it's just what I see). There are costume contests where I see people in the same costume, identical to the stitch and that absolutely drives me up the walls.
I'm sorry, but why do you think it is acceptable to use a store bought costume for a contest on creativity?!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I don't mind certain pieces, like a wig, or shoes because shoes are a pain to make sometimes, or a weapon or something like that. Or armor, I can understand purchasing that too. But if I wanted to go as a school girl I would either; hand make the entire costume or buy pieces like the skirt from a thrift store and work with what I have. That at least is some creativity because you have to work with pieces that were not originally together. I LOATHE store bought costumes. I will admit I've used them, but I try to not use them any more because I just don't like them. They are mass produced and generally look nothing like the character they wish to represent. Ok, that was a bit harsh I guess that is geared more towards anime costumes which I know are hard to duplicate and costumes like witches and ghosts are easier but I would rather something that's costume fit and something I am proud to say I MADE THIS!

That being said. I am designing my Halloween costume for this year - though if i don't get a job I doubt that I will be able to get it made this year as some of the pieces will not be cheap to make.

This past year I went as a dark fairy, it was a rushed project and it worked for what I needed it for. There is a lot wrong with this. I could not for the life of me figure out how to make the skirts look how I wanted them to, since come up with a better idea, but also figured out how I wanted to make these skirts look. The corset was bought in London and was in need of repairs, it did not have strong boning so it curved out at the stomach making that look terrible. The wings are clearly hand made, and the tights have some runs in them that I was not happy about. My make up is not very good but it worked for the campground which is what I needed this for. I did use it for Halloween because I didn't have time to fix it otherwise.

I have since revisited the Fairy idea and decided I want to give this a new design. I still like the corset, but the wings seemed to childish and the skirts were not fluffy like I wanted. When I designed the skirt for this new one though, I decided to make it more of a dress than a skirt so that I could use the corset and skirt together on their own, or in combination with another costume. The colors did not come out right and I am no good at shading right now so it does look a bit funny. I also scanned the wings wrong so they don't fit quiet right, but these do look decent.

I want this to be either a black velvet (crushed with sparkles may be the best) or a silk. I am leaning towards velvet because I know that is a strong fabric that will hold up to the strains of the corset. You can't see it very well but the busk is drawn in black, I think I would be ok with the steel busk just because it ties in the with the theme of this costume. I want to use spiral steel for the boning because this will give the support I need but will also have enough give to it that it can flex with my body when I sit.

The wings are actually purple on top and blue on bottom right now, you can not even see the third set of wings that are a black or silver, have not decided yet. So in reality the blue and black/silver wings will be on top framing the head (which yes, I did leave off on purpose) and the purple lower wings will come out from the hips. If I can find it these will be made from sheer stretchy material (like tights), maybe a bit of shimmer, and thick wire. If I can swing it, I will have a veining system that looks like a butterfly's so that there is some support for the wings. I have not figured a way to attach them just yet, but I have ideas starting. Because I am generally self conscious of my arms I want a shrug, this would only cover my shoulders and arms, and top of my back. This I think will be a cotton material but a very soft and flowing one.

The skirts. Yes skirts - plural. My idea is to have a simple peasant skirt, gathered as full as possible, in a black material. The kind is really up in the air right now, I might use tule so that it is really fluffy but that is also itchy so I may avoid that. It does however have to have a bit of flow to it, flow and grace go together right? Then to cover up the top of the skirt I want to have what looks like a wrap skirt but it's a actual one just layered and sewn together so I don't have to worry about tieing it together every time. This is the one fabric I am unsure of at the moment, but these layers will be silver, silver blue shade one (wings/shrug) blue shade 2 (wings/shrug), silver. The silvers may vary a little so there is some differentiation between layers, like one will be solid silver, one may have glitter on it, one may have beads sewn on it.


I think if I use tule for the under skirt I would shorten it, which I may do anyways for the shoes I have not drawn yet. I like the look of most shoes and having a long skirt would make it impossible for them to be seen. I know that one key feature I want with my shoes is similar to en pointe shoes. I love the look and grace that these shoes display. It is most likely attached to the fact that dances in these shoes have such grace as well. I can not dance so I would not be dancing in them. But I would want to replicate this look. I have only made one pair of shoes before, and they were a wooden flip-flop like shoe. I would also bring the wrap father up the leg I think, but then again I'm not sure I have never actually worn shoes like this before

The last piece that I have drawn is the necklace. I was looking through some jewelry online one day and found a simple design for a necklace and fell in love with it. I would rather make the entirety of this costume if I could and this one would not be to difficult to do, I could even make matching bracelet/anklet and earing no problem. Though that would be a lot of earrings since I have seven holes right now. Earrings are a bit more difficult for me because I don't like a lot of dangling jewelry and I don't have enough experience really to be confident in the aesthetic looks of everything. This will be a long work in process.

The more I think about this project I will not have it done for Halloween this year but it will be a costume I want to make for use whenever. Let me know what you think, thoughts appreciated more than you may realize.


~Luna Rae Anselm

A Possibility

Alright. Writing. Yes I want to get back in to it but I want to do it right. Clearly I can ramble on for hours on end after seeing my last post. So I was watching True Blood, and decided I wanted to do a sort of spin on it. I thought maybe I should write about the shifters. However mine would be different. I love the idea that they can shift into any animal they imprint upon but that seems over the top for the mythical creature. So for now I am at least working on the rules of being a shifter, and what comes with the association and what not.
After that I am thinking of developing some characters, and I will post them on here so that everyone can learn about them. hen maybe If the characters really speak to me it will be time to create a plot line and an outline to figure out what will happen. Hopefully I can do this all before November, because this would make for a fun time while writing for NaNoWriMo.

~Luna Rae Anselm

X=3c where I= less than 1c

Alright. So creativity, or in this case domesticity has kicked in already. Mom slept in today and I decided I wanted to make a banana cake. Then I realized that most of my family is not as banana crazed as I am. Which is sad but that is alright I can always do a smaller cake for myself later. In the process of looking up a banana cake recipe though I found a vanilla pound cake one. This is the cake I make.
I normally try to measure out all my ingredients first, or at the very least make sure I have everything. I am very glad I did today, because as it were, I do not have enough flour. I need three cups, but have less than one cup. I have all my other ingredients though. Thankfully at that.

All of my ingredients, the eggs are in the fridge at this point so they don't spoil while I wait to go to the store for flour. I am however still excited to make the cake because I normally make them from a box instead of scratch. Though this does not feel from scratch all that much. Hopefully the cake will be enough for my family tomorrow.

I will update this post with more on my cake adventure as it progresses. Until then!

Thought I might share the recipe I am working with. I found this on www.cook.com

VANILLA POUND CAKE
2 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. butter (3 sticks), softened
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. salt
6 lg. eggs
3 c. cake flour


1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 10 inch bundt pan.


2. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat sugar and butter just until blended. Increase speed to high; beat until light and fluffy about 5 minutes. Add vanilla, salt and eggs on low speed; beat until well blended. Increase speed to high; beat 3 minutes. Fold in cake flour just until smooth.


3. Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60 to 70 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.


Since I can't make the cake right now I decided to start some laundry and water the plants. I also thought it would be advantageous of me to make the icing while I wait. Now I'm no genius, especially when it comes to cooking so again I had to look up a recipe. I know my moms icing recipe but that doesn't make the kind of icing I was looking for. So I found this one. Again at www.cook.com. I did not use the cake recipe found there because I already am measured out for the one above, but if you do not want to go to the link here is the information.

ICING:

1 stick butter
1 box confectioners' sugar  (which is about two cups according to an internet search saying a box is 16oz.)
1 tbsp. water
Minute Maid lemon juice

Icing: Mix butter (softened) and powdered sugar together then add water and lemon juice (as much as you would like for a lemony taste.)

This is DELICIOUS! Very simple to do as well. Very similar to my moms frosting too.

Those are the ingredients, Yes the counter is a little cluttered but it is workable!

This on the right is the finish product in the fridge. Behind it is other things in the fridge no need to worry about those. I added a couple of drops of food coloring to make it look more "lemon-y" because I am strange like that. It takes wonderful and I am glad I decided to go with a lemon icing, should complement the vanilla cake very well. Very please I just hope that it comes out nice looking when on the cake.

FLOUR HAS BE OBTAINED!!!! And the pound cake is in the oven. This will sit there for one hour cooking. I am actually really excited now.

This cake took an hour to cook. I almost burned it because I was a bit distracted and forgot to set an alarm but my mom reminded me to check the cake. This is the cake I ended up producing. There are a few pictures from different angles. I really like how it ended up looking. I wish I had

 a picture from when it was in the carrier but I was just all to excited to actually get one. Cutting was difficult after refrigeration but it was delicious never the less. Everyone who had the cake (with strawberries and whipped cream too) said they liked it. I am a proud cake maker today.

\

~Luna Rae Anselm

Hallo, ich heiße...

Hallo!
I am Luna Rae Anselm, or at least that's what I'd like to be known as. I like to use this name because it is one that represents my creative side. Luna- yes, from the Harry Potter series. She is the character I most strongly identified with. Rae- is my name shortened, and is still part of me so must be present in my creativity. Anselm was a search I did for a character I was working with and I just liked the name so that makes up my pen name. Though many of you who will be reading this blog know who I am in real life, you also will know that I use this name a lot. That being said, now for the reason I am here.

I used to write a lot in high school, and I miss it. I participate in National Novel Writing Month as much as I can. I have been writing for this wonderful event since 2006. Last year was my first win, but I was a rebel and did not really write a novel but more of a brain dump every day. I had to work quick because I had other events going on during the month of November, so I was not very proud of my work, but had finally proved to myself that in one month, fifty thousand words is not a lot and that I could do it! I used to write every day during class when I could, because it gave me an escape from reality if only for a little while. I had a blue notebook that was covered in what looked like bubbles, I wrote on the back of my notes, in my agenda, anywhere I could. Then college came and I just couldn't keep up with it. I want writing to be part of my daily life. Not just writing but any form of creativity.

I have a separate blog here for my writing, though I'm not fully sure if I will be posting those on line right now, I am very guarded about what others can see from my mind. I may post topics and general themes and if someone would like to read it they can email me. I may also post character creations on that blog so I can understand them better. Writing is only one aspect of creativity that I like though, I like to design clothing. I am not good at making patterns but seeing the colors and lines come together like a dance is something that makes me smile. I would love to one day make my own clothing but that is a long way down the line. So in this blog I want to show sketches of costumes and other things that I have designed, and maybe that will motivate me to work on this as well.

I LOVE to cook, I am no where near the best, heck I'd say I'm barely a novice. I cook from recipes, and hardly ever venture out on my own without one. Cooking, is hard for me, but I am proud of something when it is done and on the table. I can make cookies and jello no problem. Heck Mac'n'cheese is a specialty of mine, when it comes from the box, and I am getting better at making bacon without freaking out. This is an area I want to improve on. How is this creative though? It is a edible medium to work with, you can combine so many things, or just two, and the results can be beautiful, or just plain disastrous! There is an art form with plating a dish, and I have fun with that when I have the time. With creativity in creations comes better cooking, so I will write about this too. If I make a fun dish, or something that goes horribly wrong I want to remember it so I can learn from my mistakes and improve.

Writing however is my hidden passion. I can write anywhere, and get away from the real world. The reality of my stories comes to life in my head. The characters will talk to me and give me input if I give them enough room. I can see the worlds they live in, even if I can not travel there myself. Every time I write, regardless if I like it at the end, I am happy. This is the one time where I can be safe and not have to worry about the cruel eye of another. When I am done writing, that is when I am the most afraid because anyone could read it and tear it to shreds right in front of my eyes.

All of that being said, welcome to the insanity that is my brain. Anyone can comment on here, you do not have to be signed up to do that, and you can say what you like by leaving an anonymous post. I will forever wonder who you are if you do this, but understand that if I am not willing to leave my own name for others to know then I can only expect the same from anyone reading this.

Fingers Crossed I can keep up with my desire to be creative.

~Luna Rae Anselm