Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Before I get too involved in homemaking (whipping it into a welcoming haven, sewing, clipping coupons, singing praises...), did you have a HAPPY VALENTINE'S????

Or UNhappy?

One of my girlfriends and I used to laugh at our magnificent ability to stay the course with hope, right until the stroke of midnight on February 14th (envision a host of flying pink, red, white, dotted, and striped hearts, of all varieties and sizes, floating around that most beloved date), hoping against hope (something we learned from good ol' Father Abraham), that our Hubby Dearests would finally hand us the long-awaited, loving surprises our hearts had been longing for. (Superman has gotten a bit better since those days...)

At the stroke of midnight, one minute past, our hope would flounder, then by morning, revive itself into a newer, elongated hope = MAYBE NEXT YEAR!

God's wonderful Word informs us that hope deferred makes the heart sick; don't we know it!!!

BUT!!! A longing fulfilled is a tree of life!  (Proverbs 13:12.) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

And that's why we pick our deflated hope up and puff new faith into it, year after year, holiday after holiday, trial after trial, longing after longing.

Because....

You just never know when that big, fat, luscious, indescribably spectacular surprise is going to come and doctor-up that sick heart and make it a flourishing, fruitful, happy green tree with lots of pink blossoms (perhaps even some red-dotted ones)!

It can happen today! Tomorrow! In an instant!

Whatever it is you are longing for, persevere with gladness (as much as you can), and wait on God! He most assuredly will have many mini surprises for you along the waiting road... Like... grace, mercy, encouragements, or who knows what else!

Wait, I say, on the Lord!  :)

Mic 7:7 But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

P. S. ... Did you do something to make your husband happy on Valentine's? Or... is he still waiting?  :)
P. S. #2 ... The cupcakes I made above were so simple. You know, grab that box of cake mix you bought on sale for 79c and whip it up and bake it. Then, take that other box, the C & H (only kind I use) powdered sugar box, follow the ingredients on that for the frosting, add red food coloring, till it white frosting settles into the pink hue you love,  and voila!

I have parchment paper triangles I buy in Michael's' cake decorating section. Same with some fancy tips to go into them. But, you do not have to have either of those to decorate your cupcakes.

No, you don't. 

Take a piece of typing paper and cut it into a triangle. Here, I'm going to walk you step-by-step (I am coloring one side so that you can see more clearly what I am doing)...

1. Fold you piece of typing paper, like this...  











2. Open it up and cut on the crease. There's your triangle. 










3. Roll your the left edge of the triangle to come around and meet the right edge. 











4. Match the points together. There's no point in my picture, because I accidentally 
tore it. Oops! 














5. Bring the right triangle point up, circling around the top, and meeting the other two 
points. Secure it tightly with your fingers 
and thumb. Pull it snug so that there are
no gaps (photo shows the gaps.)












6. Slowly roll the three points toward the cone, making small creases as you go. This locks
the ends in place. 














7. Snip off end. Start with a small snip, because you can always cut more if you want a bigger opening. If you have a decorating tip, then of course, you want the hole big enough to let the top third of it slip through the opening. Without a tip, your frosting will not have swirls, like mine in the top picture of this post. However, you can still make swirly lines (think of Hostess cupcakes!!!) or write in cursive the word "LOVE" or a giant "X" and "O". The possibilities are endless!

8. Fill it up with your frosting, by using a butter knife. Then, roll the ends together tightly to seal the frosting in. (Typing paper makes a really small frosting bag, so maybe you'll need to trying taping a couple of them together.)

9. Gently squeeze the 'bag' as you write or make swirls across your lovely cupcakes!!!

10. ORRRRRR.... You can always just fill a thick ziplock bag, twist the top, cut the bottom point, and use that. Which is easy. I just thought you would want to know both ways!  :)  Have fun!

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