Cake Decorating

I've always enjoyed making and decorating cakes, but have never spent much time on it.  It'd be fun sometime to take a decorating class and learn professional techniques.  For now I'll just stick to special occasions.  Today I made one for my mom's birthday.  It wasn't anything special, but I think it turned out cute and I had fun! I recently discovered some tricks that make it a lot easier.  1. Baking the cake the day before frosting it so it has PLENTY of time to cool and there won't be any crumbling.  2. If coloring the frosting, mix it and let it sit in the fridge so it's not too mushy and will hold the shape of whatever decoration you're making.  I'm pretty proud of myself for discovering those things and making a cute cake!

Junior Achievement

One of my biggest pet peeves working at the bank is people - ADULTS - who have no idea how to use their bank accout, have never been taught how to fill out a check or balance a check book.  So I've been trying to find ways to volunteer in the community.  Granted, I'm still learning myself, but I believe if you're going to have a bank account, you need to know how to use it.  So last month I got in contact with one of the other branch managers at my bank who started teaching Junior Achievement classes last year to elementary school students.  It's not just focused on banking, but being a productive member of your community and understanding how the community works.  Yesterday I went with her to a 2nd grade class in Aberdeen and really enjoyed it.  This class is five sessions long, so I'll go to those with her as her teaching assistant.  I was talking to my branch manager about wanting to get more involved with it, so she's going to see what she can find out about doing the same class at the elementary school right behind our branch.  I never wanted to be a teacher, but I enjoy helping out in classes and I feel better knowing I'm doing SOMETHING to help educate the public.
So, my lecture for the day - make sure you understand how your bank account works and start early teaching your kids how to use bank accounts!