QQQQQQQQQQ Very Much!

The title of this post may be confusing, but years ago I worked in a Hallmark store that my parents owned. At that time Hallmark put out a line of cards called lite. They were printed on this brown recycled paper, and I loved them because they were filled with puns and corny jokes. When we would get a new shipment, I would stand over in the aisle unpacking them and laughing as I read each one. This one card we had had this message: On the cover: QQQQQQQQQQ On the inside: Ten Q very much!
Well I want to send out my 10 Q's. Tomorrow, bright and early at 6AM, my two girls will depart for New York City. Neither one of them have ever been and they are VERY EXCITED, and I am excited for them. Mostly I am excited because when this trip was proposed at the beginning of the school year, and I realized that I would need to raise $1600.00 for both of them to go, I thought, I am never going to be able to make this happen, and I just can't tell them, "No!" They've heard it too many times in their lives, and I want this one to be a "YES!" A trip to New York, and singing at Lincoln Center? It had to happen, and so the fundraising began. We sold "Enjoy the City" coupon books. One of my dear friends from New York actually said he'd by one. He thought it was an actual novel. No, I didn't take his money. Then we sold fruit and cheesecakes, Virginia Diner products,  next came cookies, and in the middle of all of it, I baked my famous carrot cakes, and started a mini business called 24 Carrot Cakes for the sole purpose of fundraising for the trip and baked 26 carrot cakes over the holidays, 15 of them for the week of Thanksgiving alone. Donations also came in from some very caring people, some I hadn't seen in years that I had reconnected with on Facebook. And I have to reserve one of the Q's for Facebook because it was integral in getting the message out that we needed help to get these girls to NYC. My friends, YOU ARE AMAZING!!!, and I am so thankful for all you have done to make this trip happen for them. I truly could not have done it without you, and I know that I am truly blessed beyond measure. Thank you for loving me and my girls enough to help. You have made two girls and their mama very, very happy!

Is this the way Paula Deen started?

Everyone who bakes or cooks in any way shape or form usually has a signature dish. It's the one thing that, when invited to a party of some sort, you are asked to bring. Well, I have had a few requested dishes in my time, my macaroni shrimp salad, my baked spaghetti, my pan-fried chicken, but the one thing I am always expected to make at the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas both, is my carrot cake. I first baked this cake about 28 years ago, and I don't think I've missed a year since making at least one. It is a rich, moist cake full of texture with freshly grated carrots and, of course, it has cream cheese frosting made with real butter and real cream cheese (no cutting corners for me). Every time I bring it to a gathering, it's a hit. People always say, "That's the best carrot cake I've ever had," or "I don't usually like carrot cake, but that's really good." I even had a co-worker that wanted me to ship him one to South Carolina once he moved, and my sister will stage a coo if I don't bake one for  Thanksgiving and Christmas. Over the years I have toyed with the idea of selling them but never really did anything about it UNTIL I found out that my two daughters have a spring choral trip to NYC this year that is going to cost me $1600.00, $1600.00 that I don't have. So on November 10, 2010, I announced to the world via Facebook that I would be taking orders for carrot cakes for the holidays. I didn't know what to expect, and I was surprised when in about a week, I had 15 orders for Thanksgiving and thus 24 Carrot Cakes was born. I designed a logo, and I even have a slogan, "We only make 1 cake, because we make it the best!" I even set up an email account to do "business" 24CarrotCakes4u@gmail.com. Today I am down to the final 2 to be picked up. The whole adventure has been a little overwhelming. 1) It's hard to run a small side business when you have a full time job, and 2) I need to beg the services of a mathematician because I suck at converting measurement to purchase the right ingredients for multiple cakes, hence several trips to the store instead of ONE. So what began as a resource for a spring trip may turn into something bigger, and, who knows, by this time next year, everyone might be asking for my signature dish.