Wordless Wednesday 7: Self-Portrait

So this is what happens when I can't find my camera!

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Thanks to Resourceful Mommy and 5 Minutes for Mom for introducing me to Wordless Wednesday.
Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Overwhelmed - an open letter to a dear friend

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="164" caption="Image courtesy of www.jane-finch.com"][/caption]

A few days ago, I learned that a dear friend was having a hard time struggling with her daily demands: mom, wife, business owner, homeowner. This letter is for her and everyone else out there who feels the same way:

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time. Your message struck me because I've been going through the same thing.

I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed too lately, and it's because of so many changes that have been going on in the past few years. You see, before lil man was born, I used to work full time at a Pharmaceutical company. You know how it is, the suit, the commute, the long hours in the office - on a normal weekday I could be at the office 10 hours a day! On top of that, I used to sing in not one but 2 choirs, so add to that all the rehearsal time several nights a week, plus concerts, etc.

When lil man was born, I requested to work from home more often. Since I report to Headquarters in the US and don't really need to be at the office to do my job, they didn't mind me working from home. Everything was fine until I had a miscarriage at the end of 2008. My life, and my body, changed completely. The whole 2009 was horrible for me, the depression, the hypothyroidism, the weight gain - I've always been overweight, but I gained about 40lbs! By this time last year, I was up to 210lbs, the same weight that I was when I was 9 months preggers, yikes!

Thankfully, I'm on meds now and have my hypothyroidism in check, also going to therapy, cause, you know, *cuckoo* {circling my ear with my finger}.

One of the things that helped me last year was baking. I started taking classes strictly as a hobby, but somehow it grew into a business... who knew? So now I have way too many things that I do AT THE SAME TIME:

1. My full-time job. I work mostly from home, but still have to conform to regular office hours and attend many, many conference calls, yuck!


2. Mom. Lil man is at school now and I have to pick him up at 2pm every day. From that point on, I'm a full-time mom, doing the whole homework, dinner, playtime thing. DURING business hours, when I'm supposed to be working! I get a little break when the physical and speech therapists come by to work with him, but still, it's not the same.


3. The bakery. Every time I get more and more orders, and I have to figure out WHEN to bake! Usually it's whenever I find free time, which is never, but I do a little bit in the mornings (during business hours!) or in the afternoons (during business AND mom hours!), or at night (during hubs and me hours! see below...)


4. Hubs. Did I mention I have a husband? Yeah, sometimes I forget too. I usually spend a little bit of time with him and lil man just before he goes to bed, or after that we sit down and watch TV together. That is, unless I have to bake, then it's no hubs!


5. Sleep. My shrink, my neurologist, and my endocrinologist gave me strict orders to sleep 8 hours a day. BAHAHA!! Sorry, it's just that it makes me laugh every time. Yeah, I understand that I need to refuel to keep my thyroid in check and not feel tired during the day, but I NEVER manage to get in bed before midnight, and I have to get up every day at 6am to take lil man to school, so... yeah, it doesn't add up to me either.


6. Exercise. My nutritionist gave me strict orders (yeah, more strict orders!) to exercise at least 5 days a week. BAHAHA!! Oops, sorry, that wasn't an actual joke. But did you read points 1-5 above? How on earth am I going to take time to exercise? I mean, last time I checked, the day only had 24 hours, and I'm already doing 2-3 things at the same time most of the time! I mean, I ran out of time at point 3 - points 4 and 5 are already being compromised. I have no idea how I'm going to do this.

Then there's my original hobby, singing. I had to leave one of the choirs last year in the height of my depression, so I'm down to 1 choir, which is strictly weddings and special occassions. It's good because it doesn't take up a lot of my time and I still get to sing, but not as much as I would like to.

So that's basically what my life is like now. Most of the time I'm running full speed ahead, but sometimes I get overwhelmed and start thinking: "how the hell am I going to do all this, and do it RIGHT?" I guess I still haven't found the answer to that question.

I'm not telling you this so that you feel sorry for me, or to downplay your feelings. I guess in a way I'm glad you feel the same way I do, so that if you ever receive a tweet from me with an "AAAAARRRGGHH", you will know exactly what I'm talking about, and I'll know too if you do the same.

For now all I can tell you is hang in there. No, it will not get better, in fact, it will get more complicated as the kids get older, but at least you know you have a friendly ear many miles away, and at the same time, just a click away.

Lots of love,
Zelma

Tropical Fashion Faux Pas?

For those of you who don't know, Puerto Rico doesn't really have seasons. We get 75-85 degrees F during the "winter", or at least from mid-December to February, and the rest of the year we get 85-95 degrees F. However, from June to November it's Hurricane season, which can get really intense from August to October. Actual Hurricanes are very rare here, but we do get many Tropical Depressions, Waves, and general low pressure activity, which means tons and tons of rain!

For example, in the past 2 weeks we've had like 3 different Storms, Depressions and Waves pass close to us, and that has meant rain, rain, rain! Take a look at some pics I took from my car:

[caption id="attachment_399" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="This was taken yesterday afternoon on my way to Mom's house. That's hubs' car in front!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_400" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="This was taken this morning driving down my street"][/caption]

Now, all this rain doesn't mean that it's cold, but it does lower the temperature SLIGHTLY, let's say about 5-10 degrees F. This means that people will still wear shorts and sandals even though it's pouring outside.

It's been raining so much lately and I was tired of getting my feet wet every time I stepped out of the house, so this morning I got fed up and decided to cover myself up. I put on long leggings (which I rarely use) and my "winter" booties that I only wear about once or twice a year. They looked super cute and comfy, at least in my opinion.

[caption id="attachment_398" align="aligncenter" width="223" caption="Cute booties or just wrong?"][/caption]

Don't worry, I didn't go overboard with my wardrobe, I wore a short-sleeve tunic over that, because let's face it, it wasn't really cold, just wet.

So I took lil man to school dressed like that. I was so happy and comfy because I didn't have to worry about the rain, or stepping in the water. However, when I walked back to the car, I began to notice all the moms looking at me. At first I didn't know what was going on, because I had forgotten what I was wearing, but as I kept walking I noticed one of them was actually looking at my shoes! I looked around, and sure enough, all the moms had their umbrellas out, but were still wearing shorts and sandals! For a slight moment, I felt super ridiculous. Apparently I had committed a fashion faux pas and I hadn't even realized it. Are we allowed to wear boots in the Caribbean? Maybe if I had worn jeans and sneakers I wouldn't have looked so out of place.

Then again, I'm not a jeans and sneakers kind of gal.

What do you think is most important: fashion, comfort, or blending in, even if it means getting my feet wet? Sound off below!

UPDATE: Upon reading my post, I received this comment on Twitter from a fellow Puertorrican. I think it proves just how wrong I was! LOL

RT @JeanessaPR: @zelmarl hahahaha. Love the boots but to me it´s a bit shocking to wear them in broad daylight. But I sure wear them, cute!

Wordless Wednesday 6: Blue tongue

These are the consequences of helping his mom when she's preparing dark buttercream icing. For the record, I don't think he minded, ha! :)

[caption id="attachment_384" align="aligncenter" width="472" caption="Blue tongue!"][/caption]

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Thanks to Resourceful Mommy and 5 Minutes for Mom for introducing me to Wordless Wednesday.
Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Zelma's Bakery: October's featured cupcakes

OK, so I live in Puerto Rico and we don't really have Fall, or any season other than Summer for that matter. That doesn't mean I can't get inspired by the flavors of Fall. I might eat them with hot cocoa and a warm sweater, but then again, I might melt and people will surely call me crazy. :)

Take a look at the cupcakes I have featured for the month of October:

Almond Chocolate Cupcakes:

These yummy cupcakes are almond-flavored with chopped toasted almonds. With double-chocolate buttercream icing and topped with chopped toasted almonds.

I think the almond taste is very subtle, and the chopped almonds give it a great crunch. The icing is super chocolatey!

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes:

These cupcakes are apple-cinnamon-flavored with chopped walnuts and raisins. Filled with cinnamon-sugar-cream-cheese filling. With vanilla buttercream icing and topped with chopped walnuts.

I would categorize these more like muffins than cupcakes, and the filling is the awesomest I have ever tasted!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes:

These cupcakes are peanut-butter-flavored. With double-chocolate buttercream icing and topped with chopped peanuts.

Everyone who likes peanut butter cups will surely love these. Even my husband liked them, and he doesn't like peanut butter!

Zelma's Halloween Cupcake Box:

Happy Halloween! These festive cupcakes are vanilla-flavored with orange and black jimmies. With vanilla buttercream icing in orange and black colors and topped with a halloween-themed decoration in fondant. Includes a variety of decorations: pumpkin, ghost, bat, and witch's hat.

These have to be the cutest cupcakes I've made so far, if I do say so myself. They're so friggin' cute, my lil man started screaming when he saw them!



Unfortunately, these are only available in Puerto Rico. If I try to ship them, no matter how careful I am, the frosting will get smushed, and that's definitely NOT good eats!

Wordless Wednesday 5: Bowling - RECYCLED

This is another "recycled" post, because my blog went nuts a few weeks back and decided to delete some of my posts. I really wanted to share these pics again of lil man's first trip to the bowling alley.

These "slides" are awesome! Wish I didn't look so ridiculous using them!

This is my favorite pic: big feet, lil feet!

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Thanks to Resourceful Mommy and 5 Minutes for Mom for introducing me to Wordless Wednesday.
Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Tackle it Tuesday 2: Laundry Overload - RECYCLED

OK, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. I didn't actually recycle my laundry, I recycled my post! You see, several weeks back, my blog went all kinds of crazy and decided to delete some of my posts. I'm still trying to figure out what happened, but in the meantime I didn't want to miss the chance to share these pics with you.

Fine, so it's laundry. No big deal, right? I'll tell you what makes this laundry different. These pics were taken mid-August, and I found lil man's school uniform there! Yes, turns out I had been taking clothes from the basket instead of the drawers for three months. So I decided it was time to address the situation, fold those clothes, empty those baskets, fill up some drawers, and maybe, just maybe, I could get my chair back.

Check out the "before" pics:

Now check out the "after" pics:

Something is clearly wrong with lil man's clothes hamper... it refuses to stay empty!

Hey, take a look at that, I STILL didn't get my chair back! :)

If you have a Tackle it Tuesday post, link it here for others to see!



Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!

Wordless Wednesday 4: Lil man's friends

Since yesterday I posted lil man's first bear experience at Build-a-Bear (you can read about it here), I thought it fair to give a shout-out to his other BFF's: Pepo and Sapo (Spanish for frog). They've been with him since the very beginning, and he still loves them!

[caption id="attachment_332" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Posing with Sapo and Pepo"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_333" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Snuggle time with Pepo, Sapo, and Perrito (Spanish for doggie)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_331" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="His new BFF: Chocolate"][/caption]

If you have a Wordless Wednesday post, link it here for others to see!

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Thanks to Resourceful Mommy and 5 Minutes for Mom for introducing me to Wordless Wednesday.
Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Our First Bear

Last weekend lil man was invited to a birthday party for one of my best friends' daughter and niece. The best part was that it was at the local Build a Bear Workshop. You see, we have been going to that store for a while now, but it has taken him quite some time to figure out what the store is all about. He always thought it was so cool to see all the stuffed animals dressed in different wardrobes, check out the sound board and push ALL the buttons, and of course, him being so adorable and all, he always got a free heart from one of the girl employees. But only recently has he figured out that you can actually BUY a bear, dress him, and take him home!

For the past month, his grandma has been promising him a new bear for his 4th birthday, which is coming up in October. So every time we go, he looks at all the bears to decide which one is his favorite (he picks a different one every time we go), and we all make a plan to go back on his birthday. Well, that all got preempted by this birthday party, which I didn't know came with a free bear!

He had such a blast filling the bear, and doing the special ceremony and wish with the heart. His name is Chocolate (he is SO my kid!), and of course dressed him like a rock star: Jonas t-shirt, electric guitar shoes, and Jonas electric guitar to rock out (he is SO hubby's kid!) Check out the pics to see what I mean.

[caption id="attachment_316" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Posing with the birthday girls"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_317" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="All filled up"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_318" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Taking his first bath"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_319" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Making a wish"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_320" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Registering Chocolate"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_321" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The entire crew making goofy faces"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_322" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="All decked out - and ready to rock!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_315" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Next up on the wish list: wheels!"][/caption]

Wordless Wednesday 3: Rock Band!

Seeing as I'm a classical choir singer and my hubby is a rock singer, it was only natural that lil man grew up liking music. Rock Band has been awesome cause we get to play with different instruments, and even sing!

Clearly I don't fit in very well in this environment (wrong genre), but I'm improving my bass-playing skills!

Here is a Rock Band jam session with Grandma, uncle & cousins. Enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_286" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Lil man playing the drums"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_287" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Family jam session"][/caption]

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Thanks to Resourceful Mommy and 5 Minutes for Mom for introducing me to Wordless Wednesday.
Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Zelma's Bakery: My Cupcakes

I still can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post! The reason is that things have been pretty busy at Zelma's Bakery. You see, lately, I've fallen in love with cupcakes. They're super easy to make, and they're the perfect portion-controlled treat. So I decided to look up different tasty and interesting recipes, and have been having a ball testing them!

Besides my standard vanilla and brownies cupcakes (which I still love!), I have decided to start testing the following flavors:

• Almond Chocolate: Almond-flavored cake with chopped toasted almonds inside. Double Chocolate buttercream topped with chopped toasted almonds.


• Boston Cream: Butter cake filled with Bavarian Cream. Chocolate Ganache frosting.


• Apple Cinnamon: Apple Cinnamon cake with raisins and chopped toasted walnuts inside; filled with Cinnamon-Sugar Cream Cheese. Cinnamon-Sugar Cream Cheese frosting topped with chopped toasted walnuts.


• Mocha: Mocha cake (chocolate and coffee). Mocha buttercream frosting topped with chocolate shavings.


• Peanut Butter: Peanut Butter cake with chopped toasted peanuts inside. Double Chocolate buttercream topped with chopped toasted peanuts.

So far I have only tested the first three, and can I say YUM!! The Apple Cinnamon is more of a muffin than a cupcake, but it's still super tasty. I'm working on taking photos of all my cupcakes for my album, and I will post them soon!

Zelma's Bakery: My Brownies

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="White and Dark Brownies"][/caption]

You may have wondered why my Facebook page is titled "Brownies and More by Zelma" and yet I keep calling it "Zelma's Bakery". Well the story behind it is very simple: it's the first thing that I sold, and at the time, my imagination was non-existent. Besides, I never thought it would become a long-term thing, much less that people would actually be interested in anything that I baked!

You see, last year, when lil man started preschool, I noticed that there were many holidays and special occasions where I would need to buy gifts for his teachers and classmates. Since I am extremely cheap and a horrible shopper (that's a story for another day!), I decided that a good alternative was baked goods, so I started taking classes at the local cake supply store.

One day, Vanessa, a coworker and one of my closest friends, asked me for a dozen of my "White and Dark Brownies" that she had heard me talk about. I posted a pic of those brownies on Facebook and people liked them!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Heart-shaped Fudge Brownies"][/caption]

At first, Vanessa and her mom were my only paying customers, and I was happy to bake for them. Every time I took a different class - cupcakes, cookies, etc. - I tried out the different recipes at home and posted the pics on Facebook. That's how it all started! Pretty soon I had friends calling me for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and tons more.

It wasn't until I started getting calls from strangers that I thought "hey, I might have something here!" That's when I realized that the name "Brownies and More by Zelma" was silly. People kept asking me why I had named it like that, and after having to explain the whole story about a dozen times, I decided to change the name. However, my brain was still drawing a blank, so I ended up with the simple "Zelma's Bakery". It's not very catchy, but it does the job. I actually kinda like it now, and it goes with my blog "Zelma's Workshop", so everything worked out. :)

What do you think? Do you like it? Not? Maybe? Suggestions? Sound off below, I would love to read your feedback!

Wordless Wednesday 2: Puerto Rico!

Those of you who know me know that I'm very proud of the little island that I call home: Puerto Rico. Its nickname is "La Isla del Encanto" or "The Isle of Enchantment", and it completely lives up to its name. The downside to living here is that if we want to "get away", the only ways to do it are hopping on a plane or boarding a ship. The upside? There's TONS of beautiful places to go right in our backyard.

Last year we took lil man to El Morro, the most famous Spanish fort in Old San Juan. He just loved it, and I hope you enjoy some of the pics too!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Arriving at El Morro, very excited!"][/caption]

For you Disney fans, you'll notice that this is where they shot the last scene of "Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie". Actually, the entire movie was shot in different parts of Puerto Rico!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Mama & lil man"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="View from inside the fort"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Showing off our 3 flags: Puerto Rico, USA & Spain"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Checking out one of the "garitas" inside the fort"][/caption]

If you have a Wordless Wednesday post, link it here for others to see!

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Thanks to Resourceful Mommy and 5 Minutes for Mom for introducing me to Wordless Wednesday.

Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Tackle it Tuesday 1: Back to School

I have enjoyed and admired the "Tackle it Tuesday" series by 5 Minutes for Mom for some time now - I mean, who would be bold enough to dare show everyone their messy lives and their piles of clutter? But when I read the story behind it (you can read about it here), I jumped on board immediately!

Only a handful of unfortunate people really know how incredibly messy I am, but if it will help me get my life - and my house - in order, then bring it! I think it's safe to assume the hubby will be very happy about this.

This week I will start with an easy one: Back to School. Lil man started Pre-K this week and for the first time he had a big-boy bag and lunchbox, and tons of books and notebooks. Since last year all his gear and materials had his name scribbled on a Sharpie - very sloppy - I decided to plan ahead this year, and purchased a combo pack from Mabel's Labels. Can you say adorable?

OK, full disclosure time: this is NOT a sponsored product review. Mabel's Labels did not ask me to write this post, nor did they give me the labels. I paid for them myself, and liked them so much I decided to share it with you. I do participate in their affiliate program, which I joined after trying out the labels. That is all.

Now that we've taken care of that, I can go back to gushing about the awesomeness of these labels. I mean, sticky labels that are microwave AND dishwasher safe? Clothes labels that are machine-washable? Nah, they must be joking!

Well, take a look at these pics and tell me they don't look gorgeous! It definitely made preparing for back to school enjoyable instead of dreadful. Thanks ladies!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="There are several sheets per type of label. Plus 2 bag tags, fab!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Shoe labels: these are my fave - genius!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Tag Mates for clothes: yet another genius idea!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Sticky labels and bag tags, so friggin cute!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="And now lil man is ready for school, and very excited!"][/caption]

If you have a Tackle it Tuesday post, link it here for others to see!

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Thanks to the ladies at Mabel's Labels for creating such great products!

Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!