Tornado Alley!

Oh my, did I get myself into a mess tonight...As soon as Drew went to bed I decided it was time for me to start tackling my latest obsession: making Drew his 1st birthday cake, custom-style. Now, to most this would probably seem fairly simple however, I don't really enjoy cooking all that much. Actually, I just don't enjoy the cleaning up, the cooking isn't that bad. I can cook, my mamaw made certain of that, I just hate cleaning all the stuff up afterwards....and don't tell me you're supposed to clean as you go because that's a bunch of bull. I clean before, during and after and there's still a big mess.

So, back to my original thought....for the last few days I have been thinking a lot about Drew's upcoming birthday, (well, it's not until November but my OCD requires that I be well prepared), and trying to decide what kind of cake he will have. Since he loves dogs, I have decided to make a dog cake with cupcakes with dog themed shapes that are covered in that really cool, smooth icing professional decorators use. My friend Shannon also has her son's 1st birthday coming up (this Saturday) and she came to show me the cake she ordered for him yesterday. I didn't see it, but it is going to be a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed cake. I looked at the link of the lady's previous cake designs and was a bit overwhelmed. First, there's no way I can afford to purchase one of her custom cakes and second, I am really into doing special things for my first 1st birthday as a mommy.

(Here's a link to some pictures of similar cakes that are covered in fondant:

http://www.pinkcakebox.com/ )

Last night I came home and began researching these cakes and what I needed to do to begin my project. First, I had to find out what that fondant stuff was and where I could get it. Now, I could have taken the easy way out and ordered some, but it costs an arm and a leg and I wanted it now. Waiting 3-4 days for it to be delivered was not an option....again, OCD. So, after some searching, I found out how to make the fondant, yes, as in homemade. After going to Wal-Mart before picking Drew up today, I headed home and began getting my things ready. Now, my house is definitely lived in and is not the neatest with a baby, 2 dogs and a husband throwing things everywhere, but after I began my fondant making, this is what it looked like:

As the process went along, I began taking pictures of my work. Here is the fondant after I got it all kneaded and rolled out...

After separating and putting food coloring in half....

And finally, my kitchen after clean-up...ahhhh.

I have decided I would practice my cake making skills on Hayley and my dad this weekend. My dad is turning 50 next Sunday and Hayley will turn 19 this Sunday. We are having a big cookout and Mom and Dad's and she's having a cake made, etc., etc. I decided since I had an occassion, I would do a trial run. I am going to make cupcakes, ice them, then cover them with the green fondant. After that, I will attempt to make flowers to go on the top. Whether that comes together is a different story. When I get them done, I will post more pictures....maybe. We'll see how they look, then I'll decide if I would be too humiliated to post them!

Cleaning Rampage!

My dream vacuum....

The last few days I have been on a cleaning rampage. This is why I usually don't start small projects like this because they get totally out of control. Yesterday I attacked the bathroom and today started with the windows, inside and out. I even took all the screens off and washed them, too!
Since Drew is getting bigger and will soon be able to crawl, (maybe, if he ever gets the hang of it), we had to remove a few things from the house because I just know he would fall and hit some part of his body on it. So, my mamaw will be soooo happy to know that the big weight lifting cage that has sat in our upstairs living room for almost 3 years is now in the garage. We really didn't spend much time upstairs before we had Drew because we either weren't home a whole lot or else we stayed in the kitchen or downstairs living room.
There's still work to be done, possibly some painting in my future, but I think the bulk of the cleaning is done for now. It's a good thing because I'm exhausted! It's amazing how much dust accumulates behind things that you just don't notice. It was pretty disgusting....I really enjoyed vacuuming it all up though, since I have a little fetish with seeing the floor after it's been freshly vacuumed.