Like I said in my prior post, I have a three-year-old living at my house currently. I like to refer to her as my "free-loader roommate" since she doesn't pay her share of the bills and eats my Fruit Loops. Beyond that, she's such a sweet little thing and her mom is among my best of friends, so I consider it a blessing having them here.
Earlier tonight, Lu Lu kept tugging on my arm and asking me to share my cereal. Although it made blogging difficult, I'm sure it will turn out to be a fond memory of her. At the present time, Lu Lu, her mom and I are camping out in our back yard. Let me tell you, we are roughing it. We only have two laptops out here in our tent and I don't know if we can make it through the night. :o)
To be honest, this is our trial run. Lu Lu just had a birthday and her mom said she would take her camping so she could use her new Care Bears sleeping bag. Anyway, if she can make it through the night, we're going to try camping at the near-by state park.
Now...onto the cake!
Matthew and America's Birthday Cake
A friend of mine asked me to make a birthday cake for his son who was born on the 4th of July (and yes, before you ask, I did sing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" all the way home from work that night). After mulling over several ideas, I called his dad who insisted I make it patriotic. And that I did.July 4 would be a fabulous day to celebrate a birthday, don't you think? I, on the other hand, share my birthday with Fidel Castro and the Berlin Wall. I was beginning to hate August 13th until I found out I share it with Danny Bonaduce as well. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is.
For this one, I tried something new: Luster Dust. Since I only had a pearl white color, I only painted it on the stars and stripes. You can't see it very well in the picture, but it shimmered beautifully. I think I might have fallen madly in love with luster dust. Is that wrong?
Lu Lu's Care Bear Birthday Cake
At the risk of sounding like a crusty old woman, I love the Care Bears but I think they should have stayed in the 1980s where they belong. Do I hear an "Amen?" Anyway...It was my original plan to make a half dozen smaller cakes with different Care Bear belly badges on each one, but when the day of the party arrived, I was exhausted. After a quick search for Care Bears on Google Images that morning, Lu Lu decided on her favorite and the baking commenced.
It was fun to see a simplified version of "Funshine Bear" come together, and like every other cake I have ever made, I learned something new and figured out a way to make it better next time.
Miss Ava Gardner's Gluten-Free Birthday Ball Gown
I had grand plans for this one, but a Rockies game in Denver the night before and my discovery of a killer cake decorating supply store (where I spent way too much money at) that's closer than Omaha sucked a lot of the time I had wanted to use. Okay, okay... a quick hour-long visit DSW stole some time too. Months ago, I decided I would buy a pair of red heels when I paid off the last of my consumer debt. Now that I'm exactly one month away from that very goal, I thought I should stop to look. Long story short, the only red heels that didn't look like stripper shoes were sold out in my size. Bummer.So the gluten-free thing freaked me out a little bit, but it all turned out fine in the end. I found a recipe for a gluten-free flour blend online that had great reviews so I went with it. I thought I had everything I needed from my vegan baking adventures in months past, but as time was running out, I discovered I was missing a key ingredient. After a series of frantic phone calls to local grocers, I found rice flour. Did you know they made such a thing? Ooo...before I forget, I want to thank Bamboo Market in Steamboat Springs for helping me out at the last minute. They saved the day by pulling it from the shelf and taking my debit card over the phone in case I didn't make before closing time. Great ladies at Bamboo. Thanks so much!
Okay, I'm exhausted and I can't believe I'm going to spend all night in a tent on a work night. Those eggs and bacon better be amazing in the morning.
