DONE!!!! Now, to carry it upstairs

And now for your viewing pleasure......

The One....The Only.....


GUITAR CAKE!!!

So, here's the iced cake so far. Still need to put on the fondant pieces and tweak it a little. Pretty cool. Thanks to Kim for the awesome trick to smooth the icing!

Coming Together??

Ok, I'm moving right along in the cake adventure. Two devil's food and one yellow cake placed together to cut out the guitar shape. I traced Jack's guitar on some paper and placed it over the cake...then took my trusty knife and cut around...and the results...pretty f'ing cool:)

BAKING DAY!!!

Panic mode is beginning to set in....shoulda done, coulda done hafta do...that sort of thing. I'm thinking I should have baked one cake last night, but I didn't:o( Oh well, It will get done. One's in the oven now while I'm waiting to take Jack to school.

Breathe deep, frog, breath deep...

I really need to clean the counters off so I can have room for the HUGE cake board. ALSO have to shop for last minute stuff on an extremely tight budget. Greg's foot doctor made him stay off work last week for 3 FUCKING DAYS and he has no paid sick time or vacation time available yet, so his check sucked ass this week.

Deep breaths....we can do this.....

Shapes are painted - the ones that need to be - and they look alright...no pics yet. The really thinly rolled ones got soft after the edible paint was applied, but they'll be fine. Who cares if they might break in half and look like total crap.

BREATHE!!

I'm off for my super busy, super long, stressful but <<WORTH IT!!>> day.

***froggy***

My Cake Adventure Part 2

I have just spent the last 3 hours of my life making shapes with fondant. Kinda like a clay/playdoh adventure:) Even though I'm icing my son's cake with homemade buttercream icing (have I mentioned I make a kick ass buttercream icing?) I want the guitar cake to be somewhat realistic. I took plain white pre-made fondant and shaped it into what you see above.

The things at the very top of the pic are supposed to be the 'thingies' that are vertical on the neck...frets or things between the frets - I don't play guitar.

The little round things are the inlays that are on the frets...some guitars have squares/rectangles. My son's has little bitty round things

The items that resemble nipples (I know, I know) are the little knob things on his guitar and the triangle/tooth shaped things are the things you turn to tune the guitar...I knew what they were called a minute ago, but I am 37 years old and it flew out of my head.

Everything except the knobs and inlay dots will be silver. The rest will stay white. My fingers/hands/wrists are TIRED! I can barely type correctly..lots of re-typing over my errors!!!

I'm scheduled to make the icing (my kick ass buttercream icing) tomorrow. I'll make plain white, tan, maybe some grey/black or something. My mom is making some realy cool chocolates from molds that are shaped like guitars and iPods. Pretty freaking cool!!!

***froggy***

My Cake Adventure Part 1

Let me start by saying that I have NEVER made a cake - Well, I've made basic cakes, but never a ....


pause for dramatic results...

SPECTACULAR SHAPED BIRTHDAY CAKE!

I'm attempting to make a guitar shaped cake for my son's 16th birthday. I think I can, I think I can...you know the drill.

I've purchased the mix, stuff to make the icing ( I make a damn good buttercream icing) and all the colors and stuff needed. I've traced my son's guitar (trying to make it as lifelike as possible). All I forgot was...the cake board big enough to hold it!!!

I work at a 'sheet feeder', which is a place that makes corrugated sheets - NOT CARDBOARD, there is a difference - so I asked for some scrap sheets that were heavy and thick...also known as 500 doublewall in "the biz". I cut it down to the perfect size and covered it in aluminum foil. Since foil is only so wide, I have like 6 sheets going across the board. Did some searching and found some clear cellophane on a roll from, like, 2 holidays ago. Luckily, there was just enough on the roll to cover the entire board. I taped it around the back over the top of the foil and voila!! A homemade cake board!!! That's the crazy pic you see above. It's not a professional job, but who cares?? It will do the job just fine:)

Up next, the cake making begins...

***froggy***

Evolution of the Frog

It's weird...I was doing dishes last night (no, that's not the weird part, but it is unusual for me to do dishes) and a thought popped into my head. As much as I whine and moan about my current job, I'm VERY comfortable there. Never have I had a job where I can be myself 100%. Sure, in high school jobs I could, but I mean in my adult life.

Working at big offices and call centers, I've always tried to put on a 'professional persona'...almost having 2 people in my head. I remember thinking that way sometimes while I was on those jobs. It's like I had to morph into someone else to be successful and to look ready for the next promotion. I'm sure it was all in my head that I had to be someone else, but that someone else did get promotions and compliments and I was looked up to by a lot of co-workers. Management loved me and wanted my input. I used to think: geez, if these people only knew who and how I really was they'd see the nervous, backwards band-geek on the inside.

Fast forward several years and I finally get a job close to home that actually pays well. Yeah, I'm still the same dual personality at first, but over the last 2 (nearly 3) years, I've melded back into being just me...or maybe a nice mix of my 2 personas. I'm comfortable around management and I can speak my mind and act how I want to act. It's a much smaller office than I was used to (6 direct co-workers instead of 96) and I think that's helped my phsyco mind reconcile with my professional mind.

**froggy**

Tragic love story...

Caffeine is a lover of mine. Waking early in the morning, seducing me out of bed to partake in all his glory. Morning is when I get my big fix of this amorous friend of mine. One cup...two cups...4 cups..sometimes I make it up to 6 cups if I'm lucky.

Throughout the day, he calls to me...lustfully, I answer the call mid-afternoon. He is my cool, effervescent companion before sleep takes over as my nightly affair.

Alas, I know I must stop the temptation, so I can enjoy my stronger affair with sleep. I will only see my future ex-lover in the morning when sleep leaves me all alone. Yes, I will be tempted and may even give in to my strong desire for my 'afternoon delight', but I will try so hard to make it a nice little wake-up call of only 2 cups...drastic reduction that will be heartbreaking for my lover and for me.

**froggy** (lack of afternoon and evening caffeine has rendered me temporarily insame)

Thoughts on New Years Resolutions

Let's get it out of the way....HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What is it about the new year and resolutions? Might be that I'm older and wiser, but I just don't get it. When I think of resolutions, I think of people vowing to exercise more, eat better, take care of themselves more, etc. I also think of the fact that by February, the majority of them will have given up. I used to be among those 'resolutioners' every freaking year. Kind of gets depressing when you think of all the coulda shoulda woulda moments in life. How about we change the whole resolution deal.

Hear me out. Instead of waiting for New Year's Day and promising yourself a lot of hard to do, white-knuckling things, just treat everyday like new years. Wake up every morning and name some things you vow to do better. A daily renewal is much better than a once a year 'hope I can hang on for more than a month' goal.

Today, I vow to:
Take care of myself by eating reasonably and doing a nice pedicure/manicure and allowing myself to quit trying to please every freaking person on the planet

Take care of my dogs by brushing their coats and giving them lots of affection

Take care of my son by making sure he eats a healthy breakfast and knows how proud I am of him

Take care of my husband by loving him despite his shortcomings and to forget about past problems instead of thinking about them all day.

Take care of my house by making a plan of action for housework and maintenance

How about you? What will be your daily renewal promise to yourself?

*froggy*