Tank you very much!

Okay, so I haven't posted in a super long time...I've been busy. This past week I had a "tank" cake to do. I had never done a tank, but I saw some pics online and thought I could do it. This cake was for the same lady I did the "diva" cake for a few weeks ago. Well, I was a little worried since that cake fell into itself once it went across town to the pizza place. I didn't know if I wanted to try something so ambitious, but I did NOT want to just try and draw a tank or something lame on a sheet cake...that's just not what I do. I like to go big and beautiful (just like me LOL). Soooooo...I said I would do the tank cake an actual 3-D cake. I knew I was going to have to use fondant just to make sure the cake stayed together. I have learned my lesson. I didn't take pics along the way because I lost my camera for a couple days, but found it the day of delivery (thank God).


This cake was a huge undertaking. It was a week long ordeal and I was up to my elbows in fondant. The cake was monsterous and I had to spend aan entire day just baking. On Wednesday, I was chilling the cake getting it ready to carve when a neighbor calls and asks if I can do her daughter's birthday cake. I need the business, so I said "Sure, when is it?" She lets me know that it's this Saturday. What??!!! We talked about it and it was no biggie. She wanted a cowgirl themed cake for about 25 people. I let her know that I could do it as long as it was simple. We decided on a cow print cake with a paisley print bandana. I told her she was in charge of what else to put on it. I didn't have any time to shop for a topper. So, I had 2 cakes this week, which I am sooooooooo excited about. Misty (tank cake) said that everyone loved the cake and she gave out my number to a lot of people. I'm hoping I get a lot of business from the cake. So, no more waiting...here they are:
They put on the hat, boot and #7.








Chase and his cake.

Store Stories

Okay, so the last couple stores I've been in, strange things have happened. The other day I was buying some groceries to make Matt (hubby) a nice dinner and I was at the express checkout. I was by myself because my parents were visiting the kids. I was just kinda looking around while I was waiting in line. I saw this guy waving at me and he was about 10 feet away, so I just smiled politely and turned back and looked forward. Next thing I know, he's right next to me saying, "Hi, your hair is beautiful." Okay...kinda freaky. So, I said thank you and turrned back around hoping he would catch a clue. But oh no..."Hi, I'm John." I wasn't even looking at him!!! ME: "Nice to meet you." (turned back around)
JOHN: So, what do you do?"
ME: I'm a stay at home mom. (turn back around)
JOHN: Oh, so you're married?
ME: Yep. (turn back around)
JOHN: Your husband is a very lucky man.
ME: Yes he is. (turned back around)
JOHN: Well, (shakes my hand) thanks for having an open mind.
ME: okay, no problem. Have a great day.

In my head: What the heck??!!! What just happened? Are you kidding me? Open mind? Why did he think I had an open mind? Did he think that I even, for a second, thought about dating him?? I was just being nice. It's not like I'm gonna just tell him to get away from me. Then my mind goes to thinking that he might be targeting me for something. I mean, who just comes up to a single lady in the grocery store?? It really kinda freaked me out. I just pictured him following me to my car and killing me or something. Well, nothing like that happened, so I'm really glad. Once I realized that he wasn't following me, I thought, "huh, I just kinda got hit on. Too bad that it was by a 35 year old that didn't own a razor and probably still lived with his mother." Oh well. At least my hair is cute. Now, onto my second weird store story:

I was getting gas at a place that didn't have pay at the pump. I'm glad that I didn't have my kids with me because I hate to take my kids in. Anyway, I'm waiting in line that had 3 other people in it. I saw something on the shirt of the guy in front of me out of the corner of my eye. I looked and it was a HUGE spider!!! I freaked. I startedbreathing kinda hard and I said "Hey! There's something on your shirt." By this time, the spider had crawled to the collar of his shirt. He thought I said hat, so he took his hat off. I just grabbed his hat out of his hand and started hitting him really hard with his hat. He was turning around and looking for it while I was hitting him. Then the lady behind up said that she saw something fly off onto the floor. We found the spider and it was still alive!!! The guy didn't want to kill it, so the lady stepped on it. I said I was sorry for grabbing his hat and hitting him so hard with it. He told me thanks for telling him. We just laughed about it and that was that. It was much more crazy than I can explain, but how many times do you get to hit on a total stranger? I guess more than I used to think because both of these stories is really all about hitting on total strangers. LOL OKay. Until next time. I have to watch the weather.

Suds in the Bucket

Well, I made laundry detergent today. I'm super excited and want everyone to know about it. Okay, well, maybe just the four of you. I figured it up and it costs me about $2.50 for 10 gallons of laundry detergent. That's over $150 in saving in a year. That might not sound like a lot, but every time I go to the store and have to buy detergent, we usually don't get a few food items that I would usually buy that day, so it really is pretty awesome. My initial investment was more than $2.50 (more like $10), but I won't have to buy the bucket again and the borax will last a long time. It also has some great cleaning uses.

All this came from the Duggars. My brother told me about it because he started using it and likes it.

Here's the recipe and directions:

Ingredients:

1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (Ivory works too)

4 C hot tap water

1 C washing soda (can be found at Kroger)

1/2 C borax (in the laundry detergent isle on the top)

Equipment needed:

5 gallon bucket w/ lid

cheese grater

long stirring utencil

laundry soap dispensesr

Directions:

Grate soap.

(Not Cheese)

Add to 6 qt saucepan along with 4 C water and heat over medium heat until the soap is melted/dissolved.

Make sure you keep an eye on it because when it starts to heat up it gets foamy. Meanwhile, fill the bucket 1/2 full of hot tap water and add borax and washing soda. Stir until dissolved. When the soap is dissolved, add to the bucket and stir well. Fill the rest of the way with hot tap water and stir. Put the lid on and let set up overnight. It will be thick in the morning. Xaiden not getting to play in the bubbles

To use:

Fill 1/2 of dispenser full of detergent and 1/2 of hot tap water. Shake before each use.

Top load washer - 1/2 c. per load

Front load washer - 1/4 c per load

I hope this helps ya'll out. Thanks to the Duggars, we can all save money!!!