fondant fondant everywhere...

Last night I tried my hand at making fondant. Keep in mind that I have never eaten, touched, or otherwise messed with any kind of fondant, ever. Last night I made a batch and tinted it a beautiful pink color. Today I finally got to play with it, and it came out beautifully. I watched a tutorial on youtube (several different ones, actually) on how to make fondant roses, so I played with my fondant and made some. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be! I made marshmallow fondant after reading about how regular fondant tastes terrible, and the kids LOVED the stuff. I made some extra in each color for them and they used it like play-doh... and then ate their creations ;) I am finally calling it a night, after making 40 small butterflies, 20 roses, 6 large butterflies, and lots of little leaves. Below is a picture of just some of the things I made.



On another note, we now have a fan (vent) in our bathroom, which is good... even though the electrician knocked a chunk out of our wall and didn't fix it. Landlady brought us a gallon of white paint so I can paint the bathroom, but I won't be doing it until next week sometime. A/C guy came today and put more freon in the unit, but it is still barely trickling air and even though we have the thermostat set on 68, it stays OVER 80 degrees in the house! We are boiling here!

OHHHHHHHHH

OH GOSH I HATE BIRDS!!! Fifi had a carrot sprouting in her pot, and now it's gone. I had tons of thyme sprouting in my pot, and now it's gone. In the interest of saving the five tiny lavender seedlings that sprouted today, I have brought them in overnight. I also brought in Lulu's nine (that's right, it went from one to five to NINE) Chinese Lantern flower seedlings, my two greenhouses (with 144 seedlings in them, combined not each), the pot of corn seedlings, the chive sprouts, and the as-of-yet-dormant rosemary seed pot. I now have 9 pumpkin plants growing in one pot, 6-8 cucumber plants (haven't counted exactly, I just know they're freaking tall), 8 cantaloupe plants, 12 tomato plants, 5 watermelon plants, 10 squash plants, and 7 zucchini plants. We are (hopefully) going to have fruits and veggies a-plenty this summer and fall! I can't wait to use tomatoes, basil, and oregano from my own garden to make my own spaghetti sauce. I plan to can it myself, so we can use it through the wintertime, so if anyone has canning experience and wants to share tips with me, please feel free to!

Around 8 p.m., my husband was walking through the bedroom (you have to walk through our bedroom to get to the family room), and he stopped and said, "How long does it take you to make those cinnamon things?" I frowned and thought for a minute, and then I realized what he was asking about - the cinnamon raisin biscuits I made a week and a half ago for breakfast that my younger two kids didn't like. I made a dozen of them then, and between my husband and oldest daughter, I didn't get one of them! So I said, "The cinnamon raisin biscuits?" And he said yes. I said, "Oh, about 20 minutes, if that." He said, "What would I have to do to get you to make them for me?" So I went in the kitchen and baked a batch of them, and he is eating them as he watches Deadliest Catch on his DVR. LOL!

I watched Oxygen last night, which I rarely do, but they played Sweet Home Alabama and then How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which are two of my favorite movies, so I watched them. Tonight they played the exact same lineup, so I am currently watching HTLAGI10D. He was walking through the room and saw the part with the poker game, and LAUGHED HIS BUTT OFF. I was in the kitchen and said, "Which part are you laughing at?" And he said, "I was reading something - I wasn't watching this!" He's so funny, not wanting to admit he thought it was funny!

Zaboo!

So Josie's new favoritest show of all time is Zoboomafoo. She loves all of the animals, and I love watching her watch it! She cracks me up! She keeps saying, "Mommy, comes!" (here he comes)

So last night I tried a new pie crust recipe that I'd gotten off the internet. It turned out HORRIBLY. Like, inedible horribly. So we ate the filling out of it (caramel apple - tastes like the apple dumplings at Harvest Homecoming), and today I bought a ready-made crust from Kroger and am baking the pie as I type. It smells HEAVENLY!

Tonight the girls have scouts, and they're making their Gorp bags to take camping with us this weekend. Poor Lexi has to take something from home, since she's allergic to nuts and the chex mix has peanuts in it. :(

Does anyone else watch Top Chef? I was SO glad to see her leave last night. I'm rooting for Richard right now :D

Hope everyone has a good Thursday!

Cake Decorating

I'm going to try my hand at cake decorating, starting with Taylor & Lexi's birthday party this summer. You may remember that last year, I made my niece's cake:



Well, this year I'm going to attempt something much more polished. Don't get me wrong - I am SO proud of that Strawberry Shortcake cake :D But now I'm on to bigger & better things. I am going to do a castle cake for Lexi (she picked it out herself) and try something more teenager-y for Taylor (it IS going to be her 13th, after all). And since I'm having the party at a venue (hopefully), then I can spend time & money on the cakes that I normally wouldn't be able to. Tomorrow I'm going down to my favorite baking supply store (Cake Ladies Dream Shoppe), and I've already called them, so they're holding some stuff for me. YAY! BAKING! I BAKING!!!!!

In other news, Lexi went to the dentist today and had a tooth drilled. :( She's doing okay, the dentist said she was uber good in the chair and during the drilling (they gave her nitrous, so why shouldn't she be? lol), and she made his day easier since she didn't cry or fight him, like the teenage boy who went before her!!! She's happy that today she gets mashed potatoes and pudding, and mommy won't be yelling at her to finish her veggies!

Also, if you pray, please pray for my Dad. He may have polycystic kidney disease. If you know my family, you know that this is the disease that took my Grandmother who raised me away from us. I don't want to lose my Dad, too. Please pray for him.