Yet Another Sad Day in the Roughton Home

Well, this is not the day I had planned.  But it really began last night.  We got home around 7:15 last night after long days at work yesterday.  When we came in, Woody didn't greet us as normal.  Later on he came around and I immediately noticed he wasn't breathing right.  I told Charles to look at him and he, too, noticed that Woody was breathing really abnormal.  He was breathing way too fast, was retracting, and his eyes were really dilated.  I got up to check and noticed he had not eaten or drank anything all day which is super unusual for him.  I got on the internet and searched for all possible causes but none of them were good.  I got on the vet's website but there was no emergency number.  So I called the girls and told them it looked like Woody was real sick and I wasn't sure if he was going to even make it through the night.  We all took turns praying for him and then Leah went and got him angel bear.  Angel bear is this stuffed bear with angel wings that the girls always want if they are sick or hurt.  It was so sweet.

So I got up early this morning and called the vets office which opens at 7 and was ready just in case they told me to come right away which is exactly what happened.  I was there by 7:15.  They did blood work and x-rays and were pretty certain it was leukemia.  He said that the x-rays showed his left lung was completely full of fluid and so was 1/2 of his right lung....so he was breathing on half a lung.  It also appeared that he had some srt of a mass in his chest.  He said that his circulation was already starting to shut down.  The only options were to drain the fluid, figure out the underlying reason, and try to treat but he was not very optimistic.  He said that really we would only be buying him time (maybe a couple of days).  So, of course, I am an emotional basketcase at this point and had to make the ultimate decision to go ahead and have him put to sleep.  As much as I didn't want to lose him, I could stand the thought of him suffering and struggling to breathe.  Charles is at work so Sammy came to help me bury him.  It is a sad day.  I've had Woody since right after Charles and I got married...which will be 14 years this year.  He has always been my little buddy...the most loving and affectionate cat. 

In the last 2 1/2 years, I have lost 3 grandmothers and 2 thirteen year old kitty cats.  I REALLY hope that this is it for a long while.  Ugh...I have a huge headache. 

Spring Fever and a Wreath

Is it me or are you ready for spring?  Geez...the girls and I have spring fever soooo bad.  We are tired of cold, dreary days...we are ready for warm sunshine!!
On another note, I have been very into wreaths lately.  I have so many ideas in my head that I can't wait to bring to fruition.  So last night I made up my mind that I was going to make a spring wreath today.  And by george, I did :)  After my chiro appt, we headed to Hobby Lobby (my most favorite store of all time).  I bought a grapevine wreath and some spring-y pink flowers.  A little time and some hot glue later and this is the result...

A Scrapbook Cake and 16th Birthday Cupcakes

I've been busy this week, covered up in sugar.  The upside is the house smells like a bakery (so does the car :)

Scrapbook Cake
This is a cake I did for Paige.  She is having a scrapbook party with a couple of her friends.  So, this is my attempt at a scrapbook.  I took two square cakes and put them side by side.  Then I shaved off a little of the two sides that formed the center.  It was iced and smoothed.  Then I made marks in the sides to look like pages (hard to see in the pix, easier in person).  I used edible images of two pictures...one of her and the other of her and the two friends coming to the party.  I have NO idea what happened, but the images starting crumbling and tearing as I was taking them off the backing.  I was able to use fondant accents to cover up the tears on Paige's picture, but there was no hope for the one of the friends.  Thank goodness the Easley's are laid back folks and didn't care....otherwise I would have been getting more images made.  I had also made a pair of scissors with a gumpaste/fondant mixture but they ended up being too big for the cake :(  Anyway, Paige was happy and that is all that matters!!

16th Birthday Cupcakes
These are some cupcakes I did for a friend at church.  Her daughter is turning 16 and wanted cupcakes.  She had a taste of the Reese's cupcakes I made last week and wanted those, but she also wanted some strawberry ones.
 This time I used my old faithful peanut butter icing recipe because it is stiffer but it has cocoa in it so I didn't do the chocolate drizzle. 

 The strawberry cupcakes had chunks of real strawberries baked in and they were so yummy.  The colors Taylor chose for her party were turquoise and purple (her favorite color).  So, I iced the cupcakes in purple and did an accent flower in turquoise fondant and put tiny edible pearls in the center of the flower.  These were alot of fun to do!!

Valentine's Day 2012

I have to work tomorrow (Valentine's Day) so we decided to celebrate today.  I started the morning off by making pink chocolate chip heart-shaped pancakes.  I even gave them a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

When Charles gets home, we will give the girls these chocolate chip cookies he bought for them. 

For Charles, I made a replica of something I found on Pinterest.  I framed a piece of scrapbook paper that has the words, "I love you because..." on it.  You can write on the glass of the frame with a wet erase marker and change the reason each day.  The scrapbook paper is the same design and color of our comforter and then I accented the frame with red cherry blossom petals and the accents in our room are red.  I will leave before he even wakes up in the morning so I will leave it for him to see :) 

And just when they all think that there is no more, there will be a pack of Reese's Pieces in each of their car seats when the leave in the morning with this note attached: 

(Wish I could claim that idea but it wasn't mine originally either :/ )

Charles expects nothing (we've already got a little something).  The girls think it will all be over tonight.  Hee Hee....I love surprising all of my little Valentines!! 

A Great Combo....Chocolate and Peanut Butter :)

Well, these cupcakes actually turned out pretty good to be failures.  They are not at all what I had in mind when I started.  My plan was to dip the peanut butter frosting in chocolate to be like a dipped cone at Dairy Queen.  Not far into my icing, I realized that it was never going to be firm enough to dip and hold shape.  Yep, I tried a new recipe....it's super yummy, just not stiff enough.  Anyway, let me tell you what the final product is.  These are chocolate cupcakes with a mini Reese's cup baked in the center.  It is topped with peanut butter frosting and satiny chocolate glaze with another mini Reese's cup on top for decoration.  Not what I started out planning to do, but really, it is hard to go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter!

In a Baby Carriage

This is a baby shower cake I did for a co-worker of my friend, Christy.  She wanted chocolate cake and buttercream icing.  She is decorating the nursery in pink and purple so that's the colors I used for the cake.  She insisted on a very simple cake with NO fondant.  I did use edible pearls...one in the center of the bow and one in the center of each decorative dot.  The piping around the bottom is much more froo-froo than I usually do, but I saw a cake that I liked with a similar design but, of course, mine didn't turn out quite the same.  Nonetheless, I hope she likes it!