The One That Changes Everything

 

 

I have never been one to embrace the status quo.  Looking back, I can see that my life, up until this point, has been a series of decisions made to satisfy my need for new experiences.  Motherhood has put somewhat of a damper on this impulse, due to my kids' need for stability (imagine a sarcastic eye roll here...ha!), but my need to explore hasn't gone away completely.  You can see bits of it in the pictures I post; the crafts/cakes/cupcakes/decorations/gifts I create.  Being a creature of habit, it drives my husband INSANE that I can drop everything and try something new.  I am forever trying to get him to expand his horizons while he is trying to get me to see the horizons we already have. 

That's why when he commented to me that he thought we should move to Arizona, I was surprised.  We had talked about doing it before...but there were always reasons he came up with for why it wouldn't work.  Our families, his job...but this time, the planets aligned and he seemed serious!  I think the countless conversations about following my dream (or perhaps nightmare...with 3 kids anyway) to travel in an RV and see the country may have helped.  We started doing some research and realized that the reasons we have stayed in the FROZEN TUNDRA don't really apply anymore.  So here we are....my family of 5....about to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure (well, for us anyway) to relocate to Phoenix, AZ. 

I can tell you right now that this is going to be fun...maddening...frustrating and AMAZING. 

Care to join us on our journey?  Stay tuned! :) 

Joy

I recently got a phone call from a LOVELY woman asking if I could make cupcakes for her organization. OF COURSE I CAN....are you kidding? I get to play with edible image paper and sprinkles in the DEAD of winter?? The only thing that would make it better would be if I could then eat them all...ahem.

 

I received an email today from the same lovely lady telling me that their organization was featuring the cupcakes on both their website and Facebook page.  WHAT AN HONOR!!

It is amazing when doing something that is, really, just a whole load of fun, is recognized by others as being cool.

BREAKING NEWS!

There is LIFE CHANGING news a-brewin' at the Linge house!  An official announcement will be made soon.  Stay tuned for updates.....

Happy Halloween!

JP asked me to make a special treat for his class to celebrate Halloween.  He also got his teacher to go along with this plan by (I suspect) having her send home the "treat list" with a check mark next to "cake".  I suppose it doesn't help that I am constantly schlepping cupcakes and such to school to entice the staff!

I ended up spending my whole day working on this gem.  It was "just" going to be cupcakes.  Then I thought it would be cute to have something with a pumpkin theme.  I didn't want to shape frosting into pumpkins all day, so I baked 2 bundt cakes and slapped them together.  Goodness knows you can't have a class celebration without adding the names of ALL OF THE KIDS IN THE CLASS....sigh.  Why do I do this to myself??  The fact that I spent 5 hours working on something that will be destroyed by a class of 8-year-olds in 5 minutes flat has not escaped me.  The things we do for our kids!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

Halloween Surprise!

As you may have realized, my family is big on celebrations.  Not expensive celebrations mind you (since I can't seem to get paid to roam the Internet and look for awesome craft ideas) but fun none the less.  This idea came from one of my many MANY hours looking at Pinterest and Craft Gossip (SWOON).  2 ENORMOUS beach balls that I spent hours (no, really...HOURS) coloring with a black permanent marker.  My husband hoisted them in to a tree and secured them with bungee cords, which allows for movement.  WHALAA!

While it was difficult to hide from the kids due to their size, I did want to surprise them with the actual unveiling.  My husband and I snuck out to the chosen tree and stealthily (HA!  Stealthily...with each of us carrying a 42-inch beach ball!) assembled the eyes just in time for the bus to drive by!  They were quite amazed.  And so was the bus driver....

Next year, we are going to attempt a crashed space ship.  Wish us luck.

Casino Night Fundraiser

 

Casino Night Meringue Tower and Pumpkin Pie Pops
 

I recently had the pleasure of working with an amazing group of the hardest working moms around.  Out school district, along with many others all over the county I'm sure, has had more than it's fair share of budget cuts.  Hoping to ease the burden at least a little bit we decided to hold a Casino Night Fundraiser.  Holy Hannah was it fun.  AND A LOT OF WORK.  Seriously.  I am still recovering.

 

Chocolate Fountain

 

Other than they joy of getting to work with these amazing women, I did get to live out my Vegas-style dessert buffet fantasy.  Chocolate fountains, meringues, tarts, mini pie-pops!  I was in heaven!

 

Lemon Tarts and Salt Water Taffy
 

 There are a few things I would do differently.  The meringue on the Lemon Tarts "melted" and spread.  The chocolate fountain is MESSY!!!! so maybe a smaller, separate table is in order and the Meringue Tower was so tall and glittery, I don't think people realized that it was edible!  Maybe an "Eat Me" sign is in order.  Just FYI...if you plan on making Mini Pumpkin Pie Pops with Cinnamon Whipped Cream, be sure you have A TON of them.  They were the favorite of the night!

Chocolate Cupcakes with real BUTTERcream
 

All in all, it was an incredibly rewarding event.  Both in terms of money for our school AND time spent with wonderful people.

 

The Cupcakes

I had the pleasure of making 4 different cupcakes for our community clean-up day. 

KEY LIME PIE

SUPER sour....just like the real thing!  I made lime flavored cupcakes using a vanilla cake recipe, adding about 2 tablespoons of lime juice.  Baked as usual and topped with real BUTTER buttercream frosting that tasted JUST like you bit into a lime.  LOTS of lime juice in this.  I then piped it onto the cupcakes and sprinkled crushed graham crackers on top along with a tiny candy lime wedge.

GERMAN CHOCOLATE

These are dark chocolate cupcakes topped with home made Coconut Pecan frosting (Ala Cooks.com).  Made chocolate ganache and piped SORRY looking scrolls (really, they look more like snails)around the cupcake. 

Want to know what the other 2 flavors were?  Check back soon to see!