February 2015

Wow, what a month. February has come and gone and we've headed into March already. I know it's a short month, but it really did fly by. The biggest thing was the loss of my sweet, smart, silly Baylee Girl. It seems that most everything this month centered around her health, her passing and our grief. But there were a couple other things that happened this month, joyful things, like Valentine's Day, and Mom's Birthday.  So here is our Auchmoody February 2015 (Days 32 through 59), in a nutshell:

1.  Super Bowl Sunday...Seahawks vs Patriots in Super Bowl 49. Unfortunately the Seahawks lost the game 28-24. But we had a good time over at mom's watching the game and stuffing our faces!
2. Leftovers from Super Bowl. Back over to Mom's for dinner tonight...Rob's beautifully stacked plate of nachos.
3.  Tonight's full moon captured on my way to Mom's to pick up the girls.
4.  A Baylee 'selfie' on our ride home, with her 'feets up' on the console in the car.
5.  Picked up each of the girls a Valentine's cookie tonight at the vet.
6.  Tom's badging ceremony was held today. He had Emily and Alyssa remove his BC's badge, while Trina pinned his new chief badge on him.
7.  Rob hogging the bed and the covers...and sleeping on his face...when I got home tonight.
8.  Finally decorated the house for Valentine's Day yesterday. Put out these three girls (all with heart themes or accessories) on a shelf...still love my Precious Moments.
9.  Baylee started throwing up today, she won't eat and can't keep water down.  She finally settled in and got comfy on her little bed for the night.
10. Our last night together, me and my girl. We slept together in the living room, me on the couch and her in her bed from Grammy's house.
11. One of the saddest days I've know...putting my sweet girl to rest today. Just like that, she's gone. After work I pulled up in Mom's driveway to find her flying her 'Baylee' flag...it's so heartbreaking.
12. Waking up this morning to an empty bed...poor Lucy...poor us.
13. With Rob working tomorrow we were going to celebrate Valentine's Day tonight. With the week we had, we 'agreed' (or so I thought) we would just order a pizza and have a cuddle and call it good. But when I got home, there were flowers, chocolates and a beautiful card waiting for me. He's a good Valentine!
14. Even though we celebrated last night, after church Rob said we needed to at least go out for a Valentine dinner. Thinking there wouldn't be a restaurant in town we could actually get into, he suggested our favorite Thai place.  It was great, we did get right in and had a lovely date night.
15. Today was Lu and my first day home together, just the two of us...and we were both pretty sad without our Baylee. She snuggled up next to me on the couch, chin on my knee.  Thank goodness for little Lu.
16. President's Day...a day off for me. I headed out pretty late to the grocery store to do our weekly shopping, and came home with a rare treat...Henry Weinhard's soda...Orange Cream...Yum!
17. We received a mug bouquet of little roses today from Dr. Chuck and his staff in sympathy for our loss of Baylee. We also got a card from Craig and Wendy...people are so thoughtful.
18. Ash Wednesday today. On Busted Halo they have a 'picture a day' prompt for Lent, and today's was #showusyourash. So I took a pick of my ashy smudge...although I did not post mine anywhere!!
19. I picked up dinner for us tonight at Graze - a Latronka for Rob and a Bahn Mi for, well...Me! This is really one of my favorite places, and I miss our office being close to it.
20. I was having a little cuddle with Lu tonight and she fell asleep on my shoulder. Sweet snoring girl.
21. Today was Mom's birthday, and also Ladies Who Lunch. We all gathered at Frost Me Sweet and Billie gave each of us one of these little jars of honey. She had purchased a bunch, and ended up making it into a craft project to give to each of us.
22. We finished celebrating Mom's birthday today. I made up some cherry chip cupcakes with cherry almond cream cheese frosting.  Then I headed over to her house and made a big pot of potato soup and some cheesy bread for dinner. She opened a couple more presents...and Lucy helped!
23. It's that delicious Auchmoody dinner again. Steak, baked potatoes and spinach. It was so yummy, the only thing that could have made it better was if the steaks had been grilled on a BBQ.
24. Silly Lu, back in her clothes pile again...where she starts almost every night.
25.  We were notified last night that we had a fraudulent charge on our checking account, so they immediately canceled my debit card. Here I am on my second trip into Gesa today, trying to straighten things out.
26. Rob picked up Baylee's ashes today. I was surprised to also see her blankie. I thought we would never see it again...now I just want to wrap myself in it. They also did a little clay imprint of her paw.
27. Another meatless Friday. This time I picked up Casa Mia. I've been craving their Pizza Sole for awhile now. I added a shrimp salad for each of us, and boy, did it really hit the spot!
28. I baked off the clay imprint of Baylee's paw today. I was surprised when I took it out of the packaging that they had stamped her name in it already.  More tears...really missing my girl.

Day 52

Today is my momma's birthday! And because it happen to fall on our Friday off, Billie and I, along with Melanie spent the day with Mom...having a girls day, celebrating her birthday.

To start the day, I whipped up some cherry chip cupcakes this morning. The tradition for Mom's birthday is mud pie, but this year she said she wanted cupcakes. I used the usual cake mix, but in an effort to keep them good and moist, added an extra egg and some sour cream...mmm mm. Then I topped them with cream cheese frosting, with maraschino cherry juice mixed right in and a half cherry on top. They looked so cute...but admittedly when all together, they looked like a bunch of...well...let's say I called them my Breast Cancer Awareness cupcakes!

This afternoon we all met at Mom's and headed out to lunch. She chose Fujiyama's...she had been there once and liked it, Melanie is kind of a regular, and for Billie and I, it was our first time. We had a pretty entertaining Chef who cooked our meal to order, while using our food to make things like a fried rice fish, and an onion stacked birthday candle. At the end of our meal, they came out with drums and gongs and sang Happy Birthday Fujiyama style...complete with a slice of cake and a candle to make a wish on!

After filling our bellies, we headed out for a pedicure...my first of the season. Can't wait for spring to let my toes out! Then we headed back to Mom's for gifts, cupcakes and ice cream. To wrap up the day, Melanie, Mom and I decided to see a movie, and headed out to Winter's Tale.


It was a great, long, celebratory day, and I sure hope Mom enjoyed herself, and felt the love today...on her very special birthday.

Happy Birthday to the very best momma!

Day 303

Tomorrow is our Annual Halloween FAC Snack Attack Day.  An excuse for all day snacking at the office.  As usual, my contribution is cupcakes.  Tonight I made these Halloween fun-fetti cupcakes with orange colored cream cheese frosting, with orange and black sprinkles.  The cupcake liners and the decorative picks were from a little gift pack that Billie gave me for my birthday...they sure did come in handy in making these super cute and spooky cupcakes!!

Day 216

So here they are...the final product.  The Perfect Lemon Cupcake!  You want one, don't you??

Tonight I finished frosting and decorating Rob's birthday cupcakes.  As you can see, each cupcake is topped with this homemade lemon buttercream...including fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest.  I don't remember the frosting turning out with such a puckering tart taste last time, but it's a good kind of tart...offset by the creaminess of the butter and sweetness of the sugar. 

In addition, each one is decorated with yellow sprinklers and a Lemon Drop.  Would you believe Lemon Drops are not easy to find...but I remembered I found them at Walgreen's last year...and I did again this year.  I also had a dozen party hat picks, so I added those to half of the cupcakes, and voila...Happy Birthday Husband!  I hope you enjoy your made-with-love cupcakes!

Day 215

Mmmmm...the start to Perfect Lemon Cupcakes!

Saturday is Rob's birthday.  I decided to take him out of town for a little overnight trip to an undisclosed location.  But, I had already promised him that I would make him the same cupcakes I made for his birthday last year.  So I decided to bake the cupcakes tonight, and frost them tomorrow night so we can enjoy a couple before heading out first thing Saturday morning.

It's a recipe I found last year on the internet, where you start with a lemon cake mix, but then you add lemon pudding, some sour cream, a little extra oil and an extra egg to make these super moist and delicious cupcakes.  They really are very tasty.

As I was making them, I thought about when I made these last year, and what I was thinking and how I was feeling...having known Rob less than a month then.  The excitement of heading down to see him and his place for the first time, taking several days off to go visit him, wanting to make his birthday very special, and trying hard to figure out a way to make these little gems and transport them 5 hours away in 90+ degree temps without the frosting melting!

So I guess maybe they're not just lemon cupcakes...they are probably the start of a new tradition now, and every year I can think back with a smile of how it all began.

Day 186

Happy Birthday America!  Happy 4th everyone!  Today was a great day...a busy day, full of all kinds of things, so I have a few photos to share (for once!).

First, I started my morning by getting up early to bake a chocolate cake for the cake pops, and then getting the cupcakes in the oven.  I managed to get the two dozen vanilla cupcakes frosted with a chocolate cream cheese frosting and decorated with red, white and blue sprinkles before Rob and I headed out the door to the parade.

 The parade was kind of a bust, like I suspected.  Many people turned out to see it; the streets were lined with families...especially the kids waiting for candy to be thrown.  But it seems that when the holiday falls in the middle of the week like it did, not as many folks turn out to be IN the parade...like bands and floats.  But there was great represetation from Pasco - the one and only float, and the one and only band!

After the parade Rob and I headed back home, and I promptly went back to work...this time on the cake pops.  When I read the directions, they seemed pretty straight forward and actually pretty easy.  But they ended up being a little more of a pain than I had anticipated.  I did learn a few things for next time though.  I guess I had to get the first time done and under my belt. 

I started by making them a little too big, which meant they were too heavy to stay on the stick.  I'm don't think I froze and/or refrigerated them long enough.  I think my candy melts could have been hotter/thinner for a more even coating.  And most importantly, I needed to leave them alone until completely dry!!  I kept pealing them up too soon and leaving coating and cake on the plate!!  With all that said, here's the kicker...they were DELICIOUS!!  I mean seriously...who knew??  I guess I anticipated them tasting like a cupcake, but I think they were better...way better.  And so did everyone at the BBQ.  They were a major hit!

After I completely destroyed the kitchen with my cake pop assembly line, I actually took a quick little nap to rest and regroup  Then Rob and I headed over to Melanie and Jordan's for their annual BBQ.  They had a bit of a rib cookoff...one guy made pork ribs, while the other made beef.  I'm not sure what or whose I had...but they were all so good!  And there was food o'plenty...lots of ribs, salads and beans...YUM!  While all of us grown ups yacked it up, all the kids kept busy in the pool.  It was a great way to end the 4th...thanks Mel and Jordan for the invite!

Because tomorrow is a work day, and because we're old I guess (hehe) Rob and I opted out of the fireworks, and just called it a day and headed home to feed and check on the pups. 

We hope you all had a wonderful 4th...full of fun, food, friends and family too!!

Day 155

Another day...another graduation! Yesterday Brooklyn graduated, so today Kim had a gathering in her honor. 

Instead of having a graduation cake, Kim opted for cupcakes and asked if I would bring them.  So this morning, I baked, frosted and decorated 48 cupcakes.  There were 24 carrot and 24 fun-fetti...all decorated in orange and black - Kennewick High School's colors. 

Again, the gang all gathered together...chatted some more and ate another round of good food.

Congratulations and good luck Brooklyn!

Day 144

Now these are some serious cupcakes...jumbo cupcakes.  This picture of the last two delicious monster cupcakes was taken moments before being devoured!

I made these fun-fetti cupcakes on Sunday, sort of as a way of acknowledging my dad's birthday.  Sunday he would have turned 65.  Try as I might, I just couldn't shake the sadness I felt that day...and through these last few days too.  This birthday was harder than the last two for some reason.  I think because 65 is supposed to mark some kind of milestone in life...usually it's the start of retirement, the beginning of your golden years, and I just can't get passed feeling like he was robbed of that...and so was I.  So, in a small way, a quiet way, my way, we acknowledged him on his special day; We had a BBQ, and I made these cupcakes. 

Tonight Rob and I ate these last two...and just like that...life goes on.

Day 109

And even more cupcakes!

Tomorrow a few of us ladies in the office are throwing our co-worker Stacy a little baby shower. She's having her second baby, a little boy, very soon.

Billie and I picked out a cute baby shower theme of rubber duckies, so the colors are blue and yellow. You can't see it very well in this photo, but tonight I made these two dozen Devil's food cupcakes with blue(ish) frosting and yellow sprinklers.

The smell in here is delicious...I hope they all make it into the office!!

Day 98

Today is Easter Saturday. Since the Paden's are visiting, and will be wanting to get on the road early tomorrow morning, we are celebrating Easter today.

Ms. Kennedy made a haul from the Easter Bunny, getting a basket of goodies from everyone who loves her! It was almost like Christmas. Rob and I gave her a bucket filled with some crazy straws, a candy necklace, a kite, and some other candies and Easter treats. One of the candies was a sucker, that when she put in her mouth gave the effect of a bunny nose and teeth. Aunt Billie gave her rabbit ears too, but we didn't get a photo of the two of them together.

Mom and I had a great afternoon over at Billie's visiting and catching up with Fred, Christy and Kathy. Then we had a great meal of ham, baked beans, potato salad, pea salad and frog eye salad. For dessert I was charged with making some carrot cake cupcakes, and our layered lemon dessert.

It was a wonderful day, and a great way to kick off summer...a little early.

Day 76

Getting my green on today with some minty-chocolate cupcakes.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, and my co-worker and friend Bre's birthday. So, just like last year, I thought I had better make some cupcakes in honor of both. Cupcakes 'cause it's Bre's birthday...minty and green 'cause it's St. Patty's Day.

I ended up frosting half of the cupcakes with the traditional swirl top, but the other half I tried a flower style, which ended up resembling a hydrangea a bit (not that I've ever seen a mint green hydrangea...).

I'm certainly not a fan of the mint...I happen to think it makes most things taste like toothpaste...but I have to admit I did enjoy a couple of these...it was more a hint of mint, and didn't overpower too much.

Today also happens to be an anniversary for Rob and I. Six months ago today we got engaged. I had really hoped to get a photo of the two of us for today's photo of the day, but with everything going on, it did slip my mind until this afternoon, and with our work schedules today I probably won't see him until it's time for bed. So, I guess it's a good thing I had a photo of one of my other favorite things!

Day 22

More cupcakes!

I had a couple of those very ripe bananas again. I didn't really want to make muffins again, so I thought about cupcakes. I found a recipe in my cupcake cookbook and while Rob was working, I decided to go for it.

The million dollar question...what frosting do you put on a banana cupcake? I found some suggestions, like peanut butter, or a banana split type thing with chocolate and cherries. I decided to go more basic and just do a brown butter icing.

They didn't turn out to be anything spectacular, but a little something sweet to have around, none the less.

Day 15

The story of some sad looking cupcakes...

With Rob working all weekend, I spent the bulk of my time cleaning the house. Although it felt really good to get a handle on things and a bit more organized, this afternoon I needed a break from the dust rag and vacuum.

I had already tried out my new jumbo muffin pan, so I decided it was time to break in the mini. It seemed so straight forward, going from regular size to mini...but I have to admit I struggled from the get-go. First I overfilled each cupcake liner and ended up with 'muffin tops' making them top heavy, constantly tipping over. Then I used a smaller pastry bag to frost with a small tip, and ended up overfilling the bag as well, which resulted in a mess and me racing through the frosting process. What I ended up with were frosted, top heavy cupcakes that tip over. Yikes.

The good news...looks aside, they were very tasty! A milk chocolate cupcake with an almond cream cheese frosting. And, since I made them for no real reason, just to enjoy and share with Mom, it was good trial run and now I know what NOT to do!!

Day 3

Cupcakes, Cupcakes!

For Christmas this year, Mom gave me both a mini muffin pan and a jumbo muffin pan, with some liners. And Billie (shoot, actually Molly...she's such a good shopper) got me a cute little cupcake party set with festive liners and and picks.

I can't wait to get started and try out my new pans. This too is something I want to get back to doing again...not that anyone needs the added calories...but it is a creative outlet, and I love making cupcakes...and they are so delicious. And now thanks to Pinterest, I have lots of new and interesting recipes to try out!!

Carmel Apple Cupcakes

Mmmmm...doesn't that sound so good? Carmel Apple Cupcakes! They were good, but just not as great as I had hoped.

We had a snack day at work for Halloween, otherwise known as FAC Snack Attack Day, and I knew I would bring some kind of cupcake. I searched the internet over for a different recipe and found this particular one that had apples and carmel right in the batter, maple syrup in the frosting, and then I added a carmel drizzle to top it off. They really did look and taste like autumn!

4th of July

Another Independence Day has come and gone. It was a pretty nice day, very low-key and quite enjoyable. Even the weather cooperated and was more than tolerable - not the usual scorching heat we usually face.

We all gathered at mom's for a BBQ...and had TONS of great food. Fred manned the grill, Emilee and Kennedy ran through the sprinklers and Billie made a great batch of lemonade that we adults turned into a delicious sort of melon cooler.

Once again, I was in charge of the 4th of July cupcakes. I made my usual red, white and blue decorated cupcakes, but also finally had the chance to try out my JUMBO cupcake pan that Billie gave me months back. Not bad for a first crack at it. Can't wait to try it out again.

It was a good day, but just not the same without Dad. I miss him so incredibly much.

4th of July

The last week or so just got away from me. So here I am trying to play catch-up with my posting. Seems like there has been so much going on - car shows, celebrations, parades, bbq's, and camping - I don't know where to start, so I guess I'll start with the 4th.

Jay, Kathy, Fred, Christy and Ms. Kennedy were all in town for the weekend. We started off a very hot day with a trip to the Farmer's Market, followed by Pasco's Grand Ol' Fourth parade. Here's our sweetie pie enjoying her first 4th of July parade.



After a bit of a break - and some time inside with air conditioning - we all headed over to Sharlyn's for what has become our annual 4th of July BBQ. I was directed to bring the cupcakes for the event. I wanted to try out a festive recipe from my Crazy About Cupcakes cookbook, so I made Blueberry / Raspberry Cupcakes, with fresh blueberries and raspberries baked inside and cream cheese frosting. I wasn't sure how they were going to taste, but they turned out to be pretty darned good! I decorated them up with red and blue sprinkles and flags for the occasion.

That was not the end, however, of my baking. Billie requested chocolate cupcakes as well. When asked if she wanted chocolate cake or chocolate frosting - she said BOTH. So, I made another 2 dozen Triple Chocolate Fudge cupcakes with choclate-cream cheese frosting. I thought they were delicious too - even from a non-chocolate lover like myself.

And finally, I had been working on a 4th of July project for over a week or so. I was inspired by a project from Leigh Ann Baird that she entered as a guest on Papertrey Ink's site. I loved the idea, so started out making a template, adding my own twist. I made a dozen, essentially one for each of the gals at the BBQ. Rather than making a greeting card, I decided on these fans, that looked and felt like a card, with a practical element - keeping cool in the 100 degree heat!

Spring Cupcakes

We had our first BBQ of the season over at the Butler's on Saturday. Jodi did up some tasty ribs, Kim put together some kabobs, then everyone else filled in the rest with salads, slaw, beans and corn bread.

The last time I was in Barnes and Noble, I picked up this great cookbook, Crazy About Cupcakes ('cause if you know me, you know I am!). I had only tried one recipe so far (banana cupcakes, which were de-lish), and I was itching to give something else a try.

So, for the BBQ I made these lemon cupcakes, with a fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting. As it turned out, I really liked the frosting, but not all that much on the lemon cupcakes. I will say, using the frosting as a fruit dip with the remaining strawberries did turn out later to be a big winner though!

Happy Administrative Professional's Day!

Happy Day to all of you Administrative Professionals out there!

So in our office now there are eight of us Administrative Professional types. Although none of them work for me, I wanted to show my appreciation of them, and let them know how much I enjoy working with them.

First I made each one of them a 3x3 card. Then I made little cupcake boxes, each one decorated slightly different. I filled them with a notepad/pen set with their initial, a cupcake magnet, a pack of decorative alligator clips (all from Micheal's dollar bins!), and their little card.

It was a lot of work, but I had so much fun making these. I hope they liked them! :)

Another Batch of Cupcakes...

So, I had to make those annual Cherry Chip Valentine cupcakes to take to work...and give to a couple special folks! YUM-O! I think it might be time to step it up and start experimenting with some 'gourmet' or unusual cupcakes...maybe in exotic flavors or with fillings, etc.!