I made my hubby a heart-shaped Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting for Valentine’s Day:

He has never tried Red Velvet cake until I made this for him and now he says it is his favorite I guess he always thought it was cinnamon flavored, not cocoa. He has been missing out! I normally make it for Christmas every year but I thought it is a perfect color for Valentine’s. Don’t you?

Here are pics of mini red velvet cupcakes I made for a dear friend for Valentine’s Day:

I hope you had a wonderful <3’s day

Here are pics from the zebra cake I did. It really did turn out well! I am def going to be using this technique again. I am throwing a double baby shower next month and plan to make the cakes with pink and white The pics are not great since I just have my cell phone camera to use but I think you get the idea:

I also made this cake using a fondant that I made from scratch, a rolled butter cream fondant. I am so excited because it tastes soooo good and it is vegan! I have been searching so long for a fondant that is made without egg or gelatin! Woohoo!

I found this great blog called AZ Cookbook, Food from Azerbaijan & Beyond. There is a cake which is well known in Eastern Europe called Zebra Cake. I think it is traditionally served with hot tea or coffee. YUM! It is called a zebra cake because of the beautiful pattern you create with the cake batter:

 I LOVE the look of the cake so I thought I would try and do my own version. The recipe calls for a white and cocoa cake but I wanted to make mine with the two contrasting colors of blue and white. It is a really simple concept to do and ends up being gorgeous. I thought that I might have trouble because I was not following the recipe and using the thicker cocoa batter. I just added color to the white batter. Anyways, I followed the directions on how to make the pattern. The only downside to doing this recipe is you CANNOT tap your cap pan to make the batter level lest you ruin the pattern. Being a perfectionist, how can I NOT tap the pan?! It took great resolve on my part to not do it! I ended up with a bit of a dome on top but I just trimmed that right off. I normally have to trim a cake anyways before I torte it so it is not a big deal. Peanut loved eating the scraps too Here is what I did:

1. Divide the cake batter in half. Color the cake batter two different colors. Mix well.

2. Using a 1/4 cup, scoop and pour alternating batters into prepared cake pan.

3. DO NOT TAP YOUR PAN or SPREAD BATTER It will spread on its own. Keep alternating colors until you are finished with all of your batter:

4. Bake according to cake and pan directions. You can have the cake as is and get the awesome zebra pattern. I torted (is that a word?) the cake since I want to add a frosting layer in between. LOOK:

Isn’t that cool? I think it is a very neat twist on the traditional marble cake. I want to make another one and not torte it to see the effect. The best part will be cutting into the cake to see the very cool design! The inspiration was wholly from AZ Cookbook and the Zebra Cake. I plan on making fondant for the cake and finish decorating it soon. I will show it when I am finished

Ok, how wicked cool/creepy/intriguing is this?

Lukka Sigurdardottir

This creation was made by Lukka Sigurdardottir and you can see more pictures at this blog HERE. It reminds me of the first music video I had ever seen when I was in grade school: Tom Petty, “Dont Come Around Here No More” . Right?!

You would have been amazing.

This has been a rough couple of weeks. Ear infection not going away and trying out yet another antibiotic. Hopefully that is getting better now. Add to that trying to convince and be a cheerleader to said child about why he has to wear an annoying and irritating heart monitor the whole day. He is handling it all really well considering but I know it is hard on him. Irritates his skin. Embarrasses him. Heavy too. Cords. I just feel bad for him. Like he hasn’t dealt with enough. Right? We are tired.

I am not sleeping well. Thinking about him and Leilani. Thinking about 6 years ago and what I could/should have done differently. I shouldn’t have played God. I should have insisted on certain things in the NICU. I shouldn’t have trusted people just because they have a degree that says they have knowledge. I am tired.

I am not throwing a pity party. I am tougher than that. Just venting.

I am looking forward to new traditions and new perspectives. I have so much to be thankful for and I know it. I am so blessed and it is tangible

I wanted to let everyone know I have a new blog about saving money and couponing and you can find it here! I created this new blog because when I first started “couponing” there was a ton of information but not compiled into one place. There is also a ton of misinformation and dishonesty out there and I want my blog to be a place that removes the confusion and brings simplicity to saving money. I plan to make this site grow and flourish into a great resource for everything from saving money on groceries to finding fabulous deals on toys. I want it to be a site with integrity and a place where saving money is explained simply. So, check it out and tell me what you think!

How Do I Coupon: Save 50% or More Using Coupons!

We took Peanut to the pediatric cardiologist yesterday and after a myriad of questions and an EKG, the doc thinks that it is nothing life threatening. Thank goodness! Peanut will have to wear a monitor for a month that will record the episodes he is having. It is about the size of an iPod and when he gets that feeling in his chest he will press a button to record the incident and then we upload it to the doc’s office. Fancy shmancy if you ask me. The device will be delivered to the house within a few weeks. I am curious to see if we will be able to catch what happens and then what it means….but we will have to wait and see. I am just thankful and grateful it is nothing imminent like a heart attack, etc. He will go back to the cardiologist towards the end of January to go over the findings. His ear infections seem to be clearing up nicely as well. Yay!

I took Peanut to the doc last week for failing his hearing test at school and for the pain in his chest he keeps talking about.
The nurse performed another hearing test and she determined his hearing is fine, just some fluid behind one ear. After the doc did her exam she concluded that Peanut needs to go see a cardiologist to determine what exactly is going on. She ruled out that it was his asthma, etc. I guess going by his description of a vibration in his chest she thinks it is possibly an arrhythmia or something along those lines. The vibration in his chest has been intermittent for the past two months so we are concerned. She mentioned aberrant pacemaker, which is a condition not a device. I have googled it but not with a whole lot of luck in finding out exactly what it is other than an abnormal heartbeat. He is thriving and gaining weight so it can’t be too serious although my imagination totally freaks me out. Like I don’t still check to see that he is breathing at least five times a night after all these years. Ugghhh…

Monday I picked him up from school as usual and all of a sudden he starts crying. His ear had been hurting him all damn day but he did not tell anybody. He went to the nurse earlier (I found out later) because he was feeling that vibration in his chest but did not mention his ear because he did not want to get any shots. Poor little guy. Of course I took him right away to the doc. He has two ear infections. Yippee. After vomiting all over himself and me I think he felt a bit better, haha. He is on antibiotics and so far they seem to be working. I wish the tubes were still in his ears! I am really hoping this cold/flu season will not be brutal. I told the doc if we end up going down the same road of trying different antibiotics and they do not work like last time, we are NOT doing the injections in the legs again. Hopefully it will not come to that. ::sigh::. He is home today again because he still has a fever. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!