Cleaning, Cake, Cooking....

It was kind of a C day around here, or at least it seems all my activities seem to be centered around things that begin with the letter C.

Started the day early, with a cup of coffee and an onion bagel with cream cheese.



After getting a load of laundry going, I had quite a bit of cleaning up to do from the crazy dust storm we had yesterday. Everything was covered in a layer of nasty dust.

I had to hose down and wipe the patio furniture and the grill.....and then moved onto my car which looked pitiful



My son came out and helped me wash it, we talked, we giggled, we had a blast



And soon, the car was back to squeaky clean, or like my son says "back to new".

Next I moved onto my son's cake for his birthday tomorrow. First thing, bake some chocolate cake. That fabric strip you see around the pan works wonders.

For the longest time my cakes would take forever to cook in the middle, and they would rise real high in the center, which I really disliked. I had heard about cake strips but honestly didn't want to spend the money on them.



After some searching on the internet, I learned that you can make them at home, and all you need is an old towel. Cut a strip about 2 inches wide all the way down the towel. When you're going to bake the cake, wet the towel strip, you don't want it dripping water but it needs to be wet. Wrap it around the cake pan, secure it with a safety pin and you're good to go.

I can't even tell you what a difference these make. They allow the cake to cook at the same temperature and prevent the middle from rising, giving you a level cake. It works wonders.



While the cake baked, I made the little figures for the cake decoration. Creepers from Minecraft, of course.

I'm not a cake decorator, not professional at all, and this is the first time I'm really trying to push the envelope, so to speak.

But this was so much fun, I can understand why so many people love cake decorating.



I love it, and more importantly my son is ECSTATIC with the cake. He said it was the best cake he has ever had.

Now I know I won't win any cake contests, there is so much wrong with this cake, but I think for a first attempt it's not bad at all :)



This did take up most of my day, so between this and the laundry and housework and homeschooling, that was all I could fit in.

Being that today is Wednesday, it means my husband has college class after work, so he has just enough time to run home, eat a quick sandwich and run back out. He usually eats when he gets home around 8pm, so I keep a plate warm for him :)



Dinner preparation under way. I love being in the kitchen, and I love cooking so much that I find myself smiling a lot when I'm in there.



For dinner tonight I fixed one of our favorites. It's a quick dinner to get on the table but tastes so good.



It's quite an old recipe, and you can find it on the food blog.

And before I leave, here's last night's dinner, another favorite, and seemed quite fitting for the crazy gloomy windy weather we were having.  Best Chili Ever.

 So there you have it, my day in a nutshell.  Just the same ol' same ol' :)

Hope you're week is going well so far, can you believe we're already almost at another weekend?  Time needs to slow down!