Baking Cakes to Relax

Space Shuttle

A couple of years ago I started making cakes for birthdays, anniversaries and various end of year parties. The cakes that we were purchasing from the local bakery(s) were buried in an inch or more of sickly sweet icing covering a dry, tasteless cake.

The first few cakes are kind of plain, but I got a little better (plus I got better tools) as time went one.

Oklahoma State University Cake

Play on the MasterCard Commercials

Made the wife's cake playing off the MasterCard: Priceless commercials. She wanted all the stuff listed, but all she got was this delicious cake.

Land of the Lost

 Everything except the dinosaurs was hand made. The dinosaurs where given to the kids as part of the goodie bags.

 The volcano is several layers of cake and was a real pain to build. This is actually one of the first cakes I did. I have learned several tricks that would have made this cake sooooo much easier.

Dr. Seuss Book

This cake was done a local librarian. Dr. Seuss is one of her favorite authors of children's books. They requested a copy of the book shown. The character is cut from fondant and then hand painted.

Free Hand Painting/Drawing

This was a practice cake I made to see how free-hand painting the fondant would work. I learned the colors bleed quite a bit and you have to work slowly. Oh, and low humidity is better for the painting, but high humidity is better for the cake.

Rice crispy treat players

 The players are made out of rice crispy treats and covered with marsh mellow fondant and then hand painted. I can never get the fondant to a dark color when I make the fondant a color.

Someone forgot to water the infield

Dark green for the infield was hard to make and once it dried over night it was almost black. Not sure what I learned there, but it tasted good!

Basketball

A "simple" request. Half a basketball. The letters and lines are all hand cut fondant. I like the taste of it, so I use it when I can. Started using a marsh mellow fondant which is easier to work with and the rest of the family likes to eat.

Trimming Trees is not for me....Anymore

Last year we purchased a foreclosure property to rehab and flip. Immediately after closing I head home and change into my "work" clothes. I grab the chainsaw and 13' ladder and head out. Oh, almost forgot...grab the cellphone, my wife requires it, since I am going to be alone. (What a worrywort.)
You see, the property had not been properly maintained for years on the outside and was abused on the inside. I figured I would start clearing the tree limbs off the roof, out of the guttering and try to get the shrubbery and volunteer trees under control. Get the basics under control while waiting the final estimates for the real remodel work.
I spent several hours cutting limbs back, checking shingle damage (dang, worse than we thought...new roof required) and trying to get the shrubbery under control. Finally, nothing is touching the roof or guttering and what is still hanging over the roof is at least 5 feet above the shingles.
Time to get down and check it out from the ground.
Looking pretty good, but a few of those big branches are still too close to the house. They are 10' - 12' high, but are drooping and are getting close to the roof and gable end of the house. Fortunately, I have a 13' ladder and can take care of that little problem!

First few cuts are fine. Branches drop straight to the ground. Now cutting a limb about 10" in diameter, standing at the top rung (not the top of the ladder, I'm not a complete idiot...not far from it, but not COMPLETE). The branch snaps, swings down and knocks the ladder out from under me. I tossed the chainsaw and had enough time to think "This is gonna HURT", but landing on my right side and the back of my head smacks the ground.

A rather large miasma of purple and red exploded in my head. Don't think I was knocked out, but I definitely couldn't breathe very well. Managed to sit up and shut off the chainsaw and get my cell phone out of my pocket.

Called my....mother. (Really it was the logical choice. She lives closer and my wife had our two kids and two neighbor kids with her.)
Me: I..............need.......help.........
Mother: Who is this? (I am sure I sounded like a heavy breathing pervert.)
Me: Your.....son..... (I hear the phone move away so she can check caller ID.)
Mother: WHERE ARE YOU! I'll be right there! Do you need an ambulance!
Me: I....don't.....think...so.....
<click> 10-15 seconds pass and phone rings
Mother: I'm on the way and I called an ambulance. I told them if you didn't need it, I probably would.
Me: Fine...............

Ambulance arrives fairly quickly considering I am out in the country. They put on a neck brace, cut off my shirt, load me onto a back board and slide me into the ambulance. Off we go! (These country roads are a little rough!)
Fifteen or 20 minutes into the trip, the EMT says: "Okay, we are coming to a little bump, so be prepared."
BUMP then Me: I don't ...like...your...def..inition...of a.....little...bump!
EMT (Wide-eyed): We, ah, well, but we don't.....
ME (interrupting): Sorry...I.....guess....my... ..attempt...at..humor... ..failed..... (Note to self: Gritted teeth seem to remove the humorous tones from your voice)

Anyway, three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, 6 hours and one chest tube later I get admitted into the hospital. (They were hoping my lung would re-inflate on its own.) BTW, you DO NOT get painkillers when you have a collapsed lung AND you do not want a chest tube...ever! But that will have to be another story.

Four days in the hospital, one huge medical bill and I "saved" a couple thousand dollars not hiring the trees trimmed.