Officially Fall- Caramel Apple Cider Cake, Insane Inflatable, and More

prepare yourselves now, aside from the delicious apple cake i am about to rave briefly about, i may go on a rant again. haven't decided yet, though, as i am not feeling as sad as i have been lately. anyway, so this cake.

this caramel apple cider cake comes from a blog of a blog, from pinterest. my pinterest link goes to country pleasures, while in her post, it goes to a hint of honey (which is not a direct link to the recipe, just their page). (also, random note, country pleasures posted this on my and ron's anniversary, a year before we got married! just thought it was funny. more on that in a minute.)

it is more of a spice cake, i think, although the frosting by its self, you can taste the apple cider in it. the cake is made with brown sugar, cinnamon, apple sauce, and caramel sauce. oh, and some white whole wheat flour. eh, eh? not terribly bad. until you get to the caramel sauce mixed into it. it is totally worth it, though. i didn't even use my mixer on it, as only the frosting has the butter.

i spent another day baking and cooking (kind of). aside from this cake, i made corn bread and had some cheesy broccoli chicken in the crock pot. i still need to make some rice, but that requires effort.

i am still silently wishing i could have more days to spend at home. as much as i hate this place because i live in a cave (hence all the horribly lighted pictures), i haven't had a day in a while where i just get so sit around and read or watch hulu or something. i've even been slacking off with running, and that makes me more achy, cuz my body is expecting the exercise, but it's not happening, and it's like, "hey, you should go do something. stop being lazy," and my brain is like,"be lazy. got it." aaaand, here we are. i can't get motivated over anything. being anxiety ridden and depressed isn't helping the case. not today so much, but lately everything has been stressing me out. work, home, work, car problems, work, money issues, work....sigh. i feel like i am in the same boat i was so long ago, where nothing i do is good enough, because they are threatening my job security once again for numbers, this coming from the place that has no idea what it wants to do anymore, and i am sick to death of going in and wondering if i can complete the day without a) walking out, b) telling someone off/punching someone in the face, c) setting fire to everything, d) curling up into a corner and crying while rocking back and forth, etc. it's so overwhelming that i can't wrap my head around anything. one thing though, i keep telling myself that once february comes around, that is going to be my last car payment, and i will have a car payments worth of extra money to put toward other things, plus the fact that it should reduce my car insurance, because no collision. so close, yet so far away. i have also taken up to scrolling through instagram and watching all the birds, cakes, and other things to pass the time and make me happy. reading gets me away from reality for a bit.

i tried a drip thing, but the caramel i used for in the cake did not double well as a topping, it was just really runny. it still tasted really good. also, those chips on top? salted caramel chips. i found them at tops a while ago, and have been waiting for the opportunity to use them, and this was definitely it. and sprinkles, because i can. (it was kind of a birthday/anniversary cake.)

i made another round of jello shooter cupcakes for my work friend/sister (all of our customers suspect we are related), because you need a special kind of cake (or cupcake) for a 21st birthday. the cupcake recipe is a cream cupcake (mainly from the addition of cream instead of milk), so it has a slightly different texture, but it paired well with the jello and cream cheese frosting. the recipe comes from heather christo's blackberry cream cupcakes. my rendition is strawberries and cream, of course! i used her vanilla cupcake recipe, improvised a cream cheese buttercream (i had some leftover buttercream that i mixed half a brick of cream cheese into), and made alcoholic jello with UV Cake vodka, about 1/3 of the jello (of 2 cups, about 2/3 cup vodka) being booze. i find that half and half is too strong, but a quarter isn't enough.

okay, now i am rambling about alcohol to water ratio in jello shots. stop me now. where has my morning gone?

with that, i'll post some pictures from this years insane inflatable 5k. it was just ron, my mom and i, but it was good fun, none the less.

it rained a little right before we started, but it wasn't overwhelming. i was disappointed that i didn't get any battle wounds. mom and ron had some rug burn (or something of the such), and my mom almost died rolling down one of the obstacles, but we survived. we survived and got breakfast after. it was a pretty good day.

i might be running out of things here for now, but last thing i will leave you with....finally got my tires put on! i cannot stress how sad my wallet is, but it is totally worth it. the rims look really nice, and having new tires is a world of difference. the others were so unevenly worn, it sounded like i was riding in a helicopter they would get so loud. i am still getting used to my car being so quiet that i can hear the engine.

i love her. car bffs. ♥♥♥ one nice thing that i have done for myself and my car. they are my first aftermarket addition. one of the little things that brings even a little joy to my day.

i did forget one other thing! i had a pretty bad day at work a few days ago. it started with a migrane, i tried to get someone to cover me, and then had to go in anyway, all sorts of crap happened, up to and including a customer who yelled at me because his kid bought downloadable content and couldn't return it. ron gets out of work, and then brings me this from barnes and noble. totoro music box!! i also have a plush catbus. i am pretty sure i have wound it up every day i've had it so far and listened to it. it plays the totoro theme song. we watched the movie the last two nights going to bed, because i can't get 10 minutes into a movie without falling asleep. so yeah. i have the best husband ever. just saying.

now, i am full of cake and tea, and need to get ready for the rest of my day. because work. maybe it won't be so bad today. who knows, though. have a good weekend, all. thanks for reading!

September Already

yep. and you know what that means.

APPLES.

sure, everyone is all aboard the pumpkin hype train already, but screw that. apples are where it's at.

apple sauce, apple muffins, apple streusel bread...apples with peanut butter!! (my current obsession.)

so yes. we have gone to beak and skiff just once so far, but will probably go once or twice more between now and october.

the ginger golds were in season at the beginning of september, we lucked out with a nice day off together (the stars and moons must have aligned briefly for that to happen), so ron and i ventured out for an afternoon. mid week is the time to go. no kids, not many people in general, so it was nice and quiet.

anyway, aside from apple picking one afternoon, i had a few cakes to work on over the last week or so. i made a smash cake for one of my regular customers at work.

pink tractors all around! or on top, anyway. just a quick one. it seemed to go over pretty well. he sent me a picture of her with the cake as well, super cute!

a few days later, aside from labor day weekend, it was my grandma's 93rd birthday, and kristen's birthday on the same day! needless to say, there was quite a bit of cake consumption on my part. lots of cake, pizza, and a little barbecue at the end of the day. grandma's cake was a marble cake with buttercream frosting, and whipped cream and strawberries in the middle. cake and strawberries are pretty tasty together.

ron seems to think we look identical, what are your thoughts? happy 93rd to my grandma! ☺

kristens cake, on the other hand, was a little less traditional...it might be the very best.....

that no cake ever was....

to frost that is my real test.....

to serve it is my caaaauuuse.....

okay, enough with the pokemon theme song. i can make things up all day long to other songs. it is what i do to pass the time at work all day, otherwise i will set the place on fire. i mean, it's great! >_>

for serious though, i think this was one of my best fondant jobs to date. no wrinkes, no major flaws or bubbles. it was a lemon cake with raspberries between the layers. also one of the tastier ones i have made. fruit and cake are pretty great together. it's like magic. chocolate cake is great and all, but fruit has something special about it.

of course, i can just sit here and ramble on about fruit and cake and bore you to death, but i will leave it there for now. i have a long week ahead of me, and today was pretty tiring itself. ran the insane inflatable 5k this morning with ron and my mom, and will most likely post pictures next week. along with that, on monday, i should have my new tires put on. i was very bad, and my wallet will be sad for the next few months, but it will be worth it in the long run. i have new rims also, since mine were looking pretty beat. my tires are poop, too.

oh, another thing! i now have an instagram! not sure why, but i decided to start one of those about a week and a half ago. you can find me here as birdladyleesh. come follow me! ☺

i do like pictures, i would like to post more photography stuff on there, along with my cakes and of course, my zoo. but you know how things go with me. i dont cuz i forget or i am lazy.

anyway, here is a picture of my new car stuff! yay! exciting! expensive. i am poor. *cries in the corner*

have a good week, thanks for reading!