Harley Davidson motorcycle birthday cake

Hi everyone! I know I haven't posted anything for a while, but today I wanted to share this cake that I made yesterday for a very special birthday today! I needed to make him a fun cake. I know he has a love for motorcycles so I decided to make him a cake in the shape of his blue fat boy!

Meet Toothless our cat.

This is toothless, the most annoying, trouble making cat ever known. His name was picked out by my dad. If you have ever seen the pixar movie how to train your dragon you will recognize the name. I found toothless in October a week before my birthday. He was so tiny then and I thought he was a good luck charm because I'm a Halloween baby and he is a black kitty. It didn't take me very long to find out that this cat was a lot of trouble. He is always wanting attention when I'm doing something like reading a book. Whenever I talk on the phone he is there, when I go to the bathroom he's also there, when I sewing guess who's there. The only time he's not there is when he's trying to steal food from the kitchen or messing with the dogs, and of course when it's bath time. He loves to look at himself in the mirror and chase the cursor on the monitor. This week I'm taking him down to the shelter to get his vaccine up to date. He is not going to like it one bit. Then after a week or so I will return to the shelter to get him nurtured so there will not be any black kitty's roaming around the neighborhood. I found that the animal shelters that offer nurturing and vaccination services are so much more affordable than you normal vet. For example to get him nurtured at a vet would cost me 200- 300 dollars were as if I go and have it done at the shelter it's only 40 dollars. I don't know about you but that seems to be a much better deal, I'd just rather not throw my money away if it's not necessary.

meet the family's dogs

My family and I have three dogs. They are very mischievous, and obnoxious, but at the same time loyal and loving towards my family. They are all great with the kids and if they see a stranger they do their job by making sure we know that there are unknown people around. We have a Akc brindle boxer named Shorty Dot who is now a year old, shes the most energetic dog but is very loving. We also have two labs. Henry Holiday is a yellow Akc lab, he's the most clumsy of the bunch but he's the friendliest he is now 9 months old. Last but not least is Maria May she's our Ckc chocolate lab she is as oldest of the three she will be turning five in september. Maria is probably the most adventurous of the three but is the most protective of our family. Here is a picture of the three of them.

From the left: Henry, Maria, and Shorty

My spicy chiken soup recipe

A few nights ago I made my famous spicy chicken soup. It's so delicious and easy to make. I make it at least every month if not more. You can serve it with corn chips, corn bread, or do like me and serve it over white rice.

Below is the recipe please tell me what you think after you have tried it!

Ingredients

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 can of corn kernels
• 1 chopped onion (yellow)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup pace picante sauce (hot)
• shredded cheddar to top

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, saute the chicken in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Break up some tortilla chips into individual bowls and pour soup over chips. Top with the cheddar cheese and a little sour cream.

christian's fifth birthday

On 2-18-2011 my little brother turned five. He was so excited that now he could stop looking at clothes in the toddler section of the department store, but now when he goes to the boys section there is a size five just for him! Now he feels so like a big kid and is starting to get a little tough guy attitude on the side. Now the reason I'm righting this post, is because, I wanted to share a few pictures with you guys from his birthday!

The morning of his birthday I got up before he did so that I could decorate the kitchen and dining room with all the toy story party decorations that I had bought.

To go with the toy story theme christian put his  favorite tee on along with a toy story ribbon I bought for him to wear.

The day before I made him a toy story cake that he enjoyed eating on his birthday. The toys that I used on the cake believe it or not cost me fifty bucks. Man toys are expensive but I got them because he wanted them.

 For his party we served the kids pizza from dominoes, and I made green colored punch out of kool aid, pineapple juice, ginger ale, and sugar.

The kids got to watch all three of the toy story movies, then later it was time to play toy story freeze.
Then last but not least he got to open his presents. He had such a good time taking his presents out of their packaging. All but two of his gifts were toy story related because he is in that toy story phase right now.

All in all he had a wonderful birthday, and I am so glad that I got to help put it together for him.

T

Travel Mug with Personalized Fabric Insert

A family friend recently asked my to make some custom coffee cup inserts for her so she could give them to some of the women she works with. I was so excited that a new project was given to me because I had been wanting to use the  embroidery part of my sewing machine but didn't know what to use it for first. I made seven total coffee cup inserts, five for her friends at work, one for her, and one for my mother. Here are a few pics of the first one  I made.

my new favorite food... its green inside, it's a fruit, it's not kiwi it's... Avocadoes!

I used to hate avocados with a passion but now I absolutely  love them! Now I want them in my sandwiches, tacos, served with chicken or by themselves! It's so delicious! So today when I was trying to find something for lunch, noting sounded appetizing, until that avocado popped into my head. An avocado for lunch sounded just perfect! Now I know this is going to sound rather strange but I wasn't in the mood to eat it plain. I sliced it drizzled a little bit of lemon juice on it, then sprinkled some cilantro and cayenne pepper, and last but not least smothered it literally with Tabasco sauce. I know weird right, but oh my goodness it was so tasty! The thought of putting Tabasco popped into my head because I love it on pretty much everything savory. The creamy avocado kind of mellowed out the spiciness of the Tabasco, but the Tabasco gave it a great flavor! So if you're reading this post please try it out, who knows maybe you'll be amazed by how great it taste!