Paula Deen Never Told Me...

Paula Deen never told me that there would be days like this.
After getting up this morning, grabbing a cup of coffee and doing some housecleaning, I finally got around to my most important job of the day and that was to make cupcakes for Team Maxxinista sales at the ACS 2011 Relay For Life, which starts tomorrow.
So I dug through the kitchen drawers and found the manliest apron that I could find...donned said apron and commenced to do some serious baking.
It took me about 7 hours to get everything done but in the end, we have about 18 dozen cupcakes to sale tomorrow.
And we aren't talking about just any old cupcakes, we have purple ones, deep pink ones, green ones and of course my favorite....chocolate ones.
These cupcakes will be sold as a "decorate your own cupcake" type of sale within our tent that will be set up at the Relay For Life event.
Below are some photos of today's baking marathon.
If you like what you see, I am available for all kinds parties ...birthday parties,
anniversary parties, parties for Bar Mitvahs, parties for Bat Mitvahs, parties for Twisted Sistas,  parties for Coming Out Mistas, parties for B- Listers, parties for removal of ones spleen and even parties for Charlie Sheen. I can even bake for Batchlorette parties too.
And I am not just limited to being a highly skilled baker mind you.
I can put on my man thong and dazzle you with my hip shaking and erotic dancing talents.
You might have actually heard of the famous erotic dance troupe that I worked with years ago...
No it is not the Chippendales...much better than that...I was a member of the Flippinsnails. We did everything that the Chippendales do but only at a much slower pace...thus the "snails" in our moniker.
So not only can I bake it, but I can also shake it.
So if you have a "shake it" or bake it" type of party coming up let me know and we can check for my availability.
This weekend won't be good for me though.
I will be spending this weekend participating in a great event for a very worthy cause...
The American Cancer Society 2011 Relay For Life Outer Banks NC.
If you would still like to sponsor me or donate to this worthy cause, then please click on the link above. Any and all donations will be greatly appreciate.
And now for the photographs of my baking skills:

I made quite the mess today with all of this baking that I did

I couldn't find our cooling racks so I had to improvise by using the circular mesh screens that you usually put on a frying pan to keep the splattering grease from flying everywhere. I put the splatter screens on a plate so that there could be some air flow to cool off the cupcakes before I put them in a tray.

 Below is a picture of the trays that I put the cupcakes in. Each tray held 2 dozen cupcakes except for one. One tray I had to double stack the cupcakes on top of each other with a piece of reynolds wrap in between the two levels. The trays fit inside of each other from the top but they have enough room in them so that the cupcakes don't get squished.

 Below are some of the Green cupcakes that I baked

Here are some of the bright pink ones that I made

Pretty darn talented wouldn't you say and outright yummy looking too

And below is a cleaned up kitchen after the baking was finished

 I know that it doesn't look like much but the photo below

represents 7 hours of work and 18 dozen cupcakes

Now it's time for a nap. I will let you know how everything went after the event is finished. Hopefully I will get some nice photos too.  



They Arrived!!! They Arrived!!!

The brown truck showed up this afternoon with the usual one honk of the horn.
Out of the truck popped the female UPS, wearing the usual brown in color uniform, holding a small plastic envelope in hand.
With the delivery made, off she drove into the sunset leaving behind nothing less than another wish of Veronica's that has come true. And maybe just a wee little bit of a wish of mine too.
Because within the confines of that plastic envelope are tickets to the Jimmy Buffett concert being held at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Virginia Beach on 5/26 at 8PM. Not only did I get her center stage box seats but also VIP Club Passes and VIP Parking.
Once again I want to thank Ryan Conrad who is the Director of Premium Seats for Live Nation at the Amphitheater, for his assistance in making this whole thing happen. 757-3683017.
And so for a few brief hours, Veronica and I will be transported from our ordinary lives, through the portal of our minds and imagination.....to our own personal tropical island complete with small waves gracefully rolling onto the soft white sand, plenty of umbrella drinks and of course hammocks swaying to the sweet musical beat of that free spirit who is known as Jimmy Buffett.
It will definitely be one of those "Calgon take me away" moments.

Only A Week To Go Until The Relay For Life Starts

We have just a little over 7 days to go until the start of the American Cancer Society 2011 Relay For Life Outer Banks, NC begins.
I am still hoping to get just a few donations for this event. I know that times are tough out there but there are others that are facing the same financial issues plus they are battling medical issues surrounding this disease that seems to be everywhere we turn.
I am not asking for large donations. Just a couple of bucks here and a couple of bucks there.
These donations do not touch my hands. When you donate through the link below, all of your donations go directly to the American Cancer Society....so won't you please click on the link below and make a small donation. Every penny helps.
Don't force me to strip down to my birthday suit, paint my body bright pink, throw a bright green boa over my shoulders and run through Kill Devil Hills, NC wearing my 8 inch sparkly silver stilettos just to get a donation from you.
Believe me it is not a pretty sight and you would end up having nightmares for years to come.
A small donation would prevent all of those sleepless nights along with the accompanying cold night sweats.
Please?????????   DONATE TO THE 2011 RELAY FOR LIFE OUTER BANKS, NC
After clicking on this link, look in the left hand margin for the "Relay Teams" button. Click on that and it will take you to a list of teams that are participating. Look for the "Maxxinista For Life/T J Maxx OBX" listing. Click on that and you will see my name there and can make a donation through my link or anywhere else on this page.