Birthday Cake!

As I mentioned previously, it was Matt's 32nd Birthday on the 15th.  For his day, I decided to make a cake for him - a golf themed cake!  I know that we're not supposed to chronicle our 'woe's' when making something, but this cake certainly had some flaws!!  Of course I didn't start even BAKING the cake until 7:30 pm the night before...after we put the baby to bed...not exactly last minute or anything.  The 1st thing that happened was when I was trying to get the cakes out of the pans..they stuck and they ripped!  Ugh!!  So I was immediately having to try and patch the cake with butter cream, because of course I didn't have any more than one cake mix!  (And yes, I've been using boxed cake for my cakes!  Maybe that's the flaw in itself!)

The next problem that I ran into was that my fondant did NOT want to lay smooth on my cake...thus all the wrinkles...and I had it out PLENTY big...so I don't understand why on earth I couldn't get it to lay smooth.  And then of course the weight of the fondant really weighed down my miserable butter-cream'd cakes underneath...making it this sort of round dome instead of looking like a cake!

The last problem was that I thought I had a tip for grass, but I didn't.  I was SORELY disappointed about that one.  I did some make-shift starish grass...although it was not what I wanted.  

Oh, and to top them all off, I didn't get any good pictures of the final product!  We took pictures, but didn't have the memory card in the camera!!!  UGH!  

Matt was very excited about the golf bag...which turned out good.  Here it is:

Here it is with the candles lit:

Close...too close

Dear Michael (go white!) and Ashley,

I just wanted you to know that you put me through some major anxiety this week with the weigh in.  I'm a fan of both of you, a big fan...and your mediocre performance at the challenge and the weigh in scared me.  I realize that much of the episode this week centered once again around the Yellow team, with Sunshine acting like her usual baby/bratty self, and I can see the distraction, however, you need to put the nose to the grindstone and get the numbers!!

I admire the fact that neither one of you fell to the temptation of the eating challenge.  I understand that taquito, Ashley, they always look so good and then are so disappointing.  No worries though, your one little bite was probably only 40 calories.  If only you could have SEEN Koli in that room.  He was hysterical...talking about all the food he was eating...and yes, he ate a LOT...and definitely earned the only vote that this weeks elimination.  But I commend the both of you to sticking to your diets.  Well done.

Your performance at the challenge was dismal...I would love for either one of you to get a 1 pound advantage!  But I was happy to see Darius get it - since he's also one of my favorites.  I felt bad for O'neil falling off his tower - that guy had a rough week.  But you guys got lucky - he had to come in last...consider that a gift.

The weigh in...ugh...that weigh in...what happened guys?!!  5 pounds for Michael and 4 for Ashley?!!  Oh my lanta...you guys got SOOO lucky that Sunshine and Victoria had 1 pound losses.  I know, I know...all of Sunshine's 'drama' was unnecessary...I think we all knew EXACTLY who Koli would vote off...even though I didn't think it was fair.  I would have much rather seen Victoria stay than Sunshine.  I was just MOSTLY happy that it didn't come down to either of you.  Phew!

So buck up guys!  Good luck next week - I'm rooting for you!!

Yours truly,
Angie

P.S.  Were you as thrilled as I was with Koli's 10 pound loss - after eating 4000 calories that one day?!!  Amazing!!
P.S.S.   Don't worry, you're still in my top 4:  Michael, Koli, Darius & Ashley!!

Black out

1st things 1st, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweetie pie hubby.  We are in the twilight 2 weeks of where you are officially 2 years older than me!  But for today, you can be 29 again...just for today. :)

The Biggest Loser was a bit of a roller coaster for me this week.  I wonder if I can remember it all...seems like it started out with a reward challenge - something to do with quarters, and holding them on a tray.  Whoever held their tray up the longest won. I loved that Sam's whole objective was not being the 1st one to drop, and he was immediately the 2nd!  Ha ha!  I didn't realize this at the time, but the whole point of this challenge was that someone would trade all the quarters for $10 or something, so if you put on 100 quarters you'd win $1000 - I think that adds up.  Anyways, I don't mean to throw her under the bus or anything (she's Matt's #1), but I didn't see why Sunshine was getting so EMOTIONAL about keeping up the tray.  I mean c'mon...she was crying and moaning and SWEATING...I was over it.  BTW, Michael (Go White!) won!!  Hooray!

Actually, it seemed like a lot of the episode was centered around Sunshine, now that I think of it.  The next challenge was out in the rain and it was for 2 cars.  The contestants had to run up a hill to get to pull a key from a balloon, run back to both of the cars and try it out.  Black girl won the 1st car, and O'neil won the 2nd car, which he said was for Sunshine, and she was very excited....good for her.

But then came the last chance work out...and I think that Sunshine has gotten a little smug and full of herself...she was saying things in the interview like "c'mon Jillian...work me out"...I dunno...something about her is rubbing me the wrong way...and then it was as though all of that smugness caught up with her at the weigh in, cause she only lost like 3 pounds and was at the bottom of the list for a very long time, and was looking PATHETIC the whole entire time.  IN FACT, she had to roll her eyes and mutter under her breath when Sam got up to weigh in and was saying 'please' to letting him lose more than 3 lbs...with such a huge weigh-in last week...I thought the 'please' was appropriate.  To everyone's "shock" he lost a big ol goose egg - yep 0...and we all know that he works out HARD.  Anyways, Black girl and Sam ended up being in the bottom two - even though Sunshine practically laid down on the ground and had a tantrum...ugh.  Not impressed.

On a side note, I found myself really hoping that Victoria (Blue girl) was going to do well.  I felt really bad for her that noone clapped for her 5 pound loss this week.  That was great!  And for her "week 3" really of being on the ranch, that was huge!  I don't understand why she wasn't more excited about her number!  And I am also thrilled that Michael had a great weigh-in - 9 lbs!  That's awesome.  AND that he ran 5 miles - wow - I can't run 5 miles...and he still weighs 370 lbs!  Amazing.

The end result was Black girl getting voted off - which I didn't mind...I was happy to see Sam stick around for another week over the Black girl.  I hope that Sunshine can stop being such a big baby and I'll start liking her better...sorry Matt...

My top 4:  Michael (Go white!), Darius, Koli, Ashley!

Oh, and a status report on myself...I was down a 1/2 lb this week, putting me in at 131.5.  I need to try a little harder and get rid of that last pound and a half...that would be a great birthday present to myself in a couple of weeks!!

Boo-yah Red!!

Well, the episode of biggest loser was WAY better this week.  This week the constants that got the free ride last week were no longer safe...which meant that Red girl wasn't safe!  YES.  The episode started with a challenge - the 1st person to lose 2% of their weight the fastest would get immunity for the week, but they could only weight in once, and if they didn't make it they were out of the challenge.  With that, there was a lot of game play on when one would weigh in...especially from stupid Red girl.

They also had a 'reward challenge' in the pool, with a consequence, that whoever came in last got a 1 pound disadvantage on the next weigh in.  It was nice to see Sunshine win the challenge (which was some sort of vacation), but even MORE exciting to see as the other contestants finished that they were helping out O'neil and Michael (go white!).  Which negatively effected Red girl, and she came in LAST!  WOO HOO!

She certainly didn't go down without a fight.  They showed the house cameras of her getting up at 3am to go work out - that's some commitment.  Can't say I could go to bed and actually get up at 3 am to go exercise...Ugh!  Sam and Koli were crazy too - the clock said their workout was at 11:30 or midnight or something...insane.  Victoria (new girl Blue team) did push the button, but fell short, and by the 3rd morning, Sam pressed the button and lost 10 POUNDS....how shocking that he pulled that off...insane.  Needless to say, he definitely beat his 2% and won immunity for the week.

The weigh-in was a little bit of a nail-biter though.  I was sad to see that Darius (Orange) was lingering near the bottom for nearly all of the weigh-in.  Luckily he was bailed out by Black girl and Red girl...woot!  I don't really like Black girl either, but once Red fell under the yellow, it was OBVIOUS who was going home...YES!!!!!!  Boo-yah!

Top 4:  Michael (Go white!), Darius, Koli, Ashley

Should I keep doing this?

I feel as though I've stalled on my weight-loss, and am wondering if I should even keep this up anymore.  My weigh in this morning was right at 132...same as last week, although I really didn't try too hard to lose any weight this past week, but it's nice too that I didn't gain anything.  For one, it was Easter, and dieting on holidays is hard when there are such yummy things to eat.  For 2, my right knee was VERY sore this week, I'm not sure what the problem was but it hurt just walking up and down the stairs, so I got NO exercise in.  And for 3, I'm tired of salad.  Which, seems like is a necessity for me to eat since I can fill up most of my plate with salad and not think that I'm going to starve to death with my puny little dinner.  AND I'm getting a little tired of balsamic dressing.

I know...somebody call a waaammuullanncee...

And to just feel sorry for myself even more, the weather has been nasty, so no fun to go outside and walk, and it's been so blasted windy that we don't feel like we can even grill something wonderful like my sister's delicious sounding Rosemary chicken breast on a green salad....

The thing is, I don't even want to go back on JC...I'm tired of their food too.  And I tried finding some good options at the grocery store the other day, but everything I picked up was 350+ calories per meal, and that jsut seemed like too much for me to lose weight...and I'm tired of frozen box foods too.  

I need to do better.  I WANT those 2 pounds gone...I'm want to see 130!  I need an attitude adjustment!

Here's to a better week.  My knee is feeling better, hopefully the weather will improve, but even if it doesn't I can still get my bunzies down on that treadmill in the basement.  And I think it's time to cruise the Lean Cusine website for some good dinner ideas!

I'm not foolin...

So I'm a day late for the April Fool's reference...but I couldn't resist...

The diet update is this:  I've been off of JC for 2 weeks now, the last time I posted, I believe I had gained a pound - 132.5.  Last week I weighed, and was sitting pretty at 131.5, but with my parents visit I did loads of cheating - aka no portion control - so that put me at 132 this week. With everything that I ate and drank (and boy, do I mean drink!) I am happy with the 132.  I'm really hoping that I can get back to a negative by next Wednesday, and stay on track.  I'm obsessed with getting to 130, but also a little tired of dieting...

You know...it's not supposed to be that way.  Every single diet talks about making a "lifestyle" change and changing your lifestyle for the better.  Learning to eat more healthy.  Doing your body good.  But, isn't that why we call them DIETS?  And how come we get tired of 'dieting'?  I know why, cause there's so many good things to eat.  Hello KFC!  Yummy MSG...I love it.  There's a reason we call it all comfort food, cause it's yummy and comforting!  And I like to eat LOTS of it.  My mom has always said, "I like to chew, and I like how it tastes".  Meee tooo.

Anyways...I'm not going to fall off the wagon.  I believe I understand appropriate portions - it's just making the decision to follow them, which I know I need to if I want to shed lbs.  I wish I was one of those people who can eat a ton of food and never gain a pound.  I like quality AND QUANTITY!

BTW,  I watched about 30 minutes of the Biggest Loser and I'm throughly DISGUSTED that stupid Red girl got back on the show!!  I HATE THAT!!   It's not fair!!  I suppose that the stupid producers see that she's such a 'villain' that it makes for good TV, but I can't BELIEVE that they manufactured a challenge to let her back on.  ROAR!  AND she has immunity this week...hello throwing the weigh-in!  Wanna bet??  I haven't finished the episode yet, but I think it sucks that someone ELSE is going to have to go home, and not her.

Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Class 3 & 4

I have officially completed the Wilton Fondant and Gumpaste course.  I didn't take any pictures at the 3rd Fondant and Gum Paste class, but it was a very fun class.  We learned how to make Carnations and Fantasy flowers...and I believe something else, but I don't remember what.

Last night was the last class of the course.  We were going to make our grand finally cake - and I chose a Fantasy flower cake.  We also learned how to make a fondant box, which was cute, some borders, and learned to do inlays...all very cute and fun.  

Along with this class I decided to make my own fondant - a marshmallow fondant, which in the end was fine, but it was MISERABLE to make...it kept tearing and was super hard to work...my hands were very tired.  I used it to cover my cake this week:

So obviously it isn't perfect.  The problem with the marshmallow fondant is that it stretched a LOT when i went to cover the cake...so got VERY thin.  When we went to cut into it last night it was so thin that it was hard to separate the fondant from the buttercream.  

Anyways, here's my cake decorated:

I LOVE the pearl border and I love how the scarf looks...I think it turned out really well.  And by the time I was ready to decorate at the class, it took me about 20 minutes to finish up.  Granted, I had already rolled all of my pearls for the border, built my flowers...all I really had to do was the scarf, which took me a couple of tries, but I was patting myself on the back...I thought it turned out great.

HOWEVER Lindsay, the teacher, showed us some of her cakes and let me tell you, hers were AMAZING.  SOOOO cute.  She made herself an Elephant cake for her own birthday, which was ADORABLE.  I just wish I could post her pictures on here!

I've decided to take a break, and not take Course 2 - it's buttercream flowers, of which I think I can figure out by myself.  Although I am considering taking the next fondant course in May!