Saturday is a special day…it's the day we get tired for Sunday!

Some days are busier than others.  It's hard when you know you'll have a lot on your plate to try and shove just one more thing in the mix.  Having a good life is all about finding a good balance.

When I was a young mom, the immediate needs of the children always seemed to take precedence…diapers can't wait to be changed, empty tummies need to be filled and comfort, love and teaching had to be done.  Darned thing is – nothing has changed but the diaper part!  But now that they know how to fend for themselves, I have time to include some of the fun things into my schedule.  For example, with the boys still out at their all-night Halo party, we had time for…

 
The Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals!  What else could have gotten me out of bed and out the door dressed and ready for the day at 9am BUT the WWN!!!  This is a little known secret about my husband – he loves wiener dogs!  So here I am, taking care of my sweetie's needs.  I mean, how cute is this?

 
The races were EXTREME!!!  Okay, extremely lucky if the little short-legged critters even made it down the track.  Megan was up for the outing.

 
At least the races were easy to find:)

 
Was this a double-duty event?  I wonder how much you can get for a wiener dog these days…

So, the day just started here.  Next we had to go get our car washed (free coupon) which was wonderful because I don't think we've washed it in MONTHS!  Just doing our part in saving water.  Then Scott dropped us off at Smart and Final so I could find some nut cup-type containers (I saw someone on another blog use those for baking cups and thought…ah ha!) while he went and got dinner for our "found" pets:  2 snakes, a lizard and a scorpion…they are so much cleaner than furry pets and no accidents on the floor, no cuddling involved.  Back to my day.

When I got home, I had to get busy with some preparations for a baptism that I found out about Friday night to happen Saturday evening.  We usually have refreshments which I can assign out, but there wasn't much time to make calls.  Fortunately, I found 3 ladies to help.  But I have been blog-hopping and catching the "cupcake bug" and I've been wanting to make something pretty. 

Being practical, I have at least a dozen cake mixes that I need to use before I jump into making all cakes by scratch…for their yumminess factor, of course.  But I didn't think that the frosting in the tub will pipe out well, so I opted to make the cupcakes from a mix and frosting from scratch.  Did you know that you can get about 72 mini cupcakes out of one box mix?  Make the frosting?  Now I remember why I started using the tubs.  Truth is, I'm going to need to work on my chocolate butter cream.  It was a little too stiff and I got tired squeezing that frosting bag!  I think it needed a little more milk.  But it was sure yummy!

 
 
Since the frosting was too stiff, it didn't peak nicely, but the raspberry  added a nice bit of flavor and provided an imperfection distraction.

After I got the mini cupcakes finished, I put them in the frig and Megan and I were off to a 3 year-old's birthday party.  Carter is such a cutie!

 
 
 
We are so excited that Kimberly is going to have another wee one soon…I can't wait to see Carter's little sister!  I would have loved to linger, but time to head back home to finish work on the refreshments.

I had hoped to take a picture of the spread of food, but there was just enough time to plate it before it was time to eat it.  It was yummy, gratefully received and well needed.  I discovered that blending mayo and mustard for a spread would minimize the space needed for two dishes and it was delicious besides.  Clean up was a breeze, but by the time I got home it was late and I was too tired to do anything but put the food away.  Lucky for me, Megan had cleaned up all my frosting and prepping mess…I was very grateful! 

I took the pictures of the cupcakes today after church.  There in lies my afterthought.  Since I neglected the opportunity to photograph all those dozens of mini cuppies before most of them got eaten, I took the chance to snap them before it was time for Sunday leftovers…dessert included!  It's always nice to compare your beginning efforts to those that come after some practice.  I am going to have to find someway to share my baking experiments.  Either that or we're all going explode!