Piped

This past week I have not gotten to bed before midnight. Which is not normal for me, at all. Since I was a child and my mother sent me to bed at 7 (up until I was 12), I have always craved being in bed by 10, or earlier if possible. Fall is my favorite season because when the clocks change, it gets darker earlier, and I feel better about slipping into bed at 9.. sometimes 8:45.

But no, this week I was up late every single night, and I still feel drained. Some of it may have been my obsession with finding the perfect vanilla cupcake. I really am obsessed! A couple of weeks ago, I stacked my vanilla and chocolate cupcakes up next to those from Sprinkles and Kara's, and had Brad do a taste test. He preferred my chocolate (as did I), but he liked Kara's vanilla the best, and mine came in 2nd. It was nice to know I wasn't last, but I still wanted to be the best. So I tried out another recipe that seemed promising and substituted a couple of things to make it my own. The result was a TURRABLE crumbly mess, which reminded me of a Vanilla Moon disaster sawdust cupcake I tasted last year. I knew my substitutions didn't have much to do with it, the recipe was a mess from the start. I'm learning more about the science of baking and the importance of ratios, and lets just say this recipe was very unscientific.

I wasn't too upset with the taste of the cupcake because I'm trying not to eat so much anyway, so I set about to decorating. I've been having fun piping and tried out a flowery design, similar to the one on the chocolate cake. They came out pretty cute, WAY cuter in person. I still need a new camera.

Tonight I modified a bit of the vanilla recipe I had used during the taste test, and they came out pretty good. Though, I've learned I usually can't tell how they taste until the following day. I think hanging out in the kitchen with the smells does something to my taste buds. I had a lot of fun piping these ones.. and again they look super cute in person.



I should probably teach myself to pipe something other than flowers! Oh, leaves. I have those down :)

In other no sleep/non related news, our kitty Fiona had a terrible week. It began Wednesday night when she skipped dinner and cuddled with me and Brad on the couch after we had dinner- normally she is getting into trouble, rummaging in the sink, or tormenting a bug at that time in the evening. As she curled up next to us, she was breathing heavy and sniffing the air, but nothing was there. She seemed a little tired but fine the following morning, however, according to Brad, she threw up. By the evening we got more worried as we realized she still hadn't eaten and was acting lethargic. We took her temperature and it was on the high side of normal. I called the emergency vet and they recommended we run blood tests. $400 later, we learned she had an extremely high white blood cell count, about 3x the 'high normal', and was very dehydrated. All signs pointed to infection, so they pumped her with liquids under her skin to hydrate her and bring down her rising fever, and sent me home with antibiotics (clavamox). By the next day, she didn't seem to be improving. I googled her symptoms and read very similar stories that pointed toward FIP, a fatal disease, and I cried for our baby girl (at work, no less). I came home to our anorexic kitty and force fed her gerber baby food (chicken). She was not happy. She kept hiding in dark corners or falling asleep in random places, like the laundry basket, which was filled with books and toiletries, not nice warm fluffy clothes. I ran out and bought every kind of wet food I could find, even kitten formula, to see if she would eat any. I got home and Brad and I laid out a huge kitty buffet for her, and the only thing she would eat out of the intial 6 options was Friskies Chicken in Gravy Fine Cuts, but she mostly just licked the gravy. We feed her expensive cat food normally, and after all that, of course she takes after her father and prefers the cheap stuff. We were so happy to see her eat, even a little. I set her up with food in our room and showed her where it was, and at 1:30am when I heard the sounds of licking, I couldn't have been happier when I saw her at her food plate munching on some Friskies. I messaged Brad and he rejoiced, I might have heard his excitement all the way from La Honda! She is doing much better today, eating real chicken breast along with her Friskies, and back to a few of her old tricks, like licking jeepers, chasing the laser, and talking to us. We are so relieved she is on the mend! She is actually on my lap right now demanding pets (by gently biting my finger and swinging it over her head with her paw). And now she is on my shoulder like a parrot kneading and biting my pony tail.

Anyway, I know it isn't baking related but I wanted to post this for any hypochondriacs like me, who might someday in the future google their kitty's symptoms and come across this blog. I wish your kitty well!!!!!!!!!

Okay I'm officially a dweeb. Good night!