Deer Park Farms: More Preparations

The day before a Papen Party is always a bit tense...I usually forget to eat, I ALWAYS burn or at least ruin one of the recipes, and I'm usually running around like a chicken with my head cut off while trying to prepare as well as take care of all the other day-to-day stuff that still needs to get done. There ALWAYS comes a point when I'm just plain ol' DONE. For me, that moment arrived at the exact moment I was just beginning to have a meltdown because my bloodshot eyeball cupcakes weren't working out quite as I had hoped they would. Jeffrey literally was standing over me saying, "Less is more, Melissa, less is more." When...

*ting-a-ling...ting-a-ling*

Oh! A text from my cousin Sarah - she's always super encouraging and is one of my biggest fans, this will pick me up!!!

"Finished. OMG," it read.

I stared at the text as the attached image appeared.....perfectly identifiable BLOODSHOT EYE cupcakes. Caught between wanting to cry and being incredibly impressed and proud of her, I simply looked at my brother Jake who had come to visit and swore. Then I politely responded,

"They're awesome. Mine look like a**"

I tried to upload the photo that she text messaged me, but couldn't figure out how to do it...she also made some adorable little spider cookies. They're so cool, Sarah!!!! I eventually figured out how to make them look halfway like hers...I think the problem is that the lifesavers are the wrong color! :-)

While Ellie spent most of the day with Nana Lorena playing in the living room, I, as I'm sure you guessed, spent most of the day cooking and baking in the kitchen. I did manage to sneak out for an hour or so to get my eyebrows waxed and tinted...and OH MY GODDDDDDD!!!!! I just this second realized that I didn't leave Emily a tip. We were chatting away, and I just signed and handed the receipt over. Shit. What am I supposed to do? Oh man, that is soooooo incredibly embarrassing. Ok, I'll go see if I can't find her on Facebook and send her a note saying I'll fix it...that will at least alleviate some of my guilt, though I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep. Crap. That's mortifying!!!! UGH.

ANYWAY, after that, I headed over to the middle school to pick up my sous chef -- Teacher Kelley's daughter Annelyse. She came for a couple hours after school to help decorate cupcakes. She's such an awesome girl...she's pretty, smart, mature, and funny. I loved having her around, though I'm not so sure she'll ever want to come back...I was completely disorganized...in fact, I kept getting so distracted that I had to throwout one particular dessert recipe FOUR times...the fifth time finally worked...yeah, I know: I should have given up after burning the damn custard a second time, but I persevered. Indeed, Irish Cream Three-Ways will be served tomorrow evening. Everyone had better LOVE THEM!

Annelyse making the marshmallow skulls for the chocolate cupcakes

Jake arrived at about 6 pm to hang out, visit, and stay the night. He's always so much fun to have around. He and Jeffrey had me laughing so hard, and it was nice to just enjoy each others' company. He loves to play with Ellie, and she just adores him!

Reading her book upside down!

The evening wound down slowly, with Jeffrey helping me out setting up the table for the bar, hanging last minute decorations, and sealing all the desserts...I didn't get around to photographing everything I made today, but here are a few:

Heating frosting until it's runny and then dipping the cakes into it (rather than "spreading") gives a clean, smooth finish

These will be tombstones

Coffin Brownies

Raspberry Crumble Bars

So there we have it. One more day down. I'm pretty darn positive that there will be no blog postings tomorrow. Though I may see if I can't post some photos of the decor earlier in the day. I need to photograph everything anyway! For now, I'm off to sleep...or, at least, to TRY to sleep........I can't believe I didn't tip Emily!!!!!

RANDOM PHOTOS OF THE DAY