I was unpleasantly awakened this morning by a cramp in my thigh. I hate those. You can walk out a cramp in your calf, but one in the thigh is more painful and harder to get rid of. As I stretched my leg out to try to "fix" it, my foot cramped and then right after, my calf. I've never, ever had a triple cramp. Not the most pleasant way to wake up, but a very effective alarm clock.
By the time I had hobbled out to the kitchen, I realized that I had a pounding headache as well, so I set the timer on the stove and decided to just get into the recliner and get myself relaxed for an hour. That's when Sheila decided 6 a.m. was a wonderful time to bark outside. So that meant getting up and feeding the dogs so I could lock them all in the house.
I went to empty the very full garbage bag, filled with remnants of cake-decorating stuff, and the bag started to break. Force Flex may hold a piano, but the drawstring part is crap. Fortunately, I was able to get all the garbage out to the big garbage can without spilling it all over the driveway.
It is time to continue the cake and I'm realizing that the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach. You know, I decorated cakes for ten years. I made and sold expensive, very beautiful wedding cakes. I was always nervous about transporting them, but never, ever have I reacted to making a cake like I have to this one. I simply don't understand it, except that it's important that it turn out well and I'm terrified that it won't.
* * *
Well, we weathered adding the top layer and it doesn't look bad. My nausea has subsided.
Now to start making roses and adding them to the cake.
Well, that turned out just fine. But when I made several of them and went to make leaves to put on them (what "makes" a cake for me), I discovered I had no green food coloring. I have red. I have lots of blue. But no green (not even any yellow to mix with the blue).
I'm making a trip to either Save Mart for coloring, or Cost Plus for silver and/or gold fabric leaves.
The frosting also seems to be "softening" again, though I've never ever had a problem with melting frosting using shortening, which is why I use it instead of butter. Let's just hope it's only my imagination. But the cake is now too tall to fit in the refrigerator.
* * *
Would you believe you can't buy food coloring in the supermarket any more? At least not at Save Mart. So I tried going to Cost Plus to get realistic looking leaves, or golden leaves and they had neither. The best I could get, at Save Mart, was "cake icing" in a tube, which I will try mixing with the butter cream and hope it works.
* * *
It does. At 11:30 a.m., I pronounce it finished
AND I talked with the woman who is taking it to the vets to see if she has a car where we can load the cake in flat, rather than lifting it up and over the edge and down into the trunk She does. So she is going to come and pick it up.
Assuming it goes into her car OK, it will be a surprise to see if it is actually up at the reception when I get there at 8 p.m. tonight.
* * *
Ack!!! I totally forgot to take the puppies to Petco! Damn. I called Ashley and she said it was oK--it's so hot they're closing early and the family that will probably adopt Scrappy can't come until next week anyway, so to just forget it. But I feel bad about it now.
* * *
The cake is gone and it made it to Melissa's car without falling apart. It is now out of my hands and I can go shower and get to Peach & Bob's anniversary party. Whew.
* * *
I will report on the anniversary party separately, but suffice to say I got to the wedding reception at 7:45 and the first thing I saw was flowers all over the cake. I knew immediately what had happened. Melissa said that it was so hot that it just started sinking. They put in her fridge but the ride and the move to the Vets made it worse, so the caterer helped them cover the cracks with flowers and you really can't tell that it wasn't designed that way.
The only thing I didn't notice until I went to put the Photo of the Day on this page is that all the roses I made are on the BACK side of this cake. They put it on the table backwards. All the time I spent making roses and the TWO trips out to find something to use for leaves and nobody ever saw that part!
Owell. Nobody really noticed and I guess it went over all right. I left as soon as the cake was cut because I have to get ready to leave around 6 a.m. tomorrow to drive the 4 hrs to Mendocino to scatter Michele's ashes.
HOWEVER, if you want feel good wedding receptions this was the place to be. I took mostly video, which I will put together after I get home from Mendocino because I just really want a stress-less sleep tonight. But the Vets was full. People from all aspects of Ellen and Shelly's life. I sat with Cindy (who is also their dentist) and Pat, with whom I've worked the prize table at Gay Pride day. Betty from PFLAG was there, as well as Linda, another member of PFLAG that I remembered from my days there. Jerry, the attorney whose daughter just married her partner a couple of days ago was there. Davis Community Network was well represented. And my friend Liz, who adopted one of the Rainbow puppies a long time ago was there with her daughter. She said she didn't know anybody, so I introduced her to Pat.
More than one person mentioned having been following the saga of the cake here on Funny the World!
They thanked everyone for coming and for being supportive and then asked everyone who has either gotten married or plans to get married to come and join them. They filled the front of the room, to great cheers and applause from the remainder of the room.
They danced the "first dance" (after their 34 year engagement) to a song sung by their daughter Laura and then later they were seranaded by Laura and her brother.
It was what it should have been--the celebration of the commitment of two people to each other, and the legal recognition of their union as a real "marriage."
I would like to have stayed longer, but I knew that I have to be out of the house at the crack of dawn tomorrow, that I have a long drive ahead of me, and that I had hardly any sleep last night, which is why I'm not even going to try to deal with photos or videos until I get back from Mendocino on Monday night.
As for the cake, the worst of my fears came to pass and the people who had to deal with it were so competent that I'm sure most folks didn't even realize it.
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