Baby rattles and meatballs...what a combination!

Let me first start off by saying that today was a great day...I actually felt good for the first time in what seems like FOREVER!

As my family and most of my friends already know, I was a klutz about a month or so ago. I hit my head while trying to sweep up the mess I made while baking holiday goodies for Mr. Pants' office mates. Most people hit their head, say "ow", and can function shortly afterward, but oh no...not me. I ended up blacking out for a hot second. I was acting so weird afterwards that Mr. Pants decided we should go to the ER. (I vividly remember wanting to wear "pretty" shoes to the ER, and throwing shoe after shoe out of the closet because they just weren't the right pair.)

Turns out I had a concussion! That concussion turned into consecutive doctor's visits, multiple MRIs, and weird (might I add painful!) nerve tests that made me feel like I was in some sort of science experiment. Why all this for a concussion, you ask? Well...now I have...drum roll please...unexplained arm and shoulder pain! So I'm back in physical therapy for the SECOND time in my life. Ever since my concussion, I've been more tired than usual. Simple things that I used to take for granted, like dressing and undressing, reading and writing, and everyday errands are just exhausting. My attention span is here one day and gone the next.

But let me digress. (I told you I had a short attention span!) Back to TODAY! I promised to tell you all about baby rattles and meatballs, didn't I?

Today the other editor in my office had a baby shower. She's due in April and having a GIRL! I used to make delicious treats (as Mr. Pants likes to call them) for my old co-workers all the time. But since I started my new job, I haven't had the opportunity to bake for my new co-workers. This was a perfect reason to bake something for the office. I get so excited about researching--umm, googling!? creative recipes.

So when I came across these baby rattle cupcakes on cake central, I knew they were a winner:

I made my own baby rattle cupcakes in the span of three days. On Friday I bought the lollipop sticks, ribbon, and Life Saver mints. On Sunday I was ready to assemble the handles! I won't say making them was super easy, because they definitely tested my patience, but they were easy enough. I most definitely perfected my bow tying skills by the end of it, though. I made a batch of royal icing and used it to "glue" the Life Saver to the stick. Instead of tying the ribbon directly onto the lollipop sticks, I tied them and then glued (using real glue!) them to the stick.

On Monday I baked a batch of French Vanilla cupcakes. Note: I do enjoy baking treats from scratch. However, I think that cake mix is perfectly acceptable for baking delicious cupcakes and cakes, especially if you want to spend most of your time decorating them! So I quickly made 15 oversized cupcakes using my favorite cake mix... Duncan Hines. Sorry, Betty Crocker, but you just don't cut it. (That might be another post for another day.)

I usually use the classic Wilton recipe to make icing, but I think that icing made with real butter instead of Crisco tastes better! My favorite icing recipe is Magnolia Bakery's buttercream vanilla--I'm not too sure how much different this is from other recipes, but it's delicious. So I whipped up a batch of that, iced the cupcakes, and topped them with white non-pareils for a little extra pizazz. (Usually people want to know how in the world I ice the cupcakes. I use a Wilton 1M decorating tip and the swirl technique.)

Today I took the finished cupcakes into work and I'm proud to say they were a huge hit!



And now about those meatballs: our cat, Beebs, is sick. We've been charged with the fun task of trying to give him not one, but TWO pills! Have you ever had to give pills to a cat? It's not fun! No one can ever accuse me of not loving our cat. We've tried everything from hiding pills in wet cat food "meatballs" to shoving peanut butter and pills down his throat...gag me now...