RECIPE: Ding Dong Cake

It's sort of become a "tradition" to have Ding Dong cake at family functions the last year or so. A girl I used to work with made them a lot and would bring them to work for all of us. It's the most delicious cake I have ever eaten, and I usually hate cake. I finally decided to look up the recipe online and make one for myself. Best decision I ever made. It's my dad's favorite cake now! The first 2 pictures are from Thanksgiving. The quality is poor because I used a cell phone. The banner says "Happy Thanksgiving" and I downloaded it from here. (you can always save for next year!) I didn't get any pictures once it was cut into, but I have some from past birthday's and get together's. This particular cake, I got my icing a little to thick and once the chocolate hardened, it was difficult to cut into. But it still tasted yummy!

Ding Dong Cake (take from All Recipes)

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 1/4 tablespoons water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch springform pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and instant pudding. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, oil and water. Mix until well blended. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely on a wire rack before removing from pan.
4. Slice a 1 inch thick slice off of the top of the cake and set aside. Scoop out the cake for the center of the bottom part to within 1 inch of the sides. Discard or save for another use. To make the filling, whisk together the flour and milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Set aside to cool completely.
5. Once the flour and milk mixture has cooled, beat the 1/2 cup shortening, butter, sugar and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the milk mixture and continue to beat for 4 more minutes. Spoon into the center of the cake and replace the layer sliced from the top.
6. Combine the chocolate chips, 1/4 cup shortening, corn syrup and water in the top of a double boiler. Heat, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Pour warm glaze over the top of the cake and smooth over the sides. Refrigerate until serving.

ENJOY!

Linking up here: Handy Man, Crafty Woman , My Girlish Whims , DIY By Design

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Thankful: 6 Things

It seems appropriate to write up a post about the things that I'm grateful for. Considering it is Thanksgiving and all. Of course I could never put down every single thing that matters to me, but these are definitely the top few.

1. My husband. We have been through some crap over the last (almost) 6 years. But we have always loved each other and that made everything else alright. He works super hard at his 2 jobs to support our little family. He has always been super supportive of what I've wanted to do, although these last couple of months have pushed him. I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for him. So I am definitely thankful that he is in my life for good!

2. My family who is crazy and super embarrassing. But whose isn't, right? They have always been there for me, no matter what. I love them more than anything even tho there are times when I've wanted to kill them. I'm sure that feeling has been mutual though. :) I am also super thankful for my extended family, who can also be crazy and super embarrassing! But I wouldn't trade any of them for the world.

M's family. (mom, dad, sister. niece not pictured)

My family. (everyone, minus a few)

3. My friends. Especially my best friend, Christy. (she has a blog too, but doesn't post much. go encourage her!!) Her and I have really been through some stuff. Some amazing experiences (like falling in love!) and some not so great experiences (like falling out of love.) She lives in Kentucky and I miss her everyday. I can't wait until I can get back up there to visit! But I know that no matter how I screw up or how low I fall, she will always be there for me. And I for her. Secondly, all my old co-workers. I don't get to see them as often as I did when we all worked together, but I consider them some of my best friends. One of those you can say anything at anytime and they just get it. I miss you guys sooo much!!

4. My home. I feel super blessed to have my own home to live in. M and I went through some rough times when we still lived in Michigan. Moving back home has really worked out for us. It's all due to my dad of course since we both blew our credit to pieces. But we live in an amazing place. In the woods, with a pond and horses and it's so peaceful. I really need to learn to enjoy it more.

 5. My furbabies. They are my world and I would feel so lost without them. Zoey in particular. She has been with me for 6 years (longer than M!) and I refuse to think of the day when she will no longer be here. I notice every day that she's getting older. She's slowing down and sometimes she struggles with the simplest of things. I know she's only 6 but her legs have given her some problems in the past and it's evident that her joints are starting to act up. All of my critters see me at my worst, lowest moments and they still love me. Nothing has touched me more than to be crying my eyes out and Hershey comes to lick my face. They know and it is such a precious thing.

6. Having the opportunity to follow my dreams. This one is touchy though. In a recent post I made, I explained why I haven't gone farther in my quest to complete self-employment. I have alot of issues that I need to work on with myself in order to make my dreams come true. But my family supports me and even though I have pushed there limits here lately, they are still on board with me. I'm for sure going to work on this, I may never have another chance to do something so amazing.

I chose 6 because 5 just wasn't enough. :) I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I've spent the whole day crafting and cooking. (posts coming soon!) Back at it in the morning!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Upcoming Projects!

I mentioned in a previous post that I had purchased 3 new furniture pieces to refinish. As of this moment, I have not started any of them. (Shame!) But I'm planning to get started on the desk tomorrow. They are all pretty dirty in these pictures. We don't have a lot of room to store the pieces I work on, so I usually try to just incorporate them into our decor. That way they don't look so out of place or make the house look junky. We pretty much just unloaded these right inside the front door until I could figure out where to put them. We've been climbing around them for almost a week now..

I love this piece. 20$ for the set. It is pretty scratched up but that doesn't matter when you're painting! Also, the front leg on the left side is broken, so we will have to replace it. Probably all four legs so that they'll match. This would be perfect for our little nook of a dining room, so I may end up keeping this one.

I think this piece is my favorite and it was only $5! It's actually a sewing machine stand. The top lifts and folds down the back side to reveal the storage for your machine. But if you aren't a sewer then it would still make a super cute desk with a hidden little secret. I loved the gray color I used on my cedar chest so much, I'm thinking of doing this piece the same color.

Ignore the halloween decorations on top. I have no idea how I will do this little desk but for $5, I couldn't pass it up. I've seen some really cute creations of school desks, so maybe after some searching I'll find some inspiration.

Those green totes store all my halloween decorations. They are the reason I haven't started any of these projects yet. I've gathered all my decorations into a pile next to the boxes but haven't actually packed them up yet. The boxes are mostly blocking my hallway and because of that I can't get any of the furniture down the hall and into my craft room. Until I get my craft room set up for my sewing machine and all my supplies, I've been using it to do my furniture in. So tomorrow my main goal is get rid of the green totes!

This last picture just kind of shows my point of making things blend in. M got this chair from the church he works at. They were going to throw it in the trash! I'm planning on it being my first upholstering experiment. When I work up the guts to tackle it. The nightstand I am painting gray to use in our bedroom. Since we don't have a dining table at the moment, I used the space to make a sort of "sitting area". It stores the two pieces without it looking like storage. I think. Hopefully. :)

The picture of Roxy is just for cuteness. Maybe I'll share her story one day. She's the latest (and last) of our fur babies.

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Cedar Chest Project

I've had this chest sitting in my craft room for months. I couldn't decide how I wanted to re do it. The top was cracked half way down the middle, so I knew I would have to paint it instead of just restaining. Because of this, I used it as a stand to paint multiple other items, so the before ended up looking something like this.

You can see the huge crack that I wood filled and filled and filled. M rigged up the inside with some extra support so it isn't pulling apart any time soon! I used Rustoleum Spray Paint in Winter's Gray and a bright White. I had every intention of selling this piece but after I was finished I talked myself into keeping it. It was the perfect size to fit at the end of our bed. In these after pictures, ignore the mess of a bed behind it. Today was laundry day and my bed stayed covered with clothes the whole time. Actually it still is..

I can't decide if I should distress it or not. I still haven't put a protective coat on it, so I keep a blanket over it to keep the dogs from scratching it up. What do you think? Distress or no?


LINKING UP @ The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Three Boys, DIY by Design, Primitive & Proper, Miss Mustard Seed, Designer Garden

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FAIL: fantabulous friday!

So, yeah. I forgot to update on Friday. Well, I didn't forget. Mostly I just didn't put forth the effort. Anywho, this is just a quick little (pictureless!) post to say that it's coming.

I am actually quite proud of myself for this past week. I finished my cedar chest project. I completely re-arranged the living room. I re-hung all the art in the living room. I got some of the laundry done. I straightened up the bedroom. (not cleaned, just straightened.) I purchased 3 new furniture pieces for upcoming projects. I spent some time with my husband. I spent some time with my family.

I've taken lots of pictures which I haven't transferred onto the computer yet. I'm hoping to make a post tomorrow with my cedar chest. I've also been wanting to do a House Tour. You may have noticed I added a button/page but it has no content yet. Since I changed our living room around, I figured I should just start there.  My plan is to make a video tour and have some pictures. I've never made a video tour before though so we'll see how that goes.

I feel like I did better this week, but I could have done more. It's a step in the right direction though. Hope you all had a great weekend! See you tomorrow :)

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