Between a dog and a hard place : E Week Distractions

This theme week had a lot of distractions......

First of all I made Mt. Dew cupcakes......for those of you who don't know I LOVE Mt. Dew, it's the breakfast of champions!

There was even Mt. Dew buttercream frosting....one of the girls at work had to ask if the icing had food coloring in it or not......for the record, YES!

If you love lemony, lime, sugar amazingness, here's the recipe!

Mountain Dew Cupcakes

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup Mountain Dew
1/4 cup of lemon and lime juice (juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime)
zest from 1 lemon and 2 limes (separate into 2 piles, one for buttercream)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Beat butter on medium for 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar and lemon, lime zest. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, Scrape sides of bowl in between additions
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to mixer bowl. Turn on low for 5 seconds.
5. Add the Mountain Dew, lemon/lime juice, and lemon extract . Mix to combine.
5. Scoop into cupcake papers about two-thirds full.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Mountain Dew Buttercream

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
4-5 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Mountain Dew
Juices from half of 1 lemon and half of 1 lime.
Lemon and lime zest (rest of zest from cupcake recipe. Or zest from half of 1 lemon and 1 whole lime)
1 teaspoon lemon extract
neon green food coloring (yellow and blue if you dont have green)

1. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment
2. Beat butter at medium-high speed until creamy
3. Add half of the sugar, turn mixer on low for 5 seconds.
4. Add the Mountain Dew, zest, and lemon extract . Beat until combined.
5. Add food coloring to the desired color.
6. Gradually add remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

Last Thrusday it was yard work day. The guys building our fence cleared out a lot of branches and since the dump isn't free....we wanted to burn it.....problem....no fire pit.....solution: stack old bricks and pavers in whatever shape I can and burn some of this stuff!

Turned out to be a very nice evening eating pizza and drinking beer around the fire!

Also the holes for the fence on both sides of the yard are mostly dug out!

Evin was pretty good firewood stacker.

Disclaimer: According to dad you should not stack firewood against your house.....invites termites and other buggys to live there.....soon worker bee Evin will be moving it all back.

Project #2: Tiling Nicole's bathroom downstairs.....shout out to whoever carpeted it, "WHY WOULD YOU COVER UP THIS AWESOME CARPET!" shout out to whoever carpeted it before that, "WHY WOULD YOU CARPET A BATHROOM!!!!"

Nicole had to think long and hard about getting rid of this carpet, but in the end......

The carpet lost.

Evin did some work on the hammer.

I passed on some knowledge handed down from Mitch Gray, to Phil Schmidt, to me, and now the torch will live on in Nicole.....she even proved she know how to take the proper remodeling pictures.