While I thought I was on top of the tasks at home, I soon realized I had a lot more to do than I had anticipated. From finishing the cake to cleaning the house more thoroughly (things just do not stay clean with a two year old) to finding the candles and table cloth, I only had a few hours to get everything done.
First task to be tackled of course is finishing the cake. German Chocolate Cake is a three layer cake with coconut pecan frosting between the layers and on top and chocolate frosting on the sides (at least that’s how I make it). The three layers of cake were done and cooled as was the coconut pecan icing. I only had to make the chocolate frosting and assemble the cake on my crystal cake stand (the kind with the dome). I made my favorite dark chocolate icing and set out frosting the cake layer by layer and finally around the sides. Frosting cakes always take a little longer than I think it will mostly because of my tendency towards perfection, but once the frosting was all on the cake I had to call it good.
The next task is cleaning the house which involves vacuuming with a really ineffective mini-vacuum, cleaning the bathroom, loading and running the dishwasher, washing the rest of the dishes (pans, knives, and plastics) by hand, and organize our son’s room.
Finally, I wanted to find a way to rearrange some of our lighting features in a way that was more useful. My sisters and I had recently put a few art pieces on the wall in the dining area, what better way to showcase not only the art pieces but also the birthday cake that was a top our round pub table. To add to the overall warm feel created by the tall paper lamp, I put a red table cloth on the pub table which really created the feeling of sitting in a quite warm cafe somewhere in Europe.
At last the tasks were done and my husband family had arrived to help celebrate my husband’s birthday. It was a great day!