PS from Kat:  Mom told me a story from the other day when she was folding boxes… she saw a little girl (maybe 6 yrs?) in line and while her parents were talking, she circled one of the tables, smoothing the tablecloth, sniffing the flowers, and touching the tops of the chairs.  Once she’d finished her inspection, she clasped her hands together and announced “I LOVE it!”  It made Mom’s day!

Day 203/365 – I love Kathleen! (aka Warren*!)

Whew! I found this never-before-published photo of Kathleen, from the Sock Flop and thought it was too cute to NOT work in here on “Amanda Loves!” (not to mention that Kathleen is pretty swell, in general.)

Kathleen is a friend of Muddy’s thanks to the wonderful Lea and now a friend of mine. She is a photographer, like Lea and I are, brought me my bike the day it came to live with me. She even let me do laundry in the basement of the house she and Lea share with a coupla friends. And loves Lea a lot, which I like. And is smart and likes my wicked sense of humor. Yay!

ps. Many thanks to cupcake-science specialists Angela and Liz for sending this to me!

I loved the Muddy’s craft social!

Dig it: The Muddy’s gang apparently doesn’t get enough of one another during the work week. We tend to like to find ways to spend time together, doing group activities outside of work when we can. Such was the case when Wejay asked if we would like to do a craft social, specifically to do some sewing. Lots of us were very interested! Eventually, it was decided that we would all work on making aprons (makes sense, eh? Most of us wear aprons on a daily basis at work, and very many of us wear aprons at home as well!)

Not all of the crafty folks that day had machines of their own. So those who did, brought theirs for others to use at the social. Sweet deal! I didn’t even have any fabric to use, and people were gracious enough to donate fabric to the cause (my cause…) Not all of the crafty folks that day had much, if any, sewing experience/knowledge. Those who did, shared their knowledge and patiently tutored some of us in basic pattern making, cutting, and sewing techniques. I felt like I was saying “Wejaaaaay!” every couple of minutes It was an awesome way to spend a Sunday afternoon with some awesome folks.

Some of us ended up staying for HOURS, working on our aprons. I’m still working on mine, and will post a photo of it as soon as it’s finished.

(today’s photo is of Jessica, one of our bakers, working on getting her fabric cut out.)

One of my employees is in the ICU with a brain tumor.  She is a 22 year old student with a sunny personality, incredible intelligence, and a bright future.

A week ago I was stressing about how we can make more baked goods, satisfy the demand, and work out the fall shift schedule.  Those things are important, but they aren’t life altering or earth shattering.  Honestly, they’re probably not worth the frustration and tears I’ve spent on them.  I try to remind myself that “there’s no such thing as a cupcake emergency” daily, but people’s reactions when told we’re booked or we’ve sold out make my heart pound and honestly, I tend to act like I’m out performing organ transplants or some other vitally important job. It’s probably taken my family and friends a stunning amount of restraint to not smack me with a Priority Bat.

Maybe it’s my status as eldest child or simply a Type A temperament, but I like to fix things and I want everyone to be happy.  If there’s a problem, there’s a solution… or else. I take it personally if I can’t solve a problem, especially for someone I consider ‘in my care’.

I don’t know what the future holds for my employee, but I know she will face challenges in the very near future that I cannot even comprehend.  I can’t fix this for her, can’t fight this battle for her, and will have to deal with that.  I can learn a lesson: some things are important and worth tears and frustration.  Some things aren’t.  I will continue to pray for her and be there in any way she needs me.  I will also try to appreciate that if running out of cake is my biggest challenge at the moment, I lead a charmed life indeed.

Please say a prayer for this sweet girl.  She IS important.

I loved these kids coming in dressed in formal wear!

The randomness of Saturday nights at Muddy’s: people buying baked goods, wearing tuxes and formal dresses. Gotta love it!

The theme: Muddy’s loves Memphis!
The deadline: midnight September 30
The prize: 3 tees, 2 dozen cupcakes, 1 pie, and mad bragging rights
The rules:
- all designs become the property of Muddy’s Bake Shop, LLC and by submitting a design you’re giving us permission to use it, duh!
- submissions must be your own creation ’cause plagiarism just aint’ cool.
- there’s no limit to the number of designs you can submit.  If you have ten great ideas, submit ten great designs!
- email your submissions to eat(at)muddysbakeshop(dot)com  We will accept the following formats: vectorized image, PDF, Photoshop, jpeg.
- let us know which color shirt you’d like the design printed on (if you don’t have a preference, let us know that too)- do NOT make a background color in the image.
- we welcome submissions from all customers regardless of age or artistic inclination, however if you are under 18 please let us know as you’ll need a guardian’s permission.

If you need help designing, check out you tube for tutorial videos (like this one!) and happy designing!

Hints that may help you win:
-overly cutesy fonts make people go “ew”
-we’re not just cupcakes
-we love Memphis!

And here is a post Cathe did about printable vintage decals.  Aren’t these just the best ever?  Anyhoo, thought y’all might be interested!