fudge cupcakes w/ Italian buttercream & bubble sugar, Anne, Paula, Inez

Inez and I had washed our dowel rods for lady locks, which then had to dry for 24 hours, and when we hit the kitchen Saturday morning (9/23), my honey had used them to leave me a note before he left for golfing:  

isn't he the sweetest??

Other than a quick trip to the Lake House to drop off a computer tower for recycling, our day was spent making fudge cupcakes,  

Italian buttercream frosting 

adding the hot sugar syrup to the meringue base

filling the piping bag

 and bubble sugar:  

Our beautiful finished product:

voila

We had a couple of visitors to partake of the cupcakes:  

Anne

Paula

Inez

Although the buttercream seemed to take a long time, we both had time to relax and read before Inez put together a yummy chicken & cheese casserole for dinner:  

Is this woman a trouper or what???  She PAYS to fly here….works like a dog making desserts, and then also makes a yummy dinner???  

Once again through it all, my furry kitties were out of the fray:

We all left by 6:30 for another performance of TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE.  If possible, this performance was even more heart wrenching than what I saw 2 weeks ago…many, many people in the audience were crying at the end, and once again, there was a standing ovation!  We got home around 11:30 and stayed up talking for a bit before bed.  One of the things I've been missing is a picture of me and Inez, so Michael quickly snapped one: