Ace of Cakes

Tuesday night my mom called and asked me if I could meet her and my sister in Mul*shoe the next morning. I said "Sure. What's up?" Then she said, "D*rla called and she and La*rie are going to see some guy named Duff." I said, "DUFF from ACE OF CAKES?!?!?!?" Mom said, "I don't know, maybe." I couldn't believe it. I love Duff and Ace of Cakes. I also watch Cake Boss, but they get on my nerves with all the shouting and Duff is always just laughing and having a good time. I did a quick check on the Internet and sure enough Duff Goldman was in Mul*shoe Texas. I called my sister L*vonna first to see if she could go with me. She couldn't. Then I called my friend Gail to see if she could go. Again, no deal. Next I called H*ster. I knew it would be difficult as she keeps two little girls and then with her boys and us it would be a full car, but thought we could work it out. H*ster was as excited as me and said she would love to come. So the plans were made that we would leave about 9:00 the next morning as they were doing the cake presentation at 12:00. Of course we were running a little late the next morning ( I know you faithful readers are shocked about that.) We finally got on the road at 9:45. Off for a grand adventure. The two little girls H*ster keeps were so cute. It was their first road trip and they kept asking, "Are we out of town yet?" About half way there a KVII car whizzed by us like we were parked. I told KD, "I bet he's going to Mul*shoe to film the presentation." KD said, " Should I try to keep up with him?" I said, "Sure." since we were running late. We never did catch him, but sure made good time. Right as we were pulling into town mom called on my cell phone to say they were there. We met up on Main Street and walked around the corner to where the new Police Station was and noticed people milling about setting up. We walked over and asked where the presentation was going to take place and they directed us across the street. Before we crossed over we were all just standing alongside the building in a foot wide strip of shade. We stood there for about ten minutes and then decided to go ahead and move over to the Police Station so we could be up front. Thank goodness we had taken some umbrellas to try to block the sun. The temperature was 101 degrees and it was almost high noon. We had been standing there about thirty minutes when I kept hearing mom, who was standing just a step or two behind me saying, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep bumping you." Then I heard her say, " I need to move my leg."  A few minutes later mom said, "I think I need to go sit down. I think I might pass out." So I asked D*, "Do you want to take mom over to the shade or do you want me to go with her?" D* said she would go so I could stay and take pictures. A few minutes later my sister D*rla kept looking back in the direction mom and D* had gone and said, "I can see D*, but I can't see mom." She said that a couple more times and then said, "I see a bunch of people scurry around. Mom must be on the ground."  Or course almost at this very moment the presentation started.  I tried to send KD over to see what was going on, but he didn't understand that something was wrong with mom, so finally I thought, "Forget it. Go see what is going on." I started making my way through the crowd and met up with KD and told him mom was on the ground. We got over to the other side of the street and saw mom and I could tell things were not good. D* had already told someone to call the ambulance. The paramedics arrived and came and started checking mom out and said they really wanted to take her to the hospital. Mom didn't want to go, but finally D* convinced her it was better to be safe than sorry. So they loaded her up on the gurney and D* followed in her car and left all the kids behind with me and KD. We immediately started trying to round everyone up to go to the hospital when D* texted H*ster and said, " We want our piece of cake. Bring it to the hospital." By this time the presentation was over and they were just about to serve cake. (Not the Ace of Cakes cake, just some old sheet cake they got at a bakery or United.) They didn't even cut the cake Duff made for the police dept. We got all the kids, got in line and got all our pieces of cake. We walked around back over by where we had parked as it was in full shade and sat on the sidewalk and ate our pieces of cake. We loaded all the kids up and headed to the hospital. La*rie, D*rla and La*rie's girls stayed behind so they could get their picture made with Duff, but I was too freaked out and hot and was ready to go so we did. Mom stayed at the hospital for about an hour and then they told her to go home and rest. We never really knew what happened if she got to hot, or if her blood pressure acted up, or if it was her leg or any combination of the three. I found out later she didn't have her insurance card with her so that is why the hospital just sent her on. We then all went to McDonalds to eat a bite and let the kids play. It turned out to be a fun day after all. Here are my photos that I took before the ambulance came and took mom away.

I heard someone say "They're coming." So I stepped around to the side of the building and took this photo. I found out later this is the RV they are traveling around in and it is equipped with a kitchen so they can cook the cakes.

Next to come was this motorcycle. There were a couple of vans following the caravan, but I didn't take their picture.

Who's driving the RV you ask. Just look in the window, why it's Geof. 

Who was on the bike you ask? Why that's Duff of course.

Time to introduce Duff. It was so cute. At one point, Duff said, "okay everyone, put down your cameras for a minute. I want to try something. I always see this on t.v. and I want to see if it really works." Then he started to sing, "The stars at night are big and bright." And of course the crowd joined right in with the * clap*clap*clap*clap* Deep in the heart of Texas." Then Duff said, "It worked! I can't believe that really works." They said it was his first time to visit Texas so I guess he doesn't know how proud we Texans really are.

At this point, Duff was talking about riding a stubborn mule name Christian and pointed off to the side where the mule was standing. Later on Duff gave Christian a piece of cake. I saw that on the t.v. clip as we were already gone to the hospital.

As you can see there weren't a whole lot of people there, maybe 200-300.

Finally they brought out the cake. I was surprised it was not more elaborate and then I remember "this is Muleshoe." The cake was a replica of a mule trainers hat with a Muleshoe police badge on the side.

The police dept. was making some kind of presentation, but this was right at the same time as the crisis with mom and I wasn't really paying attention. Just snapping pictures and then back to focusing on mom.

I love this photo. Duff looks so genuinely interested. If you can't see the look on Duff's face click on the photo to enlarge it.

One last show of the cake and it was time to line up for a piece of cake and photos with Duff.

But here is what had our attention instead.

Here are the links to the two t.v. stations that were present and making reports. If you watch carefully on the KCBD video from Lubbock you can see me in the crowd. Another five seconds brush with fame, about like my brush with Steve Martin when he was in the area, but that's another story. It was fun though.

KVII in Amarillo report here.  KCBD in Lubbock report here.