Road to becoming an RVT!

 Welcome back lovelies!

I hope you all are doing swimmingly (and yes I mean swimmingly lol!) This is the blog where I discuss my road to becoming an official RVT. When it really started picking up, how I achieved the schooling for it, my experiences, and where I am now. I hope you’re excited!

When I was a sophomore in highschool we had a college speaker visit my first period class. Up until then I had know idea what a vet tech really was. I knew there were “nurses” in the veterinary field to assist the doctors, but I didn’t know what all they do or that they are called vet techs. This speaker was for the International Business College in Indianapolis and she went over all the programs they had to offer. This was a technical college so it was more accelerated than a traditional 4 year college. Their biggest program they offer is the Vet Tech Institute where you learn everything to become an RVT. It really caught my eye when she was going over a brief description about the program. I knew I wanted to help animals and this was going to be the way to do it.

I did more research throughout highschool on different programs that offer the education and training of becoming a vet tech. I was stuck between Purdue and IBC. I liked Purdue because I would get that traditional college experience, but on the other hand, if I went to IBC then I could finish much sooner and not have to take all the gen ed classes that I would have to take at Purdue. I decided to go tour both schools my senior year and get a feel at which one I would be more comfortable at. When I toured IBC, I liked it, but it did not blow me away. It’s not your traditional college. It was just a small building with a few class rooms. One thing I loved though was that they keep real shelter dogs and cats so we can have hands on training, not just 24/7 text books. They didn’t have dorms like a normal college, but there was an apartment place across the street that they would rent to students as a dorm fee. At Purdue it was so big, nice, and full of energy. It was kind of overwhelming at just how big it was and all the requirements for their program. We toured the whole campus and by the end of it I was lost, but I did love seeing all the other students be together and so care free. 

I weighed my options for the next few weeks but I knew I couldn’t take too long or I would miss registration deadlines. After a hard consideration I decided to go with IBC. I figured with their program I would get all the same amount of schooling and be done by the time I was 19. I wouldn’t have to take really any gen ed classes that I already took in highschool, plus like I mentioned earlier, I get a ton of hands on work. To this day I do not regret my decision. I do at times wish I went to Perdue because I did miss the campus life, but with everything going on now I am happy I am not in school anymore. Another thing that pushed me more towards IBC is the fact I didn’t have to have SAT or ACT test scores. In my opinion, I saw that as one less stressful test I would have to take. 

Once I made my decision, we headed back to IBC to talk with financial and registration. That was a long and tedious process that I honestly don’t remember much of (I mainly just autopilotted my way through that process.) We signed some paperwork, got some loans, and I took their application test to see if I could get in. On that test I remember having to write a short essay as to why I wanted to be in the program. I wrote that what drove me to wanting to pursue this as a career was simply Reggie. Once he got hit by that car, it was like my whole perspective on dogs and their health changed. I did not like not knowing how I could help. They can not simply tell us what hurts and why, so I was determined to learn how I could figure it out and how I could help. 

I was so nervous for the application test. I thought it was going to be a test you schedule an appointment for and come back to take. That was not the case. Right when we visited to get started they had me take the test. The scariest part was that I had to wait like two weeks before I even knew if I got accepted. Longest two weeks ever! It was a relief once I was notified that I got in. I remember opening the letter and confetti saying “Congratulations!” fell out. I was so ready for this next chapter.

This program was 18 months of straight schooling...no breaks. I would be going Monday through Friday 8:00am-3:30pm. We got the occasional breaks like for holidays, but not week long breaks like we did in highschool. I was excited to be moving out, living in an apartment, and getting roommates. When we toured the school they told us it would be a one bedroom apartment and 2-3 people would stay there. When my letter arrived saying who I was rooming with, it told me I was going to be in a two bedroom apartment with 4 other girls! I don’t know about you but that is a lot of girls to stick together. My first day of college was going to begin in the beginning of July of 2018...that meant I only had one month of summer break after graduation. It was fun, I was still so eager to start that to me it felt like it didn’t come soon enough. Moving in was the stressful part. It all had to be done a day before school started and we had 5 people total trying to bring everything in. We eventually after a couple weeks got all settled in. It was time to start my path officially.

Now i’m not going to really go into detail about my roommates. We all did relatively good being stuck together for the majority of the 18 months. I’m still really good friends with 2 of 4. I did have a fall out with one towards the last couple months, and our 5th roommate switched a lot so I never got the chance to get close to them. We did have a 5th roommate who stayed for a few months and I still love her to this day. She did unfortunately have to move out in the middle of the program but always stayed a good friend to us and did finish the program. Overall I had a wonderful time with my roommates, although not all good, I don’t regret it. I will always cherish all of our wild (and I mean wild) experiences! (If either of you two are reading this, I want to say, “Hi and I love and miss you guys!”)

We had this thing called “kennel duty.” Kennel duty was where either before or after school once a week we would come in and take care of the dogs and cats that were staying at the school. That would consist of taking them on a walk, cleaning their kennels, fresh food and water, cleaning cat boxes, new blankets, and etc. We also had to come in one either Saturday or Sunday once every other week. It got laborious at some points, especially when we had more animals to do then people able to help. I had Tuesday morning kennel duty. Every Tuesday morning I would have to meet at the school at 6:00am to help with everything. The stressful part about morning kennel is that you have to be done by 8:00am because classes start. If you had an evening kennel then it didn’t start till 4ish and you had all night if it took that long. As much as I hated getting up at 5:00am every Tuesday, it was nice having to be done by a certain time. My roommates all had evening kennel so there were some nights they didn’t get back until 7 or 8 at night. As for weekend kennels, I only had to go every other Sunday morning. Weekend kennel was the same as weekday kennel. Weekend kennels also started later in the mornings since we didn’t have classes. I didn’t have to be there till 8:00am which was nice. Let me tell you, kennel was not fun when it would rain or snow. We would still have to walk the dogs in no matter what weather that way they could go potty. I was with the cats mainly. Every once in a while I would be a dog walker, but most kennels I was caring for the cats. I enjoyed the cats, there were more of them to do cleaning wise, but it went faster than the dog cleaning. 

Classes were a mixture of fun and stressful. I enjoyed all my teachers and miss them greatly. Since this was an accelerated program, our classes would last 8 weeks then we would start a new schedule. That means midterms the first 4 weeks and a final in the last 8 weeks. That was overwhelming, constantly finishing one large test to take another. With this program there were no breaks. Always had homework and always had a test to study for. We also had some classes we would only go to on certain days, but on those days the class lasted 3 hours. While sitting in the class it was relatively fun. The teachers always tried to make it a great time, easy learning, and hands on learning also. I was always taking notes during class. We would get a powerpoint packet of all our slides the teacher went over and I would basically highlight the whole thing. I also rewrote EVERYTHING. As homework for myself, I would go back through the notes and rewrite it all. If the teacher said something then it was written down. Yeah… I was that kid! It’s a tough program and everyone tells you that from the beginning. Missing one day of class is equivalent to a week. Plus if you missed any tests then you couldn’t make them up. If you knew you weren’t going to be there then you had to take it in advance. Also there was no collecting late homework because it always had to be on time. You can probably see why I went to such extremes to make sure I remembered everything and didn’t fail. I went through 30 pens and 25 highlighters within that whole 18 months. I always made sure to do my all the homework the night it was assigned. That way I could have whatever free time I could squeeze out of the busy schedule. This program took dedication. I would use every study tool in the book from flash cards, to quizlet, to rewriting, and etc.

Each 8 weeks brought something fun to the table. For every 8 weeks it would be called a “term.” Our first couple terms were getting used to the program and the rules of the school. We didn’t have as many hands on skills but mainly just working from books. Term 1 and Term 2 were mainly learning the basics like anatomy, normal values, breeds, dosage calculations, and etc. Once those terms were over we started to dive into more diverse categories. This is where we started taking lab classes and learning to read blood, urine, and parasites under a microscope. Lab was my favorite part of the whole program. I love running lab work in the clinics. We would also start learning about other species like reptiles, horses, birds, goats, cows, and so on. I enjoyed learning it, but my main focus was cats and dogs because I knew I wanted to work in a small animal clinic. A large animal clinic is where they would take care of farm animals (horses, cows, sheep, goats,…) overall I know some basics about other animals, but the information regarding dogs and cats stuck the most. Term 7 and Term 8 are the big hands on terms. In term 7, we would once a week go to a farm and practice blood draws and vaccinations on large animals. I had to give a horse an oral dewormer and that horse nearly lifted me off the ground! Great times! In term 8, that was our surgery term. I was TERRIFIED of surgery term because that is life or death right there. The role of a vet tech is basically everything a doctor can do EXCEPT prescribe medicine, diagnose, prognose, and perform surgery. A vet tech CAN anesthetize, assist in surgery, perform routine dental (cleaning teeth,) take vitals, and more. So being the anesthetist scared the living daylights out of me. I was going to be responsible for putting the animal to sleep, monitoring the vitals to make sure they are stable, then bringing them back up and awake. Surgery term ended up being really fun and not as scary as I thought. I actually ended up really enjoying it and doing it a lot once I was out on my own. I would have surgery once a week for the next 8 weeks, and I would have a different role each week. Sometimes I would be the anesthetist, sometimes the circulator, sometimes the primary assistant (the one who assists the doctor during the surgery,) and then the pre-op (which got everything ready for everyone else before the surgery.) That term was the term I studied the most for because I simply can’t go in there not knowing at all what I am supposed to do. I almost forgot to mention what we did on our surgeries! You remember how I said we used shelter dogs and cats? Well during surgery term we would make sure all of them are up to date on vaccines, at a healthy weight, and spayed/neutered before returning to the shelter for adoption. It was a win/win. The animals helped us with our education and we helped them get to healthy! 

Finally our last term was our externship. Now an externship is the exact same thing as an internship, but we aren’t going to school while working. We had to work at a clinic for two months as an intern and that counted as our grade. The clinic we chose to extern at would send in weekly reports on how we were doing and if we were meeting all the criteria. In return that would be our grade instead of getting paid. We also had to hit a certain amount of hours each week. We would need to work 30 hours a week at our externship clinic. While on externship we would stay at home, so that meant my roommates and I would have to separate. It was a bittersweet time. I did my externship at Binford Pet Wellness Clinic in Indy. I’m not going to go into too much detail there because it was not a very good experience for me. Good clinic, but not good with teaching new techs in the making. (disclaimer; this was in my opinion for my personal experience with them. (Disclaimer; this is just in my own personal experience. I don’t speak on the behalf of others. Thank you!) Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed seeing everything we learned in school actually happening in front of me. That was the best part of externship. Externship went all the way through to the end of December. However I was set to graduate in the middle of November. Basically we would walk across the stage, grab our “diplomas,” and have an overall normal graduation. After the actual graduation ceremony we still did our externships for around another month. We didn’t receive our actual diplomas until we successfully completed externship. I graduated with my associates in Veterinary Science in just 18 months at the age of 19! 

One thing I did almost forget to mention is, once you graduate that does not make you an automatic RVT. You must have the schooling in order to become one. Once you graduate you are eligible to take your national boards, the VTNE, and if you pass then you become a registered veterinary technician. As of right now that is what I am in the process of trying to complete. When I worked at my last clinic, I was technically considered a “Veterinary Assistant.” When you become an RVT you basically get a higher pay raise showing you’ve had schooling for the job. Anyone can become a veterinary assistant, but you must have the education to become a veterinary technician. To take you boards you have to sign up with the AAVSB and it costs around $350 to take the test. If you fail then you do not get a refund and it will cost that much again to retake it. The test is roughly 170 questions and is 3 hours long. 

It is always best to try and take the boards right when you graduate because everything is fresh in your mind. However for me, I did not do that. When I finished with college completely and graduated, that is when COVID first arose in the USA. Everything was changing and new protocols were being thrown from left and right. Events were getting canceled, places closing, and dates changed. That terrified me. My biggest fear was paying for this huge test and it being canceled or being moved and I end up missing it. I wanted to wait until everything either calmed down or they finally developed a new system with COVID protocols. That is where I am today basically. 

I briefly discussed in a previous blog about my experience at my first actual clinic job. I worked at a Banfield Pet Hospital for around 6 months. Within those 6 months it was a wonderful time. I loved utilizing my schooling tools and learning new tricks to previous tools. Oh and getting to work with puppies and kittens was pretty great too! I would get to see so many cute dogs and cats come in everyday. Some did not like coming to the vet so it made it a little difficult, but I understand, I wouldn’t like an unknown place either if I was in their paws...get it ;) While working at Banfield I got to get a lot of practice in assisting in surgeries and dentals. I loved the days I was scheduled for surgery. The day always went so much faster and smoother, plus after surgery term I learned to really enjoy it. On the days I was not on surgery I would take room appointments. Room appointments are basically when you bring your pet in for routine visits or if they are sick. I am the person who meets you and gathers all the history before the doctor comes in. If we collect any samples or run any tests on your animal then I was the one to do all that. I would do the lab work or x-rays and present the results to the doctor for diagnosis. Once diagnosed and the doctor prescribed medications, I would put the meds together and give them to you. It was a lot of work, but was totally worth it if it meant your pet was safe and getting better. There were cases where it would be heartbreaking seeing them in pain, but one thing I would have to remind myself is at least we are doing the steps to make them better. 

*Disclaimer; this section is touching on a sensitive topic, euthanasia. If you want to skip over it I completely understand, just skip to the next section. I want you to know I love you all and I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to. I wanted to stay real with you guys and show you the hard part of being a tech* The role of a vet tech isn’t always easy. The hardest cases are the ones where the pet is put down. Euthanasia is NEVER an easy job, and it’s a room no tech or doctor really wants to have to take. It’s hard to not cry for yourself when you're the nurse or doctor in that room. You feel sympathy for the owners and the pet. Most of the time a pet was presented for a euthanasia because they were terminally ill or in pain, and in that case all you can do is pray for the pet and family and know that they are not suffering anymore. The term “euthanasia” means “A good death.” It is a humane death if it means your pet is physically suffering.  I want you all to know something if you are in the position of trying to decide if it’s the time or not...I understand and I’m so terribly sorry. I know it is not a fun or easy decision and you might not know if it is the right time or not, but one thing my teachers and previous techs always taught me was that when it is time your pet will show you. Trust in them, love them, and cherish every moment. They will always be with you in your heart. 

When I left Banfield it was a very tough decision to make. I had loved the new family I had made there, and still do to this day. My original plan when I first started working there, after COVID had just hit, was to save enough money to pay for the test and a subscription to vet tech prep to help me study. In that last month I worked there I finally purchased the subscription to the studying tool. I’m going to be honest and say I didn’t really study a whole lot. That was a rough patch in my life and I was working 40+ hours a week. Whatever time I had to myself I used to relax and try to regroup with myself. While I was on a leave of absence I decided to finally take the leap and signed up to take my boards. At the time when I did that I had full intentions of stay at the clinic. I still didn’t study as much because that is when I started to make cupcakes. I signed up for the boards in August and I’m scheduled to take them in December. After coming up with the idea of starting Cupcakes & Canines, I started to focus on my studying so you guys would know that you pup is safe with a certified RVT! Plus it would be a nice fall back if I pick up a part time job at a clinic because then I will have a pay raise. I finally quit my job at the clinic to pursue my cupcake and dog care business full time. While doing that I have been studying for my boards every day for an hour a day till the day of my test. 

Now we are fully up to the present. To this day I am still studying to pass my boards, and let me tell you I AM NERVOUS!! I’ve been studying like crazy and I feel brain fried! I’m ready to take the boards but I’m not at the same time. I know all I can do is keep studying and trusting my knowledge. I always tell everyone I meet, “You got this!” Now I just have to keep repeating it to myself. 

That is my road to finally trying to be an RVT. I wish I had done it sooner right after college, but everything happens for a reason and I didn’t want to risk anything. I hope to further my future RVT stories as being an actual RVT. As for now, I just got to keep studying, preparing, and making cupcakes! I hope you all enjoyed the road with me. I love getting to tell a story and hopefully helping or inspiring others! I know it wasn’t the shortest but that is because it was a hectic 2-3 years of my life. That’s it for this blog! Continue having a wonderful day and remember…”You got this!”

Xoxo, Cupcakes & Canines

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Start of my baking journey

 Welcome back lovelies!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and are doing well! In today's blog I'm going to talk to you guys about my start and love for baking. This is a long one...you might want to get cozy and grab snacks. It goes back almost a decade of my life, so let’s dive in…

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I have been baking since I was 12. My love for it all started when little Madi discovered the infamous show, Cake Boss. I quickly fell in love with the show, the idea of baking, and decorating. If you did know what I was doing it was watching the show, and if you didn’t, it was still watching the show. Couldn’t get me away from the TV. I would watch and brainstorm my own flavors and creations. After getting hooked I started to dabble in baking of my own. I wanted to start with cupcakes because it seemed like a good logical and easy beginner lesson. Little did I know I would become addicted to just making cupcakes. I have done cakes, cookies, brownies, etc, but I always come back to cupcakes. I love the idea of it being personal, simply cute, pretty muffins, and oh so delicious! While watching the show I would pay very close attention to all the details. I would look at how they piped the frosting, the different techniques they would use, and all the tips and tricks. I studied the movement of how to pipe without ever piping for myself. When it came to making the baked goods for myself, I knew exactly how to pipe. It was like I had been doing it for years, and all I did was move my hands the exact same way that I saw Buddy and his crew do. I like to think of it as my calling ;) Now instead of watching baking shows, I was baking what I saw on the shows. I remember just like it was yesterday when I started baking. I would bake 3-4 batches of cupcakes a week, sometimes even on the same day, and I would completely take over the kitchen. Cleaning up was a chore but totally worth it if my cupcakes turned out good! 

In the beginning I would only bake with store bought cake mixes. Some of my recipes involved spicing up the cake mix, but the base was always cake mix. I wasn’t doing baking as a career yet just merely for fun as a hobby. Cake mix was easy to use, and I mainly was concerned about my frosting skills. Let’s be honest, the frosting is what brings the cupcake together and makes it look whole. Even from the beginning I have always made the frosting from scratch. I knew I needed a big batch of frosting to practice with and the store bought icing containers weren’t going to cut it. It was going to take too many of them and too much money. Come to find out after researching a bunch of buttercream recipes, that making your own frosting was cheaper and pretty easy. I would go to school, come home, bake, eat, sleep, and repeat.

Of course when you’re baking 3+ times a week you end up with a ton of cupcakes left over. My family and I would eat a good portion of them but we could not eat all of it at the rate I was baking. My mom is a nurse at our hospital in Anderson. She got the great idea to start taking the extras into work for her coworkers to enjoy as well. They loved getting treats brought into them at work and always said my cupcakes were so good, especially the frosting! Hint, hint ;) Shortly after my mom started taking them to work, she had coworkers start coming up to her and asking if I would make cupcakes for them or for their occasion. I was so ecstatic that people wanted me to make them cupcakes. I mean, I will take any excuse to be in the kitchen baking, don’t have to ask me twice! (This next tidbit stays between you and me...but I looked forward to making the cupcakes not only because they were fun, but because I got to eat the extras.) Get this, they even said they would pay me to make them cupcakes. 12 year old madi took that and ran with it. I wasn’t old enough to work a real job yet so I thought this would be perfect to earn some spending money. My mom and I had a system, she buys the ingredients and I would give her half of the earnings. I started making cupcakes for birthdays, baby showers, I even did a wedding once, and more! It was so much fun and I was living the entrepreneur life the best I could at my age. 

That first year of baking, all I asked for Christmas was for baking supplies. I wanted recipe books, food coloring, flavoring, piping tips, and everything else down the baking aisle of the craft store. I ended up getting some pretty cool cupcake books. The recipes had some that used cake mix and some that did not. I got the urge to finally start branching out to scratch recipes because I realized that real bakers don’t use cake mix. By this point I was really wanting to pursue this as a career once I was older. I loved it so much and was already racking up loyal customers. So I was going to do just that. That was the plan after I graduated, I was going to own my own bakery!

Throughout the years of baking, I did a lot of research about owning your own bakery. I realized owning your own business is tough. It seemed like you either own a bakery, get on TV, then make it big...or you don’t and your bakery doesn’t get enough business. I was honestly terrified of putting my all into this and it not working out in the end. I still am to this day. I decided that I was going to go to school to be a chef so if baking didn’t work out, then I have another job to fall back on. I loved cooking also, not as much as baking, but I would do anything to stay in the culinary field. As I grew up my direction of my “reliable fall back job” changed. I started developing and understanding a greater love for animals. I absolutely adore every type of animal (maybe not sharks...that’s a whole other phobia) and I wanted to be able to help and be a voice to them in any way I can. I see them as living things with feelings as well. I will dive deeper into me discovering the vet tech life in a future blog, but for now I am going to continue our scheduled program of how I am where I am now. Later down the line I switched my fall back job to being a RVT (registered veterinary technician.) Now the plan will be baking, go to school to become an RVT, have those credentials and a job to fall back on so if baking does not work out. Solid plan, foolproof. 

I did so many things with my baking throughout my younger years. As I stated above, I did a ton for birthdays, baby showers, gender reveals, a wedding, multiple fundraisers, and even a cupcake war at my mom’s work. You remember that stand mixer I absolutely love so much? I won it! My mom’s work held 3 years of this cupcake wars and the prize was a new Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. The first two years I did not win, but I brought it all home with the third year. I loved the cupcake wars so much! I got to miss school that day (don’t worry I never normally skipped and had good grades so my parents allowed it for this one event) and present my cupcakes amongst 20 other bakers and 4 judges. The cupcake that took me to the finish line was my s’mores cupcake. The very same one on the menu today (*insert shameless plug* Order some today!) I was 15 at the time I won the cupcake wars. I went up against some awesome bakers who have been baking for years. One of the best days of my life, hands down. I took that mixer home and just was in awe for days. Didn’t feel real you guys! Ok, ok I will calm back down. I also did multiple years of fundraisers at my mom’s work to help raise money for Relay For Life. If you don’t know what the organization is then here is their definition;

“Relay For Life is a community-based fundraising event for the American Cancer Society and many other Cancer related institutions, societies and associations”

My mom was a part of this organization because she had melanoma when I was really young. Every year my mom, grandma, and I participated in their yearly walks and programs they held to raise money and awareness. To raise money for the hospital aspect of the organization I would bake 100 cupcakes and sell them in front of the cafeteria during the afternoon time when employees would be heading to lunch. That way I could catch them when they were hungry! I would have others donate their baked goods to earn more money for the cause. We would usually sell out of everything, and if we didn’t, then we were pretty close. It was always a great feeling having done a successful fundraiser, especially for a cause that means so much to you. 

Pretty much throughout the age of 12-18 I did all the mentioned cupcake activities. By the time I was old enough to get a part time job I did, but I still did cupcakes on the side. The pace of baking slowed down as I grew older. School, graduation, college, and jobs were all the main priority. If I was working or had a ton of homework then sometimes I had to decline an order request. I hated doing that because I loved baking so much, but school always came first. As I grew older and started focusing on college I started to slip away from the thought of baking. I went to the thought of being an RVT as my full time job, and baking being a mere hobby on the side. Once it was time for college I was not able to bake as much. My college was an accelerated program so I had finals every 4 weeks for the next 18 months. 24/7 homework and school, no cupcakes. I got in that groove and didn’t even think about doing cupcakes after college. My degree was for veterinary science, so once I graduate, I will start a career in the veterinary field. I did that. I graduated with my associates, loved every aspect of the field, got a job at a vet clinic, and loved it. I worked at the vet clinic for around 6 months right after I graduated at the end of 2019. It was so much fun, and I got to work with dogs, puppies, cats, kittens, and more! Not going to lie, some days were difficult, but mainly if you had a difficult patient that was not wanting to be at the vet. 

Around my 6 month mark of working at the vet clinic, I went through a rough patch in my life. My doctor had me take a leave of absence from the clinic to have a mental and personal rest. I did not have a set length of the absence, just whenever I was cleared to go back. I isolated myself from everyone, friends and family. I mainly stayed at home and tried to focus on self care there by myself. As you could probably guess, that gets a little redundant and boring after the first week or so. One day bud (best friend stated in a previous blog) texted me and asked if I would make her favorite snickerdoodle cupcakes for her 20th birthday. I agreed because what else was I going to do, plus it’s bud...she is like my ride or die. When the day came to make the cupcakes it was like everything that I had been struggling with was non-existent. I caught myself in the middle of baking and realized that I was smiling. I had not genuinely smiled with joy in so long. It had all been fake leading up to it. It hit me, I strayed away from what I really wanted to do in this life. I wanted to bake. I had been so focused on getting into college, succeeding in college, and getting a job that I forgot the whole “plan” I had. I was going to have the vet life to fall back on if baking did not work out. I mean if baking does not last, then there will always be a vet clinic I can work at. I had to fix this.

While being on leave of absence, I baked so many cupcakes. I was baking my little heart out! I was back in my happy place, and nothing could bring me down. There was suddenly no more struggle or darkness, the clouds were parting for the sun to shine again. It was so nice. It had been a while since I saw the sun and I started to lose hope in seeing it again. 

I visited my dad one day and told him all that had been going on and how I had gotten back into baking. He was so happy to hear that. I started to mess around and joked about how I wish I could just be a baker, that’s all I have ever wanted to be and do. He said why not? I looked at him funny like,” Dad, be serious. I wouldn’t be able to make car payments or try to live on my own.” He told me maybe not, but right now is the best time if ever to try. He started throwing the facts out to me, I live rent free right now (no rush to move out at my young age), I only have a car payment to make each month (not too much to try and make), and I’m on their insurance till I am 26. I stared off and took all that in. It all made sense, if I was going to start from the bottom and work my way up now would be the time to try since I don’t have a lot of financial obligations. I made it a point to him that I definitely would want to incorporate my degree there somewhere because I love the veterinary side as well. That’s where the canines part comes into my business. Perfect for people who need a dog sitter while out of town, and knowing that if any emergency happens then I have the medical background knowledge. Their fur baby would be in safe hands! If the pup had any medical needs I would know how to help. I know how sometimes vet clinics send home injections and fluids to administer at home for a cheaper price, and some people don’t know where to start or how to even do that. That is where I could come in! I like to explain it as an “on call doggy nurse” there to help with any needs! If you work all day and don’t want them home alone for that long, then I can stop by for an hour to feed, walk, and play with them. This plan sounded amazing! I would get to bake and still work with dogs.

I knew that I wanted to give this business my full attention to really try and make it work. I wanted to take no chance at anything getting in the way. It was a tough decision, but a couple weeks later I resigned from my vet clinic job. It was a bittersweet moment, and I am so grateful for the opportunity they gave me as a fresh out of college adult. I really loved working there, but I didn’t want to wonder if it wouldn't work out because I didn’t have my full attention and time on this business. I miss everyone greatly and they became a second family to me. Everything ended on a good note. They were all very understanding and supportive (I used to talk their ear off about baking so they understood my love for it!) I still keep in touch and bring them cupcakes every once in a while. I know that if this ends up not working out, then I always have the vet clinic to fall back on. So that was it. Now it was time to focus on my dream business...Cupcakes & Canines!

We are pretty much up to the present time now. Once I started this as my full time focus, I have not stopped. My orders have been slowly picking up, I started this blog and social media, experimenting with new flavors and items, and more! You can not smack the smile off my face now (please don’t actually attempt to smack me.) I’m loving every aspect of developing it from the ground up, and hopefully owning an actual store front one day. I’ve advanced in my cupcake making skills as well throughout the years. I now make everything from scratch, so you know it has the nice old homemade flavor with love and care. I get even more rave about them since going homemade. Cake mix is great, but not after you have these!

This is what 12 year old Madi dreamt of, and I’m going to work my butt off to try and make it a success. I know there might be failure, but at least I’ll go down having the experience and knowing I gave it my absolute all! 

Oh and before I forget...I still am working towards becoming an RVT (future blog about that coming soon.) I loved my job and schooling too much to not continue on with it. Right now I am studying to take my national boards (VTNE) to become registered in December of 2020. It has definitely been tough studying 24/7 and keeping up with cupcakes orders/projects. I know it will all be worth it in the end. I also have no problem if somewhere down the line I have to pick up a part time job at a clinic to help...that’s why I wanted a fall back ;) 

Everything is looking up and I can hope that it continues. I love you all!! Without your love and support for this growing small business, I wouldn’t be able to achieve this dream. Thank you from my whole heart!! I hope you have all enjoyed the story of how I got started and where I am today. I apologize also for how long it was...and believe me this is the shortened version! I can't wait to tell you guys the schooling portion of my journey. Hope you all continue to have an amazing day! See you next time!

Xoxo, Cupcakes & Canines

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Welcome to Cupcakes & Canines!

 Welcome lovelies!

Welcome to the official Cupcakes & Canines blog!! I will be sharing my journey, creations, and pups throughout the way for you all to see. I am just a 20 year old girl trying to make and find her way in this big world, one cupcake and tail wag at a time!

Together we will start from the bottom and work our way up to becoming my dream business since I was 12 watching the Food Network. I'll be blogging about new recipe testing, process of making cupcakes, dog sitting stories, and more! I've got a lot of new ideas in store to share with all of you, and I would love to hear your responses!

At Cupcakes & Canines, I am a home baker and sell a variety of cupcakes for any special occasion. Everything is made from scratch and with care. We have cupcakes ranging from the classics, like vanilla, all the way to gourmet, like rocky road! We also do a variety of dog care for your fur babies. Anything from dog/house sitting, daily afternoon check in's, walks, and more! My name is Madison Hanshew, and I am a current graduate from the Vet Tech Institute working towards becoming a Registered Veterinary Technician. You can rest assured that they will be in safe hands! If you have any special request for cupcakes or dog care feel free to contact me, I am available Monday-Sunday. I hope to see you soon!

xoxo, Cupcakes & Canines 

Email: cupcakesncanines@gmail.com

Phone: (765) 606-0980

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New seasonal flavors for the holidays!

 Welcome back lovelies!!

I hope you all are doing great and staying safe! I have a very exciting blog for you today! This has been a work in progress now for a few weeks. I’ve recently been in the test kitchen, (which is where I test new potential cupcakes) and I am happy to announce that we have not one...but TWO new seasonal flavors being released!! *internally screaming*

Now a quick little disclaimer; in a previous blog I mentioned a new item being released soon. That is an additional item being released not associated with these two new cupcakes. So I’m really releasing THREE new cupcakes/items this month! How exciting?!?! Ok, that is all for this disclaimer. I just wanted to clear up that this is a separate new item then the one mentioned previously :)

Since the holidays are coming around I have been putting together a ton of new seasonal/holiday worthy cupcake ideas. We are introducing a new fall flavor, that I gave a sneak peak on our Instagram *cough cough, you should follow!,* and a new winter flavor!! It’s so exciting getting to be able to share these now! 

For our new fall flavor, I wanted to go with something that targeted a staple fall dessert...caramel apples! It took a lot of juggling around of how I wanted this cupcake to come together. I did not want it to be too sweet, too dense, to fall apart, or to not have enough flavor. After multiple ideas, I think I found the right combo. The caramel apple cupcake is a vanilla cake, filled with cooked apples in a homemade caramel sauce, a homemade caramel frosting ring, and finally topped with more of those caramelized apples (my mouth is watering!) I had all my testers tell me what they thought and if anything should be adjusted. Long story short, they all LOVED them and couldn’t come up with any adjustments. They informed me that it was just the perfect balance of sweetness and could taste the caramel and the apples. That was my exact goal! I originally tossed around with the idea of adding cinnamon (and just having cinnamon apple cupcakes,) the idea of adding cinnamon and caramel, adding a caramel center, drizzling caramel, and adding apples to the cake itself. All of those sounded great, but they all can lead to some complications. I find when I have cooked apples in the cake in the past they are either too dense or too mushy. I also knew the caramel frosting was going to be rich on its own so I wanted to avoid a tooth achingly sweet cupcake and excluded the caramel drizzle. For the caramel sauce as the filling, I was scared then there wouldn’t be enough apples and too much caramel. So that is why I decided to caramelize the apples in a homemade caramel sauce. It was a toss around idea. My testers (who I appreciate greatly and want to thank you if you are reading!,) were so great in helping perfect this cupcake for you all. I really trust their judgement and they give me honest reviews on new cupcakes I have never made before. They also help me come up with some of the ideas! I am all for hearing potential cupcake ideas, so if you have one let me know!! These caramel apple cupcakes are the perfect dessert to bring to a fall get together or for Thanksgiving dinner! 

I do have more potential fall cupcakes in my test kitchen that I plan to release in the future. I also have more spring, summer, and winter ones all lined up to try. I just knew for the holidays I had to at least release these two!

The new winter cupcake is targeted towards snow and a white Christmas. I knew I wanted to test this winter flavor first because we have other items on our menu now that are similar to the other winter potential flavors. This winter flavor takes a classic and flips to the end end of the spectrum. I introduce to you a chocolate cupcake! Ok, ok not the chocolate cupcake already on the menu but it’s cousin...white chocolate! I know white chocolate is not for everyone, but with Christmas coming up I wanted something to scream a snowy Christmas. The white chocolate cupcake is a vanilla cake, smooth white chocolate ganache in the center, white chocolate buttercream, and topped with sugar crystals to represent sparkling snow! The idea just makes me ready for Christmas. Just like the fall flavor, this would be perfect for a holiday party and Christmas dinners! Don’t worry if white chocolate is not for you, I have other winter/Christmas flavors that will be tested and released in the future. My goal is to keep things exciting with flavors and new products. Got to keep all of you on the edge of your seat ;) It did not take as much juggling around for this cupcake, because it’s mainly my chocolate cupcake but switching the chocolates. I knew I just wanted an all white, decadent, and pretty wintery dessert! The white chocolate ganache center is just this smooth chocolate sauce. The cupcake sort of absorbs it and makes it super moist and ooey gooey on the inside (ps. Sorry for using the word moist...I could not think of a better word to describe it.) I didn’t have one tester complain about it or have any recommendations of things to add or fix. Everyone I asked said it was the perfect balance and could taste the white chocolate in every bite. You also get a nice subtle crunch of the sugar crystals representing the sparkling snow. Overall it is a melt in your mouth goodness! 

I am SO happy that these cupcakes are finally out in the world and I don’t have to stay quiet about them anymore! They were so fun to make (and taste!) and I can not wait for all of you to be able to try it for yourself. They are a seasonal flavor so you want to make sure to order them while you can. I have so much in store for new flavors so make sure you stay tuned. If you have any flavor ideas as well leave a comment and I will see what I can do! 

I hope you guys enjoyed the big news and I’m excited to release to you guys the next big news! That’s going to be all for now, if you would like to place an order feel free to text, call, or email me! Trust me...you won’t regret it!

Xoxo, Cupcakes & Canines

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New item just in time for at home holiday baking!

 Welcome back lovelies!

As always I hope you all are having a great day and are staying safe! Today’s blog is the next big announcement I’ve been raving about. I’m really excited for this one because it gives you so many possibilities of yumminess. Are you ready?

Cupcakes & Canines...is...releasing...your very own...containers of frosting!!!! You guys can now order any flavor of frosting we offer that you love in a small (12 ounce) or large container(32 ounce)! We will be offering regular frosting flavors and gourmet frosting flavors to choose from. 

I have heard from numerous customers that you guys LOVE our frosting, and how you could just eat it plain. Now you can! These containers are great for if you bake any desserts like cupcakes, cakes, brownies, and more at home and want that great bakery style frosting. Forget the store bought containers of frosting and purchase bakery frosting for a much better tasting dessert! Great for after school snacks for the kiddos. Put some on graham crackers, cookies, fruit, and more! I wanted to release it to you guys especially for the holidays coming up. Now is a better time than ever for if you to spice up your at home baking for the holiday get togethers. If I’m going to be completely honest...it’s also really good to just eat off a spoon ;) 

This has been developing for a couple months now. I really wanted to make sure that it would last and taste just as good. The containers are good for up to a month in the refrigerator or up to 2-3 months in the freezer. Just make sure to let it thaw before using or it just might be a little difficult! For the regular containers the prices are $4 for a small and $8 for a large. The gourmet is $5 for a small and $10 for a large. Don’t worry, when you buy a large you’re getting even more than double the amount of the small. I wanted to make sure you guys get the best for your buck!

I hope you guys are as excited as I am for this new item. Like I said, I get told ALL the time how much you all love the frosting itself. Now you can have it in the comfort of your own home...and I won’t judge if you don’t share! Text, call or email to order some today! 

Xoxo, Cupcakes & Canines

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Birthday cupcakes, friendship, and upcoming new item

 Welcome back lovelies!

 I want to start off by giving a little disclaimer that I am not a good writer. My brain likes to jump around while I am writing so I tend to sometimes be all over the place. Hopefully you will be able to follow along with any of my blogs, but feel free to ask any question and I will do my best to clear anything up! We may now continue our regularly scheduled program ;)

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and a nice weekend! In Anderson it is up in the 70 degree weather so I am taking advantage of it and spending as much time as I can outside. For todays blog I'm going to be talking about my cupcake order I made yesterday for my best friend's brothers birthday (what a mouthful to read lol.) I also have some exciting news to mention of an upcoming new item soon to be released...

Yesterday I got the honor of making special birthday cupcakes for a close friend of mine. My best friend, who I will reference as "bud", has a younger brother who is turning 17! Now I've known bud since I was 13 and now we are 20, so that means I've known her little brother since he was 10, and let me tell you I for sure feel old! I've been making cupcakes for her family's birthdays since I met her and before I even decided to pursue this as a career. Her go to favorite is always my snickerdoodle cupcake! I remember one time her dad got GiGi's cupcakes for his birthday one year, and let me tell you I have not let him live it down since (her dad is really silly so we like to pick on him!) He apologized and hasn't made the same decision since. Their family says my cupcakes are the tastiest, softest, cheapest, and not as tooth achingly sweet. Now don't get me wrong GiGi's cupcakes are amazing gourmet style cupcakes that taste good too! They make normal sized cupcakes into like mini personal cakes, so you get a lot for your money. I recommend giving them a try if you love cupcakes, but for me it is definitely something I could not tolerate all the time. I can normally handle about half of one before it becomes too much for me to eat. My target with my cupcakes it to have simple yet classy regular and gourmet flavors that aren't too sweet so you can enjoy the whole thing! I try to have equal cupcake:icing ratio. I hear a lot from customers that they really enjoy that the most about my cupcakes. You can get equal frosting and cake all in the same bite. After the whole GiGi "incident," I have become their personal event baker! Nice title right!?!? 

Bud stopped by the other day to pick up my menu and price sheets to take back to school so her friends can see all that I offer. She informed me that she is going to have her brother pick a flavor that he would like to have for his birthday and have me make some cupcakes. I obviously told her "No I will not do that!"... Just kidding!! I got very excited and told her "Heck yes anything for you guys!" 

Later that night she texted me and told me that he is requesting the Neapolitan cupcake, but with a special request added on. I got excited because I'm always down for a new challenge and giving people their dream cupcake. Normally my Neapolitan cupcakes are a vanilla cake, chocolate and strawberry swirled buttercream, and finally topped off with glistening sugar crystals. He specially requested to have chocolate cake instead and swirl vanilla and strawberry buttercream. I mean yeah, I can do that! Bud was so nice and tipped me an extra $3 to help support her local small business :) 

She needed the cupcakes by a Friday for a later in the day pick up. I typically like to make the cupcakes a day before they are needed because I normally deliver them in the morning, but since she was picking them up at night, I made them the day of. I currently work and stay at my grandma's house to help her out, plus she enjoys helping me. I clean and sanitize everywhere in the kitchen, make sure I've got cleaned and gloved hands, hair is back and out of the way, utensils are all clean, and wearing a mask. I do deliver cupcakes but I also allow if you want to pick them up yourself from my "home office/kitchen." I deliver free to anywhere in Anderson, then if it is anywhere outside of that I add on a deliver fee for gas, and that varies on how far and where I am delivering. 

Yesterday was finally the day I got to make the birthday cupcakes and I always look forward to baking days...they bring me into my happy place. I've been baking since I was 12 and haven't stopped since. I always know it's a good day if I get to be in the kitchen baking. Everything everywhere else could be going wrong, but while I'm baking, none of that even matters. It's a nice break. I got up, did my cleaning and sanitizing of the kitchen and me, preheated my oven, and it was go time now! First thing I always do is start getting my cold ingredients out to get to room temperature (Ex: eggs, buttermilk/milk, butter, etc...) I want all of those to be ready for when I need them, especially the butter for making the buttercream smooth. I started making my famous chocolate cake recipe, which is so hard not to eat the batter because it smells so good, and everything went smoothly. I lined the cupcake pan, filled them, and off into the oven they went. I've always got a system and flow while I'm in the kitchen baking. I make the cake, do the dishes, dry those dishes, put them away, and then get out the next set of dished I'm going to need. I get it from my dad, we are "clean as you go" type of people. Once those come out of the oven I immediately get them out of the pan and onto a cooling rack to stop cooking. Off into the fridge they go to cool down while I get started on my buttercream! As I mentioned above, I get into the zone while baking. I basically go on "autopilot" and if I get interrupted then I get thrown off and forget what I was doing. Most of my family knows that and just let me be till I am done, but occasionally we have to have the interruptions. That is fine and all, I just have to remember where I left off. Now that it is time for the buttercream, I break out the big guns...the stand mixer! I love my stand mixer and would do anything to protect it...I mean it. It makes life so much easier. I sometimes use a hand mixer but it never amounts to my stand mixer. I toss in the in butter and let that cream for about 5 minutes till it is much lighter and fluffier in volume. Once that is achieved, I start adding my powder sugar in batches. Make sure it is added in batches or you will have a snow storm in your kitchen. Powder sugar is equivalent to glitter...it gets everywhere...and will stay with you. Also make sure you mix on low speed till most of the powder is mixed in then start whipping on high speed again. Normally once I've added about half the sugar I add in my desired flavorings. In this case, I needed half vanilla and half strawberry, so I waited till the end to add the flavors. I always add in a splash of heavy whipping cream to make it light, airy, and creamy. Just continue mixing on high till you get the achieved consistency and flavor. Once the buttercream was all made, I divided it into two batches. I flavored one batch with vanilla, and the other with fresh strawberries! I am not a fan of artificial flavoring, so you will never get that in my cupcakes. Only fresh! Next it was time to swirl the buttercream, I fill the piping bag on one side with one frosting and the other with the other flavor. I love they way swirled frosting looks! I grab the cupcakes out the fridge and make sure they are cooled down so the icing will not melt. I put them in their cupcake container before I pipe the buttercream so I don't have to worry about messing up the frosting trying to put them in their container. I start piping the icing on with a large star tip, giving them a nice two layer swirl. I absolutely love piping the best. Watching all the hard work and vision come together. To finish off these lovely cupcakes, I sprinkled on the sugar crystals. They add that extra "pizzazz" factor if you know what I mean! I was so happy at how these turned out and I couldn't wait for bud and her brother to enjoy them. Now that they are all piped and ready I put the container in the fridge till pick up. I tried to put a nice little note on the container saying, "Happy Birthday! (old fart) love, madi" Instead I accidentally wrote, "Happy Birthday Day! (old fart) love, madi" I didn't even realize it till I went to take them out to her. I thought it was too funny to fix, but I explained the confusion. Bud thought it was funny as well.

I sent her a picture of the final product and she loved them. I told her they taste lovely too ;) When it was time to take her out the cupcakes I explained the note and she was so excited to take them home to her brother. We didn't chat for very long because I had obligations back inside and she was already behind in getting home due to traffic. Overall it was another successful order and another happy customer! I classify that as a win. 

I plan on next week getting back into my "test kitchen" and testing potential new seasonal cupcake flavors. We already got one that is approved and waiting patiently till we test the other to release it. There is a sneak peak of the flavor on my Instagram and Google (@cupcakesncanines) if you want to try and guess the flavor. My testers absolutely loved the new flavor, so of course I'm going to have to bring it to you guys! I can't wait to see how the others go. I love test kitchen days! It's like experimenting in a science lab and it is a great feeling if it turns out.

Are you ready for me to mention about the new item??? If you've stayed this long then your a true fan/customer and I greatly appreciate it!!! Here is your reward; here, within the next couple weeks, we plan on releasing a much requested item. The one thing I hear the most from you guys is, "Your buttercream is amazing! I could eat it plain!" Well, you might just be getting your chance. Taking the best part of the cupcake home...

That's all I'm going to say for now, but we are so excited to be able to finally release this to all of you lovelies! It's been a work in progress for a couple months now, and it's been hard to keep it a secret.

That is all for today's blog! I hope you have enjoyed, was able to follow along, and look forward to more of the journey in the future. I love sharing the process with you all and growing together! I would love to hear any suggestions or comments you guys have. Feel free to reply, text, call, or email me Monday-Sunday 9:00am-9:00pm!

xoxo, Cupcakes & Canines

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Email: cupcakesncanines@gmail.com

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