Warning: Really long wordy post ahead. Mostly just for me.
You know there are those times where you have to laugh or else you'll cry. And then there are the times that you feel like something that is happening to you is straight out of a comedy skit. So you just laugh.
Yesterday was the S-Train's B-day party. ( Pictures possibly to follow. A friend with cool pirate decorations she's willing to lend and the internet make for great fun.) So we made a cake. And not just any cake. We borrowed the king of all pirate ship cake pans. I made the cake while the little man was at school, the better to surprise him with its amazing coolness.
I filled all the little nooks and crannies with Crisco. I dusted the pan with cocoa power like the internet sugested to keep the ship chocolate brown.
Cocoa powder goes everywhere. My white sink looked like it had freckles.
I cooked up a storm. It was going to be great.
But.
I forgot one important part of cake baking.
Cake batter rises.
Yeah. Whatever you're thinking, that's probably what it looked like.
Apparently it has been awhile since my last cake baking endeavor, and this little tid-bit of information had slipped my brain. I wasn't sure if this pan took one cake mix or two. But it didn't seem nearly full enough after one. So I added a second.
Right to the top.
Yep. The top.
A few minutes into the cake baking I smelled something burning. Could I have filled it a little too high and some was dripping? Oh well. A little wouldn't hurt. I heard the plopping and fizzing of cake batter cooking as it hit the bottom of the oven. Maybe I should check.
Oh. My.
The bottom of the pirate ship looked like a chocolate volcano. The top had a crust with a hole where chocolate cake lava was forcing its way out and over the edge of the pan. It was a giant bubbling mess.
I shoved a cookie sheet under the pan to catch the drips. It was quickly apparent that wasn't going to be nearly enough and I was just going to smell burning cake batter on the cookie sheet instead of the bottom of the oven. I scraped cooked cake batter off the bottom of the oven into the garbage. Finally, I grabbed a plate and started shoveling cake batter and cooked cake off the top (bottom) of the cake onto the plate.
The whole time I kept seeing an episode of I Love Lucy in my head. Lucy is shoveling cake batter and trying to fix a situation that is getting worse by the minute. She's looking back and forth waiting for Ricky to come in. Ethel is saying, "But Lucy, what are you going to do?" "That'll do it!" And the cake batter just keeps spewing.
A friend called just after this. The call ended with both of us laughing so hard it made both our days.
Sometimes an episode of I Love Lucy in your daily life is just what the doctor ordered to chase away the early winter blahs.
The girls wanted me to hide prizes in the resulting giant pile of chocolate and have the boys dig for treasure. I didn't have anything I thought would survive the experience.
Oh, and the cake turned out great.
P.S. Boys at slumber parties get up early. As in - it's 6:15 and we're ready for the next adventure! Who knew?
P.P.S. Newspaper makes a big mess. But it's a quick clean up. We were creative. My house looked like a tornado when they left. But an hour later you would have said, "What party?" I love crazy creativity that results in quick clean ups. It's the best.
And - just for me - here's a wrap up of the last month's list check off's to give me my happy "Yes I accomplished something" feeling. I will say there's nothing like house guests to get you to finish up projects.
Also - I like the once a month time frame. It feels like I did more when I lump it all together than it does when I spread it out.
Printed out pictures for the girls' room frames.
Finished at least one relative's Christmas gift. - and gave it to them.
Am one assignment turn-in and one test away from being done for the semester.
Had Thanksgiving company.
Got the router installed. Er - had a fabulously knowledgeable relative install the router while I looked on and tried to figure out how to do this next time.
Have the Christmas shopping about 75 percent done.
Tried out the technique and delivered all but one of the frozen cinnamon rolls ordered.
Finished most of moving the oldest to her new room.
Reorganized around the computer.
Caulked and redid the area that was messed up by the kitchen sink.
fixed holes in the sheet-rock in the kitchen and bathroom
Repainted the wall in the living room where the instruments have left black scuff marks.
Shredded Papers!!!
Repainted toe nails
Got Sue started with her viola teacher from the high school
Got a new camera (Mr. C got me a great Birthday present! Points!)
Rehung living room pictures
did some digital picture labeling
Scrubbed down the bathrooms. (Intensive grout cleaning sessions. Can I have a maid? Her only jobs will be dusting and grout and caulk cleaning. I'll handle the rest. Until I start working. Then I want more.)
took some books back that needed taking.
Exercise. Not steady, but still there.
Black Friday shopping - Some new clothes for the oldest!
Took family pictures with the sis.
Talked to all of my siblings and mom.
Ordered the S-Train's big present.
Had a great pirate Birthday party for the S-Train!!!
And - the biggest accomplishment of the month - PAINTED TRIM!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOUCHED UP CABINETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh. That's better.
(I spilled an entire quart of paint in the process. I managed to get walls 10 feet way from the spill zone in two separate rooms. Luckily little furniture was in the way and clean up went well. Everyone worked together to take care of the mess. Lou was especially helpful and will be glad if we never spill paint again. We had three hours before company came. Plenty of time.)
And a last few things that made me smile that I don't want to forget.
I learned I have at least one child who has checked for visitors in the bathroom that might be hiding under invisible cloaks by ninja kicking around the room before getting ready for a bath.
The S-Train got Star Wars bathtub decals for his birthday. Some of us don't want to take a bath because there are too many people in there now.
Funny quotes from Thanksgiving:
Heard from children in the back seat.
"Don't use my armpits to get your hands warm!"
"But mine are cold. Yours are better."
We went out to eat and were about to go home.
Mr. C., "When we get home we can have pie."
Sis, "or fudge."
Lou, "And. Not or. And."
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