Crazy Mama

And now, I shall go to sleep. For the next 14 hours, I hope.

Garrett's preschool promotion was wonderful...I will blog alllllll about it when I am fully awake.

In other news, I stayed up until 4:30 A.M. last night to get all the cakes / cookies finished, then substitute taught for the last day of kindergarten at my old school. "Tired" is an understatement. But that is okay, because I'M DONE...

Labels: cakes

Three more down, five to go, Lord help me.

The cake I made at cake class last night.

Graduation Cap cookies

Cake for Garrett's snack day at preschool...it's the last day and I feel compelled to be SUPERMOM.

And yes. Still five more cakes to go. Plus SEASON FINALE NIGHT, which will keep all our VCR's busy, AND Garrett's preschool promotion (he'll be in the four year old class next year).

If you don't hear from me within three days, send help.

Labels: cakes

Two down, eight to go!

The Elmo cake! He is made from rice krispy treats and covered in icing. My kids LOOOOOVE him.

This is a cake for the teachers at my old school. Over a dozen of them are leaving this year, for various reasons, so they have formed a lunch club, of which I am proud to be a charter member (even though I left last year): The F.R.O.G.s...Fired, Retired, or Otherwise Gone. Heehee!

Labels: cakes

I'm blaming it on Pregnancy Brain

Laura's birthday party was Sunday, at 4:00. Before that, though, we had to get to church, where we were also staying for a luncheon.

I stayed up Saturday night until 1:00 a.m. finishing cleaning the house and getting the cake decorated. I went to bed patting myself on the back for being READY for a party for once in my life, instead of scrambling at the last minute.

When I had finished decorating the cake (Laura had requested a "Dora under a rainbow" cake), I had to go through my usual routine of hiding it from my cake-destroying toddlers, so I stuck it in the oven to 'hide' until party time. Do you already know where this is going?

I woke up early Sunday morning to put in my casserole that I was taking to church, and I hit preheat on the oven. I had not had any coffee, yet, friends.

About ten minutes later, I gasped and realized exactly what I had done:

Oh, yes. I did.

Melted the icing, roasted the marshmallow clouds, and up close, the Dora candle looked eerily similar to that creepy Edvard Munch painting:

I, of course, got the cake from the oven and immediately burst into tears. Laura and Garrett peered at the ruins. Garrett said, "It's okay mom! It's a GOOD Dora cake!", and Laura patted my leg and said, in her most sympathetic voice, "Oh, mommy. We'll keep care of you. Don't cry." Which just made me cry harder.

I ordered the children to go wake up their Daddy RIGHT NOW, and when he stumbled groggily into the kitchen and helpfully said, "You turned the OVEN on???" And then he laughed.

I put in an emergency call to my good friend Andrea, who was coming to the party, and asked her to pick up a new Dora candle. Then we went to church, had lunch, and I came home to re-bake, make new icing, and re-decorate a new cake. So much for not having to scramble around on party day.

Anyway, everything turned out fine, and it made a good story to entertain the party guests. I'm nothing if I'm not entertaining. Here is Dora - Version Two:

And now, in twenty years, Laura will be talking to her therapist and discover that her problems really seemed to start back when her crazy mother destroyed her third birthday cake.

Ah, a job well done. I've got this motherhood thing IN THE BAG, do I not?

Labels: cakes, Mommy Brain

While I am busy ignoring the children...

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS MONTH:

1. Almost Midnight, by Michael Cuneo. It's the story of Darrell Mease, who murdered three people in the 1980's, and was then pardoned from death row after the Pope's visit to St. Louis in the late 1990's. Fascinating because he actually attended my high school back in the 60's, and the murders occured right down here in my neck of the woods.

2. Shopaholic and Baby, by Sophie Kinsella. I've read all of the Shopaholic books, and they never fail to crack me up. This one is a riot, and especially relevant because I am expecting.

3. The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy, by Vicki Iovine. I've actually read this one twice before, but it's really THAT good.

WHAT I'VE BEEN WATCHING THIS MONTH:

1. "You, Me, and Dupree". I give this one a "B-". It was watchable, and fairly entertaining, but it didn't rock my world or anything. I got it in the mail from Blockbuster Online, which I joined about a month and a half ago. I would have watched many other movies this month, but this one sat for about three weeks before I felt like watching it. The "No Late Fees!" gimmick is soooo not good for procrastinators, like me. It's like I was just waiting to see if they would call me, or send me a nasty email or something. I suppose I like to see just how far I can push my limits.

2. "Borat". I give this one an "A". My husband and I were nearly in tears, laughing our asses off. It takes an AWFUL lot to offend us. So consider yourself warned...it is very crude, but hysterical if you share our sense of humor. It's just one of those things you can't take seriously.

WHAT I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO THIS MONTH:

1. "Buzz Buzz", by Laurie Berkner. I loved it at first, but now that my kids request the same four songs over and over, it makes me want to pull my hair out.

2. "Have A Nice Day", by Bon Jovi. We saw them in concert in November of 2005, and I love every song on this album. If I turn it up loud enough and roll the windows down, it makes me feel like a carefree, rockstar mommy.

3. I want to get the new CD by Paolo Nutini. I love his music...one of his songs is the background music on my MySpace page, if you've never heard of him.

WHAT I'VE BEEN BAKING THIS MONTH: (I TOLD you it was cake season!)

Happy 30th to my friend Andrea: