Claws, fondant, and the Un-Loved Middle Child UPDATED

I tried something new today and I think I may have pulled at least one muscle in my hand.

Wait. That makes this post sound way more fun than it really is.

I tried covering my daughter's (the ULMC) birthday cake with fondant. I hate saying "fondant," since it's nearly impossible for me to say it without sounding like I am poorly impersonating a British butler. Fohndahnt. Plus it had a kind of nasty feel to it, like if Play-doh and frosting had a baby, it would be fondant.

Here are the results:





It's a birthday carrot cake (the ULMC's favorite) from Tasty Kitchen, an offshoot from the Pioneer Woman. The cake itself was very easy to make and smells heavenly - I can't wait to try it tonight!


It's not nearly as pretty, smooth, and perfect as I imagined it would be, so no quitting my day job. Plus, adding the color to the fondant turned my hands into claws. Seriously, I couldn't pick up a pencil for an hour.

If this ends up on Cake Wrecks I will be crushed.

Updated: We ate it and it actually tasted kind of fabulous! Even the ULMC liked it!

Wordless Wednesday #9

This is not my picture - and despite all efforts, I cannot find who took it - but this besmirched angel shifts something inside me.

Wordless Wednesday #8

Chalkboards, wheelchairs, and Christian Slater look-alikes

This week's Spin Cycle challenge is to dredge up the worst post of all, the one that gives you the all-overs when you think about it. I chose this one because it was one of the most awful moments - a moment that gives me the willies when I think about it, which ends up being really, really often since it happened in my classroom. Plus I use words like 'mite' and 'tad,' like I'm an English nanny.

Chalkboards, wheelchairs, and Christian Slater look-alikes.

My classroom was taken over by the uber-geek squad. Seriously, not only were they a computer -installation team of seven, but they even wore matching wind breaker suits. I shit you not. I hadn't even realized that they still even made that material since 1984. Fortunately, one of them looked remarkably like Christian Slater, so I chalked it up as a win.

They bustled in, like a swat-team from Revenge of the Nerds, to install my Polyvision board (which is an interactive white board that hooks up to my laptop and I can do all these crazy educational things. oh, um, wait - who's the geek in this story?). I remained at my desk after greeting them, looking all very teacher-busy on my laptop. The plan was to hang the Polyvision board between my two chalkboards, which was really going along very nicely until I noticed that they were NOT HANGING IT LEVEL TO THE CHALKBOARDS. Anyone with a touch of OCD will completely understand my instant stress. So I ask, "Um, excuse me, but could you, like, hang it so it's the same height as the chalkboards?" The ALL turn to stare at me, the only sound the faint rubbing of nylon. "I don't mean to be a bother," I stammer on, "but, um, well, it leaves like a gap."

There is a long pause. The Christian Slater's stunt-double takes a breath and slowly, since I am obviously a mite on the slow side, "that's so the handicapped children can reach it."

"Gegh" is all I can manage. They turn back to their task as I ever so gently put my face upon my desk, remaining prone until I hear the last power drill and extension cord packed away, and the soft rustle of nylon as they softly click the door shut behind their exit.

And I wonder why I have yet to win Teacher of the Year.

Spinning the Oldies

This week's Spin Cycle is to choose an old post - a favorite. This one is actually my first Spin.

Go here to read about why sometimes I guess I should listen to my husband.

*sigh*