Relay for Life

Today I walked the survivors lap with my mother at the ACS Relay for Life. It was really inspiring to see all these wonderful, brave people in purple t-shirts wearing the word "survivor" across their back. I was very proud of my momma.
I kicked myself for not bringing a camera, as I missed a fantastic shot of her placing her hand print on the cancer survivor's wall for the first time. We walked the lap and chatted, trying to lighten the moment so we didn't burst into tears. People lined the track clapping, which almost undid me.
We walked behind a lovely lady who had bone cancer in 1977, and has since taken to being sassy and wearing gingham Capri's. We walked a few feet away from a family who was there with their little boy, who couldn't be more than 4, wearing his purple 'survivor' shirt. I didn't talk for a bit after that. He, of course, didn't have any clue what was up. lol.
Anyway, next year, I'll be coming back to Chico to set up a 24 hour relay team with my mom, and to maybe set up a booth to sell my delish cupcakes to benefit the cause. "Cupcakes for the Cure.." nice ring to it. Probably I just stole that from someone.
So, thanks for all the support for me, while I supported her. Don't worry, I'll wait until next year to hit you up for pledges.

Loosened the Jar..

We've all been there. You might be seeking jelly for your toast, or searching for a pickle to garnish a sandwich. Millions of things come in jars, and millions of us are pissed off every day by the inability to open them ourselves. You bang on it, you twist it, you turn it upside down and smack it with your palm..and still nothing.

This is where someone else walks in and says "Here, lemme try." And wouldn't you know, that jar just pops right open. You feel you must defend your weak biceps and now reddened face so you say "I must have loosened it."

To bring this all in context, I was talking with a boy last night, and I told him I had recently learned that an ex had gotten married. Now, I have not talked to the ex in ages, and I don't actually want to. But I had to express my shock at the balls it takes for him to actually move on and get married. Didn't he read the booklet that says upon dumping me on my butt, he is obligated to realize his mistake and pine for me forever? Shouldn't he be surviving on a diet of Melba toast and diet coke, barely holding a job, all hollow eyed and murmuring about my beauty?!?!

The boy on the phone didn't get it.

"Why is that a big deal?" He asked.

"Why?!" I sputtered. " What do you mean?"

"Well, do you guys even talk anymore?"

Poor boy, he had no idea what the conversation was actually about. I tried to use the jar loosening metaphor to explain. It did not help. Being a boy, he felt it his duty to disagree with the jar loosening = man loosening logic.

(In case you aren't familiar: I don't even know what movie or show coined this..perhaps Sex in the City. But the theory goes that you can date a man forever, put up with his crap, and one day you break up. He immediately marries the next girl. You loosened him, and she popped the top. Just like a jar of pickles. )

Thinking about it, marriage wasn't the goal for the ex. In fact, that would have been a real bad idea. But I couldn't find any good way to explain to the boy that okay, maybe it's not a BIG deal, but it is a medium deal. At least. It's bad for the vanity to have to face the reality that you are not Scarlett O'Hara, leaving a trail of broken hearted gentlemen in your wake.

So while I never did convince the boy of the importance of the issue, I did convince myself that I'm way grown up by not rushing into the arms of the two men who never fail me: Ben and Jerry. This man was sooo not even worth the pints of ice cream I already consumed for him. I'll be damned if I spoon even one more fudge swirl in his honor.

Cupcakes and Cupcake

Book club was lovely last night. We ate my adorable but tedious cupcakes on a stick, and discussed the book for April, which was:

I actually really liked it, and we had a great discussion about it. I do need to learn to shut up though. I think Amy and I chatted the whole time, and it's so hard to get around us. Next month will be better, since I'll shut up, and hopefully more people who talk will have read the book.

I set myself up though..everyone is expecting some kind of themed treat now. I'll have to stress myself out over it for no real reason..when in fact they wouldn't care if I bought something at Safeway..and anyways I don't even think it's my week for food. Not that any of those things has the actual power to save me from myself.

I recommended 'Gone, Baby, Gone.' which is a fantastic new movie. Ties in with some of the themes we discussed last night. And all of you non book clubbers should watch it too!

Hostess cupcake seeds

Hello, hello!

I'm not posting a Sunday Short today, because I spent all day today and half of yesterday on my new project, and I can't wait another minute to share!

I saw these lovely cupcake pops on Bakerella a while ago and decided I needed to copycat.

Aren't they adorable? My biggest problem was..I can't have white chocolate. I used to be allergic as a kid, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I've grown out of that, and now it's just the smell/memory association of all those sicks that gets me. Anyway..hard to work with white chocolate or almond bark if the smell makes you gag.

While eating the chocolate balls I made as a practice, my mom told me they tasted like Ho-Ho's. I should have got a mirror right then and checked for one of those cartoon lightbulbs. What an idea!! I'm going to make Hostess cupcakes on a stick. Being me, they had to be just right. NO faking..they had to have filling, icing , and those little squiggles. So...after many maddening trials, here they are:

The little buggers are pure evil. I had issues with the creme filling, then the chocolate, then trying to make them all stand up in the foam board I got. Now they are happily marching in formation across the counter.

Here's the middle:

They actually taste pretty darn good! I'm bringing them to my book club meeting tonight for all the ladies to enjoy while we discuss 'A Slice of Life' by Cupcake Brown.

Sunday Short

I have noticed that really cool people do cool posts on their blog that have a theme. For example, Quirky Cupcake does a Saturday Confessional. Every Saturday..how novel.
I decided I need to do that. I mean..there's a day of the week right there in my title! What a fantastic setup. Plus, I'm always doing a lot of not much on a Sunday.
But the missing piece to the puzzle is....what to do. I thought 'Sunday Short' was kinda clever, but I haven't found clever content to match.
So, all two dedicated readers of my blog (Sarah and Starla) I will soon be adding this lovely feature. Any ideas are welcome.

Famous!

Hey all-
The fantastic authors of Hello, Cupcake (My new favorite book!) have featured my Puddles cupcakes on their blog! Yeah!!
Puddles is taking her fame is stride, though she thinks it should earn her at least one more belly rub per day, and a treat.
Check it out here:
http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/

You can all say you knew me 'when.'

Sweet Cuppin Cakes

The interest of the moment is cupcakes. I've been reading about them, designing them, inventing flavors, and generally obsessing. You may remember these from myspace:

I made them about a month ago to look like my adorable dog, Puddles. I've just heard that they may be posted on a blog by the authors of a lovely book called Hello Cupcake. I'll be sure to post a link as soon as they show up over there.

For now, the first attempt at Irish Car bomb cupcakes has been made. It's my newest invention of Guinness cupcake with Irish Cream center and a yummy dark chocolate ganache on top.Here they are in all their glory:

I love, love, love their glamorous shiny tops! They look so sophisticated on the plate.

However, they aren't yet ready for all the VIP tasters out there. I decided that the ganache wasn't as thick as I'd like, since I got in a big hurry to dip them and also I think I need to up the chocolate and whiskey in the mix. Second problem, my filling technique. I used this crazy syringe thing I found at the Galley in Chico, and it put out a small amount of yummy filling, considering the monster hole it left me to patch up. See?

So, back to the drawing board. I promise they will be out to you my valued tasters as soon as Miss Perfectionist is satisfied.

Bluebirds

So I found this lovely knitting pattern from Berraco for a little stuffed bluebird of happiness. Here's what he's supposed to look like:

However...maybe my mood is affecting my knitting...because instead of a Bluebird of Happiness, I got a Bluebird of "I'm okay."

You say your a pranksta'....

Happy April Fool's Day!!

As a kid, I would try so hard to come up with something really good to do to someone at school. I'd put real effort into it too..but I'd always spoil it for myself.
I just couldn't stand those moments of anticipation between "Hey I'm prego..." and "April Fools!!!" I mean, what if they really thought I was? And what if they were distressed about it. I just guess I'm not mean enough for that sort of thing.
The two exceptions are from college:
At 18, I had a roommate that worked in a grocery store and was totally anti-social due to the fact that he actually studied. Who does that? Anyway, homeboy would come home every day and throw himself on his bed. I mean...deathdrop. We could hear the crash through the whole apartment. So on AFD, we took all the bedding off and switched the position of his mattress and box spring. Then we remade the bed. He came home, threw himself on the bed and started cussing. It was hard as rocks...I actually have always sort of felt bad about it. I'm sure he's over it...but it makes me feel like the schoolyard bully...you know?
Karmic Lesson: I later worked with his sister and met his superhot brother at a party. I couldn't really look them in the eye over the guilt of being the most horrible person ever. And that brother was hot, too.

Prank #2 happened around the same time, and not actually on AFD. In those days, all the girlfriends of frat guys ended up hanging out together, especially if they weren't affiliated with a sorority. It was one of the nights that we were having a girls night and the guys were out of town on fraternity retreat. The president had given his girlfriend the keys to the frat house...just in case. We felt that a giant prank was a pretty good just in case indeed. One of the girls knew where to find a giant stack of old Playgirl magazines (why didn't I wonder where at the time?..eww.) so we spent the biggest part of the night amassing a giant stack of the male nude. We went to the house, and hid them everywhere...taped up in the shower, under the lid of the toilet, in the coffee, on the outside of the milk jug.
We also did some other stupid crap....like writing dorky things about our boyfriends in sidewalk chalk all over the patio ("hmm, I wonder who did this?") and moving things around in the house so no one could find them.
The best part came when the phone rang, and one of the girls answered it. It was the guys...and of course they wanted to know why the hell we were in the house. Cover=blown.
We got some small satisfaction from the unexpected sounds of disgust that echoed all over the house for months, as one of the guys found yet another naked man in the sugar.

Anyway..if you are hard up for ideas on a prank to pull, Here's a website:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/