The Fuzzball Chronicles: the Life and Times of Curly Mommy

* Sunday afternoon, my friends M and S had a baby shower for me. This is my friend S. This is my friend M. We started with food. Mmmmm . Everything tasted great! Then, we played games. I discovered that I have a talent for remembering nursery rhymes. Who knew? I wasn't so great at singing lullabies, or pricing baby items, but playing was fun. After games, I got to open the presents! Such precious little things. When we finished the gifts, we cut this cute cake. M made it. I was impressed that she made her own fondant. You can't tell from this picture, but the bed was held up by four cupcakes. Nothing supported the center. Oh, and it tasted great! Chocolate with chocolate frosting. Yummm . Ladies, thank you for everything!

This morning was cleaning time. I was doing dishes, bathrooms, laundry, floors... Vacuuming was really frustrating! I don't like seeing all of the stains that I have been unable to remove, or just haven't gotten around to cleaning. The stains are embarrassing. I began noticing the spots and recalling what caused each of them. Here are a just a few examples: *Silly Putty in Tater's room* We didn't find it until months after the incident . I recently learned that she mixed the Silly Putty with glue before it was smashed into the carpet. *Red Jello in the dining room* This was the Jello that the kids proudly made for Father's Day . I think Little Man dropped it, but I'm not sure. I think I can get it out if I try. *Popsicles, yogurt, pudding, milk, juice, and various other edibles/potables in the living room* Yes, living room. I allow the kids to watch cartoons while eating afternoon snack. I know, bad idea for protecting carpet, but you live and learn, right? Well...

Mom, Dad, and Cabbagehead came over to our house for Father's Day lunch. We had Greek dip, salad, steak, potatoes, bread, fruit salad, Jell-O, and of course, sweet tea. Lunch was great, even if I do say so myself. Little Man was the potato washer and maker of strawberry Jell-O. Tater was the strawberry slicer and maker of cherry Jell-O. Daddy (my Yardboy) Papa (my Dad) I gave Yardboy this book. Remember Kevin Nealon from Saturday Night Live ? It's never a good idea to ask a woman if she's pregnant. If she's not, you're in huge trouble. I don't care if she's in the delivery room and the baby is halfway out. I would just play it safe and say, 'Excuse me, you got a little something on your leg, there.'" --Kevin Nealon

These are the cakes I made for our Celebrate Recovery New Year's Eve Party. I couldn't find my camera, so I took these pics with my phone. This one was a butter cake with vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream frosting. Mmmmm . Butter is goooood . This one is chocolate with chocolate ganache filling. I had to cover it with vanilla buttercream because it was so chocolaty ! The friends, food, music, and dancing were great. We had a blast ringing in the new year!

This evening I made a very special baby shower cake. The mother, J, and her husband have been trying to conceive for years and are finally expecting three little miracles thanks to IVF. The specialists only transferred two eggs, but one of them split into identical twin boys. The third baby is a little girl. I am so excited for this couple. Congratulations J and C. Oh, and here is a birthday cake I made last month. Yes, Barbie and Ken are in the hot tub. I wanted to make everyone at the party laugh, and I succeeded. The cake almost fell apart. It was an engineering feat to keep the thing in one piece. As you can tell, it isn't quite round.

For the last two years we have paid ten dollars a month for "limited basic cable" and we were very happy with it. Yesterday we learned that the cable company took The Food Network off of our package. I'm so sad! I am already missing Alton Brown. I guess I will have to rely on my DVDs and books. Sniff sniff.

I love decorating cakes. Here are a few of the ones I've made over the last year. I'm still learning.

In my profile I state that I believe in eating whole, natural foods. This recipe does not fall into that category, but it sure does taste good. Each Christmas for the last 3 years I have made some sort of braid or ring. I got this recipe out of The Pampered Chef cookbook All the Best from Our Kitchens to Yours. It looks really impressive, so it is great for parties. Broccoli Chicken Braid 2 C. cooked chicken, chopped 1 C. broccoli, chopped 1/2 C. red bell pepper, chopped 1 clove garlic, pressed 8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded 1/2 C. mayonnaise 2 tsp. All-purpose Dill Mix (or 1 teaspoon dill weed ) 1/4 tsp. salt 2 pkg. (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent rolls 1 egg white, lightly beaten 2 T. slivered almonds Preheat oven to 375ºF. Chop chicken and broccoli and place in bowl. Add chopped red bell pepper. Press garlic over mixture and shred cheese over mixture. Add mayonnaise, dill mix and salt. Mix well. Unroll package of crescent rolls. Do not separate. Arrange longest sides of do...

After the kids go to bed Yardboy and I will drink creamy sweet decaf coffee and eat the leftover candy corn cake I made for Halloween. Yummy. Yardboy and I love coffee any time of day. I devised a plan this evening to deal with overindulgence of coffee and the cream and sugar necessary to drink the stuff. I am taking my free coffee maker out of the kitchen and placing it in the garage. No maker, no coffee. Right? We are going to switch to tea, which we also love. We don't need loads of cream and sugar to enjoy tea. We can even stick our pinky fingers out and feel extra snooty. Tomorrow we get serious about eating healthy . We are usually very good, at least compared to the average American. However, we have been slipping lately. Wish me luck. I may have to stop by Starbucks for a fix.