Caz

Ok not quite *searches for the funky sick dude jpeg but gives up in disgust*  You'll remember him from just a few posts ago, so just envision him RIGHT.HERE.

I finally gave up with this damnable cough & went back to the doc.. yep, I have teh pneumonia AGAIN.  For the second time in like 5months?  Seriously.. this is ridiculous.  I am a normally healthy not quite 40yr old woman with an average immune system... it makes no sense at all.  The doc was rather surprised as well but said my lung (only lefty this time, the right side got the msg last time and is behaving) was crackling like a bowl of rice crispies.  Ok, that wasn't her exact phrasing... I took artistic liberty because it made me giggle.  I'm sick, I get to giggle at whatevah I want.   

This time around she said chest xrays and a culture test on .. how to put this delicately.. on a sample of the contents of my lungs (but only the solid contents, no liquidy stuff).  Ok, for delicateness that was a total fail lol, but you get the idea ;)   Since it's so absurd for me to have this twice, she wants to know exactly what's goin on in there.  (I'm fairly sure the culture test will show that whatever is in there, it's French... or it could be Osama, he likes to cause trouble)  

So more antibiotics, more rest.  My head is going to explode if I can't even  manage to take the kids to a pakr to play, or to their Extra curricular day next week!   We've made it to one social gathering of people not related to us since mid August because of someone or other being sick and I'm OVER IT.   

Whinge over *sheepish*

Caz


So, last week I was blog surfing and came across this concept and though, how cool!  The boys will love that!  So I made sure to pick up little bits & peices that would work well and they excitedly helped me choose what they wanted (lamenting that there were only 6 spots in the tin the whole way lol)  

Blogger is being uncooperative about formatting today, so the pics are where it will consent for them to be *grumble*  In their first muffin tin lunches, they had pb&j sammiches, cheese sticks, strawberries & kiwi, some mini pretzels, a yogurt (note to self, yogurt photographs better with the top ON) and an after dinner mint because they were in the fridge and Sams' life would not be complete until he got one *insert eye roll*

 All in all a fun lunch, and we'll be doing this again!

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Caz

Ok,  Unless I'm mistaken and have pulled a Rip Van Winkle or something, todays date is September 27?  So imagine my extreme, although momentary, confusion when I entered my local BigW (Walmart for you American folks)  to be confronted with THIS!!!!!!

WTF!?!?!?

Seriously...  bloody christmas crap ALREADY!  Couldn't they wait till a civilized amount of time before D day to put that out???   November 1st is a perfectly good time to bring out the Christmas junk if you ask me.  Back when I was young, that's when it started appearing, the day after Halloween.  And by Thanksgiving (3rd Thursday in November) it was in full swing.  And it made sense that way.   Christmas stuff in the stores in September makes no sense.   It's so arbitrary and premature.  We will all be so bombarded with it all for the next 3full months, that we'll be friggin fed up with all things holiday themed by the time 'the big day' rolls around, and will just be ready for it to END ALREADY!  

As I wandered through the store to my destination, the towel department, I was then confronted by a jolly ole' santa cookie jar.  Rack off you freaky premature elf!  Come back in a month and we'll talk!  

Some cheery soul on an email group thought we'd all appreciate the reminder 'ONLY 13weeks until Christmas!'  I'm pretty sure everyone on the entire list wanted to scream abuse at her, I know I did... want to that is, cause I would never stoop to swearing at a computer.. *whistles innocently*

I think 'they' start it earlier and earlier every year, with the idea that if they build the holidays up to such grand proportions everyone will go ALL OUT (read spend absurd amounts of $$ in their stores) and have Norman Rockwell holidays.  What REALLY happens, is it puts pressure on mums (cause dad's usually just go with the flow) to create these amazing perfect holiday seasons... that reality can never live up to!  So we end up stressed out, disappointed and having a ginormous melt down requiring either valium or alcohol, by the end of the season.   

In my house, we're opting out of that crap. I'm committing now, to having a simple and happy holiday season.  Sure there will be gifts, and trees (hey, I'm pagan ..not dead!  Technically it's Midsummer, but I love my festive cultural Christmas) and baking.  But I will not give in to the compulsion to go overboard!  

Although...I must admit that purple tree in the pic was pretty awesome, and had me thinking...could I find a spot for a 2nd tree in my house??? LOL

Caz

  See these adorable little smiling faces?  Well today we are divesting ourselves of the bigger two for almost a complete 24hr period!  How did we accomplish this?  Grandparents!  Is that not one of the more awesome words in the English language?   The boys think the sun shines out of their nana's backside (ok, well that's my interpretation... I'm pretty sure they don't get quite that detailed lol but suffice it to say they think she rocks!) 

They have their weekly swim class tomorrow morning, Nan is the one that found this place and it kept the boys occupied the entire 17days I was away in the States.  Sam should go up to the kickers class with Frodo after this week, which he's very excited about.  Last week was their first class of the 'block' (before that they were casual).  When they joined the school they got their very own bag to store their swim hat & goggles in as well as cart their towel & rashies to & from class in.   Sam was quite thrilled with that, and then quite sulky as I put the bag UP as little brother wanted a bag too!  He'll be very happy when I hand it to him to pack his gear in for the overnighter :D

  The little guy will come home with us, we'll do some boring grocery shopping on the way and maybe pick up some not so boring fancy scones at the bakery for him (the raspberry & white chocolate chip ones are particularly NOM) and then enjoy a wonderfully peaceful night.  We might even be able to watch a movie uninterrupted by arguing and the I don't wanna go to bed whinges!  

Caz

This sickness just.will.not.go!  When I posted a few days ago I was sure that a handy round of antibiotics would fix me up.  But alas, it has not.  Sure the fever finally went down, but I think if I cough one more time, there may be a lung laying on my desk. SRSLY.   My throat is now raw to the point that I cannot speak above a whisper.. and I'm having a hot & heavy affair with this guy name Vicks.  Ok, so I'm just getting up close & Personal with his butter menthol lozenges... I feel like I should buy stock or something.  But then, when I get well, the market for his product would crash leaving me broke.  So maybe not.  

The world seems to be passing me by...Since I've been sick Patrick Swayze left world for the 'Road House in the sky'.  Celeb deaths usually don't bother me for beans.. but he was a true legend.  Why?  For his 35yr marriage to the love of his life.. that seriously needs to be listed at the top of his 'Body of Work' in my opinion.  A giant dust storm swept across New South Wales and then on to us here in Queensland, and on to New Zealand as well.  A woman got pregnant....while she was already pregnant.  And  apparently there's more to Lady Gaga than we knew (as if anyone cares? lol)  How dare the world keep turning while I am laid low! lol

SO many projects have gotten sidelined while I fight the good fight, but honest.. I think in a few more days I'll be human again.  I hope so, cause there's Halloween crafts to paint, and swim lessons to attend (and business tax to be done *shudder*) and being sick is just plain BORING!!!!!

Send healthy thoughts plz :) 


Caz

Or more accurately, medical difficulties.  It seems I was not lucky enough to escape the recent creeping crud in my house and today have gone down like a ton of bricks with a raging temp.  So instead of blogging, I may well be off hallucinating.  

Back in a few days lets hope.

Caz

is not phenergan, as one would think.  So, after a trip to the doc this morning, Frodo has an ear infection and an area in one lung that the doc said sounded... off.  He said the air didn't seem to be moving in & out as well as it should, but that it could be due to him not fully understanding how he needed to breathe for the doc to listen.  He's also substantially dehydrated,  as in doc said if we can't get the spewies under control and fluid into him, we are to make an emergency room visit tonight.   YIKES.  

I hit the chemist for the required drug products, and a chupa chup for Samwise who was about to come unglued that I wouldn't buy him more sunglasses @@ and came home.  I got some liquid phenergan into him, but  about 45mins later up came all the water he drank behind it *sigh*   About this time Dad comes home from work.. we give him his first dose of amoxil and hubby looks at this see through little waif that is his oldest and says 'would you like to play on the computer?'  Instantly the child *perks* and even as I say he'll never put the bowl down to do it... Frodo pops the bowl on the kitchen counter and wanders down the hall to the computer.  I brought the bowl *just in case*.  Then I went for a nana nap as I was utterly exhausted.

3hours later I wake up to hearing him discuss the intricacies of The Legend of Zelda with Sam.  This is the same child that chucked all the way to, and from the docs.. several times after getting home as well.  Yet here he sits playing Zelda.   Is it possible that I have made a new medical discovery .. distraction?  lol   At this point, if we don't have to take the poor guy in for an IV of fluids,  I'll take whatever works!

Caz

So ages ago I set up a little blog for Frodo, but I'm a slacker and haven't gotten around to showing him now to post... until today!   He's feeling a bit under the weather, I suspect ear infection yet again, so he's not up for much schooly stuff.  However, he loves using the computer so when I suggested I show him how it's done he thought that was a great idea.  

He did a super job writing sentences and only has a couple of spelling errors (he corrected two of them on his own before he hit publish) and was so pleased with himself.  I figured it would make him super excited if a few people happened to wander over and leave a comment ;)   Not that I'd twist anyone's arm or anything *gryn*  (btw.. I showed him how to add the pic and he remembered how to do it after he typed the text,  kids gonna be a  whiz on the blogosphere hehehe)

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Caz

Today Frodo and Sam were SUPPOSED to have swim lessons... Sam woke up saying he was sick, only to feel lots better despite a little temperature.  Later in the morning Frodo came into the room with the rosiest cheeks I've ever seen.  Yep, fever *sigh*.    Sam perks up quickly, but when Frodo gets sick, he goes down like a ton of bricks unfortunately.  That was how we ended up homeschooling to begin with actually.. now that he's home it happens less, or at least it did.  We've had a lot of 'teh crud' running rampant through our house since MY run in with pneumonia in May, and we just can't seem to get rid of it.

So the lovely folks at the swim centre were kind enough to push their lesson start date ahead till next week, so we don't have to reschedule the missed class because it's like there wasn't one :)   Since we weren't going to swim, we had another problem.  A while back dh got one of the boys a lego police motorcycle,  they all play with it and Sam & Merry covet it depending on who has it at the time.  It has been the very centre of their lives for a while now.  It BROKE... what good is a bike with one wheel?!?!  So dad promised them after swim, we'd go to the shop where we got it and get them ALL one (since they were on sale for 7.50 each woot!)   

So *I* end up getting shafted into going into town for said bikes.  Bogus!  DH did at least bake chocolate chip cookies with the boys, but still *grumble*.   My fee for doing this however, was a coffee at Gloria Jeans and a wander through Borders books.   Let me start by saying I was not impressed by their paganism section.. back in the states it's a reasonable section (and even in the Borders in the CBD), but this one?  POV.  *and* it was labeled on the shelf as 'black magic'.  SRSLY.  I need a pissed off smilie to put right here.  I'm thinking a strongly worded letter to the manager is in order, because that's just crap.  

Ok.. I'm over it, for now.  After that disappointment I had a wander through their rockin', but rather pricey, kids section.  All sorts of cool stuff there!  But I buy books for the kids all the time.. I wanted a book for ME ME ME!  After a wander through the aisles I came to the gardening section, perfect!   I grabbed an armload of books that looked interesting, and as there were no nearby chairs, plonked down right on the carpet in the aisle and proceeded to have a browse.  I ended up leaving with this...

 which is just fabulous!  It's similar to the US book 'Square foot gardening' ... although written for Aussies, and is based on the metre instead ;)   There are great garden plans for different types of squares (pizza square garden anyone?  Summer stir fry, winter stir fry, 'anti-cancer' squares packed with antioxidants, pea & bean squares, Aztec squares (basically a 3 sisters garden with corn, squash/pumpkin, and climbing beans).  Little mini maps of each one showing you how much you can fit and how to plant it so it looks nice to boot.    

There are compost tips, and info on all sorts of veggies, pest control tips & companion planting ideas.   I'm just in geeky gardening heaven.. almost enough to forget the absurd prices of books like this here lol.   I fully intend to settle in with my new book and a cuppa.  Considering half my house is sick yet again, I don't think I'll have any outings to interrupt my reading for a few days :S 

Caz

It doesn't take much to get me excited about Halloween (even though we really don't have much of one here in Australia) but todays trip to Spotlight did the trick!    (ok, Mrs. B's 31 Days is helping too lol)  I was supposed to go out with a girlfriend and pick up some cutesy crafty stuff for me & the boys to use to bedeck our altar/nature table for Spring.  But alas she wasn't well, so I had to venture out by myself.   Off I went, armed with an iced coffee and cash card.   Imagine my giddy surprise when I saw this...

Of course that's just the coolest of the stuff they had.. there were stickers and skeletons and 'scene setters' (which are essentially plastic/paper rolls that wrap your walls for a dungeon feel) and horns on barettes and black roses :D  I picked up a few bits & peices,  how could I resist a beson pen?? and scary skull cupcake papers!  TINY celtic cross tombstones.. does it get any cooler!?!?!   I'm also planning on making these with the kids for a rockin' Halloween display table.

My trip out also netted me a $1 tomato plant,  a couple of small terracotta pots (one of which now houses silk tulips on the Spring nature table/altar, and one of which I believe shall corral the various writing utensils that wander around the flat surfaces of my home :).  For the boys I got some little mdf flowers that I'm going to let them paint and then dremmel holes into them to make a garland.  And a 4 pack of blueberry vodka cruisers, which is neither here nor there (but 1/4 in my stomach at the moment though lol)

 And with that I shall go make a delicious dinner of a bit of bbq chicken (complete with the oh so bad for me, but really effing tasty Sonny's sauce I brought home from the states), fresh corn on the cob and broccoli with homemade cheese sauce!  Then I shall venture onto the veranda with the other half of those cruisers (ha.. only one for me, I will be taking hubby along ;) and enjoy the quiet of the evening.  

Be well my friends!

Caz

You know the ones,   wake up at 4am (because  dear hubby's mobile alarm goes off to the tune of Jimmy Barnes singing about working class men) with a roaring headache.  The offending DH medicates you with motrin to minimize the hell that this will unleash upon the day, which is much appreciated, but you still can't get back to sleep!  Finally I doze a little only to hear a delightful (insert dripping sarcasm here) hacking coming from down the hall.. in chorus even!   Rolling over I'm confronted with a big wide eyed 3yr old who says 'NO wanna cuddle' when I try to give him a hug... but then seconds later gushes and smooches me saying 'I wub you toooo'.   Yes bubby, I wub you lol.

It's decided pretty much right off that we won't be going to the big homeschool get together because both boys have mad faucet nose and chesty coughs.  *grumble*  But Merry is finally over HIS crud, so he's off to kindy.  The other two rat bags & I stopped at the bakery and grabbed a cheddarmite scroll to medicate their melacholy moods over the change in plans.  But they didn't want to make all their mates sick, so they understand. 

The Usborne Art Treasury provided a morning filler, they did a pastel/watercolour in the style of Paul Klee.. whom I must admit having never heard of before :O  The camera has gone awol so I have no photos of their work yet.   We watched a super cool documentary on the Life of mammals... Frodo is in love with kangaroo rats (who look like tiny fat kangaroos, honest lol) and Sam thinks that the very ugly naked mole rat is his favourite...he liked it 'because it's not very pretty and not many people probably like it, so I will so it doesn't feel left out'.  This kid is something else  lol.  I am proud to say that I think he would be the nice kid that befriends the 'different' child at the playground.   I need to try hard to remember these moments when he has me pulling my hair out on a bad day.  

Frodo did  a bit of math, and 'taught' Sam a little subtraction, which I heard from the clothesline as I hung laundry out ;)  The little things you catch when they think you aren't looking are very sweet.  Sam constructed with playdoh, fed & played with the rats, and watered the veggies.  He was VERY excited to tell me that HIS corn was as tall as his knees now!  Later we plan to bake chocolate chip cookies (but I think that will be after a nana nap for mum,  4am is awfully early!) Frodo says he'll read a magic treehouse book with his brother while I have a rest, isn't that nice of him? :)  If he isn't naggy, I may let them 'play' on skwirk or bigpond kids for half an hour, which would make their day.

All in all, it's a pretty darn unstructured day here... but the little buggers still managed to learn plenty about rodents, a little math, have a good time experimenting with art and will do some measuring and baking to boot.   Isn't it amazing what learning can look like? 

What started out as a deep sigh kinda day, is turning into a brilliant one.  Hope you're all having the latter kind as well!

 

Caz

For all my oohing and ahhing at Springs' definite arrival, it never ocurred to me that it could be to blame for my current obsession with the houses' constant state of disarray.  I know, I have three small boys, 5 rats and one husband, so I should expect SOME mess... but probably for the last week it's been driving me nuts.   Let me state in advance, what I consider a mess is not anywhere near approaching squalor levels, but it's enough to set me on edge & make me a tad grumpy to the other residents of the house.  

I didn't get a great deal done over the weekend other than laundry, because Mr. Merry was sick all weekend.  He had a horrible fever and was lethargic, and there was a bit of spewiness just for good measure.  He did s LOT of sleeping, like the entire weekend, minus about 4hours or so, but his tummy condition gave me plenty of laundry to do.  Yesterday he was finally feeling a bit better thank Goddess.  Sick kids are the pits..

Finally, with the lack of sick kiddo to tend to I gave into my frustration and made a list of stuff to be done and got stuck in.    I'm going to post it here for accountability... and so that when I forget what I was going to do I can come here to find out lol.

*hang pictures up.. we've been here 4months and had 2 things hung up in the entire house!      

*rearrange some stuff on our bookshelf in the family room to squeeze in dh's books, and fit my collection of cottages safely up top (Merry loves them a *little* too much for my liking!)              

*declutter some of our sadder looking clothing items, bring out summer stuff and put most warmer stuff away for the year in hopes of minimizing laundry!

*find a way to get my craft stuff out of boxes and out where it can be used.  I'm thinking I may ninja the linen cupboard for this and relocate the linens to the rooms where they will be used (ie, towels in bathroom cupboard, sheets in bedroom closet shelves)

*scout out affordable 2nd hand bookshelves so I can get the MANY books off of the shelves in the bedroom closets. 

*declutter toys that have fallen by the wayside, are broken, etc to make way for the holiday stuff that will descend on us before we know it.

*decorate... our house feels 'temporary' .. it's new and has no character,  must find cheap ways of adding some personality.

I think that'll just about do it for now.  I'll attempt to add a few before & after pics as I make progress.  Now, off to ebay & trading post to stalk bookshelves!  

Let the Spring cleaning begin :)

Caz

This is my 3rd year attempting to grow vegetables in our backyard, at least I think it's three... there may be another season with results so traumatically abysmal that I've blocked it out, who knows. I'm pretty much stuck growing veggies in pots, as we rent and ripping up a new lawn isn't something that would fly, which makes it even MORE challenging.  I refuse to give up and admit defeat though!

Last season,  not really last year as it was 2009 (we can garden pretty much year round in Qld) I did ok with a few things... we had a dozen or so tomatoes, despite the plants looking rather sad & surviving a move; we had lettuce's that we harvested (rip bits off and they grew back several times ;);  there were sugar snap peas that did really well...just not enough OF them!;  and herbs always grow well for me.  But I still wouldn't say we came out ahead financially considering the rather meager harvest.     THIS year I WILL have veggies fresh from my garden come hell or high water!   lol

At the moment I have 3 or so tomato plants (that are pretty sad looking, but they were sad when dh bought them.. I was just being heroic & trying to save them lol) although pitiful looking, one of them has a couple of teeny tomatoes on it lol.  I have about 5 zucchini plants (yep, in pots... we'll see how this experiment goes.  I had to try though, we love zukes!)   They are doing ok, but they keep getting blossom end rot so I've read up and apparently they need some epsom salt 'tea'  to stop that.   Haven't remembered to pick any up yet though.  


Here are my adorable little cucumber plants.  They are at the base of the mesh I used for my peas to climb, and as soon as they reach the bottom of it I'll start training their little tendrils upwards towards it :)   I'm hoping I get more then the 3 cukes I did last year by getting them up off the ground.


Here's one of my 2 capsicum (pepper) plants.. we love red capsicum here, so these were a must.   I got about 10 off last years plants, so I'm confident I can better that this year.  They aren't cheap either, sometimes they are about 6.98kg at the shops!  So this is a smart choice for the grocery budget too.  If you click to enlarge the pic, you'll see a teeny fruit or two forming even, WOOT!


 Here are two of my delightful looking cherry tomatoes, waiting to go into bigger pots.   They look much healthier than my regular 'maters, whose leaves are all stunted  compared to their stems.. and curled up to boot.  That's ok though, my boys LOVE to snack on some cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices  with homemade ranch dressing!  

I have sage, garlic chives, Baaaaasil out the wazoo (we love to make pesto!), a pretty little variegated thyme that I'm not sure I'll ever cook with.. but it's just too pretty.  I also have some spring onions that just will not admit defeat,  so I keep watering them to help them defy the Queensland warmth.     I have room for a few more things to go in, haven't decided what I'll try yet... maybe some anahiem chilis, since I have the seeds already?  

I'd love to hear what you're growing, if you are so inclined! (both to garden and to share lol)  

Caz

Yes, shocking, I'm posting twice in one day!   But I have a good excuse :D  The other day I was out and found some seriously cheap oil pastels so I picked up a set... 48 colours of fun!   The kids have this book  that we like to use for art projects.  It has a 20 or so artists that it covers, with a bit of a bio as well as a little about their work.  Then it gives instructions & a materials list to create your own works in their style.   Our lack of oil pastels was rather limiting as several of the cooler projects use them.. so the boys were stoked with my find.

The artists vary from Aboriginal artists, to Georgia O'keefe and Matisse and then some.   This day, we chose Kandinsky.  Partly because the pastels were heavily used :)  and partly because the project was something Samwise could do without feeling discouraged!   Even a 5 year old can draw circles and watercolour, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.  

I had the boys fold their paper in half longways, then in 3rds across that, creating 6 squares.  Then they chose bright coloured pastels and made concentric circles in each square.  After they finished that they painted each square with watercolours, making sure to only paint that square and not to put two the same colour next to each other.    Below are their results!

Samwise's  Kandinsky style art :D

Frodo's version below!

Caz

We here in Queensland don't really get four terribly distinct seasons.  We have SUMMER and either Almost Summer, or Just Past Summer ;)   Our winter is a pale imitation of the real thing, with days still hanging out in the 60F ish range, although it does at least pretend to be chilly at night!   But September the 1st was our first 'technical' day of spring so I thought I would share a brief (and blurry, it appears) glimpse of what a semi tropical springtime is like.

These are random Springy pics from my sad excuse for a garden.  The first is a Grevillia,  which I love as it will eventually attract the local Rainbow Lorikeet population.   

Then there is this tiny shrub in my garden, which is covered with lovely tiny white flowers.  I have no idea what it is, but it's gorgeous.


This is our back fence, and the trees just past it.  When I left here on July 28, they were naked twigs and Queensland was firmly in the grasp of  Winter, or our excuse for winter anyway ;)  A week after I arrived home, this is what they looked like.  They exploded into a riot of beautiful bright green, all but overnight!    I think if I never left my house I could track time just by watching these trees... soon the bright green will turn to the darker, more mellow green of summer.  There will probably be flowers as well.   They are like my own little Wheel of the Year :)

I hope you enjoyed your glimpse of a Queensland spring,  by the time you have read this it will most likely have passed into summer.. no matter what the calendar says.

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Caz
Look to the right... over on the sidebar, see that picture?  That is my hunny (I'm sure you guessed that, who else would I be lovied up to right?)  and today was his birthday :D   He turned 36 today.  Yesterday I had to pick up a few groceries  & antibiotics for him (he is going on week 2 with a chest infection, poor guy) so I slipped a cake mix (no I didn't do it homemade, sue me :P) into the cart and hid it in the pantry when I got home.  Can't have him figuring out what I'm up to or anything.

So this morning we took Mr. Merry to kindy for the day, and Frodo, Sam & I came home to bake a cake.  The boys had a ball getting to use the mixer & crack the eggs (ok, I had them crack them individually into bowls so we could inspect for shell before it went into the cake mix lol) And while the cake was in the oven they looked through the window to 'check on it' in shifts lol.   I did tell them the cake wasn't going to GO anywhere, but I guess they needed to make sure ;)   DH had the unmitigated gall to show up home for the day at 1130 and catch us in the act of cooling the cake so we could decorate it *sigh*.   Turns out he was very surprised though.. he's the kinda guy that doesn't think about his birthday unless you remind him, so he'd totally not realized it was today lol.   

We sent him off to get Merry so we could frost the cake...the results of which were hilarious.  First, cake mixes here in Aussie land come with these absurdly small foil packets of frosting that, on a good day, are barely big enough to cover the top of the cake (which is apparently what they think one should do)  So we had a cake with a thin layer of chocolate frosting only on top.. this would not do at all.  Online I hopped to find a recipe for an easy frosting... but I have no cocoa powder, so it will be a  two tone cake I guess.   Not an enormous problem I guess... since the cake itself is vanilla chocolate swirl ;)  

This is where the universe showed its' sense of humor.  After I frosted the sides of the cake with vanilla frosting.. I had 'plenty' left (remember that word, plenty, it will haunt me later in the story)  so I thought, hey!  why not colour this and do some fancy decorative ruffles around the top with the oh so cool cake decorating pastry ball I got from Tupperware ages ago, but never used?  Brilliant plan.  So I use the directions on the food colouring box to make a 'dark green'.  What it ACTUALLY created was more of a spew green... I added more and more green in hopes of a less vomitus colour, but alas had little luck.  

Ah well, it's the thought that counts right???  So I set about putting a cute little flourish around the top edge of the cake.. and got about 1/2 way around before I started having to struggle to get anything out of this damn tupperware contraption!  But I had PLENTY of frosting!?!?  At the expense of two sprained thumbs.. I manage to make it 2/3 of the way around the cake, but no more will ooze out.  I have been defeated by frosting.  But wait.. I bought white choccie chips to decorate it with.. and I have this fudge 'writing' icing.  Aha!  I scrawl a scraggly looking 'branch' (yeah that's what we're gonna call it) in the empty space where the spew green ruffle should be and then tell the boys.. it's a cherry blossom branch!  and they commence sprinkling white chocolate 'cherry blossoms' along the 'branch'  (these are all in quotes for a very good reason lol)  

The results are almost too pathetic to share, really.  But as I'm a fanatical fan  of CakeWrecks, so I know how important it is not to keep a horrible thing to ones self :D    With no further adeiu, I give you the birthday cake from hell.

Oh, did I forget to mention the really sad writing attempt on said cake??   Maybe I tried to block it out?  Funny thing is, the cake overall doesn't look as awful here as it really looked.. that's some scary shit.    

And here are the very adorable boys that I helped to make this creation.  They, of course, are sure it is a masterpiece and were VERY proud of it.  But they are small boys, who see past the awful penmanship, nauseating colour frosting and bad decorating.. to the fact that it is FROSTING!  And nothing frosting ever does, could possibly be BAD!!!!!    (and really.. I have to let them off the hook because *I* did most of it, they were too busy licking the beaters to care what the cake looked like!)