Week's End

I am forcing myself to blog before I get to work on the waffles the little one has been asking for so long. It seems that blogging and writing are things I merely desire to do, while providing for the children (food, clothing, education) is an obligation I can't ignore. It would be more frustrating for me if my obligations didn't bring me so much joy.

Anyway, here at the week's end I'm sharing a few random photos and thoughts.

First, have you ever experienced thunder in a snowstorm? This past Wednesday I was sitting at the table when there was a flash of light. My first thought was that the electricity was flickering and about to go out, so I told my eldest to hurry and fill a water pitcher. But that flicker was soon followed by a loud boom and rumble of thunder that shook the house! The lightning and thunder combo repeated three times, and each time felt so strange as I watched the snow fall outside.

Second, a week and a half ago, we had another snow and ice storm, and our power did go out. I was in the middle of making breakfast and had but one more omelette to make. Our cast iron griddle retains heat well, so I poured the eggs on and hoped for the best. 

As you can see by the pictures below, the best didn't happen, so we improvised with candles. Call it a science experiment. 

Blurry picture that captures the mood of the morning

Less blurry picture that captures our improvised stove

It took several adjustments beyond this to help cook these eggs. We added coasters under the candles to lift them closer to the griddle and added a couple more candles. I think the whole process took half an hour to produce some scrambled eggs.

And last, I have some pictures of a birthday cake from the vaults which I realized I hadn't shared. And you know how I love sharing my cake flops!

Magic hat on the outside. . . 

Total flop on the inside.

Almost two years ago, our eldest was really into learning to do magic tricks. So we made a magic hat cake. My idea was to make one of those cakes that had a surprise when you cut into it. I was going for cool circle shapes. I got a bunch of odd blobs that tasted weird from all the food coloring. You live and you learn, right?