Someone Left the Cupcake Out In the Rain

Despite my past 58 blogs in which I’ve done nothing but rant, rave, and whine (or at least that’s the way it feels), I have been trying to make the best of things and keep things in perspective.  Sure, my husband has been out of commission and stays largely out of the room due to the neon yellow goo oozing from his deflating lower lip.  OK, my abdomen writhes and my back hurts due to this beast-child I’m gestating.  And well-played, Universe, you’ve thrown some extra special weather at us for the past week with another week of it expected; we’ve even made national news from what I hear and my poor little girl is frothing at the mouth to go outside.  As a matter of fact, I saw in the paper recently where we’re already nearly at 11″ of rain for January.  That’s nearly an inch a day, damn it.  Regardless, I oscillate between moments of total rage/despair and those in which I shake my head and vow to make the best of it.  Friday was one of those days.

Even a pile of babies can’t quell the boredom.

After knocking out my work, I decided to have a craft and cupcake bonanza with Stella.  Will had done some chores for me earlier, so I didn’t feel totally compelled to immerse myself in that.  Stella was bringing me her shoes, desperate to get out to play.  It was raining, of course.  I figured it was time to break out the fun stuff and attempt to salvage what was left of the afternoon.  I have been slowly collecting arts and crafts bits over the past year.  Recently, I went to Michael’s and discovered the wondrous aisle containing all the cheap balsa-wood shapes and objects that one can embellish and decorate.  I had picked up a few random kits on sale that I thought Stella would like and had them squirreled away.  I figured it was a good day for the wood “paper” doll.  It’s a stamped design of a girl with stamped out clothing that girls (or boys, I suppose) can paint.  It came as a kit along with markers, jeweled stickers, and a glitter pen.  The clothes stay on via tiny magnets embedded in the wood.  Cool idea, although there’s not enough liquor in the world (that I can drink right now, anyway) that will compel me to give my 2 year old “regular” markers₁.

Serious business

Anyway, for those of you seasoned vet moms, this is nothing new or even noteworthy.  I’m still amazed at how much fun she can have with this kind of thing and gratified at how good I feel at doing something with her other than playing apps on the iPad or staring at the TV.   Did the doll and her gear turn out “beautiful?”  Not to anyone but me and Stella.

Yeah, so this is the doll. I won’t pretend it looks like some Robert Smith fan art left out in the rain.

We also will pretend that the ensemble on the right hasn’t been subjected to her period.

The afternoon ended with cupcakes, baked by me and decorated by Stella and Disinfected Daddy.  I think the event went a bit better than our Xmas cookie experiment, if not more controlled.  After about 3.5 minutes, Stella decided that the sprinkles were for eating vs sprinkling, so some of the cupcakes were naked.  That’s OK   That wasn’t the point.  The cupcakes and some popcorn made an excellent dinner, too.  Bill Cosby was right:  once you factor in the eggs, milk, and flour, many of the food groups are, indeed, represented by cake.  Screw you, rain and staph!  We shall have some family fun with or without you.

One of the few cupcakes that received sprinkles

Cupcake + icing + sprinkles = magic fun

If I lick it, it’s mine.

You have to hear her little voice  shouting “I have the power of cupcakes!”

₁ Crayola paint is awesome.  I’m sure water-based washable markers are OK but we don’t yet own any.  Somehow I don’t think the Made in China el cheapo kit contained that.  Lest you think we’re just mean tyrannical bastards around here, we DO blow bubbles IN the house and allow jumping on beds.