Cakes Bruises and Headaches

Cakes, Bruises and Headaches,


I am having trouble pulling together my devotion for today so I will vent a little and see if I can clear my head.
My first funny vent, not reallly a vent, just a funny story. My 8/9 year old daughter is at an age where she wants to be more independant and do things on her own, but isn't quite at the stage where she can be totally unsupervised. The point was really brought home when she wanted to bake a cake about a week ago. I was trying to get my morning routine done which includes a couple of hours in my office trying to write, when she asked if we could bake this cake. I told her to wait until a particular time, then I would come out and we would do it together. Well either I took too long or she didn't want to wait, I don't exactly remember, but I heard noises in the kitchen that sounded like the beginnings of baking. I yelled out and asked what she was doing.
"Nothing mamma." Was the response.
"You'd better not be, I'll be out in a few minutes wait."
Silence for a few minutes, I sigh and get back to writing. The kitchen noises start again.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing Mamma.""
"You better not be. I'll be out in a few minutes."
The noises don't stop.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
I'm getting concerned but don't leave what I am doing. After a few minutes daughter comes into my office, there is chocolate around her mouth. "Mamma, we don't have a big enough bowl to mix the cake in."
Puzzling, I have baked many cakes over the years, especially 9 x 13's and never lacked for a big enough bowl. I keep on typing for a minute.
"What do you mean the bowl isn't big enough?"
"We need a bigger bowl."
Maybe I should take a break and look into this.
I walk out to my kitchen, and sitting on the counter one of the biggest glass bowls I have filled to overflowing with chocolate water. Chocolate cake mix is dotting the counter and the floor.
"How much water did you use?"
"Two measuring cups like it shows on the box."
I pick up the box on the counter. Here I must really compliment the cake mix manufacturerer or at least the people who make their boxes. They do a very good job of giving directions for mixing a cake. They have a picture of water, oil and eggs. There are pictures of measuring cups and spoons under each ingredient and written beside each picture is the amount of the ingredient you are supposed use.
My daughter had looked at the pictures but not read the measurements. So she took a four cup measure and filled it up twice for the water. Of course 8 cups or even six cups will not fit in my large bowl especially once you add the mix and other ingredients, including her secret ingredient, a cube of unsweetened chocolate.
I couldn't get mad, because she had really tried to do it on her own. So we just cleaned up the mess and discussed what we learned from this. Then I measured the ingredients for brownies and we baked them.

Lessons learned:

Always read the whole box.
Don't delay in responding to a child wanting to bake a cake with you.


One other vent that led to a not so good week:

We were having a nice afternoon in the park taking pictures of the ducks and playing on the play set with our daughter. My husband and I decided we wanted to run a few errands while we were out, so we ran up to the lumber store and were going to hit the grocery store  for some groceries for dinner. Walking into the lumber store I wasn't paying close attention to where I was walking and caught my foot on the half inch curb seperating the handicapp ramp from the parking lot. Down I go almost flat on my face, there I am splayed out all over the sidewalk. Daughter rushes over, "Mamma are you okay?" Loving husband "I guess that's why they put yellow paint there." My question is, "Why can't I fall somewhere where no one can see me, especially my husband, who has now decided I am klutzy?"
Anyway, I have two banged up knees, one elbow and my right hand. Since I am right handed this presents some difficulty when it comes to doing things like writing. I have trouble sleeping at night because I sleep on my side and stomach, but my knees hurt too much for that. And I think I stirred up something inside of me because the next day a cold starts. I manage to struggle through the week with the cold and the bruises until Thursday, then out of the blue a migraine and its a bad one. I can't read, watch tv, write or anything. I try to watch New MOon with my daughter, but can't. I end up in bed at 8:30. My daughter turns off the movie  and comes into my room to read so she can watch me. She ends up sleeping on the floor.
So that's where I am today and why you probably won't see a devotion from me until tonight or tomorrow.