Well, now I know

A couple weeks ago our Primary presidency was discussing ideas for Christmas gifts/thank-yous for the adults serving with us.  One friend suggested making cake pops--she didn't know what they were exactly but had heard about them and a blog called bakerella.com.  After the meeting I got online to see what she was talking about and instantly fell in love with the idea of cake on a stick.  I even put the blog author's new cake pops book on my wish list.

Slowly I rounded up supplies--candy melts, cake mix, and frosting.  I couldn't find lollipop sticks so I figured craft sticks would be okay.  And then today, with a quiet morning ahead of me and a bake sale on Friday to get ready for, I took the plunge and tried to make them.

 



I'll admit that I probably did a few things wrong--the cake balls were too big and the candy melts weren't the recommended brand (and very thick).  But the root of the problem was entirely out of my control.  No offense to Bakerella and her super cute ideas, but the end result, a concentrated mixture of cake/frosting/candy melts/sprinkles was NASTY. Totally gross, even in small doses.  I can't believe I'm saying that because I'm a person who thinks dessert/sugar/sweet stuff is its own must-have-daily food group.  But these cake pops made me sick.  Enough to seriously consider mending my unhealthy eating habits!   Hopefully our Primary teachers will be okay with a candy cane instead! :)



More like cake bombs

 

Victory in de-feet

As you can imagine, Tuesday's election result was a tough pill to swallow. It was an out-of-body experience for me to watch Rhiannon exit the school grounds that afternoon and walk toward me, first with a goofy look on her face, which then slowly turned to a frown, and then tears. My heart ached for her and all the other kids who lost. Everyone had put so much work into it, from the terrifying speech assembly to posters to massive amounts of homemade stickers and trinkets to give to "voters." Rhiannon had a really good shot at winning the photographer position, but she was up against 5 or more kids for that slot. She was happy that her friend Ryan won, but she had wanted the job so badly.

So we talked a lot about what she was feeling, and talked some more. We talked about how others were feeling the same way. We talked about being a good winner and a good loser. We talked about supporting those who had won and being good sports. We talked about how life isn't fair, and how you can't win at everything all the time. And on and on and on.

THEN we talked about throwing a de-feet party, something that Grandpa Rich and Grandma Donna did for me back in middle school. I don't remember the election loss so much as I remember feeling loved and having fun doing something goofy to "celebrate" my failure. So we're throwing a De-Feet party on Monday for Rhiannon and 2 or 3 other friends who lost. I'm looking forward to it very much! Bring on a game of Twister, some foot massages, and pedicures! :) Hopefully Rhiannon will also feel our love and not be afraid to continue to try new things. I've been digging up some "successful failures" for a game and came across this absolutely splendid, wonderful quote by Winston Churchill:

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

So encouraging! Life will go on!

Bummed and sad.

Hi, this is RC. I'm really sad right now. Thanks for the support, everybody, but I lost. The End.

(Mom took us to the library this afternoon and I get to have Spaghettios for dinner, so life is okay. My friend Sophia didn't win for president, and I could hear her sobbing in class. I just looked straight ahead and made a funny face when Mom saw me so that I wouldn't start crying right then and there, but I did have a few tears.

On the plus side, I saved myself a lot of work. Mom says I won't need to worry about breaking the school's expensive camera or tripping or making a fool of myself in front of the whole school. And I know I'm not the only one sad. There were a lot of kids who didn't win. But I still wish I could have won. Bye for now.

--RC :(