Following Up....

Yippee!  There was no piece of spatula found.  It, 1.  never fell in there in the first place, or  2.  was eaten along with the candy pieces unnoticed, or 3.  was inadvertently left on a plate and thrown away.  At any rate, it is never to be seen again, the remaining spatula has been destroyed, and the dessert was delicious!!!!

Now my weekend will be filled with kids and grandkids and this means..... more to blog about!!!

I Need Help, Heloise!!!

Okay, here it is.  My husband volunteers me to make a dessert for a football party amongst friends.  No, this is not the problem.  I have a favorite cake that I make which is perfect.  It serves a crowd, it's chocolate, and everyone usually likes it.  So, I buy the ingredients and, as always, make the cake (which is baked in two rounds in my brand new gas oven that I absolutely love) the day before the event.  Then the pudding, whipping cream, and other notions are assembled just before transporting and/or serving.  You must also know I purchased two cake mixes and double everything just in case the oven failed me, because there is no such thing as operator error.... as we all know.  So still no problem.  Cakes turned out beautifully the first time.  I'm getting there.   Keep reading.

Now, the day of the party and just an hour before we have to leave with the cake in hand, I begin the assembling.  One cake, check.  One layer of chocolate pudding, check.  Spread the whipped topping, check.  Top with candy chips, check.  Viola!  Half way there.  Looks like it could be on the cover of "Taste of Home".

Here we go with the second part of the process.  The second cake, check.  Chocolate pudding, check.  Rinse out the bowl and spatula..... here lies the problem.  A corner of the rubber scraping spatula is GONE!  Please dear Heloise, let it be in the sink.  Nope.  Poke around the last layer of pudding.   Nope.  Look around the kitchen counter.  Nope.  Floor?  Nope.  Oh my heavens.  It's gone.  Do I take the cake anyway or stop at the store on my way?  Do I tell anyone?  Keep reading.

After deliberating with my husband and my mother, I call her HeLOISe, I decided to have a little fun.  I stick the trouble causing spatula in the middle of the creation instead of toothpicks to hold up the cellophane wrap to cover it.  When I brought in the dessert I asked everyone to please help me find the missing piece so that I could retire my spatula in its entirety into the garbage.  Thank goodness it was amongst friends and no one found it.  I still have one piece left.  Keep reading, I'll let you know.

Hahaha.  Hope you found this humorous.  Live, Laugh, Love!!!

Welcome Lemon

Meet Lemon

She entered our household quick, unknown, unprepared, and controversial.  However, she is now very much a part of our daily routine.  We, or it should be stated, "I" let out the dog, play catch with him and his tennis ball while searching the pool for crickets for the newest addition.... the frog.   The daughter caught the frog we now call Lemon, named by 4 year old granddaughter, on a camping trip.  Having no clue what kind of frog this was, or knowing what to feed it, or most of all what to keep it in, we started our adventure.  It was understood real quick that the tall plastic goldfish aquarium would not keep it prisoner.  Our little Houdini broke out of his jail cell twice in one night narrowly escaping two vehicles and the golden retriever.   It was quickly relocated to a 5 gallon aquarium with a lid duct taped, just in case.  Still in the garage, we've added a designer "cave", rocks, and frog log.  Happy as a frog!!  Daughter cleans the tank and Lemon has not gone AWOL.

After researching the creature, the daughter informs me it is a young, female bullfrog.  Thank goodness "Lemon" is a  fairly gender neutral name.   Yes, the size of the circles behind the eyes indicate male/female.  I know what you were thinking.  Now, we also know the amphibian consumes bugs.  Yippee.  Crickets are abundant in the early morning around the pool, so we (I) take the little tykes bug catcher and snatch up all the crickets I can.  Lemon eats them faster than I can wrestle them in averaging about 10 a day.  Let's try caterpillars and worms... yep gone.  How about dragon flies.... yep.  She said "no" to the sweat bees.  Good thing.  After further research, "do not feed anything with stingers".  Oops.  Yet, still alive.  Hmmmm.  Doesn't fancy spiders or beetle types either.  Did I mention she's very amusing to watch eat?  Oh yes, it's official.  I am attached.

A Female Bullfrog.... only a mother could love.

Problem.  We closed the pool this weekend.  The cricket supply has dried up, at least from me because they are too hard to catch if they are not swimming.  After digging potatoes, she had a tasty worm for a treat, however, the potatoes have all been harvested.  Daughter has to decide.  Will she keep Lemon in the basement (getting her into the house will be another controversial feat) and furnish nourishment for her?  Or do we visit Uncle's pond and return the creature to a natural habitat.  Now I'm wondering if she will eat tuna?  Raw meat?  Turkey lunch meat and Iams dog food were rejected.

Stay tuned.