When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she wasted no time in telling me that she wanted to ONLY invite her two favorite people: Holly and Caroline.
I have always thrown big crazy parties for the kids' birthdays. Now, both girls have had their most recent parties with only a few kids and I've decided that it is the way to go. Fo Sho, Baby! It's so very easy ... so little effort ... such happy kids. It's perfect.
Last night was lots of fun. The girls got along ... they included Nate and Sarah ... the sounds of happiness rang through the house (mostly).
You can see pictures HERE.
Also, I baked a $50 cake.
It looked like this:
My heart hurts just thinking about it. Basically, Williams-Sonoma hoodwinked me. In a rush -- an I-have-five-minutes-to get-back-to-the-school-to-pick-up-the-kids-but-first-I-have-to-pick-up-this-cake-pan-before-the-party kind of a rush -- I ran into my local WS to buy the $29.99 cake pan while it was 20% off. I ran in, grabbed the pan, got to the counter only to be told that the 20% was only if I bought the pan and the cake mix together. Without thinking I say 'fine give me a cake mix', handed the chick my credit card, signed that bugger and boogied out of the store while patting myself on the back for being so speedy.
As I'm speed-walking to my car I start to do the math and think to myself something along the line of ... "Pan was $30 ... bill was ... wait ... what was that final number?? How much was that cake mix?" I got in the car, pulled out the cake mix and read $9.99 and had a mild heart attack. That, to me, is outrageous. I was just in Kroger and saw a box of cake mix on sale for $0.75!
In my rushy rushy brain I start to rationalize. Well (I say to myself) it was $10 ... but I got 20% off ... so it was $8 ... still not a great price ... I start to feel foolish. Why didn't I look closer while I was still in the store? What was I thinking? Also, I'm thinking that I NEED to get to school on time and I wish I could catch more green lights and I wish that the dude in front of me would close the gap a little. So -- in that instant -- I decide that I'm going to return the whole thing. I'm taking it back. Paige can learn to love a different cake. I'm sure she will. I put the pan, mix, and receipt on the backseat and continue driving.
Flash forward two days. There are still two pricey boxes and a receipt frozen in my backseat, only one day until the party, no other cake ordered, and one daughter walking around telling me how much she wants a giant cookie cake for her birthday. I'm sure you see where this is going. You are right. I decided to swallow my pride and keep the stinkin' stuff.
Now, if you are anything short of a math flunkie you will be asking yourself another question. "Becky, if the pan costs $30 and the mix is $10 ... how can you call it a $50 cake?" Well, my clever little friend, I can call it that because I CAN'T READ. When I finally decided to save the hassle and keep the cake I had to go out to my freezing car and bring it all in the house. I had to face the box. And ... when I finally started reading the box ... can you guess what I saw? I saw a '1'. One little '1' squeezed in between the '$' and the '9' on the box of cake mix. Seriously. I threw up a little.
That stinkin' cake mix did not cost me a dreaded Ten Dollars as I thought. That stinkin' cake mix was TWENTY DOLLARS! Twenty. 20. 1-2-3-4-5-6-...TWENTY! (I'm sorry, Frank.)
At this point I was just over it. I rationalized like this: I'm having an itsy bitsy party. Tiny, really. I spent next to nothing to throw it. I'm keeping the damned cake for the simple fact of saving myself the time and effort of trying to take it back. Period. AND ... it better be the best cake I've ever tasted. The kids better be licking their fingers and begging for more. It better be good, Williams-Sonoma, you hear me??
(Also, my math-minded friends, let's not forget that I actually paid 20% less -- only $40 -- for my sins. It's all much more dramatic when I make it a flat $50. That's the way I roll. Live with it.)
So, in the end, I baked the cake with little problem. The raw batter was delicious (and I was secretly pleased that I made it while the kids were at school so that I could lick the spoon myself). It turned out to be a heavy cake -- kind of like a huge brownie. The icing was tasty. The whole thing was SWEET. One piece is enough. The batter was better than the final product. The kids barely ate it and I found myself suppressing the urge to somehow salvage the remaining bits of $50 (I know, $40) cake from their plates. It was like throwing away tiny piles of gold dust.
My recommendation to you: If you ever get the desire to bake a humongous Oreo cookie cake, please call me. You can use my pan. Buy your cake mix on sale at Kroger. But, please please, use my pan. Make me feel like I'm getting my money's worth out of it.
That's it. Enjoy the photos. Thanks for reading........
-B
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