Sunday Sound Out

Now I bring home SMALL amounts of sand and it's in my carry-on where there's no question about what it is. Where are you headed next? (For the next SSO!) Chris

I wish I hadn't brought home that sand. Oh my gosh did it smell nasty when I got home and opened up that plastic bag! Blech!

And let's see here... I'm not sure where I'm going next. Possibly New Jersey; possibly the nuthouse; if I'm lucky, to bed.

I love Kelli's "I think of recipes as more of guides. This dish is kind of an amalgam of a couple different recipes." :D Hehe....Recipes are more like guidelines.....:) Liz's Random Thoughts http://lizsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/

LOL! Kelli's funny! And she tells the most amazing true stories about her life. Every time I think I've heard it all, she tops it with another wild tale. She has lived through some really incredible stuff in her short years. She needs to finish her book!!! (Hear that, Kelli?) Oh and she did post that recipe on her blog here.

Ahhh, that was SOO funny! Thanks for that. Did you make any of those up? Brilliant! 2OutsideTheBox http://2outsidethebox.blogspot.com/

(This was about the phrases people googled which brought them to my blog.) Yes, yes I sat around one day and thought to myself, "what would be a really funny thing for someone to google in order to find my blog? How about playland pee pants! Yeah, that's the ticket!" LOL - I couldn't make that stuff up if I tried!

A whole bunch of you asked me how I found the keywords that people googled which brought them to my blog.

I use StatCounter.com. I really don't know much about this kind of stuff. I think I just googled stat counters and this popped up. There may be better ones out there. I really don't know. Anyway, I created a free account at statcounter.com. I can login there and see how many impressions my blog gets on any given day, how many of those hits are from new people and how many are repeat visits, what city/state/country they came from, what sites they came from, what keywords brought them to my site, and more. It's kind of fun checking out all that info.

P.S. Have you ever thought of becoming a surrogate mother? 2/19 is the 1 yr birthday of the twins I delivered last year via surrogacy. Rayven http://www.stay-a-stay-at-home-mom.com/

OK, this may sound strange coming from a woman who has given birth to six kids, but I hate being pregnant. I find nothing fun about heartburn, sciatica, weight gain, aching hips and back, bleeding gums, stuffy nose, and giving myself shots in the abdomen twice a day. I think I'll pass.

The question is, what did people do for butt-cleaning, gel-like substance, pee-smelling hamper related questions before Google???Occidental Girl http://the-occidental-tourist.blogspot.com/
4-1-1?

Speaking of moon, do your kids act out worse when there's a full moon? Sherry http://strideright1988.blogspot.com/

Nope, they're pretty much crazy every day.

Runs in the family, huh?? Your parents made you sleep on a shelf, & you make your kids sleep on a shelf! :-) Kim

Oh my gosh how do you remember that post??? That was from a long time ago! I'm impressed.

Our possums look nothing like those lol roseys madhouse http://roseysmadhouse.blogspot.com/

You're in Australia, right? According to my son (the missing Kratt brother) possums live in Australia and Opossums are the only marsupial to live in North America. I found these pictures of the differences...

Opossum from North America - looks like a giant rat

Possum - prevalent in Australia - looks more like a bush baby.

This concludes our zoology lesson. Spin you later!

I wanna know, do which kid get along better with which one? Seems like Clay and Brooklyn are partners in crime :) Corrina

Hmmm, it depends on the day, or hour, or minute sometimes.

OH my GOSH! We had a lunar eclipse here too! We must be looking at the same moon! Weird. *lol* Thanks for making me laugh by saying that you had one there. Erica

Ha ha ha. Although I say stupid things on a regular (daily) basis, I wasn't totally dumb about this one. People in Australia couldn't see this eclipse and folks in parts of Asia and Alaska could only see a little bit of it.

Hi Dawn, I have a few question's for Sunday sound out. #1. How long have you and Joe been married?

Too long

#2. Did he propose to you in a unique way?

I don't remember.

#3. What time do you put the kiddo's to bed on school nights and weekends? Kristine in Michigan.

It doesn't matter when I send them to bed, it always takes another 2-3 hours before they actually fall asleep.

What did you do with the critter? Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life http://lynnewsnyder.blogspot.com/

Possum Stew

one recently caught possum, skinned and cut into small pieces (you can use roadkill scraped off the pavement but be sure it's fresh. If it's covered in flies, don't use it for this recipe. It would be better suited for Possum Hash)

4 medium taters, cubed

3 carrots, sliced thickly

2 ribs celery, sliced thickly

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cans stewed tomaters

4 slices bacon

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon slices in heavy, deep pot until crisp. Remove bacon and crumble. In reserved bacon drippings, cook onion and garlic until tender. Add tateres, carrots, celery, cans of tomaters, salt, pepper, bacon, and possum meat. Bring to boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer on low for 4 hours. Enjoy with a nice jug o' moonshine.

OK a bunch of you guys asked me how I did the cakes. Here goes...

I usually use this recipe for buttercream. I don't know if it's that good or not because I hate frosting. Other people tell me that they like it though.

2 1/2 pounds of 10X powdered sugar

3/4 - 1 c. water

1 t. salt

1 t. clear vanilla

1 t. almond extract

1/2 t. butter flavor

1 c. shortening

(You can use butter in place of the shortening; just omit the butter flavor. Or you can use half and half, butter and shortening. This will not produce a white-white frosting however. Use the shortening if you want pure white like for wedding cakes.)

I dump 2 # sugar in my mixer. Then I add the salt, vanilla, butter, and almond flavorings. I put 3/4 c. water in and blend on low until combined. Scrape down the bowl and add the shortening. Blend until mixed well. Add the last half pound of sugar and blend some more. If the icing is too thick, add a little cold water a T. at a time until it's the desired consistency. Don't overmix or mix on high. You don't want to beat a lot of air into it and you definitely don't want a cloud of powdered sugar to coat every surface in your house.

A crumb coat is a thin layer of buttercream (or you can use other things like piping gel or apricot glaze, but I use buttercream) that you apply to your cake. Any crumbs that come up get stuck in this thin coat of buttercream creating a smooth, crumb-free surface for icing. After letting the crumb coat dry, carefully ice the cake with enough buttercream that you don't scrape down to the surface of the crumb coat thus tearing up bits of cake. I don't think that makes a lot of sense. It's a lot easier to show someone than it is to explain it in writing.

I make my icing smooth by letting it set up just a bit, then using a smooth, untextured paper towel, I gently rub over the surface of the cake. Again, hard to explain in writing. The next time I make a cake, I'll try to remember to video tape it.

How in the world do you find the time for such cake masterpieces? Have you figured out how to add hours to the day?? haggardmom http://haggardmom.blogspot.com/

No and I've been working around the clock to try and figure that out! If anyone here knows how to add hours to your day, please, please, please (I'm begging you!) let me know!

Wow!!! Excellent job! Did you take a class? I can't even get icing on the cake without tearing the cake up. Angie

I did actually. I took 2 continuing education cake decorating classes at a local college for fun about 13 years ago.

Is there anything you CAN'T do?!?!!! fourmonsters

Let's see... I can't finish everything I need to do on a daily basis. I can't stop procrastinating. I can't lose more than 3 pounds apparently. I can't sing. Seriously. It's scary how bad I sound. I'd make a Youtube video of me "singing", but I had to promise the US government that I would never sing in public. Part of some noise pollution bill or something...

Here's MY question...did your red frosting taste bitter? If not, how did you manage to get Red Red (and not pink) without the taste being just awful? Stretch Mark Mama http://stretchmarkmama.blogspot.com/

Nope. I used no-taste red coloring from Wilton. Totally not Feingold approved, btw.

Question for the Sunday Shout Out: What do you do when all the kids want a "corner piece" of cake? (I try to keep some extra buttercream in the fridge so that all of my pieces are corner pieces...lol!) Kim W.

Actually, they don't all ask for a corner piece, but if they did I'd probably say something nice and comforting like, "Eat it and like it! There are starving people around the world who would be thankful for any piece of cake!"

Do you make cakes for people outside your family? You could have a whole (very profitable) side business going!! BarbJ

I used to, but it was really not profitable. I takes a loooong time to do each cake and at the prices I charged, it was so not worth it. I began to dislike making cakes when I was doing them every weekend. Plus, people tend to frown when they pick up their cake and there are little kid fingerprints in it.

I'm with the cupcake makers - and my poor Jib had to have her cupcakes decorated by her big sisters, because I waited til the last minute and didn't have time! I'm a terrible mother... Julie http://juliekirbyblog.blogspot.com/

You're not at all a terrible mother! I just really enjoy making cakes for my kids, but let me tell ya, there have been many a time when I had Savannah slap some frosting and sprinkles on cupcakes because I just didn't have the time or energy to make a cake for some function.

OMG, you are one talented woman! You rock! Happy Birthday kids! Who is gong to make your cake for your birthday? Sue http://ascapecodturns.blogspot.com/

Ewww, no cake here. I'd prefer a birthday tirimisu or a birthday cookie or a birthday margarita thankyouverymuch.

YOU'RE MY HERO. (remember that line from Ferris Bueller?) Margee

But of course!!! LOL!

For Sunday:What are (in your pictured opinion) the best birthday cakes you have made? And do you like to eat/work with fondant? Chelf http://chelfspace.blogspot.com/

I've used fondant in the past, but I'm not real proficient at it. I think fondant, when done well, looks awesome and you can do so much with it, but I don't really care to eat it. Wilton makes a premade, packaged fondant that tastes like glue. My own recipe is a million times better, but I still find it strange to eat a cake topped with something chewy.

I don't know that these are my best cakes, but here are a few pictures I found...

Hmmm you really can't see the details of the lace and the morning glories. Oh well.

Here's the other Nemo cake I was talking about.

Sorry it's crooked. This one was one of the best. It had a removable corsage of gum paste flowers and ribbon. It was covered in fondant and had ribbon insertion, and delicate string work (that's hard to see in the picture).

I'm ready!

A wedding cake - hard to see detail

A princess castle cake I made for Savannah a long time ago. Ugh, I wish the detail showed up better. Oh well. You get the general idea.

Just monkeyin' around

A birdhouse with chocolate dough roses

A cake for a benefit at the Arlington Park race track

Cheeseburger in paradise...