More Adventures in Baking

It's been a while since I've been "moved" by a recipe that I just had to try.  I stumbled across a recipe for Royal Blue Velvet Cake.  It screamed at me to try it.  I mean, look at how beautiful it is!

From Google images

And who doesn't love Red Velvet cake?  So why wouldn't blue, which is the exact same thing with blue food coloring (and a touch of violet) instead of red, be fabulous too?  I had to try it.

Then I ran into a little issue with no cake pans.  We have eight million cooking implements - some that I don't even know how to use - but no cake pans?  How does that happen?

So I decided to make cupcakes instead.  I'm a problem solver, if nothing else.

They're more Cookie Monster colored than Royal Blue, but they're okay.

They even taste okay, but that's about it.  Just okay.

I was going to attempt the amazing marshmallow creme frosting, but since I didn't get started baking until time for The Walking Dead, guess what's not happening.  I'll buy a jar of pre-made frosting on my way into work tomorrow and my co-workers can frost their own damn cupcakes.

Well, they were worth a try, but I don't think I'll be attempting them again.  I'll stick with my rainbow cupcakes - they're prettier and taste better.

Perpetual Motion

It's about this time every year that I start feeling just completely overwhelmed.  That's not such a good thing so early in the year, is it?  Since this happens every year, I know I'll get through it, but until I get a handle on everything that needs to be done, I just feel like a hamster on a wheel - running, running, never getting any where.

Yesterday was my "official" start of the spring 9HealthFair season.  For the next five Saturdays, I'll be teaching phlebotomy to nursing students.  We have 75 new nursing students taking the class and another 30 or so coming to the refreshers.  I do this every year and have an amazing team to help me with the classes.  In twelve hours of class time split up over a two day period, the students go from "theoretically" knowing how to draw blood to completing 25 sticks.  It is not physically difficult for me to teach, I can do it in my sleep at this point, but it is absolutely, 100% emotionally draining.  Thank God I have my Amanda and Jessica and Jennifer to help me out - I couldn't do it without them.

Yesterday's class of 25 students went suspiciously well, and that bothers me.  We only had one crier, but no fainters, or egotists, or just plain lousy sticks.  Why should it bother me that it went so well?  It means that the "crazy" class is still out there.  Crazy can come in many forms, but we always have one class with at least one crazy.  Since we didn't get the crazy class out of the way yesterday, that means that it can happen in any of the next five weeks.  Pray for me.

In addition to 9HealthFair season starting on Saturday, my classes ended Thursday, which means I have to complete all of my grading by noon tomorrow.  Everything is done except for reading their papers.  Forty-six of them.  Can you tell I'm stalling?  What has happened to the ability to research, comprehend, and integrate information into a cohesive paper?  It's a lost art, I tell you.  Absolutely lost and I'm not sure we can get it back.

AND...my new classes start tomorrow.  Three completely different classes that need to be set up in the LMS (learning management system); three syllabi that need to be updated/revised; three sets of lectures/labs that need to be polished.  By 8:30 tomorrow morning when class starts.

So, to recap:

• Five more weeks of phlebotomy classes for nursing students (completely separate from my regular classes)
• Forty-six papers to read/grade
• Final grades must be calculated once said papers are graded
• Three different classes need to be set up and ready to go in about thirteen hours
• The Walking Dead starts in eleven minutes

Who needs to sleep?  I took a nap today anyway.  Because when the going gets overwhelming, the overwhelmee takes a nap.

Snow, snow, snow

I'm over it.

Even tonight's very beautiful, very light and fluffy snow that looks like God is sprinkling glitter over the earth.

I shouldn't whine, but I'm going to.  One of the very bestest things about Colorado is that the snow comes and then the sun shows up and melts the snow and we have a few good days of really pretty weather.  Only, this go 'round, the sun forgot to come out and play. 

And the damn snow keeps falling.

And falling.

And falling.

We haven't even hit our snowiest months yet, either.  Guess drought isn't going to be much of a problem for us this summer.  But run-off is going to be a bitch, which is exactly what we don't need after the flood damage.

Please come back to play, Sun.

Please.