Another week has cruised by in our world. Fairly uneventful until Saturday afternoon, that is. Kristi decided to bake a cake (her first one) outside of the childhood Easy Bake Oven varieties. I was asked to assist and thought ok, this will be easier - less mess than if I tackled it myself (I normally wear batter very nicely).

After she had the mix in the bowl, she realized we had no vegetable oil (one item we forgot as we were setting up new kitchen). She covered the bowl and walked to the local convenience store to purchase the oil.

As she placed all in the bowl, I felt it was a good idea to try out my handy dandy kitchen tool my Aunt had sent over - battery operated one beater (or wisk) hand held mixer (same concept as the one-handed can opener we both love. It worked ok but tended to get bogged down in the batter a bit. The problem came when trying to release the beater.

What was the problem you ask :Ask: There ain't no release button, just the on/off switch. My dear daughter switched it on while holding the unit out of the batter. You're already laughing :roflmao: I can tell :silly: . We were both covered in chocolate splatters. After a good laugh and quick clean up, Kristi proceeded to pour the batter into the baking dish. This is where I always experience the most difficulty so I thought good, this willl be a cinch for her to do. No sooner did I think that and plop, the mixing bowl was in the batter in the baking dish. Again, chocolate everywhere.

Amazingly enough, there WAS enough batter remaining and the cake turned out pretty darn good and all chocolate splatters were removed from us and the kitchen counter, floor, etc.

Crystal was smart and watched the experience from the diningroom chair so she didn't wear any batter.

This week will bring Kristi's 15th birthday; Auntie and cousins are planniing a surprise birthday party for her. She registers for school this week as well. I got her a backpack from ebags.com. They carry Jansports and had one make on sale for a great price. With a click of a few buttons, also got her birthday presents from Amazon.com. One gift has arrived - not sure if others will before her birthday or not.

Nothing else to report from the wacky world of chocolate alias my kitchen.