Four is Twice as Many as Two and Other Brilliant Realizations of the Past 24 Hours

Some days, I think I am one smart cookie. Other days...not so much. Yesterday was one of the latter. A list:

1. Four is twice as many as two, and when you are baking cakes it might as well be quadruple. Tomorrow is the Fall Festival at school, and somehow I managed to fill out forms for both kids saying I would bake two cakes for the cake walk. I've done two the past two years, but four just adds a whole new dimension. I had to set them up assembly line style:

 I also went with the very simple cartoon rocket from the school's logo:

Even that was a stretch by the time I was on cake four.

2. I made chicken vegetable soup for dinner last night, and the recipe called for fresh corn removed from the cob and then for the cobs to be added to the soup for a while for flavor. I had some beautiful corn from the Produce Box, so this seemed reasonable. However, I detest cutting corn from the cob because it goes everywhere. But last night, I figured out that if I laid the corn down horizontally instead of with the ear pointing up it makes no mess! I'm sure the rest of the world discovered this long ago, but it was an epiphany for me. By the way, the soup was delicious.

3. Don't send a kindergarten boy to see if the dog made a mess. I knew Neela had been way too quiet this morning. When I don't see her and she's quiet, I know there is a problem. If she is sleeping, she is where ever we are. The quiet could only mean trouble. I sent Evan up to check, and he came down and reported everything was just fine and she was just sitting in the playroom looking out the window. Hmmm...not her usual MO. Then I went up to put away some laundry, and I found a coloring book torn to shreds on the playroom floor. When I asked my dear sweet boy about it, he announced, "Oh...you meant that kind of mess. Yeah, she destroyed an old coloring book, but I don't mind." Issa's response: "Well, at least it was one we had already colored and left on the floor to take to the recycling." I had no words, but I did realize that perhaps we need to work on the playroom this weekend.