It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week
with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.
In contrast to last week’s quietness, this week has been pretty busy. Here are some highlights:
1. Grandparents’ Day. We had planned to get together with the family on Sunday. But two people in our church and three at Jason’s place of work tested positive for COVID this week. Just to be extra safe, we decided we should put off getting together. (The adults are vaccinated, but vaccinations aren’t 100% effective. Plus one can carry the virus even if not sick personally. And Timothy has not been vaccinated–and kids can get COVID.) Jason, Mittu, and Timothy dropped off a wonderful meal (ribs, potatoes, green beans, rolls, and cheesecake), plus pink roses for me and beef jerky for Jim.
2. Granddad book. Also for Grandparent’s Day, Jason, Mittu, and Timothy gave me a throw blanket for the living room to replace the one I’ve been using, which is so old the threads are starting to break off. They gave Jim the cutest book called Why My Granddad Is My Super Hero. Each page had a prompt for Timothy to fill in.
3. Jesse’s birthday. Love celebrating the family’s special days.
4. Cake reclamation. Jesse wanted this Lemon Blueberry Cake, which Mittu had made back for his “10,000th day” celebration. Cakes are not my best thing, especially from scratch. And replacing the regular flour with a gluten-free blend doesn’t always go well. But I gave it a try. To make a long story short, it did not go well. There were tears. I didn’t take a picture of it at its worst, but, once I stopped crying about it, we all had a good laugh. My dear daughter-in-law did a wonderful job redeeming it and even making it look cute–and it ended up tasting good, too.
To give you a clue of just one of the MANY things that went wrong in the course of making this cake . . .
. . .when I went to mix the wet stuff with the dry, I dropped the wet stuff bowl, and it splattered.
I so appreciated that Jim, Mittu, and Timothy pitched in to help clean up the kitchen, and Jim did some straightening around the house I hadn’t been able to get to before everyone came over.
5. Cake strips. One thing that did go right! The blogger with the cake recipe recommended cake strips, which you wet and put around the cake pan. Normally my cakes end up thin around the edges and domed in the middle. Evidently that’s because the outside edge cooks more quickly, and the cake strips help avoid that. They worked great! But I’ll share this tip: I bought the kind he recommended from Amazon, but then later I saw them for half the price in Wal-Mart’s craft section.
And a bonus: today there’s nothing on the agenda and nothing that absolutely has to be done, so I’ve already had a nap and am looking forward to some rest.
How was your week?
Stray Thoughts 
Happy birthday to Jesse! I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: if you ever get tired of your daughter-in-law, send her over 🙂 What a gem! I feel for you with the gluten-free cake adventure. I’m sure that would be pretty dicey to try, especially if it’s not something you had already done. Enjoy a restful day today!
You are so lucky to have such a nice relationship with your family ! My DIL is very special, she doesn’t like me I don’t know why or yes I know, she is jaleous. She has not called once to ask how I feel or propose any help and not even to poor Mr. G. when he was in hospital and now in the retirement home. My son and grandson are different, They come and visit us reguarly but she stays in Amsterdam. It took me a while but now I am used to it !
I love the cake – even if it “challenging” – it looks beautiful. Your family is so thoughtful to remember you and your husband on grandparent’s day. Have a good weekend. 🙂
I’m with you — leave the fancy cakes to the pros. Don’t mind the single layer kinds without frosting 🙂 I appreciate that you took the disaster photo. You must’ve known there would be humor in there somewhere in the aftermath. Kudos to your kitchen helpers.
That rib dinner looks scrumptious. Reminds me to get ribs back on the near future menu.
I’ve a (superstar) team member whose two children got covid twice and have recovered very well. Several of her family members also got it but recovered quickly without lingering symptoms.
I tried making Playdough for my students using gluten free flour and it was NOT good. I too ended up in tears. All because the head teacher of the classroom needs to be gluten free. And then when I got to work and told her it didnt’ come out she said Well just use the regular flour and YOU can lead the lesson (which is what I desired all along anyways….hahah…God works in mysterious ways is what went through my mind 🙂 ). I’m glad you have a gem of a daughter in law. And the cake looks gorgeous and Jesse looks happy and that’s a HUGE win, right?
ANd wow…Timothy looks so grown up i the photo. I remember when you first became a grandma. 🙂 Time flies.
I hope you have a nice relaxing weekend, Barbara.
I’m not much of a cake baker either (much prefer pies). My daughter needs gluten free, so we do look for recipes she can eat.
Happy Birthday to Jesse!
That grandpa book sounds like such a sweet gift!
Enjoy the weekend.
More than once, I’ve attempted a gluten free recipe that has failed miserably. I actually just dumped the thing in the garbage. When I tell someone the cake I baked is just ‘okay’, you know it’s really got to go! 😉 Thankfully, I’ve had success stories, too.
I had a baking fail this week too. I made a pecan pie Thursday night for supper here with my in-laws, but it would never set up, no matter how long I kept it in the oven. We finally just ate it with a spoon. lol.
I understand your caution with covid stuff. Even with the vaccines, we’ve been careful again since our hospitals are packed full. Hope you had a good Grandparents’ Day anyway!
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