The Cakes Go Marching One by One, Hurrah

My post from Sunday sort of mentioned this already, but I cannot let the month of March go by without mentioning all the birthdays that happened.

This year was a big year with several of us hitting milestone birthdays. My Grampy turned 80 on March 3rd. On the same day, my Uncle Gary turned 50. Jeffrey and I both turned 25 this month, he on March 13th and I on March 6th. My brother turned 22 on March 8th, which was also Jeffrey's and my anniversary.

There were several people in the family who turned 39 (again) this year, including my Aunt Lisa (March 17th) and my grandpa's "special friend" (we're not allowed to call her his girlfriend) on March 6th.

Have you lost count yet? Don't worry, so has the rest of the family. This is the real March Madness. With all these March birthdays, it's better if we all just get together on one day and celebrate with a round of:

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear grampygarylaurengregoryjeffreyhelenchrislisaandanyoneelse
Happy birthday to you.

This year everyone even got his or her own cake. Of course, mine was the Plumber's crack cake, so it wasn't much to look at, but it sure was easy to cut.

By the way, if you notice my sister and my dad (unfortunately born in November and December) sulking in the corner in some of these pictures, it's because they say, "March feels just like a bad version of Christmas because everybody gets presents...except for us."

It's a piece of cake

I just read a hilarious email from a college friend who caught us up on her work and personal life happenings and then ordered Jeffrey to tweet more, and reminded me that I hadn't posted about my cake class.

Casey, this one's for you.

Let's revisit the "before" cake...

Cute, colorful, simple. Nothing very impressive, though. Hopefully you'll see the improvement as we go along.

In cake class one we decorated cookies. Some of our creations:



Cake class two we did a one layer cake with some little flowers.




Cake class three was more flowers on cupcakes.



Cake class four was icing roses. The holy grail of cake decorating. Before I show you my cake, I'll have to do a little explaining. Each time we went to class, we had to drive our plain cookies/cupcakes/cakes over to Michael's, braving rush hour's texting teens and aggressive soccer moms' vans. This wasn't too much trouble when it was just cookies and cupcakes, but for the last class, we had to bring a two layer cake.

In an attempt to save a little time, I hadn't leveled my cake. I thought I'd be able to correct any height discrepancies with icing. Had I been thinking scientifically (Why didn't I pay attention in Physics class?!?), I would have realized that not leveling the cake put lots of stress on the center of the cake, and the pressure in the center coupled with the vibration of the car ride over equals...

It's Not My San Andreas Fault Cake



If you look carefully at the pictures, there are dark spots under the flowers where the cake cracked. The split was at first concealable with gaudy globs of icing, but after a trip to Abilene for a March birthday extravaganza, it became...

The Plumber's Crack Cake (with roses!)

I made lots of jokes about the cake being "pre-cut" and "perforated, for easy serving," but honestly I was a little disappointed in my final cake. It was supposed to be my magnum opus, and instead it was more of a magnum oops-us. Luckily, I have a chance to redeem myself this weekend because I'm making a cake for a baby shower. Hopefully it will be a piece of cake!

Life Isn't Fair

Life isn't fair. There are injustices every day. But if you ever feel that life has just gone too far, the injustices too great, there is nothing fair left in the world...

go to the fair!!!

The fair is the solution for unfairness. There is no way that you can feel bad about the grade you got on a test when you see a carnival worker. (You'll end up feeling much worse about the fact that he's 24 years old and only has 4 teeth left.)

You can't be upset about the divisions in politics and the bureaucracy that weighs down change when you're staring down a funnel cake's divisions of greasy, fried goodness weighed down by pounds of powdered sugar.

And you can't feel tossed by the waves of fate while watching a cowboy be tossed around by a 2000 pound bull.

The fair is a lovely place. I'm so glad we got to go, eat funnel cake, hang out with friends, and enjoy the ride!

Wet Paint

And the award for worst blogger in March goes to....Lauren Edwards!!!

Sorry for the two week break. I know all of you are DYING to know what's going on in my life. Ha.

Well, this won't be a great post to catch you up on what's been going on, but it will make you scratch your head. Here goes...

Today while riding the elevator up to the fourth floor, I noticed this sign:

Let's think about this for a moment. If the sign says, "Wet paint, elevator doors fourth floor," doesn't that mean that the elevator doors on every floor are wet?

Because it's the same elevator that goes to all the floors. And the doors go with it.

Oh my.

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

My brother popped the question on Saturday...

And she said, "YES!"




We couldn't be happier for the newly betrothed couple. It was fun to get to be part of the immediate celebration. Wedding pictures coming this Fall/Winter!

Insert Clever Title For Blog Post Here

Two updates:

1.) Regarding Lauren's post entitled, "Snow Way," it actually did snow in San Antonio on 04-Feb-2011 - so much so that every single highway in San Antonio shut down for 12+ hours! Who knew things could get that crazy down here!? Lauren was (rightfully) given the day off by her authorities, and she spent the morning and afternoon relaxing, watching "Saved By the Bell," and playing outside with Dixie. I, however, "volunteered" (read: was coerced) to trudge the 2.5 icy and perilous miles from our house to the hospital because no one - and I almost mean that literally - was able to get to the hospital. The other 3rd-year medical student and I were forced into action as temporary mini-residents for the day, which was actually very fun. And scary. And tiring. I now have even more respect for the residents than I already did, and I am anticipating/dreading the moment when in 1.5 years I am given all of that responsibility on a daily basis. But long story short...it actually did snow and the city shut down. The End.

2.) It is 03-Mar-2011 and I have yet to consume a french fry in the current calendar year. That is all.


Until next time...


Good night, and good luck

--Jeffrey D. Edwards

I'd rather go to the dentist

Lots of people say that they'd rather go anywhere than to the dentist. My friend Lacie found one who'd rather go to the dentist than where he has to go.

Her patient (we'll call him Mr. X) was a good patient who came in regularly and was almost finished with his treatment. The last thing he needed was a crown. Lacie explained to him that it would take her one appointment to prepare his tooth for the crown and get an impression, then she would put a temporary crown on him until the lab made the real one. He would come back for a second appointment to get the real crown put on.

Unfortunately, the next time he came to school (to have the real crown put on) he had a full set of braces on. He proudly said to Lacie, "Look what I got!"

She said, "I can't put your crown on until I talk to your orthodontist!"

So that day he left without any treatment. Lacie talked to his orthodontist and got the all-clear to put the crown on, so she scheduled an appointment with Mr. X for a few days later. Lacie got a call the next day.

Mr. X: Lacie, um...I had something come up. Is there any way I can get that crown put on tomorrow?

Lacie: Well, I already have another patient scheduled for tomorrow. Is it an emergency?

Mr. X: Yeah, sort of. There's a warrant out for my arrest, so I pretty much need to hurry and turn myself in before they come get me.

Lacie: [Thinking to herself--So glad I gave this ex-convict my cell phone number. I wonder what he's in for...] Well, I guess I can shuffle some things around and get you in tomorrow.

Mr. X: Thanks! 'Cause I'm probably going to be in there for 3 years or so, so I want to get everything taken care of before I go in.

Lacie: [Seriously, what did he do???] Ok, great. See you tomorrow.

Lacie told me the next day that her biggest dilemma was what to say as her patient left that appointment.

See you later...um...or, until next time...oh...uh...good luck...uh...

(I suggested, "Don't drop the soap," but she didn't think that was good either.)

Hope you have the (hard) time of your life, Mr. X!

Ruffles and Flowers

Almost every woman in my young marrieds class at church is pregnant, most of them with baby girls. Several of my friends from my home church in Abilene are pregnant, too, lots of them with little girls. I want a little girl!!!

But of course, the whole dental school thing would probably get in the way of getting pregnant and having a baby right now. (Can you imagine how hard it would be to reach my patients' mouths with a 9 month pregnant belly? I would find myself saying, "Sir, could you please rest your head on my stomach so I can reach you?" Probably would get a few points taken off on my professionalism grade for that.)

So, those who can't do, sew!

I found a picture online of a little onesie turned sundress and decided I had to make some. Here are the results...



Some of them are so cute I can't look at them directly for fear of bursting into tiny tears of cuteness overload. Now imagine them with a little chubby baby inside.

Awww!!

My mom delivered one of the dresses and one of the burpees to a friend at a shower last weekend. She called to tell me that everyone loved them, and that the grandmother of the girl recommended that I quit dental school and become a baby clothes designer. All this pink is making me think about it!