Still managed to pull THIS off...

Sick as a dog but I still managed to make sure my mom got an awesome birthday cake:



It all started with the candelabra. Found it at Volde-Mart in the 97 cent dump bins by the checkout (the one on Hanley). It is, in fact, a birthday-cake-candelabra for a buck.

I asked Mom what kind of cake she wanted. She waffled, but I understand. If I make a cake she *likes* she'll want to eat lots of it. Since she's diabetic, that's not a great idea. However, I responded by saying, "Oh, don't worry; the topper is going to be the treat.""

Of course, since Mom didn't care about the cake itself, I went ahead and did an experiment. This is my first jell-o cake. Easy peasy: Make a white cake. Poke it with a stick. (My favorite part.) Make up a packet of Jell-o by pouring it into a cup of hot water to dissolve. Once it has dissolved, pour it over the cake and put the whole shebang in the 'fridge. Frost how you like. (I used white whipped canned frosting.)

Thing One supplied the Strawberry-Kiwi Jell-O.

Nom!

Mom did love the topper, and asked breathlessly if she got to keep all the pieces.
Yep. Including the serving plates which are actually from my very first ceramic tea set from my childhood. They're the "plates" from that set. All the cups have been lost or destroyed, but I still have the plates (go figure) and the tea pot and the sugar bowl. (The creamer was long lost.)

The little desserts and foods on the serving plates are those cool shaped eraser toy things that are so popular right now. This was a particularly lovely set of them.

Mom got to take them all home. Yay! Cake!

Local Bookstore, Local artist, Local booksigning

If you haven't been over to All On The Same Page bookstore on Olive, you ought to peek in on it. It's in the plaza with Nivas Thai Cafe and Pumpernickles Deli, just west of the complex with Creve Coeur Cine.

Tomorrow, (Friday, September 7th) is the release party and booksigning for "Reduced" by Robin Tidwell. Robin and her husband own the store, and this is Robin's first novel.

The party is from 4-8pm.

The store is primarily used books, with some new titles as well. I ordered my copy of Sarah Rees Brennan's "Unspoken" (being released on the 11th), as well as two additional copies. (If you are interested, let me know. One of those copies is still available.)

Here's their website. I typed it so all you have to do is click:
http://www.allonthesamepagebookstore.com/