TheBanyanTree: Go Ahead and Laugh - I Would If It Were YOU!!

[Jodene]

Very entertaining!   LMAO

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 30, 2011, at 7:30 PM, Pam Lawley <pamj.lawley at gmail.com> wrote:

> Several weeks ago I stumbled on a new recipe, somewhere on the  
> internet
> while I was surfing blogs and looking for recipes!  This one was a  
> chocolate
> pudding served in 'chocolate bowls'!  The woman raved about how easy  
> they
> were, and that they were something kids could get into doing as well!!
> There were photos to accompany the recipe - and yep!, there were  
> children
> holding small water balloons, blown up, and then dipped in chocolate  
> and set
> out to harden.  *I* could do that!!!!!!
>
> But alas, all this time has passed and I haven't gotten around to it  
> yet!
> (Not that I haven't spent hours and hours in the kitchen making  
> things -
> just not those!)  But I'm having some chicks over this weekend for a  
> silly
> jewelry party, and I thought it would be the perfect time.  I'm also  
> making
> a couple of different flavors of cupcakes so that I have somewhere  
> to put
> the couple of different flavors of Swiss meringue buttercream  
> frostings that
> I want to try!!  (The irony here with all these desserts is that the  
> party
> is probably going to bomb!!!  I didn't realize until this week that  
> the 2nd
> of October was THIS WEEKEND, and the consultant hadn't brought me any
> invites to give out that might have reminded so, I dunno how many  
> will show
> up..)
>
> Anyway, because I'm going to have to spend Sunday morning sprucing  
> up the
> house, and my husband and I are going with friends to the local  
> 'Seafood
> Festival' tomorrow, I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time to get
> things made.  So I made the first batch of cupcakes last night and  
> froze
> them, and then came home from work today and made the second and  
> tossed them
> into the freezer as well.  I'll pull them all out first thing Sunday  
> morning
> so they can thaw.  And then I'll make the frostings.  Each kind will  
> take
> about 25 minutes in the mixer, but most importantly I want them to be
> 'fresh' since there are a dozen ways to screw it up!
>
> Also, months ago I'd been in a store and seen water balloons so I'd
> purchased them then to have 'em when I was ready.  And tonight I was  
> ready.
> Unfortunately, blowing them up proved to be a challenge I wasn't  
> ready for.
> Ever tried blowing up those tiny balloons?!  They're a PITA in the  
> best of
> circumstances, but if one's mouth doesn't close correctly because  
> one is
> dealing with their second round of Bell's Palsy in four months, then  
> it
> makes blowing them up impossible.  I tried squeezing my lips  
> together with
> my other hand but the squeeze also kept my lips shut too tightly to  
> do any
> blowing and all I manged was to spray spit all over the balloon!  So I
> waited for my husband and asked him to do it.  He couldn't tie them  
> - but I
> could!, so we made quite a team!!
>
> When I had about a dozen blown up (they were small) and stashed in a  
> giant
> Tupperware bowl with a couch pillow over them so they wouldn't float  
> away, I
> stopped him and told that was probably enough for the chocolate I  
> had.  And
> I already had a plastic container of leftover chocolate from the  
> last cake
> pops I'd made.  So far, so good.
>
> I wiped the balloons off (lest there be any lingering talc or  
> anything on
> them [I remember something about that from the blog I read]), and  
> then I
> dipped the first balloon.  I was twirling it when the balloon  
> popped.  It
> liked to have scared the crap out of me, but worse - ever seen the  
> mess a
> balloon coated in chocolate and then popped can make?!?!?!??!
>
> I spooned out the chocolate blob of balloon mess from the bowl, and  
> then I
> proceeded to wipe down the walls.  Damn!  Must have been a faulty  
> balloon!
> Or maybe it was blown up too big and stretched too tight!  I tried  
> another.
>
> And then stopped to wipe down the counter and my arms.
>
> Double-damn!!!!!!!
>
> Okay.  Was the chocolate too hot?!  No, I tested it and it was, at  
> worst,
> luke warm.  So I had my husband blow up a couple of more, only  
> smaller.
>
> Triple-damn!!!!!  Chocolate under the cabinets, on the coffee machine
> machine, my plants by the window, and splats all over the kitchen  
> floor.
> And my arms.
>
> I hope you're laughing out loud as you read this and really, really  
> enjoying
> yourself!!  Please!!  Let the entertainment value of the story have  
> made all
> the frustration worth it!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Finally I yelled, 'screw it!!!', and went to find my shoes to go to  
> the
> store and find another brand of balloons!!!!!!!  I'd taken a break and
> checked the internet... I couldn't find the original blog, but I  
> *did* watch
> two videos on YouTube - one was a 'grandma' who really needed to have
> straightened up the kitchen behind her, and another was a really hot  
> chick's
> really professional looking video!  NEITHER one though mentioned any  
> issues
> with balloons popping!!!  Bee-otches!!!
>
> So my husband went with me and we drove to the closest store to us - a
> Dollar General just down the street.  And they had water balloons!!   
> I got a
> bag, and then got another bag of 'assorted' sizes from the party  
> section,
> just to make sure I had options!!!  (And then, because we were  
> there, we
> wandered around and found a few other things we HAD to have -  
> including a
> pair of gardening gloves on the '50% off' rack, and a bag of fire  
> ant killer
> - this *is* eastern NC!!)
>
> Miraculously, the new balloons worked as advertised!!  Out of the  
> eleven I
> dipped and set out, only ONE MORE popped!!!  (I'm sure the chick who  
> comes
> to clean Tuesday is going to find chocolate in some pretty strange  
> places
> that I'm sure I missed wiping down!!!)  I carried the pans to the  
> fridge in
> the garage and set them inside to set for ten minutes or so.  Then I
> *CAREFULLY* popped the balloons and watched in amazement as they  
> shriveled
> right up and pulled away from the 'dish'!!  TOO COOL!!
>
> And then, because it was only nine o'clock, I decided to go ahead  
> and get
> the pudding made.  I had to whisk the mixture in a pan for
> several minutes waiting for it to thicken, and several minutes is long
> enough for my little brain to wander and think about everything but  
> pudding.
> Like...... huh, wonder why there's that circle of crud on the flat-top
> stove of 'stuff'... I washed it down good last night and this must  
> not have
> come up!  Huh.  Wonder if I could scrape it off?!  Huh.... maybe I  
> should
> try!?  Just stick up my pointy little finger and rub it on the stove's
> surface and see if I can clean it up while I'm stirring the HOT  
> mixture on
> the same stove top BECAUSE I AM A DITZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> So now I have a blister on my fingertip.  And this is the SECOND  
> blister
> I've gotten from rubbing my finger on top of the HOT stove!!!!!!!!
>
> Are you laughing?!/!?!  You should be!  Heaven knows that I would be
> laughing at you!!!!!!!!!!