Blog Feature: Why I Read the Blogs I Read

Currently I'm being (wonderfully) distracted by Batman: the Animated Series which was a birthday gift this year from Sam & Holly. I'm at a loss on what to update because all I can think of is the episode I just watched ("You're gonna melt like a griiiilled cheese sandwich Batman!" - Joker) and the fact that I all I want is to watch more.

So....

Feature!

This time around is Cake Wrecks. CW has become more and more popular over this past year and a half, so you may already be familiar with this one (plus, I talk about it. a lot. and reference it.) I actually found it haphazardly through Dave's blog and have been pretty attached to it ever since.

CW's premise is simple. In Jen's own words: "A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places."

For example: currently the one being featured is this cake that is entirely covered in sprinkles. Entirely. And then come to find out they're not even really sprinkles - it's a photocopy of an edible image of sprinkles.

Or much simpler (and my favorite recent one) a customer bought two cakes from a bakery and requested they write Happy Birthday on both. And when she went to pick up the cakes and glanced at them she saw "Happy Birthday on Both" actually written out on the cakes. On both cakes. And apparently the bakery refused to fix it because it was what she had asked for.
....
That my friends is the kind of thing that happens at CW's. :)

The awesome thing about CW's though isn't always the cakes as much as it is Jen and John's commentary. That, however, you just have to keep up with the blog to see.
(They're hysterical. Trust me.)

But while the commentary and the misguided cakes are amusing on their own what really keeps me coming back to CW's is their Sunday Sweets. Sunday's are the exception to their "cake wreck" rule - it's the one day they will pick a theme and feature the best of the best in cakes under that category.

Some examples:
Threadcakes (Inspired by Threadless.com)
When Mario Marries (LOVE! LOVE THIS ONE!)
Downright Gorgeous
Pirate Cakes (This is one of my personal favorites of all the sweets).

Seriously, I could look through them and post them for hours, so I'll spare you.

As you can see, they range drastically in topic. There are Ghostbusters sweets, holiday sweets, book sweets, weddings, craft sweets, sport sweets.... While I may not read through every daily blog they post (although admittedly, I usually do) I will always be there on Sundays. The bakers never fail to impress and Jen & John never fail to point out the difficult details each cake entailed.

There you go. Much love to CW's and the daily entertainment and enjoyment they provide. And now I'm going to settle down with one last episode of Batman:TAS for the night.

Blog Feature: Why I Read the Blogs I Read

I've considered this for awhile, but today seems the perfect time to try it. I'm so excited I'm a bit scatterbrained, so this post may weave around a bit.

Why do I read A Plumb Crazy Life? For starters, they're my cousins, (and they're awesome) but let's look at the backstory for their blog.

My cousin Brian & his wife Shannon, are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia and the simple version is that this is their story of that process. But I have learned more about international adoption and adoption in general through their blogs and through ones that they read themselves. I have learned more about the good, the bad and the ugly of the whole process than I thought I would have ever be interested in. And I love it.

Today's the perfect day to bring this up because today they RECEIVED THEIR REFERRAL. Yes, that has to be in all caps. The referral (as I've learned through their's and others attached) is when you receive for the first time information on your soon-to-be child. They requested a boy, they requested a baby, but that's all they knew. The referral is when you first receive a name, an age, a history, pictures, video, everything. It's incredibly important and emotional. This is your child. And then the hard part follows: now you have to wait until you pass through court to actually receive him. Ah! Here's your child- in a few months, whenever the court decides, then you'll get to finally hold him. o_O

I can't help but add my response to this because it caught me so off-guard. Let's face it - there's pieces of my heart that never really engage. Don't misinterpret that- it's not that I don't care or I don't love someone or I wouldn't fight to defend or protect them. But there's just pieces that never respond despite that. But this afternoon I got a sneak peek at a picture and I was shocked to feel myself leap with joy all over the place inside. He's so cute. I mean, all smiles. Curly, curly hair.

And while I've read over and over that adoption has to be selfish in a way, the parent has to want the child, etc. It can't just be "oh, I'm helping a kid out" because there's often struggles with bonding in cases like that, but I think I can't help but respond to they're helping an orphan. This kid will have a whole new life. He'll have a whole family.

Yes, there will be struggles. I have no doubt there'll be painful situations later. But for now, for now, joy, rapture, glee... He'll be their baby! He'll be one of my kids.

And now for those that pray, the request: a court date before the rainy season. During the rainy season, court completely shuts down for a month or more, and they may have to wait until October or November if that happens. O_O So...court date, court date, court date!

Tomorrow I get to see pictures! Sadly, we can't share online (I don't think) until he's officially theirs. But I get to see them! Bwahahaha!