Chocolate Disaster and All-American Dolls

Actually, I started the morning with Blueberry Pancakes and a very interesting Brunch With the Beatles. A museum in New Hope was hosting a gallery of John Lennon's art work. Yoko Ono herself gave an interview on the show discussing John's art and how important it was to him. In between the interviews, they played John songs, from his years with the Beatles ("Ain't She Sweet," "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Come Together," "Revolution") and on his own ("Instant Kharma," "Mind Games," "Imagine," "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," "Woman," "Just Like Starting Over"). I tried calling Mom during the show, but  she didn't pick up - I figured she was either doing something with my nephews, or in the garden.

After I cleaned up breakfast, I put on the original cast album for Ain't Misbehavin' and changed the American Girl dolls into either red, white, and blue or American-themed outfits for the 4th of July. I left Felicity in the white dress with the blue flowers she was wearing, but I did give her a summer hat. Molly's now in her Camp Gowanigan uniform, with the cute sailor shirt and red shorts. Josefina sports her dark blue striped "school" skirt (actually, she never went to school - her aunt taught her), camisa, and red sash. I put Samantha in her sailor-themed Middy Dress. My modern doll Jessa just has a red T-shirt, jean shorts, and Springfield Collection socks and sneakers on.

I did finally get a hold of Mom later in the afternoon as I had a late lunch. Mom was, indeed, watching my nephew Skylar. She was baking blueberry cobbler as he played Wii. She was happy that Dad was out fishing and out from underfoot while she works on her garden and tries to decide what to do about that empty room.

It was just cloudy during Brunch With the Beatles. By the time I was dressing the dolls, we were in the midst of a full-blown storm. The storm calmed down enough by quarter after 2 for me to ride to work and only get a little wet.

Work was steady all afternoon; busy, but nothing like yesterday. We had plenty of help and no really major problems, especially once the rain ended and the sun came out. I actually got out a few minutes early.

When I got home, I thought I'd try to make cupcakes to take to work. I didn't have the time to make them from scratch, so I thought I'd use a cake mix. That was a mistake. I must have put too much batter in the cups. They overflowed and got too huge...and when I pulled them out to check them, they collapsed! And then I tried to make them less mushy by cooking them a bit more, but I got caught up reading and overcooked them. The bottoms are mushy and too sweet the tops are burnt. I can keep at least some of them, but I'm going to have to be more careful next time. Maybe I'll just see if I can make a plain old muffin from scratch tomorrow or Tuesday.