Maybe Baby???

No, don't pass out. I said that I was not having any more children and I meant it. The two I have, the wonderful little weirdos, are quite enough - thank you very much. No, I was actually thinking of starting my own from-home business. BabyCakes Custom Cupcakes. Whadaya think?
Yes, I know cupcakes are not by any stretch of the imagination diet food. But I'm not on a diet, anyways. And as far as I'm concerned a cupcake free existance is not a life I'm willing to contemplate. Woman cannot live by lettuce alone! Believe me, I've tried.
Now, hear me out. I want to use all natural and organic ingredients and show that while cupcakes may never be called health food, they don't have to be toxic either. No one should feel guilty about eating a sweet every now and then. After all, kids aren't going to quite having birthday parties, graduations,and school parties. And unfortunately well-meaning friends of brides and new moms are not going to stop throwing showers. I do hate a shower, but that's another story. Suffice it to say that I am all for celebrating milestones, but I will buy you a much nicer gift if I don't have to guess the new babies name and drink flat punch from a paper cup. Just sayin'
So my new business would consist of custom cupcake orders. People could pick them up at my house, meet me in town, or I would even be willing to deliver them to local schools and/or businesses. I don't like to brag, but I can make a cupcake taste or look like just about anything.  I can make the cutest baby shower cupcakes that look like a big nursery full of sleeping babies - ironic, I know. I have versions for every major holiday. And if you have a favorite flavor, I can do that too. A particular favorite is mint julep. Another is root beer float. Just think of the possibilities.
And as for killing my weight loss goals. I don't think so. I'm one of those people that can't look at something the same way after I've worked with it. I once worked at Fazolli's Italian Restaraunt. Yum!, right. Well, it was my job to make the breadsticks. Their famous garlic butter breadsticks. I don't think I have to tell you that it didn't take me very long to become heartily sick of breadsticks. I still can't eat them.
That's not to say that I'm likely to forever swear off cupcakes. It's just that if I am going to spend all day making 3 dozen basketball cupcakes for a local team, I'm not going to be likely to nosh on them.
I'm still not sure. But after much consideration, I think I'm gonna go for it. It has very little investment, virtually no overhead, and it's something that I'm not only good at, but that I actually enjoy.
I'll offer more info as it comes. For now keep your eyes peeled for BabyCakes!

"Is this Russia? . . . This isn't Russia."

Let me start off by saying that it is snowing here in the hills and my kids are going on their fourth snow day after going back for one - that's right, one - day of school after winter break. It's snowing and I'm stuck in the house with two adorably sweet but bored and cranky kids. My husband is, of course, out of town.
As if all that weren't enough the cold is making me crave . . .dun dun dun . . . CARBS. Now, I'm not one of those crazy Adkins crazies who swear of all semblance of carbohydrates in favor of animal by-products. But I do try to take a sensible path of carb limitations. I enjoy whole grain breads and whole wheat pasta and I like fruit and sweet potatoes way to much to go cold-turkey. But, sadly, what I'm craving is Aunt Jemima's buttermilk pancakes and/or mashed potatoes. Maybe even a big hunl of pound cake. As if I didn't do enough carby damage over the holidays.
Now here comes the snow and I'm contemplating building a fire in the fireplace. Which of course leads to. . . hot cocoa. I guess it wouldn't be so bad had I actually chopped the wood and hauled it up the hill from the woodpile. But I think we all know that didn't happen.
My question is this. Why does the cold weather lead to natural carb cravings. Is it a comfort food thing that makes us think of when we were kids and would stare eagerly at the (considerable smaller that today's) TV just waiting for the "No school today in___" to flash across the screen. Or is it deeper than that? Are we all just cavemen at heart. Fattening up for the long winter ahead? Is this why all the Russian steriotypes focus on Borsht and Vodka? Surely no body freezes to death in Russia nowadays. Boredom, maybe. But hypothermia? OK, OK, I know I'm being culterally insensitve, but carbs are about to get me and I have to blame someone. And who can we as Americans blame if not the Russians?
I have firm resolve not to let it end badly. I mean, this snow is supposed to last for days. I can't hole up and hibernate - much as I may want to. So, I'm thinking, in the spirit of the end of the Berlin Wall, a compromise is in order. Perhaps a cup of hot cocoa in front of the fire would not be so terrible if I log a few extra miles on the treddy. Plus I have my Wii fit which I love, and my Walk Away the Pounds, and most exciting my new Valerie Bertinelli DVD which came by UPS today. (more on that - the DVD, not UPS - later) I'm having somewhat of a girl crush going on with Valerie right now.  Alright, so I'm firing up the DVD player right now. Hot cocoa, here I come. Pancakes, perhaps another day. Like after a marathon or something.