Happy 58th Birthday to Me!

  Tuesday is my birthday. Yesterday Emma and I went to Detroit to see They Might Be Giants. Still good after all these years. We got back very late, and I didn't have my key. Emma had asked if I had my key, and I said no, that Ken would have to let me in. So she pulled away, very tired and anxious to get home herself. ken's always up late,so I just ring the bell and he lets me in. Well last night,since he's been sick the last week or so, he went to bed! He was upstairs sleeping soundly,and couldn't hear me ringing the bell,pounding on the door,even banging on the sides of the house. I used one of my clothes line poles to bang on the house as far up as I could,under the bedroom window. But Ken is a sound sleeper,and he didn't hear a thing. There's a phone next to the bed,so I thought I could call him and wake him up. BUT I DON'T HAVE A CELL PHONE. I know. Everybody in the universe, including school children, has a cell phone,except me. That's just the way it is. So I had to walk somewhere to find a phone. It was almost 2:30 in the morning,so the corner gas station on the next block was closed. I was thinking I was going to have to walk all the way to the 24 hour Kroger (grocery store), but then I remembered the hospital was on the way. Surely they would let me use a phone. Luckily they have a phone they let the public use, and I called Ken. He woke up. Story short: I got home and got in. Finally.
   Since Tammy World represents me as a child, it's her birthday too.
  Tammy World is helping her mom, Dolly, bake her cake. And yes, Dolly does have a stand mixer on the counter and a hand mixer on the table. I have my mom's old 1950's stand mixer,but I also have a hand mixer.

Mom! I got all the stuff out!

I don't have a doll sized flour or sugar, so just pretend those have already been used and set aside.

Tammy and little brother Gareth are waiting to 'lick the beaters',as we always said. These days they warn you not to eat cake batter because of the raw eggs. We still do it though. I haven't died yet. Of course, there's 'a first time for everything'. In this case it would also be the last time.

  My mom almost always made cake from scratch,but for my birthday I always asked for a cherry cake, from a mix, that had little cherry bits in it. With that I had to have peppermint ice cream. Now I'd much rather have chocolate cake like the one I make for Ken's birthday. Best cake in the world and so sweet nobody except me can eat a whole piece! Of course, I'm not supposed to eat chocolate any more!

Tammy: Can I help when it gets to the good part?

Dolly: Which part is that?  Tammy: The part where you use the mixer and the cake stuff goes flying all over the kitchen.

Dolly: That isn't normally a part of baking a cake.

Tammy: You could have fooled me!

Dolly: Well...let's add the eggs.

The eggs are a fridge magnet,but they are way more to scale than the supposedly 1/6 scale eggs I have. I just wish there wasn't a giant magnet lump on the lid. The milk is one of those rubber things like the rubber fit together sushi and stuff you can buy. Maybe it's an eraser?

Dolly: Do you want to stir a bit? Tammy: Yes, please.

Dolly: Make sure you get all the dry part mixed in.

  I never helped my mom make a cake. I'm not sure she would even have let me. We were always told we couldn't do anything right. When Mom made pies she would always give us some pie crust dough to make something out of. That involved nothing more than adding sugar and cinnamon. The results were not good, but then, I have to admit,neither was Mom's pie crust.
  While Tammy is stirring, Gareth spills her glass of milk.

Gareth: I'm sorry!  Tammy: You big doofus! Look at the mess you made!

 Dolly: It's ok! We'll clean it up.

  You know how it is when you're little and things just don't go how you meant them to.

Tammy: Don't cry Gareth. I'm sorry I called you a doofus.

  In our house, I was the littlest. My sister would have reacted a lot like Tammy if I had done that. Of course, Mom would have started yelling,"Gom Gom Gom! That's all you do is gom!" 'Gom' meant making a mess. I was 'always gomming up the place'. Mom and Dad were from Kentucky and I guess that was a phrase there, in the 'olden days' at least.
  I didn't make a new birthday cake for Tammy World this year. You can see the 1/6 scale one Ivy made a few years ago HERE, and the one I made HERE .

Just a regular post about a birthday and a couple of thrift store finds...

  Well, yesterday we celebrated Ken's birthday, (husband Ken, that is.), the way he likes best: eating. My birthday is next month, and I have to say, I am not eating nearly as much on my birthday.I know Ken looks forward to everybody's birthday as an excuse to get to eat out, but I may have to disappoint him. I'm satisfied to just have everybody home and hanging out together. Maybe a little treat or something, but no big deal as far as food. Ken likes to eat out for lunch and dinner on his birthday, (and I'm sure he'd do breakfast too if we could all stand it.) I can't fit in that much food in one day. I have to skip breakfast to do that.
  We started with lunch at an Indian restaurant we had never been to before. Unfortunately, we probably won't be there again either. It wasn't bad, but I think we all agreed that is was just there. It wasn't bad or good. It was just there. The food wasn't very spicy or flavourful.I have to say though, about four thousand people stopped by our table while we were there to see if everything was ok.
  Ken then made his planned stops at a Chinese and an Indian grocery. (I ran next door to the Chinese grocery to check out Tuesday Morning.As usual for my trips there, there was nothing particularly special in the doll department, reminding me how lucky I was to find 2 AI dolls and the J Doll that one day. I guess I'll give up hope of exchanging my Diamante La Calle for another J Doll.)
  We stopped at Target, where we got separated and I spent ages hanging out at the front registers waiting for somebody to show up.
  We finished off the evening at a steak place called The Top, where Ken got his favourite,prime rib. For a steak place I think the 4 vegetarians (That's everybody but Ken.) managed to fill ourselves quite well. They had really good brown bread with sweet butter,(Probably honey butter.). Everybody but Ivy got a salad. (NO! That is not what vegetarian usually eat! It's an unfortunate thing that alot of people can't think of anything to offer a vegetarian but a salad. We can eat alot of the things anybody else can, in some form anyway.) Ivy doesn't like salads, but then Ivy doesn't like most things.We shared, to varying extents, all of the other things we ordered, which were scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and onion rings.We actually did pretty well there. A lot of the meat places Ken has chosen to eat on his birthday, (That's the only time he picks a place he knows we'll have a harder time finding something to eat.), in the last few years, have had nothing we could eat except appetizers. Those can be good, but trying to make a whole meal out of them can get a little greasy and sickening.
  By the way, it is still freezing cold here and my feet were icey by the time we got home. (Emma drove us because our vehicles are both dead at the moment. Can't wait for that tax return!) Since it was Ken's birthday he earned "Shotgun", so I sat in the back and  got no foot heat.Our street is full of snow, since, as usual, the snow plow never comes down it. When we came home Emma proceeded to get her truck stuck in the snow and finally gave up and spent the night here. It took ages to get her unstuck this morning.We were told there was going to be a blizzard this week. Ken always says the weather gets worse around his birthday. If we do get snowed in, Ivy will love it. She's been getting spoiled with all the 2 hour delays and cancellations this winter.
  With all the doll-a-day posts I haven't been talking about much else lately. I haven't been out much since our unfortunate vehicle problems, but I have snuck out to Goodwill occasionally. I got this  perfect 1/6 scale planter at Goodwill and this 'part of a complete breakfast' at Salvation Army a week or so ago when I had Emma's truck for a couple of hours. Everything but the planter is a fridge magnet, and they were only 19 cents each.The milk is more like a very tall skinny gallon than a 1/6 half gallon. I think I'll spray the planter with a spray that makes things look like stone. I just hope I don't lose the detail when I do.

See you tomorrow with another Ken doll of the day.