I hate cooking...

Because sometimes you get this:

Yes that is burned to a blackened crisp
(don't worry... we still ate it, after some minor surgery)

extra extra crispy bacon

flooded icing awesomeness...
not to mention the cookies were disgusting,
I can't remember what I left out,
but they tasted really floury.

So there's the possibility of irreversible damage not only to the food, but to the kitchen as well... the mess we make is absurd.

The older child and I usually make a mess on the counter tops

The younger one likes to mess up the floor.

busted

After she spilled the bag of wheat on the floor,
she proceeded to kick and wave the wheat around  as fast as she could.

I obviously need to re-baby proof the kitchen. 

But sometimes, there is magic, and your blood, sweat, tears, and even prayers* pay off.  And you take this...

Meet the marshmallow fondant...this was literally a miracle.

...and turn it into this:

There is a reason I love writing--there's this amazing button called backspace and this other awesome thing called undo.  You can't really "undo" cooking--when it's gone... it's gone.  And maybe there's something poetic in that too... but for me, it just ticks me off.  

Sometimes you do have to start with a clean slate in writing...but at least the ingredients are free and the house doesn't smell afterward.    

Meet the butterfly my daughter snuck on Grandma's cupcakes...
after I left the room.
My husband thought it was a salamander...
What was he thinking?
It's obviously a butterfly.
Hello, look at those wings.

 *If you were me you would pray that your Mother-in-law's (a.k.a Martha Stewart^2) b-day cupcakes turned out too.