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Crazy Narcissistic Exploitative Zombie-Pimp Mom-Bloggers, Unite and Take Over
Nothing makes a mom-blogger prouder than to open the online editorial page of a major newspaper and see a picture of her daughter with a hyper-linked headline that asks "Is Blogging About Your Kid Exploitation?"
Of course it is, you say to yourself. And then you print the article and fold it neatly - you know, for the scrapbook, and also maybe for tax purposes - alongside the stacks and stacks of hundred-dollar bills you've collected from the enterprise of exploiting your daughter. The stacks that you make her wrap in wee elastic bands and load into the stroller basket to take to the bank. When she's not busy posing for the pictures that you post on your exploitative 'GET UR LIVE TODDLER SHOW RITE HEER" blog, that is. Or amusing herself in the corner with old vodka bottles while you spend the better part of each day telling the Internet stories about her. You know, for the cash.
I knew what that Globe and Mail story was about when I agreed to be interviewed for it. And I knew, too, that allowing them to photograph Wonderbaby and I would make us a focal point. I also knew that when I said, in the interview, this is going sound totally inappropriate, and probably needs a lot of explanation - it's just that I can't think of a better word - but in a way I think of her as my property, yanno? that the ambivalent preamble would be omitted when the quote was - inevitably - used. (Actual quote, minus preamble: "In a way I think of her as my property, my work of art... She's a work in progress that I'm involved in. To that extent, I have some licence to be public about having her as my muse.") I didn't have a problem with that. I was prepared to stand by that. I knew that I would have to stand by that, because I knew that I'd get shit for that.
And I did. But I wasn't quite prepared for the force of the shit being flung.
In the comments to the online article, this was the tenor of the response:
"Is it just me or is this poor little kid doomed from the get go?"
"Isn't this just another form of pimping?"
"At 6 her daughter will likely hire a lawyer and sue her for half."
"Parents that sit and blog are actually NOT paying attention to their children. You know the old saying 'where are the parents.' Well their (sic) right here in front of you honey, but they are zombified in front of a screen."
"If this is the way this woman views her child, I hope she saves up whatever money she's earning from her pathetic blog to pay for her kid's therapy later in life."
And my favorite (regarding a quote from Wonderbaby, cited in the title of the article) "Who would teach their child to speak like this?"
(Memo to 'Dennis sinneD from Calgary': if you know any two-year olds who can not only construct complete sentences, but articulate those sentences with perfect diction, then you live in some alternate parallel universe where said children quote EB White at five years of age, attend Oxford at seven, and publish their collected essays on the rise of the English novel at ten. Which is to say, NOT CALGARY.)
Anyway. OUCH.
The comments are stupid, I know. And, simply, wrong: I'm not some shameless mom-pimp, whoring out an online kiddy show for pennies from Google ads. I'm a writer. I make money from writing; it's my job, my contribution to the household income, the means by which we're going to send her to university and pay for her wedding and help her buy a house and just generally take care of her and her sibling. But it's also a labor of love - I didn't start writing to make money, I started because I love it. And I started writing about - mostly - being a mom because, in addition to loving the writing, I found solace and comfort and release and community in it. And so did others - readers, and other writers, who shared their stories with me. And so I kept writing, and so I keep on writing, and so I will keep on writing, until I have no words left. The money is nice, but it's incidental to my love for the practice of writing.
Most of what I write is not Wonderbaby anecdote. I'm not simply keeping a play-by-play (or, more accurately, asskick-by-asskick) record of her life. I'm writing what is, in part, a living memoir of my experience as a first-time (soon to be second-time) mother. She's a big part of that - the biggest part, in most obvious respects - but there's a lot about that experience that holds her at the periphery. A very, very close periphery, but still. My motherhood is a work in progress that involves her closely, but it is, also, a work that is more mine that hers. When I said in the article that she's my muse, that's probably as close to the truth of the writing matter as I could get. She is the source of my identity as a mother, and my primary inspiration as a writer - but the story that I tell about the experience of motherhood - the experience of womanhood after having children - is not, strictly speaking, her story. It's mine. Mostly. (The issue of public/private distinctions as these pertain to the quote-unquote institution of motherhood, and the idea of children as any sort of 'property,' are subjects for another post. Soon.) (I'll just say this: the word 'property' - from the Latin proprius, meaning one's own - doesn't necessarily refer to chattel. Rousseau and Mill took 'property' to refer to the broad spectrum of things - including happiness, self-respect, family - that one might hold dearly as 'one's own')
And in any case - even if one does regard my personal blog as simply one long exercise in narcissistic storytelling about life with Wonderbaby - what of it? As this blogger pointed out to me in a private conversation, why does so-called lifestyle writing in print not prompt people to generalize those writers as narcissistic nutbars or neglectful parents or - most pleasantly - pimps? Memoirs, autobiography, lifestyle op-ed columns - these have been around for a very long time, and while some such writers, I'm sure, are called narcissists, most of them have probably not had the unique pleasure of being called crazy, zombified pimps. (Most of them, however, have - from Rousseau to Sedaris - historically been men. There's something about so-called lifestyle writing or memoir by women - online or off - that inevitably provokes hysterical name-calling and foretellings of the decline of civilization. This has everything to do with the historical consignment of women and family to the private sphere, I think, but again, that's a subject for another post. I can only skim the surface here.)
There's something about mothers lifting back the veil of the family that upsets people, that leads people to accuse the mothers who dare do such a thing of neglecting their maternal duties, of exploiting their children, of exposing their children to the dangers of the public sphere, of being bad. But that's precisely what makes mom-blogging - to overuse a deservedly overused phrase - a radical act. We've always been told to not lift the veil. We've always been told to stay behind the veil, no matter what. We've always been told that the sanctity and well-being of our families depends upon the integrity of that veil - upon modesty and privacy and keeping our struggles and our victories to ourselves. Which has, over the course of the history of Western civilization (and that of other civilizations, of course, although I cannot speak to these with any authority), kept us isolated from one another. Kept us silent.
I choose not to be silent. I choose to tell my stories, tell - while she is young - her stories, tell the stories of she and I and our family and our place in this world and to pull meaning from those stories and to speculate on those meanings and to reflect, out loud, on what it means to be a mom in this day and age and other days and ages and all the days and ages to come. I choose to use my voice, my fingers, my keyboard to make myself heard. I choose to write. If that makes me appear, to some, a crazy, narcissistic, exploitative zombie-pimp who whores her child out for the sake of a few bucks and the self-indulgence of storytelling, then so be it.
It's worth it. It's so worth it.
Wee update: The writer of the article contacted me and asked if I wanted the offensive comments removed from the Globe and Mail site. I said no - apart from the name-calling, they're expressing an opinion that I chose to engage with (because I think that it's stupid and in some cases offensive, but still) and in any case, I'm not much on with censorship, unless it's me doing it on my own site. Still... was that the right decision? Letting comments that refer to me as 'vile' and 'zombified' and 'pimp' stand for eternity on the interwebs? Or does open discourse require a bit of personal discomfort - perhaps more than I'm used to - sometimes?
Labels: bad mother, Being Bad, Blahgging, Bloggers, WonderBaby


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Approximately 250 parliamentarians from 50 OSCE participating States met February 19-20 in Vienna for the third annual Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The United States delegation was headed by Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the United States Helsinki Commission. Also participating were Ranking House Member Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) and Commissioner Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL). Former Commission Chairman Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) also attended.
At the Vienna Meeting, OSCE PA President Bruce George appointed Chairman Smith as his Special Representative on Human Trafficking Issues. Smith will serve as the Assembly's point person for collecting information on human trafficking in the OSCE region; promoting dialogue within the OSCE on how to combat human trafficking; and, advising the Assembly on the development of new anti-trafficking policies. Over the past five years, Chairman Smith has provided considerable leadership in raising human trafficking concerns within the Assembly. In Congress, Smith sponsored the "Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act," which enables the U.S. Government to prosecute offenders and provides resources to help victims of trafficking rebuild their lives.
Ranking House Member Benjamin L. Cardin, who chairs the Assembly's Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, led a panel discussion on economic challenges and opportunities in the Republic of Georgia following the historic "Revolution of the Roses." OSCE PA Vice-President and Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Nino Burjanadze, described her experience as Acting President of the country after the resignation of former President Eduard Shevardnadze following flawed elections in late 2003. Speaker Burjanadze stated emphatically that the revolution was unavoidable and inevitable because corruption had been so overwhelming that it was a threat to Georgia's national security. She reviewed the steps the new government is taking to combat corruption and strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law. Joining Burjanadze was Ambassador Roy Reeve, Head of the OSCE Mission in Georgia. The Committee was also addressed by the OSCE Coordinator for Economic and Environmental Activities, Dr. Marcin Swiecicki, and Committee Rapporteur Dr. Leonid Ivanchenko.
Commissioner Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, who serves as one of nine Assembly Vice Presidents, held a series of meetings with delegations in Vienna in his bid for the presidency of the OSCE PA that will be decided in elections to take place in early July at the Edinburgh Annual Session. Hastings also met with the leadership of the various political groups — the Conservatives, Greens, Liberals, and Socialists. He discussed his plans for future development of the Assembly and its relationship with the governmental side of the OSCE.
Rep. Hoyer chaired the Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on Transparency and Accountability, which discussed ways to further improve relations between the parliamentary and governmental parts of the OSCE, including regular access for Ambassador Andreas Nothelle, Permanent OSCE PA Representative in Vienna, to all OSCE meetings. Discussion also focused on streamlining Assembly declarations of the annual sessions as a means of enhancing the OSCE PA's influence on the work of the Permanent Council in Vienna. The committee concluded that a limited number of recommendations should be included in forthcoming declarations sent to the PC each year, coupled with a significant reduction in preamble language.
Members of the U.S. delegation were also briefed by U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Stephan M. Minikes and Ambassador Andreas Nothelle on issues of concern in Vienna. A bilateral meeting was held with Head of the French delegation Mr. Michel Voisin and French Ambassador to the OSCE Yves Doutriaux to discuss the recent French ban on wearing headscarves, yarmulkes, crucifixes and other obvious religious symbols in public schools.
ODIHR Director Ambassador Christian Strohal discussed human dimension issues, including the future of election observations and budget issues, as well as programs dealing with human trafficking and anti-Semitism. Bulgarian Ambassador and Chairman-in-Office Representative Ambassador Ivo Petrov outlined the CiO's plan for 2004 and issues around the anti-Semitism program and anti-trafficking initiatives. The delegation was also briefed by Helen Santiago Fink of the OSCE Economic Coordinator's Office, who addressed the economic dimension of trafficking in persons.
Dr. Andreas Khol, President of the Austrian Nationalrat, welcomed the opening of the Winter Meeting for its ability to encourage "intensified dialogue and co-operation between the governmental and parliamentary dimensions of the OSCE." OSCE Chairman-in-Office Dr. Solomon Passy who is Bulgaria's Foreign Minister gave his overview of the priorities of the Bulgarian Chairmanship for 2004.
Other OSCE officials made presentations, including Chair of the Permanent Council and Representative of the Chairman-in-Office Bulgarian Ambassador Ivo Petrov; Chair of the Forum for Security Cooperation, Coordinator for OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities Ambassador Marcin Swiecicki; OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Ambassador Rolf Ekééus; a representative from the office of the OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media; Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Ambassador Christian Strohal; and OSCE Secretary General Ambassador Jan Kubis. All presentations were followed by question and answer sessions.
Each of the rapporteurs of the three General Committees discussed their draft reports for the forthcoming OSCE PA Annual Session this July in Edinburgh, Scotland. All have focused their reports on the theme for the annual session, "Co-operation and Partnership: Coping with New Security Threats."
The ninth OSCE Prize for Journalism and Democracy was presented to the New York-based NGO Committee to Protect Journalists, represented by Executive Director Ann Cooper.
The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives, and one official from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce.

subset: commoncrawl


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HAVANA (AP) — Adela Hernandez, a biologically male Cuban who has lived as a female since childhood, served two years in prison in the 1980s for "dangerousness" after her own family denounced her sexuality.
This month she made history by becoming the first known transgender person to hold public office in Cuba, winning election as a delegate to the municipal government of Caibarien in the central province of Villa Clara.
In a country where gays were persecuted for decades and sent to grueling work camps in the countryside, Hernandez, 48, hailed her election as yet another milestone in a gradual shift away from macho attitudes in the years since Fidel Castro himself expressed regret over the treatment of people perceived to be different.
"As time evolves, homophobic people — although they will always exist — are the minority," Hernandez said by phone from her hometown.
Becoming a delegate "is a great triumph," she added.
Because she has not undergone sex-change surgery, Hernandez is legally still a man in the eyes of the Cuban state: Jose Agustin Hernandez, according to the civil registry. Hernandez, who switched back and forth between feminine and masculine pronouns when referring to herself during an interview, said she hasn't made a decision to seek an operation but doesn't rule it out either.
Hernandez won office in early November by taking a runoff vote 280-170. Her position is the equivalent of a city councilor, and her election makes her eligible to be selected as a representative to Parliament in early 2013.
For years after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, authorities hounded people of differing sexual orientation and others considered threatening, such as priests, long-haired youths and rock 'n' roll enthusiasts. But there have been notable changes in attitudes toward sexuality.
"I would like to think that discrimination against homosexuals is a problem that is being overcome," Fidel Castro told an interviewer some years ago.
Since 2007 the island has been covering sex-change surgery under its free health care system. Last year a gay man and a transsexual woman whose operation was paid for by the state garnered headlines for their first-of-its kind wedding.
The country's most prominent gay rights activist is Mariela Castro, Fidel's niece and current President Raul Castro's daughter.
As director of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, Mariela Castro has instituted awareness campaigns, trained police on relations with the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community and lobbied parliament to legalize same-sex unions.
Born in a sugar town in central Cuba, Hernandez was disowned by her family and said it was her own father who reported her to authorities, leading to her imprisonment. She had to change towns and defend herself physically from attacks.
Over the decades she found work as a hospital janitor, then as a nurse and most recently as an electrocardiogram technician. She also established herself in the community and as a longtime member of her neighborhood watch committee, which helped her win acceptance and laid the groundwork for her election.
"My neighbors know me as Adela, the nurse," Hernandez said. "Sexual preference does not determine whether you are a revolutionary or not. That comes from within."
As an elected official she promised to advocate for her constituents' interests, but said she also wants to be a voice for gay rights.
"I represent a community but I will always keep in mind the defense of gays," Hernandez said.


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The reaction to the deadly Connecticut school shooting can be seen at gun stores and self-defense retailers across the nation, with anxious parents buying armored backpacks for children and firearms enthusiasts stocking up on assault weapons in anticipation of tighter gun control measures.
A spike in gun sales is common after a mass shooting, but the latest rampage has generated record sales in some states, particularly of rifles similar to the AR-15 the gunman used in an attack Friday on Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 26 people, including 20 children.
Colorado set a single-day record for gun background check requests the day after the shootings, while Nevada saw more checks in the two days that followed than any other weekend this year. Records were also set in Tennessee, California and Virginia, among others.
Some gun shop owners stopped selling their remaining stock of military-style rifles, anticipating only more interest and value after President Barack Obama on Wednesday instructed his administration to create concrete proposals to reduce gun violence.
Robert Akers, a Rapid City, S.D., gun seller who specializes in such rifles, said the rush of customers had transformed his Rapid Fire Firearms store into a "madhouse" and that he's not actively selling the guns and has turned off his phone.
"The price is only going to go up higher," he said.
There was also an unusual increase in sales for armored backpacks designed to shield children caught in shootings, according to three companies that make them.
The armor inserts fit into the back panel of a child's backpack, and sell for up to $400, depending on the retailer. The armor is designed to stop bullets from handguns, not assault weapons like the one used in the shooting at the Newtown, Conn., school.
Still, the manufacturers and some parents say that while they don't guarantee children won't be killed, they could still be used as shields.
Ken Larson, 41, of Denver, Colo., already had an armored backpack for himself and persuaded his wife to buy one for their 1-year-old after the latest shootings. He knows the backpack won't guarantee his son's safety. But, he added, it was a worthy precaution.
"It's a no brainer. My son's life is invaluable," Larson said. "If I can get him a backpack for $200 that makes him safer, I don't even have to think about that."
Some experts, however, say sending children to school in armored backpacks is not a healthy response to fear about mass shootings. Anne Marie Albano, psychiatry director at Columbia University's Clinic for Anxiety and Related Disorders, said parents should convey calmness, not anxiety.
"This is not serving to keep children safe," she said. "This is serving to increase their fear and their suspicion of their peers."
At Amendment II in Salt Lake City, sales of its children's backpacks and armored inserts have increased, with 200 purchase requests Wednesday alone.
"The incident last week highlights the need to protect our children," said co-owner Derek Williams. "We didn't get in this business to do this. But the fact is that our armor can help children just as it can help soldiers."
Kerry Clark, president of Texas-based Backpackshield.com, began making the backpacks after the deadly mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. Clark said he sold 15 backpacks Wednesday. Prior to Friday's shooting, he said, the company would sometimes go an entire month and just sell one.
"It's the busiest I've seen it in my life," he said.
Bullet Blocker, a Massachusetts-based company that sells the backpack armor, declined to provide sales numbers but noted that recent sales were substantially more than normal.
Sales of assault weapons also were on the rise.
Austin Cook, general manager of Hoover Tactical Firearms in suburban Birmingham, Ala., said the spike in sales since Friday's shootings has been so intense that federal background checks that typically take five minutes or less are now taking up to an hour.
Cook said about 50 people were waiting in line for his store to open the morning after the shootings, and that he's since sold nearly all of his assault weapons. Now, he's trying to find more distributors.
"I can't keep them in the store," Cook said.
In Pittsburgh, Dick's Sporting Goods said it was suspending sales of modern rifles nationwide because of the shooting. The company also said it's removing all guns from display at its store closest to Newtown.
Aaron Byrd, co-owner of Patriot Shooting Sports in Youngsville, N.C., is sold out of the AR-15 rifles, ammo for those types of guns and high-capacity magazines.
"Things have been crazy the past couple of days. A lot of people have been coming in looking to purchase semiautomatic rifles. They're worried that the government's going to ban semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines, so they've been coming in looking for those," he said.
He added, "I think it is a knee-jerk reaction by both parties — both the government and the citizens."


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Art of the Menu
Category: Blogs, Design / Branding/Identity, Design / Print, Design / Typography,
Posted by: Corrie
Posted: Jan 18th 2012
No. of comments: 0
Posted: Jan 18th 2012
No. of comments: 0
Art of the Menu is a blog dedicated to showcasing beautifly designed menu's - a rarity but when they're good they are good!
Warning: don't look at it if you're hungry!
"As designers we make fun — and it's usually the first thing we notice — of menus that use Comic Sans or Papyrus because it's an easy critique, like shooting really ugly fish in a tiny barrel with a shotgun. Oddly enough though, we rarely praise a good menu. We probably simply enjoy the fact that we can browse through the options without being distracted by silly fonts and we don't feel the need to comment further on it. But if you think about it, menus are the meeting point of otherwise widely celebrated design practices.
Above all, a good menu is about expertly executed typography: It has to be clear, legible (sometimes just under candle light), and representative of the cuisine. Menus are a light version of data visualization and information design: Helping the diner navigate between courses, options, and prices. Menus are big canvases, much like the album covers we mourn with such despair. Menus are tactile, allowing designers to explore materials and finishes. At a restaurant, the menu is the ultimate ambassador for the establishment's identity: Logo front and center on the cover. A good menu adds to the overall brand experience.
But who are we kidding? A good menu should make you hungry. It should get your mouth watering. Hopefully it does it in a cool-looking way. And if it does, then you will probably find it here, on Art of the Menu."
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Jimmie Johnson Wins Daytona 500; Danica Patrick Finishes 8th
Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500 on Sunday, holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman to win the first points race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Pole-sitter Danica Patrick finished eighth. Earlier in the race on lap 90, Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap at the Daytona 500.
With two laps left in the race, Johnson led Greg Biffle and Patrick, with Earnhardt in fourth, when the final charge began. Johnson, a five-time Cup Series champion, was able to dash away while Earnhardt made his move past Biffle and Patrick. A late crash in the race was behind the leaders, allowing for NASCAR's 'Great American Race' to finish. It was Johnson's second Daytona 500 victory. He also won the 2006 race.
Defending Daytona 500 champ Matt Kenseth led more laps than any other driver on Sunday when his car developed a mechanical problem and began smoking on lap 149. He was soon out of the race.
Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and several other experienced drivers were knocked out of the race in earlier crashes. Stewart returned with 80 laps remaining, but he could only muster 41st-place. Stewart won Saturday's Drive4COPD 300, which was marred by a final lap accident that injured 33 spectators.
NASCAR's next Cup Series race is the Subway Fresh Fit 500 on Mar. 3 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.


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Swollen eyelids can be uncomfortable and unattractive. Swollen eyelids are associated with a variety of symptoms that can hamper or affect vision. While most cases of swollen eyelids are not serious, several serious conditions may cause swollen eyelids. Without proper treatment, chronic swollen eyelids may cause eye damage and may result in vision loss.
Swollen Eyelids vs. Puffy Eyes
While some may use the words "swollen" and "puffy" interchangeably, there is a subtle difference between puffy eyes and swollen eyelids. The term "puffy eyes" usually refers to the appearance of eyes from water retention, lack of sleep, or inherited traits like dark circles under the eyes.
Puffy eyes usually require no treatment, except perhaps a good night's sleep and avoiding salty foods. Swollen eyes may require treatment from an eye doctor, depending on the cause and severity.
What Causes Swollen Eyelids?
Swollen eyes are typically caused by an allergic reaction, infection, or injury. A swollen eyelid occurs when excess fluid accumulates in the tissue surrounding the eye, usually in the upper or lower eyelids. A swollen eyelid may or may not cause pain.
Swollen eyelids can be the result of any number of underlying causes, including infection, injury or trauma, and allergies. While a swollen eyelid is not usually serious, it can be an indication of a serious problem such as cellulites, Graves' disease, and herpes of the eye.
Dermatitis is a common cause of swollen eyelids. According to the recent research, dermatitis affects 1 – 3 percent of adults nationwide, and approximately 15 percent of all cases of dermatitis involve the eyelids. Pink eye, more formally known as conjunctivitis, and styes can also cause swollen eyelids.
Symptoms to Look For
Many symptoms can accompany swollen eyelids, including:
• Eye irritation, including an itchy or scratchy feeling
• Watery eyes caused by excessive tear production
• Obstructed vision caused by swelling
• Eyelid redness
• Red eyes and inflammation of the conjunctiva, or white part of the eye
• Eye discharge
• Eyelid dryness or flaking
• Pain, especially when swollen eyelids are caused by infection
Treatment and Care
Treatment for swollen eyelids depends largely on the cause and severity of the condition. Many cases of swollen eyelids subside on their own, without medical intervention, while other instances of swollen eyelids require professional treatment including prescription medications. It is important to visit an eye doctor for a thorough exam if symptoms of swollen eyelids persist.
Art Papier, MD; David J. Tuttle, MD; and Tara J. Mahar, MD. "Differential Diagnosis of the Swollen Red Eyelid." University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York. Am Fam Physician. 2007 Dec 15.


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~ 5! ~
Let's start off on a high note. Yippee! I'm happy to be here! Five years is a respectably long time to keep a blog going. I'm proud to have done it. It feels like a real accomplishment. I feel like something of a veteran blogger now, not so much old as experienced. I've found my "voice" and become comfortable with the ever-changing pace of my blog postings. I've come to realize and accept (without need for apology to others) that when you're committed to something such as blogging which has no end in sight you will have periods of high productivity and lack thereof, enthusiasm and burnout, pure genius as well as mediocrity in writing, and sometimes just plain lack of inspiration too. I have been there, done that (and felt that, done that, felt that too). And I'm still writing.
I've seen a lot of changes in the past 5 years, on my own blogs and on other's. I've seen the genealogy blogging community grow and grow and grow. I liken it to a community that once only had a handful of mom and pop shops, specialty boutiques, and galleries... and then Walmart came to town. That is NOT intended as a criticism, by the way. Walmart is very good at what they do, selling the same goods in many locations. Sometimes having Walmart in town makes it challenging for the boutiques and galleries to stay in business but there will always be some customers who prefer to shop for something unique. That's where I'm comfortable, in being unique. At times I thought I should become a part of Walmart but I've let go of that and found peace.
A 5 year anniversary is a milestone of sorts. I had another one that went unmentioned last month... my 1,000th blog post. And I have another one coming up soon (December 4th), the 100th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. All of these milestones serve as a measure of my dedication to my blog. But before anyone pats me on the back I need to say that I wouldn't have kept this up without you, my loyal readers. Dedicated as I am to Creative Gene, I'm sure I wouldn't have kept it going all this time if no one was reading it or commenting on it. I write for myself, yes, but I write for you too. And it's very affirming to find comments in my email box. :-) I don't always thank my commentators, shame on me I know, but I read and appreciate all of your comments... even in the rare instances when someone disagrees with me ;-)
So what's up next at Creative Gene? Well, as of a couple days ago, I have a fresh new look to my blog. If you're reading this on an RSS feed reader you should stop by and have a look. I've taken my blog back to its roots. When I first started this blog I was using it for a number of my hobbies, including photography. Later it evolved to just genealogy. Now I'm reintroducing my photography and will use it as a backdrop. I'll change it periodically but you won't know when so stop by often. ;-)
And then... The 99th edition of the COG will be published in a couple weeks and with it will be the call for submissions for the 100th edition. I'm not going to divulge the topic for the 100th edition just yet but I am going to tell you this much... the 100th edition of the COG is going to be a FAMILY REUNION! I'm asking all of you who have ever written for the COG to please participate in the 100th edition. After all, if you've written for the COG you are part of the COG family. It's your responsibility as a member of this family to attend the FAMILY REUNION. OK, so maybe it's not your responsibility but I'm asking you nicely. Maybe I'm begging you. Or am I groveling at your feet? No, no. I draw the line at groveling. I'll beg but not grovel. Please don't make me grovel. I hate to grovel. Here's the thing... I want 100 (or more) submissions to celebrate the 100th edition!
I know there are well over 100 authors who have written for the COG over the past 99 editions, probably over 200. I promise the topic will be a universal one that everyone can write a colorful, engaging article for. So there will not be the usual ceiling of 30 submissions, instead there will be a floor of 100! You're not going to let me down on this, are you? Because if I don't get at least 100 terrific articles from my COG family I'll be really, really sad. (Here comes the heavy guilt trip. No, I'm not above pulling out all the stops!) I've been there for you guys over the years, introducing you when you were unknowns, complimenting your writing and encouraging people to visit your blogs. The COG has been the launching pad for your carnivals and in some cases your careers. Won't you please do this one little thing for me??? (Am I good, or what? It's the Catholic in me. We specialize in guilt ;-)
Write on, brothers and sisters!


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Roma Font Family, Tom Lincoln's award-winning type design work since the 1960s has been one way or another of expressing his fascination for the Roman majuscules inscribed at the base of the Trajan Column in Rome. This time he has really outdone himself by bringing us Roma, a definitive, contemporary, mature sans serif expression of those majuscules.
With Roma, Lincoln is not satisfied with simply creating a proper "Trajan Sans". He goes on to make it a family of four weights, with built-in small caps and oldstyle figures, then he really goes to town with the options he makes available for shading and multi-color settings. Precise renderings of the Roma capitals are provided in different fonts that can function individually or be layered atop each other for two- or three-color treatments. The Roma family comes with extended language support that spans the majority of Latin-based languages.
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text:
Syrian rebels declared the Damascus International Airport a "military zone" on Friday as part of their push to seize important symbolic and strategic locations held by President Bashar Assad's government.
Rebels say the airport is a camp for Syrian government soldiers and is the main transit point for weaponry believed to be supplied by Russia and Iran.
Nabil al-Amir, a rebel spokesman representing the Damascus Military Council, said that opposition fighters "waited two weeks for the airport to be emptied of most civilians and airlines" before it was deemed a legitimate target, reports Reuters.
The airport has been operating sporadically in recent days owing to fighting in the area, south of Damascus, according to media reports.
The Associated Press, citing an unidentified airport official, reported that fighting had closed the main highway leading to the airport on Friday. But the official said people were reaching the airport on side roads and the facility was functioning as normal.
In another development Friday, Syrian rebels in Istanbul elected a command of 30 members, most of whom have ties to Islamist groups. A delegate told Reuters: "The command has been organized into several fronts. We are now in the process of electing a military leader and a political liaison officer for each region." American, French and British security officials were also present during the meetings, along with representatives from Arab nations.
The move precedes next week's meeting of the American-backed "Friends of Syria" group in Marrakech, Morocco. The coalition comprises dozens of nations seeking to bolster support for the Syrian opposition and increase pressure on Assad.
Many Syrians, meanwhile, say bread prices are skyrocketing and problems such as power outages are becoming more common.
"We go and look in destroyed houses for wood to make a fire," Abu Khaled, a father of two, told AFP in Homs. "Our bread is made from old flour, dirty water and a bit of salt. But we still say: 'Thank God, we are alive.' "
Sophia Jones is an intern with NPR News.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Matthew Campbell Friday, 20 December 2013 07:13 AM EST
Investment bankers don't get paid to be pessimists. Throughout the current slump in takeovers, mergers and acquisitions advisers have said a recovery was around the corner, awaiting a stronger U.S. economy, rising stock markets or an end to the European debt crisis.
All three of those conditions have now been satisfied, yet dealmaking has remained stagnant as CEO's continue to worry about the viability of the economic recovery. The final three months of 2013 saw announced takeovers slide by almost a third from a year earlier even as the outlook improved in Europe and North America, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The sustained slump has flummoxed M&A bankers whose employment depends on the prospect of deals. It may portend a shift to lower takeover volumes, which are now at their lowest ebb as a proportion of stock-market capitalization since the 1990s, Deutsche Bank AG data show. The best bet for a deals recovery in 2014, some bankers say, is a run of economic growth that's not propped up by U.S. Federal Reserve bond-buying, which the central bank this week began to curtail.
"As an industry, we have been a little bit naïve in anticipating a more rapid recovery," Hernan Cristerna, global co-head of M&A at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "We've been working on so many great deals that have not seen the light of day, because boards wanted to see a nine or a 10 out of 10 — an eight was not enough."
Global takeovers in the fourth quarter so far fell 31 percent from a year earlier to about $505 billion. The value of deals in North America and Europe dropped about 40 percent, while Asia declined 18 percent.
Well Short
For the year, transactions rose just 0.4 percent to $2.25 trillion, well short of the $4.1 trillion high-water mark of 2007, while the number of deals fell 5 percent. This year's volume was buoyed by one giant trade: Vodafone Group Plc's $130 billion sale in September of its stake in Verizon Wireless, the largest M&A transaction in a decade.
On paper, "this is a great environment for deals based on incredibly low interest rates and an abundance of available capital," said Gregg Lemkau, the global co-head of M&A at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London.
Yet CEOs haven't felt an urgency to act, with no certainty about the timing of a rise in rates, Lemkau said. They also remain cautious about the economy as monetary policy rather than "real underlying outperformance of companies" drives equity prices, he said.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week extended the timeline for keeping interest rates near zero, while announcing a $10 billion reduction in monthly asset purchases. Bernanke said the measures were aimed at keeping "the level of accommodation the same overall" in the world's largest economy.
Deal Dearth
A dearth of deals in banking and natural resources is partly to blame for bankers' mistaken predictions of a rebound.
Purchases of financial-services companies totaled $120 billion this quarter, down 28 percent from a year ago. Large mergers are all but unthinkable for financial institutions dealing with U.S. and European regulatory changes, and are likely to face tough questions from governments wary of creating too-big-to-fail banking giants.
A recovery in financial sector M&A could develop once Europe's banking union regulations are finalized, stabilizing the regulatory landscape, said Tom Cooper, co-chairman of global M&A at Deutsche Bank.
For energy and mining firms, weaker prices for oil, gas and metals and a long list of failed transactions from the 2002-2012 commodity boom are keeping chief executives from pulling the trigger.
Takeover Spree
Writedowns on aluminum and coal deals led to the ouster of Rio Tinto Plc CEO Tom Albanese earlier this year — part of the hangover from a $1.1 trillion M&A spree in natural resources over the last decade. Energy and mining companies spent about $66 billion in transactions in the quarter, less than half the $155 billion in the same period of 2012.
In the U.S., while the shale gas and oil boom has led to increased takeovers of energy services and pipeline companies, it has depressed dealmaking in the exploration market, said Alan Klein, a partner with law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
"Prices have sharply declined in gas and to some extent have been flat in petroleum," Klein said. "There is less interest in acquiring or consolidating in that area."
Asia, where the growing economies of India and China have driven global demand for energy and minerals, is also unlikely to see "a full return of deals" in the natural resources sector, said Samson Lo, head of Asia M&A at UBS AG in Hong Kong. Chinese state-owned oil and gas enterprises are distracted by corruption probes while the tapering of Fed bond purchases will make global investors more cautious, Lo said.
Quickening Pace
Still, some companies in other sectors are taking the plunge. Dealmaking has remained busier in healthcare as well as telecom, media, and technology, or TMT — industries in which companies are contemplating takeovers to cope with, or take advantage of, the quickening pace of innovation.
The largest health deal of the quarter was San Francisco-based McKesson Corp.'s agreement to acquire German pharmaceutical distributor Celesio AG for about $4.9 billion, contributing to a total of $45 billion in spending on the sector, up from $30 billion last year.
In TMT, Portugal Telecom SGPS SA and Oi SA, which offers mobile services in Brazil, led the way with a merger valued at about $14.3 billion in October.
The current level of transactions is still respectable by historical standards, argues Scott Moeller, a former Deutsche Bank banker and professor at London's Cass Business School. It's similar, he said, to that of the pre-boom period of the early 2000s -- around $2 trillion to $3 trillion a year compared with upwards of $3 trillion at the 2006-2007 peak.
Healthy Number
"That's not Armageddon," he said. "This plateau that we have is a huge figure, even taking inflation into account. We should not be complaining. This is a good healthy number for where the economy is right now."
Banks aren't as pleased, and are trimming headcount as the slump in advisory fees persists. The 10 largest global securities firms will probably cut about 3,000 front-office jobs in 2014, Deutsche Bank analyst Matt Spick said in a Dec. 4 note.
"We're not done, not even close, to the industry shrinking down," said Scott Bok, chief executive officer of advisory firm Greenhill & Co. Inc.
Historically, the level of M&A has hovered around 7.7 percent of the total value of global stock markets, according to Deutsche Bank. The current figure is about 4.6 percent, meaning a rise even to 6 percent would require takeover volumes to increase by just under a third.
That won't stop bankers from looking on the bright side, said Moeller.
"Remember, nobody is ever hired to be an M&A banker, and nobody ever gets promoted to managing director, who is not an optimist," he said. "They are people who see the glass half- full, even if it's really only a quarter full."
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text:
Does it?!
Ok, I have an idea.
[whispering in ear]
I'll take it.
When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong.
My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!
Tee hee hee, I did not notice the 6 fingers until it was mentioned, it made me giggle!
That last one has five fingers and a thumb...
That's a left hand. :)
When congratulating graduates, I believe "congrad's" is perfectly acceptable.
"Congris Grade" is always correct.
WV: Wasili- You can see Russia from there. You Betcha!
because I am detail oriented (obsessive) I tend to read your credits, I mean you make it worthwhile with a parting pun or two! today I recognized a submitter's name and will have to let all my kids know to "check out today's CakeWrecks! No, Really, you Have to!" ;-}
Do you think some places buy their cakes and re-sell them? Tay's cake looks pretty darn good, until you get to the writing. Then it's a disaster on several levels!
Today's post made me laugh right out loud. Thank you!
What's with the anonymizing bar on the sparkly-flotsam cake?
Embarrassing name? Or someone just didn't want to be recognized as a submitter?
LOL love the Princess Bride reference! six fingers!
meanwhile, that flower one with the goopy jelly on it--did someone graduate from Congress? (Congris)
did Congradulations become a thing for graduates specifically as away to abbreviate Congratulates graduates?
can they spell it better if it's congratulations for something OTHER than a graduation? like, a hysterectomy or something?
(sorry, bad taste....but there ARE cakes for that, as we know!)
@Trevor - Tay's cake looks like a grocery store cake. They're initially decorated with a big space in the middle for the inscription. I bet someone bought that after the regular decorator went home for the day. I can hear the deli clerk saying "Sure, I can write on a cake!"
Great post, as always!
WV: grobl - Cakes so good, you'll grobl them up!
@Trevor - most grocery stores have their cakes baked and the initial decorating done off-site (a co-worker of my husband's used to work for the company that did this) so the person who wrote on the cake is not the same as the person who initially iced/decorated it.
Count Rugen is amongst us!
Hahahaha, I love the last one.
Not only is Becky being wished "Contradulation," but somebody peed on her cake.
I love that I immediately thought of the six-fingered man when I saw the last cake, and then you made my day when you actually quoted Princess Bride! Hysterical as always!
BUAHAHA! "My cookie cake was slaughtered by a six-fingered hand."
...I don't usually leave a comment but THAT; that was genius!
Last line: Winning. Best. Ever.
I think I say that a lot about many, many lines on your blog. But it's true. Every "best line" is better than the one before.
In order to get one's diploma from cake decorating school, it should be required that one can spell "Congratulations" and to know to abbreviate it without an apostrophe. And that, while "Grad" and "Grade" understandably come from the same school of thought, one of those words picked up a varsity letter. Not that he ever lets that fact be heard, but the silent humility sets it apart from the average Jo.
wv : cornoly . Let's see if using cornoly'll make a difference in our cake's results.
*headesk* X infinity WTF
Anyone else notice the "2016" decorations? That cake is going to be awfully dry by graduation day!!
This was a great post - thanks for the laughs! Con-'Rats' to all the grads out there! hehehe...
I missed the Princess Bride reference but the six fingered cake made me think of - "Six finger! Six finger! Man alive. How did I ever get along with five?" Does anyone else remember that? Maybe I'm showing my age.
wv: morilli - some of these cakes make me morilli than others.
Your Princess Bride references always make me smile! Rock on!
I can guarantee you the thinking went along these lines:
Five fingers. A hand has five fingers, right? Okay...
Oh, wait, thumb! It's supposed to be a "thumbs up". There we go...
I like the contradulation one. It's like a new word: contradgedy... I don't know what that means but it sounds like they're talking about the decorator's spelling skills.
*sigh* now I must go home and watch the Princess Bride for the 11millionth and 1 time....
I'll be certain to tell all the "Grades" I know "Congris!"... (blinkblink)...
WV - Oxions: Morons with all the stains removed by bubbling oxygen action!
Umm......apparently that last one is a mutant. There's an extra finger there. Paired with the "Great Job" it makes the whole thing look totally sarcastic.
I am so proud of all the commenters so far! As soon as I saw the left-hand-cake and right-hand-quote, I was worried there would be an Epcot situation, but you all love Princess Bride too much :) yay!
Because I know something you don't know... (what is that?)... I am not left-handed!
(Cue "David after Dentist" voice)
But seriously... I still want cake now. Darn preggo cravings...
Actually, I'd prefer mine con leche, thank you very much.
@Anon 10:52 ~ Those are 2010 decorations. It's just that the 'f' in 'Class of' kinda catches the top of the 0 and makes it look like a six. On the other (six-fingered) hand, given what else I've seen on this blog, I can only hope that means that photo was taken last year, and not that that cake has been in a box in the storage room for twelve months. I wouldn't put it past them. =P
Also, I know that the one cake says "congat's", but I keep wanting to read it as "congat'e".
WV: imunce. Imunce not judge all decorators on the idiocies of a few!
The cake with the cap and tassle is actually pretty well constructed--is that string licorice making the tassle? Very creative. But the CONRATS nearly made me choke on my lunch. What a way to ruin a decent cake.
Great job avenging your father's death, maybe?
This bugs me way more than it should. Of all the words I can't spell, and there are many, "congratulations" is not one of them. I'm more than a little dyslexic. I have misspelled, mistyped, and even botched a graphic or two during live news broadcasts. I literally can not see it when I spell something wrong, and almost never catch other people's mistakes. So, the fact that even I know better, speaks volumes. BTW spell check has changed my life, and I have an awesome proofreader now to keep me from sending out misspelled work. I'm still hoping for the day when scientists teach monkeys to spell and I can have a spelling monkey to help with my disability.
I like the irony of the "Congat'e [CENSORED] EHS 2010" cake with the "The tassle is worth the hassle" flotsam. I would be so tempted to ask the wreckerator, "so, um, I take it you really didn't think it was worth the hassle."
OM gosh.. that hand really does have 6 fingers!
Your blog always brings a smile to my face.. and usually has me laughing our loud!!
A Rutgers cake! Awesome!! Too bad it's so wrecky. Go knights!
#LFMF: Never say, "It looks like spelling skills are improving," or words to that effect in a public forum, because you WILL be proved wrong. Especially here.
And I thought that line about "another positive effect CW is having on society" would negate the jinx. I should have known it is like washing the car; even if you comment on how warm and sunny it is, your freshly washed car will still be treated to a torrential downpour followed by blowing dirt, cat hair, bad cakes, you name it.
These things look like they were created by 'Congris'.
That last one... Right after the new compulsory spelling class, wreckerators must proceed immediately to the basic anatomy class.
I mean, if I were going to draw a hand, I don't have to look far for an example -- there is no need to guess at it. On the other hand (ba-DUP!), maybe the wreckerator *was* working from an example. Yikes!
@ Jenniffer
I actually was at the store walking past the bakery when exactly that happened. I volunteered to do the writing for the woman buying the cake and when I did(In nice pretty cursive) it she said to me, "How do you do that so well?"
I replied, "Lots and lots of practice."
Sometimes I have to wonder how many people at the many supermarkets actually know how to properly use a pastry bag and how to make proper lettering on a cake.
VW: cappo. We've been seeing a lot of cappo gown themed wrecks lately haven't we?
Since there is an accent mark over the "e" on the 5th cake down, I'm thinking that means "conga-tay"...but I searched online for a definition-ay (Google word-searches and Webster's Online Dictionary-the Rosetta Edition) and found nada. So now I don't care anymore.
With the slimy red mess a few doors down, I read it as "Congress Grade."
So, okay~~let Congress have at it.
Why should WE have all the fun.
Pssst! Congratulion! lol
@ Lynn (1:29)
I think your writing is very nice!
My email spellcheck function is a joke; it likes to suggest "words" that don't even exist.
And sign me up for a spelling monkey--what a capital idea!
I'd make him a banana daiquiri and challenge him to a rousing round of Scrabble!
At first I thought the "Congat's" was "Congate" (not seeing the apostrophe), and it might have been the popular name of the incident involving the "conrats".
I read "Congris Grads" as "Congres Grads" (lacking the acute accent--just take the apostrophe from the "Congat's" cake, it didn't belong there anyway!). This cake would be commemorating a meeting of the graduates of the French Dept.
WV: roust. These wreckerators need to be rousted from their posts.
The best part about the 6 finger cookie cake is that it was the display and it was there for a while. I wonder if someone had to tell them.
"I do not think it spells what you think it spells."
The Congris Grads cake looks like it is decorated with pizza sauce.
<3 the last one. And the Congrat's makes me physically shudder.
These had me so laughing. As a former cake decorator, I just shake at my head at the things you have shown. Thank you so much for laughs.
Can you help everyone learn how to spell "definitely" too? I see it written as "definately" all over the Internet. Drives me insane.
I feel obliged to point out that it is clearly not "congrate" or "congrat'e" in #5, but "congraté", rhyming with "non-frappe".
Because, you know, it makes Perfect Sense that way. Obviously.
I think that Controdulation wins the prize for the wreckiest wreck.
Do you know why I HATE CakeWrecks? Why I *despise* them, even?? Because even with my overly-educated, honest-to-God English-major-with-Oxford-University-"yes, England" pedigree.... I now have an obsessive compulsion to double-check-- nay, accidentally "misspell!"-- the word "CONGRATULATIONS" when using it in a written sentence.
Thanks to your shenanigans, my mind's eye wants to subconsciously add superfluous "uaua"s to it in unexpected places, or drop the "T," or sundry other bastardizations....
I never had this problem before, CakeWrecks.
Look what you've reduced me to.
Ending SENTIMENTS with bloody PREPOSITIONS!
You don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand also? That way I can avenge both my father and my cake at the same time.
i agree with sending the clowns on the "congate" cake...I thought maybe they were saying to Anonymous "Conga te"--as in you! conga!, like a command. but i know better...lol
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
OMG!! That does look like a Rutger's cake!! How imbarrassing! I gratulated from their!
wv - tratoodu: make an effort, as in "please tratoodu the cake correctly."
Whoever said 2016 decorations...look closer.
They were ALL disturbing but the radioactive orange "Congris" cake scared me the worst - ?2016? The big white flower/bird dropping in the center? The edging that looks like fire retardant foam along the edges? Spelling blunders aside, that is one freaky looking cake.
WV: worlonl - the worlonl-y knows why wreckerators can't handle congratulations.
Lol @ Sharyn @ 4:16 PM!
Most entertaining congudulashoins!
Hmmmm. Well maybe CONRATS is a team...like the Con Rats or something. Or not...
After reading ALL the comments to see if someone already commented/corrected, I am shocked and dismayed that no one bothered to tell Renee that his name is INIGO....He is not a blue color!
And you call yourselves fans!! *SMH*
"Anybody want a peanut?"
These are way too funny! Plus this site always makes me feel so much better about what I create. LOL
This has to be the best wrecky congratulations post ever! It made me laugh all the way! By the way, nice 6 fingers whoever's hand that is (could it be from outer space?)
wv: doelecti: These cakes do look doelecti-ble.
I think "congaté" sounds kind of cool. I'm going to start using it.
Oh Renee, that was hilarious!
Sad, isn't it?
"You killed my cookie. Prepare to die."
Ha Patti I was guilty of that for YEARS. For some reason definitely was my kryptonite (and I'm actually surprised that when I typed it out here, I typed it right the first time). I'm also saddened I haven't seen a 'congratumalations' cake wreck yet. It's my favorite butchered way to say congratulations.
WV: Extdaba: Extdaba cake with 6 fingers? Oy
They spelled "Congratulations" wrong?
They spelled it wrong again?!
Look, they've spelled it incorrectly again!
WV:Ovorthe -to be beyond a specific thing. "I'm so ovorthe idea of ever getting a cake made."
forgot what i was going to post, because
WV: hanned. 6 fingers on one hanned.
I almost gave the 5th one down the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the "s" at the end looks that way because they started to write it in cursive. Then I noticed the missing "g".. then the fact that the so-called "s" seems to be dotted..and.. then I gave up.
Nice princess bride reference! *giggle*
If I have another son ever, I'm naming him Congat'e. We're in the south, he'll fit in.
1) You know someone's going to mess that last one up now and spell it, "Grate Job!" And it won't even be a cheesy pun. Hah, see what I did there?
2) Sorry for above.
3) Here, I'll make up for the PAIN with this link for you: http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=19375 Just got mine in the mail and it is my favouritestest geeky shirt ever. It's multi-level geeky. It's so geeky that I feel the need to type very fast about diving into a wishing well before I drown.
Forgive me, for I have sinned.
I misspelled congratulations on the marquee at the elementary school for the spelling bee champ.
When doth the statue of limitations run out on such sin?
@Cortney G., who wrote:
" I now have an obsessive compulsion to double-check... the word "CONGRATULATIONS" when using it in a written sentence."
You think THAT'S tough?
Try double-checking your spelling in a SPOKEN sentence.
@ mel
who wrote:
"OMG!! That does look like a Rutger's cake!! How imbarrassing! I gratulated from their!"
Hee hee! Phunny! (And at first, I almost didn't get that you were kidding. Sad, huh?)
Does this said six-fingered hand happen to be missing a six-fingered sword? Because I know the guy who found it, and he's kinda cranky. :)
love the princess bride reference. please write a novel. about anything. ill buy it and then read it and tell other people to buy it and then read it. okay? deal:)
Re:#2= con means "with" in Spanish so it's "with rats" and I think only hot dogs have a parts-per-million allowance of rat parts. This cake is in violation of federal law!
On the plus side this means #4 is "with grad's" but it's hard to know if that's good or bad until we know what the grad is possessing. :D
(#6 does appear to say "2016" and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so)
BTW, in the bottom left side bar an ad reads: How to Remove Stubborn Kids' Stains. So, how does the stain remedy know if the kid who made the stain was stubborn or not?? Technology is just amazing but still no Spelling Monkeys or Spell Check on cakes!
-Barbara Anne
@C2, I also took note of 'Indigo' but I didn't want to say anything. Besides, I have seen PB exactly once -- and don't recall most of it (can I say that here?) -- so I didn't think my credentials would pass the mustard.
@Lynn, someone very dear to me is dyslexic. What I know about it is that dyslexics tend to skew high on the IQ curve, and dyslexia is one of the most common -- and most often missed -- learning variations. It can be conquered; studies show that children and adults who receive training process the written word exactly the same as someone who never had dyslexia. That said, many dyslexics choose for a variety of reasons to forgo training, and they lead very successful lives.
@GennyDiggory: clever girl.
@Joyce: The statue of limitations doesn't run out -- sculptures can't run. As to the *statute* of limitations, I think this calls for a ruling from our hosts.
wv: feers. Most feers are baseless.
Boy if they find Congratulations hard to spell I can only imagine how hard it is for them to spell bridal shower or even Kwanzaa lol.. now I hope I spelled that right and if not now I am a wreckerator hooray :D.
Ack, the red stuff...whaaa?
BTW - it is "Inigo" Montoya... I can't believe that people actually get paid for these. So that makes the buyer just as guilty as the creator!
Never knew there were so many ways to spell "Curngaradewlayshiouns."
My name is Inego Montoya... you ate my cookie... prepare to diet.
wv: ouesth- I'm on a ouesth for a pwetty decowated cake!
Yeah, what Renee said. Hahaha!
@Barbara Anne:
Re: Stubborn Kids' Stains--
Good question!
But since you brought it up, how about a product that can remove the actual stubborn children?
*SIGH* They can put a man on the moon, and yet...)
Sharyn @ 4:16 PM--that was PRICELESS!
1. This is even more sad than mickey mouse in a horror film...
2. Rats that con people! It makes PERFECT sense!
3. Wait... is that... DYNAMITE at the bottom? EVERYONE RUN!
4. Lovely... asterisk?
5. No comment
6. He's a member of congress with a spelling problem! (Duh!)
7. Five fingers and a thumb... and what is that on the hand? Is that like a ring or something? Is this a horror film?
I am Cookie Montoya. You killed my cake. Prepare to die!
I had someone at work insist that I write Congrads on their cake. I was like, "Congrats"? and they were like "No, c-o-n-g-r-a-d-s". "C-o-n-g-r-a-d-s?" I said. (I figure it wouldn't hurt to double check their spelling FOR them.) "Yes, Congrads." A part of my soul may have died as I wrote on that cake.
"Congris" is used in Puerto Rican and Cuban restaurants to describe when you order the white rice and black beans mixed together instead of served separately. So I am trying to figure out how that applies to cake...
I guess it's just a style to be known. LOL!
I hope that one day someone spells it 'Congress.' At least that would offer the benefit of the doubt on the part of the baker. They could say, "But I spell checked it!" And many laughs can be had.
I have that last picture of the 6-fingered cake as the background of my phone! It was at the Franklin Mills Mall in Philly. I am so glad someone else sent it in cause clearly I was too lazy to.
This has to be one of my most favorite posts ever. Congrads and Congradulations is one of my very biggest pet peeves EVER (primarily due to an acquaintance who loves to flaunt her educational superiority but has never once spelled this word right in my 20+ years acquaintance with her). Great blog!
I confess, I decorated a pretty darn nice graduation cake for my niece, and an extra cake for serving from at the start of the party. At 7am I was told that the extra cake would be for the other graduate at the party and I needed to write something on it. I knew spelling was beyond me at 7am, so I abbreviated. AT the party I realized the cake said "Congats"! Luckily I was able to fix it before the guests arrived, but there's at least one photo of it before the fix :( So it really can happen to anyone!
I am just SO happy to see that good ole RU ( Rutgers) has an official wreck! nice to see that I am not the only one who suffered through the RU screw and can't spell!
Perhap's "CONGRADS" will be added to our lexicon as a viable portmanteau? (Did I spell portmanteau correctly? Does it matter?)
BTW--I haven't been able to leave comments from my cell phone for a loooong time...tech diff's (LOL--that was "cake decorator speak").
I REALLY wanted to leave a comment on the Pictionary post: that was BRILLIANT!!! I actually liked the cupcake cake(s) with the yellow ruler, the nuts, and the thing that was hard (snicker) to figure out what it was...
Thanks for the laughs!!!!!!
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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.
Now, don't you have a photo you want to send me? ;)
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Ronaiah Tuiasosopo fell in love with Manti Te'o and said all his energy went into pretending to be the woman the Notre Dame linebacker came to know as Lennay Kekua.
Tuiasosopo, the 22-year-old mastermind of the elaborate hoax that embarrassed Te'o and left him looking gullible, spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw for the "Dr. Phil Show," the first part of which aired Thursday.
Tuiasosopo said Te'o knew nothing of the scam, and doesn't believe he ever suspected Kekua was fake.
"He had no involvement," Tuiasosopo said. "He did not know anything."
Tuiasosopo said he built the online persona of Kekua, a nonexistent woman who Te'o said he fell in love with despite never meeting in person. Tuiasosopo then killed off the character last September.
"I pretty much had this escape of Lennay and this was where my heart had pretty much invested, not just time, but all of my energy went into this," Tuiasosopo said.
He said he felt Kekua was a part of him, and grew feelings and emotions for Te'o that he could not control. He acknowledged that the hoax was cruel, but said it was never intended as a joke and that he got no financial gain from it.
"As twisted and confusing as it may be, yeah, I cared for this person," he said, referring to Te'o. "I did all that I could to help this person become a better person, even though I wasn't getting nothing out of it."
When the ruse was reported by Deadspin.com on Jan. 16, the report raised the questions about whether Te'o was in on it. The story of how Te'o played through pain after learning about the deaths of his girlfriend and grandmother on the same day led to an outpouring of support from Notre Dame fans. It became the backdrop to the Fighting Irish's undefeated regular season and run to the BCS championship, where they lost to Alabama.
Te'o won seven national awards for his play and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. He has denied any involvement from the beginning, and Notre Dame said an investigation of the player's claims backed up his story. When asked by Katie Couric in an interview broadcast last week, Te'o said he is not gay.
Tuiasosopo said he felt Te'o became a better person as a result of the relationship.
"If you really look at all his interviews, he felt that," he said. "When he was under the understanding that he lost her, he realized all the good that Lennay had done for him."
Through a spokesman, the Te'o family declined comment.
Tuisasosopo said he decided to confess to Te'o earlier this month as the hoax was unraveling because he felt he could not go any further with his own life until the truth was out.
"You've heard of recovering drug addicts? It takes a lot of courage to stand and say that," he said "To recover from homosexuality and this type of thing. Not only that, coming back to your real life, as hard as a task as that is I'm going to do all that I can to live right."
McGraw said that statement bothered him.
"I hope it's a pressure you don't put on yourself," he said.
Tuiasosopo said he killed the Kekua character on the day Te'o learned his grandmother died, following an argument with the football star.
Te'o had told Kekua he didn't need her, Tuiasosopo said.
"It hurt me," he said. "It hit me like a brick wall. I was like, 'Whoa, I've given so much into this.' And I realized right then in that moment, that I poured so much into Lennay, that I myself was getting nothing, and look what I was left with."
Tuiasosopo originally created Kekua using photos he copied from a high school classmate's profile. Te'o has said he first became online friends with Kekua during the winter of 2009-10, his freshman year at Notre Dame.
Te'o also has said he first learned that something was amiss when Keuka called him on Dec. 6, and told him she had faked her death.
He told his parents about what had happened while home for Christmas break and called Notre Dame coaches on Dec. 26 to let them know. Notre Dame officials said that they interviewed Te'o and retained Stroz Friedberg, a New York computer forensics firm, to investigate the case. They learned on Jan. 3 that there were no records indicating Lennay Kekua existed.
Tuiasosopo said he was the voice of Kekua but initially refused to recreate it when pressed by McGraw. He eventually agreed to do the voice behind a privacy screen, something McGraw promised to show during part two of the interview on Friday.


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Kingston TN phone based DSL broadband is typically the least expensive of all the broadband internet providers. Speeds range from 1.5Mbps to 6Mbps depending on the distance from the ISP. The price is right, however DSL has a somewhat limited service area. DSL broadband has to be within an 18,000ft radius of the internet service providers central office. Call for Kingston TN DSL internet availability.
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Kingston cable internet service providers are in the middle as far as price range. Cable internet providers supply a vast part of our country with broadband internet. Cable usually is supplied to your home on a coaxial RG6 cable line from a nearby telephone pole. The readily available access to this form of broadband delivery gives your Kingston cable company a huge advantage in the cable service provider's world.
Kingston TN Internet Providers Speeds
Cable also boasts speeds as fast as 105 mbps. Although a bit pricey at these speeds, this wins cable, the holy cow that's really fast award. Typical Tennessee cable internet providers speeds subscribed to by the average homeowner are in the 6-20mbps. This is a great and affordable option for Kingston TN Internet to enjoy uploading and downloading large files and streaming a video with little or no buffering. Cable broadband internet providers have filled a new nitch in the market of TN. HD video streaming. A couple of years ago no one could have imagined the advances we have seen. What wonders will the cable internet providers achieve in the next couple of years. The internet and the data delivered to your home in Kingston by your cable internet providers is truly amazing.
Order Internet service in Kingston TN by providers you can trust
What a world we live in today. Sounds like something out of a SIFI book. Kingston is streaming video to their HD LCD TVs with 5.1 surround. You've arrived home and video conferenced with some clients in Hong Kong. Grabbed a cold beverage and downloaded a couple of HD movies to watch later. Your buddy calls your Kingston home, and you answer on your VOIP sip phone. The wife is surfing the web to shop for a new laptop. Your smartphone rings and your off to the golf course. Perfect time to pull up that new GPS golf app on your smartphone. The internet and technology sure have changed things in a very short time. One thing you can count on, your internet providers in Kingston Tennessee will be evolving with us.
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Granted, the treatment of the Forgotten Realms as a brand, by both TSR and WotC, has often been less than ideal, to put it very charitably. Indeed, Jeff Grubb's introduction to the DM's Sourcebook to the Realms (one of two books contained in the boxed set) makes this quite plain:
About midsummer of 1986, TSR was shopping for a new world. We had experience in world-building under our belt, with two versions of the WORLD OF GREYHAWK campaign setting, and the creation of Krynn, home of the DRAGONLANCE Saga. This time, we were after something different; a world that we could continue to develop over the years that will follow, and set all future AD&D game modules into. A place where a variety of talented individuals could all contribute to its creation and its development. Rather than one view, a combination of views that would grow and develop through adventures, sourcebooks, short stories, and books.Please take note of the of the bolded section in the quote. As it turned out, TSR did not in fact set all future AD&D modules in the Realms, but they certainly made a good effort at it, producing reams of Realms-related products over a very short period of time. In the process, they certainly gave the impression that AD&D and the Forgotten Realms were synonymous, an impression that left a bad taste in the mouths of D&D fans.
Coming as this did so soon after the ouster of Gary Gygax from TSR, a mythology has grown up around the Realms that I think is both untrue and unfair. If one examines the Campaign Set on its own merits, it's not much different than what was found in the 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set. There's more room given to NPC descriptions, it's true, but the vast majority of those NPCs are 9th level and below -- precisely the sorts of people with whom an average adventuring party would likely interact. There are a handful of higher level NPCs, including the much-reviled Elminster, but their descriptions make them appear almost as "scenery," no different than describing noteworthy cities or landmarks. There's little implication that Elminster or Khelben Arunsun are traveling the world, righting all its wrongs. If anything, the implication is exactly the opposite: evil in the Realms is too strong for any one person or group of persons to overcome, which is where the PCs come into play.
I think it's here that one of the largest fault lines lies for those who dislike the Realms. The Realms in unambiguously a world in need of "heroes," not merely "adventurers." A Realms character is far less likely to be venal and self-interested, doing good more by accident than by design. As a fan of morally ambiguous protagonists, I can certainly appreciate this critique of the Realms, even if I don't find it a damning one. Not all fantasy literature is Howardian/Leiberian swords-and-sorcery and not all swords-and-sorcery tales exist in a moral vacuum. There is room for a type of fantasy where fighting evil is the primary focus.
The problem, I think, is that, when the Realms made their debut, TSR attempted to push the setting as its sole vision of what D&D was and should be. You either signed on to it or you were left out in the cold. At least that's how it appeared to many gamers, who soon resented the Realms and its popularity, all the while forgetting that much of what they disliked about the setting had more to do with TSR's marketing than with any essential qualities of the setting itself. If one looks carefully at the original boxed set, what you find is a wild world beset by evil, where communication and travel are slow and local problems loom far larger than epic, world-shattering plots.
Ed Greenwood's own campaign was far more localized than was Gary Gygax's Greyhawk campaign, for what it's worth, and the power level of the PCs much lesser to boot. And this is all quite clear in the original boxed set, whose treatment of most topics is sketchy and suggestive rather than definitive. It's a superb sandbox setting for heroic fantasy. Now, not everyone wants a heroic fantasy sandbox and there's nothing wrong with that. However, I think it unfair to expect the Realms to be Greyhawk or Nehwon or the Dying Earth; it was never intended to be. What it is is the product of a longstanding D&D campaign, played by real people, which puts it head and shoulders above many later beloved TSR settings who owe their origins solely to finding new ways to squeeze yet more money from the game's fanbase.
If I sound defensive on this point, I apologize. I make no bones about the fact that I have been a fan of the Realms since I first read Greenwood's articles in Dragon. His setting always struck me as the kind of campaign I wish I had run -- not just the setting itself, although I did love it, but also the group of regular, steady players whose characters grew slowly over time and many exciting adventures. That doesn't blind me to the fact that, over the years, the Forgotten Realms product line has included many, many silly things and has thrived on a constant stream of auctorial one-upmanship in an effort to sell more supplements and novels. But I don't think that has any more bearing on the quality of the original Campaign Set than does the existence of the Rose Estes Greyhawk novels (or, for that matter, the later Gygax-penned "Gord the Rogue" books) have on the World of Greyhawk.
Critics often forget that the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set was the last campaign setting released for First Edition. Though the 2e era is where the Realms were flogged to death, it was 1e that gave birth to it and that's quite visible in the product itself, if one cares to read it with unbiased eyes. In reviewing my copy for this retrospective, I found myself able to forget all that came after it and enjoy it for what it is: a huge, wide-open setting drawn in broad strokes, just waiting for individual referees and players to fill in the details -- exactly what a good campaign setting should be.


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Led by more strong gains in Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles, home prices in major U.S. cities were up just more than 12 percent on average in July vs. July 2012, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices report.
The average increase was the largest since February 2006, Reuters adds, and is yet another sign that the housing sector is among the economy's strongest sectors.
But David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, suggests in the group's report that coming months may look less strong: "Following the increase in mortgage rates beginning last May, applications for mortgages have dropped, suggesting that rising interest rates are affecting housing."
More news about the economy is due at 10 a.m. ET, when the private Conference Board releases its look at where consumer confidence stood in September.
Update at 11:45 a.m. ET. Confidence Down Slightly:
The Conference Board says its consumer confidence index slipped to 79.7 in September from 81.8 in August.
Economist Lynn Franco, who directs the board's work on the index, says in its release that "concerns about the short-term outlook for both jobs and earnings resurfaced, while expectations for future business conditions were little changed."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel. President Obama was in Chicago today, promoting what he calls ladders of opportunity to the middle class. It's the latest stop of his post-State of the Union tour, fleshing out the proposals from Tuesday night's speech. At a high school near his southside Chicago home, the president said reducing urban gun violence is essential to economic development.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Because it's very hard to develop economically if people don't feel safe. If they don't feel like they can walk down the street and shop at a store without getting hit over the head or worse, then commerce dries up, businesses don't want to locate, families move out. You get into the wrong cycle.
SIEGEL: Hyde Park Academy High School has struggled to keep students safe as they travel to and from home each day. Two years ago, NPR's David Schaper reported on the school's new Safe Passage program, which involves retired military veterans. This week, he went back to find out if it's working.
DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: It's a little after 3:15, dismissal time at Hyde Park Academy on Chicago's south side. A few blocks away from the school, students walking in small groups pass by a few older African-American gentlemen wearing heavy winter coats and blue knit hats.
That's 65-year-old Edward Malone, who's standing on a corner before a long viaduct that's been a trouble spot over the years. That's why Malone, an army veteran who served in Vietnam, is here to stand watch.
EDWARD MALONE: They call it creating a culture of calm.
SCHAPER: Malone is part of Leave No Veteran Behind, an organization that has been hired as part of the Chicago Public Schools' Safe Passage program. Its mission is to help kids get to and from school safely. Many students must travel through dangerous gang turf or past rival cliques. Malone says the idea is to create a trusted adult presence for students near possible trouble spots.
MALONE: Because they see the same people, like, every day they know if they need someone to - that we're here and that we're going to be here, like, every day. So I think that kind of helps.
SCHAPER: Malone and the others may try to break up a fight but he says their job first and foremost is to...
MALONE: ...report it. I want to observe it, who went where, why, how, what happened.
SCHAPER: The Safe Passage personnel are given cell phones and two-way radios to keep in contact with police and school security. But they say that their calm presence alone often prevents incidents from happening.
RUTH THOMAS: Veterans are always on alert.
SCHAPER: Ruth Thomas served in the Army for 23 years. She's now project coordinator for Leave No Veterans Behind and says their military training helps them often spot trouble before it starts, such as noticing a teen walking with a little limp.
THOMAS: Him and his friends were going towards a park behind the school, so my personnel followed them to the park. And when they got to the park they pulled baseball bats out of their pants. They came there to beat up some other students.
SCHAPER: Chicago Public Schools spends more than $8 million on the Safe Passage program at 35 of its high schools. But Jadene Chow, the assistant head of security, says it's money well spent.
JADENE CHOW: In the current school year year-to-date, we've seen a 25 percent reduction in incidents at the schools where we have community watchers on duty during the hours that they're on duty.
SCHAPER: Safe Passage began a little over three years ago after the 2009 beating death of a high school student in a street brawl. That death was caught on video and went viral. Since then, the city has expanded Safe Passage and other strategies to reduce youth violence, costing the Chicago Public School system millions of dollars that might otherwise be spent on improving academics. But Harold Pollack of the University of Chicago's crime lab says the school system has no other choice.
HAROLD POLLACK: I think you're not going to be able to teach the three Rs to kids if they're in the atmosphere where they're not safe. And we have to pay the same attention to kids' social and emotional development that we are to their intellectual development, because otherwise we won't be able to make headway on either front.
SCHAPER: Pollack says the tricky part is making sure the money is spent on programs that are proven to work over time and reacting with urgency because too many kids in Chicago are still dying by gun violence. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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The holiday season is usually a time of joy, generosity and celebration, but the whirlwind of social obligations, family commitments and financial demands can also be draining. Combine these stresses, and quarrels can easily erupt among even the happiest of couples.
Fights about money are already the most common source of discord among American couples throughout the year, triggering an average of three arguments per month according to a recent study by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AIPCA). Add some financial pressure to the holiday mix, and the good cheer can quickly turn to bickering.
Don't let squabbles about financial matters ruin your holiday. Here are some things that couples often disagree about during the holidays and tips on how to dodge them:
1. "Flying across the country to visit your family is too expensive." For many, holiday plans include traveling, which can come with an expensive price tag. Even local travel to social events for work or to see nearby family and friends takes time and gas money. Long distance trips can be very costly and fraught with family politics. Clear communication and calendar planning are key to avoiding confrontation. Make a list of all of your family's social and travel options and discuss them with your spouse or partner. Each of you might have different opinions about which are priorities, but try to make some compromises like discounted lodging and flights or an every-other-year schedule. Remember that it's okay to say "no" to invitations if the cost – to your energy, emotional health or budget – is too much. You can always schedule a visit to see loved ones later at a less hectic (and usually less expensive) time.
(MORE: Kids and Money: Is It O.K. to Play Financial Favorites?)
2. "We need to buy gifts for our kids, colleagues and cousins." Depending on your personal values, traditions and upbringing, you and your spouse or partner may have differences of opinion about whether to buy gifts, who to buy for and how much to spend. Sit down with your spouse early on and make a list of those for whom you want to purchase presents; then prioritize. Discuss where you want to spend the most or least, agree on a general gift budget and divvy up the cash accordingly. But before you finalize your gift budget, ask yourself if you're spending your money the way you truly want to. It can be easy to overspend on presents that will be quickly forgotten and to get caught up in the shopping frenzy. Make conscious spending choices that are in alignment with your values.
3. "We're spending way too much on parties." The AICPA survey indicated that of money fights between couples, about half are a result of unexpected expenses. Holiday spending can extend far beyond the obvious, and can encompass a wide range of costs. Attending parties and social events may lead to the need (or desire) to purchase hostess gifts or new outfits. You may incur higher than normal childcare costs, and even rack up unanticipated taxi or parking fees. Holiday home décor (inside and out), wrapping paper, gift bags and cards can also get pricey. Add all of these items together and you may be in for sticker shock. While surprise costs can sometimes occur due to events beyond your control, in general, careful planning and conversation in advance can uncover expenses you may have otherwise forgotten. When looking at your overall holiday budget, make a list of all possible expenses (if possible, base this on what you spent last year) and discuss what is important to you as a couple. If unexpected expenses threaten to strain your finances, work together to determine what you can do without in the coming weeks to get back on track.
(MORE: Women Can't Have It All, but They Can at Least Simplify Their Finances)
4. "You should have asked me before buying that!" Money is complicated and, unfortunately, can bring out control issues within couples – which can worsen under stress. Partners may monitor and question each other's purchases. One spouse may even feel that he or she is entitled to make decisions or override the other's opinion if his or her paycheck is larger. Partners may withhold financial information or even sneak purchases behind the other's back. It's important to remember that money should not be used as a manipulative tool in a relationship. Damaging your joint finances can hurt the entire family, so to avoid financial control conflicts during the holidays, communicate as often and as openly as possible. Transparency, joint planning, respect for each other's' opinions and frequent conversations can help you stay on track.
De Baca is vice president of wealth strategies at Ameriprise Financial.


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I almost forgot to share the vanilla bourbon caramel sauce recipe that I mentioned in the pumpkin Greek yogurt banana bread the other day! This vanilla bourbon caramel sauce is a pretty standard caramel sauce with the seeds from a vanilla bean and a splash of bourbon added to add a depth of flavour and to give it an even more amazing aroma. Caramel sauce can be a bit tricky to make at first but once you get the hang of it, it is really easy! In fact the hardest thing about it is that it requires you to watch it the whole time because if you take yours eyes of of it for a few seconds it can burn really quickly. So other than having to dedicate 20-30 minutes of time to making it, it as simple as melting some sugar, bringing it to a boil and cooking it until it turns a nice amber colour. All that remains is to carefully add the cream followed by the butter and any flavourings that you want, in this case the vanilla and the bourbon.
Just look at all of those amazing flecks of vanilla bean seeds in there!
Vanilla Bourbon Caramel Sauce
A creamy vanilla caramel sauce with a hint of bourbon.
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
- 1 vanilla bean, cut in half and seeds scraped
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
- Mix the sugar and water in a small sauce pan and let simmer over medium heat until a medium amber colour, about 15-20 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low, carefully pour in the heavy cream and stir until smooth.
- Mix in the butter, vanilla bean seeds and bourbon and stir until the butter has melted and combined.