C is for this crazy mad cow-terpillar cupcake cake.
This cake was inspired by Mad Cow Giant Microbe plushy available from the Neatorama Shop. Originally the kids and I were going to make a regular caterpillar cake, but my daughter kind of came up with this idea instead. She said, "Let's make a mad cow-terpillar cake." I admit we aren't the best cake decorators, but before you submit us to Cake Wrecks please consider the fact that this was created by a 3 1/2 year old and 2 year old with the aid of someone a wee bit older, but with the decorating skills of a 3 year old.
In case you are wondering we used store bought cake mix and frosting (chocolate and vanilla). It's 4 cupcakes long. The eyes are dried cranberries with little candy pearls in the center. We sprinkled a few white crystals on top, because some of us like sparkly stuff.
This cake is in honor of Daddy who studied mad cow in graduate school.
Whereas other little piggies went to market, stayed home, had roast beef or had none, a little piggy named Oscar had a birthday and broke a world record:
Oscar the pig turns 20 years old and is crowned the world's oldest living pig. O.K., technically the little porker turned 20 in October, but us slow pokes are just getting around to wishing him a very happy belated birthday. quote: The attempt for the Guinness record came on a whim. Kimbell's boyfriend – himself the owner of an 11-year-old potbellied pig named Ziffle – looked up the current record and discovered Oscar was older. The application process involved a lot of paperwork to prove his age. Kimbell sent in Oscar's birth records, photos of him growing up with her, and letters from veterinarians and his travels. She got word of their success in late December. Kimbell doesn't have any big plans for her record-holder. She turned down an invitation to Rome for a Guinness TV show because Oscar's too old to travel. He turned 20 on Oct. 29.
Here's hoping Oscar has many more years of belly rubs and falling asleep in front of the television: Link
A trendy Santa Monica Sushi Restaurant, funnily enough named "Hump", was caught selling whale.
The Hump came under fire after allegations surfaced in Tuesday's New York Times that it had served meat from an endangered sei whale, possibly straight from the trunk of a white Mercedes-Benz.
To provide evidence, federal agents and animal activists had cooperated in a video sting orchestrated by the associate producer of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove." ...
Teglas said they enlisted two female animal activists -- both vegans -- and used a tiny video camera to record them as they were served a $600 omakase, or chef's choice, meal at the Hump. The two activists asked whether they could get whale meat, and a waitress then served eight pieces of what she called "whale," according to an affidavit provided by the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.
The activists bagged samples of the meat and slipped them into a purse. The samples were sent to Scott Baker, associate director of the highly regarded Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. Baker determined that the meat was sei whale.
An Orca Whale at a Sea World, Orlando sadly proved today why they are called Killer Whales. Telly the whale took the life of a 40-year-old, female, senior trainer.
Witness Victoria Biniak said she saw the deadly incident from a viewing area.
"The trainer was explaining different things about the whale and then the trainer that was down there walked away from the window. Then Telly (the whale) took off really fast in the tank and he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing (her) around," Biniak said. "He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent."
Biniak said the attack was so violent that it caused the trainer's shoe to fly off [...]
Killer whale expert Nancy Black said the whale could have been playing and the incident could have been an accident."They are very intelligent creatures. They have emotions, and feelings. Maybe it was unhappy in the situation, maybe it was bored," Black said.
Telly, however, was allegedly involved in the death of a part time trainer 1991. He was also believed to be involved in the death of a man in 1999. Perhaps, he is a serial-killer whale?
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22659901/detail.html (Photo: Local 6 News)
Artists in Detroit have encased an abandoned house in ice in order to bring attention to the startling number of foreclosures in the region. The Ice House blog chronicles the project and provides stunning pictures of the ice house.
Did your ex got your favorite tea kettle and plush Egyptian cotton towels in the divorce? Not to worry, now you can head down to Debenhams department store and register for some more. Go ahead and add lots of stuff to your divorce gift registry. Hopefully all those family members who said it wouldn't last will be willing to chip in and buy you a little, "I told you so gift."
A few weeks ago we were asked to participate in this neat little Sweep
Panorama photo contest. Sony provided Neatorama with this sleek and
very pretty Cyber-shot
DSC-WX1 camera to play with. The task was to take a bunch of panoramic
photos and submit them to compete against other photos by bloggers around
the web. I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I sure
had fun anyway.
The camera is very little and a real treat to tote around. I am used
to lugging around a huge SLR. As long as I am not having a particularly
fat day, this compact Sony will actually fit in my pocket. But, the really
nice thing about this Sony camera is that I don't feel like I am giving
up quality for convienince. Yes, it's really really easy to use but has
lots of bells and whistles to boot. The camera is 10.2 mega pixels, has
a 5x optical lens, 24 mm wide-angle lens (35mm format), anti-motion blur,
take movies and so on. Frankly this little guy is way smarter then I am.
The panoramic feature they asked us to test out is super cool. All you
do is set the camera to the "sweep panorama" mode and you are
ready to go. The camera shoots multiple images and seamlessly pieces the
together into a panoramic image as you move the camera. You can take vertical
or horizontal pictures. The fun thing about the mode is that you can fit
a lot visually into one picture. The way it scans actually allows you
to achieve a certain amount of depth that you can't get with other still
cameras.
We are still playing with camera and we have been asked to submit even
more photos. We can't tell you which ones we provided but we think you
will have a good time looking at everyone's interpretation of the assignment.
Check out the cool panoramic photos at WeSay
and vote for your favorite panoramic photo today. The winner is allowed
to choose which school they would like 10 additional cameras to be given
so you are voting for a good cause.
http://www.wesay.com/sony/
Disclosure: We do get to keep the camera (Thanks Sony and Technorati!
It rocks), but the opinion above was 100% ours. There was no pressure
to write only positive reviews.
A man asking for money approached two nuns in a California parking lot. When the nuns refused to give him money the man made off with sister De Leon's purse instead. This guy is on Santa's naughty list for sure.
Sister Mary De Leon was with another nun and had just finished their shopping at the Food 4 Less. They were loading groceries in the trunk of their car when the suspect approached them in broad daylight two weeks ago. Surveillance video captured the crime on tape...
"She was blaming herself for leaving her purse in front of the car," said Sister Mary Fatima Guevara of the Poverello of Assisi School.
Guevara said De Leon has already forgiven the suspects for the crime.
Yes, you read the title right. This is a link to Baby Center's visual guide to baby poop. Go ahead and giggle, but let's face it new parents are obsessed with their kids poop.
Most new parents find baby poop quite surprising! It has so many shades and consistencies that even experienced parents may not have seen them all.
This photo guide to baby poop will give you a good idea of what's normal and what's not as your newborn grows, drinks breast milk or formula, and starts eating solids. You'll find out when not to worry and when it's wise to be concerned.
Think a baby is too young to be depressed? Think a again. A new study out of the University of Montreal in Quebec suggests a strong link between depression in mothers and anxiety and depression in infants and toddlers:
The longitudinal study of 1759 children, ranging in age from 5 months to 5 years, found that 15% of study participants had unduly high symptoms of depression and anxiety and that these children were more likely to have mothers with a history of depression. The study also found that difficult temperament at 5 months was the most important predictor of depression and anxiety in children.
"As early as the first year of life, there are indications that some children have more risks than others of developing high levels of depression and anxiety. We also found that these symptoms increase in frequency during the first 5 years of life," one of the authors, Sylvana Côté, PhD, from the Université de Montréal in Quebec, told Medscape Psychiatry.
Anita Tedaldi adopted a special needs baby from South America. After spending 18 months with the child, she felt that she and her family failed to bond with him and gave him back.
One day (I’m still not exactly sure what was different about that particular day) I was on the phone with Jennifer, our social worker, who merely asked “what’s up” when I blurted out that I couldn’t parent D., that things were too hard.
What are your thoughts?
Read about her experience in her own words as published by the New York Times and reprinted by the Today Show: Link (image credit: Today Show)
A woman in Texas was so angry at her former common-law husband that she decided to fry and eat his pet goldfish. The not-so-lucky 7 gold fish were bought by the couple during happier days. Police say it's a civil not a criminal matter and left the couple to work out the issue. I guess revenge is a dish best served fried!
It seems like no long term relationship is safe these days. First it's Jon and Kate and now sadly it's Harry and Pepper.
Harry and Pepper are a pair of adorable male Magellan penguins at the San Francisco Zoo. They have been together for the last 6 years and even adopted an egg together in 2008. All was going well in their relationship until a newly widowed female penguin entered the picture and poor old Pepper was left out in the cold.
Last year, the pair was allowed to incubate and hatch an egg another penguin had laid. “Of all of the parents that year, they were the best,” Brown said. “They took very good care of their chick. He ended up being the largest chick on the island.” One could say that all seemed to be going swimmingly with Harry and Pepper.
Enter the recently widowed Linda, who has long had a reputation of sorts, according to Brown.
Several years ago, she left her longtime companion and moved in with much older Fig just hours after Fig’s partner passed away, Brown said. “That was the fastest we’d ever seen penguins move on,” he said. “To be completely anthropomorphizing, Linda seems conniving. She’s got her plan. I don’t think she was wanting to be a single girl for too long.”
This year, within weeks of Fig passing away in winter, Harry was seen in Fig’s old burrow spending time with Linda, Brown said. Then one day, Harry and Linda approached Pepper’s pen and confronted Pepper. Harry began attacking Pepper violently and the three ultimately had to be separated, Brown said.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies, Grandmas, and Mother figures out there. May your day be filled with laughter, fun, and lots and lots of homemade cards and goodies.
