More hiking - more ugly cakes

I thought I would make a really special cake over the weekend but it didn't quite turn out the way I thought it would.


This is supposed to be a Boston Cream Pie. For some reason the vanilla custard filling refused to stay between the layers of cake and ran all over the place.  Looks ugly, but tastes pretty good!







The last time I tried to make a "fancy" cake, it ran over the top of the pan in the oven making an incredible, colorful mess.  Again - ugly, yet tasty. What am I doing wrong?  These hideous cakes aren't even worthy of the Cake Wrecks site.  I'm going to get an estimate on some kitchen remodeling which will include a new oven, but I have no real hope that I will be a better cook because of it. 

So the cake wasn't pretty, but Sunday's Skyline Drive hike was.  It was a very pretty and warm day so we tried an hour and a half long loop trail and best of all, Xena went along!  I was afraid she was too out of shape to make it, but she was a trooper.

Xena and me -look at her happy smile!

Taxes....Done!!!!

I made myself a long to-do list for this weekend and I am about to celebrate the completion of the worst, most dreaded task of all - taxes!  Yes - they are done, and I'm even getting a tiny bit back so let the party begin. I've celebrated so far by walking Xena to the mailbox and eating a tuna sandwich for lunch. What a wild adventurous life I lead.  I may pull out all the stops and start another knitting project!

Here is what I finished recently:

Baby bomb hats

I already feel like I'm in a rut with these bomb hats and I'm ready for something new. I thought about a mushroom cloud hat in keeping with the WMD theme, but I'm afraid it would turn out looking like one of those chef hats....see what I mean?

Actually, it might still be a little bit cute.

Mushroom cloud

Chef hat

Day at The Museum-1

A Sunday in January is an excellent time to visit Washington, D.C.  There are few tourists and the metro is cheap, and not crowded at all. (round trip between Vienna and Smithsonian is $6.00/person)

We left my house around 9am and traveled up route 340 to Front Royal where my lead foot almost got me into trouble. It was kind of an ironic and amusing situation.  Ironic because I got stopped by a cop while traveling with a cop, amusing because I got off with a warning, and "kind of" because it was really only that.  I wouldn't think it was amusing if I got a ticket. Who can drive 25 on a 4 lane highway?  Ridiculous. I was going 40 and Sergeant Russ kindly commented that he would have been driving 45.
We found a parking spot at the Metro station that was not being used to store snow, spent only 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get tickets out of the vending machine, caught the train and off we went. Every time I go to D.C. I think I need to go there more often, if only to walk around and take in the sights. Time is always short though so we took a few perfectly placed photos and headed to the museum of Natural History.

Russ with Capitol Dome on his head

I really wanted to see an exhibit called Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th Century Chesapeake.  It was very cool. We also spent hours looking at dinosaur bones and walking through the oceans exhibit. It was all fascinating and worth the 2 hour trip.  We spent 4 hours at one museum and didn't see half of it, but I left satisfied and willing to go back again soon. One of the coolest exhibits was a coral reef crocheted out of yarn and other materials, including cassette tape, video tape and plastic bags.

I felt inspired to take my crafting up a notch since I seem to be stuck on knit hats that look like bombs with a lit fuse.

bomb hat

No adventure this weekend since I'm on call and have spent my day cleaning and sorting and shredding.  I've accumulated years worth of documents and can't think of any good reason to hang on to things like an electric bill from 2006.

PS I ordered an exercise bike. I have high hopes.