Only one of me…

“There’s only one of me,” sighed the mother

…who woke up at 2:30 am to the calls “Mommy I think I might throw up.”

…who woke up again at 6:30 am to find that the refrigerator stopped working, the ice cream was mush and the meat defrosted. Oh, and water puddled on the floor.

…who cleaned the entire kitchen from top to bottom including doing laundry and a load of dishes so that all would be spic-and-span for the refrigerator repairman arriving at 9:oo am.

…who got the news that the refrigerator repairman couldn’t make it at 9:00 am, but a temporary fridge was on the way.

…who moved the dining room furniture to squeeze another refrigerator into an already snug apartment.

…who made and delivered breakfast and a smoothie to a 14-year-old daughter who is stuck in her bed.

…who  tried to work her magic and make the food in a large fridge fit inside a small one, to include the excessive amounts of butter purchased for holiday baking and the milk that may or may not have gone sour overnight, but no one will volunteer to smell or sample it.

…who needs to administer antibiotics at 8:00 am and alternating pain killers every three hours and antibiotics again at 8:00 pm.

…who just sat down to convince a small boy that “Yes, we will do our school work even though life is a little hectic today” at the EXACT moment when the repairman showed up.

…who tried to explain to the repairman, en Espanol, what is wrong with the fridge whilst the small boy conveniently disappeared.

…who ran to a squealing daughter with visions of further injury in her mind, only to find that a bird almost flew in her open window, but didn’t.

…who tried to get the little boy to focus on spelling and math and reading amid the excitement of a repairman, melting ice cream and birds almost flying into the apartment.

…who played nurse while opening bandages and cleaning wounds.

…who decided that it is better to finish making the cake balls in the fridge rather than throw it all away due to the refrigerator fiasco.

…who concluded that chocolate cake balls taste unbelievably similar to Dunkin Donuts’ Munchkins. And they are Gluten Free. This is wonderful news if you are taste buds. Not if you are hips.

…who tried to convince the aforementioned small boy that while it is certainly possible that he will get to be a full-time, professional Lego builder or cartoon watcher someday, today he is going to do word problems and show his work.

…who went to her immobilized daughter’s calls 27 times to move a pillow, bring a beverage, bring a snack, take away a plate, help to the bathroom, reposition leg, answer the phone, watch something funny on tv… and this doesn’t include the time there was a bird that wasn’t really there.

…who realized that it was time to pick up two more daughters from the bus, and think about dinner preparations and homework and when she will squeeze in some Christmas wrapping and photo editing and painting…

…who almost missed the bus pick up because for the first time in 5 months the bus was early. Really early.

…who noticed that the front left tire on the minivan is low.

…who anxiously awaits her pilot to return home, so that instead of only one of me there will be two of us.

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Cake Balls That Taste Remarkably Like Munchkins

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Don’t ever say that I didn’t warn you.

1. Betty Crocker (gluten-free or regular) chocolate cake mix (baked according to direction in a 9×12 in pan)

2. Betty Crocker chocolate frosting in a can (you will need 1/2 – full can)

3. Powdered sugar

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- Bake the cake.

- Allow the cake to fully cool

- Break apart the cake in a bowl with a fork. This is fun for kids. You basically want tiny cake crumbs.

- Add frosting a big spoonful at a time and stir.

- Stop adding frosting when everything is well combined and a very thick consistency and more cake than frosting. (You don’t want any big lumps of cake or frosting.)

- Refrigerate, covered, for one hour or up to 2 days.

- Roll cake/frosting mixture into bite-sized balls

- Roll in powdered sugar when you are ready to serve