Sweet and Scary: Word Counters

 

 

Counting my words again. 

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month one group member picks  a number between 12 and 50. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we all share what we came up with. 

 This month's number is 44. 
It was chosen by Diane of On the Border.

 

 

As I've been doing in these Word Counters posts, I've chosen a theme and am using my word count multiple times in keeping with the theme. This month I've chosen the theme Sweet and Scary, and I'm talking about dreams.

 

~ Strange things have been happening with my sleep cycle. All through my twenties, I was a night person, staying up (partying) till all hours. And I'd often sleep, when I didn't have a class or later work, until two or three in the afternoon.

 

~ Kids change that. You have to be a morning person, like it or not. They tend to be rather inflexible and demanding so you'd best adjust. Hubs was always a morning person, so this wasn't a change for him, but it was for me.

 

~ With the boys grown now, my sleep schedule has become more or less my own. I'm still up watching TV and reading until between midnight and one in the morning, but I rarely sleep in, the early morning habit is (sadly) still well ingrained.

 

~ Lately I'm suffering from sleep cycle kerfuffle. I get up at the same time, but can't seem to keep my eyes open in the afternoon. If I sit down, I'm out cold. Naps are short, but sometimes there are two or three of them.

 

 

~ You'd think that would mean that I can't fall asleep at night, right? But that's not what's been happening. I still fall asleep right between twelve and one. And, although ever the light sleeper, I sleep hard. I wake up knowing I've slept well.

~ The difference? The dreams. Wow, I've been having some pretty bizarre ones. Often more than one a night, and each more strange than the one before. And I remember a whole lot of them when I wake up too, which is also unusual.

~ Like this one from a few nights ago. I not only remember it quite clearly, but it's been rolling around in my (wakened) brain, bothering me, like there's a message there I'm not getting. This one started with a cake (of course it did) . . .

Mocha Mascarpone Cake

~ I'd been asked to make a theme cake. It wasn't my job, just something done for friends. I know I got a lot of praise for my them, and enjoyed both being able to do it, and how I felt when they saw them.

 

~ This cake was huge, and I'd made it in a terrarium (don't ask me). It was mountain shaped, rising high above the terrarium. You could see through the glass sides. One side of the cake was decorated as a ski mountain with a skier.

 

~ If you looked through the glass at the other side, it was more intricately decorated, far more impressive. Unlike the ski theme this side made you feel like you were looking into the ocean (if the ocean were mountain shaped . . .), and there were fish.

 

~ Hubs walked in. Definitely not current in real life Hubs (who actually can't even boil water), no idea who this (hot) man was. But he took apart the side with the skier and rebuild the mountain. I didn't say anything, but I was hurt.

 

~ Then Rena (blogging friend) took apart the ocean. She made a shark, realistic but way too big for the cake. Saying she wanted it to be mean, she dotted on gold leaf, then brown paint, continuing until the shark was black, dry, and withered.

~ Meaning what? I want a (non cake designing) replacement Hubs? I'm jealous of my friend who makes better dried up sharks than I do? No one appreciates my mad cake skills? I should immediately seek therapy? Maybe I'll just fall asleep on the couch . . .

 

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Mocha Mascarpone Cake         

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

1 box yellow cake mix

2 tsp instant coffee granules

3 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup coffee, brewed, cooled

1/3 cup oil

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup canned vanilla frosting

3/4 cup mascarpone cheese

2 TBSP baking cocoa powder

1/4 cup coffee, brewed, cooled

 

1/2 oz semisweet chocolate or 1 small chocolate candy bar

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 baking pan.

*Beat the cake mix, coffee granules, eggs, milk, 1/3 cup brewed coffee, oil, and 1/4 cup mascarpone on medium for 2 minutes. Mix in the mini chocolate chips and pour evenly into prepared pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the center springs back to the touch. Cool completely.

*Whisk together the vanilla frosting, the remaining mascarpone cheese, baking cocoa, and the remaining brewed coffee. Refrigerate to thicken until the cake is completely cooled.

*Spread the frosting over the cooled cake. Shave the chocolate bar over the top of the frosting. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature to serve.