Can We Talk 2

Magazines and The Web

         I subscribe to several of those women's and home magazines. One had an item on some great prizes, and it told me to enter online. I did. Now they have me set up for a second subscription! It didn't say in the article that the only way to enter the contest was to buy another subscription. I'll have to send that back with a "Cancel" on it. I got a confirmation email which told me what had happened, but there's no way to respond to it.

         The same magazine told me how to make these cute Halloween cupcakes. I thought it would be a nice craft for the kids to do themselves when they come to visit tomorrow. I have to have everything ready in advance because most of them are still at the impatient age. The ingredients cost me a fortune! The cake mix was cheap enough on sale. I had to add eggs and oil, of course. I have to make two kinds of frosting, one requiring cream of tartar which I haven't used in years. That was almost $5. Powdered sugar, gel food coloring. Chocolate sprinkles in a large quantity. Ice cream cones (to be frosted and inverted on half the cupcakes). Tiny tubes of frosting to make faces. M & M's for eyes. Licorice to make bolts for Frankenstein's neck. I'll have to use wax paper for work sheets for each of six kids, paper towels, and hope they don't eat all the supplies. Oh, I forgot the chocolate dipped donuts that go on top. True, that's too much sweet for kids to eat, but these are just décor. The cupcake is just the base or body. The donuts get decorated as the heads. I'll have to scrub the house down afterward, and I hadn't foreseen how expensive these ingredients would be.

         Another magazine is telling me how to make butternut squash soup. Whew. Sounds good. I don't know if I'm up to it.