Catching Up...Eek! And a winner

I am so behind on my reviews. I've got books, skateboards and hamsters with adorable and funny video to share if I can just get my computer to run a bit faster.



Without further ado, though, I am finally giving away the Cake Wrecks book. So so sorry for the delay.



I used random.org since my number picking children are away at grandma and grandpas tonight, and the winner is Mar Vista mom Sarah Auerswald. Congrats!

Book Review: This is Where I Leave You

I just, literally (hah!) finished This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Trooper, this months Silicon Valley Moms blog pick for our virtual book club. I managed to finish this book in just about four days, which is not that unusual for me, but I would definately call this a dense book, in a good way, an excellent way. The story was so packed with description and dialogue, from the hilarious oversharing of the mom, the aging obese or pasty-legged visitors, to the angry thoughts constantly running through Judd's mind. Judd is the main character, who stumbles upon his wife with is boss, somehow manages to light the guy's testicles on fire with a birthday cheesecake and soon after leaves to sit shiva with his highly disfunctional family after his father dies. I loved his family. Perhaps I loved them because they made me laugh out loud, or made my family seem mroe normal, but it's more likely I envy their directness, their emotions that seem to leak though even when they try to hide them. One of the very last lines is:

"We can all drive stick. We can all change a flat. We can all repress our feelings until they poison us."

Sure their life was not perfect, okay there is no question it was screwy, but repressed emotions? Not in that house. Sure sarcasm about your mom's skirt length, insults hurled at matchmakers and the constant punching is probably not a healthy release of emotions, but it sure makes for fun reading. Like an engaging TV show, I wanted to jump in and snap those characters into action. "Alice, you can adopt. Get that husband of yours tested. I know the feeling, really, I pondered doing that same thing with my husband's nephew." "Judd, you are clearly using this affair as an excuse to get angry that your life is not a fairy tale with a happy ending. Nice Jewish boy does not get the hot babe unless he works hard on the marriage, especially after a loss like that. Who doesn't want to fall in love again? Get over yourself." Okay, got that off my chest.

In case it wasn't clear, I highly recommend this book.

And full disclosure, I got a free copy of this book

Cake Wrecks Book and UnderNeat that "A Giveaway"

Read here about the book signing I attended for the fantabulous and hilarous new Cake Wrecks book based on one of my all-time favorite blogs. This book is really funny, as you can imagine, and it's got tons of stuff not on the blog. It is of course in the same spirit of the blog, funny without being mean spirited, family friendly and utterly silly.

If you've read the blog, you'll know how awesome Jen is with her commentary. She's added stories and oodles of new photos. There's a whole chapter on CCCs (cupcake cakes, ptooey), an ode to baby bottoms and "gut-wrenchingly awful, with a snide of snickering schadenfreude" wedding cake wrecks. To be honest I'd never even heard of groom's cakes before this blog, or it might have been the cake shows I obsess over. In this book we've got the question of which you'd rather eat, "a slimy whole fish or a fuzzy, month-old pickle?" Yum.

I'm not going to post any of her cakewrecks here, but here are some of my own highs and lows.

Pigs by me and Soccer cake by Brian, not to shabby. These were two of Donovan's cakes.

Two very busy Star Wars cakes for Keegan's 3rd birthday. Yes, I made one cake for preschool and one for a party at home.



It's Dialga, can't you tell?


And my masterpiece!

Get it, it's a fun book. Support your local bookseller, get it on sale at Amazon, or to win your very own autographed copy of Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong leave a comment below, describing in detail a wrecked you've had made. No, I'm kidding, just leave any old comment by midnight next Saturday, 10/10 and I'll randomly pick a "winner."