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<\/a><\/p>\nDespite my time-consuming creations, I never passed judgement on those working moms that settled for dropping off store cupcakes in the school office.\u00a0 And I never pshawed those moms that paid outrageous amounts for special order bakery confections.\u00a0 Well, not a lot.\u00a0 Not out loud.<\/p>\n But before you get mad, you should know that all that judging and pshawing has come back to bite me in my back-to-work-after-Little-started-kindergarten-butt.\u00a0 That with the hours I am working now I’m lucky if I’m home on my kids’ birthdays, never mind making fancy baked goods.\u00a0 That I’ve gone from making a cake for their actual birthday and<\/strong> a cake for their birthday party and <\/strong>cupcakes for their class at school to just hoping and praying that they want to go to dinner at a restaurant that offers a free birthday sundae or has a dessert bar.<\/p>\n So I was taken by surprise when Middle woke up on his birthday and asked me if I needed him to write down his class’s lunch time.\u00a0 And then asked me what kind of cupcakes I was bringing.<\/p>\n There didn’t seem to be a delicate way to ask, “Are we still doing that<\/strong>?” <\/em> And it seemed like a slim chance that I could arrive with the mixed assortment of store bought cookies and minicupcakes remaining from my contribution to Big’s lacrosse party the day before.\u00a0 I was pretty sure Middle didn’t want to celebrate turning 10 with the lacrosse team’s leftovers.\u00a0 I could have put it all on a platter, added some of my secret stash of Pirouette Pepperidge Farm rolled wafers, and tried it pass it off as birthday fare.\u00a0 But I really hated to share my Pirouettes.\u00a0 ‘Cause they’re the really good chocolate hazelnut ones.<\/p>\n There was nothing left to do except this:<\/p>\n And write down his class lunch time.<\/p>\n Officially, it was my day off.\u00a0 Which meant I was totally available to make cupcakes and bring them to school.\u00a0 Of course, as working moms know, our “day off” is filled with all the house cleaning, meal making, and chores that don’t do themselves while we’re at work.\u00a0 And that, for some reason, no one else manages to get done on their day off.\u00a0 Go figure.<\/p>\n But I had to go into town for garden stakes anyway.\u00a0 I planned to pick up some cupcakes and drop them off at school while I was out.<\/p>\n I couldn’t do it.\u00a0 I just couldn’t.\u00a0 The WalMart cupcakes were so…..WalMarty.<\/p>\n And the ones at Lowe’s Foods were WalMarty, too.\u00a0 Just with a different label.<\/p>\n I almost convinced myself that it was no big deal.\u00a0 That the kids were going to eat <\/strong><\/em>the cupcakes, not bronze them for perpetuity.<\/p>\n Until I saw the price tag.<\/p>\n It’s true that you can’t put a price on a mother’s love.\u00a0 Unless you want $6.50 for 12 WalMarty cupcakes.\u00a0 And then my love is priced out.\u00a0 Which at least saved me a trip to a real bakery.\u00a0 ‘Cause I’m betting 12 cupcakes that were actually baked within the last 24 hours and don’t have frosting made out of whipped Crisco and food coloring cost even more than that.<\/p>\n For under $6 I walked out of the store with cake mix, frosting, cupcake liners, sprinkles, and a special topping.\u00a0 Plus, a plan to get 24 cupcakes made while simultaneously completing the garden and household chores.\u00a0 All in time to be at the school lunch room by 12: 35pm.\u00a0 Well, actually, by 12:25pm.\u00a0 Because Little had lunch before Middle and he didn’t want to miss out on cupcakes.\u00a0 So he made me promise to come early enough to give him a cupcake before he had to leave the lunch room.<\/p>\n Will the special requests never end?\u00a0 Ever?<\/p>\n Which reminds me.\u00a0\u00a0 I need to ask my dad to take Little to baseball this week.\u00a0 And I want my mom to save me a cutting off her clematis vine.<\/p>\n Huh.\u00a0 I guess it really doesn’t ever end.<\/p>\n In any case, I baked the cupcakes while I finished the milking and mulched the perennial beds.\u00a0 Then I let them cool while I folded laundry.\u00a0 Then I used my years of stay-at-home mom baking experience to quickly frost them.\u00a0 There’s a trick to frosting cupcakes.\u00a0 It’s called “sprinkles.”<\/p>\n Please note the haphazardly arranged frosting.\u00a0 Awful:<\/p>\n Apply sprinkles and voila!\u00a0 Amazing:<\/p>\n But even WalMart can add sprinkles.\u00a0 A homemade cupcake needs something more.\u00a0 Something edible yet extraordinary.<\/p>\n Enter the special topping.\u00a0 Yeah, baby.<\/p>\n Within 45 minutes I had a tray of homemade treats for the birthday boy and his classmates.\u00a0 Although I admit the Oreo packaging slowed me down.\u00a0 I’m not sure why people in product packaging design think this is an improvement.\u00a0 Or “easy.”<\/p>\n Or why they’re so adamant about it.\u00a0 There’s no sneaking around to the end to open the package without being reprimanded.\u00a0 Who would’ve thought a bunch of Oreo engineers could be so authoritarian?\u00a0 Perhaps they need a cookie break?<\/p>\n Although I hope they don’t want the cookies out of the corner.<\/p>\n Because you CANNOT GET THOSE SUCKERS OUT WITHOUT FREAKING OUT AND TEARING APART THE WHOLE PACKAGE!!!!!\u00a0 AAAGGGHHHHHHH!!!! I NEED TO BE AT SCHOOL BY 12:25, PEOPLE!!!!!!<\/p>\n There, that’s better.<\/p>\n I finished those cupcakes with a few minutes to spare.\u00a0 And they weren’t a work of art.\u00a0 But they were homemade.\u00a0 With flair.\u00a0 Now that’s a cupcake.<\/p>\n They were big hit with Middle and his friends at the round table at school.<\/p>\n The round tables are reserved for children whose parents have come to eat with them for the day.\u00a0 Plus any friends that the child chooses to sit with them.\u00a0 Also, the round tables are for the kids who have been naughty and are having “silent” (and solitary) lunch.\u00a0 An odd juxtaposition, I know.\u00a0 There can be a thin line between naughty and nice.\u00a0 And sometime there’s only a chair or two.<\/p>\n Regardless, the cupcakes were perfect.\u00a0 Mama’s still got it, baby!<\/p>\n Of course, “got it” is a relative term.\u00a0 I realize in this picture I should have spent less time cussing the Oreos and left myself a few minutes to do my hair and make up.\u00a0 Eh.\u00a0 Something’s gotta give when you’re a working mom.<\/p>\n At least I changed out of my barn clothes.\u00a0 And put on one of my good bras.\u00a0 Plus, I wore the flip flops with the bows on them.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n