Sometimes you feel like a nut…

Tags

back to school, dessert recipe, family, humor, life, parenting, recipe

Do you hear that? Of course you don’t.

Walden Pond

The sound of tranquility is so soft I can hear our dog snoring through her mid-morning nap from two rooms away, un-interrupted by squabbles over Barbie shoes.

I could wax sentimentally over the end of summer or the beginning of a new season, but I am feeling abit shell-shocked. Whatever craziness ensues over the summer break seems to cumulate to a week of off-the-chart insanity in the weeks before school:

* One Last Weekend Getaway – Sounds like a great idea, until you arrive at the cabin only to realize a geographic change is NOT going to change the fact that the 10-year-old still thinks she is still way too cool for the rest of the family.

*School Supplies – The purchase of the perfect pencils and binder set the tone for the entire school year. Did you know a second grade girl requires a minimum of 5 images of Hello Kitty and two monkeys amongst her gear? And a fourth grader…is too cool for anything offered by Target or Staples.

*School Fashion – FAIL. I gave up after suggesting the girls try on their things from last year to determine what was needed. The screech heard  ’round the world: “LAST year’s clothes?! ”

*School Open House – Kicked it’s ass, thank you. I successfully navigated through the onslaught of PTO moms suggesting I volunteer for room mom, “reading buddy”, library helper and the like. I also walked right past the “Spirit Wear” table of school paraphernalia no one will ever actually wear without spending a dime. Again, too cool…

*The Cello – Yes, the little one, all 38 pounds of her, insists on playing cello. (If you knew her…). We have negotiated through the great debate with her music teacher and the music store found  an instrument for her 44 inch frame. Who knew there is such a thing as a 1/8 sized cello – any smaller and they’d have to give her a viola.

See? We just remove the chin rest…

The official start of the school year was yesterday. Although the temptation to return into the blissful yet snarky blogosphere was great, I decided to take the day to simply get my ducks in a row. I did more before 9 am than I was able to accomplish in an entire summer day; the occupation of “Chick Fight Referee” chipped away at any hope of productivity.

On my “Back to School Yay-Day” To -Do List was to bake a birthday cake for one of Clark’s many siblings. She is a lover of coconut, and I thought this frosting might be a great recipe to share with all of you. It’s great on a basic white cake; the entire cake can be frosted in the coconut fabulousness or use the coconut as a middle layer between the cakes and top with a dark chocolate frosting.  If feeling “like a nut”, stir in roasted almonds:

2 cups confectioners sugar (powdered)

2 cups sour cream

12 oz. shredded coconut (unsweetened)

Whisk together the sugar and sour cream first, then stir in the coconut. It’s that simple. The most difficult part is to remember to mix together a couple of hours ahead of time, it needs to sit in the refrigerator for an hour or two to let the sugar completely dissolve. Don’t worry, it makes enough to have enough “left over” to eat with the spatula.

This sits on our counter, perched atop a candle stand, Nola thought it was too cute to eat. Have I ever mentioned we have a pet coconut?