A Gold Star

Dieting makes me a bad stay-at-home mom/wife. I already have a hard enough time making dinner as it is. You see, half the household is under the age of 3. And while I have phenomenal eaters for children, they are still two and three. Which means they are picky. So being on this diet, I have to ask myself daily: Is it worth it to cook tonight (because, invariably, I'm not wasting the points on some cheesy dinner)? Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that I have cut back significantly on my baking. Particularly because that's how I get my two- and three-year-olds to eat. I bribe, beg and threaten with "cookeee" and "cac" (as Elliot calls them). I don't want to bake because, inevitably, I'll eat it when no one's looking. I'll have a rough day, hide myself in the pantry and try to blockade myself from view by using the refrigerator door and I'll take conspicuous bites of baked goods. The only reason I've done this well this quickly is because there has been a ban on baking. But my dear husband has been having a rough couple of days. So, I thought, "I'll be the best wife in the world and actually cook." I not only made dinner (which, in fairness, happens twice a week. Leftovers, fish sticks and pancakes get us through the rest of the week), but I made cake (this is where the gold star comes in). Now my dear husband is not a cake fan, largely because he is not a frosting fan (which is actually the great tragedy of my life. In my world, birthdays not only garner a celebration on the day of with dessert, but a Sunday Birthday dinner with homemade cake. I don't get that anymore). But he's been moping about at night asking about cake, specifically Red Velvet cake. So I gave it a shot:Apparently it's wonderful Red Velvet. It was my first time with the cake and let's just say my sweet tooth disliked the lack of sweetness. The problem now-in lies that I have a significant amount of cream cheese frosting leftover. I dreamt all night of carrot cake.