Quantity vs Quality

I have posted about my friend Dana that I met a few months ago, and her new baby girl Leah. Dana writes a blog that you can find here.

Yesterday Dana wrote such an incredible post that I asked if I could re-post it. So glad she said yes. But before we get to the nitty gritty, here are some very important pictures:

And now onto Dana's brilliant words:

Brian told me a story the other day, one that he heard during one of his many trips this past month. I believe it's an actual study done at some school, somewhere:

There were two groups of college students who were asked to make pots that would be judged at the end of the competition. One group was told the judging criteria would be based on quantity of pots, the other group on quality (at this point in the story I had Brian clarify what they were making... not pot as in weed, pots as in pottery, duh. Although I'm sure that would have made for an interesting competition).

The quantity group got started right away. They made short pots and tall pots and small pots and big pots. They just kept turning them out, one by one. The quality group, however, started by researching pots. They checked out pottery made by ancient Greeks and other cultures that withstood the test of time and beauty. They took months to complete their research and finally, days before the end of the competition, they made their pot. They placed it carefully in the kiln and waited for their perfect piece. Meanwhile, the quantity group just kept making pots.  They made wide pots and narrow pots and deep pots and shallow pots. They made lots and lots of pots. 

When the time came to judge the pots, both groups were told they would be judged not on quantity as one was originally told, but on quality. And wouldn't you know, the quantity group made the better, higher quality pots. You see, in the time the quality group was researching, the quantity group was doing. They were practicing. They were perfecting. 

Now, this story isn't exactly surprising. At some point while Brian was talking, I actually figured out what was going to happen.  While he had to finish telling the story before relating it back to our lives, my mind started doing that somewhere in the middle.

I can read all the books and ask all the questions I want, but I'm not going to learn what works for me or for Leah if I don't start doing (don't get me wrong- I will still read and ask because it's what I do, but I cannot take it as gospel).  Sitting at home in my beloved Kansas sweatpants because I am exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated is not going to help me become acclimated to our new normal nor will it allow me to learn from my experiences at home or in the community (except for maybe what show is on what channel at what time).

I need quantity.  I need to remember that it's not going to be perfect every time (or maybe at all) because it's all new for both of us and I need to practice.  I need the opportunity to struggle and fail and troubleshoot.  It's the only way I'm going to learn, and it's the only way Leah is going to learn.  And you know what quantity leads to?  Quality.  I will be a better mom raising a better daughter to have a better life.

So here's to screwing up, not being on schedule, and disastrous trips to Target because we will learn and we will get better.

Guest Blogger: Eden Sherman Attempts Cakepops

Hi all,
My best friend Eden was deliberating buying a cake for a birthday dinner. I told her to bake one and she laughed at me. I then realized she could make cake pops, as they are truly not that difficult! I wrote her an "idiot-proof cake pops for my bff" word document, and was excited to see the results. Below is Eden's post about her cake pop making journey. Enjoy!


(me and eden in the limo home from my wedding - I was already in my change-out dress)

Cake Pops 101: For the baking-challenged.

Yesterday, I decided to take a stab at making some cake pops, at the suggestion of my BFF Avigail (aka Aggy) for a special someone's birthday.  Who makes boring cakes these days anyway? Armed with mental images of the beautiful (and probably professional) examples I found on Pinterest and my How-To Guide that Avigail wrote especially for me, I was ready to go.

I went to Michael's after work to pick up the supplies. I must know myself pretty well because I went back in after I made my initial purchase to grab another bag of candy melts, just in case. (these became necessary later on as you will soon read)

Here are the ingredients I used:

1 box of Betty Crocker Triple Fudge cake mix

1/2 container of Betty Crocker Whipped Buttercream Frosting

3 bags of Wilton's Candy Melts

1 vial of Wilton's tinting nonsense in "royal blue" 

1 bag of Cookie Sticks (aka lollipop sticks- I didn't do their marketing, trust me)

Take a good look at this nice and neat picture, because it's about to get really messy really fast...

First, I baked the cake according to the directions on the back of the box. Simple enough, right? Not so much...turns out we only had JUMBO eggs in my house, and I'm pretty sure at least one of the 3 I used was a double-yoker. Oh well...in the oven it goes! After a solid 35 minutes at 325F and a brief scare that the cake was going to outgrow its pan, I did the old toothpick test. Let's just say the cake failed miserably. After another 15 minutes, it was finally done. Avigail had suggested that I take it out of the pan to let it cool, so I loosened it, and then flipped it upside down onto foil on the counter since I don't have any fancy cookie racks. (love you BFF) As Avigail pointed out, there was a nice chunk missing. Thank you non-stick spray!

At this point, I'm already beginning to doubt my baking abilities. Brody agrees with this doubt and thinks I should just quit before I even really get started. Doesn't he look like he's thinking, " are you sure this is a good idea?"

Meanwhile, Kona is more interested in the toys that I packed up for their weekend getaway at Best Friends. He's a smart boy, that Koki!

Back in the kitchen, I let the cake cool while I showered. I came back downstairs and broke the cake up into pieces, put them in a mixing bowl and then added about half of the container of frosting to the bowl. Good thing I remembered to take off my rings first because I would have been picking chocolate cake and frosting out of them for the next year. I mixed the cake and frosting with my hands until it achieved a dough consistency. I would tell you what it resembled, but I will let you use your imagination because I'm supportive like that ;)

After I let the dough harden in the fridge for an hour, I formed balls and put them onto a foil-lined cookie sheet and put them in the freezer to harden for another hour. When they had hardened, I inserted the sticks. 

What happened next was a bit too messy for pictures, and my iPhone thanks me for not covering her in goo. I carefully read the instructions on the back of the bag of the candy melts, making sure I used a glass bowl to melt them in the microwave. Once the candy was completely melted, I attempted to darken the blue coloring of the candy by slowly adding in this highly concentrated gel. I figured the gel would be intense but I didn't think it would stain my fingers and cause some weird chemical reaction when mixed with the melts, to the point where the melted candy quickly hardened and became unusable. At this point, I was grateful for that extra bag I decided to get last minute. I realized that I would have to abandon my goal of creating a nice deep blue colored pop and instead settle for a shade of blue that bares a strong resemblance to baby shower decorations. Oh well...

I repeated the melting process of the candy and made sure to steer clear of the mutant gel. I then dipped the pops into the melted candy as best I could. I even tried to get a little fancy and added some sprinkles to a few. What resulted was some unfortunate-looking cake pops...

Don't they look delicious? ;)

At this point, I was running low on the blue melts. But I still had a few cake pops to go, so I opened the last bag of candy melts (this one was white).  I melted the white candy per the instructions, but for some reason the white melts didn't want to cooperate and began to harden as soon as I took the bowl out of the microwave. This resulted in me speedily trying to dip the pops and smear the coating on them before it became unusable once again (fun times). 

Here's the second batch!

I finally finished my creations at 12:30 am ( I started at 7pm). After wreaking havoc in the kitchen for a solid 5 hours, you would think I'd have these beautiful cake pops to present at tonight's birthday celebration. If anyone has a heart, they will still try one because after all, it's the thought that counts, right?!