My son has upcycled his sister's Barbie doll...

Into this:

I laughed out loud when he brought me this today.  Picture an almost 2-year-old boy saying, "Mommy it's a monster.  It's a princess.  It's MONSTER PRINCESS!  RAWRRRR!"  He has found a way to play with dolls that is still entirely boyish.  I love that kid.

I made caramel!

For the first time ever I tried making caramel and it was a success.  A yummy mouth-watering success.  I may or may not have accidentally cut some into weird shapes that mysteriously disappeared...

I have no pictures.  Why?  Because it has been miserable and cold and rainy for a few days, and so also too dark for any good pictures (including pictures of the mural I did in my kitchen.  Coming soon...), but here's the link to the recipe on Our Best Bites for Apple Cider Caramels.

I calibrated my thermometer first in a pot of boiling water and, big surprise, my cheap Wal-mart thermometer says water boils at 206 F instead of 212.  So I adjusted accordingly, well, sort of.  I realized 1/2 way through that I adjusted the wrong way.  I cooked the mix to 6 degrees hotter than you're supposed to before adding the rest of the cream, but it looks like it didn't matter at all and they are still yummy.  They look just like the picture.  Yay.  I have loved everything I have made from Our Best Bites.
Correction: I recently looked up the boiling temperature of water at my elevation (2700ft) and water boils at 207.4 here, so my cheap Wal-mart thermometer wasn't so bad after all.  I'm not sure how that was supposed to affect candy making, but I'm glad it turned out well anyway.