Memories new and old

Hayden has come to be a big helper in the kitchen. He loves to help Dave cook and me bake whenever he can. He likes to dump the ingredients into the mixer and turn the mixer on an off, sometimes repeatedly. This doesn’t always leave the cleanest kitchen, but we do tend to have a lot of fun in the process. Last week a family friend was having a birthday. When I told Hayden about their birthday his response to me was something about calling them up and telling them to make cupcakes and then we would go over for a visit. We made cupcakes instead and took them over.

All this cupcake making got me thinking about when I was a little girl and how I loved to help my mom bake in the kitchen. There is one story in particular that always stands out in my mind. I’m not sure how old I was, but I was little, this I know because I was sitting on the counter top in the corner under the kitchen cabinets and there wasn’t much room back there. I was sitting semi Indian style with my feet kind of out in front of me and my toes splayed and I had the hand mixer firmly grasped in both my hands, what could be more exciting. I was all a twitter because my mom was making something and I was going to help and I couldn’t wait. I kept asking her “Are you ready mom, are you ready?” Finally I could handle the anticipation no more and I flipped the switch on the hand mixer and the beaters began spinning fast and furious. Well they went fast and furious until the splayed big toe on my right foot got caught between them and stopped them dead in their whirlwind. I remember letting out a blood curdling scream, but not much of what happened after that, I’m pretty sure it was my mom who extracted the offended toe from the mixer and made it all better and I’m none the worse for wear. Lesson learned; keep your toes out of the hand mixer.