I said I'd write about cupcakes, right?

Cupcakes. I figure I write so much about rehabs and hospitals that I need to insert sweetness and light lest you think I'm all about family drama.

I woke on Mother's Day morning with the inspiration to make mini-cupcakes for the staff at the hospital and the rehab center. If there's an invention for dispensing batter into mini-cupcake papers, I'd like to know. I used a tablespoon and a glass measuring cup. The mix made close to 60 cupcakes. That's a lot of dispensing. When the cupcakes were cooled, I made butter cream frosting. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of turning the mixer on too high after adding a batch of confectioners sugar, and the sugar flew everywhere...the floor, the counters, the stove, the cabinets, etc... I'm thinking, why did I decide to make these? So much work! I used a pastry bag to pipe on the pink-tinted frosting and sprinkled clear decorative sugar on top. They were so pretty! I put all that could fit into a covered plastic tray from an old deli platter. The rest I put onto extra-large plastic party plates that I covered with plastic wrap. I put them on the floor of my car and made sure they wouldn't slide around. The second corner I rounded knocked my mom's presents on top of the cupcakes. Smashed them. My first thought? I have to blog about this. Then I laughed at the irony. I brought the deli tray of perfect cupcakes to the hospital. The staff loved them. I brought nothing to the rehab center. I ate a lot of smashed cupcakes. That's it. The cupcake story. They were delicious but not so pretty.

My mom was moved to a fantastic rehab center on Thursday. When I call her I ask, is this the country club? On her second day there she was doing 90 minutes of therapy. She's going to come home so much better than before she even went into the hospital. My father should get out on Monday. He's lost 40 lbs since being hospitalized. He needed to lose weight. The plan was to have my GA sister here when my dad got released. Red tape kept him stuck in rehab, and my sister had to leave this morning for her son's graduation. I spent today totally stressed about how my dad is going to do at home, who's going to be with him, etc. I just couldn't shake the worry. On the one hand, I think he'll be fine. On the other, he hasn't been alone for at least 6 weeks. We have some help for the weekdays. Some ideas for the nights. Tomorrow I'll grocery shop and make food for him. Monday I'll make lots of calls to Medicare, The Dept. of Aging, etc. I'll pick him up and bring him home. I was able to let go of today's stress when I got home from work. A phone call to my sister Lisa helped a lot. I'm not going to worry until I have to. That will be tomorrow or Monday.

I'm back at my old haunt for the first time this season. I picked up a sandwich from Potbellys (I wanted to see Emily at work). I've got my laptop and I'm sitting at a table outside of Starbucks on a beautiful night. I'm feeling good. It's like old times...a great way to spend time on a Saturday night. Simple pleasures, right? You have to seize them when you can and hold them tight.