Making it: 'Maize and blue' cake, life

February is a celebration month in our household. Besides Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day, my husband and our marriage turns another year older. Every four years, the kid who rolled over in the hospital gets an official birthday. The other three years, we celebrate on the most convenient date - Feb. 28 or March 1.

This year, we celebrated the birth of the 11-pound wonder on the 28th by going out to dinner and then eating a non-organic cake she baked. Note: She also baked that maize-and-blue one - all organic ingrediants - in a new cake pan for her dad's birthday. (Yes, she's trying to eat foods not enriched by hormones or vitamins. She wanted a confetti cake so she "went off the wagon.")

She unwrapped a few gifts - more cotton thread to crochet, a few books and a new comforter. She hit the quarter of a century mark so that means she must move off her father's insurance. I'm looking forward to informing all the medical people of the third insurance switch since her cancer treatment started. (you can bet we are following the switch carefully - 1 application was already lost.)

Some friends and family members expected a bigger celebration - especially as the first set of chemo shrunk the tumors by about 9 cm. But the newly weekly chemo treatments leave her tired. Plus alcohol and crowds ate to be avoided. We want to see the doctors do another happy dance at the end of this set of chemo, so it is early to bed, late to rise and naps in-between. Plus yoga. Some days, she's making a few meals..... or baking a cake.