The Pirate Says, "ARRRRRRR!"

I had an offer today from a family with two girls who wanted a live-in nanny/housekeeper for $250 a week. What kind of person is willing or even able to work a full time job for $250 a week? I cannot believe how many families out there want a full time nanny to practically raise their children for them for almost nothing. Do they really not realize what an important job the nanny is doing? Do they not understand that even a live-in nanny has bills to pay and would like to be able to save for the future? I understand that people do not want their entire paycheck to go to paying for childcare, but at the same time shouldn't their child(ren) be their number 1 priority? If they cannot afford to hire a nanny, why don't they put their kids in daycare or stay home with them? Sorry for the rant. It's just that I've seen so many positions like this out there, and it frustrates me to no end. Sometimes I think I should just do something else, but I have no idea what.

In other news, yesterday I made a caramel apple layer cake. I'm pretty sure it is my new favorite cake. It was so yummy! So far, I think that every recipe I have tried from Everyday with Rachael Ray has been a hit. This was certainly no exception. I've been holding on to the recipe for almost a year, but I had never had an opportunity to make it. Last night I needed to make a dessert for my parent's home Bible study group. I was originally going to make a pumpkin swirl cheesecake (another amazing Everyday with Rachael Ray recipe), but I realized I didn't have enough time to let it chill. I remembered that I had been holding on to this cake recipe from the same issue, and I decided to try it out instead.

(Click the picture for the recipe)



For the frosting I added a pkg of cream cheese. It did make it a bit runnier (also could have been that it was very humid in the house) but I think it was worth it. I will be working on ways to make it less runny. Any thoughts? I tried adding more powdered sugar, but this just left me with more frosting than I could use and didn't help with the consistency. It wasn't too bad though. I once made a lemon cream cheese frosting that was so runny it just fell right off the cake onto the cake plate. It was dreadful (tasted good though). This one stayed on the cake for the most part. Of course, you could just follow the recipe and make it without the cream cheese, but I love cream cheese frosting.