The Mythical Land of the Lab

So, working at a medical laboratory, I see a lot of stuff to do that people generally don't think about. They know tissue goes there and that results come back, but not a whole lot else. So, I thought that it might be fun to do a full chronicle of the journey from hospital to result. There's a lot of steps that I'm guessing you never would have thought about. Maybe some of you will find it informative, maybe it'll be boring. Either way, I think it's pretty cool, so I'm going to write about it. Obviously, there is going to be a lot of variation from specimen to specimen, lab to lab, but here's what I have experienced.

1. The courier picks up a bunch of specimens and their paperwork from the hospital. Sometimes these are designed medical couriers, sometimes specimens are literally sent through FedEx. It depends on the specimen, what tests are ordered, and who ends up giving the final diagnosis.

2. When the specimen arrives at the lab, it is accessioned. This was what I did at my old job. Patient data is entered into the computer and verified to match the paperwork and it's given a case number.the case number follows everything associated with that patient's specimen through the lab. Tissue block are printed with the case number. These things are impossible to describe, so here's a picture:

3. The specimen is grossed. This means a Pathologist's Assistant (PA) cuts a bit of the tissue of interest whole describing the specimen into a recording that will later be transcribed and sent with the final report. The bit of tissue is placed into the blocks and loaded onto the processor.

4. The specimen is processed. Processing is basically cooking. In fact, early processing was done in a microwave. Not kidding. Processing removes the formalin and water while preserving the cell structure. Processing can take anywhere from a couple hours to half a day or more, depending on the tissue.

5. Once processing is complete, the blocks are given to an embedder, a person who arranges the tissue and embeds it in paraffin, like this:

The tissue is in that little button that sticks out. On the right is the mold they put it in the make them all uniform

5. Slides are printed for all of the stains that the tissue requires. All specimens that I see at Inform get Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and some get special stains on top of that.

6. The tissue is given to a microtomist for cutting. Microtomy is the ultimate deli slicing. The tissue is cut to a width of 5 microns and laid on the slides, like this:

This part takes special training, obviously. I avoid walking past the microtomists because I walk fast and the gust of wind can mess them up. That is how sensitive these things are. Pity the microtomist with hay fever.

7. Slides are loaded onto various stainers depending on what stain is ordered. A stainer has a mechanical arm that moves the slides through a series of buckets of reagents and dyes. All of the stains are pre-programmed, so we just load them, start them, and wait. Some stains take only 45 minutes, some take 3 hours, it depends on which one. Slides are then given a coverslip to protect the tissue.

8. When the stains come off the stainer, they are then matched up in the computer by case number with their tissue locks to ensure that we have everything that was ordered and that it was done correctly. This is called Matchmaker at Inform, I don't know what other labs do.

9. Blocks are archived, put into storage on case the doctor asks for more slides, and the slides are imaged. Imaging is where the slides are looked at and any areas of interest are highlighted and put into a description that will also go on the final report.


10. Slides are given to distribution and sent to the appropriate pathologist with the report to be read and give a result. That result is sent to the doctor and the doctor gives it to the patient.


And all of this happens in less than two days. Labs generally run all hours of the day, and they are busy places. There are a lot of gaps of waiting for things to finish like the processing and staining, but there's always something going on. There are a lot of people who influence the result of every specimen, and we have to do it with a less than 1% error rate.

So yeah, that's the life of a skin biopsy, or a colon polyp, or whatever you get sent to the lab. I hope you found this interesting and informative. I like my job, so I enjoy talking about it like this. There, you can say you learned something today!

I'm a Bat

Okay, big fat life update because time to blog has not been a thing the past....couple of months. But with good reason!

Work: So I have a new job! I am working as a lab aide at Inform Diagnostics. It's not as gross as my previous job, but still a lot of fun. There's a lot more variation in my day-to-day tasks, and I feel like I'm learning a lot more about lab work in general.

I'm currently working overnight shifts. It's awful. Mad respect for anyone who can handle it. The problem for me is not staying awake at work, it's being able to get adequate sleep on weekends to be able to do social things. I'm exhausted all day and can't sleep at night. Nope. As soon as a day position opens up, I'm out. I have dubbed people who work graveyard shift "bats" and I have joined their ranks. I'm a bat.

What does a lab aide do? A little bit of everything. Print slides, load staining machines and stain the slides, maintain the machines, get cases together to be scanned into the computer before being read, anything else that needs doing. We're the worker bees that do all of the in-between of the big steps that happen between the tissue arriving at the lab and ending up on the pathologist's microscope. Maybe I'll do a blog post on the life of a sample, it's pretty interesting (at least to a nerd like me), and I feel like it's a good thing to be informed what's happening rather than the lab just being that mysterious place that gives results.

Living Situation: I LOVE MY NEW APARTMENT. So, my former roommate, Katherine, is getting married, and I wish her and her fiance all the best. However, that means I no longer have a roommate. If you've followed me for a while, you would know that my apartment has....displeased me in many ways. From the bugs to the lack of decent parking to the fact that I lost heat three times and air conditioning twice, I have HAD IT. So, because I can afford it now that I have a steady income, I looked for an apartment by myself. And boy, did I luck out on this one. I love the floor plan, it's within my budget, and the amenities are reasonable. I'm not near a busy street, so it's nice and quiet, and I'm on the ground floor, which I have never had before.

So, how does one girl with one small car get her stuff moved? She calls friends. I signed my lease on Wednesday, then unloaded my packed car into my new place. Repeat with another carload on Thursday, and another on Friday. Then came the big day.

Let me give you the numbers. Four wonderful friends showed up. We loaded three cars and two trucks to the gills. And we got it all. In. One. Trip. The moving of my stuff could not have gone better. I took everyone who showed up for gourmet pizza afterwards, as is correct. You guys deserve it and I'm so grateful to have people who are willing to help me. Seriously, you guys are great.

My cat, on the other hand, made some trouble. She was crying, so I let her explore a bit and went to go get her food/litter from the car. I came back and she was gone. I looked in every nook and cranny of tgAt small apartment, walked around the outside multiple times, and called for her. The problem with finding Puff is that there is nothing that will tempt her out aside from me. She has no interest in treats or toys, she just wants me. She will come for cuddles and nothing else.

We had looked behind the fridge. Several times. The fridge is black, and Puff is mostly black. We had looked right at her and not seen her! The little twerp nearly gave me a heart attack. But I have her, and she seems to be settling in quite nicely.

All of that stuff is why I haven't had the proper combination of time and energy to blog, but as I get settled, I should stabilize a bit more and be able to update again. Until then, here's pictures of my new place!

I was entirely too excited that my new apartment has a bar. It's small, but I love it

My living room. I haven't gotten a TV yet, and it needs some nice wall art. It's getting there

My glorious kitchen. I have it laid out to maximize the small space and be easily accessible to my short self.

Not the best shot of my bedroom, but that closet is amazing. It's huge, and it holds everything. Including my cosplay.

When I lost my job just a few months ago, I was straight up not having a good time, bit now it's looking up. I may be a bat for now, bout you know what? I'm a happy bat.

When God Closes a Door....

So, there is a reason I haven't posted in a while. My life has been turning up side down and not always in a good way. So, here's the story.

Two weeks ago, on Monday, I walked into work thinking it would just be another normal day. Alas no. This was to be my last time walking in to the job that I had enjoyed so much over the last couple of years. Unknown to me at the time, I had made a major mistake. I had left a specimen that needed to be refrigerated out at room temperature and the required test could not be done. That's not okay. It was an honest mistake, but a large one that can't happen in the medical field. I was fired for it. Talk about a punch to the gut. I turned in my badge, cleaned out my locker, and walked out of the labor the last time with my head high and mascara still intact. My boss was sad to see me go and encouraged me to use her as a reference for my next job. I really feel bad for her having to fire me, especially over a single incident when my record was quite good.

ImI not ashamedato say that I drove home and sat on my bedroom floor in the dark for a couple of hours. I had just lost a job that I loved, can you blame me? I hated myself for making that mistake, it was all my own stupid fault I was in this situation. Would anyone else even hire me after something like this? How long would it take to find a new job? Had I just blacklisted myself from medicine forever?

I called my mom, who assured me that I would find a new job and that any employer would be happy to have someone as good a worker as me. I dug myself out of my pit of shame and texted a few of my friends to tell them what happened. I went for the saddest walk of my llife. Slouching around the cul de sacs in black sweat pants, a black jacket, and sunglasses, I laugh now because I looked like I was probably up to something very illegal. As I walked, my shoulders slowly came back to straight, and my gaze shifted from my feet to in front of me, and I knew what I had to to.

I opened my laptop and updated my resume, then sent that resume to around ten offers from online job boards. I needed to feel like I had done something to move on from my mistake.

Over the next two days, I was not left alone for more than two hours. Remember how I said I texted a few friends? Well, once I explained what happened, they all started checking up on me. It was like an unintentional relay of support. People from different friend groups that had never met would check on me at different times as if they had made a schedule or something. My best friend's reaction was "Do you want me to come make you dinner tonight or tomorrow?" because she knew how not okay I was and that I would need to talk to her in person. I don't know what the heck I did to be surrounded by such amazing people. Seriously, you are all the best. That said, I didn't want to tell everyone because honestly, I needed time to come to terms with my mistake. I felt bad, okay, and I didn't wanna talk about it any more than I already had. So if I didn't tell you, please don't take offense. Trust me, it's not you, it's me.

I set up a few "rules" for myself to make sure that I didn't withdraw. I am a social person, so sitting in my apartment alone would wreck me fast. I made sure to leave lights on until I went to bed, which sounds strange but kept me from sitting in the dark. I kept my phone close and answered messages, connecting me with those wonderful, supportive friends. I took a walk every day. This not only served to get me out of the apartment, it helped me sleep. Not being able to sleep when you're already sad is the worst, so I actively avoided it. A few days after losing my job, my walk was interrupted by a phone call whilst out for a walk. It was one of the places I had applied to, asking me to come in for an interview. I was ecstatic, maybe this was the turning point. I had received a phone interview with another application and was waiting for a response from them. The next morning I was awoken by another phone call to set up yet another interview (Somehow I managed to wake up enough that they didn't seem to notice that I had been dead to the world five minutes ago). I wasn't a failure, I hadn't just ruined my career, I still had a chance!

So I went to my first interview. Now I know it may surprise you, considering my quiet, shy demeanor (If you didn't get the sarcasm, what are you even doing on my blog?), but I interview like a dream. Four years on the speech team were not wasted. I show up dressed to kill and with all of the right answers practiced and ready to go. I could sell ice to an Eskimo, or at least that's what I tell myself. I interviewed well, then waited for the decision. I was relaxing in my apartment several hours later THAT SAME DAY, and my phone rang. It was the lab I had interviewed at, asking if I had any more questions (I had a few ready to go, that's interview tricks 101) and saying that "an offer would likely be forthcoming. Excuse me, WHAT?! When I hung up the phone, I fell to my knees in thanks. From "You're fired" to "Here's our offer" was ten days. Less than two weeks to a new job. How often does that happen?

But I didn't accept the offer right away, I had another interview set up for the next day. I went to this interview much more relaxed than the first one. After all, even if I botched it I still had my other offer. This lab was very much the opposite of the first, being small and close-knit. There were definitely benefits to this kind of environment, but was it what I really wanted? I had a lot to consider.

Honestly, the consideration didn't take as long as I thought it might. I took the first offer. Hey, the bigger companies get big for a reason, they do have a lot to offer as far as career path is concerned. So, I will be starting as a Histology Lab Aide at Inform Diagnostics on April 8th!

The last few weeks of my life can be summarized like in one sentence. When God closes a door, sometimes He slams it on your finger, then He opens another one. I loved my job and I was really happy with it. But this new job is a great opportunity, and to be perfectly honest, is probably going to be better in the long run. It was just not how I would have chosen to come by such a job. The day I walked out of PBM for the last time was one of the worst days of my life. But it looks like there was somewhere else I was supposed to be. So, we'll see where this new job takes me.

And along with the new job, I'm trying a new format for blog posts. I'll still share recipes, but the main focus of the blog will shift to my stories and thought about life. So, I hope you all have a good day and if God has just slammed a door on your finger, I hope you find the one He opens.

Life in Color

You know, you could say a lot of things about me, but I don't think anyone could ever say that Kim Deichmann is boring. I'm always doing something interesting just because I want to or it sounded interesting or something.

I want to clarify first of all that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being "boring." Boring people can live perfectly fulfilled lives and benefit society tremendously. The world NEEDS people of all degrees of interesting-ness (Is that a word? It is now) to function. No one should feel guilty for being a little boring if that's what they truly want. That's just not me, and it's okay.

I have had times in my life where I have fallen into a more boring life and found that those are not the best times for me. I get stir crazy, I need to be learning something or building something or fostering relationships with people. Not that I can't just chill and relax, my relaxation just happens to generally include something either social or intellectual. It's part of why I liked school and to this day continue to learn. Hillsdale (the college I went to for those not in the know) attempts to cultivate this desire for learning as part of every student's education.

So, while what I did this weekend seems active and like a lot of work to some, I actually found it to be a very relaxing weekend that left me ready for another week of my job.

But lemme tell you, it did not start well. On Friday evening, I was having some dinner, a nice salad. I chomped down on a wasabi pea (added for spiciness and crunch), and something gave. That something was not a tasty vegetable with ginger dressing. I have a temporary crown on the tooth that had the root canal a while back. The permanent wouldn't be in for two weeks and I had just broken the temporary right down the middle. On a Friday night. Great. Thankfully, as luck would have it, my dentist is open every other Saturday and this Saturday was one of the open times. I rolled in at 9 am right when they opened and got a new temporary that will HOPEFULLY last until the permanent one is ready. Until then, no more wasabi peas for me.

After that traumatizing ordeal (It's a good thing I'm not afraid of the dentist, or I'd just be a wreck all the time) I got a recommendation from the receptionist for where to go for a good brunch. This place had a nice little table for solo diners with no wait. Very convenient, as this was a weekend morning and the place was busy. I sat down, got some coffee and ordered. As I waited for my banana crunch pancakes, a man a few years older than me sat down and ordered as well. We struck up a conversation, and before I knew it I was talking costume building with a person who does medieval fighting as a hobby. This happens all the time, too. You never know who is doing something amazing behind the scenes. The cashier who check you out at Target? He does special effects at a haunted house. That friendly barista who has your order memorized? She makes money on the side sewing authentic costumes for Civil war reenactments. Artisans and craftsmen are everywhere, in secret, hiding amongst the general population.

That evening, I volunteered at a charity event. It had a circus theme, and I cobbled together an outfit for it. I sold grab bags to donors with carnival-esque flare. This event reminded me of my days in college selling raffle tickets to donors at events, which I was pretty good at. A smile and a tactful approach, and suddenly no one can say no to this face. Or at least that's what I pretend happens. Talking with the other volunteers, I found one who built replicas of weapons from video games and anime as a hobby. Yes, this kind of thing happens all the time. I wan't exaggerating when I said that craftsmen are everywhere.

Finding "my kind of people" is something that adds color to my life and keeps it interesting. My life will never be stagnant as long as I'm always finding more people and things to keep it interesting.

And in that vein, my recipe for this week takes something simple and makes colorful. I offered my coworker's a chance to pick any dessert that I can make for their birthday. This coworker is a man of simple taste and chose chocolate chip cookies. Now, as these are for a birthday, they can't just be ordinary chocolate chip cookies, they must be special. I found a recipe for rainbow chocolate chip cookies and the wheels in my head started turning. He also likes sports, so I covertly found out one of his favorite sports teams, the Dallas Stars. I made a batch of these rainbow chocolate chip cookies in the colors of the Dallas Stars and put star-shaped sprinkles on top.

He loved them and everyone else in the office enjoyed them. They're homemade chocolate chip cookies, who wouldn't? Here's my base recipe:

Rainbow Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sprinkles of Kim:
-I did the Dallas stars colors and put star sprinkles on top, but you could use any colors you like. Sports teams, Hogwarts house colors, colors for the flag of a country, take your pick. I recommend using gel food coloring to really get nice vibrant shades.
-I made the recipe with the ratios of brown to white sugar as written, and it's more of a white sugar taste than I generally like. If you like that brown sugar flavor, I'd say just divide the total amount of sugar 50/50 brown and white.
-Add a dash of cinnamon and thank me later
-If you like a crunchy cookie, bake just a bit longer. I'm a soft cookie person, so I went with roughly the amount of time listed. Or at least I think I did. I don't use timers, I just bake things until they're done. I know, it's weird, but it works.

I hope these cookies can add a little color to your life. I like to keep thing interesting and live a life in color, and I'm glad that I get to share it with you!

Anime Con Life

I went to Ushicon in Austin this weekend and I'm tired, so today's post will probably be kind of lame, deal with it.

A lot of people ask me why I love conventions, and it really is a hard thing to put into words. It's an atmosphere of a lot of people who are excited about things and ready to share that excitement and spend money on it and talk to other people who are excited about things and find other things to be excited about. It's meeting the people behind your favorite things. It's a break from the monotony of everyday life. It's a place to make crazy memories that you'll laugh about later with your new friends.

I can describe a lot of aspects of a convention, like the dealer room, panels, guests, and events, but I can't really describe what is honestly my favorite part of convention life: the community. The best part of con is flopping down next to someone to wait for a panel and discovering that you some of the same things. It's being given the hookup to discounted arcade tokens from the owner whom you met an hour ago. It's almost having a wardrobe malfunction and having three completely random people instantly offer you safety pins, spirit gum, or hairspray to fix it. It's having someone you have never seen in your life tell you how awesome your costume is as you walk by. It's splitting a pizza with people you didn't know existed yesterday, but will remember for a lifetime. It's seeing those people at the next convention and catching up like you were never apart. Does that sound awesome to anyone else? Trust me, it is.

This is my crew chilling out in our hotel room at Ushicon. I love these people.

Another thing that people ask me quite often is that if I'm not entering cosplay contests, what's the point of putting all of that time, money and effort into costumes? That's another hard one. I love it, but it's hard to put into words exactly why. One thing is that it serves as a big neon sign that says "I LIKE THIS THING, TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS THING" so it's an instant icebreaker when meeting new people. I've always been a crafty person, so I do honestly enjoy learning new craft techniques and using them to make things. I guess another way to describe the appeal is this: Have you ever seen a character you like wearing an incredible outfit in a movie, TV show, or game and there's a part of you that just wants to wear it? Like, you want to wear something and look that cool in it? Cosplay is you doing that. Maybe not everyone has that desire, but I do. I want the experience of putting together that outfit and showing my love for the character. To be what I love about them come to life.

Maybe that was helpful, maybe it wasn't. I tried. And much like with my recipes, sometimes when we try, we succeed! So here's a nice, simple recipe that I made and froze so that I would have food for this week without having to spend even more money. It's cheap, takes very little time to put together, and it reminds me of scalloped potatoes and ham, a meal I very much enjoyed as a kid. And who doesn't want a nice soup recipe when it's cold out? This is just a nice one to add to the rotation.

Ham and Potato Corn Chowder

Sprinkles of Kim:

-Honestly, you could make this recipe with whatever vegetables you have lying around. I added mushrooms, but you could also add peas, squash, whatever you like

-I used vegetable broth because I didn't have ham broth and it sounded better than chicken.

I hope my attempt at explaining my con obsession was at least somewhat enlightening. Con life doesn't generally include much sleep, so I'm going to go find the nearest flat surface and go into hibernation.

Mini Waffle Time!

I love my new toy.

So, over Christmas, I ordered a mini waffle maker online. Because they had to wait for a restock and there was something wrong with my order, I didn't get it until last week. I have wanted waffles several times since moving to Texas and been unable to indulge my desire because in a tiny kitchen where space is of the essence, a waffle maker would take up too much space for something that only does one thing. This little gadget, however, is literally smaller than my hand spread out (and I'm a petite woman, my hand span is not big). Aaaaaaaaaaand it comes in pink. This thing was made for me! If this was a product review blog, the *infomercial voice* Dash mini waffle maker would get 9/10. Makes perfect little waffles, doesn't stick, heats up fast, and easy storage. IT's not complicated, no settings, no flipping, just pour and wait. Only drawbacks are 1. it doesn't have an indicator to show when the waffles are done, so you kind of have to use your intuition and 2. it does drip a bit on the counter when you open it, so just set it on a paper towel. Overall, I highly recommend it for people who live alone or with a partner, and people who would like to make tiny waffles with their kid, or just anyone who needs just a little more waffle in their life. These waffles will also freeze and heat up well in the toaster, I am told.

It's so tiny and adorable!

I've used my mini waffle maker probably 4 times in the week and a half I've owned it because I keep getting ideas and I want to try them. I'm sure the novelty will wear off at some point, but for now, it's all waffles, all the time. So, this week's recipe will be my most interesting waffle creation: Cheesy waffle dippers. This was an idea born out of a desire for something cheesy and tomato-y (If that wasn't a word before, it is now), but not having a suitable vehicle on hand to act as pizza crust. The result was this tasty meal that was like a pizza meets a grilled cheese meets a waffle. It was delicious! You could do this with regular waffles as well, since they end up cut into strips anyway. I even made my own sauce because I didn't want to open a huge jar of sauce to only use a few ounces (seriously, why don't they sell small jars of marinara? I don't understand this). Tomato, garlic, Parmesan, Italian herbs, salt and pepper. Blend for a few pulses. Drain off excess liquid. Done.

Here's my waffle recipe:
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup cottage cheese (or Greek yogurt)
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp Italian herb blend
Salt and pepper to taste
Shredded cheese blend of choice
Parmesan cheese
Marinara or dipping sauce of choice

1. Turn on oven broiler to medium or toaster oven to heat up. Blend oats to grind.
2. Add cottage cheese, egg, baking powder, and seasonings to blender and blend until smooth. Let batter stand to thicken for a few minutes.
3. Make waffles according to waffle maker instructions
4. Top waffles with cheese and Parmesan and place on a baking sheet under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese and make the waffles extra crispy. Cut into strips and serve with marinara sauce.

Notes:
-This makes about 4-5 mini waffles and serves one person, multiply to your needs.
-Yes, I am aware that cottage cheese waffles sound weird, but they really are nice and fluffy while being high in protein (I may be an oversized kid, but I do still have to think about nutrients occasionally)

This waffle maker will likely be making another appearance on my blog at some point. I'm having too much fun to not. Currently, I'm gearing up for Ushicon and the sewing bug has bit hard, so I haven't had as much time to cook as I have at other times, but that's life. Update on my sewing and con shenanigans will probably happen in the next post or two. I hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day (I'm a single pringle who is going to con this weekend, so I didn't even think about it until now) and a good week!

Permission to Fail

So.....I took up karaoke.

It all started innocently enough. I went to a bar that was having karaoke and a costume contest on Halloween. I went dressed to the nines and hoping to have some fun. I discovered that this was no ordinary karaoke. This was a live band, allowing for the full rock star experience. I got up and sang some classic Britney Spears (I'm trash, I know), and you know what? It was a blast. I found out that this particular band does karaoke at several bars throughout the week, and now unless I have something else going, Tuesday night is karaoke night. It's a nice way to break up the monotony of the week.

I generally sing a couple songs a night, but I also get to watch other people sing. There are regulars, people just there for a special occasion, all ages, all styles of music, and all levels of talent and training. One thing I noticed watching all these different performers: no one regrets doing karaoke. Even those that have to be dragged onto the stage or can't carry a tune in a bucket don't regret it. They may not wanna do it again, but they're all glad they did it. And I think I know at least part of the reason.

Karaoke is permission to fail.

Everyone expects karaoke to suck. Untrained random people singing songs they may not know very well and possibly battling stage fright are par for the course. Anything above that is a pleasant surprise. And, honestly, there is something freeing in doing something with permission to fail. There is nothing at stake here. No judges to hit buttons, no million-dollar recording contracts, just a bar and people of questionable sobriety who are just as bad as you. Sure you don't gain anything if you're good, but you don't lose anything if you fail either.

I'm a competitive person, I always want to be better, to stand out from the crowd, but karaoke brought to my attention how powerful the permission to fail can be. It shifts the focus from getting the approval of others to how the activity affects you internally. If there is nothing external to affirm you, why are you doing it? Is this honestly something you like? Does it teach you something? Does it help give you a sense of identity or self-awareness? Maybe this is just me overthinking things (as I tend to do), but hey, if anyone else benefits from my ramblings, that's great. If you haven't given yourself permission to fail in a while, find a place to do it, you might be surprised at what you find out. Try something new with almost no risk. you lose very little if you fail, you gain very little if you succeed. You only get what you get from the process without anyone saying that you should or shouldn't be doing it. I know our society values risk taking, but sometimes it's good to step back from that, recharge for the next risk.

Speaking of risk, I really risked failure with these scones. I scaled the recipe by 2/3 (why I put myself through that much math is beyond me), and in the process of making them, I discovered I was low on flour. Greeeeeeat. And the dough was dangerously liquid, so it needed extra flour. I put in what i had and managed to get them onto the baking sheet without turning into little puddles, and baked them. Thankfully they came out fine and were a great treat for my boss' birthday.

Aren't they cute? I found the sprinkles at JoAnn and couldn't resist

So, here's my recipe:

Blackberry Peach Scones

Sprinkles of Kim:

-Obviously I had to use slightly less flour than the recipe called for because I was almost out. Don't do this. It makes the batter have the consistency of taffy. Thankfully, these are a moist, cake-like scone and still taste fine with less flour.

-I used frozen fruit since blackberries and peaches are out of season

-I dyed the glaze purple and added the heart sprinkles to be festive.