No, it’s not a creature from another world, nor a science experiment gone wrong, nor what would happen if Pepto-Bismol and SpongeBob Square Pants had a child. It’s what happens when I make birthday cake for my husband.

It gives a whole new meaning to “Let them eat cake.”

Does anyone have any tips on sorting through your stuff? How do you tell what is a fabulous acquisition and what should be given to a deserving charity?

Far from knitting one, purling two, I am having a fantastic time knitting one, knitting one, knitting one…

In response to my latest cry for help, (see "How do you buy for a guy,") Dan Roark of Farmers Branch posted some interesting thoughts on that most versitile of gifts: the gift card.

See what he had to say about how gift cards "close the indecisive gap" here.

What do you think about giving gift cards? Is it a gift of limited imagination, or one of limitless possibilities? Tell me your thoughts by posting below.

Thanks for your help!

Boys shouldn't have birthdays.

They can keep up with their age -in fact, I think I insist that they do. It wouldn't be fair if I suddenly passed my husband in years, especially as I enter the time of life when I'll start caring about age. (I intend to start lying about it at age 30.)

But no more birthdays for boys.

My husband's birthday is coming up in two weeks, and I have no ideas.

You can now add “Exploding Malt-O-Meal” to the list of overly-exciting, slightly life-threatening dishes I can whip up in a jiffy.

It’s actually quite tasty.

Dear Neighbor,

While jamming freshly opened Christmas presents into my tiny car last weekend, I began to wonder: Where am I going to put all this new stuff?

I’m the black sheep in a family of good cooks.

I'm the one who finds unique ways to burn the simplest of foods, who spills more flour on the floor than was actually called for in the recipe, and who unleashed the incredible shrinking soufflé on an unsuspecting world.

And that’s just the cooking. I also manage to bring chaos to the cleaning, the laundry, the silver polishing…

Which is why I’m asking for help.

It wasn’t Erica Merrill’s fault. The co-owner of g.fit, which offers outdoor boot camp workouts in Carrollton, did a great job getting me pepped for my return to the world of working out.

Though this is usually enough to make me get into the gym for about a month, this year, I’d like it to lead to a change of lifestyle.