Update on last night's menu

Update for last nights supper menu: I had a good plan, but it didn't work out quite the way I'd hoped. The little boy was running a fever, and was very cranky. I sat in the chair to rock him, and try to help him feel better. The door was open, as was the kitchen window and the sound of spring birds drifted in. It was warm under the blanket and the chest cream, I had put on the baby's chest to help him breathe better, gently wafted up to me. It had lavender in it, and some camphor to soothe and open his airways. The rocking of the chair calmed the little boy, and me too. I remember looking at the clock and realizing that dinner was not going to go as planned, who cares, cuddling with the baby was the most important thing. With that, we both drifted off to sleep. I woke up a little while later and put the baby in his bed. I went into the kitchen to start dinner. I got the grill started, the ribs out of the fridge, and the dishwasher filled up. I was on a roll, I went outside to put the ribs on, and the baby woke up crying his eyes out. I hurried and put the ribs on the grill, ran inside and set the timer and got the little boy. He was burning up. I gave him his medicine and he would not let me put him down. So, I wrapped him up in a blanket and took him outside with me to the grill. I turned the ribs and set the timer again. They smelled so unbelievably good, I was very impressed with them. I wanted to bite into one right then, but they weren't done. Inside I went and the little boy felt so bad that I quickly realized we weren't having potatoes, or cake for that matter. I turned off the convection oven, and put the potatoes away. The timer went off, and we went outside to get the ribs off the grill. Ummmm, yummmy, they smelled so good, they were done perfectly. At least the ribs were going to be ready when my husband came home from work! I took a bite, and my high expectations were quickly dashed. As you know, I'm a novice cook and I don't do too well with the whole "measurement" thing. I'm a work in progress. Well, here's a learning lesson for you, from my mistakes. Those yummy smelling ribs tasted like I'd pulled them from the salt sea. They were so salty, they burned my mouth! Coughing and head shaking followed, and a lot of disappointment. Here's the lesson, when adding seasoning's to make a rub, pay attention to the salt content in EACH seasoning you are using. Use the seasonings as sparingly as you can. I called my husband to tell him, and he said he'd pick up dinner on his way home. When my husband came home, he smelled the ribs and exclaimed they couldn't be as bad as I said, they smelled too good. He took a bite, and said, "they're not so........oh my......yes, they are! Boy, wow, those are very salty, ohhhh, my mouth!" He and my Mom both suggested I rinse them off and see how they taste then. I don't hold out much hope, but I'll try it. Since Chris was home, I decided I'd bake the cake. At least one thing would be home made! I turned the convection oven on and mixed up the lemon cake mix. Poured it into an 8 X 8 pan and set the timer for 40 minutes. My convection oven takes SO long to cook/bake anything I always have to add 10 minutes or more to the suggested time. 40 minutes later, I tested the cake with a toothpick to see if it was done. The toothpick came out clean so I pulled the cake out to cool and put the cupcakes in to bake. After the cake cooled a little bit, just so it wasn't hot to the touch, I took a tooth pick to poke holes all through the cake. I had noticed the middle of my cake had fallen in a bit, but didn't think too much of it, until I poked it with my toothpick. The exact center was totally liquid, except for the top crust. I had to put it back into the oven, for about 20 more minutes until the middle was done. I was so disappointed, I haven't tried the cake, I just think it will be like eating a piece of lemon flavored leather. I went ahead and poured the jello over the top and let it soak in, hoping that it will soften up the over baked outside. We'll see. I was almost in tears, my husband hugged me and told me not to worry, he and Ben will still eat the cake. Bless him, he's the sweetest thing! Ben and I did have a cupcake today, they were really good and moist. The Lemon cake and the raspberry jello is a wonderful combination.