Making Donuts with My Daughter: A Cautionary Tale

Social media…love it or hate it, it’s likely here to stay. Scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, our newsfeed is filled with people going on fabulous vacations, eating fabulous food, and accomplishing noteworthy things.

And sometimes, I think it’s easy to feel “less than” in comparison. But do you ever wonder how much of what people share actually tell the whole story?

Take my photo here, for example. It occurred to me that I could write this post three different ways…

#1 THE SOCIAL MEDIA FILTER:

“Check out these homemade donuts my daughter and I made this weekend! Sooo yummy! The whole family enjoyed our Sunday morning treat…can’t wait to try a new recipe next week!”

#2 THE HALF-TRUTH:

“My daughter and I made homemade donuts this weekend. Though they didn’t turn out EXACTLY like the photos from the recipe book, it was great spending quality time together. Besides, there’s no such thing as a bad donut, right?”

#3 THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH:

“It was a total freaking DISASTER from start to finish. And yes, there IS such thing as a bad donut. A donut SO incredibly disgusting that each of your family members takes a bite, spits it out and throws it in the trash. Which is where ALL of the donuts ended up.”

Yes friends, the real story goes something like this… 

My youngest child hounded me for months to make donuts. I kept saying yes and then kept forgetting to buy the stupid yeast packet all 50 times I went to the grocery store. This weekend, we finally had all the ingredients, and I was out of excuses.

Making donuts from scratch is like a 29 step, 5 hour ordeal. You do stuff, then let it sit, then do more stuff, then refrigerate, then do more stuff, then let it sit again. 

The dough was a sticky, gooey mess, near impossible to work with. The flour container spilled ALL over the floor I had JUST cleaned. 

My daughter kept jumping ahead in the recipe, not following the directions, and I was getting frustrated with her. 

The oil in the fryer was too hot, burning both me AND the donuts. 

We made the frosting too early, and also, WRONG somehow, and it hardened, resulting in me having to chisel it out of the bowl and into the trash.

And then, after all that work, and a kitchen mess worthy of Cake Wars, the donuts were literally inedible. 

A waste of money, a waste of ingredients, a waste of time. 

My daughter was upset, and I was in a crappy mood. 

And that my friends, is the true, unfiltered story behind the photo.

They say “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Well, this is just a reminder to not judge someone’s life by their social media posts. And don’t measure your own life against other people’s social media posts. 

Because, honestly, you just never know what version of their story they are choosing to share.

Janene

P.S. Anybody have a SUPER easy, no-fail, no tears, donut recipe?? Asking for a friend. 😄

To read a funny post about my daughter, check out: “Those Are Not My Real Boobs…Let Me Explain”