Cream Cheese Doesn't Melt

Hello blog world, it has been awhile. I'd like to say I've missed you, but I've truly had no motivation (or time, really) to write. Alas, it's time to update those of you who may care about my life. I think I shall do it in multiple posts so that nobody's computer crashes when it tries to access a ridiculously huge post about what's been going on for the past month in Florida.

• Cinnamon Rolls- I set out to make Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls awhile back. A few friends requested that I blog about the experience, as cinnamon rolls aren't the easiest of fare to make. I was gonna do a picture-by-picture PW-style cinnamon roll post, but let's just say in the middle of making my first ever batch, I had enough going on that pictures kinda went by the wayside. The whole endeavor actually went pretty well, up until the end. See, I did the cinnamon rolls from one recipe, but I wanted to do her cream cheese icing, rather than the maple icing, and I neglected to see beforehand that the cream cheese icing recipe requires an electric mixer to make. Unfortunately for my cinnamon rolls, I do not own a KitchenAid mixer (much to my disappointment). I don't even own a cheap electric hand-mixer anymore-- mine is still at the house in Oklahoma. Soooo I did what any resourceful person would do, and I attempted to make it anyway. Even after whisking it together a lot, the mixture was really chunky and lumpy, with bits of butter and cream cheese floating around. Did I give up? Of course not! I had come this far, I had spent literally hours creating beautiful cinnamon rolls, and I was not going down without a fight. I pulled out my potato masher and tried to mash the crap out of the butter and cream cheese. That sort of worked, but it still wasn't smooth and creamy. I started to despair, when I realized that the bits of stuff are pretty much fat and should melt when heated. I poured the whole stupid thing into a pot and put it on low heat. This finally got rid of the butter, but (who knew?) cream cheese doesn't really melt the same way. At this point I was exhausted and the rolls were out of the oven, so I said screw it and doused everything in lumpy icing. They still tasted really good, but they didn't look too appetizing. Plus, the recipe made a gazillion of them. I have 2 pans in the freezer, but I think I'm gonna buy a cheap hand-mixer and re-make the icing for those. I ended up eating about 3 cinnamon rolls total, and Tracy ate zero because he said they looked gross. Cinnamon rolls? Success. Cream cheese icing? Fail...