nguyen.lily's frosting story is the real one.

My dog turned my yoga mat into his nap spot lol

Honestly think you're overcomplicating it. A good 4-foot level is plenty for a long wall if you know how to use it right, just check in multiple spots. That 12-inch level is gonna be way too fussy and slow you down moving it around all the time. Bigger tools aren't always the answer, sometimes they just add more steps for no real gain.

Yeah but the lying about the cupcakes is the weird part to me. I mean, if you're that stressed, just say you picked them up from the store. Making up a story about baking them adds this extra layer of performance that feels different than just trying to keep things simple.

They used vegetable tanned leather, which is still available from specialty suppliers. Modern chrome tanned stuff is softer but doesn't hold shape or tooling the same way. It's worth trying the traditional material if you want that kind of result.