Rotten Eggs

Good morning (or afternoon, or evening!),

Today is my first day home alone after everyone is back to their "usual" schedules, and I'm not volunteering at the school. The day is mine! So far so good as far as getting things done goes, and it's just now 8 a.m. My original plan was going right back to bed after my daughter left at 7, but I fought that feeling. Between you and me, however, I am sure there's a nap in my future... my NEAR future!

As most of you probably know, there is a big salmonella scare related to eggs here in the U.S. As usual is the case with me, I will not pretend to understand it all, but since I've heard about it, I have had the WORST taste for eggs over easy (which is the WORST way to eat them naturally). Why is that always the case? I am pretty sure I even dreamed about dipping toast in a nice, fresh egg over easy. In fact if I still wasn't in my pajamas right now (meaning my ratty old sweats) I would be bookin' it to Cracker Barrel (how lucky am I to live FIVE MINUTES from one????).

Anyway, this egg thing led to a HUGE dilemma this morning... one like I had NEVER encountered before! Tragic, even! I was making a batch of Fiber One bran muffins (expensive, but worth it)... I eat one with a glass of Smart Balance milk each morning (don't give me too much credit on this one... it's my way of consoling myself that while I will most likely blow my diet the rest of the day, I had a GOOD breakfast, LOL). I was down to my last one, so time to make the muffins! All you need for the mix is vegetable oil, water and two eggs. Seemed harmless enough. I laid out my Transformer and SpongeBob muffin papers (OK, while I LOVE SpongeBob, the Transformer ones were nothing more than a value purchase at the party store) and began to mix. Lah dee dah, I'm mixing away. Then I start to spoon the mix into the muffin papers. My genetic makeup includes 25 percent Slob, which meant that the mix soon was all over my hands, the counter and since I was stirring it over a stack of cookie sheets, it was all over them, too (Martha Stewart would kick my butt to the curb in 5 seconds if we ever found ourselves in the kitchen together). Anyway, the logical thing to do would be to lick the mix off my fingers (and possibly the counter AND baking pans.... really!). Then it hit me like a Mack truck. I CAN'T! That's raw egg! I can't eat the batter! Stupid egg farmers! Thanks for ruining what could likely be the biggest culinary pleasure of my month! And I'm pretty sure I've used up what was left of my self-control for the week, too. On the upside, it's amazing how much bigger each muffin ended up without me eating the batter (I'm pretty sure this is one of those hidden diet sabotage things they talk about). The whole thing was very unnatural..... can you feel my pain??

Better get going. I need to freeze my muffins (LOL, that sounds kinda weird, doesn't it?). Have a great day!

Cindy

New addicitons

Happy Monday Friends!

In the last year, I have developed several addictions. None of them are bad, nor will any land me a reality TV show (MAYBE... I'll let you decide), but one, for whatever reason is particularly embarrassing — I am hooked on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless." It all started simply enough. There's a local (Chicago) news on from 11-11:30 a.m. Following that newscast is Y & R (are you following? I'm NOT typing The Young and the Restless EVERY time, my fingers aren't getting any younger). Naturally, I would be too lazy to change the channel on the remote (I truly believe this is the lowest form of laziness), so there it would be on my TV. Coincidentally, this is also the same way I came to watch Maury (you know, the 'Who's the Daddy' guy). While my Maury addiction only lasted three years (yes, ONLY), I have a feeling I am doomed to this Y & R addiction for a lot longer.

I'll admit, on both Maury and Y and R, you have to put the logical side of your brain to sleep for an hour, and you also will say out loud during both, "OH, that's SO unrealistic!!!!!!" Does anyone really need to test FIFTEEN guys to find out who the daddy is? Like I said, that's SO unrealistic! And on Y & R, where to begin? They never work, yet are all FILTHY rich (SIGN ME UP!) and best of all, they talk to themselves OUT LOUD, and the "wrong" person always hears it and uses it against them in some sick and twisted way. Uh, maybe FACE the door when you are doing that? Guess the blue bloods have zero street smarts, huh?

I did almost quit watching it ... ALMOST. There was a story line that was pushing it even by soap standards. The one gal, let's call her Ashley (because that's her name, LOL... gotcha!) lost her baby early in her pregnancy. She goes on to have a hysterical pregnancy (have you ever been pregnant? I have, and there's nothing hysterical about it) but yet delivers a baby! Yes, a REAL baby! Turns out she was knocked out and some creepy dude stole another baby and passed it off as hers. Let's assume that can actually happen. All right. Isn't there a little uh... soreness (aka flaming hot pain!) to let you know that you just delivered a little human? Not in Genoa City! Isn't it a great town!? And this is just one reason why I watch ... it fuels the "perfect world" part of my brain.....

Let me also give a shout-out to the hot guys on Y & R..... another two dozen reasons to watch... at least! It might be the dumbest bunch of people in the world, but they sure are easy on the eyes. Mama like!

I just hope in a moment of weakness next month I don't sign up for a subscription to Soap Opera Digest during my daughter's school's magazine drive. That truly would be a cry for help!

Time to run... I need to finish Friday's episode.

Have a great week....

Cindy

Here We Go Again

Hello Friends (all 13 of you!),

My sincerest apologies to each and everyone of you reading this .... contrary to what it might seem, I was not abducted by aliens or locked away in a convent. I strayed from my devotion to blogdom, but I am 99 percent sure THIS TIME I am here to stay. Thanks for sticking around. I hope that more will follow soon.... shouldn't all your friends (who am I kidding... I'll take your enemies, too) be allowed to benefit from my sarcastic (and sometimes) side-splitting look at life and all it throws at us?

So much has happened in the year since I've last written.... some of it good, some of it bad, but obviously it wasn't THAT bad because I am still alive and kickin' these keystrokes across the keyboard.

Let's see, what's what lately .... my son starts college officially on Monday. He's at a university 15 minutes away but still living on campus. It's a very odd dynamic so far, especially since he's adopted a Mr. Independent attitude (aka Mr. Not Returning Mom's Texts). So much to blog about on this topic alone! My daughter started eighth grade yesterday with a three-hour day. Make note of the date, August 20, 2010, because it was the WORST day of her life (and that is a direct quote). All it takes is an overcrowded school bus and a wishy-washy dress code (oh, much, much, MUCH more to blog about on this). The latter of her "bad day" issues found me on the phone with the superintendent. Suffice it to say, there is no consensus as to the definition of a crew neck. For fun, feel free to Google the phrase "what exactly is a crew neck shirt" (like I did) and let the confusion take hold. If you feel you have a good grasp on what a crew neck is, you probably won't want to do this because you won't know what one is when you get done. Since I wasn't expecting such a downer report, my initial response was, "It can only get better from here on out, right?" Even as I said it, I knew how ridiculous it sounded. Looks like my PASS (Parental Automatic Support System) is out of whack. Thankfully, a quick save was not far behind... "Wanna do lunch?" She's easily bought off... WHEW!

Anyway... thank you to those that stuck with me, hope to "see" you all around in the days to come. Lots to share....

Cindy