Fun Auntie Carrie Strikes Again - There's nothing wrong with a little Salmonella, right?

We had a crazy almost-week at my parent's house. Mom had surgery (and can't put weight on her left leg for three months, which was the best-case scenario), and my brother and uncle have been working like crazy to modify my Mom & Dad's house to be as barrier-free as possible.

My brother mentioned how much my nephew would love some chocolate chip cookies, which meant that my brother would love some chocolate chip cookies. I resisted the temptation to whip out the Kitchen Aid mixer for an entire day (good work on my part!). But, at last, I relented, as I thought about how hard everyone had been working, and started baking on Monday. My nephew was over, watching The Sandlot. He eventually wandered into the kitchen to see what I was doing, and saw the bowl of cookie dough, and asked ever-so-sweetly (as if I'd say "no" anyway), "Can I try a little?"

Seriously? A little? What member of my family only ever had "a little" cookie dough? Surely, none of us qualify. I had scooped out two pans worth of cookies. To use the rest of the dough for baked consumption only, I would've had enough to make 3 - 4 more cookies. It seemed hardly worth keeping the oven on for another 10 minutes for just 3 or 4 measly (yet delicious!) cookies. So, a little dough became a lot. And my nephew has carried on the fine family tradition of licking the cookie dough bowl clean in an effort to become resistant to that awful little bacteria, Salmonella.

My Sweet Blog...I've Missed You So.

I've been away from blogging for a while. Life got busy. I know - everyone falls victim to this, and they manage to blog. Not me. But I'm happy to be back. There's so much to tell, so I'm sure I'll be blogging like crazy, because to throw it all under one post would be way too overwhelming.

It's Cheese!

I just finished watching a short segment on Food Network's "Unwrapped." It was a story about a guy who collects macaroni & cheese boxes. He has 365, or one for each day of the year as he gleefully explained. And he believes the future expansion of his collection will be from overseas - mac & cheese abroad, as the case may be. I tried to reserve judgement, but that's one of the oddest collections I've ever seen.

The Communion Aftermath - I Am A Rock Star!

Okay, so it wasn't as dramatic as the title implies. I survived my nephew's first communion. He looked very dapper and handsome, and did a great job accepting the body and blood of Christ. It's creepy just typing that for some reason.

Two good things came out of the experience. I found a great little Detroit Tiger's memorabilia store in D-Town. I purchased an authentic jersey and hat for my nephew at Michigan Athletics, at Rosa Parks & Michigan Ave, right by Tiger Stadium. Yes, OLD Tiger Stadium, in Corktown. It's a great little shop, with an incredibly friendly staff. And just a block-and-a-half from Slows Barbeque. For my foodie friends, I enjoyed some fantastic mac & cheese, pulled pork, and homemade apple sauce. And some great company with one of my friends.

The other post-communion gem was learning to play Guitar Hero. Grandma and Grandpa sprung for that for the first communion gift. I think I may be a prodigy. Not really, but I was better than my brother, which is plenty of gratification for me! I mastered Sunshine of Your Love, Talk Dirty to Me, and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. All on "easy" of course! The only disturbing thing was that everything else looked wavy and morph-y afterwards. Much like I would imagine an acid trip to be like...fun times...

Day 2...Still Blogging...

I had dinner tonight with a bunch of friends at a local sushi restaurant. I've tried some sushi before, and wasn't a huge fan. I was encouraged to try a piece of an asparagus roll and loved it. Score 1 for sushi!

At the end of the evening, a few of us hung around to work on planning a "We'll Miss You / Congratulations on Your Ph. D." party for our friend, P, the social psychology doctoral candidate who soon will be moving to a land far, far away. Before we made her go away, P insisted the we keep the party low-key. I had a vision of the "No Means Yes" t-shirt from the most recent Harold and Kumar movie. I'm excited about the plans we've made so far, but I keep wondering where we might find a Matt Roloff impersonator since P loves him so much...

My Life as an Inappropriate Aunt

My nephew / godson is receiving his first communion this weekend. As my role as both "Fun Auntie Carrie" and a non-religious nontheist, I stopped at the store to look for a card for the occasion. I made a desperate call to my brother when I discovered, not surprisingly, that there are no funny cards for first communion. At least, there are no intentionally funny first communion cards. My brother suggested I go for an over-the-top card instead, and the best I could find was one with a cartoon picture of Jesus standing near a tree with children at his feet. After reading each card twice, I headed to the $0.99 card section and found a congratulations-themed card with a penguin on the front, saying "Bravissimo!" The inside reads, "That's Italian for 'You Kicked Butt!'" I know for a fact that my nephew will laugh hysterically since the card says "butt," and that's just one of the many things I love about him.

So I started thinking about this a little bit more. I suppose I could've split the difference and selected a congratulations card without religious connotation or the word "butt," and picked something more neutral. And that's when I realized I'm just not comfortable giving a card that's all god and Jesus. I'm perfectly comfortable with one with the word "butt" on it, though.

Seriously?? Seriously.

I never thought I'd create a blog. I should've known that the pattern in my life of "I swear I'll never..." becoming "I swear I never thought I would..." would hold true with this, too. So, here's my blog. I hope I enjoy it to its fullest potential.

About the blog name...(I guess I like elipses)...I have read many blogs that believe they contain random thoughts or stories. I guess I always see some connection or common thread among the posts. I believe they are all connected. Or at least, I believe mine are. The connection might be loose or abstract at best, but it's there, if tucked away subconsciously in the recesses of my mind.

My pledge to my blog is to try spell words properly. And to use apostrophes correctly. Apparently, I'm okay with sentence fragments for now, but in the future I'll work on that, too.