The Next Betty Crocker

Next time there's going to be a blizzard that's going to keep me snow bound, I'd really appreciate if it didn't follow the week I was couch bound because of a back injury. You can only do so much "nothing" before it starts to drive you crazy.

For example, my mother called to tell me that my father is "The Bird Man." Umm...? Well, apparently, they hit rock bottom even faster than me, and have now taken an unhealthy liking to the birds attempting to eat from the snow covered bird feeder. My dad has apparently been feeding them for hours, and has a photo diary to prove it. My mom thinks he's doing it as an excuse to drive somewhere, as he now needs to go to the grocery store to buy more bread.

In attempt to not accompany my father's example of a strange, strange day, I have tried to stay busy. Sheets changed, dishwasher run, laundry almost caught up. But because I woke up at 8am, by 10 I was already bored.

For those readers who know me (please let me continue believing that I have readers I don't know about), I don't bake. I don't really do much of anything in the kitchen unless it follows my 3 ingredient limit. Crock pots, good...ovens, bad. And because I'm the anti-Martha, I don't even keep mixes (cake, brownie, cookie, etc) in the house. But today...as the stir-crazy sunk in, I not only just baked, I made brownies...from scratch.

I tried one, and so far I haven't died. I actually might go as far to say that they came out pretty darn good! So yes, you may call me "chef." And assuming I stay alive until Monday, the rest are for my very lovely girls at work, as I'm pretty sure they need to be bribed not to quit since they've had to work during all the snow this winter since I'm too far away to get there...

Anyway, now I'm spending some time looking for volunteer opportunities. A few of you have expressed interest in accompanying me on this task, so here are some things I've found:

Girl Scout Troop Leader. I'm not sure if you need qualifications for this, but I'm 99.9% sure that if you do, I don't have them.

Baltimore Heart Ball Volunteers. A gala to support the American Heart Association. Volunteer work AND a party? What's not to like?

Animal shelters. Here I take a risk...going alone, coming home with newly adopted pet.

Soup kitchens. Spend a morning helping to serve hot food during this very cold winter to the homeless.

Aside from the girl scouts, these all sound like something I'd really like to devote some time to, but considering my recent inability to watch The Price is Right or a Folgers commercial without crying, I'm wondering if my hysterical outbursts would be inappropriate rather than helpful?

Let me know if you have other ideas or are serious about participating. I'm planning on making some calls to turn this talk into action...

Now as we know, I also had to pack lunch this week, and lucky for me, it was almost impossible not to succeed! I was only at work Monday and Wednesday, and both days, I was good. I may have bought an iced green tea from Starbucks once or thrice, but other than that, I did it! It's highly unlikely that I'll never buy lunch again, but I will carry on this rez' through the year by saying I will do it nearly never.

Stir-crazy is kicking back in and I think I might brew up some dinner. Teriyaki stir fry with brown rice? Iiiiii like it. And I like even more that this stuff will come straight out of a bag...