Goings On

And somehow it's mid-September. A few things have been going on in the Shepherd house of late. First, this is Robin's last week with us before she moves into an apartment of her very own. We've enjoyed the company but I think she's ready to unpack her life, as opposed to storing it two flights down in our basement.

On Monday, Jath decided to whip up some amazing roast chicken and potatoes. Last night, Robin and I participated in the age-old tradition of splitting the wishbone. I originally wished for a Land Rover, then realized it would probably be better to just go for cash--just in case I found the Land Rover a bit cumbersome to parallel park on our street. After agreeing to pull on "3", Jath counted, we gripped, and then *snap*:

It broke into three pieces... I immediately Googled the significance of the result. Surprisingly, about 50% of people who answered the question on Yahoo Answers believed that an "even split" means both wishes come true while the other 50% believed that neither wish would come true. I decided that 100% of those people have too much time on their hands.

(Transition)

So when I was in school, I cooked a good deal. I've always found it a good escape from the very regimented tasks I'm doing most of the rest of the day. I also enjoy baking. According to Jath, and others who've tried my baked goods, this is a problem. My self-diagnosis? Cooking = be creative, throw a dash of random spices in, add an egg, see what happens, etc. Baking = 1/3 c. sugar or FAIL. It's not that I don't follow the recipe when baking, it's that I always think the recipe is missing something--usually either chocolate chips, cocoa powder, instant coffee, or coffee beans (you have not lived until you have tried my chocolate chip coffee pancakes). Regardless, now that I work ~11 hours a day, neither cooking nor baking happens all that often.

Enter last night, and my spontaneous desire to make one of my favorite foods: coffee cake. After convincing Robin this was a great idea and promising Jath that I would not add unlisted ingredients, we pulled a recipe off the web from the Pioneer Woman (I'm told she's a pretty good cook). The result?

Words do not describe how good this coffee cake is. We halved the recipe because there was lasagna in the 9x13 pan, but 8x8 worked just fine. I still think it would be better with a layer of some chocolate chips or cocoa powder in the middle, but I'm not complaining.

(Transition)

Living in the "South" has also afforded us the opportunity to interact with some flora and fauna not native to most other Midwestern cities. For example, we have a bamboo forest growing in the backyard--a blog post unto itself. Last night, however, we welcomed Robin to the South in rousing fashion. Actually, the South decided to welcome her. As I sat reading the final wrap up of the day's news on CNN, I heard a "cry" (shout, yell, scream, etc.) from upstairs. Given that screaming isn't a typical occurrence around here, I inquired. The reply? "There's a lizard in my laundry basket."

Of all the things that could be hiding in one's laundry basket, a lizard isn't exactly the worst option. Still, it's not exactly a welcome roommate. Fortunately for us, this particular lizard's reaction to being surrounded by crazy twenty-somethings armed with trash cans is to stay completely still. So rather than scrambling around the upstairs of the house chasing a rogue lizard from room to room, we simply carried the basket outside, turned it upside down, and shook it a few times. All in all, good fun.

Other good moments from the week?

- a speaker phone chat with Jordan (the first time we called, the answer was "I'm in night class. I'll call you afterwards).

- the season's first hot drink from Starbucks

- Toby nearly mastering the doggie door

and

- pulling off an opening-week win in Fantasy Football (thanks largely to WRs not named Randy Moss)