That's...a lot of phone calls, Laura. I'd be ready to bite after all that.

Carrot cake...that's vegetables, right?

Apologies for ellipses explosion.

I asked my aunt what I could bring for the 4th. She said "something easy like brownies." Cheesecake bars would still be fine, right?? I'm dying to do a flag design on something for whatever reason.

in an example of marital misunderstanding that I find amusing (and quite sweet), see this

Cheesecake bars meet the specs as given.

Oh, that is sweet.

Mmm, cheesecake bars. Sound even better than traditional brownies.

Hellish day that has resulted in my participation in over 60 phone calls.

Good lord. I made ONE phone call today to confirm an appointment with my optometrist, and that's enough for me.

I'm exhausted both from this garbage fire of a country and from the work project that's eating my life, so I'm going to sneak out of the office early today to get a haircut.

A few weeks ago I spotted mashed cauliflower in the frozen food aisle, helpfully with cheddar and bacon added, obviously as a healthy alternative to mashed potatoes (my love, my own). I miss mashed potatoes. A couple of weeks ago I bought some, and I've been staring at them in my freezer since going "Cheddar and bacon. You adore cauliflower soup. But it's cauliflower." Today I pulled it out and shoved it in the microwave. Unfortunately my apartment proceeded to smell like cauliflower being cooked, which I do not find pleasant. I pulled it out, threw in a handful of sharp cheddar, and ate.

It wasn't bad. A perfectly acceptable vehicle for delivering cheddar and bacon. A little runny and lumpy, and it makes me miss real mashed potatoes. Worse, I now have cauliflower burps, which mitigate rather strongly against eating this again.

I like mashed cauliflower if it's not runny. But really my One True Cauliflower is roasted, with olive oil and smoked paprika or turmeric. I could eat a whole dang head of cauliflower like that.

Hmm. Maybe I'll make some for dinner. FRIDAY NIGHT CAULIFLOWER WOOOOOO

I can eat a whole head of cauliflower just steamed. I like cauliflower.

This week has been a million years long and this weekend is full of stuff I gotta do. I'm going to happy hour.

Thank you for validating my cheese cake bars. I don't think there were any last year, so that should be OK.

Thank goodness my work day started trailing off at about 3:30. Because this week has been ridiculous and I only slept like 5 hours last night. I have a beer and am almost ready for bed.

I also have a complaint about protests around here: they always start at 11, and I don't understand how to manage my food for the day! At least this time I'll be with my mother and she's not going to want to stay a long time.