It's Monday so that means I must be thinking!

I'm making cookies for some friends (nobody who reads this blog so don't get excited) and of course, I have all sorts of random thoughts running through my brain as I bake. So here ya go:

• August 25, 2008 -- the date I started wearing my Ugg slippers again. Oh summer, where art thou???
• Here is the easiest chocolate cake recipe: 1 chocolate cake mix, 1 large box chocolate instant pudding, 1 3/4 cups milk, 2 eggs and one bag of mini chocolate chips. Mix it all together and spoon (it's kind of thick) into a greased & floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until the tester tells you it's done. Let it cool, remove from pan & sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar. Teenaged boys love this. I brought this to an open house last night and got requests from no less than three of them to make this cake for their birthdays.
• Why is it so hard for me to trust my own promptings from the Spirit? I nearly always second guess myself. On this latest one, I thought I was just feeling bad because I was being lazy and wasn't up to a challenge that I was possibly going to face. But no, it wasn't that at all -- it was just that yucky feeling that "this is wrong, Jeanelle." I'm grateful for situations that remind me I need to trust myself more.
• I am seriously obsessed with the Aida (Broadway version) soundtrack. I have listened to it every day at work, all day, for the last week (since I saw the opera version.) I cannot get enough. It's playing right now, in fact. I think if I saw the Broadway musical now, I would probably cry. I do that when I see things I love on stage -- mostly at the beginning. Like I cried when I saw Les Miserables, Lion King, Wicked and Ragtime. I also cried during the Dancing Queen portion of Mamma Mia -- when all of the women are going together to dance down on the dock. There is something about the beauty of people singing and dancing, doing what they love. Does that make any sense at all???
• Back to baking - if you don't bake your cookies on parchment paper, you totally should. I also love my pampered chef digital timer. It soothes my anal retentive heart. Plus you can hear it when it goes off. Exactly what you want in a timer, right?
• So I know I've talked about this alot lately but please go read this post by C Jane today. She's a fairly new mom to a baby boy and is now taking care of three of her sister's four kids while her sister and brother-in-law are in the hospital being treated for serious burns. Her day one experience with her nieces and nephew in her home really made me think about how I would handle this if I were in her situation. I can't imagine how it would be for my life to go from the way it is now to one with three more children.
• Jason (single dad from Seattle area) is the new Bachelor. Hmm. You know what this means, don't you? I'm going to end up not liking him now.
• I booked a trip to Hawaii for later this fall. I hope to recreate this picture but with me in it too (note the totally awesome turtles behind the way cute kids.) And maybe without Matthew making a weird face and also without Natalie trying some America's Next Top Model pose. I'm just sayin'... ;)