Loose Ends & Fancy Ding Dongs

So I have a headache today and am not feeling particularly humorous or creative so I figured I could tie up a couple loose ends.

I have had several inquiries as to what ended up happening with the great bird siege of ’08. (Here's where it all started if you don't know about it.)

Here’s what happened. I won.

It was a long drawn out battle, though. See, long after they had stopped trying to build their filthy little nests on my porch, I had one little fella that still kept coming to sleep on the light fixture on the patio and every other night I would turn on the light to see if he was still there and he’d look around all wide eyed like the world was coming to an end and I’d chuckle and turn the light off. And then I’d turn it back on again because I’m 12 like that and the sight of a bird all fluffed up and confused about why it’s suddenly morning under his feet makes me giggle. But the night that I finally decided to take a picture of him in his state of fluffy confusion he wasn’t there anymore and, no, I’m not sure if he was really a “he” and not a “she” but I always called him a he so that’s that.

Where was I going with that rambling narrative? Oh, no more siege. The last bird is gone. I win. Neener neener, birds!

Next, I wrote this post about being lonely. Well, I can say I’m not really all that lonely anymore. Once Kevin and I started going to our Adult Bible Study Fellowship thing on a regular basis I felt less lonely and isolated. Even though we really haven’t made any “friends” yet we are taking steps to head that way. And just taking that proactive step alleviates the lonely feeling quite a bit, surprisingly. Unfortunately, even though I know how much it helps, it’s still a struggle to go because I’m kind of shy and it’s quite a big step out of my comfort zone. I get butterflies in my stomach every Sunday at the same stoplight during the drive to church and have to fight the feeling of wanting to ask Kevin to take me to breakfast instead. But I work through it and it’s worth it. Every week gets easier.

Talking about getting out of my comfort zone…I got way out of it this past Sunday when we went the potluck our group was having after class. Eep! Mingling! Small talk! Weird pot luck food made by strangers. But I knew that I needed to do it and just sucked it up and gave it my best. I think I did alright considering I was still way tired and was having flashbacks to high school and being the uncool kid in the cafeteria with no one to talk to!

Anyhow, we were asked to bring a dessert and I didn’t want to just go buy something from the store so I thought and thought about what I could make that wouldn’t take forever and would taste awesome.

The answer: cupcakes.

Specifically, chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate chip/cream cheese filling. I highly recommend them because they were amAAAAAAzing! Easy as 123 and everyone loved them so much they went quick quick quick.

You want to make them? Well, you take a box of chocolate cake mix and do what it says.

Then….

Take a thing of cream cheese, an egg, ½ cup o’ sugar and a ½ cup to a cup o’ chocolate chips and beat until creamy.

Then….

Drop a spoonful of the mix on top of each of the cups of cupcake batter and bake according to what the box tells you. The cream cheese mix will sink into the middle like tasty magic.

Then…

When the cupcakes are right out of the oven and WARM sprinkle some chocolate chips on top so they’ll melt a little and stick to the top.

Ta Daaaaaa… a delicious sophisticated version of the Ding Dong.

You’re welcome.