It pays to stay home, I think...

A few quick hits from my day so far...

1) Marble cakes are fun to make. Marble cupcakes are even better. Yes, I'm easily amused. It's fun to swirl the two flavors. It's like mini edible art! Catie wanted to help. I shooed her to clean her room and told her she could help frost them. Is that wrong?

2) Ever notice how fast 45 miles an hour is when an almost-16-year-old is behind the wheel? Feels like we go from Windsor Spring Road to the Daytona 500 in 0.2 seconds flat.

3) In a related note, ever notice how helpless you are in the passenger side of a vehicle? When an almost-16-year-old is in control of the brake, you realize very quickly how little control you actually have over any traffic situation. It's quite humbling. Miss Clairol and I can thank teen driving for our ever-deepening friendship.

4) And just like said teenager keeps reminding me, it boils down to how much or how little I trust him. Which makes me feel bad, until I remind him that I've been driving for 20 years, and the ink is barely dry on his permit. Trust is earned, baby, and it comes with experience!

*So what if he's eligible for his license next month. To me, this is still pretty new!!

5) Ever notice how, when you're out and about, McDonald's siren song gets louder and lounder in direct proportion to the amount of time you're still away from home at lunch time?

Seriously!! We're at the dentist today at lunchtime. I had every intention of going home to frugally fix sandwiches for lunch before dropping Christopher off at his friend's house, but the closer to 1 p.m. it got, and the hungrier we got, the farther away home seemed. (Yep...it's a whopping 5 minute drive...the other way) That evil McDonald's just stood there on that street corner, blew onion- and fry-scented kisses at us and begged us to drink from its thirst-quenching Coke fountains. "But you can have all of this for only a dollar," it pleaded. "You don't really want to go all the way home and then drive all the way back over here to Aaron's, do you?" *Sigh* It was just too much to resist. We succumbed. And now I'm $10 poorer in cash and 600 richer in calories. It's pure evil, I tell you!