God Almighty!................What the Sam Hill has been going on in here??????????????"Slip the" ...something, something... "and let loose (or fly) the Dogs of War!"..............Wow, first I tried to start a new journal and got 8000 (OK, maybe a few less) pop-up messages from Safari (my web-browser) telling me it couldn't do this and wasn't able to do that and blah, blah, blah...and all I wanted to do was write this entry in italics! Naturally, furor and frustration had to find voice in a "thought for the day"  (think back girls....... Teacher God does quotes on the "chalkboards of life") which, of course, I was utterly unsuccessful at because: 1) I don't actually KNOW the quote I was quoting (on a word-for-word basis you understand) and 2) Not only am I a little blurry on the "what's" of said saying....... I am also completely at a loss as to the "who" of said saying!................Which, for all intents and purposes, probably renders the whole "thought for the day/quote" thing a little beyond my reach at this point but hey...... if we'd never reached for the stars we would never have landed on the moon (and you are NOT free to take that as an opening to remark on the ways I am "over the moon", "under the moon", "moonstruck", "pitching a tent on the moon" or in any other way "moon-mad" HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR HERE?!)So.....................Did ya miss me?............................please excuse me while I pause to go grab a coke, methinks this just might be a rather long-winded entry (OK, if you really MUST, you may go ahead and take the "long-winded" part as an opening and run with it. But only because ya'll wouldn't be you if you didn't comment any more than I would be me if I didn't leave an opening or two........... Feel better now?).....................and I want lemon in my Coke.................... Be right back.................. Really................Not days from now.................. RIGHT BACK.....................I promise, you'll hardly know that I'm gone........SEE.......... I TOLD YA SO!Now, where was I?So I wanted to start this entry by saying that I had heard something rather interesting a few weeks back and am giving it a try with some, might I say (because YES, I ALWAYS say/expound/elaborate) spectacular results. It would seem that, our bodies have a period of time in the morning when they are most "ready" for us to wake up. Which is to say that, if we wake up at the right moment, we will wake up completely rested and READY to get up and go! Apparently, there is some kind of wristwatch of sorts which can monitor our sleep cycle and then awaken us at the time closest to when the alarm is set, which will allow us to waken in that refreshed and ready state.....I'm certain the cost of the "watch" is probably the wrist-sized equivalent to a rocket to the moon (there it is girls, take it and run!) so I have elected to test this hypothesis sans watch of ANY kind and "watch" the results as it were! Turns out, I woke up yesterday right about 5am and this morning it was more like 4:30. I haven't even looked at my alarm, much less set it, and at this moment am feeling cautiously optimistic about this "wake up when you wake up thing". Yes, I have worked pretty hard this summer at keeping my bedtime within 1-2 hours of when I go to bed during the school year. It's just too bloody difficult to have to start getting up before the sun in Sept. if I've been staying up until midnight all through July and August. Besides, I REALLY like the early morning hours when most of the world is still asleep and the sky is just beginning to transition to that soft kind of light that tells you the sun isn't too far behind it.............. ANYWAY............That's how I WAS going to start this journal but then there was the whole thing with Safari which really demanded analliteration of sorts (alliteration hopefully meaning written expository) and we all know how much I love a good, long-winded, written rant!.................... Moving right along......Along with all the digging in the good Earth this summer, I have also adopted a "Broadway Bette" loves to bake kind of thing (because I LOVE Bette Midler andDETEST Martha Stewart....... who I think is probably the living embodiment of a Stepford Wife) which is really rather astonishing as I think I may have had "love, honor and doesn't bake" written into my wedding vows!I have often told my cooking classes that baking is the "chemistry" of the kitchen. It is intenselydifficult, requires precise amounts of the EXACTingredients and the whole thing can still blow up in your face...... quite literally! While EVERY other kind of kitchen "concoction/concocting" out there can and often does benefit from a dash of "this" and a bit of "that" and "What the hell DID I put into it last time?" kind of aplomb........ Baking requires the scientific method (read: hypothesis, control, experiment, recording of results so said experiment can be reproduced EXACTLY) and a PHD in patience and anal retentiveness! (well....... I actually don't use the term "anal-retentive" in the classroom but you get my drift here right?) BECAUSE GOOD "BAKED GOODS" ARE HARD TO PRODUCE!!!!! As it turns out, I'm ok with cake (the body NOT the icing), pretty good and really improving with my muffins, optimistic about my cupcakes (they taste good but look a little scary) but just downright depressed about my cookies...... they taste spectacular but I like them SOFT and mine seem to end up somewhat soft on the inside and crisp on the outside................ Still, it is astonishing to me to discover that I am really learning to love being surrounded by flour as much as flowers and brown sugar as much as good brown soil and it is beginning to seem that I am flourishing inasmuch as I attempt to make the work of my home and heart flourish.I think I've found my voice again..............I'll be back later today to expound/express/elaborate.....................