Susie Cupcakes

Now I live in Connecticut. Things are going pretty good. Cats are fine. I am within walking distance of 19 Italian restaurants. We have cable TV, which I've never had before, because I was born into a home of suffering, with only 5 channels, and now I have like, 70 channels! I have the Golf Channel! Why? No reason, just because! More importantly, I spent over an hour watching a show called "50 Cutest Child Stars All Grown Up!" (not on the Golf Channel, I might add). How will I ever make it to work? There's so much to learn.

I smell like packing tape and gin, and I have newspaper ink on my hands from the 8,000 kitchen items I wrapped in various sections of the Sunday New York Times. I grow occasionally weepy when I think of the wonderful WONDERFUL friends we left behind in North Carolina, who probably curse our names as they think of the huge tumbleweeds of cat hair they vacuumed and the kitchen grime they scrubbed and all the zillions of things they did to help us get on our way. Everytime I can't find something? I look in my purse and find, for example, the wingnuts for the kitchen table. 5 remote controls. Hand lotion. Everything I need, they put in my purse! My purse weighs 24 pounds, but still! Everything I needed to get set up here, they thought of it. Also, not one single thing, not a single glass or plate or anything was broken, thanks to Brad's incredible Uhaul packing skillz. Oh, except for the lamp that I broke when I clumsily pulled it off the moving truck. Ha ha! Mr. Cupcakes loves it when I help!

When I'm not crying, picking bits of tape off my person, or learning about Jonathan Lipnicki, I am exploring our new town. Yesterday I bought a very special book from the library. They sell discarded and donated books to raise money, and it is shocking that this book has been thoughtlessly cast off from the M'town Public Library! It is called After-School Cooking and it is jam-packed with excellent ideas for all you latchkey kids out there. Once I find my camera (in the purse, no doubt, probably under a peppermill and the latest New Yorker) I will take pictures of the tweens who jazz up their after school eating with saxaphones and peanut butter.

Until then, I'll leave you with a refreshing beverage idea. Say you've been running up and down the field with your buds from the East Hudson Youth Soccer League, and dude, you're parched. Have you considered mixing 6 ounces of tomato juice with a quarter cup of lemonade? Moreover, why don't you throw it in a saucepan and bring it to a boil and chug that bad boy down? That's what I, and After-School Cooking, call a Tomato Tune-Up!

Mmm. So much to learn.