Chocolate Muffins and Devastation

It was blustery and cold this morning, and even armed with my fancy-dancy London scarf and my newish wool coat, I was chilled by the wind on my way to class. So, I stopped by the library and used four of the quarters in my pocket to buy myself a hot chocolate from a vending machine. Happy, I marched to class, my head held high and my hands tight around the paper warmth of the cup. I marched right through a planter and caught my toe on the cement edge. I almost went down. There was much wind milling of the arms and yelling, but I didn’t fall. Glancing down at myself, I realized, miracle of miracles, I hadn’t even spilled my cocoa.

I laughed to myself and pranced down a short ramp for the handicapped, and without tripping over anything poured about half my hot chocolate down the front of my coat. Grumbling to myself, I stomped into my classroom and sat down. Because it’s a large lecture hall and only about 2/3rds of the class ever bother to show up, I placed my remaining cocoa on the desk next to mine, and opened my backpack to pull out my homework which was due at the start of the lecture. As I handed it to the person next to me, I checked my backpack once more to make certain that my twelve page paper, due in the next class, was still where I had left it. Assured that it was, I pulled out my day-planner and started planning my day.

When the lecture began, I reached to shove my planner back into my backpack. As I did, my elbow jostled the desk next to mine, and in slow motion the half-filled cup of hot chocolate spun, and fell perfectly into the compartment of my bag, directly on the cover page of my twelve page paper. I let out a small gasp, and after a moment of shocked disbelief, I pulled the cup out, and then the paper. The first several pages were totally and utterly soaked. So I stood up and marched my butt back to the library, thinking that since I had the foresight to email the essay to myself the night before I would simply print out all fifteen pages again (the twelve page paper plus the coversheet and two pages of references). Then I reached into my pocket and realized I only had $0.60, and each page would cost $0.10. After a brief panic, I prioritized my essay, and printed out the pages that were worst hit by the cocoa and took it to class.

My professor found my story deeply amusing, and laughed harder when I went to the bathroom to wash out my backpack.

I now owe my sister a new copy of Pearls Before Swine.

In other news, I couple weeks ago, I was trying to make these amazing chocolate chip banana muffins (from scratch). I measured the ingredients, mixed them, put the little papers into the muffin tins, dolled out the batter with the ice cream scoop and dropped the entire tray upside down on the hot oven door.

I was devastated.

Today I have righted that wrong by mixing up a new batch of muffins which are safely out of the oven, golden brown, and delicious.