The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window

For goodness itself, thanks

August 6, 2012

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. It's August now, what I want to be the slow burn into September but what is, really, a mad dash of a month to get it all together. School supplies, picnics and cookouts, another visit to the cabin, drivers' tests, doctors and dentists, haircuts, forms to fill out, school clothes, time at the beach, forms to fill out, school orientation night, and more - all on top of the usual meals and cleaning and can-we-go-somewhere-and-do-something?

I spent Monday with Angela, who came over to do laundry and work while the kids were at work and out with friends. We both had a project to tackle and sometimes it's easier and more productive to work on a project with your best friend, even if it amounts to the two of you sitting at opposite sides of the table with your laptops and bottles of water. I was working on my cookbook, which is coming along and needs a bit more attention before it's ready for the next place. Angela is looking for a new job, and was faced with a list of possibilities to weed through, a resume to revise, and all that comes with such a quest.

There was a moment when we were sitting there at the big old oak table, complete silence in the house except for cars passing on the street outside and the fridge humming and our fingers tapping keys, sunlight filtering through trees onto the living room carpet and a breeze coming in through the window, when everything felt right in the world. I felt it. And I looked at Angela, and she smiled at me.

Now, I don't mean to be a cornball about it, but a moment like that is gold, especially if you've got a life full up with mad dashes and deadlines and want ads. A few minutes passed, and the kids appeared wanting food and Angela got up to gather her clothes from the deck railing where she was drying them, and I switched into cooking mode. Fajitas and cornbread, with some Spanish rice on the side, in no time at all.

"Didn't we just have Mexican food two days ago?" the kids asked as they sat down at the table.

"My panties blew all over the lawn," Angela said as she joined them. "I even said a little prayer as I lay them out, they went north into your lawn. Thank goodness. South would be the neighbors and I'd have had to climb over a fence."

Thank goodness, yes. For fajitas and flying panties and time with your best friend. And for goodness itself, thanks.

Here's a recipe Angela gave me a while back. I have a thing for peanut butter, and she does not, and we are both okay with that.

Buckeye Bars

2 sticks butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 lb powdered sugar
1 bag (12 oz) chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup peanut butter

Melt together first two ingredients in microwave. Mix into sugar. Pat into 9x13 cake pan. Melt chocolate and half a cup peanut butter together. Place over bottom layer. Refrigerate and cut into squares.

Enjoy!