Our house has a pretty cool feature. As you enter the backdoor, there is a set of 12 cubby-holes that we have split up among members of the family and contain most things you need, as you exit the house, including shoes, backpacks, and jackets. Inevitably, they also become a drop box for most things carried into the house, including papers from school, receipts from shopping trips, random sporting equipment, and most anything else that you are too lazy to properly stow.
The other night, I was helping our 2nd Grader Sam finish up his homework. Putting the finishing touches on his reading assignment, we headed to his cubby to find the appropriate paper for me to sign and have Sam return to school. As we walked to Sam’s cubby, my shoulder (which is apparently ape-like in size, due the havoc it was about to cause) brushed gently against some items protruding from Charlene’s upper row cubby. Unfortunately, this caused instability in her cubby’s pile of papers and the item on top slipped out. Double unfortunately, the item now rushing out of her cubby was Charlene’s iPad. Triple unfortunately, the floor directly in front of the cubbies is hard, cold, rock-like tile. Gravity was leading us in a very bad direction.
In a rare demonstration of cat-like quickness, the palm of my right hand moved up in time to push up the iPad, which plummeting directly in front of me. The iPad flew back up into the air, somewhere over Sam’s head, as he looked up in response to the first skin on electronic device thwack. Acting on pure adrenaline, my left palm then reached up and batted the device once again into the air. Beginning to take on the appearance of an untalented and very expensive juggling act, my right hand then finally caught the iPadular device at belly level, about four feet above disaster.
Crisis averted and letting out a sigh of relief, I looked at young Sam who opened his eyes wide, as if to say, “That was a close one.” Still not exchanging a single word, I returned the iPad to Charlene’s cubby, placed it at a secure angle, and breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted, catch of the day landed. iLucky.
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“Looking for a cookie that will be a hit? Look no further. At my son’s last baseball game of the year, Sandy brought these delicious cookies to the ballpark and they were a hit. My only regret was that I had not brought a tall glass of milk to the game, because these cookies are perfect for dunking (my apologies for the basketball reference within a cookie post about baseball). So grab a few, pour yourself a glass of milk, and enjoy, while watching your favorite team play.” – Cookie Dave
SANDY’S “PLAY BALL” CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
¾ cup Sugar
¾ cup Brown Sugar
¾ cup Shortening
2 Eggs
½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 cups Flour
¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
½ teaspoon Salt
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the sugar, brown sugar, and shortening.
Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Set aside.
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually, mix in the “flour mixture” into the “shortening mixture.”
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by tablespoons onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes about 44 cookies.
Revised Source: Chocolate Chip Cookie Master, Sandy Lotthammer Schow