1. I am very, very, very, very, very happy with this year's winner of TOP CHEF.

2. Which reminds me, the other night for dinner I attempted to recreate Lisa's infamous peanut butter mashed potatoes (and no, that's not a spoiler, just go watch). What I did: peeled and boiled maybe six or seven regular baking potatoes (medium sized). Drained and put them back in the pan. Added 2 T butter and about a quarter cup of regular Skippy (I did not do precise measurements, as you can see). Added coconut milk and mashed them with a hand masher. I think we added more peanut butter and more coconut milk - it ended up being half a can and I froze the rest for later. I had boiled the potatoes in salted water but added a bit more salt to the final product. OH MY GOD. So good. Went perfectly with a top round London Broil and petite green beans. [Note: obviously this is not a low-fat side dish, and not something I would make weekly, but it was a fun, yummy experiment and I highly recommend trying it out at least once.]

3. Yesterday, my new pedal extenders came in the mail. Huh? you say. See, here's the deal - I'm short. REALLY short. Like barely 5'2". What's worse is that I have supershort legs. (FACT: in middle school, Cindy Joseph and I were the same height, and her legs were three inches longer. I'm not even exaggerating.) So, even in my cute little Saturn, I always am sitting right on top of the steering wheel - just so my feet can reach the pedals. And I tend to wear out the rubber on my brake pedal, so it gets slippery, and then I have to sit even closer. Well, obviously this is not good, and Joe and I started doing research and found out that they make pedal extenders that bolt onto your pedals (approved by traffic officials and everything) and it lengthens your pedal by 2 to 4 inches, which means you can sit the regulated 18" away from the steering wheel. Squee! Apparently there are a lot of cars made in this decade that have automatically extending power pedals, but the Saturn is from 1998 and I don't see me getting a fancy pants new car any time soon. So, extenders it is. I haven't tried them out yet but definitely will this weekend.

4. We no longer have an AQUA TEEN lawn. In the front, anyway. The back yard ... well, let's just say I'm glad it's in the back.

5. Today I made a mental list of all of my good friends that I haven't talked to in a while and I needed two hands. I have no idea WHY I've been out of touch, or why they've been out of touch, but as soon as I finish going over the copyedits on STELLA I plan to rectify the situation.