When my oldest boy moved out of the house this past summer, he was so worried about his mommy “being bored” without him there. Yes, I miss my babies and I did suffer some Empty Nest feelings . . . the first time he moved out, but the boy is 24 years old now. I thought it was time. Nonetheless, missing your children and being bored are two totally separate feelings. First off, I talk to them on a regular basis so I always know that they’re okay. And second. . . I am NEVER bored. He needn’t worry.

I have my little hands in so many half-baked projects that if I retired today and never worked another day in my life, I STILL would never be bored. So when DeWitte conned me into signing up for Facebook, I had no idea that such a thing would push my other projects aside and take over so many hours of my life. I’m telling you . . . Facebook is evil.

Well, it’s not Facebook as a whole. It’s Scramble! Scramble is a word game that you can play your friends with or play by yourself. I have become A.D.D.I.C.T.E.D.! I sit down to blog at night and I tell myself, “Just one game”. The games are only three minutes, so what’s the harm, right? WRONG! My “just one game” turns into “just one more”, then another “just one more” until I’m sitting in my chair BOUNCING because I have to go to the bathroom so badly. “Just one more” turned into twenty more and my bladder starts screaming.

It started out innocently enough. A Friend invited me to play. I thought it was fun, especially since I won. Then I found that I could play by myself, so I played a few games her and there. No biggie. Then I saw that my Friend’s high score passed my high score and the game was ON. Then I tied for First Place with another Friend. Well, THAT did it! I became obsessed! I just HAD to beat the highest score. . . even if it was just by one point. Let the games begin!

I’ve never been horribly competitive, but any spare minute that I sat down to my computer. . . heck, if I just walked by it. . . I would sit down and try to knock it out of the park. I’d come so close that it would start that never-ending “just one more” cycle. THEN I DID IT! I beat the First Place score! I moved up. You’d think my obsession would stop there, right? You would be wrong. NOW I had to beat my own top score. I did THAT too! And the cycle continues to repeat itself.

I can’t stand myself. I need to STAY AWAY. I need an intervention, like “Walk away from the computer”, except that several other projects that I have on my plate involve the computer. I simply need to “Get A Grip”.

Gosh, I feel better already just having confessed my addiction. “Hello, my name is Donna and I’m a Scrambleaholic!” But I have managed to contain my obsession enough to keep cooking. My latest predicament in my kitchen was what to do with the extra raspberries I bought when I made the Raspberry White Chocolate Blondies. I’m a moron and didn’t check the quantity of raspberries needed, so when I found them, I just bought more rather than less. So basically I bought twice what I needed. I didn’t know. And since I paid such a pretty penny for them (I had to go the fancy grocery store to find them cuz my skanky grocery store doesn’t carry more than the basics), I was bound and determined to use them before they went bad. I HATE wasting money. SO. . . I dug through my recipe box and found these Lemon Raspberry Muffins. They’re really quite tasty. They were a hit at the office. (They’re my judge and jury) Here’s what you need:

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp lemon extract
1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper baking cups.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk eggs, half-and-half, vegetable oil, lemon extract; blend well.
Add to dry ingredients and stir until ingredients are just moistened. Do not overmix.
Carefully fold in raspberries. Fill prepared muffin tins.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes.

While they were cooling, I had time for “just one more” game of Scramble. Somebody . . . send in the troops!