What would you do?

So, this morning, I was doing my weekly run around town, doing errands, grocery shopping, etc.  As I was returning my shopping cart at the grocery store, I noticed someone had left their cart in the cart drop-off area, but had not retrieved the loonie in the slot.

My immediate thought....."score!"

I locked up my cart, and looking around to make sure there were no "Just for Gags" cameras around, I locked up the other cart and stuffed the loonie in my pocket. 

Finders keepers, losers weepers.

I sat in the van, thinking about what I had just done.  Something in me niggled.    Have you ever had a niggle?  If life has taught me anything, it's to listen to the niggle. No loonie is worth the cost of carrying around a niggle. So, I picked up the loonie (a shiny 2013 model!) and climbed out of the van, and stuck it back into the shopping cart.  By now, I was feeling a little stupid for unlocking a cart and purposely leaving it there, but whatever. No sooner had I climbed back into the van when I spotted another shopper approaching the cart dropoff.  Her eyes immediately caught sight of the loonie (I was parked a few feet from her, so I could watch her).  After a quick look to the left and right, she snatched that loonie faster than you can say "heywhereyagoinwiththat". I don't judge her.  Two minutes earlier, that was me.

It just makes me think.  Would it have been wrong to take the loonie?

Doughnut Debut

Yesterday, the kids woke up to their favourite saying...."school's cancelled".   The road past our house was blown completely shut, so much, in fact, that I let the kids play in the snow drifts on the road. 

This picture was taken down the road from our house yesterday
after the snow plow had come past.

Later on in the day, Makenna asked if we could make doughnuts. We've been meaning to make them for a long time, but have never gotten around to it.  I think I was secretly hesitant to fry them in oil.  First, because I like our house, and I don't want to burn it down, and second, actually seeing stuff floating around in hot yellow oil is kind of gross - even Mason thought so, and he's a nine-year-old boy, so that ought to count for something.  I can't imagine what that stuff does to the inside of our arteries.  I picture stuff like bacon fat at room temperature clinging to the insides of my body. Blech. But I digress.

We went online and found a recipe that looked doable.  I'll spare the details of  how we made them because the website has great instructions.  Basically, it's not much different from making buns.  Mix up stuff, wait, wait, wait, make doughnut shapes, wait, wait, wait, cook. And then the best part.  Feast.  And feast we did.  Well, we feasted one doughnut each.

This is what happened when I said "who wants to try one?" (Funny how they don't seem to hear me on the first try when I mention the dishwasher needs emptying)

A little closer shot, without 15 fingers in the way....

And one more, because I said so.

My overall impression?  They were super tasty.  The glaze was great, the texture was good, and we were pretty impressed that they even kind of looked like real doughnuts.  One word of caution, though - they do take a long time to make, with all the waiting for them to rise and all.  And don't even get me started on how utterly void of nutrition they are. 

So, there you have it.

Oh, and because we didn't have an actual doughnut shape cutter, we used a big circle cookie cutter for the outside, and a lipstick lid for the doughnut holes.....yes, we are exceptionally cool and resourceful.

 I can't get the song by "The Donut Man" out of my head......"there's a hole in the middle of your heart...."