I tried the Splenda brown sugar blend on the weekend. With my cookies, I didn't realise you only need half of what the recipe calls. I halved what I needed for my muffins. But I am going back to regular sugar. The stuff is amazingly sweet, but I didn't like the aftertaste. Boo.

I made these really good chewy chocolate cookies, but they were ruined by the Splenda! I will eventually have to make a better batch. But it could be a while. The waistline probably wouldn't be too happy!

And the dinner I made Saturday night took about 2 and a half HOURS! One thing I have learned is that Ina Garten really likes her salt and her butter...I'm not sure if I like her stuff other than her desserts. But I'll keep trying :) I tried out her hashed browns on the weekend, too, and they were just really greasy. I probably could have used half the butter.

But the Martha Stewart buttermilk pancakes?? AWESOME!!

Cooking is stressful.

I think for about two days out of the month I can get a little emotional.  My two days happened this weekend, too...BWAHAHAA

All week, the living together with Mr. Nick thing was on my mind. I thought about whether I could do it, what life would be like. As I am all for things moving forward with him, I just don't feel ready to be cohabiting. I like how things are now, and I'm not ready for the routine. Nor do I want to move in for convenience's sake.

So I told him I wasn't ready to live together, and he said, "okay." And that was it...no more discussion. I wanted to make sure he really was okay with it. Later on, I asked him if he was okay about what I said. And then he talked as if he had never suggested such a thing ("Who said anything about living together?"!! I was so upset and mad...upset that he denied the suggestion and mad that I was fretting over it all week.

But then I had to go to dance class. I left all teary and in a quiet rage. I'm not sure I expressed to him what had me so upset.

I really wasn't in the mood to go to dance class, but I went anyway. I had a horrible time, but I felt loads better post-class. Before class, I sent him a text message saying I'd never been so upset with him before and that I wasn't sure I wanted to see him that night. We talked things over a couple of hours later. He said he wanted us to live together, but he knew that I wasn't ready, and there was no rush. So we resolved our thing. And he brought me flowers. And I cooked us the feast.