I made $50 brownies last night.

I pulled out the mix, put the water and the oil in the bowl, then realized I had no eggs. I was about to scrap the project, then my husband said he would go to the store for the eggs -- he really wanted the brownies!

With a young baby (7 weeks!) in the house, I don't get out much, so my husband suggested I take the opportunity to grocery shop. Sounds magnanimous, unless you know how much my husband hates grocery shopping. While I'm there -- could I pick up some potatoes for dinner tomorrow, and how about some root beer?

My list of eggs, root beer and potatoes grew to about 9 items, including bread, so that I didn't have to go back in the next couple days. However, once I got to the store, I remembered that we had no more dishwashing liquid, and considering we were having people over for lunch tomorrow, I thought clean dishes might be in order. Then of course, there was the matter of ham. If my husband has ham and english muffins and a wife to cook the egg to go on them, then he eats at home in the morning. Otherwise, Dunkin Donuts is the happy recipient of his patronage. Evaporated milk to make that pumpkin cake I keep meaning to make, until I remember I have no evaporated milk. Then spring water to make Sammy a bottle when we are out and about. Mmmm....eggnog since it isn't available year-round, and two more packages of brownie mix, since now I have eggs. Eggs! I almost forgot the eggs!

At the cash register -- $49.71. Cha-ching! Hannaford's loves it when I make brownies.

By the time I got home, mixed in the eggs and baked the brownies, it was well after midnight. I ate my brownie, carefully made in a muffin pan so as to make individual serving-size pieces. My husband, well, I guess he didn't want the brownies after all -- he went to bed without even a bite. So, I ate his piece, just for good measure.