Chewy Brownies

Here is some scary math for you: If a=a two-week vacation and b=a departure date this Friday, c=a return date a day before Leadership Camp, d=5 4-H projects for which e=a due date the day after Leadership Camp, then a(b+c) + de=a personal due date of This Friday for all projects and my stress level to the seventh power.

This is always busy time in our household. We are finishing up the last week of Little League with games nearly every night of the week. I'm trying to prepare for vacation, with jobs like making the van spic and span, laundry, packing, and - as my mother-in-law has always done - vacuuming myself out the door. I also have the big job of overseeing the time management of my 4-H-er.

What can console me at a time like this? Baked goods. For an end-of-the-year choir activity, Brooks volunteered me to provide brownies. This recipe comes out just as I like them - not too dry, not too cakey.

And now, to make you laugh and me cry, I find that I have loaded these pix in the order they were taken, making them appear in the reverse order than which they are needed. Please scroll to the bottom if you care to read the recipe from the beginning. (It really is funny, I suppose.)