Octoberfest Day 19: "Pumpkin Spice, and Everything Nice"

Not good (for the diet)

I woke up on Friday with a LOT to get done. When you read Day 20, you'll understand just what I'm talking about. I took the day off, not so I could relax but so I could get an overabundance of things accomplished. Including fit in an Octoberfest activity. I decided to get that out of the way right away so I met an old professor from Simpson for coffee and breakfast. As an homage to not only Octoberfest but Halloween around the corner, I opted for a Pumpkin Spice latte from Panera. Amaze-Fest USA. That coffee was more than just delish, it was delightful, it was delectable, it was de-sinful. I mean where has that been all my life? It was definitely a great way to start my day. After that, a couple of crazy things happened to me. For one, my professor wants me to speak to one of his classes about the importance of not giving up. You may recall that I lost my job three years ago and dug myself out of a pretty significant financial crisis. I was super flattered that he would ask me to speak to his class. And I will whip those kids in shape! Just kidding, I'll just talk about my story. It's something that comes naturally from me, as the storyteller that I am. We continued talking some more and I told him that I've thought about teaching someday at the college level and he said "would you be interested in teaching for Simpson? We need part-time evening/weekend professors for next fall." Umm, whaaaa? I mean when I said that I was thinking about teaching someday, I didn't really think the "someday" would be next year. But I guess he's leaving for London to teach a semester abroad and they will be needing faculty. Professor Stiver? Has a nice ring to it. I'll definitely consider what he's proposing. In the meantime, I had a lot to accomplish on Friday so I couldn't sit and chat with him forever even though I would have liked to. I got all of my stuff pretty much done and all I had left to do was cook 20 lbs. of hamburger meat. Gulp. I mean we've already established how terrible I am in the kitchen. How in the H am I going to do this? My cousin said to me "Shawnna if you screw up cooking hamburger meat, god help any guy who may date you." LOL. She's right. How could I possible screw this up? I know what you're thinking, "yep, she screwed it up." You're partially right. I didn't screw up the actually cooking part but I did have a little baby disaster when I tried to strain the meat. Let's just say that a large chunk of the meat flew onto my counter and part of the floor. No big deal. I cleaned it up and lost about a pound of hamburger. Worse things could happen right?  Like Starbucks and Panera could stop offering that Pumpkin Spice Latte, that would be an even bigger disaster...