I Did IT!

This morning, as I was brushing my teeth, I made a monumental decision. After two years of taking off my shoes, I've decided to go ahead and walk on the white carpet in my bedroom. Here's the story:

If you recall, when I replaced my carpeting a couple of years ago, we went with white again---even though it drove me nuts the first time around (15 years). Any other color just didn't look right. Plus, you think in the bedroom it just wouldn't get so much wear. That's wrong.

Right away, I started out requesting that everyone take off their shoes when they walk in there. Pretty much everyone ignored me. Then I demanded that everyone take off their shoes. Well, except for Margarita (my cleaning lady)----we have that communication problem. So, everyone else was supposed to take off their shoes. I took mine off 100% of the time. I'd say Butch took his off, maybe, 50% of the time. Then it happened. A couple of months ago, I lit in to him about 2 small spots on the carpet. I got them out, but you know how that goes. Spots just don't stay gone. After a little while, they "come up" again. It bothers me really bad. I know I'm over the top about some things. It's just my OCD tendencies. But I made the decision to NOT let this get to me anymore. If the carpet looks like crap, we'll just replace it. Done. So, I did it. I walked on the carpet twice today. The first time was easy because my shoes were new. This evening was a little harder. I went back to the door mat and wiped them off really good. Then I walked on it. It didn't feel good. I guess I don't really have it under control yet. I'm trying.

In the meantime, I thought I posted this recipe a while ago. Somehow I typed it up, but didn't publish the post. My favorite cake of all time---hands down:

Oatmeal Cake
Pour 1 1/4 cups boiling water over 1 cup oatmeal and 1/2 cup butter or margarine. Let stand 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add:
1 cup white sugar and 1 cup of brown
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Mix and bake in an oblong pan at 350 for 35 minutes.

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg yolk (beaten)
3/4 cup cream
Stirring constantly, cook on medium until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and add 1 cup coconut and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Let cool and spread on cooled cake.