Manners and Muffins

At this moment, I am waiting for Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins to come out of the over. I wanted chocolate chip pancakes but I didn't want to deal with the hassle of making pancakes. So muffins seemed like the next best thing. Perhaps if you're good and wait through the entire blog post, I'll let you see them :) (I wish I could share them with all of you, but the sending food through the internet thing hasn't quite been perfected yet. They'll taste awful by the time you get them!)

While we're waiting for my muffins to do their thing, I would like to have a conversation with all of the men out there about women and manners. When in the vicinity of the women, you need to remember your manners

Let me begin our conversation with a little story. A personal story. I was in Lafayette today for a vocal competition and performance. I drove up last night, stayed in a hotel, did the competition today, and drove back tonight. Driving back, I wore the same outfit that I wore driving up: A denim skirt, an (adorable) pink shirt, and flip-flops. I was also wearing rather heavy make-up and big-ish hair because of the performance (my musical theatre class from LSU performed "All That Jazz" from CHICAGO). On my way out of town, I decided I wanted to get an Icee and something to snack on for my drive back, so I stopped at a gas station. As I was getting out of my car, a man who looked to be in his twenties and a woman who looked to be his girlfriend/wife/SO/mistress/etc. walked up to the passenger side of the car next to me. As I'm walking the convenience store, I look in the mirror like window and unmistakably see the man behind me lift up his sunglasses, look at my butt, and mouth "Damn." This instance actually isn't that bad. I know that men are going to look at women. Evolution calls for it. This man did not speak to me, harass me, or otherwise bother me. If I hadn't looked up at that moment, I would have been none the wiser. But it struck a bad nerve with me because it reminded me of other instances when men (complete strangers) have spoken to me, harassed me, and even tried to touch me based on my appearance. I have been whistled at, honked at, followed around grocery stores, had a man whisper that Plank Road (a road in my town known for prostitution) could use a pretty white girl like me. I've even had a man try to grab my butt while I was shopping in a nearby grocery store. Not only is this sick and inappropriate. All of these and similar actions are incredibly offensive and hurtful. When this happens to me, I just want to crawl in a hole and cry. And sometimes I do cry. I feel disgusting and worthless and like trash. When a man does this woman, it says "I don't see you as a living, feeling person. You a simply a pretty body with cute shoes walking around for my enjoyment." And that, my imaginary friends, is total crap.

I am not saying that a man cannot take notice when an attractive woman walks by. That's fine. The propogation of the human species kind of depends on it. But, gentleman, do so with respect. You may look, but please keep all hands, feet, whoops, hollers, catcalls, and comments to yourself. You should never get close enough to touch me or whisper in my ear. I should never be able to smell you or your nasty breath. And if you follow me or try to touch me, expect me to make a scene. Because I am a person. I am intelligent. I am talented. I am kind. I am hard working. And I do not deserve to be treated like a piece of meat.

Look at you! You made it through the entire post! You know what that means? Chocolate Chip Pancake Mini-Muffins!

I think they came out pretty well! I just made up some boxed pancake mix, added as many chocolate chips as I wanted, put the mix in mini-muffin tins, and baked them at around 350 degrees (I think. My oven is kind of moody. Sometimes it's the right temperature. Sometimes too hot. Sometimes too cold. It's like a game!) for around 10-12 minutes. I peeked and poked a couple of times to check on them. I kind of wished the bottoms and sides had browned a little more but what can you do. They satisfied my chocolate chip pancake craving and were a lot easier to make than pancakes. Plus, the shape makes them a lot easier to store.

And, as an added bonus, the results of Emily spending a morning alone in a hotel room:

Toothbrush Time!

I'm kind of obsessed with my dress.

My nose and forehead are kind of huge...