Life is Like a Muffin

This evening I baked pumpkin muffins for my family to have for breakfast, some to send to my husband's office and some for me to bring to school tomorrow.  I've made the recipe before, so I whipped them together, pressed sunflower seeds onto the tops of the muffins and put them in the oven.  The house smelled divine - I was really getting into the whole spirit of the day, it being Halloween.  The jack o'lanterns were lit, I put candles out to guide the trick or treaters in and waited for them. 

No goblins, witches or scooby doo's showed up, much to my disappointment...we live between two neighborhoods so I didn't expect too many - last year we had eight.  I had hoped we would have some repeaters and some new kids...maybe next year!  I still had the muffins to look forward to...

I took the muffins out of the oven, let them cool in the tins for 15 minutes per the recipe instructions, then put them on racks to fully cool.  I made a cup of coffee for my husband and brought him a muffin, like a good wife...  A few minutes later I heard "Sue?  The muffins are stuck to the papers...but they're delicious!"  He then said maybe if they cooled until tomorrow they might come out of the papers more readily.  I tried one and he was right...about a third of the muffin stayed in the paper.  If I left them for a week they might come out of the papers...!

I will be billing them as my low-calorie muffins as 1/3 of the calories stay in the paper.  As I pondered this I wondered what my lesson was in the evening's events.  What could I glean from this in my quest to find my rudder? 

I came up with two ideas:  Attitude and Notes.  I will note in my calendar to begin Halloween preparations a week ahead of time so the kids can see as their school buses or their parents drive them by and they'll know "that house" will be a good one to go to for trick-or-treating.  I will note in my cookbook (we call it "The Book" because I write down all recipes that we enjoy) that this recipe is not one to use cupcake papers with because they stick.  I remembered that I didn't use the papers the first time...

Lastly: Attitude.  My house smells wonderful.  And we have a chocolate stash that will last a couple of months at least!

Were my preparations in vain?  Absolutely not!  Onward and upward!