Why sunshine is ruining my life

Here's the deal: Colorado is sunny, abnormally sunny, it turns out, and it spoiled me. I NEED sunshine. All the time. And if Colorado wasn't perfect in my eyes before, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Minnesota is cold, wet, and presently, flooding. But, on a few glorious days, it is sunny. Now why, why dear God, could those days NOT fall on days when I have nothing better to do?! I have papers to write, outlines to make, studying to do, and it is beautiful outside. Lame.
So, what do I do? Cave, of course. I invent reasons to just "run over to _____" for a minute for stuff I "need." Next thing you know, I have literally become transfixed by its glorious rays and can't---seem---to---go---back----in--side. Sunshine is ruining my life. Ok, maybe just my studies. And since Law School is my life, you can see how this is problematic.
So, to resist its evil powers, I hunkered down in the cave that is our student lounge where I can't even see sunshine. To my surprise, not one soul was around. No blaring March Madness on the TV. And it hit me: I could finally watch cable! Whatever I wanted. No annoying Sports Center!
I looked around to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Yes, in fact, I was the only one around, and the TV would be all mine for 30 blissful minutes while I watched HGTV and ate my lunch. And, now, I am restored.
6 more days until Spring Break. Then, as you can imagine, it will snow or rain, or some other disastrous weather feature when I finally have time to enjoy the sunshine. Fortunately, there's always HGTV.

You know you're a Lutheran when...

Actually, I think today's post could be entitled "You know you're from the Mid-west when..." or "You know you're Scandinavian when..." I don't know exactly where the penchant for bribing people with food comes from, but I grew up understanding that coffee-cake, and potlucks and soup suppers were a Lutheran thing. I come from a long line of Lutheran women trained in the wiles of getting your way with food. I say "I baked this" and you do whatever I want. This method is borderline fail proof.
My study group made a pact that we would not put off studying until the fast, furious last weeks of the semester. We decided to start studying once a week to stay on top of the material, starting yesterday. I offered that we might be motivated to stay after a long day if we had snacks, and I offered to kick it off (of course.) I futzed, and agonized over my cookbooks Tuesday night to pick the right recipe so that I could use my mom's apple pie filling that she made for me, so that I could incorporate the perfect crumb topping (that recipe is also thanks to Mom,) and that was substantial enough, but not too heavy, and easy enough to serve without a lot of fuss. Oddly, the fuss on the front end was tremendous, but so worth it. My apple coffee cake was spectacular.
So, Wednesday afternoon drew near and a couple of the girls in my study group said they wanted to cancel because they had errands to run. I'm sure I looked like my head might pop off when I said "But I made coffee cake! COFFEE CAKE, people! We can't cancel!" They offered their excuses and finally I said, "Well, even if I have to study alone, I'll be in the study room, just me and my coffee cake." I could hear the guilt dripping on my voice, although I wasn't quite sure where it was coming from. I didn't even really want to study that much, and despite the fuss, I wasn't hurt that my hard work wasn't being acknowledged. But I really wanted them to all eat my coffee cake and tell me how great it was. I have never denied that this is usually my motivation for cooking for other people.
Miraculously, when I turned the corner with my decadent pan of crumbly, apply, spicy deliciousness, every one of my study mates was able to make the study group :) And, that's when you know you are a Lutheran.