Nutella

This was take post-Nutella experience. Hence my smile.

The year was 2005. I was studying abroad in Europe for the month of January. Part of our grade was to plan a "free weekend" where we got to go anywhere in Europe for the weekend but we had to meet up with the rest of our group in Paris at a certain time. My friends and I decided to go to Rome. It was awesome. When we made our travel plans to get ourselves to Paris, we decided to take the Euro-rail and sleep on the train. We went to a market to buy some snacks and things to make sandwiches to munch on as we rode. We thought we'd make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because we wouldn't need to refrigerate anything, but when we got to the market, we couldn't find any peanut butter. Our train was about to leave, so we grabbed a nutty protein that I had never heard of before and ran to our platform. Once we found a car that would fit all of us, we settled in and started the operation of putting together the sandwiches. The peanut-butter replacement was good. It was sweet and chocolatey. That was the day that my life was changed. That was the day I first tasted Nutella.

Nutella. I am certain that this delicious treat was found in the garden of Eden, among the fruit trees. Plastic jars of happiness hanging from branches just waiting to be plucked. I am pretty sure the rest of Genesis 2:17 went something like this in the original Hebrew "[the LORD commanded the man] not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but that Nutella tree, whoo boy! you slap that stuff on everything else!" I think the second part was just lost in translation.

This looks like a good sized serving.

I have been a fan of Nutella ever since that train ride to Paris and can eat it any time of the day. For breakfast, I have whole grain toast with Nutella and a half a banana sliced on top. There have been times when I will spread Nutella on top of apple slices and then sprinkle them with coconut and sliced almonds for a desert. It is delicious in Swedish pancakes and crepes. I have even been known to just dip a spoon in the jar and lick it off . . . alright, so I usually forgo the spoon and use my finger, but I swear I only do that if the jar is almost empty (fine, half full) or I know we won't be having guests anytime soon.

Since being pregnant, my Nutella addiction has become much worse. And yes, I would call it and addiction since I think about it multiple times a day. I eat it all the time. Sometimes, Troy comes home from work and asks me how many toasts with Nutella I have had that day. Today I would answer two, since I had one  for breakfast and one for snack. I am really restraining myself because I would love to have another, but I know I will probably end up making one for a bedtime snack. I should really get a gold star for showing such self control. I am pretty sure Baby Carlson is made up of 50% Troy, 25% me and 25% Nutella. If he comes out smelling like chocolatey hazelnut goodness, I cannot promise that I won't lick his head.

The Nutella Mecca at CostCo.

The other night, I actually had a dream that we were out of Nutella. It was terrible. Troy was playing video games and told me that he would take me to the store to get more when he finished his game. I was so hungry that I had a hissy fit in the dream (which isn't the weird part) and so I ditched Troy and went to Kroger myself to get my Nutella for breakfast. Thankfully, I woke up and realized it was a dream. We had a whole jar of Nutella in the cabinet, just waiting for me to drive into! Troy and I went to Costco this weekend, and just to be on the safe side, we bought two packs, so I have four large containers of Nutella. Better to be safe than sorry.

My Brain Short-Curcuits

I would like to say that the problem I am about to disclose is pregnancy related, but unfortunately, this has been happening long before Baby Carlson was a thought. Alright, here we go. I am about to get real wit-cha-all.

Sometimes I have super random thoughts floating around in my head. I guess they aren't thoughts so much as names and/or phrases. Sometimes I don't even know what it means. I am not crazy; let me explain. 

Thibodeau coaching Rose - or whispering his name for me.

A couple of years ago I was vacuuming and I kept repeating "Tom Thibodeau" (the last name is pronounced "Ti-bi-dough.") I had no idea why this name kept going through my head, but it did. I didn't think about it until a couple of days later when I was doing another mundane task and it happened again. "Tom Thibodeau, Tom Thibodeau, Tom Thibodeau." One night, Troy was watching a Bulls game and I heard the name on the TV. I ran out to the family room and asked Troy who they were talking about and he repeated the name that had been running through my brain. I replied, mostly to myself yet still audible, that I didn't know he was a real person.  Troy looked at me weird and said, "He's the head coach of the Chicago Bulls."

Interesting. I figured that I must have heard that name millions of times and not thought anything of it. My brain must have just soaked up the name, stored it away and pulled it out at random times as though my brain was short-circuiting. Weird. I wish I could say this was the only time it happened.

Oh heaven help us. Nugent and Palin are apparently buds.

A few weeks ago, I was cleaning the bathroom and as I was scrubbing the tub, it happened again. This time, it was a different name. "Ted Nugent, Ted Nugent, Ted Nugent." I didn't recognize the name and asked Troy if he had heard of him. Apparently, he is a guitar player. When I Googled him, I realized that I knew his face. I went to his Wikipedia page and learned that he was born in Detroit so I am figuring that I must have heard of him when my sister was telling me all the famous people who came from Michigan. (She lives in Michigan with her hubs who was born and raised in the mitten state.) Side note: this is the same conversation I had with her where I was chastised after I foolishly announced that I never knew that Tim Allen was the voice of the Pure Michigan commercials. (I am allowing a pause here to let that sink in for any of you who did not yet know that tidbit about Mr. Allen so that you can audibly go, "Oh yeah!") In my defense, anyone who lives outside of the state of Michigan can't place that voice unless it is in distress due to a project gone awry or an insult directed at the one and only Al Borland. But I digress.

My brain has recalled other, random words to repeat, but they are so humdrum that I can't remember what they are. Obviously, names like Tom Thibodeau or Ted Nugent are a little harder to forget. Here's what I would like to know:

1. Why these men? I am not interesting in their hobbies/careers.
2. Why can't I repeat the names of men who are at least a little bit of eye-candy? Let's be honest, these men are not winning People's Hottest Man of the Year award.
3. Why do these names only come up when I am performing a trite task?
4. If I do something more exciting, will a more exciting name pop in my head? For example: should I decide to make a meat dress, will I repeat "Lady Gaga"?
5. Will the people in the white coats be knocking my my door tomorrow to take me away for writing this? Highly possible, yet not probable.


Like I said before, I am pretty sure that my brain is just on the fritz. Some of the hard-wiring just shorts out for a second or two and random information gets recalled. I guess I should be grateful that I only think of weird people's names and don't lose my gross motor functions. I only when I laugh to hard. Crisis averted. Let's just relax to one of Tim Allen's soothing Pure Michigan commercials.