I just ran into my friend Kathleen at Target.  I felt bad for acknowledging her, as she was busy in the beauty aisle, where no woman wants to be disturbed when she’s trying to decide between mascaras and eyeliners.  It’s like when I am in the hair color aisle.  I try to keep my eyes down as much as possible, barely being able to read the boxes, afraid someone might yell out, “Hey, there’s Lisa!  She went prematurely gray at 18, and has to dye her hair every other day!” 

Seriously, I won’t even take my kids to Target when I need new hair color.   I can’t be distracted, and  I certainly don’t want to talk about it after the deed has been done.   Sure, I’ll talk to myself a bit in the mirror, just enough to berate myself for growing bad hair, and then if the color is really bad, I’ll share my pain with my friend Katie, who’s been known to do a “double dye” in the same day too.  At least she can blame Ben when things go wrong.  He’s her husband and hair care provider, all the while, I only have myself to blame.

I’m getting off track.  Target can do that to a person, in case you didn’t know.  Today was different though.  I went into Target with a purpose.  Okay, a few purposes, the first of which, was to purchase an Icee for my son Will.  I’m not proud to say I sometimes distract him with treats in order to stay focused on my list.

But back to my purpose. Today at Target, the goal was to buy a can of pumpkin puree.  I know.  Stupid huh?  I don’t even like to cook.  People tell me there’s a difference between baking and cooking though, and I tend to believe them.  I hate to cook, but I do fancy myself a bit of a baker.  But only if it’s dessert item, and has 10 common items or less.  That’s why the pumpkin puree is such a big deal.  I’ve never considered buying it before, until three things happened recently.

1.  My son Jack reminded me how much he loves pumpkin products.

2.  I saw a recipe for pumpkin cake, and the frosting looked good.

3.  Amber Johnson wrote a whole big post on pumpkin puree and told us she’s hoarding it in her basement.  (Am I the only one who is jealous of her endless supply of food in a disaster?)

Today I will discover whether the purchase was worth it or not.  I hope it is, for many reasons.  Mostly I hope it brings joy to Jack.  Also, I’ve been trying to find a good hoarding item too, and this might be the one.  Those cans are pretty cheap, and I bet they’d last at least 10 years.  The final reason I’d like this cake to turn out is that I’m in charge of desserts for our Thanksgiving dinner at my dad’s.  Usually I’m relegated to “rolls and drinks”, which is highly unglamourous and believe you me, there’s very few rave reviews at the table for frozen rolls.  But not this year!   I can already hear all the compliments! “Why Lisa, did you make that seasonally appropriate cake with your own hands?  It’s so delicious.  You’ve really outdone yourself!”  My poor sister is going to feel pretty stupid with her boring green bean casserole.  I hear those are super easy to make.

Anyway, I’ll be sure to let you know what happens.  The oven just beeped at me, and darn it all, the kitchen smells pretty good.  Billy, Faith and Will are all going to hate it, due to the fact it’s a pumpkin product.   But that’s okay.  If Jack likes it, I know I did good.  

He might even be Thankful.