Prophetic Nutty Bars

That was the craziest day I’ve had in a long time. No, that’s not extreme enough. That was the craziest day I’ve EVER HAD.

It all started innocently enough. I planned to spend the morning enjoying Gage, bake a pan of Nutty bars to send to North Dakota with Britt, and then see the two of them off on the train later in the day. Riiiight.

(Insert ominous soundtrack here)

Here’s how the day actually went:

4:30 a.m. Get up with Gage while Dave takes Britt to work

8:00  Start making nutty bars. Realize I’ve forgotten to buy nuts

9:00 Load Gage in the car and drive to Safeway to pick up Britt. Bring Gage in to say good-bye to his great-grandma. Buy nuts.

9:15 Take Britt to say good-bye to her mom and sister

10:00  Drive to Target, then to the Verizon store so Britt can transfer info to her new phone. Britt gets call from Amtrak telling her the train she was to take has derailed. But “no worries” … they’ve booked her and Gage on a bus to Spokane, where she can pick up the new train. The worrying begins.

11:00  Try to leave the Verizon store. Find enormous pool of gas underneath car. Call Dave, who then calls AAA

11:01 Discover that hunger is intensified by stress. Walk to Costco for lunch

11:30 Dave finds us at Costco. We go back to Verizon store, where I wait for AAA while Dave heads home with Britt.

11:45 Tow truck arrives. Dave comes back. Car is towed. We go home, where I bake like mad.

1:00 Drive Britt to her doctor’s appointment in Mill Creek. Try to fit one hour of work in at Starbucks while I wait.

3:00 Drive back to Everett and meet Dave and Gage at Scuttlebutt’s for dinner.

4:40 Drive to the Everett Train Station. Help Britt wheel all her luggage into the station. Note all the heads that turn in the direction of my beautiful daughter-in-law

4:41 Decide I can’t put her on that bus with all those heads. Ask Dave if he’d mind if I drove them to Spokane instead.

4:45 Say good-bye to Dave, drive to QFC for aspirin and coffee, head out on a 7 1/2 hour drive.

8:00 Pull off I-90 so Britt can see Roslyn, WA, where Northern Exposure was filmed. (Roslyn photos by Brittney Woodward)

12:50 Arrive at Spokane train depot. Get Britt and Gage settled on the top level of the train, walk back down, head down escalator, forget to watch what I’m doing and come thiiiis close to leaving my foot in the escalator, but manage to use my cat-like reflexes to jump to safety at the very last second. Get outside and almost to my car. Get call from Britt that she probably should have gone to the bathroom while I was still on the train. Turn around and go back up to the train. Watch Gage while she runs to the bathroom. Snap some pictures. Realize how very much I’m going to miss them.

1:00  Leave train depot and head out to find hotel

1:01  Hear and see that the gas light has come on, but since Tera’s car is a Jetta like mine, trust that I have about 30 miles until I’m really out of gas

1:02  Discover that Tera’s Jetta is not like mine. Coast, silently, off the freeway and into a dark neighborhood. Call and wake Dave to tell him I’m out of gas. Follow his instructions to call AAA.

2:15  My rescuer arrives. I’m momentarily relieved, but that vanishes when he calls me honey, asks me if I “did a boo boo,” and puts his arm around my shoulder. Take this picture as evidence … just in case:

2:20  Drive my car THE ONE BLOCK TO THE GAS STATION I DID NOT KNOW WAS THERE and notice that the AAA guy has followed me. Pretend I didn’t notice. Try to ignore when he rolls down his window. Answer, yes, I’m okay and no, I don’t need anymore help.

3:00 Arrive at hotel. Check in. Get a AAA discount.

3:15  Get ready for bed (in my new WalMart nighty) and discover I can’t sleep. Turn on the TV and watch, horrified, as the first reports come in about the shootings at the Colorado movie theater. Wonder again about the world we are living in.

4:00 Fall asleep

6:15 Wake up

9:00 Fall asleep

12:15 Wake up … check out … drive back home. Through a thunder and lightning storm, and pouring rain.

Thus ends my dramatic testimony. And now, here’s a recipe. I left off the “prophetic” from the title. It’s implied.

(My friend, Kari, gave us this recipe years ago. She got it from a woman named Helen on this site. Thanks, Helen.)

Nutty Bars

• 1 box golden yellow cake mix
• 1 cup butter, divided
• 1 egg
• 4 cups mini marshmallows
• 2/3 cup corn syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 10 oz package peanut butter chips
• 12 oz salted peanuts

Mix the cake mix, 2/3 cup of softened butter, and egg together until well blended. Press into a large, rimmed bar pan and bake 10-12 minutes @ 325. Remove from oven, sprinkle with marshmallows, and bake another 5-7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, melt corn syrup, vanilla, remaining 1/3 cup softened butter and peanut butter chips in microwave 30-60 seconds or until no lumps remain.

Pour over cooled marshmallow layer and put in fridge to harden.

Bars can be stored between layers of waxed paper in either the fridge or freezer. “Stored” is a relative term around here, because these usually don’t last long.

I suggest making these on a boring, no-errand day. Preferably a day when you have no car, and can go nowhere, and can get yourself in no trouble whatsoever.

And here’s why it was all worth it: