Peanut Butter Fixes Celery

Friday night. I know I'm supposed to be writing this blog post in the morning, not at night. Oh, well, the goal is to write for 10 minutes every day. Maybe the timing will catch up.

I was asleep at 5:00 this morning. No, wait, I was actually up soothing one of my children who had had a nightmare.

I did sleep after that, but that's because I stayed up until 4:30 sewing a dress that needed to be finished.

Then I sewed frantically all day. The frantic part was inside me. Outside was calm. No need to make brides panic about their dresses. And I like to take the time to make sure they're done well, in such a way as I would be proud to wear.

After a run of altering dresses that must have designed by the famous diabolical being, I sent my sister, who works with me several days a week, to go get ice cream. We all needed it after the day we had.

A strawberry peanut butter shake tastes like a PBJ in a cup. My personal favorite ever since I created it when I worked as a teenager at one of the local ice cream shops.

Peanut butter just tastes good on anything... almost anything. Kara recently urged me to try it on a pickle. While it's a weird combination, I did try it to satisfy her request.

It tastes as disgusting as it sounds.

What I have found, though, is that peanut butter fixes numerous bland foods, or psuedo-foods.

• Celery. Now that Mom isn't making me eat it, why is it in my refrigerator? Peanut butter to the rescue! Better yet, add raisins on top for Ants on a Log. I actually wrote out a recipe for Ants on a Log for my grandma when I was 7. I wasn't sure she knew how to make them.

• Peeps, and other marshmallows. Gag. Add peanut butter, though, and you suddenly have a sweet peanut explosion in your mouth.

• Crackers. Better have your glass of milk handy because the peanut butter will adhere like glue to your teeth.

• Vanilla ice cream. Natural pairing.

• Pancakes and waffles. I thought it was normal to put peanut butter on pancakes when I was growing up. Turns out, it's not normal, but normal doesn't taste as yummy. Peanut butter stays.

• Oatmeal. I boil water and pour some over quick oats. Then a drizzle, or a drizzle-plus, of honey and a spoonful of peanut butter to flavor those oats. Don't forget the dash of salt. Mmm...

Peanut butter has therapeutic benefits when taken by the spoonful at strategic times:

• Ruffled feathers? Peanut butter. Smooths those feathers right back down.

• Dresses from Satan? Peanut butter makes it all better.

Other uses for magic peanut butter:

• Need a snack while wearing a mask? Smear the inside with peanut butter and lick away. It won't fall out like a maskful of M&Ms would.

• Joint compound when the joint compound bucket is dried up. Of course, the oils from the peanut butter may cause other issues.

• Mortar for building with food. Not as good as royal icing mortar, but it works in a pinch.

Peanut butter, you're wonderful.