MYSTERY SOLVED

This great pandemic of 2020 has brought about thousands of questions . . . Where did it come from? Why did it happen? How do we stop it? What do I do to keep myself healthy?

The one burning question that rises above all the others though, is
                 
                    ?????WHY ARE PEOPLE BUYING UP ALL THE TOILET PAPER ???????

I have solved that mystery !!!!

Think about this . . .  here we are in un chartered territory . . .  Never before have we had to deal with something like this and every where every one is at a loss as to what to do.  We HAVE to stay home .
We can't go out to eat, we can't go out to the movies or the stores, we can't even go to the beach or parks to get away from the house.  We are being held hostage by a stupid little bug, (virus) that is rocking our world.  So here we are . . . day after endless day left with nothing to do but resort to our electronic devices to entertain us. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and the rest are raking in a fortune while we SIT on our butts and watch a screen, or possibly read a book.  But that is not the worst of it . . . What do we do while we are sitting on our couches and chairs glued to the TV? . . .   WE EAT !!!!!!  It is a primal instinct. Think about the cave men and what they did when they finally sat down in front of a fire, (presumably they had by now discovered fire), after a hard day of hunting and gathering . . . They ATE !!  That water buffalo or wooly mammoth that they had killed that day was now being chewed on as they sat and relaxed.  So it's no wonder that as soon as we sit down anywhere in our home, ( with the exception of the bathroom . . .I hope), we require food to fill our faces.  These endless hours of self isolation are nothing more than a 24 hour opportunity to eat !  And you know that old saying
                                                      "What goes in must come out!"

Well if that's the case all this eating puts us in the bathroom several times a day using up double the amount of TP from when we were out and about and not eating as much. On an average day you would be out of your house a good portion of the day doing what ever and you wouldn't have a sandwich, bag of chips or an ice cream in your hand unless you stopped for lunch. Then when you did take a lunch break it usually included a run to the public rest room where you could use someone else's toilet paper supply.  But NOW . . . we are home 24 hours and getting more and more bored out of our minds as the days go by. Those of us who are fortunate enough to live where it is 80 degrees and sunny most of the time can at least sit outside where the refrigerator is not calling to us as loudly as it does when we are indoors and in close proximity to the goodies hidden within.  It's an effort to get up from the lounge chair, open the door and walk inside so I can usually keep myself from too many trips to the kitchen. But when I'm sitting in front of the TV the fridge calls to me constantly. "Hellooooooooooo Cath,  I'm waiting for you . . . there are some delicious goodies waiting here for you."  And having the will power of a flea you know I'm rummaging in that sucker every twenty minutes to see what else I can find to put in my face.  But that now brings up a new issue . . . just how desperate am I to find something to snack on that I will be reduced to eating that baking chocolate that is laying in the bottom of the vegetable bin? (Do NOT even ask why there is baking chocolate in the vegetable drawer . . .). As the days go on there are less and less choices of items that can be considered "snacks".  (I guarantee you that carrots and celery will NEVER fall into that category!) I am finding snacks that I had bought a year ago for "when my grand kids come over" and I AM eating them.  In these tough times there is no such thing as "Expiration Date". If it doesn't have bugs crawling around in it its fair game to be eaten.

Not only am I eating things that have been here since WWII I am now baking new and more scrumptious goodies.  It's not enough to eat some stale Girl Scout cookies I must now start baking FROM SCRATCH because I can't get to the store to buy a box of cake or brownie mix or a container of slice and bake cookie dough. I am searching the internet, (while eating some left over Halloween candy that I found in a container in the pantry), looking for recipes that require a minimum of eggs because I can not find a store around here that has any eggs. I'm rationing out the half dozen eggs that I have with hopes of not needing them for breakfast. (Right now cereal seems to be just fine if I don't eat all the Frosted Flakes for a snack.) And find the recipes I do !  I now have 24 of the most wonderful vanilla cup cakes made from scratch with home made butter cream icing calling me from the fridge.  I can justify baking them because it occupied about an hour of my time that I would otherwise have spent sitting and eating. It's a win win !

SO if and when this confinement ever ends we will all be 200 pounds heavier. Our only saving grace may be that with the addition of all this food to our daily diet the forty two trips to the bathroom every day will help work off some of those pounds.