No matter what your reasoning might be, cutting corners is considered the deliberate act or notion to perform an incomplete or imperfect job in order to save time and money. Blah blah blah…
Now don’t get me wrong, cutting corners isn’t always a “bad thing”. I am asked for ideas on a daily basis for positive ways to cut corners on the job. In this case, saving money can sometimes outweigh the quality of the product.
Ya wanna talk about a quality product? Let's talk about my home made brownies.
A few years ago, I brought a box of said yummy brownies to a good friend’s home as a dessert for a Superbowl party.
These were no ordinary brownies, they were made from a secret triple chocolate chunk recipe handed down by my good friend Betty. ;)
A few years ago, I brought a box of said yummy brownies to a good friend’s home as a dessert for a Superbowl party.
These were no ordinary brownies, they were made from a secret triple chocolate chunk recipe handed down by my good friend Betty. ;)
She’s great! She keeps her recipes organized in this convenient red binder.
Her brownies are so moist and delicious. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more from her in the future!
The host quickly unveiled my dish. While deciding which delicious nugget to bite into she asked, “Where are all of the corners?”
While honing my inner Ina Garten/Martha Stewart, in an effort to make all of the brownies “uniform”, I’d cut all of the corners off. I’m not OCD at all! Riiiigght!
(They might not look like anything special, but man do these bad boys pack a
Scrump-til-icious chocolaty punch.)
The host replied, “Ugh, the corners are my favorite part.” Followed by a look of disgust on my part and making a snap decision that the host was Clearly ungrateful for the slaving that I’d done, I sarcastically responded with…”well I’ll be sure to leave them on next time.” Instead of appreciating my beautiful platter of evenly cut morsels of goodness she’d found fault! (I swear I’m not crazy…well…maybe mildly. I’m sure she didn’t mean to sound ungrateful at all.)
Fast forward to a few weeks later -while having a discussion with a co-worker regarding my personal life- that’s right I sometimes bring my personal life to work. When you work as closely and as much as I do, it’s bound to happen, and really…I was having a rough day, so please don’t judge. J Desperate to hear some inspiring words, I pleaded, “when does it stop being my turn for the $h!t storm? When will things just be easy again?”
My co-worker replied, “I have a feeling about you…..I believe your happiness is just around the corner. I mean it, I feel it.” To which I half heartily smiled not really believing his words of wisdom to be true.
"Corners" seemed to be popping up out of nowhere and frankly were getting to be quite annoying! You see, at this point in my life I was “just turning the corner in my career, just turning the corner in my love life, and just that very morning had just turned the corner over a pile of nails leaving me with 2 flat tires.” (Seriously, I'm not making that up!) Corners were staring to seriously suck! In my mind, enough was enough! Like the brownies, I’d just as soon take a sharp knife, cut off all of the corners in my life and be done with it!
"Corners" seemed to be popping up out of nowhere and frankly were getting to be quite annoying! You see, at this point in my life I was “just turning the corner in my career, just turning the corner in my love life, and just that very morning had just turned the corner over a pile of nails leaving me with 2 flat tires.” (Seriously, I'm not making that up!) Corners were staring to seriously suck! In my mind, enough was enough! Like the brownies, I’d just as soon take a sharp knife, cut off all of the corners in my life and be done with it!
So where’s all this going? I did eventually make those tough turns and get around all of those corners I’d been avoiding. Let’s face it people, sometimes there are sharp turns in life, but if you want to reach your destination, you have to trudge on!
I can hear my old Drivers-Ed teacher’s voice ringing in my ears…..take the sharp turns slowly….use your brakes as needed throughout the turn. Is that the secret? I don’t know.
I can hear my old Drivers-Ed teacher’s voice ringing in my ears…..take the sharp turns slowly….use your brakes as needed throughout the turn. Is that the secret? I don’t know.
Most recently I found myself again baking some brownies for a friend when I had an epiphany.
1 – Some people actually enjoy corners. (as I learned a few years ago at that Superbowl Party.)
2 - Cutting corners will always bring you full circle, literally - and who wants to be stuck moving in a continuous circle? How boring would that be?
Like the old saying goes, maybe it’ truly is “hip to be square!”
~The Keepers Wife
