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I stayed home sick today. Steve had a cold last week and several people at work have been sick. I thought I had this thing beat. Guess not. I was worried this morning that maybe I just wanted a Stefani Day off from work. So I took a shower as if I was going to work. It wore me out. So I made the necessary work arrangements and went back to bed. I slept a total of 11 hours last night, got up for two and went back to bed for 4-1/2 more hours. Crafting never entered my mind. So I guess this is me being sick, not me trying to wrangle a day off.

I still hope to feel better in the morning and go to work tomorrow but that's hard to imagine at this point, I'm so congested. We're expecting a bunch of snow tonight and tomorrow - 1 to 2 feet I think. You may have heard in the news recently, about Upstate New York getting a lot of snow- that was Oswego, east of here. Even us natives are finding it tough to imagine 10-12 feet of snow falling at one time. Now that's some snow!

One of the women at work suggested a Potluck lunch on Valentine's Day, just for fun. I suggested we tie it into one of the charities our company donates to annually, The American Heart Association. So people are bringing in food, and we're charging $5 for the all-you-can-eat-luncheon, to go to the Heart Association. I said I'd bring in my Stefani Brownies but I don't have the ingredients, didn't get to the store in the last few days. Simon's sick too or I'd ask him. Steve is working late again tonight so I don't have the heart to ask him to go to the store for me. We have some bananas I could use but it's now 7:30 and I haven't made a move towards baking so I think that's my answer. If I do end up going to work tomorrow, I'll stop at the store and buy some chocolatey fun something or other. That's the way it goes sometimes.

Since I'm not feeling the least bit creative today, I'll leave you with this recipe that I tried a few weeks ago. It's a keeper. The crust is Bisquick mixed with refried beans - love that idea.

Burrito Bake

• 1 cup Bisquick
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 can (16 ounces) refried beans
• 1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
• 1 cup thick salsa
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese

Optional Garnishes

• sour cream
• sliced green onions
• chopped fresh tomato

Grease pie plate. Mix Bisquick with water and refried beans; spread in prepared pie plate. Add, in order, ground beef, thick salsa, and cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 375°. Serve with sour cream and chopped green onions and tomatoes, if desired.

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