Coinkydinks

Coincidences, or co-inky-dinks as my grandma likes to call them, really freak me out. My initial reaction is usually Wow - that's neat! But after thinking and eventually dissecting the coincidence, I get slightly uneasy. I think this is one of the reasons I should probably get Cable TV, as I would have a lot less time to freak myself out with nonsensical thinking. At the same time, I would have a lot less time for baking, which would probably lead to less blogging, and a noticeable drop in my likability factor. Don't worry friends, family and co-workers, I'm too addicted to recipe collecting and chocolate to quit baking.

Back to the topic at hand- coincidences, which for those of you who don't know, is defined as: A chance occurrence of events remarkable either for being simultaneous or for apparently being connected.

At work yesterday, a client asked after a retired employee of ours (Paul) and said to pass along their hello. I hadn't thought of Paul in ages, so thought it would be nice to send a catch-up email. He responds back saying all is well, blah blah blah. When I got home from work, I went on facebook and lo and behold, Paul's face is on my Recommended Friends List. Now, I thought this could be some kind of sneaky facebook thing, but I was using a different computer, so I can't imagine how that would work (suspicious by nature, I am). The next day at work, out of the blue, my boss mentions Paul to me, saying he had been talking about him recently. Weird!

AND THEN I had another coincidence happen yesterday. I texted Jess to see what she was up to and she told me she was baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. At that exact moment I had just finished making oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. And no, I hadn't mentioned to her that I was planning on making cookies, nor she to me. SUPER WEIRD.

REVISED: I totally forgot to add in the main reason I started writing this post. I found out the other day that Katie In India (yes that's what I call her these days) is reading the same book as I am. A book I had never heard about until I borrowed it from Nick's roommate on his reccomendation. This book is amazing and I was planning on passing it along to KTII when she returned, and then I discovered via Facebook that she is reading it right now too. Coincidence? I think so. Spoooky? Not really. maybe if the book was about a ghost or something. Or if my house suddenly became haunted. Uhm. ya...moving along....
Since, I'm pretty sure you expect it. I did some research and found The 20 Most Amazing Coincidences and picked my favorite two, although there were lots of WTF ones in there. Here they are:

A falling baby, saved twice by the same man
In Detroit sometime in the 1930s, a young (if incredibly careless) mother must have been eternally grateful to a man named Joseph Figlock. As Figlock was walking down the street, the mother's baby fell from a high window onto Figlock. The baby's fall was broken and both man and baby were unharmed. A stroke of luck on its own, but a year later, the very same baby fell from the very same window onto poor, unsuspecting Joseph Figlock as he was again passing beneath. And again, they both survived the event. (Source: Mysteries of the Unexplained)

A writer, found the book of her childhood
While American novelist Anne Parrish was browsing bookstores in Paris in the 1920s, she came upon a book that was one of her childhood favorites - Jack Frost and Other Stories. She picked up the old book and showed it to her husband, telling him of the book she fondly remembered as a child. Her husband took the book, opened it, and on the flyleaf found the inscription: "Anne Parrish, 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs." It was Anne's very own book. (Source: While Rome Burns, Alexander Wollcott)

Super side note- the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies I baked yesterday are delicious and the recipe can be found here. I had a super baking extravaganza and also made Banana Carrot Walnut muffins which are a huge hit with my taste buds and definitely have my endorsement. Recipe here if you'd like it. Pictures below, if you care. That is all. XO shelly.

nom nom nom.