Hobby or disease?

I'm kinda crafty. Not in the sneaky sense, but in the sense that I enjoy making things as a hobby. I learned how to crochet just before I left for college - way back before it was the hip thing to do. In the years since then, I've knitted & crocheted many things, including 3 blankets, a handful of hats, and more scarves than I can recall.

And here is where we confront the problem with this hobby; When you're done with a project, you're stuck with this object. This thing that takes up space. My hobby began to make me feel restricted. I felt that either I had to make something useful for myself or for someone else. This is why so many of my loved ones now own scarves made by yours truly.

But I have developed a new hobby since moving to NC: cooking. It's fantastic! I can finish a project in one day! And other people can enjoy it with me! Indeed, I'm making something useful that everyone needs everyday: food. Why didn't I realize this before? Love it! So as you can imagine, I have been cooking a lot lately. We barely ever eat out any more. Tim definitely enjoys my little experiments in the kitchen and I love the fact that the house isn't crowded with the results of my efforts. Although I must confess that I have bought a few more kitchen tools, but I humbly argue that these are far more useful and take up much less space than all of those scarves.

My latest purchase was a rolling pin. And you would not believe the amount of research I did on rolling pins (there are a lot of opinions out there on the subject). I was compelled to buy a rolling pin because we had friends over for dinner last weekend (Tim's office mate, K, & his girlfriend) and Tim requested apple streudel for dessert. Yup, real apple streudel. Homemade. I rolled out the pastry dough on our countertop. And I gotta tell you, I have never been more happy while using a rolling pin.

Which kinda makes me concerned. I mean, what the hell is that about? Could it be that something bizarre is happening to my brain? Am I officially turning into one of those precious little stereotypical housewives? Or is it something I can blame on the brain spider? I don't know whether I should be concerned or if I should just sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labors. Is this an illness? And if so, did I catch it from The Food Network or Cooks Illustrated magazine? I don't want to give up Cooks Illustrated, though. That's a reeeeeeally good magazine. It's like Consumer Reports for cooks. You should check it out sometime. Really. It'll blow. your. miiiiiiiind, man.

See?!? Now I'm becoming a pusher! Ack!