With the news of the death of Easy Bake Oven Inventor Ronald Howes, I think I’ve figured out my aversion to cooking.

Most little girls are given toys that they can use to be good housewives and mothers later in life like vacuum cleaners and lots of baby dolls.

As a child I had an electric Porsche, always the hottest and must-have toys, and a closet full of the latest fashions, but what I never had was an Easy Bake Oven.

I did have a Fischer Price kitchen though. I didn't use it for a kitchen though, I used it to play restaurant. I was trying to be an entrepreneur at a young age.

Growing up I was more a tomboy than anything else, yet I managed to play with Barbies and dolls here and there to at least hone in on my less than perfect mothering skills, which most likely, and fingers crossed to spare all of humanity, won’t be put to test with real offspring.

If I had asked for an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas or my birthday, I bet I would have grown fond of being domesticated. The only time I put an apron on now is to use my new espresso machine that I got for Christmas.

Why put on an apron to make espresso? Well, the answer is simple. I like to dress for the part. When I make my coffee products I make sure the apron is on just like the baristas wear them at Starbucks.

Two years ago I didn’t even know how to boil noodles.

Yes, I was the girl who in trying to make Velveeta Shells and Cheese threw the shells into the un-boiled water.
It’s sad, but so true.

Now I know enough to boil the water before putting the macaroni in. Picked up that life lesson real quick.

Maybe if I was given an Easy Bake Oven I would have grown an appreciation for baking and cooking. Personally, I don’t see the point in putting so much time and effort into a meal when it takes only minutes to inhale it.

It's not that I CAN'T cook it's that I DON'T want to cook. Those are two completely different things. I can easily whip something up from a box, or my following a simple recipe. One of my bucket list items is to successfully cook a Thanksgiving dinner, although I'm really not ready for that task just yet.

Recently, I’ve been cooking here and there and baking. I’m trying really hard to unleash my domestic diva from within, but it’s proving to be more difficult than it looks.

Maybe for my birthday I’ll get that Easy Bake Oven to practice and hone in on my skills. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I received the confirmation text at 11:08 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11.

I was on the team. I was on the team!!! I was actually picked for a team!

What team you may ask?

Answer: Star 102.5’s Curling Team, which was composed of Rob Lucas, morning show host, Justin Swain, traffic guy, and me, a producer and fill-in for one of the guys from WGR who had other obligations to tend to.

We were up against WGRZ Channel 2’s Daybreak Team, made up of Jodi Johnston, Andy Parker and John Beard. Heather Ly filmed the festivity.

Next week, during the 2010 Olympics, the Daybreak Team will be airing different Olympic type competitions between various other morning show ensembles.

When I heard the news, I went out to purchase sneakers, I got some with treads, and immediately looked up online to see what curlers wore. Looking up what the whole sport was about was important, but not impending like the fashion aspect of it was. Good ol’ Wikipedia helped me there.

Jodi had the best outfit though for curling. It even contained many articles of jewelry.

I was psyched and pumped. I was more than excited. With my passport in hand I bolted out of my house to arrive at Rob’s house to carpool to the Niagara Falls Curling Club, located just over the border in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Both teams were greeted by Murray, the curling coach of Brock University. When we entered the curling arena we were asked to clean off our shoes in this machine that used a spinning wheel to get the access debris off before entering onto the pebble ice.

Murray went over the instructions, the equipment and asked us to give hurling the rock down the ice a try. The ice isn’t as slippery as a skating arena, but it does have its moments.

I was the last one up trying and it was fun. You use the broom to balance as you push off from a track like mount and ride on the handle of the rock until you let it go before reaching the hog line.

Sweeping…now that is a different story. You get winded sweeping harder and faster. It’s pertinent to also outrun the rock, which is difficult at times to do considering your running on ice with sneakers. With sweeping you can definitely feel it in your arms.

In my younger years, I watched curling here and there and it looked easy. The college students who were there helping Murray made it look so easy.

When you take part in certain activities you realize how challenging it is. You realize how hard these athletes work to be the best they can be. You get an appreciation for the sport when you participate in it. Murray and his team of students, when they talked of curling, were so passionate and engaged with it. You could definitely tell they loved it.

After we tried our hand at each part of curling, we commenced our game.

Each of us threw the rock twice. My rock actually landed in a scoring spot, until Jodi knocked it out. But her's was a really good shot. Everyone was good at it, despite all of us being novices, although Andy did have some experience.

Although I cannot tell you the outcome of the competition, as you have to watch it during WGRZ’s Daybreak show from 5 to 7 a.m., I can tell you that it was on-the-edge-of-your-seat exciting.

All in all it was an amazing, one in a lifetime experience. The 2014 Winter Olympics have six great backups if they need them. Check out the video on WGRZ’s Daybreak during the Olympics.

The only disappointment of the experience was not getting my passport stamped.

At Niagara Falls Curling Club they rent out lanes, just like bowling. Maybe, I'll suggest that activity to my friends.

Read Jodi's blog here

The Beatles crooned it best, “Love, love, love….”

Although I am a sappy romantic deep down, I rarely like to let on that I am. Not letting on allows me to keep my barriers up and avoid getting hurt.

In high school, girls would anticipate the coveted carnations sent from sources fawning over them during homeroom on Valentine’s Day. I never got one. I was never bitter about not receiving one, nor wished I did get one.

Girls would walk down the corridors adorning red and pink accessories and carrying their stuffed animals, balloons and flowers from that week’s fling. I wrote them off as tokens of a guy’s “love” for them for that one day.

To this day, I’ve always withheld the philosophy that two people’s love for one another should be displayed and shown in little ways each and every day and not just once a year in a big way.

One day should not echo your quantity of affection toward your loved one.

People deem me a skeptic or a cynic or say I have these opinions toward the “holiday” because I am single. This however is not true in any sense of those accusations.

I just happen to find Valentine’s Day and Sweetest Day to be a collaborative effort from card companies, florists, jewelers, chocolatiers and restaurants to gain extra income between the slow parts of the year. It’s all a farce.

I don’t get what all of the hype is about.

Life is too short to wait to tell someone you love them once a year. Tell your special person every day. Celebrate it. Embrace it. In the end, the little things count more