Update: Cookies....yummers!

OK, so remember the cookie recipe using beans I posted about the other day?

Yup. They were good. So good, in fact, that they were gone the same day. I made two and a half dozen. And I didn't even eat most of them! That means they MUST be good, because normally, Anthony won't eat anything with chocolate in it. But HE ate most of these cookies! They were like a fluffy pillowy cloud of chocolate chip yumminess.



Even the dog wanted some! OK, so that's not surprising, he eats cat poop (I know, ew!)

And just because, I'm going to share with you my most favoritest (is that even a word?! aww, who cares!) curtains. I found them at KMart back when we lived in Biloxi, on sale, and I bought three of them. I love finding things on sale! Don't you just love them?! They make me happy every time I look at them.



Oh, and just in case you were wondering, yes, cake does fix everything.

A new way to look at Food Storage....

Okay, so in a few posts in the past, I've written about food storage. I never paid much attention to food storage growing up, even in my early 20s, it never crossed my mind. Now that I have a husband deployed and two kids that rely on just me, I've started thinking about it A LOT MORE. What would I do if there was a big snowstorm and we lost power, or what would I do if for some reason the base was shut down and there was no way to get food onto the base? Or a whole long list of what-ifs, to most of which people would say, "Oh, well, THAT would never happen", or "Oh, the base will take care of us.....right? Don't you think so (insert name of spouse who lives down the street)? Oh, yeah, they've got all that stuff covered...I think....." What if they don't? What if they can't?

Or, as was mentioned by a very talented writer, (whose name escapes me right now and I REALLY wish I could give credit to!), what about something that happens everyday; you rush through your day to get the house clean, rush and pick up your kids from school, finally get a chance to sit down for a second and start thinking about dinner, and realize....you never took anything out to defrost! So you scramble around, and end up either eating hot pockets or going to the drive thru. If you had canned meat in your food storage, you could whip up a meal just as quickly as if you had defrosted meat earlier. Or you need something last minute for the bake sale at school/church/playgroup and can't get to the store because the kids are asleep already. But you've got flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, dried beans (I KNOW, wait!) and chocolate chips in your food storage...wah-la! Most of what you need for chocolate chip cookies. I KNOW! I.KNOW. Crazy! I will be trying this recipe this afternoon. Because I HAVE all that stuff in my food storage! Yay me!

OK, so I hope I've motivated someone to look at their food storage in a different way, because I know I did as soon as I read that amazing food storage article by the amazing author I STILL can't remember...grr. I also loved Wendy Dewitt's vidoes on food storage, if you haven't seen them, go to YouTube and type in Wendy Dewitt and they will come right up. I believe there is a total of about 9 different vidoes, which are approximately 5 minutes or so each. It doesn't hurt that she's really really funny either!

Alright, so my list for this week includes the regular old junk (blech!) such as finish the dishes from the weekend (there's a ton! I don't even know why, it's not like I cooked all that much!), laundry which is never ending, try out these bean cookies, finish valentines for both boys classes, and find a new storage solution for the boys' Matchbox cars, they seem to have multiplied overnight. I really think that when we go to sleep, they all get together and have little Matchbox car babies, because EVERY time I find a BIGGER box, bin or basket for them, a week later they don't fit in the new box/bin/basket. FRUStrating! Anyone have any ideas??

Questions

What was the last thing you put in your mouth? A homemade granola bar from Raising Olives (yum!).


Can you play Guitar Hero? Not so much.

Name someone who made you laugh today. Ayden and Anthony always make me laugh.


How late did you stay up last night and why? I was up until 2 am, first because I love to be up late, and second I was finishing my Primary lesson for today, that I realized I didn't need when I got to the church at 8:45 this morning (smacks head). I was even EARLY for once! Oh well, next Sunday, lol.....


If you could move somewhere else, would you? I like Goldsboro, and for where we're at right now, base housing is OK. But if we weren't in the military, I would love to buy a house.


Name one thing you love about your body. My eyes.

Which of your friends lives closest to you? It's a toss up between Annie and Kristy....

Do you believe ex's can be friends? Not close ones!


How do you feel about Dr Pepper? Blech!

If you could do any job in the world what would it be? Scientist, writer, nurse, teacher.....I want to do them all!


Who was the last person you took a picture of? One of the kids.


Was yesterday better than today? Yup, so far. Yesterday was really kind of hot, and I guess I was spoiled this week by the cooler weather.

Can you live a day without TV? I could go a long time without TV.


Are you upset about anything? Nope. It's a good day.


Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Of course! They make life better.

Are you a bad influence? I don't think so.


Night out or night in? Night in.

What items could you not go without during the day? Good Morning Kisses from boys, toothbrush, shower, my laptop.


Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? Well, at Eastertime the kids and I went to the Brian Center to sing I Am A Child of God to people and give them flowers....that's the last time I think I was near a hospital.


What does the last text message in your in-box say? I think it's Bobbie's number-which by the way, I will be calling tomorrow, lol :)


How do you feel about your life right now? Very satisfied.


Do you hate anyone? Hate, no. Strongly dislike, yes.

Do you like your wedding ring or do you secretly wish it was different? I absolutely love my ring. I knew it was the one I wanted as soon as I laid eyes on it, and I'm really glad Adam thought ahead and didn't pick it out himself, instead we went and picked it out together.

Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Ha! Of course.

Would you ever get some plastic surgery? Nope, although it's tempting, it's not natural.


What song is stuck in your head? So....whatcha gonna do, when a little canoe, with a girl swimmin' all a, boy swimmin' all a, girl swimmin' all around.....don't ask, lol

Name something you have to do tomorrow. Take Anthony to school, go to the library, finish up the laundry, wash the comforter the boys just spilled Kool-Aid on...grrr.


Do you think too much or too little? I think too much about things that don't matter, and not enough about things that do.


Do you smile a lot? Some days. Not today, though.

Yummy cookies!

The boys and I went to Airman's Attic yesterday looking for pants for Anthony, all of his long pants now fit perfectly in the waist, but are about 2 inches too short. For those of you not familiar with Airman's Attic, it is a program run by volunteers through the AF that's available to E6 and below. Families donate things they no longer use or need, and you come in and you look for what you need. I only found one pair of pants, but I found this really cool game there:



We brought it home and tried it out, and to my surprise, both boys actually paid enough attention to finish a full game! Then as I was looking through the recipe booklet that comes with the game, I noticed a recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.....mmmmm...... Well, we didn't have chocolate chips, but we DID have a big bag of M & Ms from Ayden's candy bank.....heh heh heh. So, here's the recipe (I would post a picture of the finished cookies, but I can't find the camera):

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, SOFTENED (I used tub margarine)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used creamy)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips (I used M & Ms)

(Adults) Preheat oven to 350, then cream butter, sugar, salt and peanut butter. Beat in eggs and vanilla. (Kids can do the next steps) In a small bowl, mix the flour and the baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. Pour in chocolate chips (or M & Ms!) and mix. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls on a greased cookie sheet, or an ungreased parchment lined cookie sheet. Place balls 2 inches apart, then take a fork and gently press down to slightly flatten the tops. (Adults) Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, I have no suggestions as to time, I never pay attention to time, I just go by what the cookies look like, lol. Cool on wire racks. Consume immediately!! Makes about 4 dozen.

It seems like you could customize this just about any way you want. They turn out good, not puffy soft cookies, more like thin chewy ones. Normally I'm a puffy soft cookie lover, but last night I was a thin chewy one, lol! And it was so fun to make them with Anthony! Ayden could have cared less, he wandered out into the living room after about 5 minutes ands started watching Diego, but he's probably just not at the age to enjoy baking yet.

Anyway, I was really happy to have found a game that both kids can play and be interested in. And it definitely sweetened the pot that it was free! I may check out the whole line of games, they're called Cranium Bloom games, and I believe they're made especially for preschoolers. I've seen them at Target before. Once I wake up and get my arse in the shower, I think we'll go check them out, I love having a Target nearby! I'll post if I find any good deals!

Updated Shrinky Dinks, and Other Random Stuff

Well, I actually had a request for pictures of my project! Yay! It's exciting to me that someone else (who isn't family, lol) has read my blog! Woo hoo I'm famous!!! Lol. OK. Enough of that.

So here is the keychain I made. I wish I had fancy handwriting or something, but....we all have to work with what God gave us, lol.



I couldn't find my regular hole punch, so I used a heart one. This thing is indestructible! I can't believe how thick the plastic gets when you bake it, it's awesome.

And here's the little plaque I made for the boys. I love this book, my step mom gave it to them (I think for Christmas?) and we read it all the time.

Again, fancy (or even straight, see the lines, lol) handwriting is still wishful thinking, but I love it. The funny thing is, the finished plaque is about 2 inches wide. I started with a piece of plastic that was about 6-7 inches wide-this stuff is called "shrink"y dink for a reason. I'm just amazed by cool stuff like this-we never had shrinky dinks growing up, we were too poor. Ew....I just noticed how dirty that window is.....disregard please!

I've been making the yummiest bread...now get ready, you're going to drool.....

Mmmm, I'm hungry for it just looking at it. It is the best bread, and it is SO easy. My kind of recipe! It's from this site, which I mentioned in a previous post. I love the recipes on that site, they are great. Now I just need a wheat grinder for my 500 pounds of wheat (well, not that much...but pretty close!). For the bread, I made it in this tiny pan a couple of times, then after it was scarfed down in a day or less, I started using my big bread pan. Yes, I'm going crazy with the linking, I know. But I'm too lazy to just write the whole link out, lol.

I decided last night that I want to redo the boys' room. It is really mismatched, and kind of.....I don't know....childish maybe? They're both getting older, so I think it needs to be more mature. I want to get rid of their HUGE train table, which is really just hiding a whole buch of toys under it, and get them a nice, solid wood table and 2 chairs. Now what I really want is for Adam to make it, but he's so busy I doubt it will happen. The one I came up with that I really like looks like this:

I'm hoping I can find one at the thrift store, or Airman's Attic, or even better, the side of the road (yes, I'm a garbagepicker!).

Well, I need to clean up the house a little bit, Adam's mom is coming down for the weekend, and as it is.....well, let's just say my house looks bad. We'll put it at that. No more info needed, lol.

Thinking

It seems like I'm always thinking. Thinking about my marriage, thinking about family, thinking about the kids, thinking about sewing, thinking about what to do next in the house, thinking about college. I like to think, because it expands my mind. But I also realize, I need to do more "doing". It's one thing to have a great idea. It's another thing to use it. So that's my goal for the month of April - to not just think about things, but to do them as well.

I finally got something I've wanted for a while now:



Oh, yeah, I got me a sweeper! Adam likes to pick on me because I act like it's some new invention, and last night he said, "Wow! You discovered what they invented in 1973!", or something like that. But I'm still excited. I remember when I used to be in the nursery at church they would have one, and everyone would fight over getting to clean up after snack. But I bought this one because:

1) It has no motor, no battery, it's all hand powered, so it saves electricity

2) It's so much easier to do a quick clean up and not having to drag out the vacuum.

Laugh if you must, but when the power is out, don't come crying to me asking to use my sweeper when your floors are covered with hair and dust....although I guess that's what brooms are for, lol.
Wow, the boys decided they want to take a cold bath. That could be interesting. On the other hand, maybe that will make them want to snuggle up in their beds and get all warm and take a NIIIICE, LOOOONG nap.....ha! I can't even write that with a straight face, lol.
I made the most heavenliest (if that wasn't a word before, it is after these) cinnamon rolls yesterday. Seriously, these things were sooo yummy. If they weren't all gone, I'd have a nice yummy photo for you, but alas....lol!

Worm Juice

What a day. So far, I have managed to:
1) fend off a psycho squirrel that kept climbing up the window screen and trying to eat/terrify the cat and dog
2) clean up the psycho squirrel's poop that he left for me (isn't he nice??)
3) lock myself, and Ayden, out of the house while cleaning up the poop from the aforementioned squirrel
4) successfully break into my house
and 5) play with worms...for a VERY long time.
Why play with worms you ask? That's a great question! Didn't you know I have boys?! I wish I knew the real answer....but it was actually pretty fun. I was picking up some of the kids' toys outside, and under one of those big bouncy jumping balls I found a whole family of worms, 4 of them. So Ayden and I decided to sit there and watch them. I remember playing with worms when I was little (by the way - it was WAAAy funner back then!), and thought Ayden would like it too. First we picked them up, then we rolled them around. I got some "worm juice" on my hand, so I told Ayden we had to go wash our hands. Then he said, "No mom, I like worm juice! I'm going to drink worm juice lot of lot of times!" (Which in Ayden language means he's going to drink lots of worm juice.)
Another accomplishment this week....cinnamon raisin bagels!

Yummy yummy. They look kind of funky, but they are very good. I got the recipe from Allrecipes. It uses a bread machine, which makes the dough much easier, but I'm sure you could do it if you didn't have a bread machine.
And, my new obsession:

These things are *HEAVENLY*. I went to this big discount store called Ollie's last week, and Ayden and I were browsing around, and we stumbled upon the treat aisle (and by stumbled I mean made a beeline for, lol) and found all these treats, repackaged by a company called "Angel Treats". These were one of them. They also had Hershey's Kisses, Skittles, and every other kind of candy you could imagine. The great thing was, the bag was probably 3 or 4 pounds, and it was only $1.99! What I'd like to know is why I have never seen these Hershey's sticks in a store, because I would have started inhaling them MUCH sooner! Oh, well.

It's really early for me...or is it late?

It's 5:45 a.m. I am not usually up right now. This is wierd but in my defense, I've been awake since three....ugh. I'm sure I COULD have gone back to bed, but I didn't really want to. I fell asleep with Anthony again, his bed is just way too darn comfy! Then when I woke up, I wanted to do all this stuff, sew, crafts, cook, you know, anything except housework that really NEEDS to be done, lol!

Today they are having "Cruising Keesler", a car and motorcycle show on base, and I'm taking the kids to it. It should be fun. I took them to Lynn Meadows last night to see Bob the Builder (in Ayden's words, "Fun seeing Bob the Builder!") and play for a little bit. They had a lot of fun. They haven't been in a while, cause I normally work on Fridays, and Adam is just too tired after working all day to take them (I don't blame him). But this Friday I was actually off work. I've been out of work since Tuesday because I hurt the tendon in my left arm. I left work early Tues. night to go to the ER because it hurt so bad. They gave me prednisone, aleve, and vicodin. So, thanks to my friend vicodin, I've gotten lots of sleep the past few days, so I'm not worried about being up so early. At least, I'm not worried right now....just give me a few hours, lol.

It's the time of year that I absolutely love, fall! I love all the smells, all the leaves blowing, the cold, crisp air, Halloween, and the start of Christmas season. I had a lot of fun painting a jack o lantern flower pot (pictures to come) a couple of nights ago. It was one of those things where you're afraid what's in your head will not be the final outcome. But it actually turned out better than I imagined! I really like it. It was cheap, too, the pot was $3, the paint was $3, and the finishing spray was $5. And I still have lots of leftover paint and spray.

Now I'm trying to think of some fun crafty things to do with the kids. I bought a really cute plastic picnic table at the thrift store on base, and they love to sit out there and color and paint, but I think this weekend I want to do a big craft thing with them. I just don't know what. I have these masks that go over your eyes that you can glue and paint and decorate, and some glitter and stuff, so maybe I'll do that.

I also found a really good recipe for homemade oreos - here is the link:">http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/my-kingdom-for-a-glass-of-milk/
And I mean, it is GOOD. The first batch I made I cooked for nine minutes, and although oreos ARE crunchy, these came out a little TOO crunchy. So the next batch I cooked for eight minutes....and they were HEAVENLY! They tasted like a mix between regular oreos and cakesters. Man they were good.....they didn't last too long, either.

I love fall because I get so much more inspired to bake. Baking is definitely a passion for me. If I can bake something really good, that will just make my day. I would love to open up a little bake shop one day. Who knows, though....I always change what I want to do on a daily basis.

Now it just needs to get light out so I can take pictures of my flowerpot...................

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.....

Yay! I found a bread pan that I love today! I've been wanting one for a while now. It was $15, but it was WELL worth it. I made the YUMmiest bread today! I would have a picture, but the camera batteries are dead and I can't find the charger.Here's the link to the recipe from AllRecipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Bread-Machine-Bread/Detail.aspx?prop31=1
I used regular all purpose flour in it, mixed it on the dough cycle in my bread machine, then punched it down and let it rise for about 1-1 1/2 hours and baked at 350 deg. for 20-25 minutes. Yummalicious.

Before I found my bread pan I stopped at a yard sale down the street from us. I got a ton of really neat stuff:

- a big Micro Machines camper that folds out into a "city"
- 2 or 3 bags of "men"; Spiderman, Batman, various soldiers, etc.
- a bunch of trim, ribbon and bias tape
- a bunch of elastic
- a bag of colored leather so I can try out making leather shoes
- paint markers
- Fisher Price binoculars
- a big bag of play food and utensils
- a huge bag of Crayola markers, and a binder type Crayola thing full of more markers
- a miniature police motorcycle (which Anthony LOVES, he said, Mom, I LOVE this motorcycle! I'm going to be so careful with this one, I won't let it get broken ever! I give it 2 days....)

And my grand total was...dunh duh duh duh.....$5! Yup, that's it. Purty sweet! The Micro Machines camper even had a little Micro Machine hidden inside the garage that we discovered later. Anthony was really excited about that.


Other than that, today was pretty uneventful. I fell asleep with Anthony in his bed again. It's so wrong when your 4 year old's bed is comfier than yours! I mean seriously, his bed is like sleeping on air. I love it. So does Adam. He joked about buying 2 of them and putting them side by side in our bedroom. I actually considered it for a minute......

Well, off to bed, it's calling my name. That is , after I update myself on Hurricane Ike...ugh.