{FF} Momma Said...

Joining Hallie for Five Favorites.

Make sure to pop back over there for the actual bloggers ;)

***

So, yes, this is a "mommy blog" blogging about other mommy blogs who blogged about being moms...

source

For {Five Favorites} this week, I'm going to take a look at some awesome posts from other bloggers on the blessedness (::wink:wink::) of Motherhood. So, with as much ado as possible, and in no particular order, here we go!

1. 

Sarah @ Two Os + more with
Letting the Sweet Moments Trump the Not So Sweet
Sarah has a very light-hearted and informative blog that always has plenty of variety (I love the pics and the "Out of the Mouth of Dom" in her weekly updates). This post is one of her more serious ones, however, and she tells it straight. Being a mom is pretty bittersweet...and sometimes you just gotta let go of the poopy moments and bask in the sweet ones.

2.

Grace @ Camp Patton with Natural Family Seat of Our Pants

Anyone who's read this blog for 2.5 seconds recognizes that I am a Camp Patton fan. Grace has a dry sense of humor and keeps it honest and snarky about life with 3 under 3. This post highlights some good thoughts about NFP.  I'm planning to enlighten you all with my deeper thoughts on the subject at some future date, and I'll probably link this up again. What I like about it is that it highlights the fact that NFP is different for every couple, and our judgy-mc-judge-thoughts about other families should take the high road. God has different plans for each family...unique, wonderful plans.

3.

Kendra @ Catholic All Year with So You Guys are DONE, Right?
Kendra's blog is one that I've just started checking out (I think Sarah sent me there?). She's a Catholic home-schooling mom of seven kids...and a great resource for mom stuff. I agreed with absolutely everything she had to say about disciplining kids in this post. The post above, however, is a nice perspective on larger families. When people start telling you at 2 kids that you've got your hands full...it's nice to know what you might say ;). Her thoughts on families don't quite mesh with mine, so perhaps that's why I like to read her thoughts. The stigma that families with more than 3 kids have something wrong, or obviously were mistaken, or whatever need to be broken down. Children are beautiful gifts, and some people are called to have plenty of them :0). 

4.

Haley @ Carrots for Michaelmus
with Trying Not to be the "Just Wait" Mom
Haley is another blog that Sarah sent me to :D. She's got great thoughts and reflections (and has chickens too!). This particular post was great, because it wasn't quite what I expected. I thought Haley was going to tell us not to be impatient with the day-to-day motherhood blah stuff (which is a good thing to think!), but instead she went one better. This post teaches us "older" (ha-ha!) moms not to hurry the "younger" ones along. As someone who feels like an *expertista* on most everything after running through it twice, I needed this one. 

5.

Bonnie @ A Knotted Life with Nine Months of Doing it Wrong
Bonnie is a mother of six with good perspectives and solid experience. I feel like I'm reading advice from an older sister or aunt at times with her :0). Her thoughts in this post totally clicked with me. Just before going in to deliver her newest baby, she reflects on the backwards way she has been praying for the last several months. She had prayers of fear. I've realized a lot lately that I pray in much the same way (and I'm trying to become better!). My prayer is often fear-based, as in: "Please don't let x-y-z happen to us!!!". These are the moments of growth...the stretching times when we realize why God made motherhood such a well-trodden path in this life.

>>Bonus Blog Reel<<

Check out the following blog superstars for more great Mom tips:

Kelly @ This Aint the Lyceum

Jen @ Conversion Diary

Hallie @ Moxie Wife

Dwija @ House Unseen 

Jessica @ Housewife Spice

{7QT} Completely Random Edition

aka Business as Usual

{linking it up with Jen for day #5 of the blog thing and the 7QT}

(day late and dollar short as usual too...)

1. Blessed Mother, hear our prayer, keep those people in your care.
We learned this prayer in first grade, from Sr. Patricia Williams, and she had us pray it whenever we heard a siren go by on Congress Street outside. To this day, when I hear sirens, I pray this prayer. I've started to teach Leo to pray when he hear sirens or see an ambulance. His cosmology has some room for growth, though...he'll say things like "they're going to see Jesus now?". Umm...there's time to iron that one out!

2. Divisions of labor.
After getting annoyed that I have to feed the chickens all the dang time (gol-ly...it takes 15 minutes or less to feed all the animals that we have...::whine whine whine::), I've decided to suck it up and take it on as just something that I do. Steve can still handle the building of 2-story buildings in the back yard, and the car mechanic stuff, and the washing the dishes when I've ignored them long enough and the mowing the lawn and fixing everything etc. etc. etc.

3. Email update.
So, in writing an email to a friend of mine today, I realized that it sounded like a blog. Or maybe my blogging sounds like emails? Maybe all of my writing just sounds the same?--witty and clever and snarky and informative etc., right? ;)

4.Pageviews

After reading here (pg. 14...but I'm not a stalker...) that Grace of Camp Patton fame gets 190K+ pageviews PER MONTH, I pretty much melted away into the blogger unknown-dome forever. I think this amazingly witty, clever, informative blog has gotten 2,847 pageviews TOTAL (not that I check very often or anything) since it's inception two summers ago. Which leads me to...

5. Kiss the being famous goodbye.
I don't share enough of my life for this blog to get anywhere, right? I'm never going to give you as much info and details as Grace and Jen and Kelly give me...so, sorry, not too sorry, I guess I'll stick to my 17 followers and hope to amuse them once in a while ;).

6.Yup, I'm a nurse...So, I get calls from friends/family (ok...maybe 5 calls ever in my nurse career so far...but still!), and they say, "So, since you're a nurse...". Should I tap into this as a source for future blogs? "The top ten things everyone ought to know about antibiotics"? Mostly my advice would be: drink more water, get some rest, call your mom. So...we'll see. Also, I already give myself enough nurse stress (<<wow. read that link!) over my *actual* patients, I don't really need to give myself more of that. Now, bossing people around, however...that would be right up my ally. 

This is a picture of a nurse I found online.
It is here because there are no other pictures in this blog, and that is sad.
You probably stopped reading 3 takes ago because
there were no pictures to break up the monotony.

7. Elaborate bedtimes.
Currently, Daniel is (*knock wood*) pretty easy to get to sleep. Leo requires bath-time, 2 stories, 3 prayers and 2 versions of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and then *maybe* he'll be satisfied enough to stay in bed *and* be quiet for a little while.  What do you guys have to do?

Be sure to head back over to Jen's for more actual 7QTs.

Tune in next time to hear Larry sing..."Everybody's got a waterbuffalo, your's is fast, but mine is slow..."

Stuff and Nonsense

A Serious Look at our Obsession with Distractions

Why "iwastesomuchtime.com" Takes the Cake

{joining Jen for day #4 of the blogging challenge}

I've had thoughts lately that I should write a serious blog post. As in, one that is not about dinner, kids terrorizing something (usually me), farm animals terrorizing me, or other such nonsense. But...that would be no fun, would it? I'd have to *think* about things, and about other's thoughts on things, and then write about them...and nobody wants that, do they?

People want more of this from their internets:

Teeheehee.

And less *actual* stuff like this, right?

For a lot of us, for a lot of the time, stuff like  iwastesomuchtime.com  and slowrobot.com and (::gasp::) facebook.com provide for us a good measure of distraction. [duh.] But what are we trying to be distracted from? I had a friend in grade/high school once tell me that she didn't like silence because it made her have to think about things. Important things.  

The reality is, that it’s a whole lot easier to consume the fluff than it is to pay attention, buckle down and do something, or be someone.

***

In Matthew Warner's Radical Life, he is in "messy pursuit" of the true, good, and beautiful. He's got a website, a FB page, and will send you weekly emails on "radical" living if you dare (or are naive enough to think you can handle it...like this sweet momma!).

He's already gotten me to change radically the way that I use Facebook. I narrowed down friends, and un-clicked "show in newsfeed" on almost everybody on my list. (So...if I missed your awesome witty status, I’m sorry...!) I deleted the Facebook app on my iPad. What have I gained? I have to be more deliberate about my FB use. It doesn't take FOR-ever to scroll mindlessly through my newsfeed anymore. I have to seek out friends to connect with. More time. More meaningful. Hmm...

***

In this week's installment of radical living, we are encouraged to avoid the minimum requirements on life:

As I get older, I find myself becoming more and more of a minimalist. I want less stuff. I want less distractions. I want less good things in my life in order to make more room for the best things in life.  I'm becoming a big fan of that kind of minimalism.  But minimalism can also be bad. Like when it causes us to only put in the minimal amount of effort toward the most important things in our lives.  What's the least I can do and still be a good friend, husband or father? What's the least I can work and still be thought a good worker? What's the least I can give and still be considered a generous person?

True that, double true that. What's the least amount I can do, and still have time for me? Still have money for my own indulgences; still have energy for my projects?

It gets harder, folks:

It's even more insidious when we inevitably apply this attitude to our faith. What are the minimal requirements to still be considered a good Christian? What's the least I can do and still get to heaven?This minimalist approach will steal the sweetness from your life and ultimately make it boring, mediocre and unfulfilling.

And, here's the kicker: 

Rather, we should instead be asking what's the most I can do for my spouse? What's the most I can give to others? What's the most I can do for my friends and my children? That's where the bar should be set.

There are days (a lot of days) when my recent text to my sister holds true: "ennui doesn't even begin to describe it". It takes a lot to step out of ourselves, to get over our inner whiny, selfish self and do the most. It is So. Dang. Hard. But that's what we are called to do. We aren't called to be lukewarm. We aren't called to be pretty good at life. We're called to give it all, do the most, exceed the limits.

When I got this week's "Radical" email, I emailed my dear friend Marie right away. (She's the one who got me into this mess, after all!)  I complained that it was hard. Her response: "Yep. We're called to simply be the best. Sounds so easy, yet is so hard." 

Why it is that we’d rather spend our precious minutes scrolling through stuff like this:

Breakfast with Ron Swanson.

than making more time for those we love, (or at least sweeping up after them!) and the pursuits that will make us holier, I am not sure. (It's a whole lot easier, for one thing...) But what I am certain of is that when we do give up on the fluff, there is more room for the true, the good, and the beautiful. However messy it comes.

Late for the Party but Wearing my Boots...

{Five Favorites}
linking up with Grace for Hallie's FF
AND
joining Jen for day #3 of the blog challenge}
shhhhh...this is yesterday's post...

So...Five Favorites...I thought about doing an un-Favorites post, since this is a day late and a dollar short, as it were, but since that's basically what I gave you last week...here we go with the realsies!

>>(only) Five Favorite Children's Books<<
Wherein I hold with my trend of pretending to be an actual blogger (see here and here).
Today's version: books!
(For actual book-blogging, check out Julie over @ Julie's World...
She's a book reviewer AND an author!)

I really do love books. I have recently been pretty strict about having fewer toys in the house (because they just make big messes...and who needs toys when you can just spill an entire box of cereal onto the kitchen floor and then smash it into dust, just for fun?), but I don't apply the same rules to books. I'll need to start being more creative about protecting them from small ones (Daniel soaked one in a sink-ful of water and schmeared another with yogurt in the span of about 20 minutes the other day...), but books are welcome here.

Here's a few of our favorites...

1. Rumplestilskin retold and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Great pictures, clever Momma. Good one.

 2. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema, picures by Leo and Diane Dillon

African folk tale wherein the Mosquito gets it. 

I remember this one from my school days at St. Patrick's...was it during the unit we did in second grade on Africa? We built huts and dressed in colorful wrap dresses (over top of our lovely green plaid jumpers and yellow blouses or dark blue pants w/ light blue shirts and green plaid ties, of course). 

 3. Anything by Robert McCloskey

We've been reading One Morning in Maine for a while now (aka "The Sal One"),

but I just found Make Way For Ducklings at Ollie's for $2.29. Yes please.

4. Llama Llama Red Pajama, story and pictures by Anna Dewdney

A present from Tia Lizzie Wilber :0)

We love Llama Llama. Anyone who puts "please stop all this llama drama" in a sentence has my vote for sure.

 5. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard

With the Ernest Shepard illustrations only please. 

Classic Eddy-kids bedtime story with Dad. With all the voices, of course.

So, what are some of your favorites? 

Balsamic Beef Roast...sort of!

Domestic Adventures of the Not-So-Rich-or-Famous
Another *Fabulous* Attempt at a Food Blog

(since Marie asked so nicely)

{joining Jen for day #2 of the blog challenge}

>>Balsamic Beef Roast<<

This is the official Pintrest picture
designed to make you think: YUM!

So, I decided to try to make something yummy tonight for dinner. AND I followed a recipe! Woo-ee! :0). Miss Sarah suggested this website the other day, a Pintrest gold-mine board of crock-pot/freezer meal ideas, wherein I found the above goodness and the following crock-pot recipe:

1 3-4 pound boneless roast beef 1 cup beef broth ½ cup balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon honey ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes 4 cloves garlic, chopped.
Into the crock pot for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.

I did the same recipe, with a few exceptions, per my usual kitchen m.o. I used venison loin and shoulder chops instead of beef...and no soy sauce, because who needs to add MORE SALT to a recipe with BEEF BROTH already for cryin' out loud (...also, I didn't have any left...which is inexplicable, since I normally feel the too-much-sodium vibe and leave out the soy).

Here is everything in the pot just after I put it there.
So that I could send a picture to my sister and claim domestic goddess-hood.

Crock-potting away!

yum yum yum and it smelled very good

Actual picture of my dinner plate.
As if I were one of those people who tweeted her dinners.

We added barbeque sauce, but that was all. Steve said, "it's good". Which is about an 8.5 out of 10 on the scale of dinners I make ;)

Happy Eating!

No good thing

Joining Jen @ Conversion Diaries for THE 7-day Challenge :0)

Reflection on Psalm 84:10-12

"For a day in thy courts is better    than a thousand elsewhere.I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.For the Lord God is a sun and shield;    he bestows favor and honor.No good thing does the Lord withhold
    from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts,    blessed is the man who trusts in thee!"

-Psalm 84:10-12

We all have *those* days. Those pull your hair out I don't wanna be here anymore kind of days. Great big LE SIGH kind of days. Mom of toddlers have these days all the dang time, it seems. This being said, I truly believe that I am getting better at this game...that perhaps I won't have to wait until Leo is ten (approx. 2,602 more days: OH. MY. LORD.) to have more peaceful days.

I see a face like this one:

this boy. those eyes. those vampiric teethers.

...and I realize that the answer lies somewhere among the cliches about changing my attitude, appreciating the small moments/teensy successes, and the proverbial dirty diapers. My blessings are here already.

Leo took these shots :0)

melt.

 

too dang cute.

{W4W} "Things I Hate"

*Wit for Your Wednesday*

Brought to you by the color tangerine and the letter J.

Disclaimer: I know it's not Wednesday. Don't you find that witty?
Or ironic in an Alanis Morisette kind of way? Whatever. 

Another edition of {W4W} guest-posting glam from the gorgeous and witty big-sister Mags, the loveliest attorney Maine has been graced with since Maine was graced  with my Aunt Liz and my Nana. 

This is Mags w/ her husband and HER LAW SCHOOL DIPLOMA.
Maybe it's old news that she got that last year,
but...w/evs. I still think it's pretty friekin' awsome.

With much more ado than necessary, here it is now:

***************************************************************

{Five Favorites} Too. Dang. Hot.

Linkin' it up w/ Hallie over at Moxie Wife for a tardy game of:

It has been at least 90 degrees for...several days now. (whine whine whine). So here are some favorite things for beating back the heat.  

1. ICE ICE BABY...

 Only 100 calories of delicious, cooling T-R-E-A-T.

There is a strawberry version, but why? Why? Why? :0)

 2. Summer-flavored hand soap. 

Leo has been wearing UNDERWEAR during the day (oh my!), and this stuff gets him to wash his hands every time :D. My Nana always used to ask us after we had used the bathroom, "Did you wash your hands?". When I got older, I would come out and ask her if she had anything to ask me. :0).

In Leo-ease: "Hoamny soap" 

3. VISITORS!!! 

I am going to be spoiled for sure. My *little* brother Jono (UNCLE JONO) is visiting right now...my sister Mags (of sometime blog fame here>>keep your eyes out for more...!) arrives on Friday, and my dear friend Marie arrives in 2 WEEKS! (Marie blogs on life and love over at The Merry Dreamer; you should check it out!)  This may be the truth:

...but there's nothing like sharing the day with folks over 2.83 years old to brighten the mood ;)

Marie and I on a college-days road trip to Maryland. 

4. THE LAKE

Ok, so I live in Ohio. Approximately 772 miles away from Little Sebago Lake, Maine. ::sigh:: But it is still one of the greatest things about summer. And you'd better be enjoying it, you Mainer family you! 

This is Nana with Jake at the lake some years ago.
Sweet sweet serenit.

5. WEEDING.

Oh wait, not. Weeding is pretty much awful. And I'm pretty bad at getting it all done. HOW-ever, the wonder-ful-ness of making jams and pepper mustard...is also lots of work. BUT the awesome-ness of EATING all of the bounty, even months later due to the wonders of canning science. THAT is one of my favorite things :0)

This lady has a kneeler AND gloves.
Let me tell you, that is WAY more glamorous than I'll ever get.
There is much more dirt and sweat and sweat involved in my garden.

The one about the SNAKE!

Wherein I am la-la-la-ing along
...and there is a SNAKE in MY HOUSE!

     So, last night I am calmly typing up my Fashion-ista blog post, staying up late (it's about midnight at this point...the proverbial witching hour of blog writers), because the boyos are *finally* in bed after a looong afternoon of self-induced Momma-torture (aka trying to get errands done), and Steven is out of town for work, when out of the corner of my eye I see a slithery thing. A thick-snakey-looking-tail thing. Oh. My. Lord. (Repeat this last line about 7 times for effect and truthfulness).

Like the millenial I am, what did I do? I texted my sister:

Me: THERE IS A FRIEKING SNAKE IN MY HOUSE.

Mags: Oh God. Oh dear God. What kind?
Me: IDK!! Slithery

Mags: Put a bucket over it.
Me: AHHHHHH

Mags: Ahhhhhhh
Me: It is hiding. Under the couch?
Mags: Oh no.
Me: Ahhhhhh...It looked fat. AHHHHH! WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS?
...and then also...
Mags: Are there poisonous snakes in Ohio? Is it green?
Me: I am going to arm myself with something heavy...

Eventually my sister got my brother to call me and talk me through it/down. He was a very good Eagle Scout. He got me to put on my rubber boots, and get the dog to come in and have a look. Max was useless, and he probably had ticks on him. I hate ticks probably more than I hated the snake in the house. So, Max was kicked out, but Charlie, beautiful black whiney-cat that he is, found the snake for me. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM BEHIND ME!
So, I chased the snake around and underneath and behind heavy furniture,

Actual photo of the real snake in the house that I took
for identification/bragging rights purposes.
Mostly bragging rights, who am I kidding?

wielding a broom and a flashlight and a cast-iron skillet. Wearing the outfit from my fashion-ista blog post, and my rubber boots. I'm so stylish. I looked like this:

GET ALL THE SNAKES!!!

But I felt more like..."umm...no thanks." Meanwhile, Jono is asking me key identification questions, and confirming for me that this is probably a harmless Black Rat Snake that likes to eat mice. Wonderful.  

http://www.oplin.org/snake/fact%20pages/rat_snake_black/rat_snake_black.html
"For people who have mastered their surprise or fear of
seeing snakes free in nature, this is a very graceful and attractive animal."
Yeah. Right.

 So what happened? I chickened out on my 2-3 chances to step. on. the. snake. and catch it...and then it slithered away through a heating vent opening in my floor. Right. It's probably just hanging out in the vents...climbing all over the house, ready to pop out at any moment...all I can say is:

Bring it, Snakey.

On a whim(sey?)...

What I Wore Monday to go on Errands
with Two Cranky Boyos

I've been a fan of the "What I Wore Sunday" link-up from Fine Linen and Purple, although I don't follow that blog, some blogs I follow do the link up...ya know. It's a link-up wherein you show an actual picture of yourself in the outfit you wore to church, to talk about going to church, and what you wore. Pretty straightforward, right? WAY way out of my league.

Let me explain. I've always wanted join the church/fashion-ista post, but I haven't yet figured out how to get a picture of me in my Sunday best (which, incidentally, is another link-up from one of the blogs I love, Camp Patton, and would be more appropriate for me, because in this link-up you discuss the Mass-time behavior of your wee little lads and lassies.). But anyways, how do they do it? Do those ladies have some kind of camera-timer? A very patient husband with a camera? The ability to take a full-length self-shot of an outfit?

All this has changed as of today. I have discovered the secret. His name is Leo. 

The genius behind this shot:

Actual selfie of the camera pro and little bro

has become my professional photographer. 

Step aside, actual fashion bloggers, here I am:

Note my post-shower, pre-hair-doing (who am I kidding?) self,
instructing  the camera-guy away

I'd love to add little arrows to parts of the pictures, to highlight things for you, but I am not savvy like that. I have no idea how to make my blog template do that. Oh well.

I do know that I am supposed to give you details of my outfit though:
Leggings: gifted to me from lovely friends
Dressy/top/beachy cover: Hand-me-Down brand cuteness

And here is what my hair looked like for 12 seconds,
until I had to put it up b/c it was too. dang. hot.
AND I heard the front door opening...
which means that Leo and Daniel were now OUTSIDE.
No more fashion-ing for this Momma!

On to the activity for the day: too many errands gonna spoil the moods...Prequel/prep: Hours of getting the house tidied a little bit, feeding chickens, quelling toddler bashes and pretending I had time to be a fashion-goddess (see above). Followed by wrestling the back seat *out* of the van and the pressure washer *in* so that we could return it to Dave. Le sigh. Le great big sigh.

First up - turn in paperwork to office so I get paid.
Behavior: A+ Leo fell asleep and Daniel looked out the window calmly, papers went into dropbox :0)

Second up - Arrive at Dave's house to drop off pressure washer and nick 5-gallon buckets to carry water to the menagerie back home.
Behavior: B+ Leo and Daniel woke up (Daniel fell asleep somewhere in there) and we got to see Dave's mom (who was awesome, and gave the boys popsicles--b/c oh yeah, it was 90 degrees outside.).

Next: Off to the auction-pick-up-location to get the tile-cutting machine that Steve bought from Randy. After some turning around, and a phone call to say, those buildings are *not* red!, We got the stuff and headed out again. Behavior: A-; had to get them in and out of the van again...find the right book for each to hold etc. etc. etc. Bonus: Mom found the sun-glasses for Leo.

Next next: Grocery store. Let's just say that one hour before bedtime is a pretty awful time of day to have kids at a grocery store. Lesson learned. Behavior: D--.

Last last: return one little pillow to the store and drag the kiddos one last time in/out of the van. I am a Monster Mom, I know. Behavior: slipping, slipping, slipping...

Overall: There is a delicate balance to be achieved amongst number of errands, amount of lost nap-time, lateness of day, and pain threshold of the Momma. Let's just say there is room for improvement here!

And now I can retire from fashion blogs forever.  Should I go back to the food ones?  ;)

An apple a day keeps the doctor away...

...but cookies taste much better.

Yesterday morning the boyos and I set out down to the end of the front yard to pick raspberries. This activity is largely made up of:
1. Keeping Daniel out of the road
2. Keeping Daniel from throwing fistfuls of picked berries into the ground, having snatched them for the pot
3. Letting Leo eat all the berries he can pick

It's no surprise, therefore, that the fruit of our efforts was a mere few cupfuls of the ruby gems.

So, in an effort to be like one of those much more classy and more often updated etc. etc. blogs....here's what we did.

Fresh Raspberry Cookies with some Oatmeal

1. Put this guy down for a nap. One small man vying for the cookie dough is enough.

He's just as mischieveous as he looks, folks.

2. Looked online and found a cute blog with this recipe. Buuhhhht, didn't have the white chocolate chips, or the patience to use frozen berries. Also found this recipe from Emeril. But seriously...I don't have white chocolate chips, you think I have actual lemons and raspberry liquor? Uhhmmm...nope.

3. Ended up using my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, but w/o the chippies, and w/ (cold, not frozen) raspberries. Plus some oatmeal. Because there wasn't enough oatmeal just to go that route.

This is flour in a bowl, so that you know I actually did these things.
...and this is an actual post about food. Something like that.

The dough. It was too moist from the berry juice, so I added oatmeal,
but we didn't have enough oatmeal.
Mostly I need to go grocery shopping, huh? :)

NO PAPARAZZI IN THE KITCHEN!
"No picture!"

5. Here's what they look like. Consistency of muffins, really, but the boy-os still called them cookies...so I win, right? I was positive that Steve would call them "healthy", which is what he says when I make cookies like this that don't really taste like cookies, but all he asked was, "what's in these?", which is what he says when I make something that tastes weird. Le sigh.

"What's in these?"

  Too young to know that I made them fake cookies...

The chocolate chip cookie recipe I use is actually really good though! You can try that if you actually want to bake something!

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies*

*very slightly adapted from a recipe I found online in another cute blog
Disclaimer: "Best" is obviously what I consider to be best: chewy, moist, yummy, yummy cookies

What goes in:

3/4 c. butter, softened (not melted)

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. white sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla plus extra to moisten as needed

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. dark chocolate chips (good ones, like Ghiradelli's)

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350

Cream butter and sugars together until "fluffy" (whatever that means...!)

Add egg and vanilla (I just pour some out of the bottle...)

Mix the flour, soda, salt in a different bowl, then add to your sugar-butter-egg-vanilla combo and mix.

Add more vanilla if the dough is too crumbly (I literally slosh it in there...but I live on the edge, ya know?)

Stir in your good dark chocolate chips. (Ok, you can use lameo milk chocolate chips...these are just way way better).

Put blobs on your cookie sheet (they end up the exact size you put down, so form accordingly)

Bake for 8-10 minutes ONLY, barely baked looking, just golden-brown on the edges. Do not bake longer. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. NO MORE THAN 10 MINUTES.

Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, than remove to wire rack if you feel fancy/can wait that long to try one.


I think I'll retire from food posts forever now...