Coooooooookies!

Ginger Snaps

3/4 cup butter (don't melt it, use room temperature butter)

1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves

Granulated Sugar

(I ALWAYS double this recipe)(ALWAYS)

Cream Butter, Brown Sugar, molasses and egg until Fluffy. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and add to wet - slowly - flour makes a mess when you use a mixer like me- mix completely.



Put dough in the fridge to chill, this cookie dough must be cool to work with. Trust me. It's VERY sticky other wise.

I use a rounded table spoon measuring thingy to scoop out the dough so I get uniform balls. Roll dough into balls and roll them in the granulated sugar you have already gotten ready on a plate 'cus I remembered to tell you about this earlier. When the ball is covered in sugar - mmmmm - put on a cookie sheet , about two inches apart.



Cook at 350, or 375, for 8-12 minutes or 6-8 minutes. - You are thinking WTF? So am I. My granny wrote this recipe down for me with both of those times. I put it on 375 for about 6 minutes. If the tops of your cookie are starting to crack, they are done. Or should be. Sometimes the inside is still raw when they are hot.. they are still nummy.




Let cool for about 1 minute of the cookie sheet (other wise you are liable to break a billion cookies tring to get them off the sheet) then put 'em on a rack to cool the rest of the way. Or in your mouth, It's up to you. ( I cool them in my tummy personally)

I have had EXCELLENT luck freezing this dough. I measure out 12 cookies (thats how many fit on my pans) mush them back together and cover them first with plastic wrap then tinfoil. This way I can take a froen package out at noon, and have hot cookies for snack time when the boys get home from school without having to deal with all the mess.

Good luck, and happy Nomming!

AHH!

Logan starts school in Three days.

Wednesday October 1 is his very first day of Pre-K.

He has been excitedly crossing days off on the calendar.

I have not.

I know this will be good for him, and will be good practice for ME to be away from him, but OHMYGOD what was I thinking!!? he is just a baby! He isn't old enough to be without me! What if he gets hurt, or someone doesn't share and he cries? Will the teacehr know to rub his back as she hugs him?

Deep breaths. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep Breaths.

*giggle*

So, Logan went for his four year old shot on Wednesday. While we were sitting, waiting for our turn, he entertained himself by sending his daddy an email on my iTouch. Then he played a few games on it and it was his turn.

Think about it! When I was a kid, the word "E-Mail" never crossed my lips. Nor did the word Computer or laptop or digital cameras. Actually, Digital Anything! And I am not yet thirty!

It's funny that my kids know these words, when I learned of them much later in life. I used to go ask my mom if I could play with her make up, My kids ask if they can play on my laptop!

What words can you think of that your kids say that you would have never said as a kid - and I mean in terms of technology and news, not swears and slang!

Thirsty Solutions

Logan is ALWAYS thirsty. He drinks constantly. And yeah, Ive already taken him in for diabetes testing, he was clear, but still he drinks.

When we were staying at my dads last summer, Their tap water is not fit for drinking, so everyone drinks bottled water. Logan went through a CASE of 24, 1 Liter bottles of water in two days. So you can imagine how often I am getting up to give him a glass of water or juice or milk!

That is, until we bought this thing. It's like those big water purifiers things, My dad and In Laws have the big ones, but this one, it doesn't do anything except make it easy for Logan to get his OWN drink!


I still have to re fill it, and I often fill it a bit and then freeze an inch of ice on the bottom so the water stays colder longer - the big ones chill and heat the water for you, but hey, filling this every few hours is better than getting up to get him a drink every few minutes!

(pee ess: that's Parker in the photo, not Logan!)

Thursday Thirteen

I can never seem to keep track of what the theme for the Thursday Thirteen Meme is, so I makeup my own - When I remember it's Thursday, that is!

So, this Thursday's theme (for me) will be job descriptions!

My job description would be :

1. Mother
2. Cleaning lady
3. Personal Shopper
4. Laundry Attendant
5. Personal Chauffeur
6. Chef
7. Debate Moderator
8. Part planner
9. Secretary
10. Tutor/Teacher
11. Artist
12. Director (of plays)
13. Nurse/Doctor

I originally wanted to also do job descriptions for Hubs and the boys, but when I tired I realized I cannot think of enough items for them! Oops!

Twilight Ideas

I've been reading the four books in the Twilight series, and then reading them again, and then? Again. I am chapters away from finishing the series for the third time, and I plan of picking up book one again as soon as I finish with book four!

From reading twilight, it has come to my attention that if I want to have a Vampire of my very own, I will need to start looking for jobs in Philadelphia because vampires like populated places, You know, cus no one will notice a random bloodsucking every now and then - so long as there are way way way more people alive in a city than the ones who turn up mysteriously dead, it's all good.

And I really, really, really would like a vampire.

Seriously.

No, really, I seriously would LOVE to be a vampire, especially the way Stephanie Myers portrays them in her Twilight series!

On House Repairs

Last night Hubs opened the door the the basement. Once that door is opened, you go down three steps to a landing where you can either go outside or continue on downstairs. Hubs had opened the basement door so that he could go down to the landing and feed the cat her dinner - cat food stinks, so she has to eat it away from me!

The very first step, right where the door closes is carpeted, as are the sides of the stairs, but the steps themselves ate lino. The carpeting is left over from when we tore out the carpet upstairs, we decided not to do the stairs as stairs looked like a really tough project!

Looks like we should have done them when we had the chance - and when we were able to get flooring that matched! The cat has torn up that little piece of carpeting WAY beyond repair, and eventually it will have to be replaced.

Its not a huge job like fence installation, but we will have a tough time, I think, trying to find a wood laminate that is a close match to what is already upstairs, AND the basement is a completely different color than the upstairs was done, so I'm not sure how to go about deciding how that works!

I think that what will have to happen is that I will have to live with the sight of that torn up carpet (or replace that bit of carpet) until we have the money to redo the entire upstairs. When we did it last time, we only did the hallway and living room, we left the kitchen with its lino, and the bedrooms carpeted. I wish we had poneyed up the extra money and done the bedrooms and kitchen when we had the chance!

Oil Spill!

Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent three doors down. My father in law turned 69 today (September 21) and of course, we had to be on hand to celebrate. On Saturday, one of hubs sister's and her family were there, and for a little bit, the children of one of hubs other sisters dropped by.

While R was there, Hubs and I had gone out for a smoke and I pointed to R's car saying that if he was any closer to the curb he would be on the grass. His tire was literally millimeters from being on the grass. Later on in the evening it was time for hubs and I to take the boys home, R had left about twenty minutes earlier, and both Hubs and I stopped to look where R had parked his car. We were checking the lawn for tire marks!

Instead, we found a puddle the size of a deck of cards and about 10 or 15 drips around it of oil! R has been driving his sister's car, a beat up old thing, since he got his license eight weeks ago and it looks like it is time for him to get to an auto parts store!

Both Hubs and My father-In-Law said that R will be lucky if his transmission lasts another month if he doesn't get the oil problem taken care of!

I love the convenience of cars, but I sure do hate the upkeep of them!

half asleep typing

It's Friday morning and I am sitting in bed with Logan, Iggy Arbuckle - some cartoon show with forest animals - is on the television.

I am more than tempted to put my laptop down on my night table and go to sleep. On other days of the week, this is no problem. But on Fridays I always feel so guilty when I get extra sleep in the morning, considering that Hubs gets up at 430 AM for work those days!

It would not be so bad if he napped after work, but he never seems to need a nap!

I wish I could go through days like that, but until then, I am going to go back to bed and dream a little dream!

sweet dreams my friends

Are You Addicted?

Ok, I'm pretty fanatic about my FaceBook apps. Three in particular, Big Bucks lotto, Pull Tabs, and Scratch and Win. Each day your credits reset, so you have to use your daily credits..well, Daily!

The games are a blast, and I love playing them to the point that when I am away from home, and thus, my internet I make arrangements with a friend to "buy" my tickets with my daily credits so they do not go to waste.

What I simply do NOT understand is how people can be online trading REAL money for FAKE credits for these apps!

Yes! Absolutely, I would LOVE to have more daily credits to spend on my apps, but seriously, real money??

Take Big Bucks Lotto for example. I get 400 daily credits to buy my tickets. The more sets I complete by winning "BigBucks" and purchasing "prizes" the more daily tickets I get. I am not sure, but I believe that the max FREE daily tickets one can get is 2000.

There is an app that is connected to almost every FaceBook app, it is called Spare Change where you can spend real money - either VIA credit card or PayPal and get in return FAKE credits to play whatever FaceBook app you are playing :

Yea. One HUNDRED dollars. One hundred dollars that could be spent on gas or Milk or even a cute pair of shoes, just to get a couple thousand tickets?

So do the math people. This person has played 29600 tickets - and that is JUST in the first half hour of the day! By the end of the day the top spot is usually held by someone who has played over 100,000 tickets!

And that, people, is how you KNOW you are addicted to the internet!

P is for Piglet!

We went for coffee on Friday with BFF Kissy. Our regular place had closed at 4pm due to lack of staff, so we had to go to a new place. At first i was quite upset, I am NOT a fan of change! But after we got there - there was a truck stop Husky gas station and restaurant - and I had a chance to check out the store part of the place, I was OK with it! I got the boys tiny little kittens that meow and say I love you, but are made out of something so freaking soft, it makes me wonder if they actually skinned live cats for the toy cat's fur!

since BFF Kissy is ALWAYS working she took the opportunity to pass along some baby gifts for my SIL, knowing that I would for sure see her first. I left a message with SIl that i had gifts for her, but also told her not to worry about trying to get down to my place to pick them up, as we will be going to my Dad's (SIL is staying there) in two weeks to pick up our new puppy and will deliver the gifts at that time.

BFF Kissy was gifted an umbrella stroller from a friend, and gave it to me to pass on to SIL. It's no Bob stroller - those are awesome, they are for parents who want to spend a lot of time out doors, the bob stroller has a pivoting front wheel for easy navigation of rough terrain, and the tires themselves are much larger than a regular stroller so that you don't have to stick to paved roads! The Bob Strollers come in the same categories that a "regular stroller" comes in, they have the one with an infant car seat on it, they also have ones that will seat multiple children!

But it will come handy when a big stroller won't fit where she needs to go! And, it will make a great play toy for SIL's two year old daughter to drive her baby dolls around in!

Anyway, I promised SIL some pictures of the goodies I have sitting here waiting for her!

Here is the little umbrella stroller with the gift bag sitting in it!

And some Stickers for the Big sister!



And of course, the most important - an adorable Piglet outfit for the new baby!

Sopping Mad *edited to add*

A week ago, hubs and I bought this:



It is, obviously, a shower caddy. And showers, as you may know, are very wet places. When I took the above three pictures i searched the box and instructions for any where it might have said "do not get wet" Or " this is rust proof material" anything like that, but there was nothing in the warning section, and nothing on the box itself.

However, after LESS than a week of showers - we did not put it in until three days after we bought it, and we only shower twice a day, sometimes once if hubs and I are conserving water at the time, this has happened:



Yeah. Rust. It is only on the soap dish part, not on the wire baskets for holding shampoo et el, but seriously. RUST. On something that is supposed to be put in a SHOWER. Which is WET.

Included in the box were these little grey colored tape things. The instructions told us to put them around the seems of the shower caddy - the poles- to prevent moisture from getting into them. The shower was dry, the poles were dry. And yet, Less than a week later, the tape is peeling off, or in the case of the second photo, has split in the center where the poles join.

there is a small part in the warnings portion of the instruction booklet that cautions that if your roof is too low, part of the pole may need to be cut so that there is not there is not a huge amount of tension in the pole, so we measured the roof, and it fell SMACK in the center of the approved roof height. meaning we should put the caddy in and not worry about having to cut off pieces or add a piece.


AND THEN. yes, a then. We put the caddy in, one inch from the walls at the top and once inch from the walls at the bottom, liek it said too, but the center of the caddy is WAY bowed out. at least two inches. We re-read the instructions, re-measured the roof, and everything, according to the instructions points to us having installed and built the thing properly.


I am SO unimpressed with this product, and having spent 40.00* on it just makes me more upset.

Were I you, I would steer clear of this thing, its a huge bucket of FAIL!

And yes, I am absolutely going to contact them to bring my concerns to their attention. I will update if they actually respond!

EDIT - I just received an email from someone within the Zenith company, they have never heard of this product rusting, nor heard of the tape untaping. My pictures will be sent to their quality control department for further investigation.

If I send a copy of my receipt to them, they are willing to give me a full refund. I am going to e-mail asking if they would like more pictures and to ask if a scan of the receipt would be OK.

The tone of the email I received was very polite, even friendly and I am quite shocked at how prompt the response was! I wrote the post Friday afternoon and received a reply by the following Monday! I am happy.

*I was wrong on the cost, it was 30.00. I had to hunt down the receipt for the shower caddy to send in for my refund

Between now and Tomorrow Morning...

.... if you know of a goof photography site that has pictures of newborns, send me the link please!

I was on Google most of last night checking things out becuase in the morning my brother the girls and his girlfriend are coming down to my place for a "photoshoot". I am not positive I will get any good pictures, but we won't know until I try, and I for one think it is worth it.

SIL had some great suggestions - she wants one of my bro and his two girlies, and I want the one wher ethe baby is belly down on the forearm, head in daddy's hand against a black background. I also did my level best to convince SIL to get topless for one of the pictures as it will only show her back. She laughed and mumbled something about fat burners, but I am crossing my fingers she lets me take the naked back one because I saw it online and loved it!

How much you wanna bet that after I show her this, she will relent and take off the top?

So, any tips, any links, anything will be welcome. But yo0u only have until tomorrow (Thursday) morning!

Soon Sammi, Soon

I I was looking at the calendar and realized that I had counted wrong for when we get the new puppy. I though we would have her in just under two weeks, but nope, she does not turn five weeks old until the 29th. that means I am going to have to call the vet back and reschedule her appointment for her deworming and check up!

So far we have picked up her new puppy crate, and have a good supply of puppy chow on hand. The vet will tell us at her appointment if we need to supplement her with puppy formula. We still need to pick up a leash and collar as well as stopping in at town hall to grab a puppy license.

I would love to get Sammi some puppy toys to chew on, but all the toys that are size appropriate for the pup, Smokey will ruin in sixty seconds. the only think I can think of doing is getting some squeakers for her - I cannot find a picture of the kind I mean, but they are kind of smooshy and rubber, and Smokey plays with them for about four months before they break, so they would work.

There is no need for a doggy bed for the pup, Ideally I would like Smokey adn sammi to share Smokeys bed - not righ taway though - but the first few months, Sammi will need to be crated. (We crated Smokey at night and when we went out until she could hold her bladder and proved to us she was a "good dog" when left alone and able to roam the house)

Other then a leash, coller, and toys, can you think of anything else we will need?

Sleep deprived

Somewhere,a long time ago I heard that one you lose sleep you cannot gain it back VIA naps or going to bed earlier. Is this true?

It has been almost five days since me, my brother, Jessi and My step mother Marnee went to the hospital to enjoy the miracle of birth and I am STILL freaking exhausted!

I mean, yes it was worth it, and I would do it again in a freaking heart beat, but I am so tired of..well, being tired! 32 hours. That's how long I went without sleep. Then I caught a two hour nap, and was up for three more hours to feed the boys and get them in bed before I went to bed myself for another 15 hours.

When can I expect to get back to normal? My step mother is back to normal already - though sh generally gets up at 5 am and needs less sleep than I do. Dan and jess have an awesoem seven pound reasont o still betired, but I don't feel that I have any real excuse here. I mean, I am going to bed EARLY every night and on most days I have added a nap into the day's schedual!

Twilight

I was emailed a PDF of the four twilight books by Stephanie Myers (?) and they were AWESOME.

I was so addicted to the story that at one point I lugged my laptop into the bathroom, maximized the font and read it while lounging in hot soapy water. I cannot say enough good things about this book!

I also just found out that they are making a movie based onthe first book, Twilight, and after seeing some trailers of the movie am WAY more than excited to watch the movie as soon as it is released to theaters.

(I also, by accident *might* have called my husband Edward - the main characters name in Twilight - last night while we were getting frisky)