Giggling at last!

My dear Petal is such a gentle soul. She has be a study in contrast after our experiences raising Mickle. One of the greatest milestones is hearing your little one laugh with abandon. We've all be trying hard to hear that with Petal. She smiles like her soul is going to break free, and her face is going to split- but is normally silent. Although she does adore her nana, and the first substantial giggle came in her nana's arms as she was bounced up and down. Her loudest and longest to date- was actually at some friends house, and I caught the latter half on my phone camera.

Here's something to smile at!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuMwZbg9W3o

Undo...please????

I am sick. No literally, I feel ill. I'm obsessive about cost. Really, really obsessive. I'll spend hours and hours researching the best price on something before I buy it. I hate the thought of wasting my monetary resources.



Which leads me to why I'm ill. We've been without any form of Microsoft office for at least a year now- seems sooo much longer, esp in light of having to work on projects for school. No outlook for e-mail and calendar management, no PowerPoint or Word for projects, ect ect. Every time I looked into it, spending several hundred dollars just was not even something I was willing to do. Which is why I was ecstatic when I found a website selling Office professional for a great deal(just one level below the "everything" version). Office Professional had pretty much everything we would need ( no "one note"- but I had never really gotten the hang of that program). On the Microsoft website office pro retails for $500. Are you kidding me??? $500???? I'm sure some places sell it less, it always works that way right? But there was no one I had seen that had a truly great deal. Until 2 days ago.....


http://www.academicsuperstore.com/ had the office professional for $99 !!!!! It required you be a student, and be able to prove such. Not a problem since I'm in culinary school. Well, after a quick glance around the internet, and not seeing it for less than $250 -anywhere.....I pressed the "purchase" button. I spent the next 2 days practically dancing around the house- thrilled to be getting my beloved programs back, and a deal to boot.

Back to being ill..... Got my office pro in the mail today. Waited until Allan got home to open it and start the installation process. After having some trouble getting it installed properly- I went to the Microsoft website for some assistance. And saw it......Office Ultimate (the everything version) for students......$59....(insert sobbing). Sooo frustrated right now. If I had seen that only 2 hours earlier I could have sent the office pro back. But, not now. Even though it's not installed on my computer, it's been opened. So I'm stuck with it......stuck with knowing that I spent $40 more for a product with less features.

I'm feeling sick......

Firefighter

Conversation with Pickle

"When I get bigger I'm gonna put my hose on the fire hydrant and make sure it works right. Then I can use it to put fires out. I will drive there in my fire truck"........................"Mom, where do you buy a fire truck?"

"You have to be a fireman to buy a firetruck"

"Oh"

"Where do you buy firefighter clothes"

"You have to be a fireman to buy firefighter clothes"

"But I am"

"You are what?"

"I'm already a firefighter"

"You think you are already a firefighter?

"Yup....I just need clothes and a truck, and to grow up taller"

LOL!!!! Love that positive thinking!

4 pounds!~

So I wanted to show off today's "harvest" (said very loosely because the quantity I get from my little garden is quite small- but steady)

Today we have cucumbers, Armenian cucumbers (my new favorite type!), okra (stuff grows FAST!) yard long beans (very interesting- I will be planting them in to future again for sure!) and a cantaloupe. I'm soo very proud of this melon (isn't that silly) He/she weighs in at 4 pounds.....and smells heavenly!!!!!! Can't wait to cut into it! Hope your yard/garden is enjoying this rain as much as mine has!!!

Decorating....

Now I know when you read that you thought I was decorating....but no. Not me. Mickle comes into the office today-
"Mom - where do you want my white table?"
I'm like "huh? I don't care (he has a bed, a litttle table, toy chest, and easle in his room)"
"Oh good- can I decorate my room???"
"Um sure- just no moving your bed" - trying to stiffle the giggle in my throat because of the serious expression on his face.

So for the past hour I've listened to things get pushed across the room, and recieved mini updates on his progress.
"Ok- so I put the white table in the closet" he says with an excited face and wildly guesturing hands. Then 30 minutes later he comes rushing in....
"Mom! so I put the toychest between the shelves (built in)(again wildly guesturing hands). "It works great! It just fits just soooo perfectly!"

LOL!!! It's moments like this that you smile and you just want to enjoy the life fire that burns in their eyes. The extreme excitement that can't even be expressed over a moved toychest! Hold onto them, and remember them on the days when they aren't as charming.....and have decided to boycott all your instructions for the day.

Rainstorms

It has been raining, actually storming, no make that a torrential downpour. As in monsoon. As in "Honey do we have a canoe cause I need to go to the store!"

Really bad timing for my family, great for my garden (well - until today when I noticed mushrooms had popped up everywhere). My sister is getting married in 5 weeks (yeah!). She's having the ceremony and reception on my parent's property. They have been working to get the rest of the outside prepared, and the house repainted. All really difficult in light of the aforementioned weather!

Anyways, so yesterday, I made a batch of monster cookies with Mickle. Shortly after putting the second batch in the oven- we lost power. Mickle was already in bed.....it was sooo late, but not asleep. He came out to inform us that the power was out. We were so grateful for his help, I'm sure you know- all parent's are dumb and ignorant, and we would have been clueless without his announcement. We let him know that we were aware, and it was ok, and sent him back to bed. Looking very worried, Mickle announced that he "could NOT sleep if the power was off!!!" His daddy and I found this quite funny- since he sleeps in a dark room without a nightlight. If I had him in bed just a little bit earlier, he probably never would have even known.
Allan and I stumbled around in the dark, trying to find a flashlight with some small amount of battery power left. There is something genetic, I am convinced, in little boys that draws them to all items battery powered and compels them to mess with it to the point of total battery drain!
We managed to find one flashlight- and then a lighter and lit some candles. After laying a towel down in the office- water was leaking down from the ac vent, and locating a bill- we called the power company. Upon entering information for our location, an automatic recording assured us that they were on top of it- and our power would be back on at 1:00am. Um No. Someone at the power company needs a watch. I should know- I have a 5 week old who likes snacking every 2 hours. Power finally came back on about 7:00am. Then about 7:30 the announcement rang out "Mom, Dad, the power is back on!" Thank you Mickle......what on earth would we do without your keen observations????

Monster Cookies

I came across a recipe on a blog, while I was surfing, about two weeks before petal was born. The recipe was for Monster cookies. I had never heard of such a cookie. I became intrigued with it as soon as I saw the ingredients. I mean, come on! How can one not LOVE a cookie with peanut butter, chocolate chips, m&m's (I care the least about this part) and oatmeal! I made the recipe, and with the first bite -and all other cookie recipes faded away from my memory. Ok, Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating a little, but these are seriously my favorite cookies now.
Fast forward to yesterday. I had a serious hankering for some monster cookies. So I started going through my favorited page to find that blog. I looked, and looked, and looked, and LOOKED! But alas, apparently the page was an unknown casualty of my previously pregnant brain. I thought I have saved the page- but it was gone. After hours of blindly using google to try and find the page again(who was I kidding?)- I gave up. All I could remember was the ingredients listed above- and that there was no flour. So I began to search for a new recipe, and after a while was rewarded with one that I felt was a great option.
Mickle and I began making the cookies. Always fun baking with a over eager 4 year old. Need I say more? As if that wasn't enough. Apparently it was time for "new mommy" trial by fire. Petal awoke with a roar, and wouldn't stop howling. So there I was- with Mickle in the kitchen, barely containing himself as he desperately wanted to dump every ingredient within reach into the bowl, Petal in the bedroom howling like only a 5 week old can, and Allan no where around (he had gone to put Petal's diapers and a load of towels in the dryer at the laundry mat because our dryer decided to stop working today!). I scooped Petal up, and placed her in the sling, while rushing back into the kitchen. Oh the excitement! Mickle and I scrabbled to finish mixing the cookies, and put a batch in the oven- then off I rushed to nurse Petal- while keeping an eye on the timer. Nothing ruins cookies in my opinion like overbaking them!

I was quite pleased with the outcome. These are just great cookies. The recipe makes A TON, and actually couldn't be mixed in my kitchenaid. I'll be making some adjustments to the size and ingredients- but I thought I would share this version in the meantime.

Monster Cookies

1 cup butter soft

3 1/4 cups peanut butter (creamy or crunchy- I like crunchy)

2 1/3 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp corn syrup

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

4 tsp baking soda

6 eggs, beaten

1 1/2- 2 cups M&M's

2 cups chocolate chips

9 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, corn syrup. Add vanilla and soda mixing well. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

I'd like to reinterate- HUGE recipe. You'll probably want to cut it at least in half. Chances are- unless you come from a larger family- or have a larger family- you won't have a bowl big enough to mix the whole recipe.

My plan is to make these cookies as close to a healthy snack as possible. I'll post my progress as I'm working on them. I was thinking of substitution applesauce for half the butter, dropping the sugar amount down, substituting raisins for the m&m's, and using a super dark chocolate chunked instead of the semi-sweet chips. Oh! and I'm gonna try almond butter instead of the peanut butte. But that's all....the oatmeal doesn't need any substituting - lol.