Make Mine a Double.

It was lovely, all rainbowey and doubled up. Stretched all the way across the sky. Undeniably complete and thorough and true. If I am granted a life that leads me to a 78th year, I'll take it, I'll even consider that pretty good. And if a rainbow decorates the sky and hangs over my head for a picture with someone I love, even better.

Here is the cake I made for my father-in-law's birthday. I didn't have enough chocolate chips [thank you Wyatt!] which is bizarre because I buy the giant Costco bag so I never run out. I made it work by chopping up a big chunk of semi-sweet chocolate that I had picked up at Trader Joes for Christmas baking that I did not get to. I think my chocolate chopping really impressed my husband. Cool.

If you don't recognize it, it is my attempt at making a domino by shaking powdered sugar. My f-i-l is like - a domino king. He even brings his own folding card table to our backyard when we have birthday parties just for that special purpose. I don't think that my domino is anatomically correct as far as dominoes go but I gave it my best shot. My cake is good, no listen, I am telling you it is really good. It is also really easy and is best served and eaten warm. I like to decorate it with powdered sugar because it's fun and fast. A big heart is nice for St. Valentine's Day.

If you want to make it, here you go:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake
1 3/4 cup boiling water
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 12 oz pkg chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Pour boiling water over oatmeal in a big bowl and let stand 10 minutes. Add butter and both sugars, then stir until the butter is melted. Add eggs, mix well. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa then add to sugar mixture. Mix well then add 1/2 the chocolate chips (about 1 cup) to the mixture. Pour this batter into a greased and floured 9 X 13 pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top. Bake 40 minutes. Let cool for 20-30 minutes.

I like to eat it warm, if it gets cold, I warm it up in the microwave on low power. Yum, lots of chocolate, hope you love it!

I Said...

What happened?

What she would say if she could articulate it:
I love my brother, so I let him decorate me with the blue marker.

What she actually said: Wyatt did it.

Chasin' Bubbles.

Yesterday, Wyatt and Eva had a little fun with the bubbles in the backyard. It's so cute to watch Eva chase them, and Wyatt encouraging her to go after every single bubble. Last summer we picked up a bubble blower that runs on batteries, it throws out a thousand bubbles a minute. The kids LOVE IT and I can't wait to start it up again in the spring.



And then, something nice came in the mail for me. I love mail. The online shoe company that belongs to the Gap/Old Navy family [you know how much I love ON, it's practically the only place for us] is called Piperlime and I get their emails but have never purchased because when I browse I am turned off by the prices. When I came across a good sale last week, I ordered two pairs of shoes for the spring/summer. I seem to have a hard time finding these little flat shoes in the stores, they never have my size in the one I like or the price is too high. Maybe I don't look in the right stores, anyway, I love these and I only spent $23 [I had a $10 reward coupon on top of the really good sale with free shipping] on these two pairs of Skechers!!!



The packaging was so beautiful, they wrapped the shoe boxes in tissue and put a sticker to hold it on. The paperwork was in a cute little envelope that looked like an invitation to a fancy party. Needless to say, I was inspired to photograph the occasion. The shoes fit great. Spring is knocking on my door! OK, I know it's still months away, but I can chase that bubble until I catch it.

Love It, Live It.

Just came aross this amazing quote and I wanted to pass it along.

This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch that I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

George Bernard Shaw

My Hero.

After he took down our Christmas lights on Saturday, Tony took down those of our elderly neighbor who lives alone. Not an entirely philanthropic deed on our part, but it is the greatest neighborhood success of the 21st century. Sure I'm amplifying the significance, but this is really really big! And I am very very happy!


You see, my neighbor has had her long hanging icicle lights affixed to her home for the last six years. And I'm not talking consecutive. Six continuous years, through winters and summers they were hanging down. She only lit them at Christmastime, however, they were a sore spot among all of our neighbors. I put a bug in her ear early in December and let her know that if she wanted them down I would talk to Tony...as long as she didn't want him to put them back up come next Christmas! So when I walked over and asked her Saturday, she was ready and wanted them down. She even brought out the trash bag! Our neighbors were practically cheering us on as Tony pulled them down. He also fixed some loose boards on her fence and replaced bulbs on her second strand of lights that are not coming down, but those are practically invisible and I can live with them, no problem.

And I lived with the icicle lights too, for six long years. Not the biggest problem I know but...

About four years ago Tony planted a row of hedges between our yards because I figured if her lights were staying up forever, maybe the bushes would grow up so tall that I wouldn't have to look at them in August. The hedge is beautiful and I am thankful for it, even though it didn't quite grow tall enough to obstruct the offending lights.

Problem solved by my hero. Three cheers for Tony! No wait, give me 10!

She's No Girly Girl.

At least that's what she tells me.

It's a bit longer than I expected. Just a little stacked A-line cut.

Pretty cute, and it looks even better when it's brushed!

Thanks Maria.

Happy Day.

Having a happy day despite the weather, it's not raining, it looks like it's raining only without the rain. It could be the extra cup of coffee. I had a meeting this morning and collected lots of cookie orders. I don't take the order forms to work [for obvious reasons, one being I have not worked outside this home for over six years] and neither does Tony take it to work, so that's about the extent to the assistance I can give my miniature salespeople on that front. I am on the steering committee of a [really cool] Mom's group, I do the newsletter and publicity. I am really proud of the 4 page newsletter, it's really pretty and has decent content [I think, ha]. Am I using too many brackets? See, I told you I was having a happy day.

I am feeling somewhat better today. I realized that I often bring something up and then never follow up and tell you how it turned out. I am still fighting this little head cold. I say little because it isn't impeding me in any way from the usual duties, it's just annoying and makes me feel sleepy even when I think I am getting enough sleep.

Another thing that I have not mentioned in a while is Sarah's eczema. As usual, it's cranking up and becoming a bigger problem as winter sets in. I think she is probably a three on a scale of ten, if ten is the worst it has ever been for her. That sounds pretty good I know, but even at this point she is uncomfortable a lot of the time and we are in a constant state of treating/trying to prevent it from getting any worse. We have not even made the rounds this season to the usual team of doctor, allergist, dermatologist. We are just dealing with it with the tools they have given us in the past and I think maybe she is either starting to grow out of it or we are just better prepared and are more aggressive with the treatment and meds. In either case, we are happy and thankful that it is semi-under control.

My love for making treats out of cereal is speaking to me today of these. I have not made them in a long time. I have chocolate, I have the cereal. Aw shucks, no peanut butter! Momentary devastation, only momentary, plan aborted. New plan. Wait...wait, if I scrape the bottom of the Jif I can fit 1/4 cup into the measuring cup. That means I can split the recipe in half and still make a lot! Woooohoooooooooo. Uh-huh, I did it uh-huh! I guess I am sharing that it does not take much to get me pumped up [especially when it involves chocolate].

How could I be out of peanut butter?

I am now going forth to create my sweet treat. Other things on the agenda for the rest of this drizzly murky looking day [just the weather] are Girl Scout cookie order collecting from our neighbors, and getting a haircut for Emily. She has been asking for a haircut for a while now and I can't wait to share with you the before and after. This is going to be a good one. If you have seen her in the last year or so you know that she has only one hairstyle, the pony tail. It is always pulled back [by her, yay] and into the pony holder, even before she comes into the kitchen for breakfast. Habit. No more of that after today. I don't think she will be requiring any pony holders for quite some time hereafter.

I am completely turning off this computer now so I can go and get some 'real' things done. No offense, you are real, but very one sided and I am feeling a bit lonely right now. Just kidding, happy day!

Do You Know What Time It Is?

It's...cookie time!

Yay, yum, here we go again. Only this time Emily has some BIG competition.

Her name is Sarah. And, she is a cute little Brownie. Not sure yet how this one is going to play out. At her meeting, Emily asked her leader "what if we have a little sister who is selling cookies too?" Her leader responded, "you'll get over it, you're going to have to deal with it from now on." Half of her troop of 15 girls are in the same boat. All of the little sisters are together in a troop as well and this is their first year with the cookie sale.

Having been a leader and also a parent of a girl scout cookie seller, I can tell you that the girls do learn a lot by participating. Responsibility, social skills, planning, finance, responsibility, teamwork, and oh yes, responsibility. As they get older they see the connection between cookie sales and troop planning and activities. The most important thing to me is that they really like doing it, that it's fun for them and doesn't become a chore.

So the sale starts for them this Friday, wish them [me too] luck. Don't be shy with your comments and tell me which is your favorite. C'mon! Mine is predictable, the darkest of the chocolates, the Thin Mints. Yummy. Don't tell my kids but yesterday I found one sleeve of Thin Mints in the back of the freezer. Oh heck, I'll share with them, but, do I have to tell Tony?

Oh yes, I almost forgot. If we sent the magazine fundraiser to you, of course there is no obligation and they don't even share with us whether anyone actually orders a magazine from that fundraiser. Besides getting a percentage of the subscription price, the troop actually gets $3 for each booklet [11 labels that you'll be happy to know only get used once] that is turned in by a girl. That means that even if you do not order a magazine, you are helping. And we thank you tremendously if you sent us a cute little green postcard telling us that you supported the girls. [That means you Aunt Rebecca!] We love mail!

Slow. Motion.

So, not much really going on this week. Nice and slow first week of the year. It's a good thing too because I have a pesky little cold that won't get out of my head. If you have called in the last few days and left me a message, I apologize, I'm not ignoring you, I'm just sick and tired [not sick and tired just sick, and also tired.]

Friday night Tony took Eva to the urgent care for an infection in her toe, he came home with the yummy pink antibiotic liquid. You know it must taste good to the kids when the other ones wish they were sick too because they want to eat it. Thank goodness for child proof bottles. Her big toe was swollen and bright red almost halfway to the foot and causing her pain and unhappiness. She is doing much better now. We have no idea, nor does the doc, what caused it. Chalk this one up to "sometimes it just happens."

Tony was on vacation this week and we [he] finally finished the baseboards that I said I would do back in April. After he installed the wood floor, I did several painting projects around the house and then sometime around June I ran out of home improvement gas completely. I am starting to feel the pull to get things going again in that respect. It must be this time of year that makes us feel ready for those things again.

Tomorrow is back to school for the girls and I couldn't be more excited! For them I mean. Hee hee hee.
Here is the hula-hoop video of Sarah that cracks me up, plus a bonus video of Eva jumping on my bed in fast motion. Get ready to laugh, or at least smile big.

Happy New Year.

There it is. It's here. It=2008. We did it. Another one behind us. Another one ready and waiting to be experienced. Hopefully, enjoyed. Here is how Kal put it today:

Start the way you want to continue
Be the way you wish you were
Love slowly and with pure intention
Let yourself be slow
Feed the parts that make you whole
Go where your pilot takes you

I love how she puts these things into words and makes the feeling so real and tangible, I think that's just beautiful. Happy 2008. Welcome. Be good to us. We promise to be good to you. Today we do. We hope we can stay on course and live up to our promise.

I'm not making resolutions. I've heard that they don't last more than three days. My reset button for 2008 says I will push my pause button more often and try for these:

Soulful:
Focus on qualities I would like to have more of: just to name a few, patience, understanding, joyful acceptance
Forgive myself forever for past mistakes, and keep moving forward

Practical:
Cook better, be a better meal planner
Walk more, talk more, play more
Practice and improve my Spanish
Buy fewer diapers! :)

Let's just GO and see how it turns out!

Random pics from December. Enjoy. Then we're movin' on. Hello 2008.