Cookies in a pinch

I know everyone has seen this recipe and I've even blogged about them before - but this is one of those recipes I forget about for some reason so I thought I'd remind you about them if you've forgotten about them too! If you haven't tried them - there's no excuse - you have time right now while you're perusing the blogs :-)!

Last week at 8am one morning, I needed cookies in a pinch - pronto!

Cake mix cookies to the rescue................
CAKE MIX COOKIES
1 box cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil

Bake for 10 min @ 350

The options and possibilities are endless. I did a golden butter cake mix with mint m&m's leftover from Christmas...............fabulous!

Other options:
chocolate cake mix with white choc chips
lemon cake mix with cream cheese frosting
yellow cake mix with choc chips or butterscotch chips
funfetti cake mix with frosting and sprinkles

Anyone else have some other fun ones they've tried? Do share!

...and this bed is just right!

When we moved into our new home we upgraded to a King size bed!! What a marriage "saver" :-)!! Randy didn't think we needed a king size bed because the queen size bed was fine. It was "fine", it was a good mattress and there was nothing wrong with it..............EXCEPT......................he basically took the whole queen size bed himself. There was rarely night without an elbow, pillow on my head, kick to my side.............you get the picture. SO - the King size bed has been delightful.

Where in the world am I heading with this ramble you ask? Well, last night I headed into the bedroom and guess what I found.......................
They almost look a little offended that I bothered them with the flash don't you think?

Needless to say, they were quickly ushered back outside. JEEPERS!

Last night Em and I took dinner to Gabe & Molly (Macy hasn't started eating spaghetti and crusty bread yet)!! Beautiful baby - kept having flashbacks of my baby girl - how the years have flown. Congrats Gabe and Molly - Macy is blessed to you both for parents, and I sincerely mean that!
Today I get to work retail at the store - usually I'm up in my office, but on Thursdays now I'm on the floor. I love it - I do miss working with the customers so this is my once a week "fix". Come say "hi", we're opening boxes of new stuff like crazy!!

To market, to market, to buy a.............

This last Friday night I headed down to Seattle - the big city if you will!!

I took Em and her friends to a party and then hit the freeway South. I have money that Nathan gave me for Christmas that I had not spent yet, so of course I stopped in Marysville at the Outlet mall! I was able to unload all my money at the GAP just fine! I know everyone has a place that like to get their jeans and I must say, the GAP is that place for me. My favorite is the "long and lean" jean - not that I'm long and lean - but they work!!

After about a 1 1/2 hour stop I headed on down and met Trisha, Lavon and Kim at the hotel. From there we went to the Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed a great dinner and of course CHEESECAKE!! Then, we headed back to the room and looked over the catalog with the rep we would be meeting with the next day. Of course, those 3 are the masterminds and I just watch in awe as they pick things out and talk about trends and looks. You know me, I did give an opinion now and then (probably more than I should have:-), but they definitely didn't need me.

You obviously needed a scarf to be in this group....................
Wouldn't you just love to know what is in those bags?!?!?
The days were long(these girls are night owls), and my feet thanked me every night when we crawled into bed. But it was such a honor to be asked to join them and I am so blessed to have a job I love and have bosses that treat me so well. Of course you throw my friend Kim in the mix and it made for a great weekend!!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Last summer I posted here (someone tell me how to do this right, but just copy and past this for now) http://stampinwithjanicek.blogspot.com/2009/08/shop-til-you-drop.html about the dessert I had ordered at Claim Jumpers. It's my favorite!!
Well, after my plea for the recipe for the dessert, my friend Chris gave me this recipe. (If anyone wants it, I'll post it)

This Christmas while I was at Trader Jo's I found dates and bought them so I could make it.

I made it for our New Years Celebration. I took pictures all through the process and then forgot to take a picture of it all served up and ready to eat! It looked just a little less fancy the the one above - trust me.
The sauce is brown sugar, butter, and cream - how could that be bad?!?!??!
It was VERY EASY and I LOVE IT. I've made it again only this time instead of baking it in a 8x8 pan I baked it in muffin tins - PERFECT!

When I find a recipe I like I try it a couple times before actually adding it into the "sacred" recipe box - this one's going in!!

Baby it's cold.....inside?

My list of "to dos" has been piling up and among the ever present bins and Christmas decor that needed to be finished putting away, is the freezer encrusted in ice. I've been waiting to do it when Randy is home on a Saturday so he can help me. I usually handle this chore alone, but this is the first time I've had a freezer in the house and not in the garage. Normally, I empty it out and hose it down and clean my garage floor while I'm at it - but in the house it's very different.

Here's how it looked in the beginning...........................
the food waiting patiently to go back in.........................
AFTER! It's such a good feeling to get that chore done!! I open the door when I go back there just because it looks so great! :-)
Yes, this is the same shelf that was full of ice.......................I also got all the Christmas decor packed up, bins re-labeled (I love my labeling machine!!), got them put away back in the shop(thanks to Randy), and got the house clean and back to normal. (and no, the decorating fairy DID NOT show up much to my disappointment!! We did have some friends for coffee real quick after church today - and SHE IS DEFINITELY A DECORATING FAIRY - and she just told me it looked wonderful - I appreciate it, but it's just looking yuk to me) I do realize that in the picture below I have 2 plants on my coffee table - above and below - I did move the bottom one!)
We were having the friends for dinner, so after I got all the chores done, I got the table set.................
hopped in the shower at 5:15 and they arrived at 6.

Great day - got lots done - and keeping me going was the goal of relaxing with friends - I work better with incentive!!

Anyone want to come decorate

Ok - I DID not get all my Christmas down last Saturday!! I got it all out of our bedroom and the guest bathroom and cleaned it thoroughly, and then......I moved on to other things. This is so unlike me - I'm kind of scarin' myself!

I've been moving things off coffee tables, etc and collecting them in a pile on my counter, and a pile over by the piano. Last night I tackled the tree. YUK! I put the table back against the wall and tried to hang the huge picture back over it and scratched my wall......................grrr!

This is what things are looking like now......................
I'm excited about putting the everyday decor back up, but I am not wanting to just throw it back up in the same spot as before. I'm a person that has a terrible hard time thinking "outside the box" and once I have a decoration somewhere, I can't move it. These are my "spots" to be adorned waiting for someone to bestow upon them a cute knick knack to display! (besides pledge and swiffers that is :-)
I think it would be lovely for someone(a decorating fairy of sorts) to come look at all my stuff -and tell me where to put them.!!(I mean I DO have great stuff - think about where I work!! Of course you're thinking "why do you need help you're a Grandiflora Girl - BUT - remember, I'm the bookkeeper - not a displayer!!!! Very different skills involved!!)

Any offers????? :-)

Here I am

I am here
I am still working on inventory
I am tired
I am still looking at Christmas decorations in my house (I know, what I said, but ................)
I am seeing numbers in my head while I sleep, or don't sleep
I miss my friends
I have Chistmas $$ from my son I haven't spent yet!!!! crazy!!!!
I don't last late into the evenings to get things done anymore
I am feeling the need to do some menu planning
I need to go to Costco, but am hating going there more and more and have been putting it off way too long - cha ching!
I miss my Judy in Idaho
I am glad American Idol started - it's something I've watched with the kids for years - oh ya ......................
I miss Brandon
I picked up the CD from the Korthuis family pic session so I'll leave you with a couple.........................just cuz' I hate to post without pics!
You can't help but look at this picture and think "well, mom and dad did what the Bible says - be fruitful and multiply" :-)!!!

stop, breathe, and take down the decorations

Well, here I am - I survived inventory (so far :-) !! The big week is over (50 hours) and no more 10-12 days ahead, but still lots I have to get done!

For today - I am home, I've taken down Christmas in my bedroom and the guest bath, I have bread rising, and had coffee with my 2 BFF's this morning - AHHHHHHHHHHHHH - I love home and routine!

FINALLY - I am taking down Christmas today!! I believe this is the latest I've ever had it up and NOW it's time.

I'm still trying to decide if I should leave the lighted garland above my cabinets and add the snowflake ornaments from the tree to it and leave my pinecone/frosty greens centerpiece on the island for the rest of January.

Part of me wants to take it all down, clean like a fool and be done, but part of me still wants some twinkling lights in the house. What do you think?? Anybody else leaving some remnants of the holidays up?

I'd better keep moving, I want it ALL DONE by bed tonight!

Inventory week

Well it's January 2010 and that means inventory at work! Yesterday I worked 13 1/2 hours and I'm afraid today will look much the same.

My Christmas decorations are still up because I decided to relax this weekend before the big push at work. Besides, I'm still enjoying the twinkling lights! I always think the house looks kind of sad when I actually take everything down don't you?

Thought I'd post a pic of me and my brothers. We were all together on the 27th and we don't very often get to do that! We decided we're definitely ALL getting older!
Every time I see a picture of us together I think of that song from Sesame Street - "One of these things is not like the other............." :-)

Hope you have a great week - and I hope some of you are still enjoying your decorations like I am!

Happy New Year!

Wow - 2010!! Kathi and I were talking today about how strange that sounds - 2010! It seems like just yesterday we were discussing Y2K :-)!

New year - new computer. Randy and Brandon went and bought me a laptop on Wednesday. Randy needed a computer upstairs in his office for his business, so he got mine and I got the new one! I hate "moving" into a new computer more than I hate moving into a new house! Which is probably why in the last 5 years I've had one computer and 4 moves!!

My brother Dave and family were up staying with us for a few days and Dave knows EVERYTHING about computers! I told him he amazed me, but then I changed that to - he scares me. People like him could do ANYTHING with computers! He set me up to be able to do a lot of my work from home and when he was setting up my new laptop he was in Corvallis doing it all remotely through a share session. I just sat on the phone and watched him maneuver the mouse around my computer - weird!!

Monday night Dave took us all out to Pad Thai - it was so good! An absolute treat - Thanks Dave and Sue!!

Dave also plays piano - how cool is that! I love listening to someone else play!
Dave and I have this ongoing joke about out blogs (in the last year he has blogged twice), and I always tease him about not reading my blog - so we'll see if he checks in now.