Cookie Exchange, continued... --->

So, there is another cookie exchange going on. Angela is also hosting one, so I wanted to share my beloved Andes Mint Cookies recipe (scroll down to earlier post) with her group of holiday bakers as well! Scroll down to find my recipe!!!

Can't wait to see what everyone else has to share! :)

It's a Cookie Exchange!

I'm participating in Scrappy Jessi's Cookie Exchange today, posting up one of my favorite holiday cookie recipes... Jessi, thank you so much for letting me in on the FUN!

So here it is...

Andes Mint Cookies

3/4 c. butter (or margarine)

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

2 T. water

Melt in a saucepan over medium heat until melted and then add:

2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, stirring until completely melted.

Cool for 10 minutes. Pour into a mixing bowl and beat in 2 eggs.

Add:

2 1/2 c. flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together and chill for about 45 minutes. Roll into balls (like 1 - 1 1/2 inches big), flatten slightly, and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

When cookies come out of the oven, place an Andes mint on top of each cookie and allow to melt for a few minutes. Swirl the melted chocolate like icing. Allow to cool.

Photo by Becky Higgins, who also provided this recipe in the first place, and got me hooked on these AMAZING treats!

ENJOY!

Goodbye Cottage Living.

Today I'm blogging from my Blackberry so I can guarantee that this will be a BORING post. I don't know how to upload pics from my BB, in fact this is the first time I'm blogging from the road. Oh well.

Today has been kind of a downer for me. As soon as a turned on the laptop at home this morning, I found out that my #1 favorite magazine EVER has folded. Closed up shop, no more issues to be printed, gone forever.I'm devastated. Cottage Living is one of my monthly "treats"... The one magazine I rip into as soon as I pull it out of my mailbox. This is a loss for me, no doubt about it.

This economy is touching us all in so many ways. And now MY magazine. :sigh: I'm crushed.

Just wanted to share a bit of my grief.

Netflix today.

This afternoon I'm watching "License to Wed".



LOVE Robin Williams. This movie is totally making me laugh. But on a more serious note, I'm thinking I should have my oldest daughter watch this before she even thinks about getting married!

Do you have any favorite movies you can recommend I add to my Netflix queue? Please share!

Have a great day!

I love Mondays.

I was blog-hopping this morning and found Stacy Julian's most recent blog post in my Google Reader... She asked the question: "What do you like about Mondays?"




So I started to think about this...

And this was my answer:

"I love the FRESHNESS of Mondays. It's the day I have such high hopes for the week... Sometimes it all doesn't fall into place, but many times it does! It's my planning day, my energetic day, my day of clearer thinking after resting my head a bit over the weekend! I love Mondays!"

It's true. I really love Mondays. It seems to be the day when I get the most housework, laundry, planning, etc. done. I've completed so many things today before even sitting down to write this post... and that just motivates me to try to do more!

Another plan I have for this week's tasks are to start Aby Garvey's online workshop, "Get Organized for the Holidays". I've subscribed to Aby's Simplify 101 newsletter for a year and a half now, but this is my first workshop with her. I had an online coupon so I decided to give it a try, and a discount makes it even better! I can ALWAYS use help with my organization before the holiday season so I am super-excited to start this workshop tomorrow. My hopes are that I can sail into the holidays with a plan, completely prepared for what's ahead. I've got a dance recital, holiday get togethers, parties, scrapbooking, cooking, shopping and more planned for the next few weeks so I want to put my plan together ASAP. Because of course, I want to be able to ENJOY the holidays too!

So, I'm outta here to finish up my CHORES so I can focus on my online class tomorrow!

:)

Hello, November!

First, an update: I actually did finish Ali Edwards' Week in the Life project (see last couple of posts for details) but forgot to post my photos on a daily basis... So bad, I know! So here are random images (just a few) from that particular week at the beginning of October.

















Sorry, some of them have not been edited so the lighting is bad, but you get the picture!




Next scrapbooking projects include Ali's December Daily album, which I'm hoping to begin pre-assembling this weekend, and Becky Higgins' Baby Album kit. So much to do!

A Week in the Life... Day 2

I'm a day behind in my posting...

I uploaded the photos late last night but couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to create this post on my blog. But it's Wednesday morning and I'm ready to share with you the photos from Monday, September 29th:

First things first; getting the triplets off to school...















Then... I hopped onto the freeway and headed to my doctor's appointment...








But of course, I had to make just one stop... but it was right off the freeway, so it was QUICK:













... and here's a glance at the rest of the day: (I don't think I took as many pics as I should have!

And that was Monday!

Is anyone out there with me on Ali's project?

A Week in the Life... Day 1

So, I've started another scrapbooking project... Yesterday (Sunday) was Day 1 of my "A Week in the Life" project, which I am hoping will eventually (hopefully sooner than later) become another mini-album to add to our collection. I'm following Ali Edwards as she does this herself.



Ali wrote on her blog (a comment from one of her friends),



"I think it's important to embrace this even amid life's imperfections...It's easy to say, 'Well, life isn't perfect right now, so my week isn't worth documenting.' Not true."



This statement certainly applies when referring to my life right now. A few "imperfections" almost convinced me not to document this particular time in my life. But after reading the comment on Ali's blog (thank goodness I did)... I'm seeing things a bit differently. Hopefully, years from now, when I look at this mini-album I will be able to appreciate all the goodness that WAS a part of my life now. Hopefully I won't only focus on what wasn't right.



Because there IS good in my life right now. Lots of beauty, lots of love. I just need to document it to remind myself from time to time. So, you see... this project comes at the right time. It's not at all the wrong time to do this.



So, I will share with you yesterday's goodness... all its beauty. Not many words to share this time... I'm honestly just too exhausted to do the writing portion of this assignment but I plan to be all caught up with the writing by tomorrow. :)







We began our day with a yummy batch of banana pancakes... then baked some glorious pumpkin cookies. (Recipe provided by Heather Bullard, thanks!) Delish!

And these shots from the rest of the day... Pretty good stuff... Can't wait to post pics again tomorrow...

20 Little Things to Treasure in Autumn...

Fall is finally upon us... It's my FAVORITE time of year, hands down. There are so many things I am thankful for when it comes to this beautiful season.

Melissa over at The Inspired Room challenged her blog readers to come up with a list of 20 favorite things... I thought it would be tough to do, but actually it was fun! It forced me to remember all the lovely things I have to look forward to in the coming months!

So, here's my own list:

20 Little Things to Treasure in Autumn

1. It’s Apple Season
2. The amazing Fall color palette
3. Bringing out the throw blankets and draping them on furniture
4. Visiting the pumpkin patch
5. Cooling, gentle breezes
6. Vintage Halloween decorations
7. Burning spice-scented candles in the house
8. Hot Apple Cider
9. Homemade Butternut Squash Bisque Soup
10. Holiday craft fairs
11. Planning our Thanksgiving dinner
12. Seeing mums everywhere
13. Warm cozy socks
14. Caramel apples
15. Falling Leaves
16. Sweatshirts
17. Cinnamon sticks boiling on the stove
18. Football season
19. Trick-or treaters
20. Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks

[Just a note, though... #20 is actually #1 for me!]

What are your 20 favorites?

photo: Country Living

what has happened to me???

Goodness, it's been a million-trillion days since my last post. Lots of change going on; economy, work, family issues, all of it. Some good, some not so much... But I'm hanging in there. I've had a cold for the past few days, but I'm heading to the doctor in abut an hour...

So... gotta wrap this up. But I want to be back on my blog. My friends ask me why I'm not here, I feel like I've been neglecting a good friend... So, I'll be back later today to share some things I've been up to (and other things I want to begin).

Hope you all have a beautiful day.

:)

Exactly.

It's nuts. I can't believe how the gas prices are changing from day to day here in Southern California. I mean, I go to bed at night and it's one price; I wake up in the morning and it's a few cents higher. Happens every day, I swear. I feel like I don't want to go anywhere in my car right now... Not even to Costco, or Target or whatever... I just can't stand using up the gas in my tank because I know the next time I put gas in, it's gonna cost me a heck of a lot more than the last time! Grrr....









And another bit of sadness for me today... About an hour ago I was ordering at my favorite Starbucks drive-thru and my barista was so sorry to inform me that the Starbucks Skinny Mocha has been DISCONTINUED. WTF? How can they do that? Something about Starbucks is not producing the sugar-free syrup anymore. Grrr... Grrr... I hate that. Oh well, maybe I'll save some money by ordering just plain brew coffee now. Yeah, save some money to put more gas in my SUV's tank. Have an excellent weekend.