weekend stories movie recommendations and DIVINE cookie recipe

I could spend ALL and EVERY summer Saturday yard sale shopping. I have a disease. I pass the signs and I get anxiety that if I don't at least drive by to see what they've got- then I'm going to miss something BIG. You should see what I got this weekend. WOW. My biggest finds were the sweet training potty (2 bucks) and some FABulous little boy gap chinos and jeans and tops. I am a little boy jean snob and usually anything I like ends up being too expensive to buy. I scored this weekend. Zeb's third year of life is totally taken care of - and all for an insanely low amount of dinero. My one complaint about ohioans and their yard sales is the niceness of the people. I rarely hit a sale where Zeb doesn't walk away with some sort of toy that he gets FREE. Before we get out of the car I explain to him that he can PLAY with the toys at the sale- but that we aren't taking ANY home. We already have plenty of toys. What am I supposed to do when the nice old man tells Zeb that he can have the helicopter he's playing with because his grand kids are all grown up now and don't love it like zeb does?!?
I also have a craigslist disease. I check it everyday. Literally. While browsing the listings yesterday, I found kent the perfect father's day gift for über cheap. Unfortunately the gift was located in a not-so-family-friendly part of town and I told Kent that he had to come with me and just sit in the car and not peek while I went in to get the gift (and call 911 if I didn't reappear from the house in three minutes). I'm a little worried that I got some "hot" merchandise. Through our e-mails I noticed that the seller was an atrocious speller and was not terribly proficient in grammar (yes, I am implying a correlation between lack of education and tendency to steal). The man that sold me the goods epitomized WT (dress, hygiene, teeth, etc). The house was dilapidated and a plethora of interesting individuals dotted the porch and yard. I got one heck of a deal on my purchase and the entire transaction was completed VERY quickly. He didn't even count the money. He took my envelope and stepped back into his house. The goods are in perfect condition with packaging and materials all intact. The strangest part of it all was that upon my return home I recieved an e-mail from the seller.

"thank you for coming as you said you would and if you should have any problems you can email or call but everything is very new, thanks again."

The e-mail is really nice but kind of weird. I'm not sure if it makes me more or less suspicious. Either way I can't wait to give kent his gift next Sunday!!

After the gift retrieval we spent the evening making cookies and watching movies. We haven't been able to find any good new movies to watch lately (any recommendations from anyone?) so we picked up two independent films. Ballet Shoes (british) and La Misma Luna (spanish with subtitles). I'd recommend both. I really like La Misma Luna- but I did have to cheat and read the spoiler so I didn't stress out the whole time. Sometimes I have to know the outcome of the movie (doesn't matter if it's bad or good) so I can enjoy watching it rather than stressing about it.



The cookies we made were divine. Some of the best I've had in a long long time. The picture doesn't look so delicious- but trust me. They were so soft and chewy- and still are today.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar ( I did HALF brown sugar)
  
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8-NO more! minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

This little monkey had his four month check-up today. He weighs in at a semi-chunky 15 pounds even. I think the majority of his chunk rests right around his DOUBLE CHIN. He was a champ for his immunizations- but he was so sad later today. Since he rarely cries- his sad little painful cries today made me feel extra bad. His poor little chunky thighs were all red and tender. Poor kid. Luckily he's sleeping like a log now- and hopefully it lasts all night.

Since the pediatrician's office is right on campus we decided to go and visit Kent afterwards and give him a little study break. Zeb thoroughly enjoyed watching the tractors with him.

Just a few more days and Kent will no longer be at school ALL STINKING DAY EVERY DAY! I can't wait for the break and I know that Kent is so ready to get this crazy test over with.

it came!! it came!!

My blurb blog book showed up yesterday! I couldn't be more pleased about it. It is exactly what I wanted. Simple- great quality- and very cool. It's so much better than a scrapbook (for me anyway). It's 102 pages- and covers our 2007 year. 2008 should be a lot longer unfortunately! I didn't start blogging until June of 2007- so really it only covers seven months.
Lots of my pages have multiple posts on them- and my picture/text layouts change throughout the book. There are definitely some layouts and picture sizes that I like better in it than others- which is nice to know for the next time around. Lots of lessons learned. I'll answer any questions and give pointers for anybody looking to do their own- just let me know.

I have so many pictures to post I may have to save some for tomorrow!

Yesterday was warm enough for a dip in the pool again. I think the water is actually warming up a bit more- although Zeb was only interested in it for a few short minutes. He found the swing set far more exciting.
Ike is all chub right now- and still just one goofy constant smile. I dipped his legs in the pool and he just hung out. He and Zeb are starting to be better friends these days. Zeb lets Ike hold his extra "percy" and even occasionally will lend out his blanket double.
Pretend these two pictures are actually one. I was trying to get a diaper picture of them both- and only ever got shots with a good face on ONE of them. Getting two good faces with these banshees is like keeping a fat kid from his chocolate cake.












Today has been mostly overcast- so the pool is out. We did, however, go for a great run at a lesser visited park. Zeb spotted this "baby deer" just as we were about to pass it. He was ecstatic that it was so close. It even hung out long enough for me to snap a picture. We were headed under a big long bridge to the quieter portion of sidecut (the metropark we were in) and I decided that instead of venturing further into the woods I'd make my way across the giant bridge and run into Perrysburg (neighboring town) a little ways. The picture looks a little lame-o, but the view was fantastic. I really really love Toledo. I'll be cursing those words in a few weeks when the real humidity hits- but for now I am loving the weather and the greenery and the views and the parks. What a fabulous place to live.

we used it!!

I was so excited to wake up yesterday morning to rain. We got to try out our new stroller rain guard. Best 5.99 spent in awhile. It worked like a charm. Zeb thought it was really cool at first- and then it started to bug him- but eventually he got used to it. Ike loved it.
Now all I need is a new pair of running shoes. My pinky toes are poking out of mine! Apparently I run a little skeewompous and my toes push outward. I just can't bring myself to spend the money on new shoes when these aren't hurting me or anything. They are starting to look ragged- but other than that I love them to death.

here's the deal

So, kent and I had heard a lot about those betty crocker warm delight cake things and decided to try them out awhile back. We had gotten rave reviews from quite a few trustworthy sources as to their deliciousness. Unfortunately neither kent nor I were impressed- at all. Not to mention the price- OUTRAGEOUS for such a dinky snack. Oh- and don't get me started on the calorie content.
Last night I was complaining to Kent that I wanted a recipe for something I could make that was sweet and warm and would make just one serving- rather than an entire batch. You know- like a recipe for three cookies or just a few brownies.
This morning as I was checking all of my favorite sweet deal and freebie sites- I stumbled upon this little trick/recipe. I'm sure I'm about the last person on earth to figure it out- but I thought I'd share anyway.
In general- I'm not lover of cake. I do, however, love strawberry shortcake. You can make your own in less than TWO minutes.
you take 1/2 cup of cake mix (it totally expands and this portion ends up being quite large) and 1/3 cup water. You mix it together with a fork until kind of smooth and stick it in the microwave for ninety seconds. You take it out and VOILA. add a dallop of whip cream- sliced strawberries or homemade strawberry jam- and you've got the most delicious little dessert. I may try adding less cake mix next time around and see how it turns out- but I really did love it. It works with ANY cake mix. You could add caramel, hot fudge, or any other great sauce.
I use meijer cake mix (80 cents) and you can get about eight little cakes out of one box! that's TEN CENTS/cake. They've got HALF the calories of the real deal- and I think they are much tastier.

MOV022

This dang video took AGES and zillions of tries to load- and I'm not sure why- but here it finally is.
It took us about ten days to get them all down- and we undoubtedly have some work to do- but check this kid out. I'm proud of him. We figured if he could tell apart and properly name DOZENS of trains (that all look the same to us anyway) then he could for sure do the same with the Apostles.

He REFUSES to say M. Russel Ballard. Every time I tell him the name- he says "no mama, it's russell nelson" so we had to just call him M. Ballard. He's also a little shaky on some of them ("id doctor" translates to David Bednar and Uchdorf takes a few times to spit out properly) but he's still pretty good. He can tell Cook and Oaks apart- but always calls them both Dallin Oaks. I love that he calls Thomas Monson "Thomas Monson the Prophet" every time.
yesterday while we were out running- we passed an older gentleman and Zeb kept yelling out "Boyd Packer, mama! Boyd Packer!". I love this kid.