A Good Laugh

I love, love, love to talk the moment I climb in bed.  I blame this on having shared a room with a sister for practically my entire life until college where we could talk ourselves to sleep.  After nearly two years of marriage, Devin has pretty much gotten used to this.  Nowadays, we are rarely even make it to bed when we plan to and then generally talk much later than we should.  Towards the end of a week, we get sleepier and more slap happy during this time.  Once, a political discussion led to tears as I was imagining NASA astronauts building a railroad.  I know--very strange.  Last night, our conversation went something like this:

B: I talked to someone yesterday about watering our grass while we are gone.
D: Okay, although I don't know if it'll need it.  I'm going to have to replant one side when we get back anyways.
B: Oh, so we need more seed?
D: Yes, and I want to get top soil, too.  I'll only need about ten bags.
B: So, we'll need to budget for that next month.  How much is it?
D: Don't worry...top soil is dirt cheap.

This unintended pun led to a lot of laughter on my part.  I love it.  And don't worry, Devin groaned and hid his face in shame at such a bad joke.  Then I laughed some more.

Happy Birthday Jessa!!

 My baby sister is 19 years old today...craaaazzzy!!!

Back when this picture was taken, Jess and I were finally getting along as sisters.  With our almost 6 year age difference and strong personalities, we didn't always.  We even had one disastrous attempt at sharing a room that didn't even last a year.  I remember this day as one of the first times I didn't feel like I needed to treat her as a little sister but just a sister and friend.  It didn't mean she didn't count on me though--just a few days later I accompanied her to her first day of cheerleading practice because she was so shy.  However, no one will describe her as quiet now!

This past Christmas, I was freezing and trying to convince everyone that it was time to leave the live Nativity.  Jess wanted one more picture.  So, I grabbed my camera and shot this to try to convince her to go.  I feel like it captures my goofy sister so well.  And, it's one of the few pictures where we look alike (even though people tell us that we do all the time)!

Happy Birthday Jessa...please don't hurt me for posting these!!  :]

TV Debut

I've made my television debut...and cringe every time I watch it!  We were fortunate enough to be at Home Depot at the right (or wrong!) time.  For your viewing pleasure...



Or, you can view it on the WAGT website here.

Daydreaming...

We set sail in 5 more days...thank goodness!!!

Peanut Butter Bites

If you need a good cookie cookbook, you can't do any better than this one.  I have had this book for years, and my coppy is now a little worn with specks of cookie dough throughout it.  It was a gift from my Grammam, which makes me treasure it even more.  I thought I lost it once during a move.  It led to a sad Christmas without some of these wonderful cookies.  Then it was found, and all was well.

Because I have this awesome book, we were able to make these amazing Peanut Butter Bites when we needed a sweet fix this evening.  I don't use the exact recipe in the book, though, because I've found a couple things that work just a bit better.  And, I will share my secrets here...but just for this recipe.

Peanut Butter Bites

1/2 c butter, softened

1/2 c granulated sugar

1/2 c packed brown sugar

3/4 c creamy peanut butter (the original recipe calls for chunky)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I don't actually measure this...I just add a small pour.)

1 1/3 c all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add peanut butter, egg, and vanilla; beat until well blended. In small bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture gradually, stirring until a soft dough forms. (I always just use the mixer.) Shape into balls slightly larger than 1/2 inch, roll in sugar, and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten balls with a crisscross pattern using a fork. Bake 6-8 minutes until bottoms are lightly browned. (Tops will still be very light!) Transfer to a wire rack to cool then store in an airtight container. It's supposed to make 8 dozen bite size cookies but 5-6 dozen is more realistic.

Running Buddies

I am love, love, loving that it is spring!!  We have returned to our porch swing talks and evening walks.  Maximus is now doing wonderfully on his leash.  So well, in fact, that we decided to take him running for the first time yesterday!  It was our first run since the race, and we knew after 18 days off that it wouldn't be too intense.  Both Blue and Max were fantastic runners, though!  Max clearly preferred the downhill, while Blue relished the faster pace the whole time.  But, I think we will be surprised with Max being a better partner than we thought.

After the run, we rewarded them with ice cubes and peanut butter flavored rawhide.  Max was so excited about his rawhide that he tossed it all over the living room for several minutes.  Then, he jumped up on the Foof chair to roll all over it for several more minutes.  It was hilarious and adorable all at the same time.  Of course, he ended up in a tangled mess from pulling off the chair cover in the process.

So, Max eventually decided to hop off and actually chew on the rawhide next to Blue.  It's so cute to watch them together, but much more difficult to photograph them together.  I was very happy to get this adorable picture.  In other news, max is now on a regular dog bed at night alongside Blue's bed.  At some point in the night, they usually end up sharing a bed and melting my heart when I wake up to see them together.  We really did get lucky with two wonderful little boys!

Follow the Link

What happens when you follow a link to a link to a link?  (And, just to be clear we are talking about hyperlinks.)  For me, I started on a page informing me of an FDA warning issued to warn people of "fake" potassium iodide being sold as a protection agent against radiation.  In other words, it was every day news stuff of the not-that-exciting variety.  I ended up here.  Then I almost died....of laughter.  Now, the link is saved in my blog so that whenever I need a laugh for the rest of my life, I can just click it again.  You might want to check it out as well...