40 Weeks

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Because I’m bored…

Little E has yet to arrive and the WMD is at work. It’s hot outside, so I’m stuck in the house. And, it’s been a long time since the last new episode of The Office. And I miss it. So, why not?

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Peanut Buttery Cookies

I am not a baker by any means. I really like to cook, but baking has always been my Achilles heel. However, the WMD is a huge dessert guy, so I consider it my duty to give him something  sugary and homemade on a monthly basis. Usually, I make something with chocolate in it since that’s his Achilles heel, but we didn’t have any chocolate chips in the house due to the fact that they last about two days in our house upon discovery.

I decided to go with these peanut butter cookies instead. I don’t think I’ve made peanut butter cookies since I was a little girl. For some reason, I had in my mind that these would be difficult to make, but in reality, these were the easiest cookies ever. I used the recipe below, but made a few slight changes. I switched out the cup of white sugar for 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. I also added a splash of vanilla extract.  Other than that, I followed the recipe (from AllRecipes).

I will say that when they first come out of the oven, they are really fragile, so take care when transferring them from the baking sheets to cool. Once they are cool, they maintain their shape. They are very soft, which is a plus in my book since most PB cookies I have are hard.

I made two dozen cookies on Friday afternoon and they were gone by yesterday afternoon. On the WMD scale, he gave them a 15 out of 10, so this recipe will go in the files. Just a note: you will need milk to go with these. They’re rich.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar (I substitued 1/4 white and 1/2 brown sugars)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Combine ingredients and drop by teaspoonfuls on cookie sheet and press with fork crosswise. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool.
3. Recipe makes one dozen, so you could double recipe as you desire.

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PaperbackSwap.com

The WMD and I are big readers. He so more by force than choice these days and me so blissfully by choice (said after completing four years of an English/History degree). In fact, in the last two weeks, I’ve read ten books. Granted four of those were the (I’m ashamed to admit) Twilight series books, which took me all of a day to read.

I am a huge fan of our county libraries. They have a wonderful online system set up in place that allows me to search for, request and pick up books once they’re in at the nearest library. Best of all, I get three weeks to read them. I don’t remember the check out being that long when I was a kid.

However, the downside to this system is that when a book is really popular, I might be 250 in the queue (as with the Twilight books); meaning, 250 people are ahead of me in line to read the book. At the three week check out rate, it’d take me 15 years to be at number one. So, needless to say, if I really want to read some books, I’m going to have to buy them.

However, the drawback for us is that we live in a teeny, tiny house with no storage space. Zero. While we do get attached to books, we’ve had to learn to be ruthless and clear them out on a regular basis. Usually, we just donate them to a charity. However, I recently stumbled across PaperbackSwap through another blog and may have found my new mode of choice for both procuring and getting rid of books.

PaperbackSwap is a free (for now) membershop site that allows members to post books they’re willing to get rid of in exchange for credits that will allow them to “buy” books other members are looking to unload. Upon sign up, all new members get two free credits, which is equivalent to two books. The only cost involved is that you have to pay for postage when you mail the books you’re getting rid of. But, this balances out when you receive a book from someone else and they pay for the postage.

So, I took the plunge yesterday and listed twelve books (both paperback and hardcover. The site name is a bit of a misnomer.). I took six of them to the post office to be mailed this morning. Once the recipients get them, they mark that they were received on my account and the credit is added to my account. I’ll admit that I’m a bit nervous that they will actually follow through with this, but the site is well established and has a system to prevent this. At the least, I’m out the $2.50 it cost to ship the book since I would normally have given the book away anyway. At best, I’ll get six credits added to my account for future books that I can’t get from the library at all or in a timely manner. We’ll see how it works out.

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Tu, Tu, Tudio…

Okay, I know that’s a really bad title, but all I could think about when I was making these tutus was Phil Collin’s singing “Stu, Stu, Studio…” Is that even what he’s saying in that song? I have no idea, but tu, tu, tudio it is.

I’ve been meaning to make a tutu for awhile now. I’ve seen them all over the internet in the last year, especially in photo shoots with little girls. I used this tutorial and it was so easy. It took me two hours and about $10 to make all three of these. It probably wouldn’t have taken me that long, but there was a learning curve when it came to cutting. My tip- use the tulle that comes on spools in 25 yard lengths (located in the wedding section in my JoAnn Fabric’s store). I made the light pink tutu and the red tutu using this method and it was SO much easier than the magenta tutu, which I purchased in the fabric section off the bolt and then had to cut, and cut, and cut to get the lengths that I needed. While there were more color options using tulle on the bolt (bright blue, green, purple…), I don’t think I have the patience to go that route again. Also, I decided to use ribbon that can be tied in a bow instead of elastic sewn together at the ends. I figured this would allow the tutu to “grow” with the girl and not be limited to a certain waist size.

The red and magenta tutus will stay here for Little E, at first for photos and then to go in her dress up box when she’s older. The light pink one is going to my neice for her second birthday with a few other girly goodies. This is really such an easy, fast and inexpensive project that I foresee making many more of these as gifts in the future.

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Officially Unemployed

Well, today’s the day. I’m no longer a paid employee of any organization. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, planning towards it, saving up and daydreaming. And I have to say, now that it’s here, I’m liking it so far. I’ve managed to make the WMD breakfast before he went to class (he was shocked) and lunch when he came home (doubly shocked), made two tutu’s and started on a third for two little girls in my life, cooked a pot roast, cleaned the windows, finished a book and started another one and took a two hour nap. Amazing how much I can get done when I don’t have to go into the office (or have a baby on my hip). I’m actually blogging and taking photos for the first time in a very long time. And it’s only 4:30p. What should I do now?

I even had time to pick these little first fruits from our garden. And then we ate them. And they were good.

They came from this wild plot of land I call my garden.

I tried my best to get a good belly shot now that I’m less than two weeks (June 28!) from my due date, but it proved to be harder than I thought since we don’t have a bathroom mirror low enough for something like this. So this is what you get. Forgive the wet hair and look of concentration. I was so determined to get the shot that I totally ignored the fact that my hair wasn’t done and that when I concentrate I tend to grimace. And that my right arm is not in fact amputated at the elbow.

I’ll bribe the WMD to take a better one of me next week.

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Catching Up

Back from a week on the Outer Banks. Doctor’s appointment this morning. Little E is growing right on track. Not dilated, but she’s head down and “locked and loaded” according to the doc.  Trying to catch up around the house and around the office. Should be doing that, but instead I’m cracking up at the photos posted on this site. If you need a break and good laugh, head on over. My personal favorite, because they are clearly more dedicated Bon Jovi fans than I am:

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