Monster Cookies really are Monsters!

Julie decided last night after dinner that she wanted to make cookies. OK, not a problem right. She got on the Internet and got a recipe for 'Monster Cookies'. The description described them as "surprisingly simple to make" "especially handy and simple with a stand mixer" "a great cookie to whip up when you need an easy, quick recipe" You get the hint. I thought they sounded great considering Julie has never really made cookies on her own before. We get out the mixer and she starts putting the different ingredients in the mixing bowl. Since she hasn't really ran a mixer before, I did the mixing. When I got the eggs (yup, all 6 of them!), vanilla, and butter all mixed together, I asked her what was next. She said "We need to put in 9 cups oatmeal". 9 CUPS!! OK, so we start dumping, 1 by 1, 9 cups of oatmeal into the mixer. After all nine cups, the Kitchen Aid was starting to slow down, and I was thinking "OK come on Kitchen aid!! Keep going...lets see if you were really worth all $300!" The mixing bowl was full, all the way to the top. So Julie says to me "Umm...I forgot to add the sugars" OK, um, I have a mixing bowl chocked full and you want to add sugar NOW?? So I took Kinley and told her to add the sugars. Julie, being the virgin cookie maker she is, doesn't gradually add the 3 cups brown/2 cups white sugar. She pulls the stir stick out of the mixing bowl, dumps all 5 cups sugar, 1 cup M&M's, 1 cup chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup coconut into the mixing bowl and says "OK, I'm ready for you to come mix" I walk into the kitchen to find this HEAPING PILE of cookie crap spilling over mixing bowl. There was NO room for me to even lower the mixing stick into the bowl! There was no way my Kitchen Aid would mix all of this. It was literally falling out all over the place (see photos below). Julie's only suggestion was "Maybe we should add some milk or water." WHAT?? Yeah we are not doing that! We ended up splitting the dough into 2 bowls and mixing it by hand, literally. So we are already about 1 hour into this process and we haven't even started baking yet! Let me show you where we are at this point:

the spillage, or part of it...

only half the dough...

julie hand mixing...

Not knowing exactly how 'big' these cookies would get in the oven, we decided to do a trial run and put 4 regular sized ones on a sheet and cook them. Well this is how those turned out:

We continued cooking and cooking and trying new things and cooking and cooking till finally at 9:30 we said screw it and put the remaining dough in the fridge. As we started putting the baked cookies in a zip lock bag, it became clear to us that we didn't make 'monster cookies' but rather 'monster granola' because the cookies were all broken into small pieces!

This one we call the 'monster doughnut'!

This reminds me of the time I made cookies for the first time on my own. Trevor and I were living in Moses Lake and he wanted chocolate chip cookies. I was doing really good, until I came to the part of adding 1 tsp baking soda and realized I didn't have any. Well, its only 1 tsp, what can it really hurt if i don't add it? And when the cookies didn't rise and baked as thin as pie crust, I realized that the baking soda was what helped the cookies become cookies! HA, who would have guessed!!

Do blondes really have more fun?

So last Friday I decided to start my 'Cheap Eats' blog chain. Well, I'm a little ashamed to say that, after only 1 entry, I'm already bored with that. Trevor told me that I am easily entertained, and distracted so maybe this is proof that he is somewhat right (dont tell him!). I wanted to write about something going on with me because I think its easier (who am I kidding, whats easier than cutting and pasting). So Julie has been living with us since October while she is going to Gene Juarez Acadamy of Hair. I must say, having a beauty school student living with you totally changes the way you will look at your hair. I have never cut, conditioned, sprayed, teased, back combed, and colored my hair more in all my life! It seems like every week I'm doing something new. Julie even got Trevor to cut his hair that he's been growing for about 10 months (she cut 6 1/2 inches off and its still pretty long). Through the years, I've been Red, I've been Blonde and I've been Brunette. I really have enjoyed all three colors for different reasons.I've been sporting my natural color, which is fairly dark. Lately, I have been paying a lot of attention to peoples hair color, and I've decided that I really want to be something I like to call "Blondette!" What do you guys think? I guess I should clearify what 'blonde' is for me:

This was my hair color:

And this is what I want:

Anyways, it seems as if every blonde I meet lately, lives it up! What I mean by that, is that they are always happy, smiling, stylish...and SKINNY! What gives? Maybe blonde hair is the magical secret to style, happiness and being slim! Something tells me that if I make an appointment with my hair stylist, she might not live up to my expectations! Hmmm...something to ponder?

Is it light thinking or easily ammused?

Trevor says I'm easily ammused...

1) Motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding .08!
2) Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
3) Some parts of the world protect their babies from disease by bathing them in beer.
4) The word ‘gymnasium’ comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means ‘to exercise naked.’
5) There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee. Of these, only 26 have been tested, and half caused cancer in rats.
6) The average American eats at McDonalds more than 1,800 times in their life.
7) A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day.
8) There are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world.
9) According to U.S. FDA standards, 1 cup of orange juice is allowed to contain 10 fruit fly eggs, but only 2 maggots.
10) Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the morning.
11) Strawberries have more Vitamin C than oranges.
12) You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
13) It is possible to go blind from smoking too heavily.
14) Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
15) You are about 1 centimeter taller in the morning than in the evening!
16) During your lifetime, you’ll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that’s the weight of about 6 elephants.
17) If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb!
That last one is pretty gross. Imagine a tyrant harvesting fart gas with a factory full of fart slaves…

I think I just tend to think lightly of things...

The Popcorn Mystery...

So last night was basically an ordinary Sunday night. I made Trevor a sandwich for work, picked up the house, and put Kinley to bed just in time to sit down and watch Desperate Housewives (we were a little excited since it hasn't been on for 3 weeks). After the show, we turned off all the lights and went to bed. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow, and Gabbie was right before me because I remember falling asleep to her snoring. Speaking of, Trevor and I have this little race to fall asleep first because once one of us goes...the forest logging begins!! Well, I thought we all went to sleep, hunky dory, and that was that. That brings us to this morning. I woke up before Kinley and decided to get the dishes done and some laundry started before my 'helper' was awake. I noticed there was a bowl on the counter with what was left of a bag of popcorn stuck in the bottom of it. Hmm...that's interesting because I don't remember Trevor eating popcorn last night. Actually, I know he didn't because he ate ice cream with me. So, who is this mystery popcorn eater? I'm a little embarrassed to admit that began wondering if someone in our house was suffering from sleep-eating syndrome (I watch 'The Doctors' ok, its a technical term)! I don't eat popcorn, which only leaves Trevor. So I wash the dish and go on with my day. Which now brings us current (well, about 15 minutes ago) when I asked Trevor how he slept last night. He look at me in disgust and said "Like Shit." I asked what was wrong and he proceeded to tell me "well, you started snoring before I had a chance to shut my eyes so I went out in the living room and watched TV until 2AM. I had me a bowl of popcorn and watch a little Jay Leno." AAAHHH HAAA!! So the mystery was solved. Trevor was my mystery popcorn eater! And he was AWAKE, which means no one in our house is suffering from sleep-eating syndrome. I felt much better.

You know, its a good thing we live in a safe neighborhood because if we EVER had a robber...neither one of us would hear a thing. As for our 'guard dog' Gabbie...she would be wining to get out and greet them with a kiss!

New Friday blog

I have been having a really hard time lately thinking of things to 'blog' about. Like seriously, is my life this freaking boring...I cant even think of anything to make up! I look forward to reading everyones blogs everyday, including Nikki, who gave me an idea. She does 'flashback fridays' which is actually quite entertaining (dont worry Nikki, the 80's wernt kind to any of us!). So her Friday blog gave me an idea for a Friday blog...CHEEP EATS FRIDAY! I know everyone is probably sick of hearing about the recession that we are in, or headed towards, but I think its a good idea for us all to step back and take a look at our lifestyles. I would guess that 90% of Americans dont live within their means. Which is why I am going to start highlighting one eatery every Friday that has amazing food for a good price. (ok, so I just read this back to me and it sounds like I'm doing a segment on the TODAY show, but bear with me!)


I was contemplating, while in the shower, on a good resteraunt to kick it off with. I mean, we all know that all the fast food chains have jumped on the $1 menu band wagon, but I want this to be more than that. Thats why I decided to start this weeks Cheep Eats Friday with....

Come on...its Dicks. Who doesnt love Dicks! But why such affection for a hamburger joint? Maybe its the owners' personal commitment to doing good business and offering employees much higher than average starting wages, health benefits, childcare allowances, and college education incentives.In short, there seems to be a real human being behind the business.

*Dicks is great, just dont count the calories, carbs, fat (both saturated and unsaturated), cholesterol, sodium or sugars!

Is this all thats left in our communication?

I love useless information. And I love asking myself questions that really have no answer. Last night, Trevor walked in from outside and saw me doing the dishes. The first thing he says to me is "Whacha doin?" Like did he really expect me to answer that? "hmm...I think I'm mowing the lawn!" Maybe its a habit, like the fact that if its not a cup or a plate he has no idea where to find it. I swear if he needed the can opener and I wasnt here to tell him where it was, he would probably go out to the garage, find one of his tools and open the can! It has really been driving me nuts lately. So after thinking about all the stupid things he asks me EVERYDAY, I decided to think of a few things to ask him..

How can there be self-help “groups”?

Did you ever notice that if you blow in a dogs face it goes mad, yet when you take him on a car ride he sticks his head straight out the window?

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Why are there locks on the doors to the convenience store that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year?

Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?


Needless to say, he didnt get the correlation between the two. Actually, it probably just pissed him off that I was so called 'making fun of him' but seriously...think about it. He saw me doing the dishes, just like he he saw me starting the laundry and vacuum, but he still continues to ask "whacha doin". O well, I guess at least we are still communicating, because I know even though I pointed this out to him, he will do the same thing today!

The "Bunny" Came!

What a great Easter weekend. We headed out to Wilbur Friday afternoon. Trevor, who normally enjoys doing the shopping, didnt get around to it, so Kinley and I had to stop and do the "bunny's" shopping before we got on the road. I'll get to what we picked up a little later. I first have to explain how her first egg hunt went. Every year, Wilbur does an egg hunt at the golf course. The course is divided by age groups, little kids on the putting green and the older kids out on the 1st and 6th holes. Grumpa (my dad) was a little worried that she wouldnt understand, so Saturday morning, him and Kinley headed out to the yard for a little 'practice'. She was a pro! She picked up all the eggs and put them in her basket. I knew that she would do good at the real thing. So Trevor, my mom, Kinley and I load up and head to the egg hunt. It was a little awkward to look around at all the other parents there with their kids and realized that I'm part of this 'group' now. Kinley was running all over the place...she hasnt ever seen that much room to run!! When it was time to go out and get the eggs, she was still just running! We tried getting her to pick up some eggs and put them in her basket, but she was just running! After all the eggs were gone, she looked around and finally caught on, so she started walking around to the other kids baskets and taking their eggs! Luckily, we had picked up a few along the way of chasing her. It was just priceless to see her able to run and not worry about. Here are some pictures from the egg hunt...

Easter morning, the "bunny"brought her something that she really 'needed'! I say this because lately she has insisted on sitting on the couch with us. Its quite annoying because she jumps, flops, and plays with the pictures behind the couch. So the answer to that was...

And I say "BUNNY" because at our house, the "bunny" was more of a...

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My life long dream fulfilled!

So, I will try to type this without bursting out of my seat with excitment! Last night was not only the most exciting night of my life, but I fulfilled my life long dream of seeing Britney Spears in concert. I cannot even begin to explain how amazing, exhilarating, moving the whole experience was. I do have to say, to all you non Britney believers out there, that, NO, Britney does not sing all of her songs live. She did however, sing a few and she sounded better than you would think! I mean, come on...she isnt Britney Spears for nothing!! The dancing (mama can still move!), the costumes, the tricks, the whole show was really just something everyone should see for themselves. She is a true performer and a living legend (in my eyes!) and NO Julie and I didnt cry...but I did feel like passing out. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen from screaming so loud. Here are just a couple of the 200+ photos we took...

So now I sit here and think "what do I have to look forward too now?" I mean, what a bittersweet moment. I wanted nothing more than to see her, and now...its over. just like that! 5 hours of pure entertainment (PCD ROCKED TOO!) and then nothing. I feel like I need a sequel!!!

vacations...

So, now that its looking like spring has finally arrived in Western Washington, I am finding myself wishing for a vacation. Maybe its the fact that the sun has come back into my life after 5 months and thats what is making me want to go somewhere warm....no...make that HOT! I realized that its been exactly 1 year since our trip to Mexico (thank you Byan and Nikki!!) and I'm really wanting to go back. But, since the economy seems to be in a recession, all I can do is google some of the best vacation spots in the world. So here's my list...

Cozumel Mexico. Its officially next on the list!

Tialand. Just because it is a whole different country.

Greece. I got a new camera and this would be the perfect place to use it!

So that about sums up my vacation list. Maybe by the time my last kid graduated high school, I can have Trevor convinced to travel with me! If not, I'm sure there are a few friends out there that will go with me!!

Not just another day in the neighborhood!

What a weekend! Not only was it my 25th birthday on Friday, but it was beautiful weather for the first time since about last October! Mom and Dad came over, along with Trevor's parents, Marvin and Cheryl. It was nice to hang out with everyone. We went out for pizza in Sumner on Saturday night and then had a few people back at our house that night. Sunday, Mom and Dad left early and Trevor and I got right out into the yard and pulled weeds, mowed, and planted flowers. It finally looks like spring in our yard! I must say, Kinley LOVES the yard! she runs and plays...eats dirt and gravel of course...it was just soo fun to see her run around the yard. This summer is going to be so much fun with her! (we just have to keep the dog poop picked up!) Here are a few pictures from our sunday afternoon...

Trevor hooked up her new swing. she LOVES it!

Kinley running to Daddy! She had SOO much fun!!

Lost her shoe. she is yelling for someone to come and put it back on!

I guess its time to start blogging.

So after carefull consideration, I have decided that I should start 'blogging'. Ok, so who am I trying to kid...it doesnt take a whole lot of convincing to get me to try a new website. Lets see, I have Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and now a blogspot! HA! Maybe I'm just trying to keep up with technology. Now that I'm a mom, I need to make sure I keep ahead of the times so my 16 month old daughter doesnt pass me up by the age of 3. No, basically I have 2 people to thank for this new found adventure...Nikki and Chantel. I should say that Trevor thanks you, as he sees it as just one more distraction for me to keep from getting my 'work' done around the house. PLEASE!! As long as Kinley still has all her body parts by the end of the day, I consider it a day well spent! :)

So I guess this is my first blog so I should run thru a quick update on my life. Dont worry, for all you workers out there I will keep it short and sweet. Trevor is still at DBM and love/hating every day. Hey, it pays the bills and lets me stay home with my baby. Which basically covers me. I stay home and make sure that everything is taken care of. Kinley turned 1 in November and is getting SO funny! love her!! Julie (my little sis) is staying with us and going to Gene Juarez. What a great joy its been to have her around. Good times!! Alright, thats it. Thats our life in a nut shell, basically, just like my headline says "all of it is ordinary to everyone but me"!