Ask for pink state of Texas cookies...



get pink state of Texas cookies!

I would give you one, but they're for Azina's going-away party. She's moving to my house next weekend!

firsts, part ii

And the winner of the first package? A tie! Jadyn's shoes and my anniversary present arrived at the same time on Tuesday. The curriculum arrived the next day.

I love this plate! And it was engraved by the artist.

But never fear! There are more exciting firsts to report!

Last night I made the first new recipe I've tried in my new kitchen - my mom's beef and noodles (homemade noodles!), except I made it with venison. The noodles were fabulous, and I'm told the venison was good, too.

(Curious what the last new recipe I tried in the old house was? Molten chocolate lava cakes. Definitely a high note to go out on!)

The most recent first? Today, right before naptime, was the first time the girls locked everyone out of the rooms. Their bedroom and the boys' bedroom connects via a bathroom, and they locked all the doors and pulled them shut behind them. Awesome. Consequently, I took apart a doorknob for the first time for a reason besides painting! Time to take those Lois Lane lock-picking classes...

firsts

Two weeks ago, we moved into our new house. It has, logically, led to a series of firsts that we have experienced recently. It's the kind of thing that OCD nerds like me keep track of.

This house has a gas stove, which is new to me. The first thing I cooked on it was omelets, successfully, I might add.

The first dinner we had for our Friday night Bible study was tortilla soup and sopapilla cheesecake, which makes sopapilla cheesecake the first thing I baked in my shiny new oven.

Last night, to celebrate Lisa's triumph over her last exam for her master's degree, we had the chocolate fountain for the first time in the new house.

I'm waiting to see what the first package to arrive at my house will be - Jadyn's new Crocs (her feet finally grew!), our new homeschool curriculum (which I am very excited about!), or our anniversary present (which I am also very excited about!).

As for the boxes...well, there are at least a few rooms where there are no boxes. That's all I can say...

movin' to the country/gonna eat a lot of...cookies

Ever wondered what 116 decorated sugar cookies look like?

Wonder no more!


And some close-up shots.


Do you want some cookies? All you have to do is volunteer on a Creekside Christian Fellowship children's ministry team!

In other news, go to my mom's blog and help her name her business! She's giving out a prize, which you get to pick too!

different...but the same

I just finished my lunch.

What was it?

A couple of spoonfuls of chunky peanut butter and a caffeine free pepsi.

Seriously.

What is blogworthy about that?

It's basically the same lunch I had for the entirety of my senior year in high school.

I seriously kept a jar of peanut butter in the top of my locker, and I would grab a plastic spoon (from the journalism room, I think) and sit at my locker and have peanut butter for lunch. I think I usually had a Dr. Pepper, too. Often my friend Michelle would join me for at least part of the time with her own jar of peanut butter. Why, you ask, did we eat peanut butter for lunch? I have no idea. It seemed like a perfect logical and reasonable thing to do at the time.

And you know what? It seems like a perfect logical and reasonable thing to do now. (I'm a semi-vegetarian. I'll take the protein wherever I can get it!)

It's fascinating to me how much my life has changed since high school but how much of me is still the same. It's even better rediscovering some of those things that I loved to do (or eat!) that are just as great now as they were then. Fanfic, for example. Joe laughs at me, but it doesn't really matter. Not just any fanfic, of course. Lois & Clark fanfic. I suspect that part of the reason that Joe laughs at me is because he was never really into the show. It's cool because it was/is a show that you either were totally into or you weren't at all. Yes, the show ended in 1997, and yes, there are still people (a lot of them!) writing stories based on the show/characters. And yes, there are still new ideas. Besides that, it's a great fandom - the people are nice.

By the way, I miss my friend Michelle. The last time I talked to her was at least 2, maybe 3 children ago. So if anyone knows her, tell her I miss her!

I love birthday month!

Before I get to the 30 Rock Tour present of the day, I have to share this:


Isn't it beautiful?!? I know, I have a depth of field problem (at least, I think that's what the problem is) in this picture, but I'm pretty sure I would have been lynched had I fussed around taking pictures of this cheesecake rather than letting everyone have a piece. This is the very first plain cheesecake I have ever made, and it turned out beautifully. And not only did it look good, it tasted amazing. I mentioned before that I'm better at baking than cooking because I'm better at things that require precision. This is Alton Brown's cheesecake recipe. That may not mean anything to you, but if there is anyone more concerned with precision than I am, it would be him. Plus his show amuses me. The really great thing is that this cheesecake wasn't even hard to make. I still have a few pieces left, so if you really want some and can make it to my house today, you can have one.

Now back to our regularly scheduled 30 Rock Tour.

Just in case you were getting a little bored, today's present will shake things up!



Okay, so maybe not that much. But it is in a bag instead of being wrapped! Unfortunately, that also means I don't have any guesses for your entertainment.



Hot chocolate mix! Yum! And do you see the tiny whisk? It's so cute!

Sorry, better now. But I do love the tiny whisk.