Spin Cycle: Cookie Deliciousness

 

For this week's Spin Cycle brought to you by Gretchen at Second Blooming, I am recylcing a post that I wrote back in 2010.  She has asked that we share our favorite cookie recipes in the spirit of the holidays.  Now, I'm not much of a baker.  If I "make" cookies it usually involves those premade, pre-cut ones you get at the grocery store.  Occasionally I'll get the bug and make a pie or something like that.  But each Thanksgiving and Christmas I do make a habit to make these cookies - Pumpkin chocolate chip.

 

 

When I first heard the name of these cookies I thought it would be disgusting, but trust me, these are delicious.  They have a cake-like consistency, and they are always a hit at holiday parties.  So here's the recipe:

 

 

Needed ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup of softened butter

15 oz can of pumpkin puree

2 tsp of vanilla

4 cups of flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

What you need to do:

Preheat oven to 375

Mix sugar, butter, pumpkin and vanilla together in large bowl

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and cinnamon together

Stir in the flour mixture into the creamed mixture

Stir in the chocolate chips

Drop by tsp onto a non-greased baking sheet

Bake 12-15 minutes

Enjoy! (after they cool, of course, but they are pretty tasty when warm)

 

 

Back in 2010 I ended up making a TON of these, and actually last year I made so many I had to freeze a bag of them.  And even thawed a year later they were still delicious.  I made fresh ones for T's family at Thanksgiving, though.  So here's the picture of the final product I took back in 2010:

 

 

 

So there you have it - my one holiday cookie recipe! 

 

 

Stop by and say hi to Gretchen and see what other delicious cookie recipes bloggers have to share! 

Leaving on a jet plane

 

I have been dreading today for a while.   Today I’m leaving on a jet plane for a work trip to Washington, D.C.  I’ll be away from T and Aubrey for three whole nights, leaving this morning and returning on Saturday late afternoon.  While normally I’d be excited to visit our nation’s capital, and in the past, this would be my idea of a dream location for a work trip.  But…leaving Aubrey and T?  It makes me want to throw myself on the ground kicking “I don’t wanna go! I don’t wanna go!”  But, I have to do it. 

People keep saying I should enjoy the time just to myself, and I do plan on visiting a few people – my cousin and a dear friend of mine from law school – while in D.C., I will miss kissing those cute little cheeks and getting Aubrey kisses.  And I’ll miss lying next to Tat night and giving him a kiss before we fall asleep. 

I also feel really badly about leaving T to fend for himself with Aubrey for those three nights.  Sure, three of the four days she will be at daycare, but still…with the teething and us weaning her off of her pacifier compounded with separation anxiety, she can be quite the handful.  I’m sure by the time Saturday evening rolls around he’ll want to be like “here!” handing her over to me so he can get some peaceful moments to himself. 

But I have to think positive.  I’ll be learning a lot over these next few days at this conference, and I’ll be getting to catch up with old friends and see the city.  And I feel incredibly selfish for saying this, but I will be baby free at night for three nights.  I’ll miss her so much, but I should probably take advantage of that.  Now will I actually do this?  I’ll let you all take bets on that. 

I’ll be writing posts for Thursday and Friday ahead of time, so it’ll be like I never left at all! J

   

Saving the money

I have discovered a new way to save a ton of money and get Aubrey new and cute stuff.  Yeah, yeah, it’s not like I’m the only woman who has ever done this but this past weekend, I have discovered the beauty of secondhand shops. 

 

T’s parent’s town has a number of pretty great consignment shops, and T’s Mom took me to a couple of them on Black Friday.  See, instead of chasing down the deals at Target or Wal-Mart, I chose to hit the consignment shops.  Considering how quickly Aubrey is growing, now well into 18 month clothes, it almost isn’t worth it to buy new clothes for her.  We do buy new outfits, yes, but it’s hard to keep up.  The daycare needs three outfits for when she has “accidents,” and keeping up with all of that laundry isn’t always easy.  And we needed a winter coat for the Aubster and a snow suit for when she gets to play in her first snow.   And dude!  It’s amazing what I found.  Granted, you have to really dig around, but I got her two winter coats, her Christmas Eve dress (basically in brand new condition), two PJ’s for Christmas and Christmas Eve, a snow suit, and a whole number of shirts and outfits.  Plus, we got a whole bunch of toys for her, as well.  T’s Mom is a super cleaner so she cleaned the heck out of the toys and outfits.  And we seriously dug around to get stuff that looked as good as new and some still with the tags on them.  So I walked away pretty stoked with my haul.  I’m thinking I need to locate a few stores like these in our town.   

 

And yeah, yeah…I’m sure I’m not the first woman in the history of mankind who has discovered consignment stores, but I’m pretty excited.  Gotta love saving money! 

     

Motivation Monday

 

 

Welcome back and happy motivation Monday, folks!  So I had a completely different blog post written when I first composed a post on Friday night over break.   It was all about how I had eaten badly and how my motivation was to get back on track.  Yeah, that was until about one hour later when I was struck with the stomach flu.  T and I spent the night hugging the toilet and laying in the fetal position in bed not getting any sleep at all and cursing our daughter who we think had a small bug on Thanksgiving and gave us a full blown puke fest the following day.  Thanks, Aubrey!

 

So we spent the entire day on Saturday lying around at T’s parent’s house watching football and barely drinking and not eating anything.  So my concern about any extra starch or alcohol adding pounds onto me just went away. 

 

But that isn’t to say I don’t have motivation this week.  Before being hit by the plague, I did go for a run with T’s Dad.  I was all gung ho to do it again on Saturday, and I think in my delirium I actually said to T “I’ll still be able to run in the morning” shortly after getting sick.  Yes, I am just that determined.

 

This week I am going on a work trip.  I don’t want to go on this work trip, but it’s mandatory.  One of the things I hate about conferences like these is you have to eat what they give you basically, which is hotel/conference food.  And you’re pretty much sedentary the entire day.  So I will make sure to get up early each day I’m there and take advantage of the gym facilities and try my best to eat the best I can, considering the circumstances.    Oh and not get the stomach flu again.  Because I can’t explain how much that truly sucked.  Not getting to enjoy a nice brew while watching Rivalry Weekend football?  Blasphemy, I tell you. 

 

So that’s my motivation for the week – what’s yours?  Join in on the motivating fun by writing a post of your own, linking up to this blog and leaving a link to your own in the comments.  Let’s get motivated! 

 

And let’s get motivated, Nain, to get through 3.5 days away from my Aubster….

   

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Nain, T, and Aubrey, we'd like to wish you all a very happy and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday!  We will be spending the weekend with family up in Michigan, relaxing and no, not going to the Black Friday madness.  Those of you who will - Godspeed and don't do anything illegal.  Because, no, I will not be your attorney.  :-)

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

 

   

Thankful for the broken road

In my short life of 31 years, I've had my fair share of ups and downs.  Sure, I've made reference to these before, but there have been tough times, good times, heart breaks and great love.   People have always told me "there's a reason for everything," and honestly, when I used to hear that, I'd want to just tell them to shut up.  Because really, usually the people saying that were the same people who seemed to have everything going for them.  Of course, everything has a plan.  I mean, everything has a plan when everything is rainbows and ponies and butterfliers in your world, right?  Not when you feel like someone ripped out your heart and stomped on it before setting the whole damn thing on fire. 


Ok, graphic....I digress...



But as I have grown older and learned more, tough lessons, good lessons, grown wiser, I've realized that this is entirely true.  Everything happens for a reason. 



Shortly after T and I became engaged, my sister made us a mixed CD.  It was from this CD where we found our first dance song.  Of course, this wasn't the song we picked, but I recall playing the CD on our way home from my parent's house after celebrating our engagement and this song came on.  T and I weren't saying much at the time, just listening to the music and the words of the song.  And I found tears forming in my eyes, out of nowhere.   Because it's like this song was written just for me.  It's like someone took a picture of my past and said "hey, let's make a song about this!"  It hit so close to home. 


 I truly believe that like the song goes:  every heart break was a star, guiding me home to T.  If I hadn't gone through the life experiences I had, I would never have met T when I did.  I wouldn't have been ready to be with him and have the kind of relationship we have had I not gone through other experiences.  It was all part of God's master plan.


And I'm sure some people are like "whatever, this is total B.S."  And yes, at one point in time I would totally agree with you. 



But I think I had to go through all of those difficult times to truly appreciate what I have - true and unconditional love.  At one point in time, yes, I thought my world was ending, that I would never love again.  And I held such resentment in my heart for those who had hurt me. 



But the amazing thing, as soon as I met T and fell in love, none of that hurt mattered.  I forgave.  I moved on, and I learned to appreciate everything I have been through, even those times that I look back on and think "Dear God, what was the point behind that?"



It's such a weight lifted to no longer carry that resentment.  In a way, I would rather thank those before T because without them, I would never have been guided to the one who was meant for me. 



This song still makes me cry.  And today that's what I'm thankful for - the broken road that led me straight to you.  I love you, T.








I'm linking this up to Gretchen's Spin Cycle as the thing I am most thankful for - T.  Without him, my world just wouldn't be complete.


       

Christmas in the Nain and T Household

Today I am thankful for the holiday season and the traditions it brings.  Each year, T and I take an evening to decorate, listen to some Christmas tunes (the classics, mind you, none of that stupid pop crap), and we enjoy some mulled wine.  Last year, it was warm apple cider, but this year I got to enjoy the wine again.  It was delicious.

 

 

I love the holiday season.  I love decorating for Christmas, and I love getting ornaments out to put on the tree, each one bringing a memory from the past.  We tried fruitlessly to decorate before we put Aubrey to bed, but the teething child wouldn't have it.  So we waited, but honestly, that was probably for the best.  Sorry these pictures pretty much suck.  I guess that's what I get for taking pictures at night with a cell phone, right?  But here is our tree: 

 

 

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care....

 

 

Each year, since we started dating, we get a special ornament representing the year.  This started with me buying T one about six months into dating.  The next year, we had a "Just engaged" ornament, then one celebrating our first Christmas as a married couple, and last year in our new home.  This year, of course, it was our family.  I love this ornament....

 

T's Mom also buys a name ball for every member of the family, so we have ours hung together,,,

And lastly, since we drove people crazy with not telling the name of the baby and only called her Half-pint, we got two ornaments that say Half-pint.  We hung those next to her first Christmas one with her real name on it. 

 

It looks pretty nice, if I do say so myself.  Of course, our new Beleek china Nativity Set has had to go up high, and I'm sure in the upcoming years, we won't be putting that out.  And all of the ornaments within Aubrey grabbing reach are soft.  And no poinsettias for the fireplace this year.

 

 

We were SO excited to show Aubrey the tree and to see her reaction.  She's always so curious with everything around her, so T and I got her up Sunday and took her downstairs together.  I turned on the tree, expecting a look of excitement and wonder.  What we got was this:

 

 Image courtesy of Google Images

I mean, not quite that disappointed, but not impressed for sure.  In fact, she was more interested in the two bottles of water I had carried downstairs with me and was trying to grab those rather than look at the tree.  Ah, children.  Maybe later she'll get excited.  Or in future years when Christmas starts to mean a little more to her.  But regardless, T and I are super excited to have Aubrey's first Christmas.


So I'm thankful today for holiday traditions and for decorating for Christmas.  Sure, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but since we will be out of town for the holidays and then I have a work trip the next week, it was our only opportunity.  We've decided NOT to turn on the outside lights until after Thanksgiving, of course!