p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c

The last time I posted was in January?!  How in the word did that happen?!  I'm out of control.  Acutally lots has been going on so I might have an excuse but probably not a great one.  I now promise to do better.  Today was the last day of school so I'll have ALL summer to keep this thing updated!  Yippee!

More to come.....

oh HAPPY day....

My dreams have come true - today is a SNOW DAY!!!  I got the call at 4:45 this morning and I think I just kept whispering "yeah"....."yeah" as I fell back asleep, at least that's what Dreamy James said this morning.  Whether you have a snow day or not, enjoy the day all!

please let it be a snow day.....

It's snowing....which means that I'm hoping for a snow day!  I'm pretty sure that when I was in school it never crossed my mind that my teachers might hope for snow days too.  Well....this teacher is hoping for a snow day!  PLEASE! 

the s-word

Now....get your minds out of the gutters!  I don't mean THAT s-word, I mean the word that every gardener is dreaming of about this time of year.....spring!  Someone dared to utter that word the other day and I could tell that I started to WISH that spring was closer than it actually is!  This picture was taken last spring, it's Aiden pretending that he is a birdie, please note that his little feet are pulled up on the branch.  He was so dedicated to the role that when he lept off his branch he moved his arms likes wings and ran to the next branch and once again sat on a perch.  Oh to have the imagination of a two year old!

Happy New Year!

all is right with the world

The cookie jar has been filled, the moon and stars have aligned and all is right with the world. A full cookie jar is a quick way to make Dreamy James a happy camper. And I figured that since he has gutted and is redoing our bathroom, he deserves some cookie goodness. According to Dreamy James there is only ONE type of cookie and that is the classic Chocolate Chip Cookies. In fact, he loves them so much that instead of cake at our wedding we had chocolate chip cookies. That's right folks....I made roughly 45 DOZEN chocolate chip cookies. The freezer was packed and Dreamy James had a very difficult time staying out of it. Little did he know I had planned on his weakness and made several extra dozen just for him....but shhhhh...don't tell him!



The recipe I always use comes from a book called, Alpha-Bakery Children's Cook Book, which is produced by Gold Medal flour. The inside cover of the book says "1988 Happy 5th Birthday Danae and Happy Cooking, with Love, Grandpa & Grandma Unruh" It makes my heart happy every time I pull this cookbook out and use it. It's filled with sweet memories of hours spent with my Grandma baking up a storm. So...in the spirit of cookie goodness, let me pass this recipe on!



Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup margarine or butter (but I always use butter flavored crisco - try it, trust me it makes all the difference)

1 egg

1- 1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I never put them in, but feel free if ya fancy that sort of thing!)

1 package (6 oz) chocolate chips (I always eyeball this, sometimes you just need more than 6 oz of chocolate in your life)



1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix the sugars, crisco and egg, next mix in the flour, baking soda and salt. Last mix in the chocolate chips.

3. The dough should be stiff enough that you can roll the dough into balls.

4. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until golden brown

5. One recipe will make about 24 cookies.

6. Scarf them down and enjoy! :)

nothing says Christmas like....

a table decked out in Christmas cheer! I love this time of year, everyone seems to be in a good mood and everyone seems to try and behave since Santa is watching. Another thing I love about this time of year are the decorations! This is the only time you can deck the house out in fun decorations and go over the top. The first thing I love to fix up is the dinning room table. I try to keep the table cleaned off and neatly decorated throughout the year while keeping it functional. Well, at Christmas time that theory flies out the window - I dress that table up good!

I'm a sucker for table linens and then on top of that I'm a sucker for anything vintage, so when something is vintage AND table linens, well....I'm a goner! I found this tablecloth in an antique store in Texas and I just decided my life could not go on if it didn't come home with me...ok well that's probably a little extreme but I did fall in love with it. It reminds me of something my Grandma would have had on her table and that makes me happy so I decided it needed to be in my life!

Enjoy the wonderful and beautiful season of Christmas and New Years- many blessings to you all!