for love of my sister

Occasionally I am creative. But not very often. I mean if you need someone to come do some graffiti on your school or church I may be able to do that. This is not true of my mom and sister though. They are artists. Not sure why I missed out on this gene and instead got the kidney stone gene but that is another story. Anyway, my sister just opened up a store at etsy. She has just a couple items out right now but I want you to go check her out, bookmark her, send her link to everyone you love, Oh and buy from her. :) Think stocking stuffers.


Want to know what this? Go check it out.
godizlife's store

fall

I love the fall. I love the colors on the trees. The sounds the leaves make. I love the weather-blue skies and cooler days. I love back to school routines. And I love that it seems to usher in THE Holidays. I am so ready for them. Good food, lots of family and friends, buying presents, Christmas music, Christmas programs. It is all so much fun.

So you can imagine what an avid reader does on a fall day that seems to be ushering THE Holidays in. Yep, searching Amazon for some good Christmas books. I like to collect a good 10 and then read them over the next 2 months. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know a few of you also like Christmas books so hopefully we can all help each other.

love my kids

This week has been no picnic for my kids. A mom who does nothing, absolutely nothing, but lie on a couch is not fun. But they have behaved and they have stepped up. Of course my mother in law has helped some with that. They have loved spending extra time at her house. Right now they are making a fort in the living room and having a grand time. It is so nice to have kids that are old enough and responsible enough to get their own lunch, find things to do by themselves, bring me things. I am so proud of my kiddos.

elbow grease

Our dishwasher is broken. A few days ago I heard sounds so I opened it up and there was a fire. I quickly closed the door and steam came out of every crack. I tried to turn it off but that wasn't working. Every time we opened the door the water would whip around the room. It would have been quite humorous if it wasn't very annoying. Ben was able to have the circuit turned off and then shut it off. It smelled so bad and even now terrible burnt smells can be found wafting through the kitchen. I don't want to buy a new one because they are so expensive, so until I find a great sale we will be hand washing. Do you guys know if there is a time of year when appliances are a good price? Until then my kids might be learning what it was like for most of us as children to wash dishes after dinner every night.

still waiting

Last week we painted over the kids' rubber ducky yellow bathroom, including a yellow ceiling. It is a boring, calm beige now. I am so thankful we (we said loosely as Ben painted it) did that as I have spent more time in their bathroom over the last two days and I am pretty sure that the yellow would not have been a fun color to be sick in.

I know some of you have heard that passing kidney stones is similar to child birth. Here is another thing. I am so sick that not very much sounds good but I have a strange craving for mashed potatoes and gravy. Weird I know.

Kidney Stones (4 of them)

I had a visit to the ER this morning. I don't really want to post about the whole thing now but need to get a post in for today. So please pray that I pass these kidney stones with minimal pain, as it has been very painful so far.

Big Ginger Cookies

I have tried a few years, and accomplished last year, to blog every day in the month of November. I will give it the ol' college try again this November. I will start you all off with a recipe I needed to email a friend and decided it was worth sharing with ya'll. It is a great Holiday cookie and most men love this recipe.

Martha's
(as in Stewart
not Wilson)
Big Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 cup (2 sticks) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
1/2 cup sanding or granulated sugar

Directions
1.Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (I like parchment paper with these so don't cut this step out), and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice, and white pepper; set aside.
2.In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter with light-brown and granulated sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg; mix well. Add the reserved dry ingredients, and beat until just combined. Form dough into a ball, and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
3.Remove dough from refrigerator. Using an ice-cream scoop, shape dough into 2-inch-diameter balls. Pour sanding sugar into a large bowl, and roll balls in sanding sugar, coating well. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, spaced 4 inches apart; flatten each into a 3-inch-diameter disk.
4.Transfer to oven, and bake until brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

I will say that I like these cookies soft. I usually add potato bread to the container I store these in as they help keep them soft and sometimes make them even softer.

And the above picture is not one I took. The cookies do look JUST like these but I don't take pictures of the foods I make. I found one online and "borrowed" it.