"This Girl Rocks!!"

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Click here to see the awesome photos

Kyla took of Rick, Ann and Paul.

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I've had a nasty cold for the past two weeks.

Mealtime has been a bit hit and miss since the cough medicine

with Codine kicks in right about 4 p.m.

Yesterday, I felt like cooking, so I had a little

visit with Ree. Her recipes are oh-so-not

low-fat, but they are oh-so tasty!

I tried the Chicken Spaghetti.

It was delicious, and even better as leftovers.

I also made Snickerdoodle Bars (not from Ree's book).
We kept one for each of us and sent the rest
to work with Bob. They are delicious!
And so much easier than making cookies.

~~

As requested, here is the recipe.

Thanks, AmyS, for sharing it with me.

Snickerdoodle Bars

~

2 & 1/3 cups flour

1 & 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cups butter or marg, softened

1 & 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla
~

Cinnamon Filling

1 tbsp granulated sugar (I increased to 1 1/2 tbsp)

1 tbsp cinnamon

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Glaze

(I didn't use the glaze...it's yummy w/out)

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp vanilla

~

Heat oven to 350. Spray or grease the bottom only of a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

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Beat butter on high speed until creamy. Beat in sugars. Gradually add eggs and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed until combined.

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Spoon 1/2 of the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with Cinnamon Filling evenly over batter. Dallop teaspoons of remaining batter evenly over Cinnamon Filling. Gaps are o.k.; they let the filling peek through leaving a fun marbled look. (no need to spread out the tsps as you put them on...they'll spread out as it cooks).

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Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, about one hour.

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In a small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over bars.

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{Bake these on a cold dreary day; the smell will perk you right up!}

Finally, finally, finally!
This afternoon, I got tired of seeing boxes everytime
I'd open my craftroom door.
It was so much easier to just leave it closed. :)
Everything is finally put away,
and it's open for use!
Please stop by and join me!
There's not much extra space in
here, but it opens up into the great room downstairs where there's
lots of room for worktables.


There's a lot of stuff in here...
scrapbooking, card making, sewing,
supplies for making hair bows, etc.
I love that it's all in one place.

Making good use of the original shelves.

AmyS made me this "Create" banner.
Isn't it perfect over the sewing machine?

I used the remainder of the IKEA fabric (already used for

curtains) to cover a bulletin board for me and

one for Emma.

Emma's space.

She was so excited to FINALLY get to use it today.

~~

Off to create!

Happy long weekend to all.

Published!

Ryan came home last week with a book of poems

that was published by the school district.

It was for a project called, "Elementary

Writing Without Walls." Each student wrote a poem,

and the school district chose which ones would be

included in the publication. Ryan's school had to write

recipes for Compassion.

~~

Compassion Pizza

2 grams happiness

2 grams caring

2 grams responsibility

2 grams good choices

Stir

Bake at 350 degrees

Eat greedily

Farmer's Market

Mom, Emmalee and I spent our soggy Saturday morning

at the Farmer's Market.

This was the strangest sight. Here we were, in the middle of downtown, in the pouring rain, and this guy's sitting on a sofa enjoying the view.

Emma joined in a game of marbles.

These kids sure were quiet!

This was our favorite booth.

Each one was different, and her prices were awesome!

I can imagine this booth on a sunny day...light flashing everywhere!

This one jumped in my bag and made it's way home with me.

And this one appeared in Emma's room.

I spent the day today sitting in a doctor's waiting room...waiting.

(Yes, I'm fine. I was transportation and moral support for someone else, who is also fine)

As I waited, I watched.

Do you ever people-watch?

I was sitting in a cardiology office, so most of the people coming in

for treatment were older. Most came with someone else...either a spouse or an adult child or caregiver. Some were very quiet...subdued.

They had been dealt a lot in life that had wiped them out.

They sat and they waited for news...hoping for good but likely

anticipating bad.

Others smiled, chatted, and people-watched me and the rest of the room.

They were here for the same reason, maybe even dealt the same

lot, but they were still kicking...still fighting.

One gentleman brought in his wife. As they were waiting, he read

the one section of the paper that was next to his chair. And then he sat and waited. His wife was called back. The remainder of the newspaper was on the other side of the waiting room (where I had read it earlier that morning). I got up, retrieved he paper and handed it to him. He looked at me with a suprised look on his face as I sat back down across from him. As I started reading my book again, he asked why I had been kind to him. I replied that it sure made the world a better place.

He said that most people weren't like that...that they wouldn't have chosen to be kind. As I settled back in, I thought on this.

When we lived in Portland, I would spend a few Saturdays each year scrapbooking at a friend's house. In her bathroom, placed where you could not miss it, was a sign that read, "Be kind to others. We don't know what battles they are fighting."

I think back on this often because it's so true. Sometimes it's so easy to

ignore others...to just walk on, looking straight ahead, totally

wrapped up in what's going on in our own little box. But, oh, to take the time to look outside of the box at those around us. Just a little smile, a kind word, can do so much for someone who's having a bad day,

or week, or even year. Just that one moment might make

a bright spot in an otherwise bleak existence.

I hope that I always take the time...

When 5 + 3 = MESS!

Cousin Paul (and his parents), came to visit this weekend.

His mom and I left the dads in charge of three-year-old and the

five-year-old while we took a much needed trip to

the 10,000 square feet scrapbook store in town.

~~

When we got home,

this...

is...

what...

we...

discovered...

that a five-year-old plus a three-year-old

equals MESS!

At The Races

Last Saturday, we met Mom and Dad, John and Donna and Violet at the races. This was the perfect weekend to go. It wasn't too hot, the Monster Truck was there and they had awesome fireworks.

We all had a good time.

Emma got lots of new driver signatures on her racing hat.

Getting a closer look.

Violet, Mom and Dad

New grandparents, John and Donna.

Bob and Ryan (he's got quite the goofy look on his face)

Me and Emmalee

This thing was HUGE and very LOUD!

It was pretty cool to watch it run over cars and boats.

After the races, we went to the pit to see the cars and drivers

This girl is 15 years old...she won third place.

It's amazing that someone who can't legally drive on the road

can drive like this with the adult male drivers.

Emma got to sit in another of the female driver's cars.

This mother of three also got third place in a different class of cars.

Ryan's hat is almost full...there's not a lot of room to

write on his since it's black. This was the driver who took first.

Good reads

This was the view in our living room last Friday night about 10:30.

Bob was on one couch reading Book Three of the Fablehaven

series, and Ryan was on the other reading Book Two of the same

series. It must be really good to be enjoyed by both a 3?-year-old and a nine-year-old!

Happy third birthday, Aislyn!

On Saturday afternoon, Emmalee and I headed out to the country

to celebrate Aislyn's third birthday.

Em & Em

I love her sweet little cheeks and her pigtails.

Maverick really likes cake!

See that little girl there in the front with the red shirt on?

I don't know who she belongs to, but she's a little cheater!

See how far ahead she is? She went on "Get Set."

Someone really should talk to her parents!

Cake, presents, bubbles, friends and sunshine.

Could it get any better?

Getting a little help from Auntie Kyra