by Sarah | Aug 1, 2014 | Blogging Life, Pinterest Challenge, Redefining Perfect
As a Pinterest junkie, I started this challenge a while back to make myself do more pins. Then life went berzerker and I ran out of time for anything. With my new job settling down, I decided to dive back in. Luckily my first challenge was actually done a while ago, so I’ll be doing this partly from memory, but at least I was prepared. 😉
For this challenge I settled on this pin, Softbatch Cookie Butter Brown Sugar Cookies, by Averie Cooks (I have pinned a TON of cookies from this site in all honesty…these just happened to be the first I chose.)
I’m not going to post the recipe, because it’s not mine, but you can do directly to it HERE.
I had to make some modifications, not in the ingredients, but in the size. The recipe calls for a 2Tbs cookie scoop, I only had a 1Tbs scoop. So I followed the same directions, but cooked for less time (5 minutes, I believe).
The cookies came out perfect, just like pictured on the site. They were fluffy and soft and a rich brown in color. The smell was incredible.
I didn’t even wait for them to cool down before I dove in for the first taste.
Everything promised by Averie was spot on. Light, soft, flavorful. They were so good I didn’t want to share…
But alas, I have a sixteen year old that found them just as good as I did.
Oh, and a husband that likes to find my “hidden” treats…
And so they were gone way too fast.
So clearly, the final verdict on this pin was a YAY! I plan on making these again–after I get through the full list of cookies on the Averie Cooks site. I’m sure you’ll see a few more of these in the pinterest challenges.
Again, the recipe isn’t mine, go visit Averie Cooks to get it. You will not regret it.
by Sarah | Jul 29, 2014 | All About Me, Blogging Life, Redefining Perfect, Top Ten Tuesday
I guess you could say this list was a long time coming.
I’m often stuck in the past, reminiscing about how things were. It helps that a lot of my old toys are still around the ‘rents house, some were even used by my kids.
This time around I’m going with toys I actually owned & used myself. There were a fair amount I would have killed for (like My Little Pony’s) that I never got (and now lavish on my girls…seriously, they have SO MANY PONIES).
Anyway, onto that magic list of 10 Retro Toys I owned & adored.
- Waterful Ring Toss. Yes, I know it’s horribly cheesy and simple, but I adored this game. I played it all the time at our cottage on lake Erie. Actually, we had two, but this is the one I remember clearly. The other was more of a maze. 🙂
- The Tupperware playset. My aunt sold Tupperware and our house was filled with the stuff. I didn’t just have this playset (which I used in my Holly Hobby kitchen, thank you very much), I had the miniature cake holder (which I used with my easy bake oven, yes sir, I did).
- PUFFALUMP!! My uncle worked for Fisher Price (talk about JACKPOT), so probably 85% of our toys were Fisher Price. I’ll admit to getting this gorgeous purple kitty before they were in stores (which was a rare treat…usually it was just at holidays/birthdays). I loved it almost as much as #4 here…
- Cabbage Patch Dolls, of course. That one there was my first, and her name is Daisy and I still have her. The other 5 are gone now, but Daisy was my girl. The first. And she came with a story. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE was begging for Cabbage Patch dolls, but all of the stores were sold out in Buffalo. Well, we happened to go on a hockey tournament to Toronto. Everyone was chilling in the hotel when one parent rushed in and hollered down the hall “They have Cabbage Patch at the Toys R Us!!” Mass exodus occured. ALL of the parents rushed from the hotel to go to the conveniently located toy store across the street to buy. And so Daisy showed up in her big yellow box in a hotel room in Toronto and I will never forget my excitement in that moment.
- The Fisher Price doctor kit. I used this constantly. The syringe that looked like it filled and emptied by turning the knob. The stethoscope that you could actually heard your heartbeat with. Seriously, the pain wore off the crap we played with it so much.
- Merlin. Does anyone else remember this? I had that exact version with just the spots that light up, not numbers. It kept me occupied for hours.
- Spirograph. ‘Nuff said.
- Lite Brite, of course. Didn’t we all have and love this one?
- The Millennium Falcon. This sucker is still parked in my parents garage. The sounds haven’t worked in years…but I remember every inch of the thing, and playing with it all the time.
- ATARI. Seriously. That is all. (Fav game – Pitfall, of course)
And that is it for this list. I’ll revisit retro toys and the giant wish list I had once upon a time. Of course, in this list I didn’t touch on my Barbie’s which were as dear to me as any of these toys…but they were as much present in my worls as my girls Barbie’s and Monster High Dolls!!
Speaking of which…next week I cover my favorite Monster High Dolls…(Hint-hint…Christmas is coming 😉 & I hold no shame about liking these as much as my girls and wanting some that are MINE, not theirs.)
by Sarah | Jul 9, 2014 | All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Pour Your Heart Out, Redefining Perfect
My relationship with my family has had its ups and downs. In the most recent years its been strained, to say the least.
Two years ago(ish), I cut off all contact with my brother.
All of it.
No holidays. No visits. No phone calls.
I was done.
No nephew time (and I adore my nephews).
No sis-in-law time.
Because I was hurt. The hurt was inflicted during a time I was very scared, and so it was magnified into a great pain.
One I haven’t fully recovered from, mostly because it has not been dealt with. I haven’t told my brother why.
But several weeks ago a crisis arose.
My dad’s Parkinson’s took a left turn and the world sort of turned on its head for all of us.
It brought us all together again. My brother, my parents and I all sat under the same roof to deal with the situation and where to go next.
Sometimes it takes a crisis to get over your own stubbornness, your own pride, your own pain. In those moments, all of that is forgotten in the adrenaline rush, the fear, and the chaos. Those are the rough moments, but they’re also the moments of clarity. The moments when what’s really important comes out.
Suddenly we are talking. Phone calls are being made. Family outings are being planned.
We’re taking baby steps, and I still have to sit down with my brother and explain how the rift started, how I was hurt. Our lives have been too chaotic for a good heart-to-heart.
But we’re making pathways.
Moving forward.
I feel a long-taut string loosening. One I hadn’t realized was stretched so thin.
Maybe someday soon the family will be whole again.
*~*
Written for Things I can’t Say’s Pour Your Heart Out
by Sarah | Jul 2, 2014 | All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Crap, Personal, Pour Your Heart Out, Random, Redefining Perfect
I like to act like I have all the answers.
It’s better to be in the know.
But I’m a fake.
There’s so many minutes of every day that I’m lost.
I don’t know how to handle all of the things life has thrown at me lately. Sometimes the littlest thing sets me off in a tizzy and I’m gone for hours.
My mind eventually catches up to my panic and eases my internal panic, but in the interim I’m lost.
The past month has been overwhelming in a seemingly never-ending stream of issue upon issue. Most of which I have no answers for, no way to resolve in the real world in any matter of real time.
99% of the time I do my best not to show it (this past month has been an exception).
I’m a great actress in this respect. I’m great at the “fake it ’til you make it”.
When all I want to do is cry.
Scream.
Hide.
Crawl into a dark hole until the worst passes.
I wish I had all the answers. I work better with facts. Knowledge. They say knowledge is power, and in most ways it’s true. Unfortunately, too many of the current events are great unknowns.
What will happen with my dad’s Parkinson’s?
Will my sons CF issues crop up again this year?
Will my daughter’s erupt in a way they haven’t in years?
Did we make a mistake putting the middle on meds?
Will SSI resolve fast or do I have more fight ahead?
Will my new (old) job really help us out? Or hinder us in some way?
Too many questions and not enough answers.
If I could get some solid answers, maybe I’d be better off.
Until then, I’ll keep faking it until I make it, I guess.
*~*
Written for Things I can’t Say’s Pour Your Heart Out
by Sarah | Jul 1, 2014 | All About Home, All About Me, All of Us, Crap, Random, Redefining Perfect, Top Ten Tuesday
Just over five years ago we gave up cable. Then, after a year I caved and got it again, only to cancel it again after our discount rate went away.
We sure don’t miss the cost, but there are a few things I miss .
With regular stations, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, we have plenty to watch and shows to catch up on, and other shows we can catch after a year, but some things just aren’t the same.
- DVR. There are so many times I simply forget a show is on, or something comes up and I’m not at the TV when it comes on. Worse, some shows (Hell, SYTYCD) just don’t let me catch it online “next day”. I miss the convenience of in-box DVR.
- Ghost Hunters. Inarguably the one show I miss. It’s also the one that SyFy refuses to stream in any way.
- The Dead Files. Another favorite. (Are we sensing a theme here?)
- My Ghost Story. (Seriously, I need help.)
- Nick at Night. It’s showing MY old favorites now…good shows, great reruns.
- Hell on Wheels. Yes it’s on Netflix, but first run is better.
- American Pickers. Yeah.
- Nat Geo. ‘Nuff said.
- FX.
- 100’s of channels. Always something on. (this is both a blessing and a curse. Harder to turn off the TV and, oh, I dunno…WORK.)
In the end, life is better without cable. But some days I do get waxing poetic over the whole thing.
What about you? What is your favorite thing about having, or not having, cable as the case may be? If you don’t…what do you miss most from cable?
by Sarah | Mar 30, 2014 | All About Family, All About Home, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Redefining Perfect, Sponsored
*Today’s post was sponsored by Fruitshoot. All opinions and lunch ideas are my own.
I have this special treat I love to do for my girls.
I don’t do it as often as I should, but then it’s not a treat, is it?
I like to make bento-style lunches for them.
I create sushi rolls out of sandwhiches, or just the meat and cheese. I add in vegetables and fruits, and the best part? They are so excited by the fun take on the food, that they happily eat all the healthy food I can pack into the meal…and even better? They eat more than they would if I just offered them a sandwich.
Today we’re heading out on an adventure for our first day of spring break. For my new job (more on that later), we’re heading out to a farm to check out the baby animals. The girls are so excited, but I’m going to surprise them with their favorite kind of lunches.
I’ve got all their favorites in there. Tomatoes, cheese, carrots, bologna, craisins, strawberry’s, yogurt covered raisins, and hard boiled eggs. I rolled the bologna and cheese into sushi-like rolls, and then made the [amazon_link id=”B00CDPNA70″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]kitten and panda faces[/amazon_link] out of them, too. I went with a “round” theme with the carrots to match the rest of the fruits, and mixed all the fruits, dried and fresh, together for them.
All of that is topped off with their (and my) newest favorite drink. Apple Fruitshooter’s!! They love the tasty drink, and that they can open them themselves (that whole independent streak they’ve got going) – and I love that handy little note at the top of the label “No Sugar Added”.
It’s a fun and easy way for us to all get what we want…and it’s a great way to get a drink into their lunches.
So how do you like to fun-up your kids lunches?
*~*
Like Fruitshoot on Facebook
*~*
*Today’s post was sponsored by Fruitshoot. All opinions and lunch ideas are my own.
For this challenge I settled on this pin, Softbatch Cookie Butter Brown Sugar Cookies, by Averie Cooks (I have pinned a TON of cookies from this site in all honesty…these just happened to be the first I chose.)
Everything promised by Averie was spot on. Light, soft, flavorful. They were so good I didn’t want to share…
