Still decorating

I came home from Kristina's wedding shower to find that Bud had bought a new picture for our house. We have this nook/niche/alcove/whatever above the bedroom doorway and for the longest time we didn't know how we wanted to fill it up. While Laura was here, I picked out the vases, but it was still missing something.
Aahh! Don't fall!!!

All filled up now!

And for fun, Karen posted a personality-type thing on her blog last week. I answered the questions just out of curiosity (yeah, that was one of the questions-are you curious?) and here's how it typed me. I must say, it's not too far off the mark. How do they do this? Did they sneak into my house to see how I've decorated with green and turquoise to know they were my dominant colors?

You are pale-turquoise #AFEEEE

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, (not THAT smart- just ask my kids) and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well. Your saturation level is low - You stay out of stressful situations and advise others to do the same (like when Cheryl would get in screaming fights with my dad when she was a teenager, I tried to tell her to just be quiet and she'd be better off, but she wouldn't). You may not always be the go-to person when something really needs to be done (I tend to stress out), but you know never to blow things out of proportion. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

So go take the quiz. See if it pegs you close to acurate.

Luxury

Yesterday I found this.
I bought it at Kohl's. I sprayed some on the sheets about 20 minutes before I went to bed last night and it was heavenly. I never knew falling asleep could be so delicious.

Wave of snow

Wednesday morning we went up to the cabin to get some things. We were surprised at how much snow has fallen. This picture shows the snow coming off the roof, past the bedroom window.


Does that make you feel as claustrophobic as it does me?


Normally, in front of the cabin there is a rock wall, and the snow falls in front of that. Here you can't even see the wall, and the snow goes halfway up the windows. I think if we were still living there full-time, I'd have cabin fever. Bud thought it was a lot of fun to see so much snow. I thought it was a lot of fun to go home and see my garage, pull right in and get in the house without sinking hip-deep into a snow bank. I guess I'm just not very adventurous.

Return of the Cookie Monster

As promised, I tried the cookie dough with the Reese's. Oh heavenly days (or daze in my case)! I told Karen that the cookie (pre-Reese's) only rated about a 6 in my book. She said she wasn't going to try them if they were only a 6. Then I did this with them...


I put the dough into a mini muffin pan and baked it for 8 minutes.


Then I popped a mini Reese's into the just-out-of-the-oven-still-hot cookie.


Look how that is melting in there. Ohhhhh.


This cookie now rates a 10. I don't often give anything a 10! Well, I gave it a 10 when they were still warm (I tried as long as possible to contain myself and allowed them to cool "slightly"). I wondered if they'd be as good after they were completely cooled. Yes, yes, yes. They are a 10 warm or cool.
I give credit to The Pioneer Woman (marked as my favorite cooking blog on the sidebar) for the idea because originally I had planned to chop up the Reese's and stir it into the dough. I couldn't do that because the dough was too cold to stir (having spent the last 36 hours in the refrigerator), so I popped the whole PB cup into the cookie after baking it. Besides, I always think a cookie needs more PB cup in every bite. This solves that. However, no more Cookie Monster needed. I can eat these all by myself! Every last one of them. But, then I would gain back the 15 lbs I worked so hard to lose. Shoot. Anyone seen a Cookie Monster hanging around? Evidently I've got some cookies I have to share.

Puzzled

Yesterday I received a deluge of forwarded emails from a friend/patient of ours. Some of them were puzzles. Some were hard, some were easy. Karen and I had fun with it for the most part. Here's one that I found on my own and I liked it because I could solve it without looking at the answer! Love it when that happens! Give it a try. See if you can solve it too.

Inside each set of the following words, there are a pair of smaller words. By putting & between them, lo & behold, you'll make a familiar phrase. For example, "Thighbone/Swallowtail" conceals "High & Low."

1. Skyrocketing/Trolleyman
2. Thermometer/Apoplexy
3. Delaware/Bordering
4. Surprised/Trashiness
5. Throughout/Stumblebum

Did you get them all? Fun, huh?
Oh, regarding yesterday's cookies...I thought that if you chopped some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and stirred it into the dough, that would make the cookies taste completely divine. I'm going to try it. I'll report back later.

Cookie Monster

I have a ton of cook books (we just moved, and I'm sure that's how much they weighed). So when I received a new cookbook in the mail, I was surprised. I didn't remember ordering it, and yet, I must have done so. This one is called The Ultimate Cookie Collection by Taste of Home. I certainly do not need another cookbook, yet how can I resist a Cookie cookbook? How can anyone resist cookies let alone ultimate cookies?
I will share one recipe that sounds particularly tasty. I now have such a nifty Kitchen Aid lifter, it will be so much easier to make cookies when the mood strikes.

Marbled Chocolate Peanut Cookies (by Shirley De Lange)

Peanut Butter Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter (reduced fat and generic brands NOT recommended)
1-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped peanuts

Chocolate Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

For peanut butter dough, in a mixing bowl, cream butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in peanuts; set aside.
For chocolate dough, cream butter and sugars in another mixing bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Gently fold in peanut butter dough until slightly marbled.
Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until lightly browned and firm. Remove to wire racks to cool.
Yield: 9-1/2 dozen.
I typed this entry at work, then made the cookies when I got home. Here's my picture of the cookies instead of the one from Taste of Home. Be really careful when you're mixing the two doughs together so that you do not over-mix them.


Also, I only baked my cookies for 10 minutes and it was plenty. I think 14 minutes would make for a very crunchy cookie.
Okay, so go find yourself a friend or a cookie monster. Obviously this recipe makes enough to share.