What's On My Happy List?

Pale Pink Piggy's for Kate....
While you were sleeping mommy couldn't resist...



TV Overload

Ahhhhh! Orry Main and George Hazard in North and South. My favorite miniseries of all time! I have a memory of watching this with my mom on TV when it first came out in 1985. I was thirteen at the time and remember being captivated by it. Fast forward twenty five years.... I knew towards the end of the school year that Kyleigh had been studying the Civil War in her History class. What better way to make what she learned in the classroom come alive than by watching NORTH and SOUTH? That was my excuse anyway for purchasing the six disc collection and watching 20+ hours of TV. LOL Kyleigh was so taken with it, as I knew she would be, she would have watched the whole thing in a couple of days. But we spread the viewing out over the course of about a week and a half. We'd often get our chores done for the day and would watch it in the afternoon or at night. Gradually the younger girls became totally enthralled with it too so it kinda became a family affair. Even little Brie would ask me, "Are you glad the war is over?" We absolutely loved the movie adaption of the first two books. In our opinion the author, John Jakes, should have just left it at that. The last part of the trilogy, Heaven and Hell, we didn't care for at all! So in our minds we pretended the mini series ended after book two. Anyhow, love war history and loved the memories we made watching this together. We became so attached to the story line that I told Kyleigh it will probably be another twenty five years before I can emotionally handle watching it again...

KILLER PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

I actually baked cookies last night! Which I'm sure shocked everyone in the family as I haven't baked in quite some time. LOL I even managed to kill the hand mixer in the process. The whole cooking/baking thing I'm afraid will always baffle me. I have such a love affair with food. The art of it, the eating of it. I even enjoy looking at cooking magazines, cookbooks and have quite a collection of fabulous recipes, but frankly, I have to really really really be in the mood to cook and or bake. It's more of a chore for me than enjoyment and I sure hate the time it takes and the mess it leaves. Sadly, any kitchen skills my children learn will most likely not be from me but gratefully from their grandma or their dad. I'm all about the planning and presentation as long as someone else wants to fix it. :) I'm telling my girls... marry a man who enjoys being in the kitchen! You'll be eternally grateful. As I am. Kudos to Grandma too, who has amazing culinary skills, and is frequently sharing her leftovers or baked goods to satisfy any ones sweet tooth around here. My successes are few and far between in the kitchen but last night was a winner despite the batch I over baked. I found the world's best peanut butter cookie recipe from cooks.com. I can tell from the consistency of the dough if its going to be a keeper or not. And this one I had to share.

2 sticks butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

I added 1 cup of Nestle peanut butter & milk chocolate morsels and a 1/2 cup of Heath English toffee bits for an added surprise. YUMMO!