Kinda Sorta Nutella Cookies

This morning while I was trying to get myself psyched up to do my morning workout (I've been sick so I've been slacking off) I ended up browsing one of my new favorite websites, Pinterest.  Wouldn't you know it, I came across a cookie recipe for Nutella cookies and quickly realized, "Hey, I have all that stuff!"

So yes, instead of working out I made cookies. Not self defeating at all.  But I'll get over it.  To my dismay, I opened up the Nutella jar and saw that I didn't have enough for what the recipe called for. Boo!!  "What's the recipe?"  You might be asking yourself.  Here's the link: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/nutella-cookies/

I only had about a 1/4 of a cup of Nutella but saw a full jar of Almond butter right next to it.  Hmmmmm, that might work.  So I changed the recipe a bit.  I used the last of the Nutella supplemented the rest of the cup with almond butter. My guess is peanut butter would be tasty too but I was running low on that and it's a lunchtime staple.  Heaven forbid I run out.  So here are the changes I made:

1/4 cup Nutella
3/4 cup almond butter
I used 2 eggs instead of one and added a dash of water because the batter seemed a bit dry.
I also added about a tablespoon or two of unsweetened cocoa powder to add some of the chocolate flavor that was missing from the lack of Nutella. (I didn't really measure it just poured it in.)  If you don't know, I'm not much of a baker. :-)

Everything else I kept the same.  I did end up baking them for about 9-10 minutes instead of the 7-8 that the recipe suggested.

I have to say, they came out pretty tasty.  The true test will be when the boys get home from school and The Man gets home from work.  If I get the thumbs up from them then all is good.  But so quick and so easy and so keeping me from working out!!  And can I say that I'm kicking myself for making chocolate-ish cookies without having any milk on hand to drink with them?!  Who does that??  Me.  I do that.  Apparently.

And with that, I will now go let Ms. Jillian torture me for a wee bit.  Cold and cookies be damned!!

She's Crafty!

It's been awhile since I've updated the ol' blog but that seems to be my modus operandi.  Since I last posted, much has changed.  The main thing being we've moved.  No longer out in the beautiful Columbia Gorge, we've moved closer to Portland and into Oregon.  We've been busy packing, unpacking, getting used to our new school and area and making our new house a home.  Which brings me to today's post.

A few months back, a friend of mine posted a link to this fun craft on the Facebook page for her blog, http://make-happy.blogspot.com/.  It was for a banner made of out of paint chips that was originally posted here: http://rebekahgough.blogspot.com/2011/06/make-something-monday-4th-of-july-paint.html

The boys decided to share a room again.  I love that they still like eachother enough to share a bedroom.  Once we got all the furninture in, I decided to take down the curtains that were in there mainly because they were long and dark and were hard to open and close since the boys beds were placed right in front of them.  I've been searching for new options but haven't found any yet.  In the meantime, I've done this.

We've been making lots of trips to Home Depot (we're also building a deck in the backyard) so on one of these trips I had the boys pick out some colors that they liked and I just ran with it.  I had some twine left over from some jewerly I'd made and it was perfect.  I finished them up this morning so the boys will see them when they get home from school.

I hope they like them.

Now that both of the boys are in school full time, I've got some time on my hands so I'm hoping to make some more crafty projects in my free time.  A housewifes day just can't be all laundry and cleaning, right? 

Chipper is Fat.

That's right, I said it. He's turned into a chunk. So, in an attempt to rectify this situation he's been put on a diet of tasty weight control dog food. We've really slacked off on our morning walks what with all the snow, rain and cold weather. But Spring has begun to sprung and with this comes better weather.

This morning we walked and walked .... and walked some more. And it was COLD!! But at least it was dry. Since we had blue skies this morning, I shoved my little point & shoot in my pocket in hopes of getting a photo or two of Mt. Hood.

Half way into our little calorie busting jaunt we were met up by a rogue pup named Kaya. She took a liking to Chipper and so she decided to join us. Thing is, Miss Kaya didn't know how to stay out of the road and she was really making me nervous. I checked her collar and called the number. Her owner was apparently up the road driving around in his truck looking for her. So we walked until he met up with us. By this time, our quick pace and time had been blown so I decided to take a little detour and walk out to the bluffs overlooking the Gorge to take some photos. Great views! I'll have to go back there with my good camera. I think it'd be a great place to stop next time we have one of those beautiful orange and pink skied sunsets. I took a few photos and we turned around and made the trek back to the car.

4.70 miles and 90 minutes in total (thank you Livestrong.com for your "My Loops" map tracking) Chipper hesitated when jumping into the back of the FJ. Yup, he's definitely fat. Not the spry nimble pup he used to be. But we're gonna change that. Aren't we Chipper? Yes we are!

Epic Snowman Fail, Cue Snowfort!

More snow in the Gorge today. Everyone from the area I spoke with was saying it was going to be a pretty crazy winter this year and if the last week and half are proof of anything, it would make sense. It's not even December yet! At the moment we are at about 9 inches and it's still snowing.

So, given school is closed today we thought we'd attempt to make a snowman. Sadly, my snowman making skills are quite lacking. Give me a little bit of a break, I'm a California girl after all. I just couldn't get the snowballs to stick together as I was attempting to roll them. Onto Plan B, a super cool snow fort! Mason was totally into it and filling all the gaps as I was loading the bucket and building the walls. Nolan was "supervising", in other words running around all random like and throwing himself into the snow. Soon enough, Mason grew bored so our super cool snow fort turned into an adequate snowball barrier.

I present to you the amazing Price Wall!

There's Bears out there!

I find it rather amusing that I haven't posted anything new in months and now that I have something to post, it's about poop! I guess I'm just classy like that, eh? So, fair warning don't look at the photos if you don't want to see poop. I'm jes sayin' ....

About a month ago we moved to the Columbia Gorge to a fabulous place on a lake with lots of woods and nature around us. This morning, while the husband was driving the wee ones to school, he saw something in our driveway and stopped to take a look at it. Mind you, our drive way is long and runs alongside an orchard so this wasn't just right out in front of our house but also wasn't too far down the drive. Anyhoo, he snapped a photo, drove around it and continued on his way. He called me to let me know what he saw and to advise me to keep an eye on the dog, just in case. What did he see? Well, we're pretty sure it's bear scat. A big huge pile of it. lol!!!

So because I'm not familiar with bears and their ... Ummmmm, excrement .... I thought I'd post some photos I took so that my knowledgable nature type friends could confirm if this is the case. Again, if you don't like poop, Don't look at the photos. :)

So there ya go! If it is bear scat, maybe you'll see some photos of an actual bear posted here in the future. I promise I won't post anymore poop pictures. Cross my heart. ;-)

... and life goes rolling along.

Summer has arrived and with it a bit of change. Looks like new digs will be coming our way. We'll still be here in the northwest, just a little further south toward Oregon way. The Gorge may be our new home and what a gorgeous place it is. And so, the house hunt begins. The Man's new job, new home in possibly a new state and new school for the boys. Yeah, I call that a bit of change.

But Summer has also brought us a bit of fun by way of the happiest place on Earth! Disneyland!! Thanks to my parents, who so generously bought tickets for myself and the boys and my sister and her kids, we all got to spend the day with Mickey!! I've waited and waited for the day when I was able to take my boys to Disneyland for the first times, to see their faces and listen to their excitement over every little thing. It was amazing! Only thing that would've made it better was if The Man was able to share it with us, but sadly work was calling his name.

So two weeks of vacation, a week with mom and dad and a week with sis and her kids, visiting family, playing games, doing touristy stuff and just hanging out.... all completely enjoyable.

But now back at home, lots of work to do to prepare for the move. Where will we move?? Who knows, lots of options... exciting stuff, that change is. :)

Dandelions

How does a little boy entertain himself while his big brother is away? By chasing dandelions of course! Poor Nolan has been going crazy since his big bro and best friend has been away in Georgia. He'll pretty much give anything a go just to make the time pass more quickly. Our next door neighbors yard just happens to be full of these fun little weeds. (fun for the boys, not so much fun for us but whatever. It's only a lawn right?)

He was having so much fun out there blowing on them and dancing around I had to run and grab my camera and big ol' stalker lens so he wouldn't catch me taking pictures of him. He was so cute!! Luckily he only has to wait another day or so and then his best friend will be home and they'll be terrorizing each other all around the house.