This pretty much sums it up

Found here.

Yup. I can't complain. Some highlights were:

homemade candy cane ice cream
a late start at school today
the kids helping out with chores
snuggle time with the hubby
friendly folks at the market

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset through the trees

Fuhgeddaboudit

Yes, I did just say fuhgeddaboudit. Yes, I do know this saying is hardly used anymore and is old and completely outdated. No, I don't care. It is a word that best describes how I feel about the cookies we made this past weekend. These cookies are da bomb (Uh oh, somebody stop me because I am getting way old skool in the post)!

I present the Nutella cookie. Mmmmm, Nutella. I found the recipes in a local newspaper article. Enjoy!

Our Nutella yumminess.

Basic Dough Recipe
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour, baking powder and salt. In a seperate bowl combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar and beat with a mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture and beat until evenly blended. This dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Makes about 4 cups of dough.


Nutella Sandwich Cookies
2 cups basic cookie dough, chilled
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll dough to about 3/8-inch thickness on a sheet of lightly floured wax paper. Use cookie cutters to make your "sandwich" pieces. Bake about 8 minutes, or until tops look done. Let cool on cookie sheet and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Spread the Nutella on half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies. Dust with powdered sugar.

Back on track

Saturday morning came and the hubby asked what I wanted to do this weekend. Sometimes I think I need to come up with something cool or exciting to make my life seem interesting, but really all I wanted to do was stay around the house and hang out with the fam. So, that's what we did.

It felt good to not be anywhere, not to expect anything and to just really be in the moment. I'm sure you can do that out and about too, but for some reason I felt a strong urge just to be grounded at home. We watched the Lunar Eclipse. I took a long, steamy bath. I read. I crafted with the kids. We played Munchkin (a totally FUN game, but we get kinda competitive). We watched the hubby play Uncharted 3 (which is pretty friggin' awesome because it feels like watching a movie but you are able to be an active part of the storyline). I knitted. We ate homemade food. We ate homemade desserts. I reflected on this thing we call life. We laughed. We watched silly movies. And we hung out in silence... a lot.

An early morning icy trail


And today I feel unhurried even though I have a few errands to run. After I dropped off the kids at school I took a walk with the pup, Zoe. We got to explore some new trails that are now being exposed in the backyard. I can see some clear, new paths now that all the leaves have fallen off the trees and the blackberry bushes have become somewhat dormant. It was neat to explore these new paths. And I felt a wonderfully grateful heart when I would look up from some of these paths and see home. It felt exactly where I was supposed to be.

Combo AEDM and Wordless Wednesday: Pretending to be Monet by "painting" with my camera

~ Canon PowerShot SX210 IS
Manual setting, used Macro

AEDM: Dear Fog,

You greet me like a little wrapped package. I don't know what's behind you, but I do know that once you have been completely broken open something beautiful is bound to show itself. Today you opened up and there was sunshine... warm, glorious sunshine! You certainly know how to keep a girl in suspense.



~Canon PowerShot SX210 IS
Landscape setting

AEDM: Asterik

I needed a hat for my early morning walks with Zoe, the pup. The mornings are coooolld. The pattern for the Asterik Hat was pretty and simple. That's right up my alley. I finished this in about 4 days with the majority being completed today... so that's why my AEDM posts have been scarce.




Yarn: Naturally Caron Country in Silver Service
Needles: size 7 Circ and DPNs
Pattern: Asterik Hat

AEDM; Moon Blessings

This is just a fun little doodle I did when my son wanted to draw with me. I could take this to the next level and re-create it on a canvas with some paint. Hmmmm....



~Black Ink on white paper

AEDM: Yums for our tums

~Canon PowerShot SX210 IS

The fam and I enjoyed some yummy ice cream at our favorite place in Vancouver. Ice Cream Renaissance has captured our taste buds and other ice cream shops just don't quite live up to its standards. We enjoyed some Pumpkin Pie and Farmer Joe's Secret flavors. These were so delicious!! Pumpkin Pie speaks for itself, but Farmer Joe's Secret was quite the mystery that we have yet to solve. We may have to venture back again to give our taste buds another crack at revealing the secret.

AEDM: New Fall Runner

I've been getting the home ready for Thanksgiving and when I saw Tara Dennis' jute table runner I knew I had to make me one for my own table. I didn't have jute, but I had some burlap so I used that instead. I think it came out pretty cool. It resembles Tara's piece somewhat and at least the burlap reminds me of a scarecrow which reminds me of a fall harvest which then reminds me of Thanksgiving. The burlap is probably more "shreddy" than jute, so if you can get jute, I would recommend that over the burlap. Only time will tell to see how long this runner last. I'm pretty confident it will last well past Thanksgiving dinner.