Cookie confession

Remember this post? The one about the cookies/runny mess in my kitchen? I discovered something just a minute ago while making sweet tea (my guilty pleasure of the moment). It's big news... and more than a little embarrassing. Of course I had to update! :)

So I store things like sugar, flour, powdered sugar, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and salt in these sleek little guys:

Notice they are unmarked... and you can guess where I'm going with this. Tonight I opened one of the larger canisters looking for the rest of the sugar only to find what I used as flour for my oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. It looked a little funny, and I might still be obsessing over what went wrong with those cookies. I stuck my finger in to get a little taste..... can you guess?

IT WAS POWDERED SUGAR!

So the bad news is I'm a crazy loon who cannot tell the difference between flour and powdered sugar! The good news is that I can still probably make oatmeal raisin cookies. We shall see. Note to self: powdered sugar does not substitute for flour!

MckMama giveaway

I'd like to give a little bloggy love to MckMama. Reading her blog is such a joy! Those kiddos are super adorable and her photography is perfection! (I'd suggesting following her blog just for the photos alone!) Anyway, MckMama is hosting a giveaway of a $200 gift card from Best Buy for a new appliance!! Check it out here: http://mckgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/10/amazing-best-buy-giveaway.html

Here is a link to her blog as well: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Panama City Beach, FL

As you know from an earlier post, I spent last week at the beach with some of my family. Billy did not join us and it didn't feel right without him there! I did have a lot of fun though! Everyday except the day I was sick and the one day of shopping was spent lounging on the beach with highs in the upper 80's and low 90's. It was amazing! Our last day it was pretty chilly in the morning because the sun wasn't out, but other than that the weather was perfect!

Besides the day above when a storm forced us in early, we were on the beach from about 9am-4 or 5pm only going back to the house for lunch and potty breaks! I don't know if it was because our beach was a private beach or the time of year, but we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. There were hotels nearby so we could at least see some people, but all around us was usually just birds.

The picture below is my cousin, Alisha in the water. The water was clear blue so you could see your feet at all times! You can't tell from this picture but there was also a big sand bar out about 10 feet. To get to it you would be in water up to your waist and once you were on it the water would be up to your shins. It was weird!

We only ate out once which was nice. We ate at Margaritaville... and yes I had a margarita! It was delicious! Here is a picture of the ceiling.

And this is my crazy sister, Morgan in Margaritaville.
After eating we walked out on a pier. The picture below is looking back at the shore. We didn't see any fish while we were out there, but we did see quite a few jelly fish!
Driving back towards home at every stop we could feel it getting colder! I am still adjusting to these chilly fall temperatures we're having here in KY! I am glad to be home, but not looking forward to returning to work. :(

Cookies?

Betty Crocker, I am not. This post is proof! Around labor day I tried to make oatmeal raisin cookies from scratch to take on a trip. I found the recipe I had used before and headed to the grocery store. After getting home with my loot I started baking. As I was mixing everything together it seemed too runny, but I figured it would work out ok so I kept going. I measured the cookies onto a cookie sheet and popped them in the oven. I kept an eye on them because they seemed not right. After about two minutes the cookies were running everywhere. Being the genius that I am I decided to wash those off and put some batter into a muffin pan. You know, to hold it while it got all runny! LOL This method appeared to be working after the first 5-7 minutes so I walked away. When the timer went off I returned to this nightmare...DAMN. I know, you're going to tell me I used the wrong kind of flour, but I didn't! The recipe called for all-purpose with baking soda. I tried this same recipe (that I have used successfully before) the next night and got the same result. It didn't take me as long to figure it out the next time. I even called my MIL and got a new recipe... same thing again! Finally I gave up/ran out of time and just bought some cookies at Kroger :) That solved the cookie problem but not the problem of the huge mess in my kitchen from making 3 batches of runny cookies! After this disaster I'm afraid to bake again!

Surprise!

I am leaving for the beach tomorrow morning at 5:30am! I haven't been meaning to keep this a secret, but I realized today that I hadn't mentioned it yet... so surprise! I have been looking forward to this since we planned it way back in July!! My dad's family knows someone who recently bought a house in Panama City, Florida and they only rent to family and friends. SO, the women in my dad's family decided to take a little ladies vacay! Billy was actually invited, but he decided not to join us for some crazy reason! Actually he isn't joining us because he needs to stay home and work/play softball on the weekend/going out of town with 6 women might not exactly be his idea of a fun vacation. :) Billy and I tried to plan a beach vacation over the summer but it kept falling through so we went to Gatlinburg instead. It was the economical choice and it allowed me to take a week off now for this vacation! It feels weird going on vacation without Billy, but trust me, I'll deal! I will miss him and Laney, but again... I'll deal. Maybe the sand, sun and surf mixed with margaritas will ease my troubles ;)

Speaking of Laney, Billy has taken her to spend the weekend at my MIL's house since he will be away playing softball most of the time. On my way home from work today I was thinking about how excited she would be to see me, but I realized she wouldn't be here. SAD! When I get home from work she is always pumped and wallers around and steps on my feet (weird, I know). Then she'll lay down beside me on the couch and just wag her tail! She's been a part of our little family since a month after we were married, so she just makes it feel like home. When she's away I miss her way too much! We really do treat her like a child and she is spoiled rotten as a result.


Welp, it sounds like Billy may be home so I will wrap it up! Think of me next week lounging in the sand with my toes in the water while you all shiver in this crisp fall weather we're having! Try not to be too jealous! I'll post, hopefully with pictures when I return!