Hello, Summer! (recipe and an update)

Welcome, Summer.....it seems I've been waiting forever for you!

Popsicles

Sprinklers

Little giggles

Cool breezes

The smell of sunscreen

Sleeping in (a little)

Throwing the ball for the dogs

Flowers in bloom

and FLIP FLOPS!  Oh, how I love flip flops!!

(all pictures taken with my iPhone and the Instagram app - look me up on Instagram!  my user name is daiquirifouch)

One of my favorite things about summer is the FOOD.  Our garden is in (our Mother's Day tradition):

And WOW, I can't believe how much the garden has grown in just the couple of weeks since I took this picture!

I can hardly wait for tomatoes still warm from the sun, fresh basil plucked from the pot, a bit of mozzarella cheese and a drizzle of oil and vinegar!  It's what I live on all summer!

But that's not the recipe I planned to share.  In fact, the summer dish I've been craving isn't something I can take credit for.  I'm thinking about orzo pasta with asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil.  You can find the recipe here (I substitute basil for parsley):  Lemon Orzo Salad at "ABig Mouthful.com" (how fun is that web name?!) :-)  I think I might try this recipe with quinoa instead of orzo too...a bit of extra protein....what do you think?  

Photo from www.abigmouthful.com

This summer got started right with an INCREDIBLE spring ....when I learned that I'd qualified for an all-expenses-paid trip to Sonoma and San Francisco for 5 days!  I got to meet our Doctors, tour the Corporate Offices, go to the spa, give wine tasting a try, and more -- unreal!  I blogged about it at my "Skin, Beautiful Skin" blog, if you'd like to see more pics:  "Big Time Perks"  But I can't NOT share one of my favorite pictures here.....I got to meet the doctors who changed my skin and my life!

And finally....big Fouch family news....Sammy lost her first front tooth!  She's impossibly cute with her sweet little missing-tooth-lisp!

Be blessed, friends!!

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Sunny Summer Flower

I LOVE this sunflower!  My little Sammy planted these little sunflowers in her garden this year, and we've all enjoyed the joy they bring to the little plot of dirt.  I'm absolutely printing and framing this one - what a great addition to my office it will be! :-)

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Planning For a Clean House

As I settled into our cozy couch with my yummy man, I took a glance around and said something like, "You know, I always imagined I'd be a better housekeeper than I turned out to be."

The scattered toys, unwashed dishes in the sink and dust bunnies seemed to nod their head in disappointment and agreement.

My husband, being the wise man that he is, simple chuckled with no comment.

I started thinking, I need a plan.  A schedule.  Yes, that's it...a spreadsheet!  (it's been a long time since the days when I called myself an engineer, but the geek...she's still in there)

So far (it's been just a few days), it's worked like a charm.  My house is being cleaned.  I have time in my day to do something OTHER than clean.  And the dust bunnies aren't communicating with me anymore.  That's always a good thing.

My idea/plan is hardly revolutionary.  I'm sure many of you do it without even thinking about it.  But for personalities like mine...the kind that wants the WHOLE house clean NOW and who will practically kill myself trying to get it clean only to turn around, see more mess the very next day, and GIVE UP for 3 weeks...I needed this plan on paper.

I broke the house up into sections, and assigned them a day of the week.  My plan looks something like this:

Deep Clean 

Monday- Master bedroom and bath 

Tuesday- Half bath, Laundry Room and garage entry.  Water plants. 

Wednesday- Front entry and stoop, office, kids bath 

Thursday- Living room and play room 

Friday- Kid's rooms, stairs, upstairs hallway 

Saturday- Kitchen and dining 

Sunday- rest 

Daily 

Bible 

Exercise 

Straighten living room and kitchen 

Vacuum living room and kitchen 

Load of laundry

"Deep Clean" means dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing floors, washing sheets and towels, scrubbing the sinks and toilets, etc.  Once a week for those things seems adequate to me.  Especially compared to how often it's typically done around here (ahem).

Ironically, the hardest part of this plan is the "daily" part of my list.  I'm working on it.

So that's what Works for Me this Wednesday.  If you'd like more great tips from the blogosphere, click over to "We Are That Family".  If that's where you came from today, thanks for stopping by!

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God's Abundance

I learn something new about God every year...from my garden.

I put a few seeds in some dirt.  Add some water from time to time.  I don't worry.  Or fret.  Or stand by and watch.  Or dream about the seeds.  Or ask myself "how will this turn out?" or "what if there's not enough?"  

I simply sit by and wait.  I enjoy the sunshine as it warms and ripens the fruit that miraculously appeared.  I breathe the smell of the tomato plants deep into my lungs.  I wonder at the incredible size and weight of the plant...almost as tall as me when they were mere seeds just a couple of months ago!

And then, joy upon joy, I gather.  And each year, God provides more abundance than I could have even dreamed of.  It makes me glad that I don't get to decide how much the plant produces...I'd have far fewer tomatoes than I do now.

Today, I'll make the THIRD giant batch of salsa for the summer .  My fridge and freezer are full to overflowing.  

Not to mention my heart and soul...God is so sweet and good to me.

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Homemade "Topsy Turvey"

For a mere $19.99 (and $7.95 S&H) you can have your very own "Topsy Turvey" (as seen on TV)

OR

You can make your own with stuff you probably have in your garage or garden shed.  And if you don't have everything you need?  I guarantee that you can buy all the supplies for less than $28.  

I've always planted my tomatoes in the garden, and have always had great success (the key to great tomatoes is consistent watering, you know), but this year I decided to plant one of my plants upside down.  Those infomercials are just so convincing...

The trickiest part was figuring out where to hang it - planting the tomato was actually very simple (and fun if you're into that sort of thing, which I am).  I love the idea of growing tomatoes without a giant plant flopping all over the garden...not to mention the fact that I won't have to worry about weeds.  

Want to try one?  I wrote an eHow article with step by step instructions.  (Big strong man with power tool not included...but you can do it yourself if you're not worried about taking pictures, I promise!)  

As always, I'd sure appreciate it if you'd take a second to rate the article for me :-)

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W.O.W.

One of my good friends hosts the occasional W.O.W (within one week) meme.  I've always avoided it because I hate to commit to doing something I've been avoiding.  I tend to avoid for a reason...primarily because the thing I'm avoiding is a pain in the tush.

The general idea is that we blog about what we want to complete "within one week".   We can cheer each other on, check out everyone's progress, and share our progress.

As if this isn't a cool enough idea all on it's own, Becky throws in a prize at the end of the week for one (or two) of the participants.

Alright - so I'm going to try and do this.  My thing?  I'm drowning in photos.  Not D Rose Photography stuff...family snapshot stuff.  I try and print pictures on a regular basis and get them in albums.  I'm horribly behind.  I haven't finished my 2008 album, never mind my 2009 album.  

So my plan for this W.O.W.?  I guess I have to set a specific goal, huh?  I can't just say "I'm going to work on pictures"?

Okay - I'm going to shoot for getting the rest of last year's pics sorted, printed, and put in an album.  Oh boy, that's a lot.  Wish me luck...

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Spring Cleaning - Another eHow Article

I wrote another Spring Cleaning article!  This one is about spring cleaning bathrooms.  A necessary job...but one that makes me feel like I have to take a shower just thinking about it.  

I'm tempted to call my local veterinarian to find out where I can buy some of those rubber gloves that stretch all  the way to the shoulder ;-)

One of my favorite things about eHow is the ads that run with the articles.  I find that when I check out articles I'm interested in, I get all sorts of links to neat products and tips in the ads that run on those articles.  Cool deal!  Don't get me wrong...I also like them because that's how an eHow writer is compensated (by folks clicking on the ads on their articles).  

This isn't a plug to encourage you to click on ads for the sake of clicking (although I KNOW it sounds like it) - just drawing your attention to the fact that some of those ads are pretty useful.  I think my eHow "friends" must love me with all my ad clicking :-)

Anwyay - here's the article : How to Spring Clean Your Bathrooms

Hope you like it.  I'm going to continue with these Spring Cleaning articles - any requests for the next room I should focus on?  How about requests for any article at all?    

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Spring Cleaning

Photo courtesy of Stock Xchng

Anyone else out there feel a tad overwhelmed by the idea of "Spring Cleaning"?  As if I need more on my plate besides the daily cleaning, laundry, meals, and kiddo loving I do.  I'm guessing I'm not alone.

As I was considering the idea of giving my entire house a deep clean (do I have to get it done by the end of spring just because it's called spring cleaning?), I decided a plan was in order.  Big surprise, I know.  I'm a planner and organizer by nature...sometimes it seems my whole life is detailed out on a spreadsheet!  Don't believe me?  I'm sure I have a spreadsheet which lists all my spreadsheets somewhere around here to show you...

;)

So I did a cleaning plan that seems like it will work for me.  My house will get cleaned AND I'll be able to still do my daily stuff.  Being the organizer that I am, I thought the most anal retentive efficient way to share it with you would be to write another eHow article.  I've written two so far and plan to write about 6 more for the other areas of my house.  I'll let you know when the rest are done.

In the mean time, check out my latest articles:

How to Plan & Prepare For Spring Cleaning

How to Spring Clean Your Bedrooms

As always, I'd appreciate it if you'd rate my articles for me.  Thanks :)

PS.  Hey...look at that!  I just realized that I've been promoted to an "Authority" at eHow.  Yippee!  

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Crochet A Dishcloth

I think I might be having a minor OCD episode.  I can't seem to stop crocheting!  I've had this hobby since I was a young child making lopsided blankets for my dollies, scarves for my teddy, and pillows for myself.  I sure wish wearing doilies as sweaters was fashionable, because I'd be SET.  I made about 100 of them in college.

(Mom, Dad, close your eyes and skip to the next paragraph please)  When I was working on an afghan for my grandma, I used to actually skip classes to work on it!  If it wasn't for the crocheting and that hot guy in Mechanics of Materials?  I'm sure I could have gotten an A instead of a B.  But then my grandma wouldn't have that afghan.  And I wouldn't be married to that hot guy.  

I KNOW - I was such a wild college girl.  I wonder if I'd have any takers if I could figure out a way to crochet a "Girls Gone Wild Over Crocheting" sweater?  Yeah.  Probably not.

Good grief.  How old am I anyway?  102?

So, as you can see, I've been sewing my crazy fingers to the bone recently.  I'm determined to clear out my craft room.  I have so many supplies for various projects, they literally fill an entire room in my house.  It seems the OCD flares up every time I walk into a craft store too.

I found the most excellent pattern for making dishcloths, and I thought I'd share.   This makes a cloth that's about 9 1/2 inches square, it washes up beautifully, and even keeps it's shape after washing and drying.  If you're new to dishcloths, you'll need to pick up some 100% cotton yarn.  One popular brand is "Peaches -n- Cream" or something like that.  

Who knows - if the economy keeps going like this, maybe I'll be bartering my crochet work.  What do you think I'll be able to get for a hand-made teddy bear?  A sack of potatoes, maybe?

Anyhoo - here's the pattern:

Chain 34 loosely

Row 1: Dc in fourth ch from hook and in each ch across.

Row 2:  Ch 1, turn; sc in first dc, ch 2, skip next dc, sc in sp before next dc, ch 2, ** skip next 2 dc, sc in sp before next dc, ch 2; repeat from ** across to last 2 st, sc in top of beginning ch.

Row 3:  Ch 3, turn; dc in first ch-2 sp, 2 dc in each ch-2 sp across to last ch-2 sp, dc in last ch-2 sp, dc in last sc.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until piece is approximately square.

You can leave it as is, or you can sew a border for a more finished look.  I do a simple dc border all the way around the edges, taking care to evenly space the stitches to avoid ruffling or puckering.  Sew 3 stitches in each corner to make the turn.  If the piece "cups" after making the turn, rip back to the corner and add a corner stitch.  I frequently have to do 4 stitches in the corner.

Happy sewing!

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Boys' Room - All Done!

Boy, did we ever have fun with these recent bedroom projects!  Before covering the walls all by our grown-up selves, we let the kids climb into their painting duds and add their artistic touches (but we were abundantly clear that we'd be painting over them soon).  They had so much fun painting on the giant canvas that was bedroom walls!

When we finally told them that it was Mommy and Daddy's turn to paint, and that they should go play for a while...they didn't mind a bit.  Mostly because we had taken the king mattress out of the guest room (that we converted to the boys' room), and put it in the play room.  It kept them entertained for hours :)

Oh, by the way....I forgot to share one of my favorite painting tips with you.  Every now and then, we have to take a break from painting and tend to kids, or eat lunch, or run to the store for more paint or something.  It's such a hassle to rinse out the brushes and rollers...we just don't do it anymore!  We've found that simply covering the painting stuff with plastic will prevent it from forming that icky and irritating "skin".  Hubby likes to put the whole tray with the roller in a grocery bag - I prefer to use plastic wrap.  They both work fine for short breaks, but if you're interested in letting it sit overnight, I recommend using a couple of layers of plastic wrap.

Now for the fun pictures!  I'm thrilled with the way this room turned out:

I know it's supposed to be a big boy room, but I couldn't resist leaving some of the sweet baby stuff up for a little while longer.  Look at my sweet little Thomas' toes...

I also insisted on having a rocker for the rare occasions that Thomas will still let me rock and cuddle him.  This is the great quilt that my Mom made for him (she made a gorgeous quilt for each of my babies)...Thomas and I love to sit together and find the different animals and do their sounds.  He loves "ARF" for the doggy :)

Notice the bulletin boards?  I really like having a place for their individual artwork and special notes.  

I'm already happy with our decision to put boys in one room and girls in the other.  Sammy and Clara already play together, but I've noticed a fresh connection between my boys.  I love to listen to them settle into bed at night.  Thomas stands in his crib and says, "BEH!  BEH!", and Ben replies, "Night-night little brother".  Good grief...coulda cried the first time I heard that!  

As painful as it is to know that I'll never be pregnant again or nurse a baby again, it feels so good to just be moving on, ya know?  It's like I can finally find it in me to just relax and enjoy our little family instead of always looking forward to and planning for the next big change.  

If ever I need real physical proof that God loves little ol' me...I just need to look at my husband and babies.  What abundant blessings I have in my life (Sigh).

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Make A Homemade Bulletin Board

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That I've already done a post on this topic? You're right - I have done a post about making a bulletin board before. And those simple, quick, and very inexpensive bulletin boards have been serving us well all this time! If you're looking for the ultimate in quick, functional, and frugal, I recommend making your own bulletin board out of cardboard and left-over fabric.

However...those bulletin boards are pretty light weight. We recently decided that our kids could use some bigger and more heavy-duty bulletin boards. We shopped and shopped, but everything just looked too industrial (and were expensive to boot!). Being who we are...we made our own. They are big, sturdy, strong....AND feature custom colors and fabrics to match our kids' rooms!

I wrote a detailed eHow article complete with lots of pictures. Go on over, print it out, and rate my article for me (pretty please).

By the way, if you're ever looking for one of my eHow articles, you can find all the links in my sidebar.

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Before And After

We're back to real life around here after a glorious week of spring break for the kids and hubby.  I was so shocked to learn that my wonderful man was planning on taking most of the week off to spend with his little family while the kids were home...after a few seconds of "aww, he's so sweet" my brain went straight to..."think of the projects we can get done!"

We love a good home improvement project.  In fact, at the beginning of our marriage, hubby and I moved from a 2 year old "all finished" home to a 50+ year old fixer-upper just for the projects!  We both enjoy the planning, the work, the hanging out together as we hammer, paint, arrange furniture...it's just who we are, I guess.

This past week, the kids' bedrooms were our projects.  Thomas (the baby) has been in his own room this whole time to keep him from waking his older siblings when he wakes in the night.  In the mean time, all three older kids were crammed into one room.  We've had room to spread them out, but they all love a buddy in their room.

Now though, Thomas is ready to share a room.  The most difficult part of the entire project was to figure out who should share with who.  Do we keep the older kids together since they're such good friends and have the same sleep and wake schedules?  Or do we do boys and girls together?  We went for boys and girls.  My goal is to help Ben and Thomas connect a little bit.  There's 6 years between them, and it won't be long before Ben doesn't want to hang out with the little guy.  Hopefully, this time of bunking together will help them grow to be buddies like it did with Ben and Clara.  

Besides...this way, we got to do a fun girls' room and a fun boys' room ;)

Enough of my chatter - wanna see some pictures?  

Here's the before shot of the room that we decided to use for the girls.  Notice three beds crammed in there and stuff all over the place:

We cleared out the room, negotiated with the girls on paint colors (I talked them down from BRIGHT pink and purple to a slightly less bright pink with a soft yellow), put on the hot-mama painting sweats that really do reach to my armpits if I yank them painfully high enough:

See?  Told ya...hot.

And then got to work.  I'm thrilled with our sweet, bright, airy, and pretty girl room.  The girls love it too.  When Sammy saw it for the first time, she wrapped her arms around herself and said in a soft whisper, "It's boootiful!"  

These beautiful sheer curtains were the inspiration for our paint colors:

I love this sweet photo.  We bought it when I was pregnant with our very first child, and it's hung in one of the kids' rooms ever since.  I don't think I'll ever get rid of it.  

We're not exactly 100% finished.  We have plans to make a big bulletin board to go over each of their beds - a great place to keep all those random works of art instead of having them taped all over the darn place.  Besides, it will break up that giant pink wall a little bit.

The boys' room is finished except for some crown moulding that hubby is working on as I type.  After shots will be available of that room soon...

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Today's Public Service Announcement

FYI:  If you fail to de-crumb your toaster oven more than about once a year, it will eventually catch on fire.  Big orange flames will be bursting out the front, and you'll be forced to screech, throw a box of baking soda all over the place, and open windows in February to keep the smoke alarms from going off.

Don't ask me how I know.

That's all I have to say about that.

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Organizing Hair Accessories

This has been driving me IN. SANE.

Every morning, I'm brushing hair for school and digging frantically through this mess to find something that works. And then I got organized. This was my sister's idea...isn't it great?

You can find these things practically anywhere. You can find them in sporting supplies (to organize fishing stuff), or craft stores. I think I got mine at Wally-World. Some I sorted by type, and some I sorted by color. It's so much easier to find what I'm looking for now!

While I'm at it, I thought I'd share a tip for getting clips to stay in my girls' hair. These clips typically slide right out of their silky soft hair. So I took some clear hair bands, and wrapped it around the arm of the clip. Sticks like glue now, and you can't see it.

Give it a try, it works for me!

Want to see my other WFMW posts?

Thanks for stopping by :)

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The Letter "M" On The Floor

There was a time when I had a clean AND neat house. The windows sparkled, the floors squeaked, the wood glowed. Everything had a place, and everything was in it's place. The laundry was folded and put away. There was a small stack of mail to be sorted, and all the bills were paid on time.

My car...my car was shiny. It smelled nice. It had vacuumed carpets and a shining dash. It was free of any clutter, except for the bag of m&m's I kept in there in case of a chocolate emergency. It had a sunroof.

And then there was me. My nails? They were done. I exercised several times a week. I took my leisurely time shopping for my favorite and most nutritious food, and it was a joy to fix a healthy and delicious meal. I might have even had a glass of wine with my dinner. I loved to shop for clothes. I'd take my time and try things on. Maybe I'd get the nerve to buy something I wouldn't normally buy.

And, of course, there was us. I lit candles in the evening so the house smelled and felt cozy on cool evenings. We took long walks, or maybe just sat on the couch to watch TV and talk. Every now and then I'd go on a business trip with hubby just to get away. We went to movies. We ate out. We held hands and took our sweet time.

Fast forward 7 years and 4 babies later...

My house. Oh, my house. The outside is covered in chalk art done by my two year old...not on the sidewalk...on the house and the windows. It comes off fine, but it's just so much dang work!

And if you come over? Please remove your shoes. I'm trying to limit the dirt on the floor to mashed cheerios, bits of popcorn, dried play dough, and the occasional puddle of drool...or something.

And do you know what I just did? I was putting some things away in my closet, and I walked right past a green letter "M" magnet on the floor.

I'm past trying to figure out how strange things end up in strange places. I've moved on to just trying to prioritize. Do I stop to pick up the letter "M", or do I walk right past and finish what I was doing? These days, I gotta stay on track. If I stop for the letter "M", then what? The "Q" by the fireplace? The shoe on the couch? The blanket in the kitchen that's left over from making forts? If I tried to do all of that, I'd have to put the bag of "Honey Nut Scooters" away that's been sitting on my desk for 3 weeks. And the wrapping paper that's made a home on the bookshelf. And the dead begonia that I forgot to water. There's just no end. So I have to stay on track, or before you know it we'll be out of clean underwear.

The wood and glass doesn't shine so much anymore...it's more like they display fingerprint art. It's amazing how perfect a hand or face or nose print you can make with just the right amount of drool or otter-pop juice in the mix!

The faux-wood blinds used to look nice. Until someone...not naming names...thought it would be fun to use his/her new scissor skills to cut the strings in between the slats. They just don't hang quite right anymore.

There is a stack of mail and school papers that is no less than 2 feet deep. I'm not exaggerating. At all. I know there are bills in there, but where...exactly? I know, I know, I should have some sort of system. But what's sorting the mail compared to holding a teething baby, helping with homework, or responding to, "I'm DOOOONNEE!"?

The car? Oh, I just don't want to go there. Let me just say that it most definitely does not have a sunroof anymore. Do they even make vehicles that can hold a family of 6 with sunroofs?

And little ol' me. Do I have fingernails? Oh yes, they are those things I keep chewing off in nervous fits. And my clothes...my summer wardrobe was several v-neck t-shirts that I bought at a superstore for $7 each. I tried one on, it fit, I picked one up in every color. Then I washed them and they all shrunk to the point where they do a great job of showing off the flab that gets squished out under the back of my bra. Am I the only woman out there who has more flab squishing out of the bottom of the back of my bra than in the front...where it's supposed to be? I'm hoping the snot that's perpetually smeared across my shoulder is adequate distraction from the fat. I'll shop for different shirts next spring since I'll be losing 15 pounds this winter. I'm sure of it.

Us...sweet US. Real candles are a hazard with so many little hands around, you know. We take walks, but we have to shout, "NO, not that way!", or "Wait for us!", or "No, we can not bring all those rocks home with us" every now and then. We hold hands...but usually not with each other since we're carrying, pushing, or otherwise herding our little flock. We watch a weekly movie for our "family movie night". Does it matter that it's usually animated and/or by Disney? Does it matter that we can't speak to each other over the din that is our children trying to get our attention? Does it matter that we can rarely even sit next to each other?

I think it matters. He's still my boyfriend, and I'm still his "dream girl". And we can still sometimes take our sweet time...when it matters most.

Do I sound like I'm complaining? I'm not. In the least! I wouldn't change a thing. Not a single smudge, or pile of laundry, or cup of curdled milk found in the car after 2 weeks. When my boyfriend (aka hubby) and I look at each other over all those little heads and voices at the dinner table...sometimes the sparkle in his wonderful green eyes is all I need. Words aren't necessary. He loves me. He's happy. Me too.

Now, if you'll excuse me, it smells like I have a diaper to change. The girls are screeching at one another, and Sammy's still in her jammies even though it's lunch time.

And that "M"... it needs a home besides my closet floor. I'll get to that though...probably tomorrow.

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Recipe: World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm doin' it. I'm opening the vault. I am (*gasp*) going to give you my chocolate chip cookie recipe!

These cookies have been "oohed" and "ahhed" over many a time. They're somehow gooey and crunchy at the same time. They're loaded with an impossible amount of chocolate. They're just delicious.

It's my secret recipe. And since I'm not planning on trying to be the next cookie baking expert any time soon, I thought I'd share my recipe with...YOU!

Ready? Here goes:

Daiquiri's Famous *BEST* Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups sugar
2 sticks butter (1/2 pound)
1 tsp. *real* vanilla (not imitation)
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp + 1/8 tsp baking soda
2 1/3 cups white flour
2 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F.
2. Cream sugars and softened (but NOT melted) butter.
3. Add vanilla and eggs - mix thoroughly.
4. Add salt, baking soda, and flour - mix thoroughly.
5. Mix in chocolate chips.
6. Use a cookie scoop to place cookies on tray (it's important to make them the same size for consistent cookies).
7. Bake in oven for exactly 10 minutes- they will likely not look done. Trust me, they're done. Remove cookies from tray immediately and place on wire rack to cool.

IMPORTANT TIPS:
- Use the heaviest cookie sheet you have to allow the cookie to bake evenly without making the bottom too dark.
- If you enjoy eating the raw dough, I strongly recommend using "egg beater" (pasteurized egg product) instead of real eggs to avoid getting sick! Use 1/3 cup "egg" for each egg called for in recipe when baking.
- My oven bakes the cookies perfectly in 10 minutes. You might have to adjust the time slightly based on your oven. The trick is to not let them get too done...take them out before they start to brown on the top!


MOST IMPORTANT TIP OF ALL:
When eating with children, be sure to use the abundance of chocolate in the cookies to make goofy "rotten teeth" smiles for yourself. You'll all be giggling and snorting and asking for more cookies in no time ;)


Click HERE for more of my recipes.
Click HERE for my other WFMW tips.
Otherwise, head on back to Rocks In My Dryer.

Thanks for stopping by!

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WHY?...

... if we're smart enough to invent a "washer" and a "dryer", can we not come up with a "folder" and "put away-er"??

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God Is An Artist, Part IV: Sunflower Infatuation

Have I mentioned before how much I'm loving the sunflowers we planted in the garden this summer?

They're in full bloom, and are just incredible! I actually pulled out the big ladder the other night to grab these shots. I'm glad I did, because it was the very next day that they started to droop under the weight of their amazing (and massive) flowers.

I love this first shot. It just says "summer" to me...carefree, sunny, wispy, bright. And the yellow petals against that clear blue Idaho sky is something to behold! As I played with this photo in Lightroom, I had a hard time deciding on a favorite. It seems that each of the following variations brings a different emotion to the photo. Vibrance and fun....romance and gentleness...stark beauty. Which is your favorite?

It's a good thing that bumblebees are not frightened off by squeals of joy, because that's exactly what came from my mouth when I saw this guy land right where I was shooting. Thank you, Lord!

The textures in a sunflower are so delightfully varied. These next two shots show it well.

There's something about this shot I'm not crazy about. It's just too...flat. Boring. I played and played, but couldn't figure out a way to make it pop. But again, it shows some nice textures, so I thought I'd put it up.

And then there's the lovely "red" sunflowers we planted. They're not at big as the yellow monsters...but they sure are pretty :)

"Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."

Song of Solomon 2:12

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