My ring

My engagement ring...I love it!

peanut butter oat chocolate chip cookies

I received a request for cookies yesterday evening, so this morning after my pre weekend house cleaning I made these babies.

Yummmm!!!!

These cookies have a great texture with the oats and the raw sugar.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 stick of butter (room temperature)

• 1/2 cup (or more) peanut butter--I use natural peanut butter
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour (a soft flour, all purpose or a white wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocoloate chips (I used semi sweet)
• 1 cup rolled oats

Here's what you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. In your mixer combine the butter, peanut butter, and sugar
3. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix
4. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt and baking soda
5. Combine the flour mixture with the mixture in the mixer




dough balls waiting their turn


6.  Finally add the chocolate chips and oats and mix one more time
7. Using a cookie scoop or a spoon make ping pong size balls of dough
8. Mash the balls of dough to flatten out a bit (looks like a cookie now)
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes (this is on a baking stone, lean towards the shorter time if youare using a metal cookie sheet)
10. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the pan then remove to a cooling rack
11. Enjoy (I had to go get more milk because its just not the same without a glass of fresh milk)

Busy day

Today was a big day of wedding planning.  We went into Winston-Salem and ordered some bridesmaids dresses and accessories and made decisions on what the groomsmen will wear.  Check that off the list.  Tomorrow is our last meeting with a caterer (I wanted to do our own food, but I keep reminding myself not to bite off more than I can chew, so we are getting a caterer to do the meat dishes and potato side and then we are doing a big salad bar ourselves).  Hopefully by the end of this weekend everything will be taken care of for the wedding besides some fine details and I can start focusing on my other summer tasks (I have a sweater to finish) and it is about time to start thinking about the school year and what the first month or so will have in store for my students (3 weeks until I go back, 4 until the kids come back).

On another note...my pathetic dog loves pillows and he knows how to use them


note his john deere toy, which is actually a cat toy that he insists on carrying around every where lately



Getting married

It's been a couple weeks, but I am making an appearance and hopefully going to be around here more now.  The last few weeks have a been a worldwind.  Myles and I got engaged and decided to get married this fall instead of waiting (I have always wanted a fall wedding, but next fall seems pretty far away).  So we have about 3 and a half months left before the wedding and have been quickly taking care of arranging everything for the big day.

Venue...check
Pastor...check
Caterer...pending
Florist...check
Photographer...check
Videographer...check
Cake...check
Dress...a big happy check
Bridesmaid dresses...check
Guys clothes....no check here, this week hopefully

I'm sure this list is missing a lot too, but I am pleased with the progress and it has been fun planning together since Myles is home still with his broken leg (just a few more weeks until he can start learning to walk again).

Hopefully the wedding will be planned and settled before school starts back in a few weeks.

milk jugs

I got new milk jugs today.  We had been keeping milk in a large plastic pitcher that did not fit well in the fridge and spilled easily because it did not seal up.  It was the best solution though because it had a large enough opening in the top to fill from the milk tank.  Myles finally found us the perfect milk pitchers....

if you look closely you can see where I wrote my name on the bottom of his cast

...what with his broken leg he has a lot of time to spend sitting around looking for things online.

These pitchers are perfect, they are glass not plastic!!!! And they have well sealing screw on lids with flip caps for pouring.  As soon as they came I quickly stamped labels on them and went to get more milk.  We can now easily keep skim and whole milk on hand (skim for me, whole for him).  I am very excited about these.  I poured in the whole raw milk from the pastic pitcher and then after some quick stovetop pasturizing and skimming I had skim milk for myself! 

Tomorrow holds a day of canning pickles!

Week Two

Today starts the second week of summer break.

It feels so good to wake up every morning just a few minutes later than during the school year and know I can spend all day doing the things I love.  I have made great progress on the first of a couple planned summer knitting projects.  I have mended fence and spent a lot of time trying to teach Charlotte to stay in the pasture.  I have never met a needier calf.  When I leave the pasture she wants to come with...not to mention that she does not get on well with the donkey.  I have spent time in the garden.  I have cooked, and cooked and cooked.

I am looking forward to more projects, more cooking, more garden and more animal time.

And teaching this guy to stay off the furniture.

A trip to the BIG farmer's market

Today we took a trip to the big farmer's market in Greensboro.  It is about an hour and 15 minutes from home.  I was already in Winston-Salem though so it was only and extra 30 minutes out of my way.  With $15 in hand I set out in pursuit of 2 things....goat cheese and peaches.

I came home with a few extra items....zucchini, squash and blackberries (And still did not spend all of my $15).  My blackberries at home are not black yet, they are still purple and green.

The cheese is amazing.  The Goat Lady Dairy is a beautiful farm not far from this farmer's market and I cannot pass up buying some of this amazing cheese when I go to this farmer's market.  This time I got roasted red pepper spreadable cheese. AMAZING!

Also note the reusable produce bags.  My mom picked  a few of these up for me and I just love them.  No more of those plastic bags that you cannot get open (honestly, how many times have you tried to pull open those long plastic bags and struggled)     Anyways you take your stuff home in those plastic bags and immediately throw them away.  These bags are my solution and they are great.