Big and Soft M&M Cookies

 Besides my carpet (yay!!) and sleep (always), my favorite thing right now is my yard. We kinda live out there. We finally planted our teeny garden today; it's almost June, so we should be done with snow at this point, right??

Three tomato plants, two rows of carrots and two rows of green beans. If I can keep them alive, we'll expand next year. This is my test. We're soaking in these gorgeous spring-slash-summer evenings, because any day now it's going to get hot and dry, and the wonder of having a backyard has yet to wear off. A space big enough to exercise the Beast, with a frisbee or a ball, and actually wear her out without having to put on shoes, is pretty awesome. Because yes, I am lazy. Therefore, so is she. And she could stand to lose a few pounds. Me too, but that's what smoothies and my treadmill are for. Backyards are for lilacs and breezes and fetch and frisbee!

Turns out the boys are pretty good at frisbee! They sure picked it up faster than I ever did. (PS- The yard will be even nicer when we get rid of that cement slab. Yuck.)

 Action shoooooooot!!!

Joe takes frisbee, as with all activities involving hand eye coordination, very seriously. He even got some air on that one!! And after playing that hard, I think two cookies for dessert is totally justified, don't you?

Chicken Casserole with Lemon, Garlic, and White Wine

So, hi, I'm exhausted. The last few days have been craziness!! In one day I: took Stephen to school, then drove down to Colorado Springs to check out some apartment options for my sister, who is also moving here this summer, looked at five complexes in two hours, drove back (oh, that's an hour and a half each way, for those not familiar with the area), got a call from the missionaries asking what time they should be over for dinner (which of course I had forgotten about), picked Stephen up for school, went grocery shopping, cleaned up the remaining post-carpet-installation debris, cooked dinner, sat still for a few minutes while the missionaries ate and just breathed, tied my poor flattened peonies up in hopes they will revive, made four pans of cheesecake rolls for the Geologist's office, and collapsed in bed somewhere before midnight. Add to the mix that Colorado is trying to turn me into a sloth with the worst allergies I've ever had, and I pretty much just want to sleep all day. And night. When I do get a chance to take a nap, I wake up an hour or two later completely befuddled, thinking I slept the whole day away. But hey, at least...

I HAVE CARPET!!!

I love love love LOVE it! It's so soft, and pretty, and perfect! Bracken might be the only one who loves it more than me. It just ties everything together perfectly, I love how the rooms feel now. More comfy, more homey; it was the missing link.

Oh, and these lilacs were the missing link on my table :). They're from the bush across the fence in the back, the neighbors don't mind if I adopt it. 

Anyone else being slowly sloth-ified (Yes, that's a word. Because I said so.) by seasonal allergies? Or had a long, packed, overwhelming week? Or just want a dinner that takes hardly any prep at all? This recipe is for you. Honestly, it should just be for everybody.

Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

Things I love today:

The fact that pulling a kid out of kindergarten just to make your day easier doesn't really matter, academically speaking :)

Diet Coke with coconut and lime (Thanks Amanda, I'm addicted!)

My car stereo

Portable DVD players

Joe voluntarily taking a break from said DVD player to ask if we could play the ABC road trip game

The lovely (no, really) drive between Denver and Colorado Springs

Source: runtrails.net

Smartphones, with maps and directions

A really fast pizza dough recipe and leftover M&M cookies for the missionaries I forgot I was feeding tonight!!

Wonderfully helpful boys and husband (who is much better at stretching pizza dough than I am!)

Quiet. And sitting. Doing nothing. Just breathing. 

Weekly Menu May 12

Source: loveliegreenie

This week we have:

Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

Chicken Casserole with Lemons, Garlic, and White Wine

Big Soft M&M Cookies

For today, May 12...

One Bowl Chocolate Banana Muffins

 Happy Mother's Day!! I've never been quite sure what kind of 's' that is on Mother(s) Day. Does the Mother possess the day? Is it the day of plural Mothers? Do ALL the Mothers possess the day? Sorry, grammar tangent. Yay for Moms!! Mine is pretty awesome. She's a marathon running, mountain climbing, backpacking, office-birthday-cake-baking, waffles-for-teenagers making, heck of a singer, sewer, and Grandma. She's my role model. I'm a lucky girl. And if she was here, I would make her these, my current favorite muffin. 

They're also a great choice for all you daughters, sons, husbands, and Dads out there. Does baking intimidate you? It sure intimidates my Geologist. He and the boys made me pancakes this morning, basically my Mothers Day dream, but felt bad because it took him an hour. Hand that man a piece of meat and he's all over it, but baking kinda shoots his confidence in the foot. Well no worries, because this recipe literally takes one bowl, a fork, and a spatula. If you can measure out a few ingredients and stir, you're good to go! Simplest muffins I've ever made, and simply scrumptious. So grab those blackened bananas that no one wants to eat, wave the fruitflies away, and get baking for that special woman in your life!

PS- Huge apologies to all of you who have commented in oh, the past month. I've been horrible at replying. Forgive me while I catch up today, and keep commenting! I truly love your comments and I promise to do better at keeping in touch! :)

Simple Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Well folks, this weekend got full FAST, so I'm way behind! Lucky you, you get three posts in one day! Thank goodness I was smart and didn't plan any recipes this week that I hadn't already made, so it shouldn't take long to whip them out. 

It's been an interesting week, weather-wise. The week started out with highs in the 80's, so we ratcheted our giant window air-conditioner up to our bedroom, chained it in place, and had a lovely cool breeze through the house. That lasted about two days... then the nights started getting colder, and colder... and we now have the equivalent of a giant grate filling our window, letting that air straight in to our bedroom. Which wasn't a big deal until it dropped below freezing last night... and will be lower tomorrow... and looking like snow Sunday. Supposed to continue through Monday night. Oops. Think maybe we jumped the gun just a hair? Thank heavens for cozy sock and lots of extra blankets!

Super Cinnamon Ribbon Coffee Cake

I... have nothing interesting to talk about. My peony bushes are huge. I heard the closest lightning strike I've ever heard today, at the beginning of a 15 minute rainshower. Colorado is so weird and awesome that way. We're planting seeds in our little garden plot on Friday! I'm excited!! But boy, trying to decide which varieties of tomatoes to plant was dizzying! Do you have any favorite varieties? Specifically varieties that can well? (Why do we call it canning when we usually put things in jars?) I'm kinda winging it, I got Better Boy for canning and some kind of "Beefy" thing for eating. We shall see. I still need as much sleep as a toddler, which is odd. I wonder when that particular symptom will wear off... I love my house more every day, though I'm lousy at cleaning it. Our carpet got scheduled!! It will be installed next Wednesday! We're also having our big window replaced and installing French doors, which we ordered forever ago and I just found out the doors were broken on arrival so they had to reorder them. Oh well! This cake is delicious! 

Weekly Menu May 5

Source: sweetruffles

This week we have:

Super Cinnamon Ribbon Coffee Cake

Simple Roasted Brussels Sprouts

One-Bowl Chocolate Banana Muffins

For today, May 5...