Family: Max, the mini

Our mini-schnauzer, Max, turn 4 months old on Friday!  Here's what he looked like at 7 weeks (just a week before we brought him home):

... and here he is at 4 months!

and for those of you who know my dh .... yes, he IS starting to like the little guy:

 dh distracted by LSU winning last night ....

 got a sloppy kiss from the little guy ...

and the kids thought it great that Dad was finally holding Max!

 

Recipe: Rick's Take on Tollhouse

Rick's bithday celebration isn't quite over since we all have today off for Columbus Day and we're going Pumpkin Picking at Miller Farms with a great group of friends.  One of the specialties of the weekend was "Rick's Take on Tollhouse" cookies; this is the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe, edited to Rick's preferences, and BOY are they delicious (and a bit better for you than the traditional).

Rick's Take on Tollhouse (makes about 2 doz large cookies)

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• /2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet choc chips
• 1 cup walnuts

Cream together butter/oil, sugars, eggs, vanilla. Sift and stir in flours and soda. Mix till thoroughly combined. Add chips and nuts, distributing evenly.

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls on lightly greased cookie sheet. Chill while warming the oven to 375.  Bake about 8-10 minutes till golden brown and slightly soft. Cool slightly before removing from sheet.  ENJOY! [BTW, did you know if you place a home-baked chocolate chip cookie on a plate and re-heat for about 10-15 sec, it takes just like fresh-baked? ]

We love our UPS man ...

... and today was a real haul ...

• a gift for the birthday man ... not sure what that is ...
• BamBam, after much scouring of Amazon to find just the right use of money from N&P, finally decided on Wed that what he absolutely must have was Mr. Potato Head's Silly Suitcase.  He got up at 6:00 a.m. to do this:
So he could do this as soon as Mr. UPS arrived ...
• and I finally ordered the book that I got for my birthday (thanks to N&P and Kotch! as well as some well-earned Amazon credits):  The Worldwide History of Dress ... a mammoth 600+ pages, packed with ethnic costumes from all over the world!  These are the kind of garments I like to replicate with my knitting ... so this book is VERY VALUABLE to me and mine.

 

Don't you just love the UPS man?

Birthdays: Happy Birthday, head of the house!

Last night,
with candles burning bright,
we sang a very happy birthday to

the love of my life,

the father of my children,

our provider and protector,

our very anchor who is always doing his best to get everyone in our family to Heaven!

God bless, you dear, on your birthday!  We love you very much!

*-*-*

FYI:  dinner was a sumptuous feast of grilled burgers (or cheeseburgers for those of us who LIKE American cheese!), Waldorf salad, griddle-fried potato slices dipped in olive oil and a mix of Zatarain's Creole Seasoning and a smidge of sugar, GingerAle (the real stuff -- did you know many of the generic brands DON'T contain ginger -- what's the point?),
and for dessert:  blueberry/cranberry pie with crumble topping (and the crust was one made with ground nuts, canola oil, and a smidge of sugar). 
All was delicious!

The Farm: Mad dogs, Englishmen and my dh

We've been living here at Hilltop Farm now for six weeks and the theme for the last week or so has been ....

At twelve noon the natives swoon, and no further work is done -
But Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

(song by Noel Coward, 1932)

But, Mr. Coward forgot my dh in that description.

You see, my dh is a school teacher and August is rapidly coming to a close and so, even though "it's one of those rules that the biggest fools obey, because the sun is much too sultry and one must avoid its ultry-violet ray" there is my dh in the front yard fighting the battle between the vinca and the liriope ... taming the much overgrown azaleas ... mulching the magnolia ... separating the pebbles from the topsoil so we can minimize the pebble areas and reap the harvest of the now-aerated dirt ... puttering in and amidst the natural beauty of this place.

Yes, dh is out in the 90+ (with humidity, more like 100) degree weather fixing the "farm" so that he can finish before the school year starts (or at least be at a reasonable stopping point).

Well, dh may be like the Englishmen and the mad dogs, but what am I?

I am out there too ... screeing gravel, spreading mulch, planning the garden produce and (most importantly) thoroughly enjoying the time with dh while the kiddoes are in the a/c playing! Only String Bean joins us occasionally. But that's ok ... because if it was good enough for Coward to sing about, it's good enough for us to do!

[I promise pictures soon of the work we will have done by the time dh goes back to teaching. we are whipping this long-neglected spot into shape!]

August ... already?

It seems like we just moved in and we're already in August ... a month where we lose our favorite cook (dh) to school assignments, Kotch goes off to college and the really hot days don't help with trying to plan school.

We've done so much since we moved in on June 25th ... we've cleaned, and scrubbed, and built, and painted, and cleaned some more, and generally beaten this house into shape. The real blessing occured yesterday when we got our gas grill hooked up to the HUGE propane tank for our fireplace so we can enjoy the "dog days" with a barbeque and not worry about the tank! WHEW! We still have the appliance guys coming Monday to move our washer/dryer into place ... no we haven't been using a rock to do laundry around here, just really poor efficiency appliances left by the previous owner and I miss our washer and dryer. Those will be hooked up Monday.

Then we have a couple of weeks of doctor/dentist/eye doc appointments and shifting things to get Kotch ready for college (leaving August 27th) and dh ready for school (starts planning meetings on the 24th).

So August is fraught with planning, and more planning, moving and shifting and changing and general mayhem till September 1st rolls around and we're in a grove again for a while ...

I'll be posting my curriculum plans over the next few weeks ... for Lego Maniac (5th grade!), String Bean (4th grade, but needs help with reading and confidence building) and Bam Bam (1st grade who really doesn't understnad WHY he needs to be kept back when he really should be in high school -- or so he thinks!).

Prayers for all my dear readers and their planning for next year, and their finishing their summers with a bang, and just generally for their well-being.

God bless you all!