I'm in Love!

Yup! I have finally found the love of my life. I have wanted one forever. Everyone I know has one. Thursday was the magical day. And I have my sister Kim to thank for it! She (and her fam) were visiting me. We went to Kohl's last Saturday. We shopped. She bought. Then that night she dreamed and thought about everything she should have bought. So we went back- to a different Kohl's on Thursday- the day before she flew home. As she searched and shopped and scavenged through the children's clothes I checked out all the clearance sections. And there waiting for me was my long awaited love...

(sorry- it's a little tipsy!) There it is!! It was only $120.00. Regularly $349.99! I was so tempted to buy 2! I am not in love with the color. But yet it is kind of fun! Now it needs a name. I think it needs to be a her though... because of the color. So maybe I will have a contest.

I was so excited to use it. But the first time had to be for something special. And delicious. I chose these:

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

1 8 oz. cream cheese, room temp

1 stick of butter, room temp

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 (18 oz) Chocolate Cake mix

Powdered Sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Beat in egg. Then beat in vanilla. Beat in cake mix. Cover and chill in refrigerator for a couple of hours, 'til firm.

Roll batter into tablespoon sized balls. (the dough is still sticky- if you wet hands it will stick less). Roll in powdered sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. Cookies will be soft.

Cool completely. Can dust with more powdered sugar.

So good. Make them now. I think I need to go eat a few... dozen!

Oh Happy Day!

So there I am.... walking up and down the aisle of Safeway. Earlier this evening I really wanted to go to bed. But then I remembered that Safeway was having a really good sale on cereal and grapes. So instead of getting in my jammies, I get into my car. I grab a flyer incase there is some other deal I am missing out of. What? No grape deal? No cereal on sale? This couldn't be! I look- the sale ended YESTERDAY! Sheesh. No worries though. I managed to spend some money. I bought LOTS of fruit for my quest to eat healthy... and some chocolate milk for my nephew (and maybe sister and brother-in-law) if it is still around when they arrive on Saturday. And a few other things. As I was checking out I thought to myself "I better check out the cereal aisle JUST IN CASE." You never know what you might find. So there I go with my cart full of paid & bagged groceries. Nope- no big deals... but wait a second. Doth my eyes deceive me? No they doth not!

I thought these were gone... for good. I hadn't seen them in ages. And they were on sale. 2 for $6. Not a GREAT deal. But for my long lost loves- a GOOD deal. I only bought 2. I really wanted to buy 20. Just in case they are no longer being made and they just found a crate of them in the back and decided to put them out. Maybe I should go back. I love them so much, I bought each member in my family a box of them for Christmas. I don't think they loved them as much as I do. I am trying to resist eating a bowl of it right now. I wonder what it would taste like with chocolate milk?

Banana Cupcakes

I made these this summer. So yummy. The recipe is from my sister Kristi's mil. We like to call them muffins.... sounds a little healthier. And the frosting... let's call it glaze! Mmmm.

Banana Cupcakes

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1 cup mashed bananas

1 egg- beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda- dissolved in ½ cup hot water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

Ice with Butter or cream cheese icing!

Makes 18 muffins.

ENJOY! I think I might need to go make some... since I finally bought some flour AND sugar!

This has nothing to do with food...

but I promise I will post about food soon.
The first day of school was yesterday! What a day. I only have 97 students!! That is amazing as I average about 130! Let's just hope they are 97 angels!! So far... so good! But they usually don't let their true colors show for the first few days!
So you may remember my quest for display case assistance last year... so all summer I have been dreaming up something new! With the help of my sister Jill and my roomie Elaine- this is what I came up with!I was going to cover the back... maybe I still should. I will take any suggestions as to what I can change it too in a few months! I hope it makes sense!!