I Have a Legitimate Excuse!

I know, I know. I failed in my challenge! A solid week of blogging and I almost made it, but I do have a legitimate excuse.

You see, a little thing called the-tail-end-of-Hurricane-Ike blew threw, and boy did it blow! Sunday morning dawned inauspiciously enough, and aside from the minor set-back of 2 sick girlie bugs needing to stay home from church, everything was on course for a typical Sabbath day. It was a little windy, but nothing to write home about.

Then, around 1:30 or so, the wind started to pick up. Grace was doped up enough on Children's Motrin to be in a frolicking mood, so she scampered outside to swing and otherwise be one with the wind while I seized upon the opportunity to get dinner started in the crock pot and bake a batch of the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies in the world to take pictures of for my recipe post. (Side-note -- this exercise in daily blogging has caused me to realize that I have a tendency to craft overly long sentences. See what I mean?).

I had just finished up in the kitchen, and Grace had just come inside to get a cookie, when the wind started to pick up even MORE, and a little after 2 PM the POWER WENT OUT. Sophie was just waking up from her nap, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon being entertained FIRST by watching someone's garbage can blow back and forth and up and down our street, and SECOND by watching Grace reenact the same scene as she rolled across the main floor of the house saying "Save me, save me! I'm the garbage can." (It wasn't until much later that we discovered that garbage can we had been watching blow away was actually ours).

The wind continued on into the evening, and we quickly realized that the power would not be coming back anytime soon. The next day we discovered the extent of the damage. I was shocked to see trees down all over our neighborhood and across town. I had noticed on Sunday that it looked like the pole in our back yard that all the wires were connected to was leaning to the left a little:


And when we went outside the next day, I quickly realized why:

(It was hard to get a good shot of this, but this is our next-door neighbor's backyard. The neighbors behind HER house had a bunch of trees get knocked down into her yard, and right on TOP of the wires connected to that pole, thus pulling the pole towards her yard and causing it to lean).


(One more shot showing all the trees that went down).

Anyway, Ethan didn't have any school and we spent the day picking up the yard (kind of). And trying to find emergency type supplies to buy. Because even though I HAVE gotten started on my 72 hour kit (we DO have our 3 day water supply), we were missing some of the basics -- such as flashlights. We also needed an ice chest and some ice to be able to salvage some of the stuff from the fridge.

Knowing how many lines were down all over town, and realizing that some were down practically in our own backyard, I thought it would be DAYS before we got power again. So, let me tell you that I was ECSTATIC this morning when the power came back on around 7. ECSTATIC.

So now that my computer and the internet is back up and running, I present to you the long-awaited recipe post. Without further ado, here it is:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe courtesy of my good friend Lindsey F.

1 c. margarine (although I always use real butter)
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 package chocolate chips (although for my personal preference I only ever use 1 c., and I LOVE milk chocolate chips in these cookies -- especially the Guittard brand. Simply divine!)

Mix ingredients until blended. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (or 10-12 minutes at lower altitudes, e.g. outside of Utah).

There you have it. The BEST cookie EVER. They are my new favorites.

Alright before I go, I have a couple more items. First off, there are many people out there who see my husband and then see Ethan and say "Oh, wow, he is the spitting image of Scott!" A much less-vocal minority see him for what he is -- a fairly good mixture of both of us, but definitely leaning more towards my side of the family. On Saturday night, I took him to the mall to get his 5 year old birthday pictures taken (you know, only 3 months late) and it took me a few days to realize what exactly seemed familiar about this picture:




And then all of sudden this afternoon, it just hit me. So, I frantically searched all around the house (through several, as-of-yet-unpacked boxes) to finally track it down. My kindergarten picture:


I'll let you be the judge.



And finally, one last item and a contest to boot. While Grace was playing in the backyard yesterday, and Ethan was busily raking up piles and bagging debris, I slipped and almost rolled my ankle on one of these small, green, ball-like "acorns" (for lack of a better word) that are scattered all around the bases of the trees in our backyard. I was talking to my neighbor a little later, and she mentioned what they were, and I was completely flabbergasted. I will send a prize to the first person who comments that knows what these are:

(and a second prize to whoever comes closest to guessing how many are in there -- although that number may not be completely accurate seeing as to how Ethan and Grace were the ones tallying them up after I shamelessly exploited there labor in a little contest of "let's see who can pick up the most 'acorns' ").

Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow!