Let's Do Lunch

First off, I just wanted to say "HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY" to my little sister, Maddie! I still remember when you were born. I was in the 4th or 5th grade (yeah, maybe I don't remember it so clearly), and I was SO excited to have a sister! I'm so glad that you and your girls came to stay with me for a month this past summer, and that we got a chance to hang. Love ya, sis!

Holy cow! Can you say LOOOONG day! hehe. I woke up at 6:35am, and hit the snooze. Then woke up at 6:45am, and hit the snooze again. hehe. I woke up at 6:50am on my own, and read my scriptures, said my prayers, and went out to help the kids get ready at 7am. Joe and Eme had both gotten up early and done the remainder of their homework (good job, guys!), so I just had to supervise breakfast and make sure they got out the door at 7:30am.

And no one else was awake. Captain America was still in the field, Jake and Jim were both sleeping, so I figured I might as well go back to bed. ha! I slept till around 8:30am, then got up for real. hehe. And I saw a text from Captain America saying that he was coming home! Yippee!!

He got home around 9am, and sat down and watched part of a movie with Jimmy and I. It was nice to just sit on the couch and relax and hang. I missed him :)

At 10am, he went to bed (cause he'd been working since 7am, the previous morning), and I showered and got ready for the day. Jake and I got Jimmy on the bus at 11am, and then we headed out to Walmart. Cause I had a few things to pick up. And I guess I just can't stay away from there.

Here's me on the way to Walmart. I totally headed out the wrong gate, thinking I was going to the Walmart close to our house, but realized it didn't have a fabric section, and that's part of what I wanted, so I had to course correct and find an alternative route to a different Walmart. hehe. It wasn't very direct, but it got me there :)

So we get to Walmart, and I let Jake go look at whatever he wants to look at, and I go to the fabrics. I got 1 yard each of white, orange, and yellow fabric. Eme and I were gonna make a wreath. I'll show ya pics later in the post :) I bought a pattern for an apron for me, too. Cause I still don't have one..... hehe. I have 3 different people making/sending me aprons, but, um, yeah, I'm still apron less. hehe.

Anyway, I couldn't find any fabric I liked at a price I liked (cause you all know how cheap I am), so I went and looked in the sheet section. And I found a twin flat sheet for $4, and I know I can get more than one apron out of that. So it was WAY cheaper than a yard of fabric for almost $5. Or I can make an apron and something else with the rest of the fabric. Either way, it was cheaper with the sheet. And the sheet was cute. All striped and junk. ha!

I bought some cream cheese for my cookies that I was gonna make when I got home, and some cheese for me, cause I was out. And a few other things. Not too many, though, cause I'd been to Walmart the day before, you know. hehe.

I caught up with Jake, and he wanted me to come and look at an Air Soft gun with him. Yeah, that was a purchase that he needed his dad for. And Jake wasn't too happy about that, but whatever. He's 13, and he's still a kid. And if I say that he needs his dad there to buy something like that, then I'm within my rights to say that. And he can just be upset with me. hehe.

We left Walmart, and headed to the Dollar Tree. Again. It was seriously a repeat of my yesterday, but with Jacob this time. hehe. I'd made him promise me that if he came with me that there was NO talking about video games. And he didn't, but it was a VERY quiet ride. hehe.

I got 2 wicker wreaths from the Dollar Tree, and some more candy corns. Cause they actually had candy corns there. And a couple other things. Food containers that would hold 1 dozen cookies perfectly. I should have got a few more - ha!

Jake was feeling better after the Dollar Tree, and he and I decided to stop across the street at Taco Cabana on the way home. It's a restaurant that Andrea and I used to go to ALL the time when we were hanging with Katy and Adela. I hadn't been there in AGES.

Jake got 2 bean and cheese burritos, and got a customizable Cabana bowl. I got the shell, and black beans, and salad mix, and beef, and pico de guillo (or however you spell that), and sour cream. It was quite tasty. I ended up eating 1/2 the bowl, and only a few bites of the beans. But I ate the rest, and it was yummy :) And Jake and I got a Diet Dr Pepper to share, since it was a fountain drink, and we could go back for refills. Gotta love it when they have Diet Dr Pepper!





So we headed home, and I started to work on my projects. I had bananas to use up, and some crafts to do. And I was gonna be productive. I was NOT gonna go nap like I wanted to. hehe.

I found a good recipe online for Banana Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies. Oh yeah, it looked good :) And here's all the "Bling" that I had to shed in order to cook. And I'm just saying, but next time I craft/cook, I'm TOTALLY not wearing high heel boots, because my feet are killing me right now - ha! Anyway...

So the recipe said that it made 24 cookies, and I didn't think that would be enough for my family AND to share with Captain Americas guys at work, so I doubled it. And yeah, it was WAY more than I thought it was gonna be. WAY more.

2 cups butter/margarine
2 cups sugar

Mix (someone recently taught me that THIS step is the key to good cookies. Mix it for a VERY long time)

Add 4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Mix (And here too. Mix it here for a LONG time also...)

Add 4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cloves (I didn't have any, so I used nutmeg)
2 tsp cinnamon

Mix

Add 7 mashed bananas

Mix

Add 4 cups oats
1 bag chocolate chips

Mix.

Holy crap! That's a lot of cookie dough!

Preheat the oven to 375, and I fit 12 cookies per cookie sheet. Yeah, 10 dozen cookies. HOLY COW! I was baking forever - hehehe.
Bake for 10 minutes, then let rest for a few minutes on cookie sheet, then cool on a wire rack

So after they were cool, I mixed 1 lb of powdered sugar with 1 package of softened cream cheese, and a bit of milk, to make frosting. I put the frosting into a baggie and snipped the corner, then circularly decorated the cookies, putting a candy corn on the top for a little feel of Halloween :) Aren't they cute?
So in between my 10 dozen cookies cooking, I made this vase, too. With my handy dandy Glue Gun. I like my glue gun. hehe. I glued candy corns to a vase. Yeah, I'm crafty, all right - hehehe.
And then, because I was running out of candy corn, and just to prove how cheap I really am, I glued my broken candy corns back together. ha! I really did! And it worked. See? It's not like we're gonna eat them. RIGHT JIM!!! hehe.

See, didn't it turn out cute! (ignore the laundry in the background... everyone has laundry..., but not everyone has 10 dozen cookies...)

So by this point, the cookies were all made, and I had 4 dozen set aside for Captain Americas battery, and 4 dozen on paper plates to pass out to my friends, and 2 dozen for at home. Sounded pretty good to me :)

Captain America woke up around 4pm, and had to get back to work. He thought he was gonna get till 6pm, but they called them back early. Poor guy.

And I realized that I'd forgotten to take my pill at lunch. Again. Sigh. I'm SO taking a sleeping pill tonight. Taking my Prozac in the evening makes me restless during the night. And I took it today at 4pm. I'm gonna remember it for sure tomorrow :)

The kids and I loaded up in the truck, and went out to deliver cookies. We gave a plate to Veronica when she dropped off Tom and Eme from AQ. We dropped off a plate to Lauries family. We tried to give a plate to Maggie's family, but she wouldn't answer her phone. hehe.

We drove off post and gave a plate to Aimee. She's moving back home with her 4 kids (prego with #5) this Saturday, because of complications with her pregnancy. She's SOOO sick she can't care for them by herself. Poor girl. I feel for her :( She'll be back in May after the baby is born, though.

Anyway, came back on post, and got sandwiches for the kids. Yeah, after 10 dozen cookies, I wasn't cooking dinner too. hehe. I had my cheese, bread, cucumber, and apple. Cause I'd had a big salad for lunch.

And Eme and I started on yet another crafty project. Cause apparently, today was the day for crafts. hehehe.

I took the wicker wreath, and wrapped it with yellow masking tape. I wanted black electrical tape, but they didn't have it at the Dollar Tree, so I figured this would work. Actually, Jake did it for me on the way home from the Dollar Tree. Cause he's a good helper :)

Then I took the 1 yard of yellow, white, and orange fabrics, and cut it in strips. And it took FOREVER! This is how many strips I got out of 1/2 of each of the fabrics. So I till have fabric left for me to make a wreath, too. But my hands were getting tired of cutting, so I just let Eme do hers. I'll do mine another day...


Then, you simply tie the strips onto the wreath, pushing them very close together. I did the first 3, and Eme took over from there, and completed the rest of the wreath. Just double tie it tightly, and it'll be perfect :)

This project was perfect for my 8 year old. She did it NO problem :)

And the completed wreath. Isn't it cute! Good job, Eme!

At 6:30pm, we grabbed Maggie's cookies (she'd finally texted me back with her address - LOL!), and headed out to Wednesday night activities. We dropped off the cookies, and headed off post to the new ward.

And the kids were SUPER happy with the activities. There's a lot more kids there age in this ward, and just a lot more kids in general, I think. Jake LOVED his Scout group, and Tom was super impressed with his Webelos den. They ran around and played games AND had an achievement. He thought it was awesome.

And Joe came in his Scout uniform, and slipped in with the Wolves. Even though he's not old enough, I didn't say anything. hehe. I know, I'm a rebel. LOL!

Eme LOVED achievement days. She brought her wreath, and finished it off while there. And the teacher wanted her to teach the others how to do it :)

Here's Tom and Joe playing ball in the gym

And Eme's group practicing for the Ward Talent show in November.

And while I was there, I got a chance to meet with the Bishop. He's a great man, and I really appreciate him. I got a blessing, and felt really good after. I really am glad that we're going to Hondo Pass ward, and know that it's gonna be a very good change for our family :)

We headed back home at 8:30pm, and I got a text from Captain America saying that he was all done for the night, and heading home! Woohoo! I was pretty excited.

I put the kids to bed, and Captain America helped put a few to bed when he got home. We talked to Tom, who'd gotten in trouble at afterschool PE (AQ). Some kid was mean to him, and rather than tell the teacher, he did something to the kid, then Tom was the one to get in trouble. We talked about what better choices would have been, and what the punishment was for it. Talking things out with Tom help him. Poor Tom. He's such a good kid. I know he'll get it figured out :)

After the kids went to bed, Captain America and I hung and chatted for about an hour. It was nice to tell him all about my day, and what I'd been up to, and stuff. I felt like I hadn't had a chance to hang with him for a while, and I missed him. I was nice to just relax and talk and chat.

He went to bed at 10:15pm, and I started blogging. And here it is, 11:10pm, and I'm SO sleepy. I still need to make a freebie and post it. But luckily the blogging part is done :)

Tomorrow I need to look at the bills, and go grocery shopping, and then at 6pm, Joe's Cub Scout group is doing a campfire at Old Ft Bliss. The kids are pretty excited about going :) And then maybe Captain America and I will go out after that :)

Oh yeah, and just to clear up any misunderstandings, Ft Bliss' rules are that 12 year olds can babysit siblings, and 13 year olds can babysit anyone else. And I have a 13 year old who has taken babysitter training (first aid, cpr, etc). So I'm not just leaving my kids alone unsupervised :) Just putting that out there :) There was a friendly comment on the blog asking about it, so I thought I'd mention it.

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!~

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