A little of this, and a little of that.

Well, we were supposed to have roast tonight for dinner. I planned it this way so that we could have the resulting leftover beef stew tomorrow night - an easy dinner after Jack's first soccer game of the season. However, when I pulled the chunk of meat out of the fridge at 2pm for searing, it was still a solidly frozen block. Drat.

Instead, it's back in the fridge for more thawing time (though it already had two days!), and tonight I've bumped up a meal from later on in the week: goulash, broccoli, and cottage cheese. Just a bit ago, I was standing in the kitchen, wondering what to do with myself. It was still a little early to prep dinner, but I really wanted to be in there. So... I whipped up a batch of fudge brownies, and now they're in the oven. We'll have them for dessert tonight.

Today, I updated the boys' book lists, paid all our bills, entered all Coke points into the system, cleared my desk and the bar (paper "hot spots" in this house), dropped off a prescription, shopped a short list at the commissary, stopped in and had lunch with Jack at his school, chatted for over an hour with bigbrain61 on the phone, filled the prescription, and put away the groceries. Believe it or not, that was ALL before noon! By the time I was done with all of that, I laid down on the couch for a quick nap, and then I woke up when A.J. came in from school. Once Jack was also home, I loaded up the boys and headed to the barber shop. It's payday, as well as the day before Picture Day at the elementary school, so there was quite a lengthy wait. Finally, the boys were sheared, and then we did some birthday shopping for October.

I'm thinking about making some cookies in the next couple days, but they're just "test" subjects, so I haven't fully decided. I have one large order and two small orders to do in the next two weeks, and I still have several cookies I need to post (Facebook seems to get those pictures first, I guess).

It looked light it might rain today, and there was a chance of it, but it never happened. The weather should be nice and warm again tomorrow, though. I'm taking pictures of a newborn baby boy in the morning. (Well, it's scheduled, at least.) He'll be just ten days new, and I hope he's sleepy. His mama was very sweet when I met her at a surprise birthday party for my neighbor last Saturday. I'm excited, and I know she is as well. She understands that this is not really what I do, but she's willing to accept that with good faith!

I hope to pull out my fall decorations soon. I might do it this weekend. We're also discussing which weekends to look at for hanging lights. (When we lived in Alaska, he usually hung white lights on the roof in September. That way, we used them with orange lights for Halloween and later with more white lights for Christmas. Plus, he didn't have to be outside/climb on the roof in the bitter cold once winter and snow had come.) Philip is trying to either get leave or get someone to switch him a shift so that he can have the 24th off next Friday. The boys are out of school that day for inservice, and we're planning to go down to Bismarck for the day. We actually haven't been back to Bismarck since passing through it when we moved here!

Goodness, the brownies are smelling absolutely heavenly at the moment. I just pulled them from the oven, and I can't wait to have a fresh one in a little while! :-)

Monkeys!

You know what's sad? It's heartbreakingly sad that exactly two months ago today Heather and her kiddos arrived here for a visit... but that they're not still here even now. :-(

It seems like it's been a while, and then it also seems like it was just yesterday. Having her and the kids here was like waking up to warm, comfy hugs every day. It was home, you know? I really miss my Zippy.

On the topic of sad, it is disappointing that I also never, ever posted about Catherine's birthday party cookies - ones that I made almost a month before they even arrived at my house! How I neglected to post them here, I really can't say! So, without further adieu, here's a cookie for your viewing pleasure:


Catherine's Monkey Girl cookies.

You see, Heather had sent me the link a couple months before of the party invitations and whatnot. Then, of course, she sent me an actual invitation (if only we could have attended! That was Catherine's first birthday that we'd ever missed. *cries*). And then, a little bit before the party, Heather changed her mind and went with these decorations instead. Still, they were close enough to the original invitation that I kept up my first plan.

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Then, just a week or so later, someone who had seen these cute girly monkeys ordered a couple dozen monkey cookies for a baby shower. When she said it was for a boy, I knew that some things would need to change. I stuck with most of the same design, but the little boy monkeys turned out like this:



( And see more. )

Now... I just need someone to have boy-girl twins. How cute would these be on a platter together?! *wink*