Reclaiming Your Time in the Busy of Life

I'm really not much of a fiction reader.  This is especially true of Christian fiction.  I try to avoid it like the plague, with the exception of Ted Dekker.  I downloaded Angels Walking, and fell for it instantly.  I was sad to find out the next book doesn't come out until next month, and that the series has a total of four books.

I'm also reading...

I started reading The Fringe Hours during an assembly.  This book is GREAT!  Here are a few quotes.  
"Just because they are good things doesn't mean they are good for you, for right now (or even ever).  To not allow the stress of too many "good" things to invade our lives and steal our joy, we have to learn how to say no, prioritize, or eliminate things entirely."
"Learn from those seasons (when you have overbooked yourself).  Once you come out the other side, ask yourself what you would have done differently."
"If what you do doesn't matter to you, it's not really going to matter to anyone else.  Work to fill your life with things that matter."
"This 'pleasing everyone to the point of emptiness' is a reality for many women."

For Lent...

Kookie Cookies

Green Velvet Sugar Cookie Bars

S'mores Krispies Treats
Raspberry Lemon Squares
Oreo Crumb Cake with Chocolate Cream Frosting

Belated Christmas Picture

My BIL's girlfriend sent us a copy of a photo of us from Christmas.  I saw a picture on the internet last year of a couple who had these shirts.  I found a vendor on Etsy that made these shirts for us.

Boston Cream Pie Cheesecake
This was a special birthday cake for my first friend I made in South Dakota.

Basement Brownies
I made these for my assistant's birthday.  The looks are not so great, but she said they loved them.  Her brother wanted to know if I was for hire.

Cherry Almond Cake
One of my co-workers writes a massive grant each year.  It is a tradition that my husband and I make a dessert for her, and he writes a song.  This year's song was written to Taylor Swift's "Mean."  We sung it to her and gave her the cake.

Panko Cookies
Easy Breakfast Sausage Balls
Cheeseburger Pie Low Carb Chicken Cordon Bleu Ruffles Rice Krispy Treats

Small Update

I had to go to Rapid City to get shots for my upcoming trip to Guatemala, and HH and I celebrated the 6th anniversary of the day he asked me to marry him.

We also saw this RV.  There was so much going on.  What the heck?

Oven Cleaning the Magic Way
     This idea from Pinterest worked!  One of my main motivations for doing this was that the last time HH's mom visited, she was up at five am scraping out our oven.  Yes.  Seriously.
Churro Pretzels

These were for a co-workers birthday.  I had originally planned on making something else, but it totally bombed.  The Churro Pretzels are an easy win.  
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

My students really enjoyed these!
Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Banana Upside-Down Cake

This was a bit fancy, and took a bit more work than the normal recipes that I make, but I loved how it turned out.  
Let there be recess.  Yes, this is my week for recess duty.  It was 58 on Monday.  Yesterday it was 63. I gave them 10 extra minutes on Monday, and 15 yesterday.  Seriously, I'm not sure it will be 63 in South Dakota in January for another decade.

First Week Back to School

The first week back to school brought three days of two-hour delays, and one day of early release.  Just for good measure, we through in some standardized testing.
Chocolate Snack Cake (Made this for a co-worker's birthday....I added some expresso powder to give it a distinct flavor.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie (Made this for a guy who helped HH get our car out of a  snow bank in the alley behind our house.  It wasn't budging even with 4-wheel drive.)

Easy Gingerbread Snack Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (Made this for a ministry meeting we had.)

What I'm Reading

What We are Watching (We are already on Season Three!  It is pretty clean and very interesting.)

What I've Been Reading and Listening To (Audiobooks)

Audiobooks
This book came on my radar over a year ago from a book club suggestion, but I passed it by.  Then when the movie came out, several trusted bloggers begged you to read the book before going to see the movie, and that is what prompted me to start listening.  The story is fascinating.

Thank you Jim Gaffigan for allowing us to laugh through the many miles we have to drive to get to civilization in our car.

I love Dr. Ben Carson.  He is one person I really want to meet.  I've told HH that I want to go to a fancy $500 a plate dinner if it means I will get to meet him and listen to him speak.

HH and I have been walking after school, and SERIAL was amazing.  We still need to listen to the exclusive interview that Jay had after the podcast ended.

Happy 2015!

We had some friends over for an early Christmas celebration.  I didn't take pictures, but this is what I made: Baked Spaghetti Peanut Butter Streusel Cookies

We celebrated this past week in North Carolina with HH's family.  It was a whirlwind trip, but a good time.  I made this dessert for our Christmas celebration.   Sugar Wafer Chocolate Mousse Pie
 I'm horrible with taking pictures.  Here are a few that I did take of HH and one of his nephews.

Some New Year's Humor

New Sign I Got For Our House

Cookie Swap

HH went to hear a Christmas Cantata, and I made this cake for him to take. Raspberry Zinger Poke Cake

Just because cookies for my students on Monday. Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles

We had our fourth annual Cookie Swap at the church.  HH made the Almond Meltaway Cookies, and I made the Chocolate chip ones.  We also had some fun at school where the students had to vote on whether they thought cookie A or cookie B was the best.  My cookies won. Almond Meltaway Cookies

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

Older Posts!

Cloud Cookies (Recipe called for Biscoff, but since I didn't have any, I used Cookie Butter.) Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars

From Joy the Baker's Cookbook: Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pretzel Layer Cake  (with Salted Peanut Buttercream Frosting)

Chocolate Pound Cake  (with chips and chocolate glaze)

Pioneer Woman's Turkey Brine