Puppy Love: February 2007

Recipe of the Week:

The Best Oatmeal Cookies EVER

3 eggs, well-beaten
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
¾ cup chopped nuts

Combine eggs, raisins and vanilla and let stand for one hour covered with plastic wrap (THE most important step!) Cream together butter and sugars. Add flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda to the sugar mixture. Mix well. Add oatmeal and chopped nuts and mix well. This gets all of the ingredients well-mixed, but keeps you from over-beating the eggs or crushing the raisins, which will be very soft. Add egg and raisin mixture. Stir well, but try not to kill the raisins. I pour the mixture on top and kind of pull the dry ingredients into it. Then I just use my hands to finish incorporating it. Drop by heaping spoonfuls (for big cookies) onto ungreased cookie sheet. I like to scoop, roll into balls and flatten because I find that the inside cooks better this way. Bake at 350° 14-17 minutes and golden brown…PERFECT!

A Must-See....

If you haven't seen it yet, you HAVE to go see Little Miss Sunshine! It's a wonderful, painful, laughing through your tears kind of movie. The subtle performances throughout the movie are amazing and the black humor is right up my alley! The VW bus, the horn, the traffic cop, the grief counselor...all leading up to the talent portion of the contest. Without giving it away....it was the perfect performance for such a quirky movie! Go rent it!

AS the promo for the film says, "Everyone pretend to be normal!"

Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin...what's not to love?

I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

Every year in Texas we have to give the TAKS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills), which is the state assessment test that is given to Texas schoolchildren beginning in 3rd grade. Needless to say, it is a big deal...especially for 3rd graders. They cannot be promoted to 4th grade if they don't pass the 3rd grade reading test. We always have a big motivational program for the kids the day before the test. It's usually a pep rally and then a skit put on by the teachers. This year, we did "Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the Test." Guess who played the witch??? You got it! It was great fun and the kids loved it. Here's a picture of the cast:

Look out, Hollywood, here we come!!!

Happy Valentine's, Mommy!

I got it into my head that "wouldn't it be great to get a photo of all the babies together and give it to Dwanny and Nanny for a Valentine's Day surprise?" As usual, I started my plan on February 13 at about 8:30 pm. I quickly figured out that I had to put them where most of them couldn't get away. So, up on my bed we go! Presley was the only one who kept jumping down...but really he was trying to do what he thought I wanted. I kept calling his name to get him to look at me, and he would jump down and come to me instead! I finally got the money shot, but the attempts are as precious as the winner! Enjoy!