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Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

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 My father in law had asked for some oatmeal/ raisin/ walnut cookies for his birthday dessert.  My family are not fans of oatmeal, raisins, or walnuts but I really didn't want to have to bake up two different desserts.  I knew we all loved my Oatmeal Scotchie cookies and while I didn't have any butterscotch chips on hand I figured I could come up with something equally delicious.   I started with my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe: 1/2 cup + 6 Tablespoons butter; softened  3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon Pinch of nutmeg 3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned- uncooked) For the cream cheese frosting: 1/2 stick butter; softened 4 ounces cream cheese 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 2 cups powdered sugar Using my stand mixer I blended the sugars and butter together then added in the egg and vanilla.  In a medium bowl I combined the flour, baking soda, cinnamon & nutmeg. The
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Concerts I've Been To

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 It's the second Monday of the month and time for the Not Just a Mom link up.  This month we're talking about concerts; concerts we've been to and/or concerts we want to go to.  I have to tell you that this is going to be a super short post.   I have only ever been to two concerts.  Yep, 2!  I don't have a list of concerts I want to go to either as you might have guessed that concerts aren't really my "thing." 1.  I went to see TLC/ Boys II Men (and one other group?) when I was in high school.  My girlfriend Natalie drove us and we sat way way way out on some lawn seats.  It was comfy and the music was good and we had a great time.  2.  I saw John Legend in concert much more recently.  My sister dragged me when she realized I had only ever been to the one concert.  I had been to see the Doodlebops and the Imagination Movers with the boys when they were little and when I asked if those counted as concerts she said NO! and seemed a bit horrified I even
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10 Things I Hate to Do

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 I thought this month's 10 on the 10th topic sounded like so much fun.  Only problem was I had a hard time compiling my list... such a hard time that I went around to each family member and polled them to see what things they could think of that I really hated to do.  Luckily they each had a few answers at the ready and boy, do my boys know me!  Now being a grown up I still have to and will do just about everything on the list but they are all things that I really do not enjoy and would be perfectly happy if I never had to do them again.  1. Cleaning the bathrooms-- while I don't mind vacuuming and dusting so much I really hate having to clean the bathrooms.  2. Exercising &/Or Sweating-- Show me any sort of exercise were I begin to sweat and I am immediately miserable.  I have to work hard to talk myself into working out and even as much as I enjoy hiking I am pretty particular about the weather and temperature when we do go.  I will still hike in the summer but I'm p
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Photos of the Week: May 8th

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Oh boy did I struggle this week with quite a few of the prompts.  In fact 3 of my photos were taken on the same day because I finally decided I just needed to shoot SOMETHING and make it work.  All in all I am really happy with what I came up with! -Mail I received a beautiful mother's day card in the mail from my mother in law.  -How You Feel Today Like I was hanging on by a thread...  -Reduce-Reuse-Recycle Every spring I reuse the same grapevine wreath to make a new floral wreath for our front door.  -Shoot from the hip I had so much fun with the idea of shooting from the hip that I took multiple landscape images using this technique.  -Your Choice These clusters of pinecones in the sun caught my eye while out hiking this week.  Linking up with:
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Friday Favorites: The First Week of May

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 Phew! What a week.  I alternately felt like I was trapped in the house for days on end and yet somehow also so busy that I felt like I was never at home.  Yeah, I know.. I don't get it either. I'm just glad the weekend is here and we don't have much of anything planned.  Alec had special permission to go into the building on Friday since he was helping a senior out with their year end culinary project.  After dropping him off I got to work with the other two boys.  They each have just 2 subjects left to finish up their school year so our school day was over with quickly. Evan and I headed out for a hike.  The weather was so weird.  It was pretty windy and cloudy and even sprinkled at times but then it would clear up, then sprinkle and start all over again.  We hiked for an hour and made it back home just as the wind really began picking up (we even heard a tree drop out in the woods). I spent my afternoon doing laundry, making chocolate chip cookies, and working on the bl
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