High 5 for Friday

1.  I ended up with a LOT of candy after Valentine's Day at school.  Since I gave up candy for Lent, I brought it home, put the good stuff in a bag, and shoved it in the back of the pantry.  Well, Scott found it.
Saturday night culminated in me wrestling the bag away from him and throwing it into the giant garbage can in the garage.  Because throwing it into the kitchen garbage would just result in one of us digging it out again.

Proud moment.

2. Julian Fellowes is (perhaps, literally) trying to kill us all.  Or just give us a scare.  I had a feeling I knew what was coming at the end of Downton season 3.  He had plenty of evil to kill off:  Thomas, O'Brien, Mary, Edith...only the innocents die in this t.v. show, I suppose. Who's next? Poor baby Sybie??

3.  This may be the best pizza I've made yet. I could eat pizza twice a day, everyday. 

Here's the dough recipe in case you missed it the other 18 times I've posted it.

4. It'd be totally awesome if I had a great good deed to link up with Amber.  I donated a bunch of K-Cups to the staff lounge at school (they charge for the silly things...I wrote "Free" on this box..let the confusion begin). That's all I've got today. Been a rough week.

5.  I survived Parent Conferences without feeling like this.

That's a win in my book.

Happy Friday!  

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High 5 for Friday

High Five for Friday (with a giveaway!)

1. I'm having trouble with the 52 Weeks of Kindness.  It's really easy to DO something kind.  It's harder to BE kind, think kind thoughts, and not run the slow people in Wal-Mart over with your cart because they are, in fact, so slow.  I think that if I'm gritting my teeth at someone's presumed idiocy, it automatically undos any act of kindness I've committed that day.

This week, I bought a kid a backpack because his was broken and it was sad to watch him drag it around.

2.  Our DVR is in the living room. The other night, we were struggling to stay awake on the couch while watching Justified in real time (not DVR'd).  On a commercial break 20 minutes in, I said, "Why are we not watching this upstairs?"  Scott:  "I could be asleep already! Let's go!".

We're so dumb.  And overworked.  That's what I blame the dumbness on.

3.  This is one of the best things I've ever eaten.  I'm not a sandwich person by any means.  I don't like sandwiches at all, actually.  But this Spinach Pesto Wrap from a local restaurant knocks my socks off.  It's spinach, pesto, roasted red peppers, fresh red peppers, black olives, and feta. I don't even like feta.  This wrap is the exception to every food rule I've ever made.

4.  My favorite scene from Mad Men is in Season 4.  Don and Peggy are fighting in Don's office about who should get credit for the Cleo Award.
Don: You give me ideas, I give you money!
Peggy: You didn't even say thank you!  
Don:  That's what the money is for!

Emmy worthy.

Plus this:

source

5.  Last year, my husband got it in his head that some Tiffany jewelry would make me happy.  When I responded well to that, he got me some earrings.  While jewelry alone wasn't going to make the deployment go away, it did help.  And he earned himself quite a few friends in blogland by being such a doting husband.

So, when Mallory and Jen decided to giveaway a Tiffany necklace for their (joint) Valentine's Day birthday, I wanted to be a part of it.

You want to win a Tiffany necklace???  You should enter this giveaway that is being hosted by the following fabulous bloggers...

Ashley at First Came Baby

Lanaya at Reagan's Toy Chest

Brie at Wine Fueled Girls

Jess at Tooth N Nails

Kristin at Kristin's kNook

Amanda at A Beautiful Mess

Sarah at Love Sarah K

Jennifer at Part of That World

Dara at Not in Jersey

Stefani at Simply Stefani 

Enter away! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Linking up with Lauren @From My Grey Desk Blog

Cookie Butter Fudge

An observation:  My recipe posts don't get a whole lot of hits.

Recipe posts are the one thing I really work at on this blog.  Planning them, shopping for ingredients, baking/cooking, finding the light, taking the pictures, and so on.

But the posts that get the most hits are usually a picture of me... standing in a pile of snow on my cold deck.  I'm not complaining at all.  I'll take what I can get, but still...I think it's funny.  I'm so not the food blogger I used to desperately try to be.  As long as I can take pretty pictures of said food, I'm happy with just doing a recipe every now and then.

Another observation:  I skipped Amber's 52 Weeks of Kindness Link-up last Friday.
I'll remedy that.  I sent some cookie butter to Angi in Sitka.  I think she liked it.

Cookie Butter Fudge

1 cup Cookie Butter
1 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet (You can use half or all white chocolate too...it will just be really sweet)
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t. vanilla
2-3 crushed graham crackers

In a large microwaveable bowl, melt together the cookie butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk.  Use 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth.  Stir in the vanilla.

Line an 8x8 pan with foil.  Spread the melted fudge into the pan.  Press graham cracker into the top.  Freeze until set (about an hour).

Sharing at:
Chocolate Party @Crazy for Crust

Cookie Butter Blondies and #52WeeksofKindness

*First, yesterday's post may have made it seem like I'm some sort of Grammar Nazi.  I'm not.  I let multiple grammar mistakes go everyday...in my classroom.  It's not worth the battle.  The "yea/yeah" thing had just been bugging me for years because, in my experience, everyone thought I was the one with the problem.  I needed to get it off my chest.  

Also, I wrote that post in 20 minutes, proofread it thrice, published, re-read...and still saw mistakes.  Clearly we all have our strengths and writing on a whim is not mine.*

Anyway...

These blondies are an oxymoron.

There's a lot of "treats" out there that use healthy ingredients but usually the blogger baker insists it "doesn't taste healthy at all!"

That's nice, I always think.  They always taste healthy.

These blondies taste like they could be healthy....but they're not.

So I have no tagline to pull you in.  I was looking for something to do with a jar of Cookie Butter.  This  is what happened.

Easy? Yes. Tasty? Sure. Healthy? Eh. There's no added sugar or oil, so I suppose that's a plus.

Actually, yes, they are healthy.  They have eggs in them.  Protein.  We can call them healthy.

Cookie Butter Blondies
inspired by Nutella Brownies (Not a Nutella fan, so I used Cookie Butter.)

1 cup cookie butter
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
10 T. all-purpose flour

In a bowl, whisk together the cookie butter, vanilla, and eggs.  You can warm the cookie butter first to make it easier, but not too hot or the eggs will "cook".

Slowly incorporate the flour until well-combined.

Spoon into a greased mini-muffin pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until browned on top.

Makes about 18 mini-blondies.

I'm early this week.  Kindness is kindness, no matter the day you publish it, right??

Speaking of baked goods, this week I took something to school for my co-workers.  Someone asked me last week if I was ever going to bring anything in to share again.  I took the hint.

Apple Butter Banana Bread went to school with me to be shared.  Because I buy bananas with the intention of consumption.  And then that doesn't happen. So I freeze them or bake with them.

Along with that, I made what I'll call Cookie Butter Fudge.  It was an experiment and turned out quite well (how can sweetened-condensed milk go wrong?).

Also, I gave away a Target gift card on Mrs. K's blog last week.  Abbey won and I was more than happy to send it her way.  Congrats Abbey!

Also, I need to start sharing some inspiring blog posts.  Kelly and Greg's paleo story was an awesome read.  Totally inspiring.  Check it out!

Did you do anything randomly kind this week?  This 52 Weeks project is changing my way of thinking, but it's not making me happier on a daily basis.  You'd think I'd be more willing NOT to curse the cold/snow/darkness or NOT to yell at the person driving 15 mph in an attempt to show my inner happiness and gratitude.  But that's not happening.

I think this is more than a mindset change.  Maybe I'll figure things out when I'm 51 weeks in.

It's okay.

The winner of the $10 Starbucks card I'm giving away for my birthday is...Kristen from The Very Unofficial Adult!  

She won by following via GFC. 

Congratulations!  I'll send you an email so I can get your real, live address, Kristen :)

It's okay that the only real food I've made lately involves tortillas and tex-mex flavors.  This is too easy, crockpot-friendly, and quite delicious: Tex-Mex Chicken.

It's okay that I created a DID IT! board on Pinterest to keep myself organized.  Everyone should do this.

It's okay that, this past week, I didn't do a Sunday post.  I'm not really sure why.  I suppose I didn't have anything meritorious* to talk about.  Pinterest "funnies" have been annoying me lately too...so I don't have a whole lot to share concerning humor.

It's okay that I'm confused by those who spend more time advertising their blogs than they do writing their blogs.

While we're on the topic, if you tweet that you need "x number" of followers to reach a certain milestone number, I'm not going to follow you.  I understand the excitement.  I'm THRILLED to have as many readers as I do.  But I don't want to guilt-tweet anyone.  That's just mean.  (Yeah, I said it. Guilt-tweeting.  It's mean.)

It's okay that after 2 months of "You HAVE to make this for me", my husband sewed a piece of felt onto a sweater to make me something stylish.

It's okay that I'm going to post my 52 Weeks of Kindness deed today.

Someone I know had surgery a few weeks ago.  I got her a mug and some fancy tea.  Nothing elaborate, not a grand gesture, but that's not what the 52 Weeks of Kindness is about.  It's about finding little things you can do to make others smile.

Along with that, I'm trying to support other bloggers by tweeting or recommending their posts that I really like.
If you are a fan of pop culture or celebrities, I totally recommend Day Old News.  DON gets me through my lunch breaks.  I find her site absolutely fascinating.

It's okay that I'm supporting the lovely Mrs. K by giving away some Target on her site.  Go check it out.  (And please, tell her how amazing she looks a month after having a baby. Like a real life Claire Danes.)

*Because everything I talk about is quite meritorious

High Five for Friday

1. I ordered the medium Longchamp instead of the large.  Do I exchange it?  Go.

2.  My parents sent me a giftcard to Athleta.  This is what they wrote on the card.

3.  Also, since I shared my biggest flaw (perhaps) yesterday, so many of you commented that you have the same problem.  Thank the Lord, is all I have to say to that.  It's quite nice to know that I'm not the only one who can't tell left from right.

4.  I can't even tell you how much I thoroughly love this coat. It excites me when I get to put it on. I look forward to going outside these days. Strange, huh?

5.  One of my random acts of kindness this week is giving away a Starbucks gift card.  You should get on that.

My other one?  I wrote out thank-you notes to students who gave me Christmas gifts.  I've always made it a point to send thank-you notes.  The first time I did it was after my high school graduation, thanking family for the gifts they gave me.  Since then, I always try to send thank-yous.  A week after our wedding, we drove to Alaska.  I wrote our thank-yous on the way, in the hotel rooms each night.  As soon as we had a permanent address, I mailed them all.  Took me less than 3 weeks.  I'm oddly proud of this.

Anyway, I like to set a good example for the children by drinking diet coke for lunch (which happens more often than I'd like to admit).  I also give them thank-you notes.  I'd say it all evens out.

High Five for Friday

High 5 for Friday and #52WeeksofKindness

Columbia coat I picked up at Fred Meyer with some Christmas money.  40% off and oh-so-pretty.
Not as warm as my marshmallow coat, but oh-so-pretty.

1.  The picture up there is to prove that the sun decided to shine on the last day of 2012 (irony).  ...And to see if you noticed that there was no snow on the ground.  You won't hear any complaints out of me.

2. My birthday is next Thursday.  Scott thought it was this week.  When he went to buy me a present, he told the sales lady my birthday was January 5th.

My birthday is not January 5th.

3 years ago, he was in Afghanistan and he forgot my birthday.

He also told someone our wedding was September 17th.  Our wedding was September 12th.

I'll never let him forget these mistakes because I have a crazy good memory and he, obviously, does not.

3.  I made my own pizza dough, successfully, for the first time ever last week.  I recommend this recipe.   One of my life's goals is now accomplished.  I've made it twice more since then, so it wasn't a fluke.

4.  Yesterday, I posted all about our Carnival Cruise adventure.  At least it was memorable, right?

5. Amber is starting a 52 Weeks of Kindness Challenge.  The idea is to do one random act of kindness a week.  I had trouble coming up with an idea this week. I mean, anyone can buy someone's coffee, right?  While I'm not opposed to doing that, I want to think outside the box.  I'm nowhere near as generous or caring as my husband...(he chipped ice off of someone's driveway for 4 hours last week..saint).  However, this week, I gave 2 giant bags and 2 big boxes of clothes/accessories/books to a thrift store.  I may benefit from it in the sense that I get rid of clutter (I was saving knock-off purses from college that I had never actually used...why????), but I really don't get anything in return.  I don't write it off as tax credit, I don't sell them Plato's Closet-style, or anything like that.
I just took a good hard look at everything we were stuffing away in our spare bedrooms and said, "I haven't used that in 3 years..could someone else?"

Linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk Blog.