Mmmm.... I love cookies!

Last year some friends and I started a tradition that I hope continues - a cookie exchange for the holidays. Everyone knows that the holidays are a time for people to get together, pop in unannounced and eat whatever you want. WE ALL KNOW THAT CALORIES DON'T COUNT IN DECEMBER.

Last year I chose to make my families age old traditional cookie - which really isn't a Christmas cookie per se, but we always made them around the holiday time. My mother would end up making at least two runs of them, as my brother has a tendency to eat as many as humanly possible as soon as his eyes see them or his nose smells them.

Today I've decided to share with you, my blog readers, this delicious recipe so that you may try and enjoy some of my families tastiest goodness. Warning - if you don't like the taste of coconut or chocolate, you may want to avoid this one.

CHOCOLATE DROP COOKIES

Ingredients:
In a pot combine:
6 tbsp. Cocoa
½ Cup milk
½ cup Margarine
2 cups Sugar

Bring to a boil
Directions:
Add ingredients from the pot above to the ingredients listed below: (I mixed these ingredients first in a mixing bowl and mixed in the ingredients on top - but you can do whatever floats your boat)

1 tsp vanilladash salt
1 cup coconut
3 cups rolled oats

Drop by spoonful on an ungreased cookie sheet, however waxed paper also does the trick. Place in fridge to set.

It's the thought that counts

I realized something today about Christmas and why I'm going to really enjoy it this year.

In the past I've always looked at gifts in terms of money. I think I got it from my mother. Having 7 neices and nephews I've always tried to spend an equal amount on them. If I spent $40 on one, I'd spend $40 on the next. Even if what I got them was on sale, I still wanted to make sure that none of them felt they got the shaft.

This year we started shopping early and I didn't really hang onto receipts. It made it really easy to forget all about the money on each person. With having to entertain for various functions I've had to hide things away for fear someone would stumble upon the gifts. When I brought out and sorted everything I actually found that I had a really good grouping going. I was actually all done shopping for four people on my list!

Astounded, I quickly realized who else I had to buy for. The nieces and nephews, one thing for my mother and father and then my husband. I felt like I was already half way there!

It felt so good to be able to reach a point where I was on solid ground. This year's been tough, money's been tight and I really didn't want to have anyone feel they got the shaft. But looking across the bed at the piles of presents I knew that no one was going to be left out. Everyone would get some great gifts. Our months of careful shopping and planning will make for a great Christmas!

They say it's the thought that counts and this year I completely understand it!

I used to spoil the kids - but with things being tight I wasn't sure where to start. My nephew solved it for me. The older kids wanted gift certificates, but the younger three I wasn't so sure until my sister started talking about how the kids had gotten gift certificates for their birthday. They had a blast walking around with their own money spending it on what they wanted. That was when her son spoke up and in his beautiful 8 year old mind said "I want a gift certificate because I want to pick out my own game." And that was it - settled. All the kids get gift certificates - the girls the mall and the boys EB games. So easy!

In one night, in less than a half hour I had walked the mall and had got 7 more off my list!

This just proves that the shopping can get done! You can do it!!!! Stay strong, remember the season is the thought that counts and it'll be an awesome holiday filled with love and smiles!

Knockdown 90s

Tommorrow night is our annual Halloween party. We opted to party on Devil's night through a long process of careful thought and debate.

What wasn't hard to debate was the desire to have a 90's dance party.

Being a teenager in the 90s was interesting. Music ranged from bouncing and poppy to grungy and dirty. We were the Cabbage Patch generation - we wanted what we wanted when we wanted it. We were the generation that would walk out of a dance if the song wasn't of the right genre.

We thought we could make a difference or we just wanted to float away. We had varied tastes and tried to always be slightly different. Our music was much like this. We borrowed from the old to create something new and the artists of our day got in some legal hot water for it.

Our music went with the times and we went with it. The internet became mainstream with us at it's helm. We wanted a cause and championed where we could. We swayed quickly to join the crowd and many of us became "posers" even though everyone had to start somewhere. We wanted to fit in and we wanted to stand out. We were probably the most confused generation of people in a long time.

On Friday night we'll be transported back to this crazy time of change and music. The groove will definitely be in our hearts and our feet will be getting jiggy with it.

Bear Claw Cravings

I am completely craving a Bear Claw today.

I woke up this morning and wasn't very hungry. Had a beer too many last night I think and it made me kind of silly, loud and probably a bit obnoxious. Waking this morning wasn't that hard though which proves that maybe I can still handle my alcohol. Only had 3 beers though so maybe not.

The laptop sits beside the bed and I've gotten in the bad habit of turning it on when I just get up to see what's going on in the world. I do this and after seeing an ad on the side of the page with a picture of a kid on the side eating a chocolate dipped donut, I felt that I needed to have one too.

But not just any donut.

Oh no - a Bear Claw.

When I lived in Jasper it was a very special treat to get up early and walk to the bakery to examine their wares. The smell was fantastic and it made me drool so much. When I discovered the Bear Claw I was in heaven. Just biting into it's soft flaky crust through the delicious chocolatey centre... I'm drooling in the memory.

Sadly - I live in Ontario.

Where oh where can someone from Ontario get a delicious Bear Claw???

Life without Cable - Month 8

I'm sure you might remember how utterly worried I was to say goodbye to cable television. When me and James were looking at buying our first house we were really tightening our budget. We were renting an apartment with my parents and they paid for full satellite. We were completely spoiled with over 500 channels to chose from. We both loved the specialty channels and barely watched any of the traditional ones. If we were going to get cable we wouldn't be happy with the basics. We'd have to get the extra packages and this could add up to over $100.

We took a risk - a huge one.

We waved good bye to cable and said "Let's just watch movies, read books and see whatever we want online."

James had grand dreams of building an television PC where he could connect it to our tv and we could not only use the internet, play games and watch shows online. Scary enough - he made that dream come true. It's really fun getting on and being able to go to ninjavideo and turn on anything you can almost think of. Plus it's allowed me to have my ultimate dream of playing silly facebook games on a big screen.

Our biggest problem was our original internet provider was through the phone line. We are really far from the junction so we couldn't get the full amount of connectivity that we had. As we actually have internet telephone as well with VOIP it made it really hard to talk to people when it would cut out all the time. James being a designer he really needs the internet to be consistent. A month or two of complaining and he decided to change back to Rogers. (We used them when we were renting and had no connectivity issues.)

Through having cable internet things have been alot more consistent. And there was an added bonus - cable internet meant that some channels came in. We did get Global and CTV before that (thank you basics!) But with the new cable internet we got even more channels. Made me super happy!!! Now we get: TVO, Global, both Omni channels, CBC, WKNY Buffalo, CTV, SunTV, Aboriginal Peoples Television and a smattering of French and political channels. With these channels we've been able to catch all the best shows and still have time to go and do things.

We're saving $60 - $80 a month just by not having cable. And it's fabulous being able to watch what we want when we want, and still catch some of the hot shows so that I have something to talk about around the water cooler.

For those thinking of getting rid of the cable box and moving on in your life - I'd HIGHLY recommend it.