Birthdays, New Friends, Knotology & Cookies

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Happy birthday, Reggi! My girl is 5 years old today. Or 35 in dog years. As Steve pointed out, in three more years, she'll be older than we are.

Kathy is a fellow quiller who stopped by my blog, then emailed me. (She's from the big quiller's list on Yahoo I was trash-talkin' yesterday - but she laughed and agreed with me, thank goodness!) Her website is Katie's Cows and Udder Things. She does lovely work - go take a look. I'm so new at quilling, I never thought of quilling on glass, as in votive candle holders. Hello, Christmas presents.

From her site, I eventually ended up at Craft Site Directory which contains a wealth of information. Fellow crafters will definitely want to bookmark that site. Here's something I found through that directory:

Sphere 94, folded by Rosa. Directions and other cool knotology found at OriHouse.

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Work continues to go better and better now that I have help. Sherry is wonderful to work with, I could not be happier. She's a very nice person too - I really like everything about her - her personality, her work ethic. Wednesday, I was positively giddy at the amount of work I'd accomplished. I worked just as hard as I do everyday but I managed to just about dissipate one scary stack of papers from my desk. Sometimes I can work just as hard all day long but have nothing visible to show for it. I love moving papers, crossing or deleting things off a list - very goal oriented, I am.

True to form, the next day wasn't so good. I had more requests, emails and tasks coming in than I could handle as quickly and efficiently as I'd like. My input was greater than my output! But as Dad always says, "Good or bad, this won't last." Mom says it this way, "This too shall pass." I was telling Steve it was like when I was recovering from gall bladder surgery - good days and bad days alternated in such a predictable pattern, it amazed me. Now I'm noticing that pattern all over the place!

It's my turn to bring in breakfast this morning so I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. I'll stop and buy bagels and muffins too. I made these cookies earlier in the week and remembered how much I love them, so I baked them for today too. (Plus, you know I love using my new Kitchen Aid mixer! I could just stare into that bowl and watch things get mixed up all day long.) This recipe is from Gretchen and the best thing is it contains 2 tablespoons of corn syrup so the cookies are amazingly soft and chewy, just how I like them.

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup peanut butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and white sugar, until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Drop by ¼ cupful 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 12-14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden.

Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 24 cookies.

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Speaking of Gretchen, I hope you are reading her blog, The Year in Red. My sister, the Travel Slut. That's the entry I linked to, but read the next one - it's all about ME! She's a great writer; she makes me laugh, she makes me cry. Can't do better than that.