I blame Star Wars

Friday night and the husband has left me to have Star Wars movie party with some friends.

Cue "All By Myself" by Celine Dion

Seriously, press play...it makes it all more humorous.

For those of you that don't know Ben, he is a rather proud Star Wars fan. Mix in a movie, some video games and a pizza: a party.

Now what's on the agenda for me you ask? (besides listening to Celine Dion)

Well, doing some photo editing, drinking some hot chocolate, and listening to other music (I only lasted Celine Dion once....)

I am rather excited for my cozy night in. I spent the day with seventh graders correcting 160 literature tests, and another 160 spelling tests. The word personification starts to look wrong, even when it's right, after you stare at it too many times.

So...the slippers are on, the hot chocolate is, well too to drink. It's a good start to a lazy night.

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies

These cookies are a perfect addition to coffee. I like normal molasses cookies just fine, but when you add the slight pumpkin flavor to them something wonderful happens. The pumpkin is not overpowering at all, for those that claim to dislike pumpkin it may be hard to even pick up on it without knowing. What I like best about adding the pumpkin is that it makes for very moist and fluffy cookies. Perfect for breakfast, after dinner, before bed...etc.

makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp black pepper
8 Tbs butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup molasses
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

Directions
1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and pepper.
2. In your mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Next, add the brown sugar, molasses, and pumpkin puree and beat for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute more. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until the flour and spices disappear. If flour remains in the bottom of the bowl, mix the last of the dry ingredients by hand to avoid over beating. You will have a very soft dough.
3. Take your dough and divide it into two pieces and place each piece in plastic wrap. Now place these in the fridge for about an hour, or the freezer for 30 minutes. This will allow the dough to be much easier to handle.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silicone baking sheet.
5. Put the sugar in a small bowl. Working with one packet of dough at a time, divide it into 12 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Don't work with the dough too much to get it into balls because it will only get harder to roll. Make a quick ball and roll it in sugar.Roll the balls in the sugar and use a the bottom of a glass to press down on the cookies until they are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. 

6. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12-14 minutes, or until the top feels set to the touch. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

This recipe was found at My Baking Addiction.

Felt Flower Wreath

Look what I made...

Remember the felt I mentioned earlier...? 

Well here is the result:

I was originally inspired to make this from pinterest....and then my sister made one. All of this spurred me to create one of my own (and it helps me rationalize my addiction to pinterest). Oh and if you notice the strands of hot glue on my wreath...ignore them. I was too eager to photograph my project and didn't notice them until now. This entire project was very easy and probably only took an hour max. I included the link to create the flowers below. I simply hot glued everything on the wreath to finish it off. Simple enough.

The original idea for how to create the felt flowers can be found by clicking here.

I am off to the cabin to spend the weekend with my family. It is also the official "dock/boat lift out party"...fun fun ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Lazy Monday

I must admit I hit quite the blogging slump this past week, but I feel refreshed and ready to take it on again. Sometimes I just don't feel like writing-so I don't. Another big piece of it is that our internet service has been pretty touch and go lately, so sitting down to my computer would only have led to frustration. Tonight however, the internet is working smoothly so I thought I'd share with you a few pictures from my cozy day. I had the day off and Ben had the morning off too so we got a pretty slow start.

1. sheets of felt for a little project I am working on, more details tomorrow.

2. pumpkin spice candles that give off their Autumn aroma even when they are not lit.

3. the last batch of my Roma tomatoes from my little patio garden

4. fresh flowers from the husband brighten up the apartment

5. sipping on hot apple cider

Hope everyone is enjoying their Monday as well.

Late Night Wednesday Words

                                                              Source: from-london-with-love.com via Britta on Pinterest

Earl Grey Ice Cream

A few weekends ago my sister and I made some homemade Earl Grey Ice Cream. I was a little hesitant at first because I do not drink much Earl Grey tea, but I am always up for trying a new recipe.

VERDICT: It was very good, but here is the thing...if you don't live the flavor of the tea you probably will not enjoy the ice cream...it is very strong tasting. I loved the small scoop I had, but I would have a hard time eating a whole bowl of it (which is probably a good thing). The flavors are very strong, and I might try steeping the tea  for a smaller amount of time on my next attempt. We had a few people sample it who regularly enjoy Earl Grey, and they loved it...so it is probably a personal preference.

We got the recipe from Gimme Some Oven...so head over there to check it out.

Wednesday Words

                                                              Source: idoliketea.tumblr.com via Britta on Pinterest

Home from Camping

It was a little hard to come back to reality after this weekend. We left Friday afternoon for Crow Wing State Park after shoving our hatchback with a cooler,tent,sleeping bags, and other random camping gear. What made this packing a little more interesting is that my bike also had to fit. We made it work, well Ben made it work...but off we went with a bike tire poking up between our heads in the front seats. After working up a sweat with our creative packing I convinced Ben we should probably stop at our local Starbucks to get a cool refreshment. One iced passion tea later and I was a happy traveler.

We only had to drive around 2.5 hours to get to our destination, and during this time we heard a few radio weather reports of the low being 32 degrees that night. This report seemed much more likely when we stepped out of our car to make a camping reservation and discovered we were no longer warm enough in only our t-shirts. 

The chill setting in was a great motivator in setting up our two tents. We gave the boys the smaller tent, and then claimed the larger tent for us three girls.... conveniently this was the only one big enough for an air mattress. Funny how that worked out. After the tents were set up, starting a fire became our next priority. My friend Bekah is an expert fire starter just in case you were wondering. 

Around 11pm or so we realized that the fire was no longer enough to keep us warm so we headed to our tents and sleeping bags. I think I slept in about 3 layers of clothing and a sleeping bag with another blanket on top. It took awhile to warm up but eventually the conversations dwindled and we fell asleep. Basically we left room to breathe, but other than that we were buried head to toe in blankets. 

The next morning the boys woke up around seven and had coffee ready for us by the time we crawled out of our sleeping bags. I guess it is hard to sleep in when you wake up on the cold ground....who would have guessed?

In the picture above you will see everyone smiling as Ellie pours our coffee. It looks incredibly cheesy, but I swear we truly were that happy for our hot cup of coffee. It ended up being a gorgeous day, filled with hiking for the girls and mountain biking for the guys. Thankfully the next night was a good ten degrees warmer. I love Fall camping. Okay enough words-here are more photos.

...

Do you want to know something rather interesting...?

Here I am loving Autumn and tomorrow it is supposed to hit 90 degrees. 

One last chance for shorts perhaps.