Cookie Explosion!

I love peanut butter. What's more is that I love peanut butter cookies. So, tonight I was craving them big time so I decided to make some. Well the recipe I usually use calls for shortening and we have none so I went on the hunt for a new recipe. Well I found one and it is amazing! The only catch is that the recipe is HUGE. It made at least twice what my old recipe made. I think I made at least 4 dozen cookies. Anyways, I wanted to share the recipe if anyone is interested:

Recipe from: The Essential Food Storage Cookbook

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 Cup butter, margarine, or shortening at room temperature
1 Cup peanut butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 Cup chopped peanuts (optional)
1/3 Cup sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a mixer, cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a large bowl. Stir in vanilla and eggs one at a time until mixture is light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients, and beat until incorporated.

Form dough into half-inch balls. Roll in sugar and place on ungreased or parchment paper-lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Gently flatten cookies with back of fork to form a crisscross pattern. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to wire rack.

I know that the recipe calls for whole wheat flour and I think you would be able to substitute it out with regular flour if you wanted. However, I liked the heavier texture the whole wheat flour gave the cookie. The cookies filled me faster and I ate less. That's a bonus! Anyways, if you try the recipe let me know. Just be prepared to be spending a lot of time baking them! :)

Frustrated

Can I just say that getting a baby stroller and car seat was supposed to be a fun thing? Well it has been anything but fun. Let me tell you the story. First, we go to the store to purchase it and find out that we are a day early for a sale that they sent us the advertisement for two days ago. Then, we wake up, purchase the stroller and go home. No problems there. My husband got the stroller all put together and then I look at it and realize that there is a huge bolt sticking out on one side of the frame. I become quite confused by it and think that it is a manufacturer error. So back to the store we go with the completed stroller. Well, we get there and realize that the display stroller has the same thing so there is no point in exchanging ours for a new one. At this point I am utterly embarrassed because we came to bring it back and there was no problem with it. So we leave and go home. (later we come to find out that the big bolt it so you can secure the stroller when it is folded and it has a nice little thing you hook on to it).

So, Last night, my mom and I were trying to figure out the stroller and car seat combo and I'm practicing putting the car seat on the stroller and taking it off and all that and the infant tray keeps falling out of the place it is attached to. So, I take it off and look at it and realize that there is a pin you push to put the infant tray in so it stays securely on the stroller when it is installed and ours doesn't have one. So by that time I'm ready to scream because it means another trip back to the store. This would be fine and dandy IF the store was close but we have to drive 30 minutes each way. After the first stroller return incident I did NOT want to go back because I was embarrassed. Well, I sat there being annoyed when I saw a paper nestled inside the instructions that says: "If you experience any difficulty with assembly, missing parts or use, please DO NOT return this item to the store. Retail stores are unable to properly assist you. Contact our customer service department directly for assistance..."

So I am happy again because it means that we can get the problem taken care of without returning to the store. So I call this morning and the lady basically treated me like I was an idiot. Little did she know that she was the idiot. I explained the problem in plain English (and she spoke English without an accent so I know she understood me) and she says that there is no pin. So I calmly say to her, "Let me explain this to you again." and proceed to do so. At this point, she puts me on hold and then comes back on the line and says, "Is there a red button that you push on your infant tray?" I told her there was. She then says that is the button I push that gets it off and on. At this point I ready to scream at her, "Are you a freaking idiot?!" but instead I just say, "I know that there is a button on there to open and close the tray. I was talking about the other side which is supposed to be securely attached. Ours keeps falling out." She puts me on hold again. At this point I am frustrated beyond belief so I pull out my trusty instructions (which she should have looked at in the first place) to read to her exactly what I'm talking about. When she comes back on she just says that they can replace it but I have to e-mail them a copy of my receipt. Well, I have no scanner so how am I supposed to do that?

So, since I am so frustrated with that way of getting the issue fixed we will just have to go back to the store and exchange it. I hope I don't get utterly embarrassed this time. Oh the joys of parenthood...and I'm not even a parent quite yet! Lol. Sorry this is so long! Thanks for reading.

Stroller/Carseat

So today was a big day for us. We made our first baby purchases! I know it is late in the game to be buying stuff but with us both being out of work we have not had the funds that allowed us to buy stuff. Through the miracle of tithing we have been able to get some money. Anyways, The stars seemed to align for us last week and this week.

Last week was my birthday and I received some money from my grandma which is usual and I am using it to get my hair done. However, we were blessed because my father sent a birthday card with a check. A pretty big check to be exact. When I first opened it I thought it said $50 and I was pretty stoked to be getting that. Then, my mom looked at it and told me to look at it again. Well I did and I about had heart failure. Let's just say it was a bit more than that. I was crying and laughing and yelling, "We're Rich!" My husband was outside doing some yard work so I quickly ran to show him the check and he was very humbled by it also. The Lord is watching out for us.

So, what did we purchase?? We got the Baby Trend Expedition LE Travel system. The Lord blessed us with this too. My mom was looking through a newspaper ad for Shopko and she saw the stroller and showed me. I thought it looked alright but I was unsure about it. Well, we went and looked at it last night and we both fell in love with it. Lucky for us, it was on sale AND we had an extra $10 off a purchase of $50 or more coupon so we got a REALLY nice stroller for the price of the alright one we had already picked out. So, we are both happy and Ralph is in the garage dutifully putting it together. Here are some picks of it that I downloaded off the website. Ours is the same colors and everything. For more info on it check out this website: http://www.babytrend.com/travel_systems_jogger/9139CT.html

Question:

I am obviously going to be a first time mom. Having the baby will be my first real hospital experience minus the trip back in my first trimester for dehydration. So I obviously have no clue what I'm doing. Here is my question: What in the heck do I pack for the hospital? I am just wondering because I am approaching week 32 and I just feel this urgency to get our hospital bags ready. Maybe it is because this is my first time and I want to make sure that I get everything right or maybe it is divine inspiration that I need to follow. Whatever the case may be, PLEASE help me if you have done this before! Thanks!

It's a Foot!

So, as promised, here is the picture of the baby's foot. For those of you who know what Ralph's foot looks like, please look at this and tell me I'm wrong...lol. Anyways, I went to the mid-wife yesterday. We are both doing well. Baby's heartbeat is 154. I do not have gestational diabetes (THANK GOODNES!!) BUT I am a bit on the anemic side so I either have to eat more iron rich foods or take iron supplements. Being a bit anemic is nothing new to me. I have been that way for about 5 years now so I was not surprised. I am also taking ginger root capsules for my morning sickness. It seems to actually work except for always burping up ginger. I hate ginger so it is almost better for me to NOT take the ginger root because it makes me sick to taste ginger. Oh well. I guess I can't win.

By the way, if you are pregnant and you have MAJOR heartburn/indigestion and you are taking a ton of tums a day, STOP. Change to Zantac 75. It is AMAZING. I went from taking the full dose of tums you can take in a day to take a zantac in the morning and at night and I am heartburn free. However, check with your doctor first before you take it. Mine says it's alright to take, yours might have a different opinion.

Life is alright for us. We are trying to make it by. I just enrolled in my last course of my college career online so that is a relief. Now I just have to have patience and study. Haha...yeah right.

One thing I am excited about that is coming up is that I am going to watch a taping of America's Got Talent in Portland with some friends on March 17th. I can't wait! I'm SUPER excited. I'll tell you all about the experience (since I can't bring a camera or even a cell phone into the studio). Anyways, that's life!