If we had the money, I would totally hire someone to come in once a week and clean our house. I am not a fan of deep cleaning whatsoever, or dishes, or laundry, or vacumming the couches especially. (This is probably my least favorite thing to do, which is why in my next life I am only having one animal and it's not going to shed...or it's going to be a fish.) My house is currently a disaster area and every weekend I recommit myself to being a better homemaker during the week, so my weekends aren't so...messy.
(Don't worry, I DO clean, my house won't be a disaster area past today, I will just hate every moment of it:)
Confession 2:
I become more and more like my mother every day. I thought I would mind, but I don't. I do however, feel a bit sorry for my husband.
Here's one example: I have developed total plane anxiety. Anytime we fly I think we are going to die and I spend about twenty minutes at the start of each flight nervously praying. My mother wasn't necessarily this way on planes, but anytime we traveled she was excessively anxious.
Confession 3:
Being a parent to a child in split home is hard (sorry Sharlee, I hope I'm not falling to that category of parents you dislike, it's the best word to describe it though.) You are held to abnormally high standards, superhuman standards. There's no room for error, because you are constantly scrutinized. I'm sure this isn't true for all parents of a child that lives in a split home, but I think it may be for most. Ken and I definitely aren't innocent of this either. In addition there is no easy decision. All decisions have to be ran through another party, who leads a different life with different obligations. Time and holidays are divided. You cross your fingers that birthdays and other events fall on the right day. You learn to accept that your child is being raised with a different set of rules, values, and guidelines depending on his home. There are laws and guidelines and politics that typical parents don't have to deal with. And, I'm just the step-parent, so I can only imagine how it is for my husband and Fenix's mom, let alone Fenix. At this point he seems to handle it all really well, and I hope it continues that way as he gets older. Despite it being difficult at times, I wouldn't trade my relationship with Fenix for anything in the world. I have been BLESSED by his presence in my life.
Confession 4: I love to bake. In fact, that's the reason for this post actually. Ken and Fenix bought me some really nice stainless steal measuring cups for Christmas. I used them once over the break to make some really deliscious cookies (which I sent to Ken's work, because I couldn't trust myself to keep them in the house), and I'd really like to use them again, however, I made a New Year's resolution to lose the last of this baby weight, and I have a feeling if I bake, it's going to be even harder to make that happen. (I have pretty much no self control. Therefore baked goods are not even allowed in our house for the time being.) So, instead of baking and gaining five pounds, I thought I'd share a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies that I made over the holidays. They are phenomenal! Really! And, I'm not even a huge fan of pumpkin. So, if you're in the mood to bake, and you aren't all pumpkined out from the holidays/actually have a some self control, this is a really good recipe to try.
(Just to you know, I stole this picture from allrecipes.com.)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips, not semisweet
Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper
What you need to do:
Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth.
Then, beat in the white and brown sugars. You'll want to add a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Next, beat in the eggs 1 at a time, and mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter.
Last, toss in your chocolate chips.
Scoop the cookie dough (you'll want about a tablespoon) onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges.
Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for around 2 minutes. (I'm not sure, but it seems like if I leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for a lot longer, that get flat.
Take the cookies off and cool them on a wire rack.
(This picture has NOTHING to do with this post, but she is so stinkin' cute, I couldn't resist.)
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