Maggie shares the secret...

I dread the hours between 4pm-7pm.  Seriously!  As a new mother, it was brought to my attention that those hours were referred to as "the witching hour"... but my kids have never outgrown it!!  I don't know what it is.  I take it back, I do know!  It's a combination of my attention being diverted to take care of dinner, the kids are hungry and bored, they revert to teasing each other, I'm tired and even more so now that I'm pregnant, etc, etc, etc.  Please someone relate to me!

Tonight was especially bad.  In between me trying to throw together dinner, (unwillingly of course because Grant won't eat it anyway and Maggie will complain that she doesn't like it), I'm chasing down Grant for stealing a box of crackers from the pantry in time to turn around to see that Maggie is once again touching something that doesn't belong to her.  I return the box of crackers to the pantry just as both of them are wrestling on the floor over a toy.  I take the toy away and Grant runs away with a marker that Maggie has left on the floor.  And this has been going on for hours!  

I'm at my wits end!  So, I say to Maggie, "What is going on with you two?  Can you behave for just once!??"  

Her response: "We will if you give us a kiss."  

Really?  That's all it will take?  Deal.  

Case closed!!

The most bizarre thing happened to us!  You wouldn't believe it, but we were actually sued... for 3.1 million dollars!  I couldn't wrap my head around that dollar amount!  I haven't even made that much money in my entire life!  Anyway, what could've we possibly done that would have made someone come after us for that much money?  We donated a car to charity.  

Back in the day, we had a car that had just reached it's limit.  We deemed it pretty near undriveable.  We thought we'd do a nice thing and donate it to a kids charity.  You know, it had SOME working parts.  We thought most of it at least was salvagable.  To our utter surprise, the charity sold it to a 3rd party for a whooping $700.  Then, about 2 months later, the "3rd party" was driving it along on a freeway and it stopped working.  (Big surprise, right?)  So, he/she left it right there... in the middle of the freeway!  A taxi driver came along and smashed right into that car and apparently, sustained some injuries.  Let me break it down for you

1.25 million dollars for pain, suffering and inconvenience

1 million dollars for emotional distress

350,000 dollars for medical expenses

200,000 dollars for future medical expenses

50,000 dollars for loss of earnings from work

250,000 dollars for loss of future earnings from work

cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.  Holy crap!

Now, I don't doubt that poor Mr Taxi driver really banged himself up, but his bills are not my responsibility.  Apparently, his lawyer thought they were.  According to the DMV, we were the last registered owners of the car.  As residents of California, it didn't really surprise us that this 3rd party person never got around to registering the car in his/her name!  Well, thank goodness that WE do things the right way.  Now it was only a matter of getting the DMV to send us proof that we properly filed a notice of release of liability when we donated the car.  Easier said than done!  Two LONG months later, my lovely new friend Lia at the DMV finally sent us the release, complete with a personal note from her wishing us luck and an extra copy for our records!  (Thanks Mom!  For teaching me how to be nice to people on the phone when you really need something in a tense situation!)  I think Lia just might get a Christmas card from me this year!    

So, what did we learn from this unfortunate experience?

• Really think twice before you donate your car to charity.  It's not as sugary, sweet as the commercials make it sound.   
• Don't leave your freaking car in the middle of the freeway!!
• Be nice to people on the phone!  It really pays off!  

And I'd like to say a special thanks to my brother in law, who is an attorney and did a lot of work for us and kept us from obtaining legal fees by hiring a lawyer who specializes in this sort of thing.  It really pays to have a lawyer in the family.  I guess we owe him a steak dinner!

Off to a good start!

Fall is here, people!  Even though we are pushing 100 degrees still out here in Southern California, it is September... therefore, I bake!  So, my aunt Lori intrigued me with a recipe called Autumn Apple Chip cookies.  

What is this?  Tell me more... 

Chunks of apple... chopped pecans... toffee bits... cinnamon glaze.  

Oh. my. gosh.  It's the best bite-sized piece of apple pie wrapped up in a cookie!  

So, I told my other aunt that I live near that we had to make these cookies... today.  I went to her house.  She said she would read the ingredients to me as we put them in the bowl.  About 2 ingredients into the mix, she realizes that she's reading the wrong recipe!  (She's kinda dumb, but I love her anyway!)  Luckily, the ingredients we had already mixed together was a perfect match for a triple batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!  (Okay, that was pretty brillant!  I take it back, she's not too dumb.)  IS THIS THE BEST DAY OF FALL EVER, OR WHAT??  Decadent Harvest Apple Chip cookies AND the you-can't-go-wrong Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies!  I'm telling you, we were mad... simply mad in that kitchen just whipping up the best cookies of Autumn!  I can't think of a better way to kick off the season!  

So, wouldn't it be rude, just rude of me to rave about these cookies and not post the recipe?  Well lucky for us, our good friend Jeanne Clifford, who has made the world a better place with her cooking, is allowing me to share the recipe!  Enjoy!  Happy Autumn!

Autumn Apple Chip Cookies

oven temp 350/baking time 12-15 min

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup half and half

1 egg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped apples (I chopped them pretty small)

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

1/2 cup toffee chips

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in egg and half and half.  Add apples, toffee chips and nuts.  Add dry ingredients and drop onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake, but do not overbake!  Glaze while still warm from oven.  

Cinnamon Glaze

Ingredients: 

4 Tbsp melted butter

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups powdered sugar

4-5 Tbsp half and half

Mix together and beat until smooth.  

Our last shot at summer

So, basically our summer went like this: we moved.  Sure, there were a couple trips to the pool, thank goodness for swim lessons.  And we did squeeze in enough beach days to satisfy us, but basically our summer was consumed with moving and all that goes with it.  Now that we are pretty much unpacked and Cory finished a 2 week stint of working late... really, really late... he decided that we needed a little vacation.  We packed up the car and the kids and headed up the coast of California during the Labor Day weekend. 

First stop: Solvang.  A quaint, Danish village.  

Fun, but not as fun with kids.  

Mostly went like this: "Oh!  That'd be a fun shop to go in... without Grant."

Pea Soup Andersen's.  Yes, I like Split Pea soup.

The Madonna Inn.  A gaudy hotel that Cory and I have only seen from the freeway since we were kids.  We stayed in the Enchanted Family room.  We told Maggie it was a princess room, complete with textured wallpaper and gold crowned mirrors.  

Last stop: Avila Beach.  Just north of Pismo Beach.  

We met up with my friend Becky and her family.  

It was fun to have a beach day with Cory.  

He buried the kids in the sand. 

Onward to Fall!  The only appropriate time to bake pumpkin cookies!