What We Are Eating Wednesday - Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sorry for slacking last week ;-)  Since we've been eating with family a lot the last week and a half last weeks food post just slipped right by!  I gathered a few new recipes recently and am working on trying those out so hopefully I'll have some "material" for the next few months!

I also feel like I'm in a rut with cooking - which usually happens in July/August.  Searching Pinterest always brings up some new ideas along with my favorite, The Pioneer Woman.  I like to keep things real with these posts so I will share new recipes that I try and be honest about how they tasted and how they looked!

So, a friend shared a post on Facebook for these super easy chocolate chip cookies.  I used to bake a lot before we had kids.  I usually baked some type of bread as well as a dessert or cookie.  I quit baking because my kids don't really eat it so I was throwing a lot away.  Well, they are starting to enjoy treats a little more so I figured this was a good recipe to try and it was actually a hit.  Half the pan was gone before I even cut them and put them in a container and that is ALWAYS a positive sign of a successful cookie!

Here's the recipe:

And yes, it is really that easy.

Graduation Album - The Final Book

This year I created my tenth and final graduation book for my nieces and nephews.  I started this when the oldest graduated A LONG TIME AGO.  I still remember his - it was huge.  I printed off tons and tons of photos from the course of his life; I made everyone create their own scrapbook page and write a letter to him on that page; I incorporated the words of a song throughout the pages.  Wow.  Each year the books got a little more defined until about number 7 when I changed them to instead reflect family.  I searched for photos with the graduate and family members through the years.  This, I felt, made it more personal.  I also had to resort to allowing the family to e-mail or message me their letters in order to make sure I received them all.

This years book is not quite done.  With it being the final book it has taken a little more prompting to get the family letters and I'm still waiting on a few.  I refuse to give the book as a gift without it being complete so I'll wait for those to arrive before I put the finishing touches on it and send it! 

I'm not sure what I'll do for my boys when they graduate -- I might have to get creative :-)

Week 5 - Looks and Links

Wow.  We are on week 5 of our summer plans.  I actually thought I'd be ready for a Vacation week after week 2 HA!  Instead I've enjoyed planning our activities and seeing what the kids can do.

So, why is this week a vacation week?  Very simply because it's a short week.  We have family in town this week so we are doing a few things with them on Monday.  My extra kids are also taking Tuesday off.

That brings us back together for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  I know we will be busy with our family in the evenings so I wanted to keep the day time a little more relaxed for us.

I had planned to use the week as a "project week" but that did not happen either.  We were busy, stayed up late, and I wasn't super motivated.  On Friday I finally did some cleaning and picking up around the house.

I had also hoped to have some photos of those projects that didn't get done . . .but I don't HA!  Oh well.

So, instead, I'll leave you with this cute photo.

Weekly Worship - Still Rolling Stones (Lyric Video) - Lauren Daigle

Enjoy :-) 

Weekly Photos 2020 #27

We had a good week with some family in town.  Here's a look back at some of our adventures

Saturday - We hung out at home before going to my mom's for dinner.

Sunday - Another quiet day at home.  Darryl and I were just commenting on how we always stay home on the weekend HA!

Monday - My brother and his family came into town late Sunday night.  We then all headed to my nephews house for the day.

This is proof that my mom climbed the rock wall! 

We went to the beach.  The water felt a little chilly . . .it was about 40 degrees HA!  Two days before the water temp was about 75.  Crazy Lake Michigan.  

Tuesday - We played games at my moms before dinner.  Then we headed to my cousins FroYo place.  It was fun to catch up with family.

Wednesday - Time for more games!!

Nate stayed the night at Nana's on Tuesday.  He hung out with Aunt Lynnette and they did a work out and went for a power walk.  (For the record, on Thursday, Nate couldn't put deodorant on because he couldn't lift his arms HA!) 

And yes, my mom played Twister too! 

Thursday - This was a quite day at home. 

Friday - Darryl spent the day with his dad and we spent the day at home!  The boys and I went for a drive and grabbed dinner.  On the way home, I stopped and told them to get out of the car and run down a sidewalk.  Why?  There were sprinklers!! HA!  They had so much fun!

Weekly Menu - Another easy one

We've enjoyed some great meals this past week with family made even better because I did not have to cook much HA!  This week will be similar as we will be enjoying dinner with my brother and mom several nights.

Friday - I've promised Josh some Dairy Queen so I'm sure we will make a trip to get our weekly treat from there :-)

Saturday - Chicken, Noodles, and veggies.

Sunday - Dinner at my mom's

Monday - It's TKD night so spaghetti and garlic bread is easy to eat in shifts :-)

Tuesday - Dinner at my mom's (I think!)

Wednesday - The last night with my brother at my mom's.

Thursday - It's just us once again.  Pork Loin, Mac and Cheese, mixed veggies, and french bread

How we "cut the cord" on Cable . . .well, not really

For several years we have talked about "cutting the cord" on Cable to save money.  Well, when they recently raised our price . . .again. . . we started doing some serious looking.  A friend of mine shared that they had just done the same thing so she shared their info with us to make it easier.

The first thing we did was go to Suppose.tv.  At this site you can put in your location and your favorite channels.  It will give recommendations on the best streaming services as the best cost.

After finding what we thought we would work, we order a Roku.

We do not have a smart TV which would have eliminated the need for this but, thanks to a great deal on Amazon we were able to pick this up for half price. 

Next, we signed up for a one week free trial of YouTube TV.

We picked YouTube TV because it had almost every channel we wanted with the exception of Hallmark.  We had another steaming service picked that would had Hallmark but were waiting to do that piece.  The Roku and YouTube TV were easy to use and we were very happy with the picture. 

The final piece was contacting our cable company.  Well, they wanted to keep a customer so they increased our internet speed and cut our bill significantly.  The bill is lower then what it would be with the streaming!  Which is where the "well, not really" comes in - we did not switch.  Our price with cable is supposed to be locked in for a few years so for now, we will stick with what we have!  Ironically, we got a notification that YouTube TV was increasing their price by $15.00 a month which would have made it more expensive after the cable company lowered our bill!! 

The only reason I share this is in case you were considering switching you would have a little information to start digging with to find what works for you.  I highly recommend starting with Suppose.TV.