The Weekly Review: Week Eleven

Blog Post that Puts All of My Weekly Accomplishments Put Together to Shame:

Jessica at Balancing Everything posted about her new kitchen table. You know. The one she made. Enough said.

Weekly Blog Post that made me laugh:

Swistle describes the possible thoughts school personnel have when writing school dress codes. Trust me. This post is really funny.

Guilty Pleasure of the Week:

So, when I didn't like our second attempt at chocolate chip cookies and we had no other treats in the house I put a couple of spoonfuls of brown sugar in a bowl and ate that as my dessert. It was actually quite yummy and completely did the trick at calming down my craving for sweets. Still, I ate a couple of spoonfuls of sugar straight. Probably not something to be proud of exactly.

Michael's Questionable New Behavior of the Week:

Outright defiance. Sigh. He engages in some kind of behavior I wish to stop. Often, he knows before he even starts that the behavior is unacceptable (throwing heavy objects around the room, for example). When asked to stop he pretends to not even hear the request and simply continues on as if I'm not in the room. Seriously? Where is this behavior coming from and how do I stop it?

Ava's Cuteness of the Week:

At bedtime and naptime, the last thing I do as I'm shutting Ava's door is to say, "Good night sweetheart!" and make two kissing noises. This week she has started making kissing noises back to me. I love it.

Project of the Week:

I am responsible for our public library system obtaining two new very nice children's picture books. I am trying to use the library instead of buying books for the children. I discovered a very sweet series of books about a Mole and his friends, Rabbit, Hedgehog, and Squirrel (by Jonathan Emmett). The library had two books in the series, but Amazon told me that there were two more that the library didn't own. Our library's website has a form to request new books. I requested the two other books (No Place Like Home and Diamond in the Snow) in the series several weeks ago, and they appeared on my reserved list this week. I picked them up from the library yesterday. I was quite pleased. The other two books in the series are Bringing Down the Moon and The Best Gift of All.

Be Prepared

With a two year old and a three year old you have to find the right balance when discussing extreme weather. You want them to take it seriously, but to not be terrified.

Ironically, my kids know what a "twister" is because of an episode of Wonder Pets. They enjoy singing the line, "They go round, round, round picking stuff off the ground." They know that sometimes there is a tornado warning which means that there might be a tornado nearby.

Last night a series of storms pushed through our area and we decided we needed to upgrade our plan of going to the basement with the kids and huddling in the darkness at the bottom of the stairs. We cleaned out the basement closet and put blankets, pillows, flashlights, snacks, water bottles, and a couple of just-in-case diapers in there. We also loaded up the iPad with episodes of Handy Manny.

Of course, by the time we got all that done, the storms had pretty much passed through, but by then the kids were excited about the "hidey cave" and so we went down there anyway and watched an episode of Handy Manny just to test it out. The kids loved it and protested when it was time to leave.

All in all, it was a pretty good upgrade of our What to Do When There's a Tornado Warning Plan and a great dry run. Now we just have to figure out what to do with all the stuff we pulled out of that closet and tossed into the center of the basement.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Needed

Does someone have a great chocolate chip cookie recipe they'd be willing to send me? We lost ours. In our first year of marriage we made the best from scratch chocolate chip cookies. Then I got pregnant with Michael. Then we moved in the third trimester and three months later Michael arrived. Ava arrived 15 months after that. We went almost four years without even looking for that recipe.

A couple of weeks ago, unable to locate the recipe, my husband tried the recipe on the Toll House Chocolate Chips bag. Definitely not the recipe we wanted. Then we tried the one from the Better Homes & Garden cookbook. Also not right.

So now I'm looking for suggestions.

Please?