not friends

it is funny to me the number of people getting on my nerves as of lately.  you know, on facebook (and other places like blogs since i am a "blog lurker"...)

these aren't my friends either.  these were my friends, or they are friends of my friends.  but back when i cut out all the people who i either just didn't like and/or weren't related to, well, they didn't make the cut. that means that i still see some of them commenting on my remaining friend's pages from time to time.  still, they get on my nerves.  like, to the point where i'm ready to do what my sister did and just forgo facebook altogether. 

apparently i've come quite intolerant of people who are egotistical and constant whiners (this blog excluded).  i know i complain from time to time and it is ok for some COMPLAINTS but a constant whine has just got to go, you know what i mean?  your misery does not want my company.

sort of like this (here i go trying to explain it in a way that does not indicate the folks of whom i am talking about...)

lets just say that i decide to sell my house.  and part of me selling my house means that i have to keep it clean.  if i complain about keeping it clean EVERY FREAKING MOMENT well then maybe i need to reconsider selling my house. right?  especially if you've been over to my house and seen that it wasn't really that clean to start with.  like the trash was stinky and the refrigerator had lots of rotten and old food in it and there were barf and milk stains all over the carpet from the cats and the children, respectively, and there was a ton of dried food and lint in the corners of the room and there was about 1" of lint on the floor boards... and the beds were never made and the toilets were dirty/stained and, in general, my houses was neither clean nor organized. you know what i'm saying???

or like seeing a person who constantly harps about good health and "diet and exercise" drinking a diet soda.  or smoking.  really.

ok.  so, that's it.  i'm almost positive that the folks to which i lurk and the FB people that irritate me don't read my blog so i wouldn't be "hurting their feelings" with my brutal honesty. ha ha.

ah the things i want to say...

history is failing.

oh wow.

this has to be the saddest and most dissapointing thing i've heard since i lost my job.

Lentil Raisin Cookies

I know that sounds weird, but i have a thing for lentils.  i love them.  so the other night when we saw that "good eats" (with alton brown) was about lentils, we watched it.  first off was the typical lentil soup.  eh.  i know how to make that.  next, though, was a cookie that used lentil puree in the ingredients.

sounds weird - and so maybe it is.  but, i'd just been to whole foods and gotten several bags of black, green, and red lentils so i thought i'd give it a try.  i'd also bought some carobs with the intention of trying carob chip cookies - so when i tried this recipe the first time, i split it and made half and half.  um, i don't like carobs - not plain, not in cookies.  they are gross and they don't bake well.  i'll stick to chocolate chips.

so for the lentil puree, you just put 3/4 cups of lentil (i used red) into 1-3/4 cups of water and let it boil and simmer until the lentils are mostly done.  it doesn't take but about 20 minutes with the red ones.  you have to watch them like rice, though, because they'll boil over in a heartbeat (and make a stinky mess).  you let it cool - NOT draining it - and i used a submersible blender and made it into a puree - it should look like canned pumpkin.  i don't think the submersible blender is completely necessary because when you stir it, they fall apart.  plus, as you make the cookie, they'd get mixed up even more.  so, don't let your lack of a submersible blender deter you from making this cookie.  this makes about 1-1/2 cup of lentil puree which is just a little more than what you need for the cookie recipe.  you can eat the rest or you can freeze it for later.

alton brown's original recipe can be found on the food tv's website, but i varied from it.  my cookies turned out perfect, so i'm going to put MY recipe on here.

in a standing mixer (i used the kitchen aid) on low, add one at a time and let it GO until well mixed (this is the actual order i put it in):
3/4 c unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
1 farm raised egg
3/4 cup cane sugar
3/4 cup organic brown sugar
1/2 aluminum free baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
(at this point, i put the mixer on med-high until it was sorta fluffy)
1 cup lentil puree
(when i put this in, it didn't want to mix, the puree was kinda slippery compared to the butter-egg-sugar.  i had to scrape the sides a few time and mix it by hand, but it did mix somewhat on medium speed)
2 cups quick oats
2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1-1/2 tsp cinnimon
1/2 tsp allspice
1-1/2 cup raisins (i didn't actually measure this, but it was more than a cup but less than 1-1/2 cup.  kendal and holly like a lot of raisins so i put a lot in there).

 i chilled the dough for a bit (2 hrs?) and then baked them on my pampered chef baking stones (i have 2) on 375 for about 15 minutes.  they don't fall much during the baking (it is a stout, tall, heavy, chewy cookie - that if you have any issues with constipation - one or two cookies will fix it!  or so it did with holly and kendal.  they'd eat 2 cookies and poop!  it didn't do that to me.  lots of extra fiber with those lentils and raisins!  teeheehee)

**the second time i made the cookies i used only cane sugar and added molasses, plus i used green lentils rather than red and the cookies were a bit crumbly.  not sure whether it was the sugar or the lentils!**

holly and the sand pile

yesterday, holly finally decided to test out the sand pile.  thus far she's been not at all interested in playing in sand.  i was occupied with kendal - so, nathaniel got the camera and took these pictures. 

i can safely say two things now:  #1 nathaniel likes the camera, and #2 holly likes sand.

this is one of the editing options THE CAMERA does.  isn't this cute?

things around mamaw/granddaddy's house

testing out the new tool!  it is awesome.  easiest camera i've ever had - even NOT on "automatic" which most of these were taken with the auto selection, but some not (i was trying to try out what i learned by reading the instructions last night).

the bees were busy pollinating the blueberry bushes!  they were so busy that they didn't even notice me taking their pictures!

found this old birds nest in a tree - do birds reuse them from year to year?  this one was about the size of a cereal bowl.

can you find the 4-leaf clover??? i see two.

Holly and Kendal playing with their Easter baskets - we're still playing "find the eggs" - and i bet we will be for months to come!

the tulips are in full bloom at mom and dad's house.  these have the biggest petals i believe i've ever seen.  dad also said he tried to pull the all up last year, so these are all "volunteers" - so funny, we still have the same 5 tulips we planted the spring of our reception at our house, they've never multiplied!

The garden started growing last week, also.  This is a row of corn (I think), peas are to the right, potatoes are to the left beyond the row of sprayers (they aren't up yet).  ever wonder what to do with an old graduation gown?  well, dad had a good idea - this is the 2nd or 3rd year for this scarecrow!  his face/head is a tight ball of plastic bags, like from the grocery store.  he's standing on 2 tobacco sticks strapped together (so they are tall).

peach tree blooms - dad apparently has two different kinds of peaches.  or, one kind of peach and some other kind of tree.  i think they are both peaches though.  these blooms are a little past-peak so it was hard to find nice looking ones.  the bees have move on from here...  just ants and wasps around now!

 and who could forget the all-american jeep.  its the most functional piece of yard "art" i've ever seen.  ha!

some wood out in the shed.  this wood is as old as katelyn probably (who had a birthday yesterday, happy birthday kate!)  and, it burns fast too - it is dry as a bone!

eh, by the way, no editing done on any of these save the first three that have the "fisheye" effect.  i didn't crop or enhance (color) or anything.  i tell ya, a camera will only take you so far.  (i.e., you can be a good photographer and only go so far with a point-and-shoot camera - the camera makes a difference!  i'd like to thank my husband for bending our no-spending rules and allowing us to get this camera!  something like this is truly a luxury item, especially when we are living on one-income, but, i do plan on putting this camera to good use!  besides taking pictures of my own children, of coarse...) 

easter pics

here are some other new pictures... now completely edited and these are actually on our wall - it was hard to replace the christmas pictures, they were so good, but, it was time to update.  :)

these were from last weekend (27mar) when we went to the easter egg hunt at riverwood (clayton) with katelyn.  the easter egg hunt pictures weren't great because #1 kendal hates the easterbunny and begged to go home because he was there and #2 after they finally got the hang of finding eggs (holly just liked to pick them up and throw them back down), kendal gave all his away to a little girl that he befriended.  as nathaniel said it best, "he is a benevolent soul!"  he even gave away his GOOD candy!

after we left the egg hunt area, we went over to kate's apt and took pictures by the big rocks.  they made a nice backdrops for our earthly home...

it was really hard choosing just 5 pictures because just about all of holly's were good!  i didn't take as many of kendal for some reason because usually he takes such good ones and holly is the one i'm left settling with...  the wall above our fireplace is arranged so that i have one large horizontal (mat for inches 10 x 13 but the frame is 12 x 18?) and then two 8x10 and two 10x8.  so, i am always limited by those when it comes to choosing pictures.  well, unless i move my nails... and, i don't want to do that.  :)  i like where they are!

anyway, those are our new "decorations" - kendal and holly love them, they talked about them all morning!

(and, PS... i took all of these but the one with kendal AND holly in it - kate took that one.  and the reason holly had such good pictures is because kate's friend, bobbie, and her husband, drew, came out and holly was flirting with drew!)

what do you think of this?

i suppose i'm always working on my photographing skills... but since i've been saving for a digital SLR, i've been practicing on my editing skills too.  i've found some easy tutorials online for photoshop - and so my newest "technique" is burning edges.  this also works for vignettes (just with a solid color like white or black rather than the "burnt" edges).

we have this one now hanging in our bedroom.  it looks AMAZING on the wall.  this photo was shot at siesta key when we were down visiting nathaniel's parents in sarasota.