Saturday, February 16, 2008

Just a really nice day...

Yesterday was fun. So many nice things happened, I felt like I was under a shining star all day. Will you throw things at me if I tell you about it?

It began, as it usually does, with coffee and conversation with my sweet husband. I'll spare you the picture of the two of us early in the morning. You know how I love my pictures, so please appreciate the great restraint I'm showing right now.

After coffee, I donned my grubby blue overalls and black rubber boots and went outside to investigate the goat house. Yesterday's blog post showed you many of the photos I took. And although I had many other things on my "to do" list for yesterday, I couldn't resist taking the opportunity to start cleaning out the pen while I was there. I was so anxious to get started. There were so many fallen branches and a significant amount of other debris that, even after about 45 minutes, I had hardly made a dent. It may not look great now, but I can envision how sweet it's going to be when I'm finished!

I then went wandering through our garage. I've been looking for the box of winter gear - that the movers hid from me - for over three weeks now. I really needed my ski pants for my son, Aidan's, ski race on Mt. Hood today. Success and what luck! Now, why didn't I see those before? After just a bit of searching, I finally found them:

Returning inside, I spied the cookie ingredients that had been sitting on my counter for two days waiting to be used for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever, that Judy at No Fear Entertaining had shared the recipe for. Right then and there, I decided it was baking day (and yes, I always bake with my laptop, don't you?!):

These cookies were the very first dessert I've baked in my new kitchen and they turned out beautifully. And yummmm...I really believe Jim loved me even more when he got home to these delicious treats (thanks, Judy!!):

While waiting for my cookies to finish, I delighted in sitting down with my new magazine, Hobby Farms. I received a surprise "Welcome to your Farm" subscription to this magazine from my friend (and fellow blogger, Ms In-Between) Mindi and her husband, Mike. I had absolutely no idea why this issue showed up in my mailbox...until she told me yesterday! It was such a fun surprise. :-)

Capping off a most wonderful day, I received a notice from the mailman that a package was waiting for me at the post office. After a quick trip into town late yesterday afternoon to pick it up, I couldn't wait to see what was inside:

This adorable messenger bag is my gift from Michelle at Sugar Creek Stuff. And all I had to do was post a comment on her 100th blog and then be lucky #1 on her dice roll! :-)

After unpacking it, I wore it around the house all evening long, still totally empty, just because it made me happy and it fits me so well. My husband kept saying, every time I walked by, "Nice bag!!". :-)
Just by asking me a few questions, Michelle was able to personalize it for me in surprising ways. Thank you, Michelle, I love it!! (Be sure to check out some of Michelle's other things she has made at her Etsy site).

What a nice day!

9 comments:

  1. The bag is adorable! And yes, I do usually bake with mt laptop. All my recipes are on it!

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  2. Sounds like a day from heaven! I love the bag. And the cookies....yum

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  3. Your garage looks like my basement, and I didn't just move in. Thanks for the props on the bag.

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  4. I do believe that's a Speckled Sussex on that bag!

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  5. What a fabulous day! And I love your new bag! I'll be checking out sugar creek stuff for sure! Hope I get to see you next week! Have a great weekend!

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  6. haha! Looks like you've still got some unpacking to do. No worries, it will come with time.

    I'm just amazed that you've found the time to bake those scrumptious looking choco-chip cookies. I must try that recipe one day soon.
    It's just that every minute I'm not homeschooling, caring for our kids and taking horse-riding lessons....I'm playing with my chickens or hanging out with our llamas and goat! haha

    I'm dying to bake some bread from scratch soon. Hubby bought me a very cool KitchenAid Mixer for Valentines Day. Yay!
    I just need to figure out how to make baking bread work above 7,000 ft! Got any ideas?

    Oh and your chicken bag is lovely! I'm a little jealous, but happy for you, too. The chicken design reminds me of our beautifully patterned Barred Rocks. Congrats!

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  7. Did I forget to tell you I sent gave you an award...sometimes I really space!!! Anyway go to my blog and pick it up... You have so earned it!

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  8. Hi christy, I just *knew* I wasn't alone here! :-)

    Hi frugalmom, I keep telling Michelle at sugarcreekstuff how many people keep telling me how wonderful her bag is. I think she's getting tired of me. ;-)

    sugarcreekstuff, see above ^ and below for more compliments. :-)

    goatgirl, I'm thinking that when I get my chicks, I need to get at least one that looks like this!

    in-between, are you bringing me some of the vanilla lip balm you made this weekend? :-) :-)

    hi twinville, oh boy, unpacking is so tedious, I'm willing to bet that I'll still have stuff in boxes a year from now. And about having time to bake...it's all about priorities, isn't it? I love to bake, but if I had horseback riding lessons, chickens, goats, and llamas, like you, I'm betting the baking would fall by the wayside! :-)

    Regarding high-altitude baking...(I can't believe you're above 7000'!!) I have NO experience with this. We're only at 454'... :-)
    I did find this Q&A on high-altitude baking online, though, but you may have already seen this: http://extension.usu.edu/htm/faq/faq_q=204

    Hi Judy, I saw that you had given me an award yesterday, but I hadn't had a chance to thank you yet. My Internet was down most of the day yesterday and when I could get on late last night it was slow as mud. Thank you so much - your words make me smile! :-D

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  9. Thank you for the high altitude cooking link. I'll check that out this week when I have more time.

    I used to bake often, but this high altitude is becoming quite the challenge.

    Even prepared foods come with high altitude directions....but they start at 3,500 ft. Once you get abover 6,000 ft those directions need to be tweaked even more! ack.

    And when you can't even bake pretty bread in an automatic breadmaker, you know you've got some major adjusting to do! haha

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