Chocolate Valentine's Cookies

These are the cookies I made on Valentine's Day while my husband worked his weekly 12 hour shift. I frosted them with store bought Hershey's Dark Chocolate frosting and used pink decorator icing to write on them. My teenage daughter was in an anti-valentine mood this year so I wrote some special for her, "Ugh, Never, Go Away, No, Get Real."

This is a Pioneer Woman recipe and can be found here.
I also made cupcakes from this my favorite chocolate cake recipe. I didn't frost them because this recipe is moist and yummy enough to eat without frosting. I didn't photograph them because they just look like chocolate cupcakes.

Today was the chocolate festival. I went with my daughter. We bought too much chocolate, but had fun.

 

The "White Trash" on the left (basically Puppy Chow renamed) was being sold by a black woman. My daughter was slightly insulted when she asked her if she would like to try some White Trash. It tasted good though, so we bought some. I think her favorite of what we bought is the green block of Key Lime fudge made by Bloomin' Lollipops. The most unusual thing we bought was the chocolate covered bacon made by Mrs. Wheat's Treats. I don't know how she managed to cook the bacon crisp without burning it. And somehow it stayed crisp even though it was covered in chocolate.

Let Them Eat Cake

Happy birthday to my daughter. Like Thanksgiving through the beginning of January was to Christmas cookies, today until St. Patrick's Day is to cake. Her birthday, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, my son's birthday, and my birthday all fall between those dates. Chocolate cake, brownies, Mardi Gras King Cake, chocolate chip cookie cake, Black Forrest Cake, and Green Velvet cupcakes. We will bake cake, many cakes, experimenting with new recipes. We will frost cake. We will decorate cake. We will eat cake. And then we will wonder why we never lost those last 10 pounds before spring break and swim suits.

Climbing Mountains

"You don't climb mountains without a team, you don't climb mountains without being fit, you don't climb mountains without being prepared and you don't climb mountains without balancing the risks and rewards. And you never climb a mountain on accident – it has to be intentional."

Mark Udall

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/rewards.html

Name it and claim it, or Gab it and grab it. No, just because you say it doesn't mean it will actually happen.

Buddy

Today my dog was not himself,

not content to follow me around,

or lay down on the ground

beside me.

He would not sit still.

He would not lay down.

He paced, and whined, and barked.

He touched my arm with his cold nose,

and when I told him to stop,

he walked around to my other side,

and nosed my other arm.

What?

I don't speak dog.

What is up with you?

Do you want me to get up, and do what, go where?

I fed you. You have water. You've been out to potty.

What?

Sit.

Lay down.

Shut up.

by:  Paula D. Nevison

Big December Crochet Project Finished

This was my big December crochet project. In addition to tatting ornaments, I was crocheting a square each day and putting this together as a surprise gift for the daughter of a friend of mine who lives in Texas. I mailed it out today, and put all my Christmas stuff away.

A Cold Gray Day

What is gray, but black and white.

Black words on a white page.

Black and white piano keys melody.

Black ebony knitting needles and cozy soft white alpaca yarn.

Dark chocolate on vanilla ice cream.

Smudged charcoal shading and gray pencil lines.

This cold gray day is turning out fine.

by:  Paula D. Nevison 

Facts are Facts

“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”

― Daniel Patrick Moynihan