Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Lately


1. I finished weeding the juvenile biographies today, and oh my stars, look at these! My poor young patrons. Hahaha, oh thank goodness these went out the door! Collection embarrassment. I mean just look at Britney. And do we even remember there was a Venus to Serena?

2. I'm really craving a chocolate milkshake right now. Like really, really craving one. Like somebody get over here and bring me a chocolate shake! Pleeasssseee. With a cherry on top. (But not really 'cause those things are toxic. "Don't you know that your toxic?")

3. Are we ready for Christmas? Ummm, definitely not over here. Christmas is in two days and I still have gifts to purchase and wrap and how is Christmas in two days?!

4. I have not been in the Christmas spirit at all this season. All the decorations, the baking, the carols, the lights...I don't really care about any of it this year. And I love Christmas. But right now, just bring on 2016 already!

5. Speaking of 2016...any goals or resolutions?


With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Music Love

My latest music obsession.

I went to bed singing it, I woke up singing it. Heck, I think I might have been singing it in my sleep. However, you cannot ask Mr. B to verify this because he's a deep, deep sleeper. I mean, a car could hit our house and he wouldn't know. Oh, wait.... ha ha.

Anyhoo, my latest listener is Maren Morris' "My Church." Finally, the official video came out, so sit back and enjoy her voice and this wonderful country-country song. And turn it up. Loud. LOVE THIS.

Can I get an amen?!




With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Monday, December 14, 2015

Cookies for Days


Not to brag, but Jess and I are getting really good at this whole baking extravaganza cookie thing.

Two years running now, we succeeded in making dozens of cookies without any major disasters. No burnt Pretzel Bark, no forgotten ingredients, no cookies in a heap on the floor, no time-consuming meals, and no major messes (well almost, you see, flour is tricky thing...).

This eighth(!) year was a roaring success. At the end of the day, we had 10 different cookies and one bark. Oh, and a couple scars.

Ouch!

Yes, if I could sum up this year's baking day with one word, "ouch" along with a few other choice words comes to mind.


And it's a new word for us. We might have been picking up cookies from the floor for years and cleaning flour off the walls and breaking utensils, but we're pretty good at knowing things are hot.

Apparently, I forgot this at 9 am when we started making the Brown Butters. I think the name itself is warning enough. Yet, when I decided to remove the saucepan full of boiling browned butter from the stove so it wouldn't burn I forgot. I continued to stir. I continued to chat. And then some splattered out of the pan and onto my barefoot. Oh my mother-loving stars!

First off, I have to admit, this is the first baking extravaganza not to require socks or thick slippers because it's 60 freaking degrees outside. In December! In Ohio! How are we supposed to chill our extra dough if there's no snow?! Why is it not cold enough to let the bark set up outside, and instead I have to shove it in my freezer, where there is no room because Mr. B thought a half empty freezer is no good and he must stock it with meat the day before our cookie baking madness?! But I digress.

Thank you, Jesus, for lavender oil. When I was finally able to form decent coherent words, Jessica handed me the oil and I rubbed it all over the top of my foot. Within the hour the burn was gone, the mark was gone, and I was beyond grateful in a happy dance form. I was lucky, however, Jessica was not. I'm going to blame it on her pregnant brain, but she too forgot hot things are hot. Baking sheets straight from a hot oven are hot. Yeah, she pulled a Brindi. I still have the scars from last July. I'm sure she will have the scar this time next year; it's bigger and angrier. Ouch! Unfortunately, the lavender oil only soothed her. It's funny how sensitive the skin on our forearm truly is. It's also funny the words that come out of our lady mouths.


Other than the pain, we had quite the sugar-filled, fun day. The Brown Butters turned out to be the tastiest ones we've made in a while, and Mr. B can attest to said tastiness. Definitely. In fact we even tripled the batter, giving us well over 175 of these bite-sized cookies. The first cookies started, the last ones finished. As we were frosting these bad boys, Mr. B kept walking by and grabbing them. Soon I realized he was eating them faster than I was frosting them. I had to tell him to stop because we had them counted and still had to divide them up. Jessica gave me a this-is-why-we-do-it-at-my-house look. As Monica says, I know!


In the end, we ended up with 80 Brown Butters each. Yet, it was odd. When I got home from work the next evening there were only 30 of these delectable cookies in the entire house. These 30 now reside in the back of the freezer. Mr. B is verbally not happy about this.


With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Thursday, December 3, 2015

My Beautiful Month

In case you aren't on Instagram, or don't follow me, here's a peek at my Insta-Life lately.
[*All photos are taken from my Instagram account.]


Too many books and not enough time. True story.


'Tis the season for hot chocolate, and Starbucks puts crack in theirs. (Well, don't quote me on that, but it's sooo good. I'm sooo addicted.)


Magic Tree House madness at work.


Playing this on the radio?!?!?! Yesssssss!




Oh, I bought a new car. Meet Tara. Tara, this is everyone. (Bonus points if you know her namesake.)

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi