A perfect place for Christmas lights, yes?

“Hey, can you make the cookies made of crack?”, my husband asks me.

(He’s referring to the addictive qualities of a specific Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie.  There are no narcotics involved. Really.)

So I made the cookies made of crack, and I thought it’s about time I share this ridiculous goodness with the world.  So here you go.  The best cookies in the world.  (Originally my mom’s recipe)

1 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown suger
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups oatmeal
7 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more… whatever amount of chocolate you want)

mix well shortening, sugar, eggs & vanilla.
add remaining ingredients, mix well to blend
bake at 350 on greased cookie sheets, about 8 minutes
(best removed from oven when not completely browned… will cool to a more chewy consistency!)

Make them.  Today.  But please use their powers for good, not evil.
YUM.

My family and I live on property that includes a lake, a small wooded area, and is surrounded by fields.  One could refer to this as being ‘in the country’, but I have a problem using that phrase is it takes me about 2 minutes to get to Target.

A couple weeks ago, our neighbor wanted to liberate her ducks, which she had purchased a while back for her grandchildren. These ducklings had now grown big enough that it was time to move them from their cage to the lake, where they would ostensibly live happily by drawing upon their natural instincts.  So, my son and I were invited to join my neighbor and her grandchildren in this honorable effort.

It should be noted that the next day, these five ducks made their way back to shore and walked down a driveway to stand at the door of their former cage in a confused little clump.  The cage was later relocated to the water’s edge to help them in their quest to become undomesticated.  Is that even a word? I saw them yesterday, still as a clump, hanging out on a sandy shoreline about fifty feet away from a group of three wild ducks.  What I wouldn’t give to listen in to that conversation.