Chocolate covered pretzels

Home Alone

Jimmy was away on a guys’ trip to Wisconsin from Thursday until Sunday and man did I miss him! It was my first time being alone in our house overnight and thankfully I was safe and nothing crazy happened.

I felt so loved by the people in my life while my other half was gone. From texts, calls, and spending time with loved ones, I felt cared for physically and emotionally.

On Thursday night, my father-in-law and his girlfriend came over to have dinner with me and keep me, Malcolm, and Lola company. We had a nice time talking, watching Malcolm goof off, and sharing a meal with each other.

family-time

Most of Friday was spent with my family. My mom and I worked on wedding and bridal shower things for Hannah’s upcoming big day. We practiced making chocolate covered pretzels as favors for the wedding and they came out great!

chocolate-covered-pretzels

We ended up in a craft store late at night and got a little crazy. Dancing, laughing, and trying on bumble bee hats. All signs of a fun time.

craft-store-fun

I also received a lesson from Hannah on how to take someone’s blood pressure. She’s loving nursing school and had ordered a blood pressure cuff that came in the mail the day I was there. My mom, dad, and I all took turns getting our blood pressure taken.

I didn’t get to hang out with Hannah too long because she had to leave for work. She’s currently working in a urologist’s office!

hannah-the-nurse

My mom admitted her deepest darkest secret, which is her addiction to peppermint mocha coffee creamer. We popped into Target at one point in the day and she grabbed a bottle to add to her stash. She’s convinced her favorite flavor isn’t around all year, so she’s become a hoarder 🙂

peppermint-mocha-coffee-creamer

Saturday was spent soaking up the sun. It was in the 60s in Pittsburgh, so I took Lola and Malcolm for a walk. Lola on her leash and Malcolm in his stroller, of course. I also watched a documentary on female chefs and gender inequality called Hungry. It was very intriguing and eye-opening.

On Sunday morning I went to church and then did some household chores until Jimmy came home in the early evening! He had time for a quick shower, and then we were off to evening church. We spent the whole ride there catching up, and it was amazing to just talk in person.

May

Being home alone for a few days wasn’t bad at all, but I’m so glad to have Jimmy back!

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Christmas Cookie Baking Day

My mom and I had our second annual Christmas cookie baking day on Saturday. It was wonderful and included laughter, a melted plastic spoon, Christmas music, and lots of cookies.

baking-daycookie-shopping-list

What we made

Russian Tea Cakes
Chocolate Covered Oreos
Ritz Toffee
Polar Bear Cookies
Chocolate Crinkles
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Snowballs
Peppermint Bark
Chocolate Covered Pretzels

We baked at my house this year because I had to run out to pet sit in the area a few times. While my kitchen is much smaller than my parents’, we made the best of the counter space and piled cookies wherever we could.

cookiespeanut-butter-blossoms

We melted chocolate, rolled balls of dough, unwrapped countless Hershey’s Kisses, got sick of hearing the oven’s timer beep, and taste tested all day long.

For some reason, my mom left that night absolutely covered in flour and powdered sugar and I was left unscathed. We’re still trying to figure that out, haha.

melting-chocolate polar-bear-cookies toffee

We baked for eight hours and were exhausted by the end of the day. That delirious, happy-type of exhaustion, though! It was worth every minute of work to be able to give our neighbors, friends, and loved ones tins of cookies the next day.

It was also worth it to eat copious amounts of cookies 😉

cookie-tin

Do you bake around Christmas time?

What’s your favorite type of cookie?