I like my sweets.  I wish I didn’t.

Even though most of the treats I eat are made with the good stuff (whole wheat flour/natural sugars), I still have to be really careful that I don’t eat too many sweets.

Because I LOVE them.

My husband, on the other hand would rather eat seconds or thirds of our main dish than to finish his meal off with something sweet.  Often, he’ll say, “Well….I’m gonna have me some dessert” while he reaches over to scoop another spoonful of enchiladas onto his plate.

The boys gave him a Snicker bar with almonds for Christmas.  He still hasn’t eaten it.  I think he’s saving it for a special occasion.  Like next Christmas perhaps?  I would have eaten mine before I finished opening my stocking stuffers.  Nothing says Christmas morning like a mom with nougat stuck to her chin.

Kristy’s comment on my Butterscotch Bar post got me to thinking.  She wrote:  “Okay, here’s a good afternoon snack for my kiddos (and me!) to munch on! Can’t wait to try them.  I REALLY like the fact that you seem to have a sweet tooth, like me!!”

So yeah, I have a sweet tooth.  A mouth full of ‘em actually.

How about you?  Are you a desserty kinda person…or would you rather skip the sweets and have another round of the main course?

Tonight was pizza night at our house. 

I usually make pizza using this recipe, but tonight I was more in the mood for a thicker crust, so I made a yeast dough.

And of course, pictured above is just one of the pizzas but really I had to make three pizzas to fill us all.  (I just picked the prettiest one for the picture.) 

Three pizzas did fill us all but most everyone needed more food two hours later.  That’s how it works around here.  Wow, these kids can eat.

We like making our pizzas with a variety of toppings.  Some with “just cheese”.  Some with cheese and turkey pepperoni.  Some with cheese, turkey pepperoni and black olives.  Some with cheese, turkey pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms and green peppers.

Pretty tasty. 

Ooh, and my favorite ingredient?  I like using white cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella.  It gives the pizza SUCH good flavor!

So what’s your favorite kind of pizza?  Do you like making pizza yourself?  If not, where do you like to get your pizza?

Is anyone now hungry for pizza?  Sorry about that.  If you come on by, I think I might have a couple leftover slices.

I love learning more about you, my awesome readers.  I love learning who likes coffee and who doesn’t…I love learning whether you open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning…I love learning whether or not you have gas.

What I’m curious about today are the various generations of people I’m talking to here.  I promise to never, ever ask about your weight.  But today, I’d really like to know how old you are.

I never mind telling people my age.  I’m 36 by the way.  Yep…40 is creeping in on me.

So there…I told you.  Now you tell me.

I would LOVE for you to leave a comment with the specifics of your age (36 years, 6 months and 15 days if you really must know).  But just in case some of you aren’t comfortable sharing publicly…

I thought maybe putting up a poll would be helpful.  Just click on your age group and no one knows who clicked what.  It just gives me an idea of who all is hanging out here, you know?

I must say, you LOOK really young.  I never would have guessed your age just by looking at you.

Okay, share both in the comments and on the poll if you’re comfortable with it…but at least click on the poll. 

Thanks! 

Coffee. 

LOVE the way it smells.  Really, REALLY don’t like the way it tastes.

When I was little, I thought that drinking coffee was part of being a cool grown up.  I loved the way coffee drinkers held their mugs.  I loved the way coffee drinkers happily sipped their steaming drink.

And I LOVED the smell of coffee brewing each morning. 

It just smelled so…cozy and comfortable. 

I figured that when I was older and allowed to drink coffee, I would just love it!  I thought that I’d be able to sit there with the grown-ups and look cool while I sipped my coffee too. 

And then I tried some.

YUCK!  Seriously?  THIS is what coffee tastes like?

I was in shock.  That is not the taste I expected to go along with the great smell and the cool coffee sipping. 

Later I gave it another try…this time with cream and sugar.  Lots and lots of sugar.

Nope…nothing could mask that taste for me. 

To this day, I just can’t drink coffee.  I can’t even eat a coffee flavored jelly bean.

Oh, but I still love the way it smells. 

Matt doesn’t like coffee either, so I LOVE it when we have house guests who like to drink it.  We have a tiny little coffeepot.  When we have overnight guests, with hope and a gleam in my eye I always ask them  if they’d like me to make coffee for them in the morning.  I LOVE it when they say yes because when I make it I get to smell it brewing!!  Mmmm!

So…are you a coffee drinker?  How do you take your coffee?

If you are a coffee drinker, will you PLEASE come over some time so I can brew coffee for you?!  Please?

Shew!  I’ve been cooking and baking and baking and cooking for hours.

And washing a ton of dishes.

About this cooking and baking (and dish washing) marathon I will say two things:

1. I love it.
2. I’m tired.

I’m glad I planned my entire weekend around this marathon.  I got a TON of work done today and still have a long way to go.  Will I get it all done and still be able to experiment with homemade ketchup?  I’ll let you know. 

I’ll let you know if I can still type by Monday.  And form complete thoughts.  And remember what day it is.

I may actually still be standing at my big freezer with the door open (and my fingers freezing off) trying to figure out where to put all the fruit of my labor.  Good problem to have, but wearing gloves for such an activity is advisable.

Anyway, let’s go back to the “I love it” part.

I really do love it.  This morning before we left for our home school P.E. time, I started getting out all the ingredients I’d need so I’d be ready to start cooking when I got  home.  I got SO excited about the fact that I was going to come home and cook and bake all afternoon that I just got giddy! 

Is it crazy that someone would get so excited about brown rice, chocolate chips and tomato sauce?  Well, not altogether, but you know…all laid out on the counter waiting to be made into various yummy dishes?

Later as I was getting the cookies mixed up and into the oven all I could think of was, “I love baking best.”  Then, as I was mixing up Cheesy Beef and Rice I was thinking, “I love cooking best.”

But you can’t love both things best, so now I’m trying to figure out which I like best…cooking or baking.

They are practically the same except that baking involves more flour and baking powder and mixing and kneading and often times it involves chocolate.  Score one for baking.

Cooking involves meat and veggies and potatoes and rice and spices and creating dishes that nourish your family and make them happy.  Score one for cooking.

I think I like them both the same.  They are both my favorite.  I can’t help it.  I’ve made up my mind.

So…which do you like better?  Cooking…or Baking?

I’ll be telling you more about how I used to be “The Coupon Queen”, but first…let’s have a friendly little debate shall we?

I say that the word “coupon” is pronounced KYOOPON.

And I think I’m right.

But my husband says that the word is pronounced KOOPON.

And he thinks he’s right.

What with all the tragedy and hurt in the world, this is one issue that we apparently still feel is important enough to take up a portion of our time, energy and conversation. 

I finally looked the word up in the dictionary, and turns out…we’re both right.  Both pronunciations are in there.  Huh.

No matter, it’s continued to be a running “argument” for years.  The kids get a huge kick out of listening to it.

Matt (surprised to see an item we wouldn’t normally buy):  “Hey, that looks good.  Did you have a KOOPON for it?”

Laura:  “No I didn’t, but I did have a KYOOPON.  Got us a pretty good deal.”

I am of the humble opinion that if I’m the one taking the time and making the effort to use the KYOOPON and saving us money with the KYOOPONS, then I am a little bit more right than he is. 

Regardless of who is more right (that would be me), I don’t know WHAT happened to me this week, but TWICE I said it wrong.  Wrong I tell you. 

We had loved trying the V8 V-Fusion a few weeks ago and I found a KYOOPON for another bottle.  So I splurged, used the KYOOPON and bought us another variety to try. 

The kids were so excited, Matt was so excited, I was so excited.

I poured a little into six glasses, one for each of us and we had it with our meal.  I happily shared that I’d bought the treat because I had a KOOPON.

Asa (our oldest son, and the one who has the gift to ALWAYS catch mistakes) (and point them out) said, “Mom!  Did you just say KOOPON?”

“No, of course not!  I would never say that.  I said KYOOPON.  I bought it because I had a KYOOPON,”  I said firmly.

And then Justus (who often appears not to be listening, but usually IS listening) piped in with, “No Mom.  I’m pretty sure you really said KOOPON.”

Matt was just sitting there with a smirk.  “Yes, as a matter of fact, you did say KOOPON.  Finally you said it right.”

I shook my head (and maybe threw a pea at someone who was smirking) and we carried on with our meal.

A few minutes later, Elias  randomly asked if we could have bacon sandwiches soon. I said, “Sure…I actually got some turkey bacon at the store yesterday with a KOOPON.”

And everyone burst out laughing.

I don’t really think bacon sandwiches are that funny, but whatever.

“Mom, you said KOOPON again.”  (Asa, of course)

“For REAL?  I said KOOPON?”

Matt (same smirky grin):  “Yep.  KOO-PON.”

Bah.  Just another example of me saying something and my family not hearing me correctly.  Story of my life.

Or, maybe it is in fact that I’ve been around enough people who pronounce it KOOPON that I’m starting to say it wrong now.  I’ve got to get my act together.

So…your turn to chime in.  Which way do you say “coupon”? 

KOOPON or KYOOPON?

(If you pronounce it KOOPON, I promise I won’t throw peas at you.)

This week, with my server going down officially and forever and the effort of switching it over to a new one (which was mostly up to my webmaster/friend, but still) I have been thrown into an amazingly tight knot.  I don’t have high blood pressure, but I was thinking it might be wise to monitor it on Monday afternoon.  And also on Tuesday.  And then again on Wednesday.

By Thursday, my brain was so fried that I put lunch on a pizza stone to warm in the oven…turned on the oven…went into the other room to play a game with Asa…asked Elias about 20 minutes later to turn off the oven because surely lunch was hot enough by now…finished the game…went to put lunch on the table…

AND REALIZED THAT LUNCH WAS STILL ON THE COUNTERTOP ON THE PIZZA STONE.

I hadn’t even put it into the oven.

So, so fried.  My brain, not lunch.  Lunch was cold.

And you can just guess who didn’t win the game I was playing with Asa.  Several times he kindly reminded me that I could still move my game pieces if I wanted to get my pieces to the other end of the game board as was the goal of the game (we were playing Traverse).  He must think his mother is a complete Ding Bat.  Poor kid.

Anyway, I really like asking these questions over the weekend because they are SUCH a fun way to get to know you better.  But my fried brain can not think of one question to ask.

So, I’m copping out and going back to the very first question I ever asked which was the beginning of these wonderful get to know my reader questions.

Many of you are new to my site since then (it was about a year and a half ago when I started these), and even if you already answered it then, you can just humor me and answer it again.

It’s a fun question, and may be relevant to an upcoming post next week.  The question was is in all its simplistic glory:

Chocolate…or vanilla?

While it may sound like I’m already bored with this conversation and have nothing better to say or ask…that’s really not true.

I just really want to know how the weather is where you live.

Why?  Because the weather where I live is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

It’s freezing cold here with highs in the negatives.  Wind chills are making our temps WAY below zero.  The snow keeps coming.  I’ve never seen so much snow.  I don’t see how it could possibly go away by May.  Looking out my kitchen window, you can’t tell that our picnic table has legs.  Or a table top.  There’s just this little piece of wood “floating” among a lot of whiteness.  I’d go out and take a picture for you, but my boots just aren’t that tall.

Here in Nebraska, we’re used to crazy cold weather…but I’ve NEVER seen it be this constantly snowy and blowy and crazy for days and days and days and days.

And days.

Matt told me that there’s a day next week that it might actually get up to 18°!  I’m so excited!!  That, my friends, will actually feel like a really nice day.  We may be able to get away with only wearing three layers that day instead of six. 

Anyway, I’m not really trying to complain…I’m just exclaiming over the craziness of this winter.  It is really, really weird. 

The reason I am asking about the weather where you live is twofold.  First, if it’s crazy cold where you are too…we can commiserate together about it.  Second, if it’s really warm and nice (like anything above 25°), I would like to rejoice with you and live vicariously through you for a moment.

Huh…I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever used the word twofold in my life.  It was kind of fun.

I told you that I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions or set any specific goals for the year.  However, I really do want to try to exercise more often. 

I wish I enjoyed exercising more than I do.  I often use my asthma as an excuse not to exercise…but ultimately I know that consistent exercise would be good for my lungs.

My other really good excuse for not exercising is that I live in Nebraska and being outside for any activity other than scraping ice off of the windshield is not really possible for about six months out of the year.

If I had to pick a favorite form of exercise, it would be my mini trampoline.  I can use it inside, any day of the year (as opposed to this one, but boy that sure was fun).  It’s easy on my knees and shins…it’s good for the immune system.  It actually feels pretty good.  WHY do I not used it regularly?  I don’t know.

Have any exercise advice for me?  Are you good at exercising?  What is your favorite form of indoor exercise?  What time of day do you exercise?  How in the world do you motivate yourself to exercise regularly?

Hey, actually….does typing count as exercise?  I am pretty fast at it and do it quite regularly.  How about switching out laundry?  Running up and down the stairs a million times a day to get what I need?  Aha!  I’ve got it!  Nertz!  I can totally work up a sweat playing Nertz!

And here I thought I didn’t get enough exercise.

Okay, but really…any advice on the above questions would be great.
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This post is linked to Backwards Works for me Wednesday.

Happy January 1, 2010!

The big talk everywhere is about New Year’s Resolutions.  Even though I’ve been hearing the talk about it, I never gave it much thought until today.  I think I was too busy scrubbing the crud off the top of my refrigerator.

Resolutions?  Goals for the year?  I still haven’t made any.

I don’t know why.

I feel like a work in progress right now.  In addition, I feel like my kids are a BIG work in progress right now…at PRIME ages (5-12) to really encourage godly attitudes and spiritual growth.

So I don’t have any specific goals. 

I have some ideas that I’m praying about involving this site and what I’d like to share with you and create this year.  I also have some specific parenting issues on my heart regarding what my husband and I should be focusing on with the kids. 

Beyond that…I feel like I’m just taking life a day at a time right now.  Not because anything bad or difficult is going on.  Actually…life is fantastic and full and wonderful right now.   But, I didn’t set any goals last year and found that God had plenty of amazing goals and ideas of His own for me and for our family.  I kinda feel like just praying about the year and then listening to the direction God takes us.

What about you?  Did you set goals for yourself this year?  Do you feel God placing any specific plans and goals on your heart for you and your family during the upcoming months?  Or are you just kinda winging it, like me?