Wet noodles, possibilities abound, but next to impossible to push up a hill.  Long time no blog, we've been spending much of our time attending special meetings with our church, while we've found the ministry timely and motivating, and Grace has been having a wonderful time playing the ever social butterfly, we are played out.  This, coupled with the two kids and puppy each waking us at some point through the night, has rendered us mildly train wrecked and in dire need of a full 8 hours. Our families equilibrium is slightly off kilter thereby voiding the invaluable parental adage of "pick your battles" and amplifying the potential for all out combat.  Grace's compliance has been replaced by outright defiance mixed with a healthy dose of insolence, evoking a myriad of consequential threats of lost privileges for her disobedience, and earning her the title of Wet Noodle.  Everybody is off to bed early with a prayer for patience and uninterrupted sleep, truth be told, poor Grace isn't the only Wet Noodle among us and obviously it is not her fault that she is so exhausted.

Max, our very intuitive puppy has taken notice of the fact that our farm already has a dog, but is without a rooster, and has assumed the, self professed, important roll of alarm clock.  Promptly at 6:30am a small squeak can be heard from his kennel and, if this produces no response from our bedrooms, will amplify into something to rival the Tom Cats in Springtime until a response is issued.  This, of course, is not typically the response his smiling, waggly self is expecting, but not to be downtrodden, he continues his orchestral performance until at least one of us gets up for the day with him.  He has been an excellent sleeper until just lately, however after 4 nights of repeat performances, and many attempts at distracting him, tonight is his final chance to avoid becoming the "Barn Dog" he was intended for upon joining our family in the first place.

The animals continue to endure the nasty weather, but not without disdain for being confined to the barns, and yet they refuse to go out when the opportunity is offered to them.  It seems they too are a tad off kilter and the threat of an "Animal Farm" style revolution of sorts may possibly be on the horizon.  The truth is, they have the option of coming and going in the barns, but with the stormy weather they seem happiest being miserable on the inside looking out.


RECIPE:

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Tomorrow Grace and I plan to do a bit of baking and this is one of our favourite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes which we will likely be making.  Immediately after baking I put them in the freezer to eliminate my temptations, that way Jamie and the kids can thaw them as they like and they stay fresh for a very long time.

1 cup Butter
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
3/4 cup White Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
2 1/4 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips

Cream the sugars and butter then mix remaining ingredients.  Drop from spoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned and they return to their shape when lightly dented with finger.