AMANDA JOY BECKER: June 2008 Archives

Anyone who knows Brian and I know that we were not the “Hardcore” straight A students, I am not sure about Brian cause he is older than me and went to a different high school, but me? I went thru high school with C’s and B’s yes I had the occasional A but … they were hard earned, not easy for me in the least. Usually I got an A in fitness or gym.

Some how Max has ended up with straight A’s for all his 7 years in school (yes I counted Kindergarten) I am grateful for this, because in all reality if I had to help him with his “connected math” homework, there would be tears shed and not from him.

          What I have learned from this is I need to ask him constantly

“How was school today?”

“What did you do in school today?”

 “Did anything exciting happen at school today?” Brian says it is over kill some days “Leave the kid alone he would tell you if something exciting happened” he says to me.

          Well, I beg to differ so far from that question I have learned:

          He won an essay contest for a paper titled “What my Family Means to Me”

Apparently we mean something but not enough to brag that he won something.  A week after he won....

          He won the Maroon and Grey award last quarter.. oh and by the way can you frame this certificate that has been floating in-between books in my backpack?

          He won and Honorable Mention for a Creative Writing contest, “Which is a really big deal mom” Big enough deal that he actually told me only 48 hours after he received it.

          He owes Danielle 4.80 for lunch money he borrowed, and I only have .14 cents in my lunch account. (this is literally as I walking out the door from my mother-in-laws where I drop him off to get the bus, which better than the day last fall when he told us that he lad lost the 50 dollar check we gave him for lunch as we were pulling out of the driveway in the morning, so could he have 3 bucks to eat)

          He had to have a light blue shirt for field day.. Today in like 5 minutes before we all get in the car to leave for the day.. hmmm guess you are wearing a aqua tie dyed Chicago t-shirt for field day.

That child is going to win the Nobel peace prize and it will be Connie Chung that tells Brian and I on the evening news…………..

           Why did I spend 13 dollars on a bottle of peroxide you ask? Because for a brief moment of insanity I thought that a box of highlights in this decade would be more sophisticated than a bottle of peroxide……Friday night, we went to Walmart… why wouldn’t we? It is payday and isn’t that what ever American does? I decided I should save some money and give myself my own highlights. I am a bargain shopper and it doesn’t take a genius IQ to figure out that 13 dollars is much cheaper than 99 percent of the hair salons in Centre County. Needless to say, after 2 hours (yes two hours) and 13 dollars, I look like a Pumpkin. So- the box reads “Anti-Brass Formula” means, “There is no chance in Hades that you are going to look as good as the girl on this box”. I now have an appointment with an actual Beautician that went to school for this crap, who insisted over the phone that “ Oh I can fix that easy, you just need some toner” on Thursday. I am sure it will cost more than 13 dollars, and quite possibly take more than 2 hours. There is an upside to this, which takes me into my next train wreck of a thought process… I won’t miss Lost if it does take more than 2 hours

            If you missed the season finale… don’t read anymore! Okay- first off, how insane was that “moving of the island scene, I wondered how they were going to show that without being cheesy; I think they pulled it off though. One question, where did Daniel and the dingy end up? Were they still out to sea? Did they make it back before it moved? I am a freak, I get into shows entirely too much, and I need to know these things! Normally I am not a Locke fan, I think that he is a good character, but I never really was that into him, but when he is watching the tape down in the Orchard station, I actually laughed out loud when the Dharma guy in the instructional video explicitly states “You must never place anything metal in the whatever it is( I can’t remember what it is called)” the look on Locke’s face when he realizes Ben is placing every thing metal that is not nailed down in the area is awesome. That wackjob bad guy whatever his name was really creeped me out I honestly don’t care that the boat blew up – I am glad Ben killed him he was giving me nightmares. I also forgot all about Penny, so THAT was Penny’s boat huh? That was pretty cool; I was getting worried since I knew that Desmond was not one of the Oceanic Six how he was going to make it off that island. Anyway- now we wait as usual, I don’t wanna wish 6 months away- but I cannot wait for the season premiere…

            Now- for the good stuff. I made these oatmeal cookies this weekend…. OMG they are literally the best oatmeal cookies I have ever had!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups quick cooking oats

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, and then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Now I did not add any raisins or nuts or anything like that – I think that I added more than the recommended cinnamon, I love cinnamon. Plus for about 12 of them I made a little divot in the middle when they came out of the oven and put a dollop of raspberry spread in the middle- those rocked!