Is that a mouse in the house? I'm seriously a pushover.

A few years ago I received a report from my wife about a statement my oldest daughter (7 or 8 years old at the time) made to a friend while being chauffeured to some activity.

"I'll just ask my dad to do it," my daughter had offered her friend, "I can get him to do anything."

I was determined to be must less accommodating at that point. I've realized however that she must be right. I wish my inability to say no was limited to my relationship with just one of my children. Alas, the fact that I've got a mouse in my house is proof that I am weak, weak, weak! And my weakness may just end up costing me my health.

Seriously, don't these kids realize how many germs rodents can carry? Wasn't it a mouse that brought down the Roman Empire with disease? I'm pretty sure it was a rodent that brought disease and depravity to the new world, wasn't it?

I have to admit that watching the determination of my kids to get the mouse home (they had to write a one-page essay on why they should be allowed and how they would care for the little thing) and their ingenuity when they realized a standard hamster wheel wasn't going to give Lulu the exercise a healthy mouse needs.

Now, let's just hope the little beast doesn't get out unattended. I can't imagine the sadness we'll have when Lulu no longer make the Shasta bottle buzz across the floor.

New Projects Keep Work Interesting

While the title of this post certainly isn't interesting it strikes me that there are a couple of reasons we work.

First, money. While we hate to admit that we need to have some money the fact remains that we really can't easily trade the eggs from our chickens for a new pillow, toothpaste or a family vacation. Our world requires that those in it use money from time to time.

Another reason I work is for the satisfaction I get. I recently launched a new Web project and you can see the banner (at least right now) for it here on my blog. We had an aggressive timeline and of course many side projects cropped up along the way that could have derailed this but I'm pleased to say that we launched on time. It's that sense of satisfaction from accomplishing the task before you that I believe is the most powerful, underlying reason that we work. At least it's motivates me.

So, regardless of whether you're working at or away from home, try and find some new challenge and then accomplish!

Peace and Quiet in Kanab?

We love to travel to Kanab! It's always fun to see cousins and Grandma and Grandpa are amazing. They host us so well making us feel welcomed and loved. We were able to visit Southern Utah last weekend and have a mini-vacation )I'm into those since I never feel like I want to be away from work for long--lame--I know).

During our last trip we had a blast! My oldest brother invited us to enjoy playing at a ranch in Stout Canyon north of Glendale. The cabin/ranch is outfitted with a great, rustic lodge, exhilarating zip line, ponds, swings and more. We had a really fun time around the campfire (nothing quite like getting smoked while burning hot dogs and marshmallows :) ). So many funny stories were told and jokes traded.

The thing that stuck with most from our recent trip was just the fun that the kids were having together. They never stopped playing. Every night we were there they practically fell into bed (way too late) and then did it all again the next day.

Kanab is one of my favorite nice quiet spots. It may not always be quiet with the kids running around and having a great time, but being able to slow down the pace of life and reflect makes it feel like a quiet spot.

Write About Something You Know!

Or at least about something you pretend to know. Right?

I've decided my block with blogging is centered around the thought that I've nothing to say. Fact is that just might be the case. In reality though, as me a question about food and I'll give you all sorts of opinion. So, my blog may just end up being about food, rather often.

Cookies are one of my favorite things. I think what I like them is that (when done right) they are the perfect-sized bit of wonderful tasty texture. Do them wrong and they are flat, hard discs often better used as paper weights.

A couple of days ago I decided we had gone too long without a good oatmeal cookie. So, I cracked out my favorite cookbook, made some modifications and this delicious, chewy raisin oatmeal cookies was baked. We've been enjoying them for the past few days.

Perhaps the funniest thing that came out of my latest cookie escapade is that my children realized they actually like oatmeal raisin cookies. Now I have a recipe to use up all that oatmeal in our pantry!

So, if you want to try what I think is a great oatmeal cookies, ready to soak of plenty of milk or be eaten all by itself, here's the recipe I'm liking these days.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1 C butter (softened)
2 C packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 T vanilla
3 C old fashioned oats (I used quick oats)
1 1/2 C raisins

Cream butter and sugars together (2-3 minutes), mix in eggs one at a time, mix in vanilla. Blend in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg mixture. Fold in oats and raisins. Bake 2 inch balls of dough in 325 degree oven about 15 minutes. Take this cookie out of the oven when the center inch of the top of the cookies still looks a little wet. Allow to set 2-3 minutes on cookies sheet. Remove to cooling rack.