Monster Cookies

If I have made you a cookie in the last 4 years it was probably a Monster Cookie.  They are delicious!  I named them Monster Cookies after my wonderful step monster who gave me the recipe.  Don't let the name fool you, she is an awesome person, definitely one of my favorites in my world.  Although when I was kid I may have called her a step monster a few times and meant it.  But we all do that as young people right?  Say things we don't mean to our parents.  I know I did.  Fortunately I now have great relationships with all 4 of my parents.  I'm a lucky gal indeed!

Anyway, on to the yummy stuff!  The recipe was not originally gluten free nor did it have chocolate chips but I can't imagine a cookie without chocolate chips, it just seems wrong.  So the chocolate has been permanently added to the recipe.  I always make a double batch and freeze what does not fit in the cookie jar.  They thaw quickly if you need them in a pinch and are actually quite tasty straight from the freezer.

Here are the specifics.

2 C oats

½ C WW flour

½ C white flour

(If gluten free use 1 cup gluten free flour and 1/2 tsp xanthan gum)

1 tsp. baking soda

6 Tbsp. oil ( I use coconut oil, make sure it is warm enough to be a liquid)

1 C brown sugar

1 egg (3 if you double the recipe)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 C dried cranberries

1/2 -3/4 C chocolate chips

1/2 C chopped nuts

Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl including the chips, cranberries and nuts.  In a separate bowl mix wet stuff.  Add wet to dry and mix well.

Use a ice cream scooper or something small and rounded to scoop out dough and drop onto cookie sheet. 

Bake at 375 (or 350 convect) for 8-12 min and they are golden brown.

With coconut oil, cranberries, nuts, dark chocolate chips and not too much sugar these are practically a heath food so you can eat lots and not feel guilty.  That is what I tell myself anyway.

Enjoy!

A full treat jar makes for a happy house, I think so anyway.

My New Cleaning Schedule

It has been several months since my last post (sorry if you felt I abandoned you, I promise I didn't).  Boy how time does fly!  Here is a quick run down of some stuff that has happened in the last few months.
-Mallory got 6 teeth, is nearly walking and can say Mama while chasing me down.
-Maddox started kindergarten and soccer and LOVES both!
-The kids and I spent the whole month of July in Oklahoma and had a great time with friends and family.
-The kids and I got in a small fender bender and the person that hit us did not have insurance (really??)
-The next day (and coincidentally Julie's birthday) our basement massively flooded and it was NASTY.  It was so bad we had to hire a crew to clean it, we had no clue how to handle that one.
-I got an 18in tattoo of a skeleton riding a Harley on my back.
OK, that last one is not true, I was just feeling a little wild just now.

I recently realized recently that since I had baby numero dos I have been in a bit of a rut.  It has taken a while for me to get back in the swing of things with two kids, much longer than I had anticipated.  Mallory is a really easy baby and Maddox is a pretty easy kid but taking care of two kids is a lot more difficult than one. For me 1+1 > 2.  I have pretty high expectations of myself and I was getting a little frustrated that I was struggling to keep up with all of my duties.  I mean come on, when I was a working gal I was very organized and extremely on top of my game, surely I can handle a couple of kids, feeding us all and some chores???  Think again sister.

 So in attempt to get a little bit of my organized self back I started cleaning stuff out and making lists.  Oh how I love to do those things.  I know, I'm weird, I actually like to clean out closets.   In the last two weeks I think I have dropped off 4 or 5 trunks full of stuff at the thrift store.  It feels so good to clear things out of my house.  I have a very strong connection to the spaces I inhabit and if they are cluttered and messy then so is my head and the opposite is true.  Clean and organized house = clutter free mind for me!  One thing I have always struggled with is cleaning, like scrubbing things, you know dusting, mopping, scrubbing toilets.  It is NOT on my list of things I enjoy.  I know I'm not the first person in the world to love a clean house but hate actually cleaning it.  Until now I had no system for keeping everything clean.  Why no system?  As someone who wants to be a professional organizer when I grow up I have always said you have to have systems set up to make your life easier.  The solution?  A cleaning schedule.  Why, why, why did I not implement a cleaning schedule before?  I didn't invent this, there are many much smarter people than I already using this idea, but I am jumping on to that train now.  So far my schedule is very simple.  Maddox and I talked about all the things we need to clean during the week and based on what other activities we have during the week we came up with this.  He did a decent job of helping me too and I suspect as time goes on he will get better and better.
So here are our duties.

Monday - Clean car and change all bed linens
Tuesday -  Dust, including fans
Wednesday - Detail kitchen (move everything and clean behind, stove, cabinets. all stainless steel, vacuum crumbs from drawers, etc)
Thursday - Bathrooms
Friday -  Clean floors (for me this is on my hands and knees with a baby on my back - yup it was tough!)

Usually the weekends are for bigger projects and yard work that the whole family does so those stayed off the weekly list.  Laundry did not make it to the list either because I have been working very hard at not letting more than 2 loads pile up at a time so basically it is ongoing.  I detest laundry so I could not bear to do load after load on one day, it would just make me hate that day and so far I kind of like all the days in the week.
This is not a thorough list but I felt like I needed to start small.  I have a tendency to "go big, or go home" and I start out very gung-ho about something then burn myself out quickly (just ask Julie, I'm bad at it).  I really want this new approach to work so I am doing small workable chunks to start.  This past week after I finished my chore for the day I would find myself wanting to move on to the next day's task.  I would make myself stop and find something else to do because I don't want burn out.  It worked pretty well and I felt like I had a little time for myself and to just play with Mallory one on one while Maddox was in school.  It was nice!

Did you struggle getting back to normal after having kids?  How do you manage your house?  How do you keep your house organized and functioning for your family?  Please share any tips and tricks.  Moms gotta be helping other moms!