Chit Chat: Dreary Winter Darkness

This whole Daylight Saving time change thing is the pits. It stinks! It bites! I hate it! Now, not only is it dark when I wake up, but it is dark when I drive home as well. At work, I sit in an area where I don't have a window. I never see the sun (well, except for the 35 minute drive I have to work, but that doesn't count in my book).

The only good thing about "falling back" for Daylight Savings is the extra hour of sleep I get one day a year. Oh wait a minute, now that I have a child, that doesn't happen. So really there are no redeeming qualities about the Winter Daylight Savings! (BTW, if you can think of any be sure to leave a comment below and let me know!)

Since the time change, I feel like it is time for Baby Boy to go to bed as soon as I get home from work. There's no more going outside for a walk after we get home. There is no chatting with the neighbors as we unload the car because no one is out working in their yard in the dark. There is no going to the park to play for a few minutes after dinner and before bed.

The Winter Daylight Savings is isolating. I wish we didn't have to turn the clocks back in the Fall. I would prefer it to be dark in the morning when I am rushing around getting ready for work, and to have a few extra moments of sunshine to enjoy in the evening when I get home. Perhaps I can try to change my hours at work...get there early and leave early. It is worth looking into, right?

Chit Chat: Mondays

I dread Mondays. After a fun-filled weekend of playing with Baby Boy and visiting with friends, I do not look forward to dragging myself out of bed on Monday morning. Today is no exception. We had so much fun over the weekend...a Fall Festival at Church, a Halloween party at our house with a pinata for the kids, a Sunday afternoon nap.

Baby Boy is talking babbling more and more. It is so fun watching his little personality emerge.

I wish that every weekend was a 3-day weekend; of course, I do realize that if that wish were granted, I would then want a 4-day weekend. And since it is not a 3-day weekend, I must get back to the grind.

I'll leave you with some pictures from the weekend.

Recipe Swappin' Saturdays: Sugary Treats

The theme for this week was Sugary Treats, so pull out your favorite sugary treat recipe. Post it on your blog and link up. For my Sugary Treat this week, I decided to try a new recipe. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. And, can I just say that these cookies are delicious?! Hubby loved them so much that they were gone by the next morning. I'll definitely be making them again soon.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 25 -30 cookies depending on size of cookie




Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon CALUMET Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 bag of chocolate chips (the smaller sized bag)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
   
2. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
   
3. Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
   
4. Add egg and vanilla; mix well.
   
5. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until well blended after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned.
   
8. Cool 1 min.; remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely.

Now for the Recipe Swap Party.

Here are the rules:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post with a sugary treat recipe, not your general blog address.
2. Link back to the party from your post so that your readers can join in the fun!

The theme for next week is Afternoon Snacks!

Chit Chat: Let it Snow!

Colorado has been getting dumped on all day. The white fluffy stuff hasn't let up since late last night, and it is expected to keep coming down until mid-day tomorrow. I love snow. Before Baby Boy was born, a good snow meant waking up at oh-dark-thirty, grabbing our ski equipment and getting on the road (before I-70 became a parking lot) to ski.

Now that we have Baby Boy, a good snow causes me to about whether his day care will close early, and wonder how early I need to leave work to make sure I pick him up on time. Now, snow means canceled meetings and uncompleted tasks.

Today I got a call at 11:30 a.m. announcing that Baby Boy's daycare was closing at 1 p.m. I left early thinking the roads must be really bad, and I don't want to be late. As I was driving, I discovered, the roads were mostly clear, with a bit of slushiness on the side streets. Now in my book, a wet road isn't a good reason to cancel school. Not at a time when positions are being scrutinized. Not at at time when companies are trying to figure out ways to cut costs. Not ever.

So, I did a little digging around...the school district in our community did not close today, not a single other daycare in our community closed today, and many of the childcare facilities in the town I work in were still open as of 4 p.m. today.

So now, I am looking for an alternative for my daycare. This is not the first time an unnecessary snow closing has happened, and they take many other non-holiday days off. I can't keep using my very limited vacation time frivolously.

In the meantime, check out Baby Boy playing in the snow for the first time!

How to...Make Sure Your Photos Aren't Being Illegally Used

As a blogger, you work hard to find that perfect image to illustrate your post each day. Does the thought of someone ripping off the photo that you took of your kids infuriate you? How do you protect yourself?

For starters, you can put a watermark on all your images. This will help prevent people from ripping your images off.

The second thing you can do is a "reverse image look up." TinEye, is online software that will let you upload a photo to see if it is being used elsewhere. You can also look up images by giving it a url to one of your images. This tool is still in beta, so there are a few kinks to be worked out.

Give it a whirl: TinEye.com