You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. – Epicurus

Today is home day for my husband!

If you know me at all, you know that he works away for 2 weeks at a time and I have to say that every time that he is supposed to be coming home I feel like a schoolgirl whose boyfriend is coming over.  I guess that’s a good thing, he still makes me feel giddy and I am always looking forward to him getting home.  Home day used to be the day that I would clean like crazy and take the recycling out because his pet peeve was when he would come home, and the recycling had taken over his garage.  Kind of like a nasty weed that you pull out and in 2 weeks it is right back again and this time they brought unwanted friends along.  I also change the sheets, do some laundry and just be sure things are comfy and homey for his arrival.  He doesn’t care about those things, but I do, except for the recycling – he cares about that.  Oh ya, and I try to watch all the Dr. Phil’s that I have recorded while he was home because he’s not a huge fan – nothing personal, just not a fan so I don’t put him through that.  He is into old black and whites, spaghetti westerns, how its made shows and in general not a lot of the things I like to watch but I am happy to say that after 33 years, we have found some common ground where TV is concerned! This time around though, I also made some amazing chocolate chip cookies.  Recipe will follow!  Having a spouse that works away can be tricky but somehow, we have made it work. As I’ve said in previous posts, we are opposites but in many ways we are similar and throughout our 33-year marriage, he has worked away all but approximately 14 of those years so I am no stranger to being on my own.  But it hasn’t ever been easy.  I still miss him and think about him every day that he is away.  The days leading up to him leaving we are both a little testy and I am more emotional. In the early days of our marriage, he would come home and feel like a stranger – like he was intruding in our lives.  The hard part is that life has to carry on when he was away, and it was extremely difficult to try to find a way to change the way he was feeling. Every time he was away, his family missed him, his children missed their father, and I missed my soulmate, but he still felt that way and it was hard.  I know that working away was way more difficult for him than it was for me.  One of the decisions I made was to try not to put any demands on him with regards to spending tons of time with me to allow him to focus on our kids when he came home – even though all I wanted to do was keep him all to myself.  I knew that the kids were only small for a little while and it was going to take him some extra time to build strong bonds with the kids since he was only home for a brief time each month and I was willing to put my desire to keep him all to myself on the back burner.  Don’t get me wrong, we still carved out our alone time, but we knew that in the long run the kids needed him to be very present in their lives when he was home and he was.  He was hands on even though he was exhausted when he came home. He made lunches, he took them to their sports events, he took them for ice cream and he fixed their boo boo’s when they hurt themselves.  He taught them to ride their bikes, he taught them kindness, compassion and helped instill their values that helps guide them through their life today.  He is the epitome of a hands-on father and I couldn’t be happier that I consciously took a bit of a back seat, so this could happen for both him and our children.  But, there came a day when our girls were in their teens and our son was in elementary school, my husband and I looked at each other and decided that we now needed to really focus some time on us so when the kids were gone, we wouldn’t look across a table a realize that we knew nothing about each other, so that’s what we did.  I have to say that I’m amazed every time I look at my husband. Not just because he’s so handsome (and he is), but because everything that I have ever wanted in life is standing there right in front of me. I know that without him, I would have been lost somewhere in the race of life. He is my love, my protector, my hero and no matter how far away or how long of a shift he works, I will always be excited when he is coming home to us.  

The rest of us here have been busy beavers while he has been gone this turn around. We are building a shop out back on our property and sh&^ is getting real! And by WE, I mean someone else but that’s besides the point. While he has been gone, they were able to have it fully framed up so now we are ready to attempt the things that are more within our wheelhouse of skills. Before you know it, he will have a fully finished place to do “man stuff”, whatever “man stuff” is.

My sister in law and I have decided that we will be taking over the existing garage and call it our Wo-Man Cave.  This will be our own space to store my extra kitchen gadgets (you know – the stuff you only use a couple of times a year, but you can’t really get rid of), we will use it to keep our lotion making supplies, a place where we can refinish furniture or fix a chair or whatever the heck we want! And it will be neat and tidy!!  WoHoo!!!  

So, like I said, in anticipation of my sweetheart coming home, I got in my kitchen and whipped up some amazing chocolate chip cookies for him and some yummy snack mix for the holidays. Now I just have to keep everyone out of the kitchen, so we have some goodies left for Christmas time!

The Chocolate Chip cookie recipe comes from https://sugarspunrun.com/ .  Sam is all about the sugar and makes no bones about it! She develops her own recipes and loves sharing them with the world.  Ice Cream is her favorite food, just like me but she does admit that these cookies are now one of her favorites as well, just like me! Get this….she blog posts 2-3 times a week, develops recipes AND works full time and I don’t know how she does it, but I’m very glad that she does. If you are into sweet indulgence, check out her site or follow her on Pinterest, she knows how to recipe!

The Worst Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

• Servings: 32 large cookies
• Time: 15 mins + 10 mins cooking time
• Difficulty: Easy
• Source: Samantha Merritt https://sugarspunrun.com/
• Print

Are they the worst or are they the best cookies in existence? Either way, this easy, soft chocolate chip cookie recipe is insanely addictive. They're great as fresh, hot-out-of-the-oven cookies, and stay soft for days

Ingredients

 

• 1cup unsalted butter melted and then cooled for at least 5 minutes* (226g)
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar packed (300g)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
• 2eggs room temperature preferred
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (60ml)
• 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour (415g)
• 2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips I used half regular semisweet chips and half mini semisweet chips  

Directions

• In large bowl, stir together melted butter and sugars.
• Add eggs, one at a time, stirring combined.
• Stir in vanilla extract and maple syrup.
• In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients, stirring until completely combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
• Cover bowl with clear wrap and allow to chill for at least 30 minutes (chilling!? I told you, this recipe is the worst.)
• While the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• Scoop about 2-3 Tbsp of cookie dough and roll into balls, making them slightly taller than they are wide. Place them at least 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake about 13 minutes (cookies will appear to be a bit underdone, but edges should be just beginning to turn golden brown).
• Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet. If desired, gently press a few chocolate chips on top of the hot cookies.
• Keep unbaked cookie dough in fridge while waiting to put the next batch in the oven, and do not place cookie dough on a hot cookie sheet.

Recipe Notes – You do not want your butter to be too hot or it may melt the sugar and you’ll have a very runny dough. Best practice would be to cut the butter into about Tbsp-sized pieces, microwave in 10-second increments (stirring after each) until it is just completely melted, and then allow it to sit for 5 minutes.

And, here is my yummy decadent Just Can’t Stop Snack Mix. Don’t blame the extra pounds you may or may not gain by eating this stuff on me!

Sweet and Salty Snack Mix

• Servings: 2 large cookie sheets full
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

This mixture is so yummy, you won’t be able to stop!

Ingredients

 

• 4 Cups Golden Graham Cereal
• 4 Cups Honey Nut Chex Cereal
• 4 Cups Hickory Sticks
• 4 Cups Bugles
• 4 Cups Praline Peanuts
• 4 Cups M & M’s

For the Coating

• 1 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup Light Corn Syrup
• 3 Cups Brown Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla

 

Directions

1. Add all cereal, hickory sticks, bugles, praline peanuts and M & M’s in a large bowl
2. In a small saucepan bring butter, brown sugar and corn syrup to a boil stirring constantly
3. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla
4. Pour caramel mixture over cereal, peanuts and M & M’s a little at a time, stirring to coat everything
5. Pour onto wax paper lined cookie sheets to cool

Side note: I was concerned that the M & M’s would melt but they were fine.  If you are worried, you can add them to the mixture after you put them on the cookie sheets.  

 

Enjoy~ 

Raegan