thank you mom.

And I thought my childhood was rough........

The most striking part of this book was the ever present hunger. No one, especially children, should EVER have to go hungry. And no one should EVER have to eat a lard sandwich. EVER.

nicole favorite cookies

Well, i guess they are tied for favorite with peanut butter oatmeal, for which I have no recipe.....

Quick Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
(from Mary Rempel, Altona, Manitoba- Best of Country Cookies Cookbook)

2 pkgs devil's food cake mix
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs

FILLING:
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(if you are bryan, then you probably remember this recipe as:
1 pck CC, 1/4c. butt, 2-1/2c. PS, 1 t. van)

In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mixes, oil and eggs; mix well. Roll into 1 in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on un-greased baking sheets. do not flatten. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks (cookies will flatten as they cool). In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth, spread on the bottom of half of the cookies; top with remaining cookies.

yield: 6 d0zen cookies (not likely that you will have that many when you are done because you will make yourself sick eating 1 dozen while you are frosting them)

ps Jonelle says they are real good refrigerated and I concur!~(:

NICOLES GUMS: under the knife

Well, its been done. I've got sutures in my mouth. Gum graft is completed. Hopefully our insurance reimburses us that 1180 buckaroos. I'm not supposed to pull my lip out to check it out (so i don't pull out the sutures), but I couldn't help it. I can't believe how small those sutures are!!!

Everyone has been telling me how painful this surgery is. It's really not so bad. I haven't cried once. As long as it doesn't get infected I should be fine.

Worst part of the whole thing is my diet this week: 100% carnation instant breakfast. Nothing crunchy. ): So sad no veggies. Since I have sutures on the roof of my mouth (where they took the graft from), its uncomfortable to even try pudding or anything remotely solid. Oh yeah, and NO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY for 72 hours. That's forever. I'm bored. Come visit me.

Altered Taste Buds

I have a hard time going out to eat anymore. It seems that most restaurants don't know how to make things TASTE. Even olive garden isn't that good any more. I often want to ask the server for more basil garlic or cumin. We went to Red Robin for dinner and I got a hamburger. I asked for light mayo - they didn't have any - so i decided to go without. Turns out their burgers taste like cardboard without the mayo. It must be cheaper to add a lot of mayo than it is to buy quality meat. I didn't even have a desire to finish it. We could have made some good stuff at home for 20 bucks!

I wonder if we took someone from Italy - you know - one of those people that has a self sustaining farm w/chickens and cows and veggies and wine and stuff - and fed them a nice meal from red robin - would they like it?? I bet not. When it comes down to it, once you've eaten REAL food for a while, the fake stuff just doesn't taste good. simple as that.

I think it also goes vice versa. Once you've been hooked on fake food for a while, it's hard to get used to eating things with real flavor - like veggies. And I don't mean raw and steamed veggies. I mean roasted, sauted - turned into sauce - veggies. I think america has the wrong idea about what healthy eating is all about.

maybe I'm just a WACKO nutrition lady, but those are my thoughts. what do you think?

Crater Lake

Our Weekend in a nutshell: We drove 650 miles in 24 hours to snowshoe 4 miles.

It was worth it.

OFFICIAL REQUEST FOR MORE SHERPA POSTS

that's it. We need some more funny laughs in our lives dearest sister. You better come back from your trip with some good posts.