I made these Oreo balls a few weeks ago, and they were amazing! I've made cake balls once before and the process was a little tedious and somewhat difficult. Making these Oreo balls was the complete opposite experience. With only three ingredients (1 package of Oreos, 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 package of Baker's Chocolate), making the Oreo balls couldn't have been easier!
Here's how to make them: 1. Crush all the cookies in a food processor until finely chopped. Or, if you're like me and you unfortunately don't have a food processor, just crush them with a rolling pin inside a Ziplock bag. Set aside some of the crushed cookies for the topping. 2. Add cream cheese to the crushed cookies. 3. Roll into 1 inch balls. 4. Dip in melted chocolate and top with crushed cookies.
Before I dipped the balls into the melted chocolate, I put them in the freezer for about an hour to make them more solid and easier to roll around in the chocolate.
Mmmm....just look at them. Don't they look good? Well, they were! It sure was hard not to eat just one...trust me!
Hypothetically thinking, if a husband and wife decide to go out for the night to play a card game (let's just say this hypothetical game was called Hand and Foot, which hypothetically is a lot of fun) with their friends, and said husband and wife stay out all night leaving their puppy at home, there hypothetically could have been a puddle awaiting them on the laundry room floor. Luckily, for this scenario, that hypothetical situation didn't happen–this time. But hypothetically, since husband and wife stayed out all night, said puppy was probably sleeping most of that time. When husband and wife returned home, they played with puppy to wear him out–especially sweet husband–but had no luck. This hypothetical puppy was full of energy and wanted to play for a long time.
Hypothetical husband and wife went to bed, with hypothetical whining puppy not wanting to go to his bed. Hypothetical puppy might have woken up a few hours later. Hypothetical wife took him to potty outside. Hypothetical husband slept through this, of course. Hypothetical puppy woke up an hour later ready to start the day. Hypothetical wife was not ready to start the day but couldn't sleep because hypothetical puppy wanted out of his hypothetical crate. Hypothetical husband again slept through this. Wife, still tired, got out of bed, played with puppy and started the day–much, much earlier than planned–with hypothetical husband again sleeping through everything. But this is a hypothetical situation, so of course, it didn't happen.
Yesterday was one of those less than ideal starts to a day. As cute and sweet as he is, Harley kept asking for my attention while I was trying to get ready, I dropped my unopened applesauce (part of my lunch) on the kitchen floor and it exploded, I needed to stop at the post office before going into work so I was feeling rushed to get to the office, and on top of that, I was running late.
Needless to say, I was feeling overwhelmed. I have always—and obviously still do—put pressure on myself to be on time, have perfect attendance and not have anyone question where I am. That's why throughout college, I probably only skipped one or two classes—ever. I just couldn't bring myself to miss a class on purpose because what if someone wondered where I was? What if I missed something important?
After I rushed my overwhelmed and irritated self into the car, I felt like God started talking to me. I don't get this feeling very often where I feel like I can actually hear God, but I did yesterday morning.
"Were you able to finish getting ready?"
Yes.
"Was the applesauce cleaned up off the floor and a new one added to your lunch?"
Yes.
"Are you on your way to mail this package so it'll arrive in time for your mom's birthday?"
Yes.
"Will you realistically only be about 5-10 minutes later than usual to work? Aren't you always on time?"
Yes and yes.
"Then relax. Calm down. Everything is working out just fine. You don't need to worry about anything. I've got this."
I felt like God kind of put things in perspective for me. Like He said, everything got done. Everything was fine. Everything was going to work out. So there was no need to get overwhelmed and irritated in the process of it all. And things do always work out—in one way or another. Things might not always go as I plan (I didn't expect I'd be cleaning up applesauce that morning), but things will work out as they should because God plans them that way.
We are not lacking in the Christmas tree department anymore. While we were visiting my family for the holidays, Jason and I stopped at a little Christmas shop and found the perfect tree! It's exactly what we were looking for: 9 feet tall and slim with white lights. Now we're just lacking in the Christmas ornament department, but those will be fun to buy!
Unfortunately, we didn't take a single picture at Christmas or New Year's. I know, we're really bad about that. We had Christmas with Jason's parents the week of Christmas, and then went to Dallas for Christmas with my family. While we were there, we hung out with my mom's side and dad's side of the family. It was so nice to see everyone!
There was, however, a pretty intense game of Battle of the Sexes with my mom's side of the family. We all got together a few times while Jason and I were in town. During one of those times, we played with the regular Battle of the Sexes cards. After we went through all of the cards, we decided to kick it up a notch at the next get-together. So we all had a week to come up with the hardest questions we could think of (or find online!). Of course the guys gave the girls a lot of historical and construction questions. Jason kindly threw in a few GMAT questions that none of the girls could get. And the girls gave the guys several undergarment, feminine hygiene and fashion questions. It was a pretty crazy game!
I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love right now.
I'm trying so hard to love it, but I just don't yet. I'm nearing the end of the first part (still in Italy), and while I enjoy the book, I don't constantly desire to read it like I wish I did. I want to love it, but there's no love there. Just like.
They're actually selling! Dinah is going to continue to keep them in her store and sell them throughout the year. I'm hoping we can also make some new products to add to her store this year!
I can't believe it's already December! But that means it's time for sugar cookies, lights lining the rooftops of homes, hot chocolate, gingerbread houses and Christmas decorations!
Our entertainment center is adorned with garland...
A Christmas tree candle holder glows in the kitchen...
Cone-shaped trees sit in the dining room...
More garland lights up our mantle...
A wreath garnishes the centerpiece of our dining room table...
Yet another strand of garland dresses up our entry... (Yes, I realize we have a lot of garland everywhere. We got a really good deal on it last year!)
And finally, stockings hang from our mantle. Even one for little Harley!
What are we missing?
Oh, that would be a Christmas tree!
Our current tree is pretty sad. Kind of like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree:
So we haven't put our tree up. We've looked around a little, but haven't found a new one yet.
I wouldn't mind this one:
It's apparently one of the world's most expensive trees. It's made out of 21,798 diamonds totaling 913 carets. I think I'll add it to my Christmas list...
Back in October, we celebrated Jessica's daughter's birthday. Madison turned two years old. I designed and printed a birthday party invitation for her. The theme was a garden fairy party. There were butterflies, fairy wings and bubble wands–so cute!
At the end of October, my cousin Janna got married. I designed the wedding programs for her. The main color of her wedding was teal, so I matched the program's font color to be the same as the bridemaids' dresses.
Jason had the idea of letterpressing gift tags for Christmas. So we got a die made from a die-cutting company, ordered paper, found some baker's twine and made gift tags!
Tons of gift tags!
Aren't they beautiful? I think the tags are our best letterpress project yet!
A few months ago, I talked to one of my friends who owns a local store called Hodgepodge Design. I told her about the tags we wanted to make, and she agreed to sell them in her store for us! She's really sweet like that! The tags have been selling in her store for about two-and-a-half weeks now!
Remember these cards I made for Kailee's wedding shower?
We also put some of those–in green and blue–in Hodgepodge Design to sell.
Jason is making some business cards for me, too. He letterpressed the front of them today.
And finally, an update on little Harley: He is doing so well! He's so smart and such a cutie! I just love him so much! We've taught him to sit, and now we're working on lying down and staying. He's having a harder time with those, but he'll catch on!
Remember in my last post I said I was back in my wanting-a-dog phase? I’ve entered into a new phase now: having-a-dog phase!
The breeder I called who had the ad in the newspaper had maltese/shih-tzu mix puppies. They were only a few weeks old (and expensive!). Then she told me she had a maltese/poodle mix (maltipoo), who was a little older (12 weeks) and much, much less expensive (because he was older).
So Jason and I went to the breeder’s on Monday to check him out. He was all alone in his little pen and was so nervous. He wouldn’t walk around or do anything. When the breeder brought another puppy in the room, the little maltipoo completely changed, became excited and was bouncing all over. Jason and I both really liked his personality; he looked good and was healthy. So we said, “We’ll take him!”
Without further introduction, here is our new little boy, Harley:
He desperately needs a haircut, but we can't take him to the groomer until he has his kennel cough shot, which will be in about 3 weeks. In the meantime, I cut some of the hair around his eyes so he could see better!
He was so good the first night. We took him outside to play and gave him a bath. He was really good about everything! Except after his bath and blow-dry, he got really nervous and was shaking pretty bad. Then he threw up! After cuddling with him, he calmed down and was fine the rest of the evening. He whined and whimpered off and on throughout the night, but overall, slept pretty well by himself in the laundry room. Here’s a video of our first evening with him:
Then came Tuesday. Jason’s parents and sister came over to meet Harley. He seemed pretty shy and wasn’t quite as playful because there was a crowd and he’s still getting used to everything. So he pretty much slept on everyone’s lap all evening. Turns out, that’s a big mistake. Sleeping in the evening = no sleeping at night. He cried and cried throughout the night. At that point, we’d been keeping him in the laundry room at night (which is right next to our room) with a baby gate up at the laundry room door. We put his bed inside his crate, but had never actually shut him in the crate before. When he wouldn’t quit crying, we decided to see how he would do locked in the crate next to our bed. He did pretty well, but still whined every so often, and I was still up constantly taking him out at night to use the bathroom.
We learned from our mistake by letting him sleep Tuesday evening, so on Wednesday we kept him awake and active in the evening. We got a new toy for him, which he loves:
We also took him for his first walk. He stopped walking every so often so I had to carry him half the time. We tried the crate next to our bed again at night. Didn’t work out so well. He whimpered quite a bit so I stuck my fingers through his crate for most of the night so he would know I was there. He was also awake so much during the night, I was sure he had to use the bathroom. I took him out about four times throughout the night, and he never went once.
By Thursday, Jason and I are pretty wiped out. We hadn’t been getting much sleep and being responsible for something else (besides each other) has been an adjustment. So we do what has worked so far and try something new. We kept him awake all evening by playing. We took him for a walk (except, it’s more like he took us for a walk. He refused to walk the entire time, so I carried him the whole way). We didn’t let him eat or drink past 9pm so he (hopefully) wouldn’t need to use the bathroom at night. We went to bed early—around 9:30 because we were so tired! We put him in his crate when we went to bed, but left the lamp on my nightstand turned on the whole night. How did he do? He fell right asleep! I think Jason and I conked out pretty hard too. I woke up once to Harley whining, so I looked at my phone to see what time it was, thinking it was probably only 1am or 2am. It was already after 5am!! So I took him outside to use the bathroom and he went! Then I put him right back into his crate, and we went back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 6:30, he was still asleep. I tried to get out of bed and just let him stay in his crate and sleep, but he heard me move so he wanted out too.
We think he might be kind of afraid of the dark. If the living room light is off, he won’t walk across the living room. He’ll stay right next to where we are. The second walk we took him on was later than the first time, so it was darker. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to go. When we kept him in the laundry room to sleep, it was pretty dark except for a night-light. Maybe that explains why he cried so much. We’re wondering if the lamp turned on last night was the key because he did so well! Now if we can get a few more nights like this, Jason and I can catch up on our sleep!
Harley has been really fun, and seems to be learning quickly. He’s only had a handful of accidents in the house. And he’s so playful and affectionate. He wants to be cuddled and held constantly. I know he’ll get better during the night as he gets more used to us, our house and our schedule. And I know we won't always come home to this:
See him being completely innocent in his crate? But really, who could resist his cute little face?
