Random Thoughts

I know this is title, or a version thereof, is one I use when I'm simply going to ramble in my post. But that's what I'm going to do today. I have a few things tumbling in my head, some is inspirational, some is domestic, and some is probably worth absolutely nothing.

This thing of what we deserve.
Last night I was in the kitchen doing domestic stuff, which will be in a further paragraph and Amber was there being just as good as she could be, playing and "helping". And the thought went through my mind, What did I do to deserve such a beautiful, adorable child? (Yes, I'm prejudiced.) And the next thought was, I did nothing to deserve her. This is about blessing, not what I deserve. I deserve nothing, but God has blessed us so abundantly. We have two beautiful little girls, maybe three. We only get to enjoy one now, but someday.....  I am so abundantly blessed.

Domestic. I got a pound of organic cacao powder this week from a review program I'm a part of. I get stuff for free or greatly reduced prices in exchange for writing a review about the product. If it's not free, I try to make sure it is something I can use or can pass along as gifts to others. I had to put a little bit for this cacao powder, but I was curious how it would compare to regular cocoa powder. My understanding of Cacao Powder is it's what cocoa was before it was refined. Did that all make sense?

Anyway, it came and I wanted to test it. So last night after getting home from a day at Mom's, I went on a walk, then came home and decided to make yet another batch of Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies using this cacao powder. This is rather out of character for me to start baking after 7 in the evening, but I was in the mood and thought nice, warm brownies would be a peace offering for D after giving him leftovers for supper when I had gone out to eat. Well, cacao powder does nothing to hinder the wonderful flavor of these yummy brownies.

This is actually the second pan of those brownies I made this week. The first pan would more rightly be called, Chocolate, Peanut Butter, White Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies. I was in the middle of making them when I remembered I was out of chocolate chips except for about an ounce. This is unheard of for me. I stock up and stock up and never run out of these things, but alas and alack, I did. So we used the rest of the peanut butter chips that were laying around and then finished it all out with white chocolate chips and the result was still very delicious.

I also tested some Denture Cleanser this week!!! D wondered who has dentures in this house that he didn't know about!! I got them because they were free and because you hear of them being a good cleaning hack. I'm not sure. I wasn't quite as impressed as I could have been. I think they made the coffee pot look a little shinier maybe, but did nothing for the toilet bowl or the crock pot insert.

Now I have some almond oil coming, so I'm going to try some sugar scrubs and see if I can actually use them in the shower. It's a good thing I don't wear make up--I'm just sure I would do the awfulest job at it. For one, I would be too cheap to buy good stuff and for two, I wouldn't have the time or patience to apply it correctly. We'll see how my sugar scrub works. If it helps my dry hands and my calloused feet, it will be worth it. Supposedly almond oil has some anti-aging properties as well, so the next time you see my, I'll probably look 18 again. I wonder if it helps gray hair.

It's turning to fall around here. The nights are cooler, the geese are honking, and the pumpkin drinks are coming out. I think the geese are honking, it sounded good in that sentence though. I need to find me a good pumpkin spice drink. Speaking of drinks, I saw on the internet that DQ is offering free small oreo coffee drinks on September six to celebrate summer's end. I think it's from 2-5 in the evening. I also saw that some DQ's have a happy hour every week day and some of their coffee drinks, etc. are pretty cheap. I'll have to check out our local one which I'm doubting has this, but maybe......

Okay, I should move on. I keep hearing Amber, so I think she's waking up to a new day. And I have Cinnamon Swirl bread to make today. Oh my everyone, you have to try that. If you let me know in advance you are coming, I will make you a loaf. It smells wonderful while it is baking and the taste is just yummy. Today I am going to make a couple loaves Cinnamon Raisin Swirl bread to see how that tastes.

Seriously this domestic, kitchen streak in me is almost scary. I've baked more bread in the last few weeks than I have in years, which isn't saying much because I think last month was the first I made bread since we moved up here. But I'm loving it. I've made flatbread, regular bread, cinnamon swirl bread and what's amazing is it is actually turning out!!!!!!! I'm also having fun baking brownies, etc. Now I need lots of people who would like to come and take samples home with them. It's too hard on my waistline to keep too many of these things in the house. Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies? Yum yum, except I actually think they would be better without the chips.

Okay, randomness is done now.