weekend stories movie recommendations and DIVINE cookie recipe

I could spend ALL and EVERY summer Saturday yard sale shopping. I have a disease. I pass the signs and I get anxiety that if I don't at least drive by to see what they've got- then I'm going to miss something BIG. You should see what I got this weekend. WOW. My biggest finds were the sweet training potty (2 bucks) and some FABulous little boy gap chinos and jeans and tops. I am a little boy jean snob and usually anything I like ends up being too expensive to buy. I scored this weekend. Zeb's third year of life is totally taken care of - and all for an insanely low amount of dinero. My one complaint about ohioans and their yard sales is the niceness of the people. I rarely hit a sale where Zeb doesn't walk away with some sort of toy that he gets FREE. Before we get out of the car I explain to him that he can PLAY with the toys at the sale- but that we aren't taking ANY home. We already have plenty of toys. What am I supposed to do when the nice old man tells Zeb that he can have the helicopter he's playing with because his grand kids are all grown up now and don't love it like zeb does?!?
I also have a craigslist disease. I check it everyday. Literally. While browsing the listings yesterday, I found kent the perfect father's day gift for über cheap. Unfortunately the gift was located in a not-so-family-friendly part of town and I told Kent that he had to come with me and just sit in the car and not peek while I went in to get the gift (and call 911 if I didn't reappear from the house in three minutes). I'm a little worried that I got some "hot" merchandise. Through our e-mails I noticed that the seller was an atrocious speller and was not terribly proficient in grammar (yes, I am implying a correlation between lack of education and tendency to steal). The man that sold me the goods epitomized WT (dress, hygiene, teeth, etc). The house was dilapidated and a plethora of interesting individuals dotted the porch and yard. I got one heck of a deal on my purchase and the entire transaction was completed VERY quickly. He didn't even count the money. He took my envelope and stepped back into his house. The goods are in perfect condition with packaging and materials all intact. The strangest part of it all was that upon my return home I recieved an e-mail from the seller.

"thank you for coming as you said you would and if you should have any problems you can email or call but everything is very new, thanks again."

The e-mail is really nice but kind of weird. I'm not sure if it makes me more or less suspicious. Either way I can't wait to give kent his gift next Sunday!!

After the gift retrieval we spent the evening making cookies and watching movies. We haven't been able to find any good new movies to watch lately (any recommendations from anyone?) so we picked up two independent films. Ballet Shoes (british) and La Misma Luna (spanish with subtitles). I'd recommend both. I really like La Misma Luna- but I did have to cheat and read the spoiler so I didn't stress out the whole time. Sometimes I have to know the outcome of the movie (doesn't matter if it's bad or good) so I can enjoy watching it rather than stressing about it.



The cookies we made were divine. Some of the best I've had in a long long time. The picture doesn't look so delicious- but trust me. They were so soft and chewy- and still are today.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar ( I did HALF brown sugar)
  
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8-NO more! minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.