Watching the Stars Wake Up

Sometimes, on clear nights, I like to sit outside and watch the stars wake up. I think that here in Montana, where I live, is the best place to watch the stars. It's quiet, doesn't have too many lights, and lives up to its nickname; Big Sky Country.

In essence, when you look at the stars you are looking back in time, because the closest star (other than the sun) is 4.3 light years away. That means the light we see actually shone over 4 years ago. I know this is sort of a simple concept but I love thinking about it and it gives me the assurance that there is Someone bigger, watching out for us.

Recently, I found one of these tutorials for making small origami stars. I instantly became obsessed with these cute paper crafts and have made many since. I personally like cutting the paper to be slightly thinner, but I have found that no star will be exactly the same. My favorite part is drawing the faces on.

Here are some of the ones I made. Hope you enjoy!



The clouds were so pretty today, I had to take a picture.

Cookie Butter

I love cookies, you love cookies, my uncle's dentist's cousin loves cookies. We all love cookies. Because I love cookies so much, I'm always looking for new ways to enjoy cookies whether it's in cookie bark click here for recipe  or cookie fudge click here for recipe. ( p.s. I have never actually attempted to make these, but they sound awesome.)



The latest non-typical way I found to enjoy them is cookie butter. (Yep, that is a thing.) It is similar to Nutella but, in my opinion, it is 200% better. I discovered this while walking through my local grocery store. One of the store employees asked if I would like to try some Cookie Butter. I would never refuse free food so I agreed to taste it. When the pretzel she spread it on, entered my mouth I knew I was in love and I bought a container.

The thick spread is cinnamon-brown in color and, really, doesn't resemble anything that marvelous in looks. When you taste it, however, its wonderfulness will be impressed upon you forever. The flavor starts as a rich, creamy taste closely resembling peanut butter but as it melts in your mouth, instead of a peanut flavor, you experience something closer to a cinnamon graham cracker. The end result is heavenly. 

 This taste is achieved by actually incorporating Belgian Speculoos cookies into the butter. In fact, according to the label, the cookies make up for 50% of the ingredients. I Googled the cookies and as far as I could find out they the grownup, gingerbread version of animal crackers.

Speculoos Cookies



As far as I am concerned, this cookie butter could be made out of fish eggs and I would still eat it. It is just that delicious.

 

 

* This is NOT a sponsored post

Handsome Cupcake

The pure joy and innocence of  four year old girls never ceases to put a smile on my face. They all are individuals, some girls' favorite movie is "Frozen" while others enjoy "Spiderman", but they all share some common notions on certain subjects.

At work on Friday, four girls and I gathered at a round table for snack. We were all happily enjoy our chips and salsa when a woman who use to help in the classroom gave us a phone call. She wanted to announce that she had gotten married and is now expecting. When the girls at my table heard this news they were astounded.

" Ahhhhh! Sarah is married now, did you know that," one of them exclaimed.

With a serious, yet halfway dreamy face, another replied, " Yeah, and she even got to kiss her handsome prince." This statement was followed by giggles all around the table.

" Ewww!" One curly haired girl exclaimed, " I don't want to EVER kiss a boy, so I'm not going to get married."

I exchanged an amused look with the teacher at the table closest to mine, but didn't say anything.

All of the other girls quickly agreed with her as she continued, " I will kiss a handsome cupcake, but never a boy."

Despite my efforts, my laughter rolled out in cheerful bursts.

All of the schoolgirls looked at me quizzically. Then a smile slowly crept onto the curly haired girls face. " What I said was funny wasn't it ?" she inquired and the whole table erupted in another round of giggles.

                         


Oh, and I forgot about preforming an act of kindness, however, I analyzed my actions and decided that the closest thing would be that I stayed late at one of my college classes when a classmate asked for an extra review on their essay. I don't know how helpful it was but it counts as kind, right?


P.S. For the sake of confidentiality, I changed "Sarah's" name.

The Girl Inside

On first impression some people might call me childish. They would be right, but you know what? It doesn't bother me one iota. When I get old and gray, I still want to be known as the girl with the contagious, girlish giggle, the one who still chases butterflies, plays with Playdough, and draws stick figures.(That last one is only because I don't have the patience to learn how to draw.)

I'm always striving to please others, this blog will be where I draw the line. I'm going to post what I want to, so what if only one person reads it and thinks its lame. I don't want to lose "me" looking for someone who doesn't exist.

I said all that because I want my main focus on this blog to be expressing the kid inside. It's that small part of us that never grew up and never will. It's the thing that makes your heart jump when you see a shooting star. It is that irresistible urge to swing on the swings or to splash  through the mud puddles.

 I have been blessed with all of this "kid-ness" because I work in the preschool room at a daycare. I can't credit it all to the kids in the class, (I was born with an extra large quantity of child I think) but when you spend several hours a day with three to five-year olds, you get an extra dose of sunshine.

Before I get too carried away with explaining how childish I am, I had better end the post, but I wanted to challenge all of you (my hypothetical readers) to do something nice for someone this week.  It doesn't have to be something huge it could be just smiling at a stranger, holding the door for someone, or even buying a family member or co-worker coffee. I'll do it too, and let you know how it goes in my next post. (In a few days I hope.)