3 ingredient cookies

OK, not quite. You'll need the three listed ingredients, plus whatever it takes to make the sugar cookies (mine took oil and water).

Soooo-good-you-can't-stop-eating-them-cranberry-towers

1 package of sugar cookie dough, prepared but not baked (safety first! get the kind that does not require egg)
2 cups cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving (or prepared fresh or, gasp!, from a can)
2 cups fresh whipped cream

Scoop sugar cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 for 6-7 minutes until set around the edges (the center should be good and gooey)
Allow to cool slightly and remove to a flat surface to cool completely (they will fall through a cookie rack)
Stack, from bottom to top: cookie, tablespoon of cranberry, tablespoon of whipped cream, cookie, tablespoon of cranberry, tablespoon of whipped cream.

For more great tips, check out Works For Me Wednesdays

cheap, hot date night

Mother-in-law, beware. You are welcome to read this post. But if you do read further, I'd rather not hear about it. Please. Everyone else, read on.

Pink was in bed, an old favorite movie was cued, popcorn was popped, and we looked at each other and realized we missed each other. We wanted a date night. We needed some time to connect. And so we did the only thing we could think of at the time: talk.

Yes, that's right, we talked. We grabbed Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti, and we opened to the homework for the chapter on the bedroom (ooh la la). The questions (that you each ask each other) are as follows:

1. One thing I really love about our (lovin) life is:
2. I really love it when you:
3. One thing I would love to try is: (giggling is perfectly acceptable here, ladies & gents)
4. One boundary that we could agree on that might protect our marriage is:

Then you are prompted to plan a 24-hour escape. We thought we couldn't afford a night at a hotel, but in thinking through it, we realized we had a little b-day money still saved up and we had a little extra income that was due soon. Put together, we could pull it off.

The openness of our answers mixed with the excitement and passion of planning a long-awaited getaway were so hot that they didn't just work for us, they worked for us (wink). And then we watched our movie.

Store-brand, microwave popcorn had never tasted so good. And by the way, to prove that it worked for both of us, it was Beloved who suggested that I put this up on my "blog thing."

Want to see more ideas that have worked? Visit the newest installment of Works for me Wednesdays over at Rocks In My Dryer.

crock pot monday

My week is front-loaded. If I can make it to Wednesday, I know that all will be well with the world. The problem is Sunday night through Tuesday night. That 48 hour period of working wifehood/motherhood/friend/small group email person/volunteer/etc/etc/etc tests my multi-tasking abilities. And my patience. Just ask Beloved.

But since returning to work last week after a nice break, I've implemented a new survival strategy: crock pot Mondays. In the busyness of cleaning up dinner on Sunday, I hardly notice the pan of meat & onions that are browning. Toss that in the crock pot with a few other items, wash ONE extra pan on Sunday night, stick dinner in the fridge, and get it started the next morning before work. Now, I've long been a fan of crock pot dinners and I love coming home to the aroma-filled house that awaits me. But there's something about starting my week this way that keeps me going through the rest of that 48-hour marathon. Is your week loaded at the end of the week? Try a mid-week crock pot ritual. Another benefit: no sandwich artistry on Tuesday morning; everyone gets a tupperware of leftover goodness.

Oh, and getting Beloved to take over dinner on Tuesdays helps, too. But really, crock pot Monday works for me. Want to see other great ideas for all kinds of things? Check out Works for me Wednesdays at Rocks In My Dryer.

Container consolidation

I have a very nice pantry compliments of the Container Store. I'm not complaining. Really. But in my very nice pantry I have very deep shelves which make it nearly impossible to have less than three bags of sugar, nineteen cans of soup, and five packages of Craisins I don't know about, hiding in the darkness behind the olive oil.

So I headed to Tar-jay for some Rubbermaid containers that fit perfectly inside. I have three: one for baking products, one for oils/vinegars/other jars, and one for all that misc stuff like honey and cocoa powder. Now not only do I keep better track of what's in my pantry, but I can pull out the container and easily access things in the back. No more moving half the contents of a shelf onto the counter, only to reach a packet of yeast. It's the poor woman's version of custom cabinets with pull out drawers (yes, I know that all drawers are pull out drawers), but it works for me!
By the way, this works great for the linen closet, bathroom, or any other place you store small items.

Want more ideas on kitchen organization? Visit Shannon's newest installment at Rocks In My Dryer