Cookie 🍪 Share

Melanie has some new Q’s for us this week, so let’s get cracking!

1. What is your favorite type of cookie (they’re called biscuits in Europe I believe)?

Omgosh cookies! Where do I begin? Okay, so I love the regular Tollhouse chocolate chip recipe on the back of their chip bag, but also my friend Cathy makes killer chocolate chip cookies with almond flour. Then there are PB chocolate chip cookies, so good (try Trader Joe’s!). And I am a big fan of regular peanut butter cookies too. Love buttery spritz holiday cookies. But you know what? Pepperidge Farm used to have a Vienna cookie in its “city line,” which was a coffee-flavored cookie sandwich with mocha filling… utterly divine. BUT NATURALLY THEY DISCONTINUED IT. 😡😡😡

(See my Monday Peeve on this topic.)

2. If you could choose one age and remain that forever, what would it be and why?

Well, I kinda liked being 33, with my two darling daughters, my mom around to help, and a tolerable marriage. But there was a short period of time in the fall of 2016 (I was 55) when I thought I’d found the love of my life… 💔

3. Do you have a traditional drink during the holiday season?

No, but I like Trader Joe’s spiced cider.

4. Are you able to still believe in holiday magic as you did when you were a child?

This is a have you stopped beating your wife type of question, so let’s unpack it. I did not believe in “holiday magic” when I was a child, or in any kind of magic ever. This gets people upset, but idk why. I seemed able to enjoy things just fine without thinking there was anything supernatural going on. But in fact, I liked holidays better after I became a mom when I could share them with my kids.

Lights enjoyed by Diane, Sam, and me in 2018

5. Gratitude section…

I’m grateful for all the hard work people put in to get covid vaccines ready for us. Thank you! 💖

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 67

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Wow, only a couple more peeves until 2021… and then a whole new year of peevery shall commence. Pretty exciting, no? Okay, so let’s get on with it. Today’s peeve is about things I like… and then they disappear or change form. Not talking about dating, but stuff in the grocery store. It’s so annoying! Years ago I discovered muffaletta (delicious chopped olive mix) and fell in lurve. Over time, it became harder to find until it ghosted altogether. Suddenly, there was olive tapenade everywhere, but that is not the same! Those olives are like pulverized. Muffaletta has pieces of olives; it’s not pureed into mush. The other month I found some and was in heaven… and now it’s gone again. WAAAH! I see it’s available online, but for insane prices. I just want the normal muffaletta for a reasonable price. 😦 This has happened with other foods I love, such as Oreo ice cream. When it first came out, it had luscious cookie pieces in it ~ so large you could taste the middle! But now? It’s all pulverized into nothingness. Meh!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Truthful Tuesday Treats

PCGuyIV stays with the holiday theme this week as he continues his prompt series with this question…

What was your favorite holiday treat growing up, and has that changed over the years, or is it still your top choice for holiday eating?

The treat that I most looked forward to as a child/teen was Christmas cookies. My mom generally had two main kinds: the buttery delicious spritz cookies shaped like trees, wreaths, bells, etc. that we would decorate all festively, and her special rum balls that she’d “marinate” in a couple tins for a few weeks. At the time, I believed that the rum balls were her own special exotic creation, but later I learned that loads of people smash up vanilla wafers and make ‘em.

Nowadays, I still love cookies and wouldn’t turn one down, but I don’t really crave them. Yummy butter cookies are available all year and don’t strike me as anything special. Rum balls now give me horrific heartburn, so I don’t even want them. I guess if I had to pick a treat only available at the holidays it would be… REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER TREES!

Image credit to the Candy Warehouse

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Cookie Conundrum [TLT]

I read that Americans are so stressed out this year that they’ve been gobbling up 25% more cookies than usual. 🍪

Due to this excessive nommage, there could be a shortage of Pepperidge Farm favorites, such as Chessmen and Milano, over the upcoming holidays. 😱

Don’t panic, friends ~ we’ll still have Oreos!

~*~

Written for Three Line Tales 254.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My smile for this week is that after being super extra careful all month, I drove alone 7 hours Tuesday to spend Thanksgiving with my daughter and her husband. It’s just the 3 of us (plus pets) and I’m having a great time. Last year, I flew up here and we spent the day with lots of other people, which was wonderful ~ nevertheless, I am so grateful I get to be with some family. (I will see my other daughter mid-December.)

Four years ago, my Thanksgiving week was depressing because I had just been dumped by a man I’d been dating. We’d planned to spend the day together (and do fun stuff the whole weekend)… then poof it was over. My younger daughter saved me from being totally alone by changing her plans and having a festive meal with me. We picked up a magnificent veggie feast from Native Foods. I was so thankful not to have to be alone when I felt so down. I haven’t dated anyone since then, and that seems to be the best way for me because I’m a total idiot at choosing which men to date.

I’m only human though, and I still sometimes think… what if? But unlike 10 years ago when I was newly single, I can answer that question by recalling my bad experiences since. I learned a lot from these episodes and there’s no reason to believe that a new foray into the field would have different results. This year especially has reminded me that I’m not only fine on my own, but I actually do better when not obsessing over what some random man thinks. I know other women date without getting so emotionally wrought up… but I’m not them. I tend to go to extremes…

I used to believe that the only good path was to have a partner to plan the future with, but life has a way of wrecking our plans and expectations (see year 2020). While I may not be totally footloose due to physical and financial limitations, I find it freeing that my future will be for me to choose, whenever and however I decide to make changes. For example, I don’t know exactly what I want to do or where I want to live post-retirement, but I get to decide that without having to consider what someone else wants.

Onto a more important topic: what will we be eating today? Welp, it’s not going to be the usual turkey and gravy feast, since there are only 3 of us here and 2 don’t like turkey. We are basically having sides, including baked sweet potatoes, mushroom stuffing, pasta, etc. We’ve already dived into the pie, and though there’s a bunch left (huge Costco pie), I’m thinking we might bake some cookies…

Have a sweet day, my peeps, however you’re celebrating or even if you aren’t. While I understand the historical reasons some may not think of today as something to be happy about, it can be soothing to take the time to be thankful for the good in our lives.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Moo [SOCS]

[Written Friday night.]

Milk was the last thing I put in my fridge. I’m not having cookies… but I did nom up some PB cups earlier. Yum! I took out the milk to splash in my tea and then put it back. Black tea with orange spice is my tea of choice at the mo, and I do drink it at night, though I’ll switch to herbal for my last cup of the day, around 10pm. Caffeine does not affect my sleep. In general, I don’t have insomnia ~ but it can take me a while to wind down. Other times, I’m completely sleepy by 11pm. And I will get up early even when I go to bed late. Usually, I’ll sleep solidly once I’m out unless Gatsby starts howling like a maniac. 🐈‍⬛

Not everyone puts milk in tea. I didn’t use to, but then in my 20s plain tea began to make me queasy, especially on an empty tummy. So does coffee. Easy fix: add milk! But there are a lot of choices. I tried to like non-dairy milk, but I failed. (At work, I have Coffee Mate.) In tea, nonfat milk tastes best, but in coffee I like whole milk or even half & half. However, the fattier milks in tea are gross. I compromise with 2%, since I’m not buying 2 different kinds of milk for one person. Two percent is also best on the rare occasions I eat cold cereal.

My fridge is pretty empty right now.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

With Apologies to Julie Andrews

My Favorite Foods

Pasta with seafood and butt’ry potatoes;
Pizza with mushrooms, grilled cheese and tomatoes;
Avos all ripened and berries of blue…
These are a few of my favorite foods.
Warm PB cookies and cupcakes with icing;
Nachos and mangoes and pie so enticing;
Brownies so fudgy you have to eat two…
These are a few of my favorite foods.
French toast with cinn’mon and syrup is yummy;
Burgers with pickles get into my tummy;
Ice cream with caramel and choc’late ooh ooh
These are a few of my favorite foods.
When the spam bites,
When the troll spews,
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite foods,
And then I don’t feel so bad.

😋😋😋

~*~

Written for Fandango’s Dog Days 10.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Photo credited to The Sound of Music

Girl Talk [flash 160]

Carol danced into the room and interrupted the conversation. “Girls, how do you like the new me?”

“Uh, we liked the old you,” Janet said. “Gosh, that’s a lot of purple you’re wearing.”

“People are swearing?” Rosemary yelled.

“No, dear,” Carol shouted back. “Adjust your hearing aid. We are talking about how I’m going to live life to the fullest now that I’ve turned eighty-five.”

Janet waved a hand. “Don’t make excuses for wanting more male attention, Carol. We know how you are. But the guys are gonna laugh at your crazy clothing.”

“Psssh, I just passed Leo in the hall and he called me a hottie.” Carol smiled.

“Leo is blind, honey,” Rosemary said. “This hearing aid has a poor design. It’s not my fault. Did anyone bring coconut cookies?”

Carol swirled around the table. “People can believe whatever they want! Feathers and sequins make me happy!”

“Fine,” Janet said. “Are you in for Go Fish or not?”

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

What The Heck Is Lemon Mint?

Whatever it is, that’s the City Sonnet theme for today, and I don’t want to break my streak. Woohoo, four photo challenges in a row done and dusted!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Images from Happy Color, Chihuly, Diane, and me!

5 Things [Fave Food Combos]

Yaaay! Hooray! 😀 Dr. Tanya is bringing back the #5Things prompt. Here are my 5 fave food combos with my very own photos…

1. Seafood & Pasta

2. Peanut Butter & Blackberry Preserves

3. Lox & Bagel

4. Sweet Potato & Broccoli

5. Grilled Cheese & Tomato

I know you were expecting me to have cake or cupcakes, or maybe cookies or pie, and here I go posting normal food, so like what’s up with that? Welp… There’s no combo with cake. Cake stands alone. Same with the others. Sorry, but I’m not a fan of ruining my desserts by glopping ice cream over them. Nothing against ice cream! Love ice cream. But it’s also a stand-alone.

That’s just how it is.

~*~

Images are mine.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.