Oopsies and Updates!

As most of you probably already heard- thanks to my dear husbands huge mouth, I almost burned down our townhome last week.  I admit it. I forgot about the hot apple cider on the stove.  Jody smelled the smoke from upstairs about an hour after it had been burning and we ran downstairs into the, um, somewhat toxic basement.
Kidding.
Kind of.
No prob, though.  That's what noses are for- and luckily, Jody's got a good one!  We had to air out the place for about forty five minutes, but I like to think a good story came from my little mishap.  Oops.

Isn't that cool?  We put the pan in some soapy water and the 'chunk' of apple cider fell right out.  I have no idea how that happened, but I like it.


Anyway, now I'd like to talk about what I have done right, thanks.

Last Saturday I started the first of my six week long Personal Trainer Certification!  The class is every Saturday from 9-4 with 3 hours of lectures and note taking and three hours of 'practicum' training at a gym in Newport News.  I have to say that I had no idea how difficult this course was going to be, but I'm really glad to be taking it.  There's way more math and science than I'd like to be involved in, but there's so much information out there, I am so intrigued!  Poor Jody has to hear me spit out random facts about leg muscles and carbohydrates every ten minutes now- but I think he's equally as good at tuning me out as he is smelling burning cider, which is probably good.
I'm hoping to use my certification to help me get the teaching job I want after I have my oh-so-far-away teaching degree.  I want to be a Health Enhancement or PE teacher, and in the meantime I'd like to be able to work with people at a health or fitness center in Virginia and/or Montana.  Obviously, I'm thinking WAY ahead, but I'm really excited about it and feeling pretty good about my plans.

Jody has also begun to get his school-head into gear.  On Friday he went to the community college to take his placement tests, and is planning on doing some online courses while he's here.  I'm really excited for him and am glad he's starting to get some school out of the way.  He's planning on studying criminal justice back in Billings-hopefully in just a few short years.


In other news, you should try these cookies.  I made WAY too many of them and ended up giving away at least a third of the cookies, freezing another third, and completely throwing out the last bit that we just couldn't (or shouldn't) finish.  I made about half with the cinnamon icing and the others mixed with milk chocolate chips- those are best frozen!  Mmm.  Enjoy!

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup(s)  Butter Flavored Shortning
• 3  cup(s)  Sugar
• 1  can(s)  Solid Packed Pumpkin (15 oz)
• 2  Eggs
• 1/2  cup(s)  Milk
• 6  cup(s)  Flour
• 2  teaspoon(s)  Baking Soda
• 2  teaspoon(s)  Ground Cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon(s)  Salt
• 1  teaspoon(s)  Ground Allspice
• 1/2  teaspoon(s)  Ground Clove
• CINNAMON FROSTING
• 1/2  cup(s)  Butter, Softened
• 2 1/2  cup(s)  Confectioner's Sugar
• 2  tablespoon(s)  Milk
• 1  teaspoon(s)  Ground Cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon(s)  Vanilla Extract

Preparation

In a large bowl, cream shortning and sugar. Beat in the pumpkin, eggs, and milk. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, allspice, and cloves: gradually add to creamed mixture.
Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake 375 for 1013 minutes. Cool completely

In a small bowl, combine the frosting ingredients: beat until smooth.