High Five for Friday

Another busy week at my house;
here are my highlights:

1.  I got all caught up on my snail mail!

Wrote to my nieces and nephews, wrote thank yous, paid bills and 

finally wrote that letter of complaint that I mentioned here

that's been nagging at me for weeks.

2. I found an ice cream cookbook for $4 at TJ Maxx!

There are tons of good recipes that I'm anxious to try out

in my new homemade ice cream maker.

3. It's good to be home from vacation.

I missed my boys last week so we've been spending lots of time together this week.

4. Dear Hair,

I wish you'd hold curl like this every day.

Let's make this more of a regular occurrence - deal?

Love, Whitney

5. Ate lots of red, white and blue in honor of the 4th this week.
Saw fireworks and enjoyed time with good friends.

I'm linking up with Lauren

Kittysitting 101

Cats are great pets.

They are especially great because you can leave them for a long weekend

and they'll be just fine so long as you plan accordingly.

When we head out of town for over 4 days, we always hire a kittysitter.

Any neighbor, family friend, family member who loves cats will do.

Make sure that it's someone you trust and someone that is responsible.

We have 2 go to kittysitters.

I am very detail oriented and love to make lists

so I go over anything and everything that might come up while we're gone.

I give a copy of the note to my kittysitter with our house key

and then I leave a second copy on the refrigerator for her. 

I leave our contact information, vet information, our travel specifics

and list of expectations (water plants, get mail, feed cats, etc.) while we're gone.

 I leave a basket with cat treats, cat toys and other important items.

Topher gave his seal of approval.

The boys like things a certain way

 I leave out double litter boxes because the kittysitter usually comes every other day.

 Double the water bowls and food bowls.

I separate them because my cats tend to put food in their water

and this makes it much more difficult.

We've contemplated boarding or flying with our cats

but both options are very expensive.

Bottom line:

The cats are much happier in their 

home sweet home 

while we're gone.

 I also do my best to make a treat of some kind

to leave with my house key for the kittysitter.

This time I made her S'more cookies.

S'more Cookies

I'm a BIG fan of S'mores

so I knew when I pinned these smore cookies 

that it wouldn't be long until I gave this recipe a spin.

I made some changes to the recipe.

Here's what you'll need to make my version.

1/2 c softened stick butter

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c brown sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1 1/3 c flour

7 sheets of graham crackers

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

5 or 6 Hershey bars

1 cup marshmallows

Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes

Mix butter and sugars 

until well combined

Add egg (I didn't have any eggs so I used mayonnaise) and vanilla

Food process graham crackers or 

do it the old fashioned way like I did.

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Slowly add in dry mixture.

The recipe calls for 1 c mini marshmallows.

I only had big ones so I improvised.

Unwrap Hershey bars and break them apart.

This sized seemed good for cookies.

Add marshmallows and chocolate to cookie mix.

Use a cookie scoop to get even sized cookies.

Add a chunk of Hershey bar on top.

Bake them for around 10 minutes.

I pulled them out when the timer went off

and wasn't thrilled with the way things looked...

I quickly went to work with my spatula 

and scooped the marshmallowy goodness back into the cookies.

Let them set up for about 5 minutes.

Yum!!

Let them cool on tin foil for at least an hour

before you plate them.

I took these to a cookout and several people said,

"These are better than s'mores!!"

 It's too hot right now for a bonfire so this is a great alternative :)

Linking up at:

Let Freedom Ring

 Happy 4th of July to YOU!

Be safe, eat lots of yummy food and 

watch fireworks with people you love.