Old Family Recipe

I consider myself lucky that I have a large family that enjoys cooking (except P!) We have plenty of family recipes that are passed down!

One of my favorite recipes is Peanut Butter Smackers. No one knows where this recipe originated from. I asked my mom the other day and she said she learned it from my Aunt Dianne. And there's no telling where she got it from!I googled peanut butter smackers the other day and came across THIS and it doesn't surprise me knowing my aunt :)

You only need 4 ingredients: corn syrup, brown sugar, peanut butter and frosted corn flakes.

Start with a 1/2 cup of corn syrup and 1/3 cup of brown sugar

 Mix corn syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan. After it begins to boil, remove from heat and add peanut butter.


 

Add 1/2 cup of peanut butter



Mix peanut butter into the brown sugar/corn syrup mix until it is smooth

I've played around with the recipe and added granola to it instead of corn flakes. It was okay, but it didn't have the sweet flavor of the frosted flakes.

Mix corn flakes into brown sugar/corn syrup/peanut butter mixture

Drop onto wax paper

Let cool and serve! I like to eat mine warm but it falls apart when its warm...small price to pay for warm gooey goodness!

Love,
K



Pumpkin and Chocolate

I was introduced to this recipe from my bestie, Emma Davis, who has introduced me to all the greats like Harry Potter, Twilight, and Pinterest. `This delicious recipe is actually healthy too :)

Just two ingredients...Devil's Food and Pure Pumpkin

Don't add anything else even though it is tempting

It WILL mix up

Add the mix to cupcake tins, filling half full (they aren't going to be smooth!)

Bake at 350 Degrees according to the package directions on the cake mix

Yummy Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcake

I had a little help making these...don't worry...no pet hair was used in the making of this product

Here are the directions:
1 box devil's food mix
1 small can Pure Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix devil's food mix and pure pumpkin together with a mixer (DO NOT add any ingredients that it says on the back of the devil's food, like eggs, water or oil).
Dip mix into cupcake tins.
Bake for the amount of time it states on the back of the cake mix box. I baked mine at 350 for 21 minutes.


And the best thing about these cupcakes, one only has 181 calories and 3.5 grams of fat! Thanks Emma!


Enjoy!


Love,
K

The Bathroom

To most people, the bathroom is a dreaded place that no one really enjoys going to. For Reese, the bathroom is more like a way of life.

It all started when we were at my grandmother's house for the 4th of July. Reese was about 12 weeks old. It was so hot down there and to make matters worse, my grandma doesn't have central air, so it only makes sense that a dog would try to find the coolest place in the house. When we couldn't find Reese, we would look in the shower. Even Liza joined him most times.

Liza already looks guilty

I thought it was just a phase, but oh no! It continued when we got home. If we couldn't find Reese, it was because he was in the bathroom. He started out just sleeping in the bathroom. I would call him and he wouldn't come. When I would look in the bathroom, he'd be there, looking at me like whats wrong!! I've been here all along!

You lookin' for me?

Then, he started getting into the bathtub after I would get out of the shower. The first time I caught him, he gave me that same look and how can you get mad at this face?

Such a sweet boy!

But then I looked at what was left in the bathtub and I got a little angrier...

Not so cute dirty paw prints!

Then Reese started getting Liza in on the action! Nothing like a slip n slide in the shower!

Two things that annoy me...Reese is now drinking out of the toilet. Obviously, I can't get a picture of this because it doesn't go well with my screaming! And 2, now they get into the shower with me while I am still in there! Not that big of a deal, but you try having 110 pounds worth of dog in the shower with you!




I love my sweet baby!

 I can't complain though! At least they don't have an obsession with chewing on my shoes!

Happy Friday!

Love,
K

Graduation: Kala Jones, MEd

When I was in high school, my high school counselor, Mrs. Holloman, told me I would never be successful at UGA.

On Saturday, I wanted to call up Mrs. Holloman and say HA! Not only was I successful at UGA, I also ended up with a 4.0!

Here are some pictures from graduation on Saturday.

My mom and I



With the family

 I was so excited my family came to watch me graduate! After graduation, we went to eat at Fatz and then came to my house to hang out. My sweet husband got me a cookie cake from Great American Cookie...

UGA has a tradition of "THE ARCH". The arch was built in 1850. the pillars of The Arch are usually taken to represent the Georgia Constitution's three principles of wisdom, justice, and moderation, which are engraved over the pillars of the Seal. The tradition is that you do not walk through the ARCH until you have graduated so of course I was super excited to get walk through...

I'm officially alumni!

Now on to get my Phd :)

Love,
K

Camp Kala

Since I love dogs so much, I love watching other people's dogs. This had given my house the nickname of Camp Kala. I love it and would love to have a luxurious dog kennel where dogs can come and stay and be pampered at their home away from home.

Most recently, I had the pleasure of keeping Izzy for 10 days. It was great. She played so well with Reese and Liza, and by played, I mean she didn't stop playing. Reese and Liza started off double teaming her but that double team quickly turned to tag team. She definitely wore them out!

Izzy also wrote a camp journal every night before she went to bed....I know...hard to believe that she sat still long enough to write! I can't figure out how to upload it to the blog, but just another perk of staying at Camp Kala :)

I tried to get pictures but because Izzy was always moving, it was hard to get a good one!

Wrestling with Liza

Izzy said dang, its tough entertaining 2 puppies!

Izzy cuddling on the couch with me

I got in trouble for Izzy being on the bed...oops! No rules at Camp Kala

Izzy had a great time at Camp Kala and can't wait to come back!

6 months later...

So I thought it was time I should start blogging again...

Since I last blogged, 6 months ago, lots of things have happened. Here's my life in review for the last 6 months...

January
I landed an internship at Athens Technical College

Day 1 of my internship

Day 2 of my internship

Day 3 of my internship

Day 4 of my intership...and then I got lazy and stopped taking pictures!

February

My cousin had a baby and my mom and I drove to Montgomery to sit around the hospital and wait for our first glimpse of Lynlee Emory Taylor.


Our little LE. Its been so long since we had a girl in the family ( I was the last one)

We also bred Kelsoe to my Uncle's sister in law's yellow lab, Lolly.

It was love at first sight...

In February, I also interviewed for a full time position at Athens Tech.

March
I was offered and accepted the position at Athens Tech and started my new job.

My name that hangs outside my office!

I've moved to a brand new office now but you never forget your first office...

March was also an important month for me because I got my first turkey in Wii bowling. I was home alone bowling so I had to take pictures to document this momentous occasion!

TURKEY!

April

Pretty boring month, just spent doing wedding stuff but my family and I did go to Hilton Head for Easter

On our way to the beach

We stayed at Harbour Town...GORGEOUS!

Kelsoe's girlfriend also had puppies! Thomas and I couldn't decide on whether we wanted a male or female so we got both!

Our babies! (Reese is on the right, Liza on the left)

At the end of April, I also celebrated my last night as a single woman with all of my best girlfriends!

May

I don't think I need to upload any pictures to my blog for May since they are all on facebook and as many of you know, Thomas and I got married and went to Jamaica!

We came home to two beautiful puppies...

Unfortunately, they are no longer this little :(

Summer has been pretty uneventful. Just working and trying to play more than I work. Thomas and I have also been training two lab puppies so hopefully they will turn into two good dogs! Reese is pretty lazy and Liza is really hyper but they both love to chew! They love to chew their toys but they also like to chew window sills, chair legs and house siding. There are rewarding parts to it though! We are teaching them how to swim right now and they are doing an excellent job. They love the water and they love to fetch.

Teamwork!

This Summer, Thomas has been working at the UGA dairy, helping out wherever they need him. One of the things he has to do is help milk. I have always wanted to milk a cow, it just sounds so fun to take your wooden stool and tin milk pail and sit down under a cow and start pulling like you're playing an instrument, occasionally squirting some to the cat. I experienced this recently and it was NOT at all like that. It was NASTY (as you can tell by the look on my face)

Bonding with Toy Story...no cats in sight!

At the end of the day, I can't complain about anything! I get to come home to these excited faces and whats better than that?

Thomas

Reese

Liza

Hopefully, it won't be 6 months before another entry!

Love,
K

Snow Day # 3

I need to start from the beginning and say that I am now unemployed (yay!). My boss came to visit me on January 3rd and said that they wanted to transfer me to another store thats about 40 miles from my house. They were also going to "demote" me and cut my pay. When I said no because I didn't want to do that, they said well we're going to have to let you go...hence the unemployment!

The day after the separation of ways, I of course applied for unemployment and applied for an internship. I got the internship but I have to fill out paperwork to complete it. I haven't been able to do this since I've been snowed in for the past 3 days. I slowly made my way out today to go to the bank and pick up my books, but now that the sun has set, the roads are icing over again.

I took Stella for a walk on Sunday before it started snowing. I just thought it was freezing!

Here is a review of the past 3 days in Stella's eyes.

Sleeping on the chair in the living room



 Thomas and I took Stella for a walk on Tuesday. It was freezing and icy but Stella really enjoyed running around in the ice/snow!

We passed a funny snowman...who was obviously enjoying the cold weather!

Can you see the beer in high left hand?

I'm hoping that more things will be open tomorrow since UGA is open at 11am.

I took this picture of The Georgia Club last time it snowed over Christmas...

Only 122 days til Thomas and I tie the knot! We're doing our tasting on January 22nd and I'm really excited! I love food!

I'll try to update next week about Snowmaggeddon 2011!

~K