These cookies are a delicious amalgamation of the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from Brown Eyed Baker and an inspiration from Darla’s no-bake “Cockroach Cookies” over at Bakingdom.

Why are they called “Apocalypse Cookies”, you ask? Because if peanut butter, oats, Reese’s Pieces®, pretzels, marshmallows, and cocoa powder all mashed into one cookie don’t spell the End of Days for my figure, I don’t know what does. If you need another reason, I also figure that if there was an apocalypse, you’d be smashing everything but the kitchen sink into anything you cooked, right? (And yes, cookies will totally still be a priority.)

Also, they went in the Zombie Apocalypse care package I’m sending my husband, so there’s that. :)

If you want to make these dairy free, substitute margarine for the butter, soy or almond milk for the milk, and leave out the Reese’s®. You could swap them for dairy free peanut butter chips for a similar flavor.

If you haven’t checked out the online pin board Pinterest yet, get on it. It’s seriously the best resource for homemaking I’ve ever found — from cooking, to crafting, to gift ideas, to sewing, it’s one of the best user generated content sites on the Web (technical hiccups aside, anyway). If you need an invite, I’ll be happy to send you one.

But it IS based around user generated content. And that means the site only has nominal control over what is posted there. If the new Internet Blacklist acts SOPA and PIPA pass, all it will take is one person pinning a copyrighted image or a photo of something trademarked to shut down the ENTIRE SITE. The same goes for Facebook, Etsy, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and every blog with a commenting system you’ve ever visited.

This is not good, people. Like, seriously not good. Do you realize how much harder it will be for innovators to use the Web if they have to worry about Big Brother shutting them down on a whim? Not only that, but where there’s a Web, there’s a way, and it’s pretty well certain that people will find ways around the locked down U.S. Internet, meaning the Web will become fractured and harder to keep safe. It will be like the early days of the Web all over again, only with experienced hackers on the job and billions of frustrated users trying to figure out “which Internet” to use to get the information they need.

Quite frankly, it scares me. I’m part of a generation that has taken to the Internet like a second home. I have friends here I can’t reasonably keep in contact with anywhere else. I have a business based almost entirely in cyberspace. I do my research here, learn new skills, and expand my worldview.

In short, this needs to be stopped. It just does. The whole concept sucks, and it wouldn’t work anyway because people will eventually find a way around it, for better or worse.

Much smarter, more articulate people than I have put together fantastic resources for quickly understanding what’s going on here. Infographics, short videos, long articles — pretty much however you want to learn, it’s there. Please, get informed. And then, if you feel the way I do, do something. It takes less than a minute to email your representative or petition the U.S. government.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

This year I will:

• Moderate my portions, and eat more healthy things
• Try one new recipe (cooking or baking) each week
• Practice Tai Chi at least once each week
• Learn spoken Japanese well enough to express a variety of simple concepts
• Learn at least one meaning of each of the ~2,500 common Kanji
• Pray often, and earnestly

These aren’t so much “resolutions,” in the sense that I must do them perfectly every day or consider them forfeit. Instead, they are goals, which I will work towards throughout the year.

Happy New Year!

My mom has the most wonderful decorating style. It’s classy, it’s eclectic, and — most importantly — it’s fun. She owns a beautiful old home in the hills of San Rafael, overlooking the city and surrounded by trees, and she decorates it with antiques and lace and everything fancy.

Perhaps the best time of year at her house is Christmas. She fills every nook and cranny with elves, stockings, garlands, and nativities. I have many a fond memory growing up of helping her find places for about 100 elves all over the house. She’s toned down the elves since I’ve moved out, but still jam packs the place with more Christmas spirit than old St. Nick himself could claim.

By the way, it isn’t just the table that looks good enough to eat; the meals she serves on it are just as beautiful, and just as delicious, thanks to the efforts of her and her boyfriend.

I love you, Mom, and I love your style!

The hubs and I decided to go on a last minute Christmas adventure tonight, so we hit up the Ethel M Chocolates Annual Holiday Cactus Garden here in Las Vegas. It’s free, it’s fun, and of course it’s utterly freezing – but I got some sweet shots. :)

In the interest of saving money and having a bit of fun, I decided to get craftsy with the Christmas presents this year and make two dozen jars of homemade hot cocoa mix powder to give out to all the relatives this year. While I’m not entirely sure the former was accomplished, the latter certainly was, multiple runs to the store, over-buying of ingredients, and a kitchen covered in powdered sugar and chocolate notwithstanding.

Anywho, I looked all over for a great hot chocolate mix, but I wasn’t entirely happy with any of the recipes I found — so, using this one as a starting point, I made my own. Thanks to lots of powdered milk and a dash of cornstarch, it’s nice and creamy. I also like mine to have a touch of dark chocolate bitterness; you may want to add a little more sugar to yours (not too much, though!).

Anyway, here’s the recipe:

Best Ever Dark Hot Cocoa Mix

Ingredients:

• 1 part powdered sugar
• 1 part granulated sugar
• 4 parts instant powdered milk
• 1 1/2 parts creamer
• 2 parts unsweetened powdered baking cocoa
• 1/3 part cornstarch
• dash of salt

Use 2-4 tablespoons of cocoa mix per mug. The mix will last about 3 months if it’s kept in a cool, dark, dry place (that’s the powdered milk giving it a shorter shelf life).

Depending on how much you need, you’ll vary how much a “part” is. For instance, if you only want a little, you could make each part a tablespoon. If you need a holy wow-ton like I did, you’ll make each part a cup — and then make four batches. Each batch fills about six one-pint jars (if you’re leaving room at the top for peppermint marshmallows).

A note about those marshmallows: I used a combination of Martha Stewart’s recipe and Paula Deen’s method. I still need to work on perfecting my method, as they came out a bit wet. Also, a word to the wise: Block off enough time to dust each marshmallow with powdered sugar after you cut them. With over 100 per batch, it takes a while!

As far as the jar decorations go, I used a bowl that was about 1/2-again bigger than my jar lid to mark my cloth circles, which I secured to the top of the jar lids with a dab of hot glue. I tied a ribbon around them just under the lid, and presto, adorable Christmas gifts! For two-dozen jars, I used about 1 yard of fabric and almost exactly 12 yards of ribbon.

P.S. If you make this for yourself or as Christmas gifts, I’d love to hear it and maybe even see a picture of your finished jars! :)

Or: How I Froze My Toes Off Staring at the Sky

I woke up from a dream randomly at 4am one morning, so I did what every insomniac does: Checked Facebook. There, I discovered I had awakened just in time to watch a lunar eclipse! Yay! Out I went, in nothing a coat and PJs in 30 degree weather, where I stayed, doing a rain dance behind my camera for two hours like a crazy person. But I got nice pictures, so it’s all worth it, right?

I got a few new things from thrift stores and a garage sale, as well as some fun plants. :)

See those old vintage photos in the frame? I still want to play with what to do with them. I have about a million more. And yes, those are the same DIY wall-hangings from my other post, moved. I’ve changed up the wall where they used to be by putting a fantastic brown wicker shelving unit there, but I don’t have a good picture of it yet.

This awesome old kettle will probably be a planter eventually.

More: My previous post about this room

So, I have this dining room — it’s huge! This is problem, because I don’t have that much furniture to fill it with. Here’s an idea of how much space I’m working with: In the middle of this room is a round stone table with space for eight and these gorgeous (faux) leather chairs. This table is the very definition of “solid”; it’s like a Knights of the Round Table table or something. On one wall I have a three paneled antique curio cabinet given to me by a friend (yes, given!), which houses my not-quite-complete collection of wedding china. These two pieces of furniture alone would have filled up my entire living room at my last house, but in this dining room, they looked positively lonely!

I’ve known what I wanted to do with this room since shortly after we moved in three years ago, but I’ve had a devil of a time finding a piece of furniture that was both nice enough and inexpensive enough to fit the room and my budget, respectively. At a random run to the Salvation Army yesterday, I found it! Normally $85 but on sale for half off, this little dresser / buffet table was just what I was after.

Pardon the terrible quality - I was in a hurry :)

After giving it a thorough cleaning — not that it was dirty, but I like to do that with second-hand furniture — I tracked down all the little odds and ends I’ve been collecting while waiting for it to arrive.

Tadda!