Favorite Brownies

I felt really sick a few days ago and nothing sounded good but a handful of chocolate chips, which has not been my usual cravings of chips and salsa, hot dogs, and pickles. I must be getting back to normal because now chocolate is all I can think about. These brownies are so good and so rich they might kill you...

6 1-oz squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla and 2 1/4 cups flour.

Melt the butter and chocolate and remove from heat. Add sugar and let cool. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and flour and pour into a greased 11x14 cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Frost while hot--3 Cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2/3 cup cocoa, and 6 Tbsp. milk. You will not be disappointed--this recipe comes from the Favorites Cookbook.

Pictures

Here is the picture of the house you've been asking me for, dad. And a picture of Charlie's new look. We have no more dog hair stuck to sticky fingers, though the kids still think a good way to clean their hands is to let Charlie lick them. After we picked Charlie up from the groomer, the kids ran around the house yelling, "I sure hope it's Charlie." He looks like a different dog.

What I Have Been Doing...

I am pregnant--8 weeks and counting. My official due date is September 21st. And I am sick. The picture of me is embarassing, but that really is what I look like. No more denial for me. My house is a disaster and my kids are watching too much TV. I have been amazed with how much time you can have to yourself if you don't cook, clean, attend to your personal grooming, or interact with your children. My kids and husband are champions. Jeff makes us all breakfast in the morning before work and when the kids wake up they can feed themselves the pancakes--Andrew and Elizabeth help Anna cut her pancakes and pour syrup, so when I finally drag msyelf out of bed, syrup is everywhere. And then the kids let Charlie out of his kennel and give him hugs so that his dog hair is stuck to the syrup that is everywhere. It takes me a good hour to clean everything up and then I have to go back to bed. Today I actually counted the lint balls on Jeff's pillow that were peeking out of the pillowcase. And I count the number of days until I am 12 weeks pregnant. And I have made it to World 6 on Super Mario Brothers. I have also memorized the "To Go" menu for Olive Garden because Italian food always sounds good--but I can't bring myself to eat it. The Chicken Scampi sounds excellent. I even gave myself permission to start up a Diet Coke habit thinking that it would settle my stomach. I failed at the addiction, but Jeff is getting hooked.

That is my sad story. I did drag myself to the church today for one of their millions of "Enrichment groups" to learn some Irish dancing. I had to come home and go back to bed. I am very much looking forward to Moab on March 7th--I get to see my family, run a race I am not training for, and most importantly, I will be 12 weeks and have high expectations for a settled stomach and a happy esophagus. My biggest concern--6 weeks of inactivity will have permanantly turned me into somebody I don't like. Time will tell...