Well, I'm sitting here eating your cookies, Roselin, and have to say thank you for a delicious new recipe. These are really delightful, crispy, great flavor and texture. They're sure to become a standard in our house. I wondered as I was shopping for ingredients what would happen with substituting regular oatmeal or as Lorna mentioned, Irish oatmeal. Have you tried other oatmeals or does the cooking in butter require the texture of the instant? I have an entire box of regular sitting in the cupboard and it looks so forlorn. Sue

You are 100% right! While you have been more than accommodating in helping with his parental responsibilities, these are his and his ex's children, not yours. In a perfect world, all parenting would be done by him and his ex, leaving you to be find your place with them somewhere between a friend and a parent. But life is not perfect and of course in the real world, if you live with him, occasionally you will probably need to "fill-in" in a parental roll. But I think that should be it, filling-in in a pinch. Him and his ex should figure out a plan that does not rely on your help on a daily basis. My GF of five years and I have always been very aware of this (she has one son, I have daughter and son). Granted, we don't live together, since we didn't want to "blend" families, but when we are all together, we are very aware of who has the parenting responsibility for who. For example, discipline is not to be dished out by the step-parent or BF/GF....it should be the responsibility of the parent. Of course it's easier said than done, and it takes work to figure out how to handle certain situations, but it's the general idea that is important. He and his ex need to figure this out. Tell them you will be there to help out in a pinch, but they cannot rely on you to do their job on a daily basis.....ESPECIALLY if their girl is not nice to you when you are helping out!

Thank you so much for the kind words! Raphaella - I adore both kitchens! We have very similar vintage green bread boxes too. Love your little cream-colored Dualit. It's a classic for sure! The English "chunky" kitchen cabinets (for lack of a better term - not sure how to describe them) make me swoon. As do those wonderful deep windows that are almost always fitted with the most gorgeous roller shades. ::sigh:: The utter charm of it all! I want to live there. ;-)

No Costco in my state but I might peruse Aldi. Don't know about their quality. I just got the paper cups in tonight for the toast. Hubs says drinking champagne out of paper cups is tacky but I am not doing plastic, no way. Initially I was going to buy glass and give them out as wedding favors but the costs of these two weddings are setting me back about 1/4 of my yearly salary already. So I guess this is one of those "conventional or not?" dilemmas.