Back the the Emergency Room Again

It is a joke that we have been to the emergency room now twice in one month. Prior to this month we haven't been to the emergency room since Gaige was a baby. So now it is Marley's turn. She got a 2-1/2 inch splinter in her foot. There was no way I was getting that thing out on my own. What a mess. Poor thing. I wonder if pulling it out would have hurt less than the shots she got to numb her foot! She can barely walk on that foot today.

She brought her own First Aid kit to the hospital. They let her take her splinter home for her scrap book. lol.

10 Cookies Til Christmas

My husband heard about these from someone at work. He has been excited for us to try these out for a while. The lady said to use the round coctail crackers. We went a step farther and bought Keebler FlipSides crackers with one part cracker and one part pretzel. Here with those pretzels again! Again melt the chocolate the same way and dip the cracker, scraping off the excess. Bret sprinkled them with sugar sprinkles as well, but I prefered to leave some plain. I think Big Bret will like them without the sprinkles.

And really, I don't think sprinkles make anything taste better. They just look so much festive. We will sacrifice the looks for the taste today. :-)

Yes my kitchen looks like a mess. I have been up til two, three, and four in the morning shopping for Christmas and wrapping since Bret's new job keeps him all day and night. This plus our activities and meals, laundry, watching Callie (which I love to do... totally not complaining) I am just feeling a bit exhausted. So my kitchen is a bit messy. As is the rest of the house. Soon we will be back to our "clean" ish selves.

11 Cookies Til Christmas

Oh I have wanted to try these for so long. I knew the kids would love making them and eating them! Not really a cookie? But still along the same lines.

We had no recipe so I will tell you what I did. I melted Semi-Sweet Morsels by Nestle according to the package. I microwaved 1 cup of morsels for 1 min. Once melted we dipped the pretzels into the chocolate and scraped off excess back into the bowl and rolled the pretzels into sprinkles. So many of them are gone already!

These are great for a present. Put them in a nice cup or glass with a bow and ribbon. This is what we will probably do.

Hope Is a Verb

So as I am walking Uma this morning, a car passes me by that has a bumper sticker reading "Hope is a Verb". Ok. So. I am a bit puzzled by this information. I agree with the statement. Hope is a verb. But why is it on a bumper sticker? What does that bumper sticker mean? Is this a song or a book? A famous quote that has significance in its context?

So curious why someone would have a bumper sticker that reads "Hope Is a Verb"...

Home Made Christmas Present Ideas

Brenda's Girl Scout troop is collecting gently used childrens books for a local reading program. We are the book hosts so by now we have 7 or 8 hunderd books in our front patio area. We have collection bins all over town. Some of the town people want to donate but they haven't read the flyer all the way through. We are getting adult books too. So in those adult books I came across someone giving us knitting and crocheting books. There was a whole book on Granny Squares. Granny square hats and sweaters, throws and blankets, etc. It totally inspired me to temporally give up my knitting needles and open my crochet bag up. It has been years. But I LOVE the Granny Square!

This was a hat and scarf set for the gift give at our Winter Solstice Drumming Circle last night.



Lisa, my knitting friend, is jealous. She doesn't know how to crochet. I guess it is time to learn. If for no other reason, just so she can have a hat too. She knits and tats. I don't know why she wouldn't crochet.

Junie B Jones

Marley has a new fascination wtih Junie B Jones. We read a chapter or two now before she goes to sleep, instead of the picture books we usually read. Here she is checking out the selection. I said one, she tried with diligence to talk me into two. We came home with Meanie Jim's Birthday Party. One of my favorites!

Christmas Crafts

I hosted a Christmas Craft day at a local library. There was card making, tree ornaments to decorate, candy cane reindeer, bead stars, and glass bulbs to paint. We all came home with boxes full of crafts to display for the holiday.

4H Christmas Party

So after being snowed out twice, the 4H Christmas party finally came to be. There were games, gingerbread house decorating, White Elephant Swap, snacks to share.





We made up snack bags to go to the Ronald McDonald House. My house is closest so I volunteered my family to drop the bags off after the party.

12 Cookies Til Christmas

This recipe came out of a book Bret checked out from the library we went to for our Christmas Craft activity. She was all excited to find a book of cookies for us to try out.


Cinnamon Spirals

In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat 1 c. butter and 8 oz. cream cheese until creamy. Reduce speed to low gradually beating in 2-1/2 c. flour and 1/2 t. salt until well mixed. Divide dough in half, form rectangles, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hr (or freezer for 1/2 hr.)
Meanwhile in small bowl stir 2/3 c. sugar and 2 t. cinnamon until blended.
On lightly floured surface, wtih floured rolling pin, roll 1 piece of dough into 15"x12" rectangle. Sprinkle 1/2 sugar cinnamon mixture evenly over dough. Starting at the long side tightly roll rectangle jelly-roll style. Brush last 1/2 inch of dough with water to seal edge. Cut log crosswise in half, place on cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining dough. Regrigerate dough 2 hr or freezer for 45 min. Preheat oven to 400. Remove two logs from frezer. wtih serrated knife cut each log crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place cookies 1/2 inch apart on two ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until lightly browned 12-14 min. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Repeat with other logs.



So first of all, as you can see here, these cookies are very small. Not a problem. They tasted real good. They would make great coffee cookies too... if any of us drank coffee. But they are good plain too. As you can see the directions were a bit long and tedious for my style. But I thought it would be worth it for these cookies. We didn't cook them but 10 minutes and they were done.

Cinnamon Spirals

13 Cookies til Christmas

These minty wonders were a joy! Marley and I made them together. We got the recipe off the Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint Morsels Bag.

Mint chocolate Delights

Combine 2 c sugar, 2/3 baking cocoa, 1 t. baking soda and 1/2 t. salt in small bowl. Beat 1 c. butter, 2/3 c. granulated sugar, 2/3 c. brown sugar, and 1 t. vanilla extract in large mixer until creamy. Add 2 eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 11-13 min at 325 or until cookies are puffed and the centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for two min. remove to wire racks to cool completely. This makes 4 dozen cookies. We cut the recpie in half to make a couple dozen instead.



We took some of the dough and put it into a pie pan and made a pie cookie out of it. We just cooked it a little longer. Maybe 10 minutes more to make this lovely mint cookie pie. This recipe? Totally a keeper. The girls agree.

The First Snow

Well more like the second actual snow... But I find as I get older that I can tolerate the cold less and less. I did finally cave in and take the girls to the hill down the street.



Bret walked home almost right away. I didn't think I would ever get Marley to come home. And what were we missing?? No hot chocolate on this cold cold night. Thank goodness for hot soup and baths. :-)

14 Cookies 'Til Christmas

Mary's Christmas Cookies



Cream 1 c. butter and 1 c. brown sugar together. Add 1 egg, 1t. vanilla extract, and 2c. all-purpose flour. Spread into a 15'x10' jelly role pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 min. Remove from oven and add chocolate bars while still hot. Let chocolate bars melt and spread over top. Sprinkle 1/2 to 1 c. chopped nuts and cut into small squares.



We made this right before the girls went to bed. We will tell you soon how it tastes. But it was a fun one to make!!

15 Days 'Til Christmas

Cherry Tassies

I am used to making Pecan Tassies every year for my husband. As a pecan tassie maker, I tried to make the dough like I make pecan tassie dough. However Cherry Tassies have a leavening agent in them, whereas Pecan Tassies which model a pecan pie do not. So I put too much dough in the Cherry Tassies and that made them too big. But they tasted wonderful. We all loved them! For a twist to the recipe, we put little crushed chocolate pieces in with the cherry to give a chocolate cherry taste.

Also look ahead for us to try this same recipe, only with the dough surrounding the cherries like a bunch of balls.

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
1-1/4 cups butter, softened
2-1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. peppermint extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely crushed striped round peppermint candies (about 18)
48 red maraschino cherries or liquor-flavored maraschino cherries with stems, drained
Coarse sugar
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat 1 3/4-inch muffin cups with nonstick spray; set aside. In large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high for 30 seconds. Gradually beat in 1-1/2 cups of the powdered sugar, the baking powder and salt. Beat in peppermint extract, vanilla, and egg. Beat in as much of the flour as you can; stir in remaining flour and candies.

2. Place remaining 3/4 cup powdered sugar in a shallow dish. Shape dough in 1-inch balls; roll in powdered sugar. Press each ball into the bottom and sides of prepared muffin cups.

3. Place cherry, stem side up, in each cup (cherry will not fill the cup). Bake about 12 minutes or until pastry is browned. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Use a small sharp knife to loosen tassies from cups. Transfer to rack to cool completely.

16 Cookies 'Til Christmas

Lace Roll-Ups

Heat oven to 375. Mix 1 c. flour, and 1. c finely chopped nuts. In medium saucepan heat 1/2 c. corn syrup, 1/2 c. shortening, and 2/3 c. packed brown sugar to boiling, over med heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; gradually stir in flour/nut mixture. drop dough by tspful about 3"apart onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake only 8 or 9 at a time. Bake about 5 min. cool for 3 min. before removing from baking sheet. While warm carefully roll cookies into cylindrical shapes. If cookies harden before shaping, return them to the oven for just a moment. Makes about 4 doz cookies. For chocolate dipped cookies, dip one end of the lace roll-ups in melted semi-sweet chocolate. Let cool.

Sooooooo... Well everything went well until it was time to remove those things from the pan. They stuck badly and I could not get any of the middles up. I had to run the pan over hot water in order to remove the middles. I filled the baking pan 5 times with my cookies and each time was the same. So maybe MY ingredients were a little off when Marley and I mixed them? But which way, I don't know. We got some good pieces out of them. They tasted great. The girls loved them. So not a total loss. But I stopped making them half way through and dumped the rest out into the sink since I could not get a good set.

Had to happen eventually. Not every recipe is a peach. lol.

17 Cookies 'Til Christmas

Mud Cookies

Mix 2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. milk, 1/2 c. cocoa, 1/2 c. butter and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add 1/4 c. peanut butter, 3 c. oatmeal, and 1 c. chopped walnuts. Mix well. Drop on waxed paper.

This is a good no-bake recipe. I 1/2ed the whole recipe so we didn't end up with 4 or 5 dozen cookies. I didn't have walnuts so I used pecans. It was real rich. But again with the peanut butter and chocolate. That works in our house.

Neusole Glass Blowing

So we are back again. This place was so cool, I knew I needed to share it. We took our Girl Scout Junior Troops to Neusole to see a demonstration and let each girl make a glass flower. What was the demo?? They made a Girl Scout Snow Man!!!! It had badges and everything! So cool. I told the guy who talked us through their demo, "You know I have to buy that now. How much are you going to charge me for it?" We will see when I pick up the flowers what they say about it. What a great time! Afterwards? We took our Big Boy Halloween coupons and our 13 Girl Scouts to our local Big Boy for kids meals. All around, a good time had for all.

There is so much to be learned at this trip, and so much to build on at home. For instance, sometimes they use wooden tools and newspaper to help form the glass. They soak them in water so they don't burn under the heat of the glass. Why does water stop them from burning?? It reminded me of the experiment that we did a couple years ago (and plan to do again soon to drive this point home) when we filled a small balloon with water and lit a candle. When placed over the lit candle the balloon didn't pop. Water absorbs all the heat so the balloon doesn't absorb it. In fact if you hold the balloon there long enough you can even boil the water.

Their ovens that they heat the glass in while they work it are at 1900 and 2000 degrees. The room gets very hot while they work. And the propane ovens are very loud. They have to really speak up for us to hear them talk.

When a glass object is made it must go directly into a cooler which is really a heater. The heater starts at 900 degrees and cools slowly. If the glass were to sit out and cool to room temp it would crack for cooling too quick.

So much more. There is tons to learn from this day. Hopefully a seed was planted somewhere.

18 Cookies 'Til Christmas

So these last couple days I am cooking alone, listening to 93.3. I am listening to their nonstop Christmas music, putting the cookie groceries away a few minutes ago when I notice how much I LOVE Christmas music. I love it. I hum it when it is 10 degrees and I am outside walking Uma. The "ring ting tingling" sleigh bells, Rudolph going into history like the president, Jingle Bells and ho ho ho. When November hits I start thinking about getting out my Christmas CD's. My girls and I, we love to sing. Even if we are out of key, it doesn't matter. In Girl Scouts I make all my girls sing. Something about music just touches my soul.

What is it about Christmas for you? What makes you're heart stop for Christmas? We get so excited about decorating the house here. We love the Christmas bears and deer stuffed animals that decorate our tables. The day after Thanksgiving my girls are waking me up, begging me to bring up the boxes from the basement of Christmas stuff.

Why are there so many movies about how unhappy Christmas can be? For some people (you know who you are) the holidays are miserable. They are mean at the checkout lines. They are cranky at family gatherings. Hell-ooo... even Charlie Brown can make a crappy few branches into an inspiration. You can too!! I want to shake you and remind you about the music!

Ok maybe this is the wine talking. But probably not. Cookie pics on the way... Cherry Pecan Cookies from the Gooseberry Patch Cookie Book are today. My mom gave this book to me years ago. In fact she gave me a bunch of Gooseberry Patch cook books. Gooseberry is lots of fun! Check it out.

I will post the recipe while my cookie dough is cooling in the fridge. I will send the final product pic in a bit.

Cherry Pecan Cookies

Mix 1 c. shorting, 2 c. brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1/2 c. water, 3-1/2 c. flour, 1t. baking soda, 1 t. salt, 1-1/2 c. pecans, and 2 c. maraschino cherries, cut. Chill for at least one hour. Drop by teaspoon on cookie sheet. Bake 400 degrees for 8-10 min. Makes 8 dozen.

Same issue as yesterday. Without my girls I don't need EIGHT DOZEN cookies! That is insane. So I cut the recipe way down to 1/4. Which is not easy to do when the original recipe calls for 2 eggs. We will see how it turns out.

19 Cookies 'Til Christmas

I am trying to make up for lost time. First, Gaige and the hospital took my day away. The next day I had to shop for the girls for funeral attire(Bret's grandpa, Grandpa Ray, who holds the key to so many of Bret's real great childhood memories, almost 91, passed away the same day Gaige had his accident)in between dance classes. So we are two days behind. And now the girls are with their Grandpa Jim for a couple days and I might be able to get back caught up with the cookies... and perhaps my todo list too.



These are called Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies.
Mix 2/3c. melted butter, 4 c. quick oatmeal, 1 c. packed brown sugar, 3/4 t. salt, 1 t. vanilla, and 1/2 c. light corn syrup together well, and press into a 10'x15' (editor's note: Clearly this was supposed to be 10"x15". Sorry for the misprint. And thanks for catching it!) pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 min (don't overbake) until light and golden. They will be bubbly. Cool and frost. let set before cutting into squares.

Frosting: melt 12 oz. bag of milk chocolate chips and mix with 2/3 c. peanut butter.

So evidentally I overbaked because the sides were hard and would not come out of the pan. That might be because I cut the recipe in half since the girls are gone until Friday. So strong note... watch this one if you try it. DON'T OVERBAKE!!! lol. Anyway, the middle part worked out great and I think they are delicious! But chocolate and peanut butter mixed together??? How can you go wrong with that combo.

19 Cookies??

So we took the van in to get new tires after realizing they would not go another winter. The next morning I had to take my husband in to work, and Gaige to school. We sat down to learn about Mesopotamia... our unit study of History this week, took care of the dog, did some small minor cleaning, had lunch, and received the call. Gaige had an accident at school. He was head butted during a basketball game in gym class. His tooth went clear through his lip. (OK so the boy needs braces. It is on our very heafty list of things to afford, believe me.) I picked him up and brought him home to wait for Brittany to bring Callie (granbaby) over since this was our day. Once she arrived I sent the girls over to a friend's house because there isn't enough room for EVERYONE in my husband's SUV. Then Gaige, Callie, and I headed over to the hospital emergency room to get his stitches. 5 to be exact. By 7 oclock we were rollin out of that place, too late to get my car out of the shop. I retrieved my girls, fed everyone, and drove with Callie over to pick up my husband from work. Came home, Bret, put everyone to bed, sent Callie on her way and my day was done. Ta Da!! No cookies today. Maybe we will make two kinds tomorrow. Though I doubt it... :-)

Editor's Note: Somewhere in the end of my day I ended up at the store getting liquid protein drinks and straws so Gaige can eat while the gaping hole in his mouth (they cannot stitch the inside of his mouth) heals. And band aids. The Children's Hospital had a stock of only Snoopy band aids. I guess that was not his first choice poor guy. lol.

20 Cookies Til Christmas

So Bret says that our cookies yesterday were duds. Not because they didn't taste good [the girls all loved them] but because they were not real home baked cookies. I say we can utilize store bought products and make them new and improved like we did and call it our own.



So anyway today we made Bret a special treat and baked up his favorite cookies. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. The girls agree that this is their favorite so far. I have never been a huge fan of these cookies, though and I still prefer our fingerprint jam cookies. Orange marmalade jam was the best.

Here is the recipe and here is the website we got the recipe from. Try it out. You won't be sorry. http://whippedtheblog.com/2007/12/11/the-best-white-chocolate-macadamia-nut-cookie-recipe/

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
10 ounces white chocolate (chips or bars cut in chunks)
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped into chunks

Directions:


Heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, beat well. Stir together flour, and the baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture,beating until well blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. (Edges are golden brown and center is set.) Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.

21 Cookies 'Til Christmas

We started a family tradition last year. I take each child out individually to shop for presents for the family. We hang out at the mall, thrift store, antique malls, Walmart, Target, wherever we want to go. We have lunch together and make it a fun day shopping. Today was Bret's and my day to spend together. When we got home from that we had Callie until 11:30. There wasn't much time for cookie making today.
I decided to try one of the non-bake cookie ideas that I had.



The recipe goes like this... crush up a couple candy canes. Add enough vanilla frosting to the candy canes for filling the cookie sandwiches. Next crack open a box of vanilla wafers. Put some frosting mix between two cookies to form a cookie sandwich.



Next melt some milk chocolate chips in a double boiler. If you don't have one you can do what we do. Boil an inch of water in a pan. Put a smaller pan inside it and add chocolate to melt. Do NOT try to melt the chocolate on a pan directly on the stove.



When the chocolate is melted, dip the cookies in the chocolate for a little added flavor. We are full from pizza right now so no one was really in the mood for a cookie. They were good. They may be better in the morning when our stomachs are empty. lol.

The Beach On Ice

When we went to homeschool day last time (maybe 4 years ago) there were 300 people +. Today there were considerably less than 100 people. But still the girls had a great time. Ice skating came first, and for Bret most of her day was dedicated to it today.



The girls spent some time on the sled rides. Marley went once and decided it was too scary to go again. I knew better than to even try it. When I was younger I loved to make my stomach drop. Not so much these days.



Here is where Marley and I spent most of our day. I hung around while she fed and played with the petting zoo animals.



Marley wanted to know why people catch animals and put them in cages for people to look at and touch. I told her I didn't know why. And what did she think was the reason for it. She said she thought it was because little kids like her want to get close to them and they will run away if they are not in cages. :-(

They are all snug in beds fast asleep now. Exhaustion set in. Little Bret offered to read to Marley while I cleaned up from our cookie making. Marley fell asleep (BTW she lost her third tooth today when Gaige popped her in the mouth with a ball) and the other girls followed shortly after. They will sleep good tonight.

22 Cookies 'Til Christmas

Today's cookies are yesterday's butter cookie recipe. Minus the thumb print and jelly, plus a cookie cutter and frosting.



We mostly made Christmas Trees.



Except Brenda and Marley put in a couple designes of their own. They mostly broke into pieces.



They tasted just as good though.



Yum.

4H at Green Acres

So we met at Green Acres for our 4H program Monday. This is turning out to be a real busy week. Monday was Green Acres. Tuesday was dance for Bret and Marley. Wednesday was dance for Brenda and the pool from 7-9. Thursday was Girl Scouts and Friday (tomorrow)is the Beach Waterpark on Ice. Plus a cookie a day. And our usually school buzzness.



So we learned pinch pot and coil pot methods today. Brenda, making a heart bowl.



Here are Bret and Sophia. Any time she gets a chance to hang out with her homeschool friends, it is a party for her.



And Marley? I said that is really nice. Do you want me to help you make a coil pot next? She said no. She was making a birthday cake for herself and she didn't need my help. Silly me to even ask. She had it under control... like usual.

Twenty Three Cookies 'Til Christmas

Jam Filled Butter Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit preserves, any flavor



Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger or an instrument of similar size to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with 1/2 teaspoon of preserves.



3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.




So far these are the chefs' favorite. The dough came out so workable that we are considering making these butter cookies into our cookies for tomorrow minus the jam, plus cookie cutters and frosting when they cool. Great recipe. Easy for the kids to read and understand.

Oh and as per someone's comments on the website we found the recipe in, we added a pinch of salt and a 1/2 t. of vanilla.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/jam-filled-butter-cookies/Detail.aspx

24 Cookies 'Til Christmas

Old German Honey Cookies today... because they didn't need butter and I was out of butter...



Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup honey
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger


Directions
1.In a saucepan over low heat, melt together sugar, shortening and honey. Let cool.
2.Mix together eggs, vanilla, baking soda and ginger. Gradually add to cooled honey mixture.
3.Slowly add 4 cups of flour to mixture. Stir until well blended.



Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) until golden (about 12-15 minutes).



I found this recipe here: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/old-german-honey-cookies/Detail.aspx

We were divided. Some of us liked them, some of us didn't. They were ok. VERY sweet. But still soft after a day of sitting out.