Saturday, December 30, 2006

Oops I Did It Again!


Aaargh! It happened again! I can't believe it. I've told myself over and over again that I was not going to let this happen anymore. And bam, it snuck up behind me, and there it happened again this morning when I got up. Every year the same thing. Another birthday, another year older. But I tell ya, never again. From this day on, every year I am officially turning, um, let's say, 35, on this day. Yay, I like 35. Sounds good to me.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Resolution Time Already?


It's that time of year again. The time of year where I feel I have to get all introspective and decide what New Year's resolutions I am going to setting for myself. Because, invariably, someone will ask what is your New Year's resolutions, and I always feel like I'm so not with the in crowd if I don't have some lofty goal upon my list.


I am naturally not too much of an introspective person. I do not sit down and go over my whole year to see what was good and what was bad. And then try to write a bunch of goals to fix what didn't go right. Not that I think goals are bad. Don't get me wrong. I probably need to learn how to do that so that I'm not floundering in the sea of wasted time. But goal setting has never been my strong point. I'm more of a last minute procrastinator type. My best work is done under time pressure. If I try to do things too far in advance, I tend to end up picking my work apart anyway, because I've got the time to get disgruntled with it.


But back to New Year's resolutions. Okay, sure, I've got the same old, same old that seems to get passed down every year like a well worn pair of hand me down overalls. Lose some weight, be more patient, be more organized, dust once in awhile. They seem to get recycled over and over. But these all seem so, oh, dull compared with some your wonderful, introspective, well thought out goals that I've been reading. How do you do that?


Okay, I may not be a great long term plan person but I am a list person. I loooove lists. They do help me to see what I do need to get done. They help me to remember; which seems to be an elusive concept sometimes to me. I think it has something to do with 6 pre-schoolers, each needing my undivided attention. right. this. minute. But lists are short term goals. Goals for the day. Which sorta makes me feel like I fail in the plan department. Hence, the trouble with New Year's Resolutions.


Which makes me really glad that God is the King of Planning. He tells me in Jeremiah of plans.


Jeremiah 29:11 -14a

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to
you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will
be found by you," declares the Lord,...



I'm thinking I like God's plans. So how does that fit into my list oriented personality? Well, here is how my list will look:



  1. Seek God with all my heart

  2. Trust God with all my heart

  3. Give God daily control of myself so that His plans may be accomplished


This my mind and personality gets. I can break it down. I can do it day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute. I pray for God's grace to do that in 2007.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

How Easy Can It Be?

You wanna help a charity but don't have too much moola hanging around after Christmas? Well, you can still donate. Donate a comment that is! If you head over to Pass the Torch, and leave a simple little comment, up to one per day for each blogger, her corporate sponsor is donating $1 per comment to St. Jude Medical Research Hospital. But you gotta make sure Living To Tell The Story sent you over. Now how easy can helping be. You don't even have to put your coffee down or scrape the coin jar. So go. Go on!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

This DVD was under the tree for me from my beloved hubby. Even though he sort of majorly dislikes listening to it. And he's let me play the whole DVD like, a hundred times in 2 days. Now that's true love for ya.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrRIRcsBwAI


I had to link because ever since I went to new blogger for some reason I cannot post anything from youtube.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Hope everybody's Christmas was holly and jolly. Today I'm in the recuperating stage. But if you like, bring your coffee and bon bons, your eggnog or turkey sandwiches over to Faith Lifts and

A Group Blog for Christian Moms


talk with me about what brought you deep, abiding, lasting joy this last year!

Friday, December 22, 2006


Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends. May love, joy, peace and health be yours & your family's this Christmas. Thank you for being a part of my life this year. You'll never know the blessing you've been as you've encouraged me, challenged me, stretched me, made me cry and made me laugh out loud!



So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Be back around Thursday or so!


Photo by Luis Francisco Cordero, Equador, unrestricted usage

"We Wish You a Merry Birthday"


AAHHH, Christmas. A time of celebration, of family. A time of baking, and eating, of cleaning and expecting and eating. A time of lights to hang, trees to decorate, of eating. A time to, for just a little while put away the sounds of Marc Anthony, U2, Sting, or whoever else it is that you listen to. Unless, of course, your favorite has made a Christmas album. And in the midst of belting out those Christmas tunes, and eating, as you raise your voice in song, singing old familiars such as "Joy to the World", "Away in a Manger", & "Jingle Bells", with your Santa hat on your head, eggnog in hand, something a little different is heard.

At my house, all of a sudden in the midst of all that joyous celebration of everything red and green and white, what is that we hear? "We wish you a merry .... birthday? As we leave the chaos of the living room with it's paper and ribbons strewn everywhere so that it looks like a bomb has gone off, we follow the sounds to the kitchen. And what to our wondering eyes do appear? Birthday balloons, birthday tablecloth, birthday gifts? And yes, we leave the Christmas chaos, and make a new chaos of birthday party in the kitchen. Off come the Santa hats, on goes the birthday hats.

For you see, my baby girl decided she just had to make an appearance on Christmas Day. Noon. Christmas Day. Joy to the World!

It all started earlier that year when the great debate was on. We had the "millionare" family. Dad, Mom, one girl, one boy. Should we try for another? Should we, shouldn't we, should we, shouldn't we? Oh, I guess we are! And what do you mean, dear ultrasound person, that my due date is December 23rd? You're joking right? Haha. You're serious? Okey, dokey, then.

Well, that's just too much stress for me. So what does any self-respecting, good Christian mommy do? Why she believes God, implores God, that the babe would be born in the beginning of December. She prays, she confesses, she won't accept anything less. When asked when the due date is, she answers honestly but always with the add on of: "But we're believing she's coming early". Even to her doctor, who let's just say, doesn't quite hold to asking God for a specific due date. Especially when the mommy's first two babes were not early, but in fact, came exactly on their due dates! So mommy's good doctor finally in exasperation points this out. But the mommy holds strong. Fast forward to December, past the beginning of December, moving on to the middle of December. Mommy is still very pregnant! Mommy is still believing that baby is going to be early.

Okay, now it's the evening of December 23. Nothing, not a twinge. Still big as a house. So now what does this good, faith-filled mommy do? Why, she starts believing God that the babe would come after Christmas, because this would just add too much to all the Christmas plans you know. So believing that the babe is not coming till after Christmas, she throws a Christmas Eve party for all the relatives. House full of people! Very pregnant mommy. Out of her mind mommy!

Christmas morning, after all the chaos of opening gifts, mommy is in the livingroom watching her new music video, kids are off playing with whatever it is they got that year, and Daddy is in the kitchen, making waffles with his new waffle maker. When all of a sudden, hmm, okay that's gotta be too much shortbread and eggnog from the night before. Oh, there it is again. Okay big one now. Does anyone know God has a sense of humor? Mommy goes out to the kitchen to tell Daddy it's time. He says: "But I'm making waffles." Mommy gets on phone to grandma, who is supposed to take kids when the big event happens. "It's time," Mommy says. "But I'm stuffing the turkey," Grandma says. "Well, you better get over here right now," Mommy says. " 'Cause I'm unstuffing mine". Grandma can't quite believe it and is quite flustered being she had her hands up the backside of the bird and all, and now she has to do something with all this but she makes it over in no time flat, just in case the Mommy is not joking.

Nope, not joking. Precisely, at 12:05, noon, Christmas Day, (Did I mention God has a sense of humor?), precious baby was born. Two hours from start to finish. Doctor lady thanks the Mommy for letting her get home in time to cook her turkey for supper. Ha ha, doctor lady.

Seriously, that was the best Christmas present ever. Nothing could ever top that. Our lovely little lady was born on Christmas Day. They brought her to me after her weighing and all in a cute Christmas stocking with a knitted Santa hat on her head. The best stocking stuffer ever, I tell ya!




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Happy Birthday, Apple Dumpling. You've blest us everyday of your life. You're turning into a lovely young lady with a sensitive heart towards blessing others. And we are so glad God chose us to be your Mom and Dad.


Thursday, December 21, 2006

Fall into Reading Finale


It's done. Fall is done and so is the Fall Into Reading Challenge. Katrina, our hostess, is asking us to do a Reading Challenge Summary and link it so we can all see what we felt about what we read.
Well, I loved this challenge. While I am a voracious fiction reader, usually, I struggle with reading non-fiction. Unless it's a biography. So I made sure I had one on my list. My list was pretty simple, only 5 books, because I knew once I started reading everyone's lists, I would be adding to my own. And I was right. My list is now about 30 long. Along the way, I also got some books in from the library that were on hold so I had to read those because they need returning. So all in all I think I did pretty well, although for the last 3 weeks I just have not felt like reading at all. Just too much going on, I guess, and I didn't want to get too behind on all your nice posts. :v)
Katrina asked us this about our challenge:
The Best Book I Read This Fall: That had to be "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio - How my Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less" by Terry Ryan. You can read what I wrote here. Loved this book and loved the movie.
Book I could have lived without: I'd have to say it was "The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters" by Elisabeth Robinson. By page 30 I just could not get into it. It was written in a letter type style and after the 3rd "f" word, I just didn't not feel like continueing. While that may not bother some, it does me, so that was like the thing that just convinced me to not push through with the book.
Did I read more than I would have without the challenge: I'd have to say not fiction, but the challenge helped me to finish a book that was on my "to read" list forever. And that was "TeenAge Boys, Shaping the Man Inside" by Bill Beausay. All though I'm not quite done, probably about 3/4 done, that is great for me. Teaching books are always hard for me, and while I could not tell you every concept he was teaching, I did come away with some golden nuggets to help me out.
Best thing about the challenge: Definitely finding all the cool books to add to my "to read" list from everybody else's lists. I read every list on the link. Every one.
Did I read more than I would have without the challenge: Not in the fiction department. But I'm glad it focused me a bit and helped me get through one non-fiction that I've been trying to do for awhile.
Did I discover and enjoy a new author after reading someone's list? I discovered some books I hadn't read from some of my favorite authors like Angela Hunt, Karen Kinsbury, etc. I have not got to the new ones yet as I mentioned before, I had some come in at the library that bumped some of the new ones. But I will get to them, and you'll probably see some on the Spring Challenge.
Other thoughts & impressions: I like how the challenge introduced me to new books and authors of which I'll get to. And I like how the challenged focused me in the non-fiction catagory.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Done, done, done






I am so glad I'm done. At least with shopping. Other than a few groceries, we'll live with what we have. Now I just gotta wrap. And I gotta do it today, 'cause the kids are home starting tomorrow. And it's impossible to sneak wrap anymore. If I wait until they are in bed I'll be wrapping at midnight. And I'm just getting to old for that!



Now I just need to cook, bake some more, clean, make beds, do laundry.... I guess I'm not so done after all. Okay repeat to self: "What gets done, get's done. What doesn't, doesn't." Repeat as needed.

"A Christmas Carol"

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Painting by Warner Sallman



A Christmas Carol

"What means this glory round our feet?"
The Magi mused, "more bright than morn?"
And voices chanted clear and sweet,
"Today the Prince of Peace is born!"

"What means that star?" the shepherd said,
"That brightens through the rocky glen?"
And angels answering overhead,
Sang, "Peace on earth, good will to men!"

'Tis twenty hundred years and more
Since those sweet oracles were dumb;
We wait for Him, like them of yore;
Alas, He seems so slow to come!

But it was said, in words of gold.
No time or sorrow e'er shall dim,
That little children might be bold
In perfect trust to come to Him.

All round about our feet shall shine
A light like that the wise men saw,
If we our loving wills incline
To that sweet Life which is the Law.

So shall we learn to understand
The simple faith of shepherds then,
And clasping kindly hand in hand,
Sing, "Peace on earth, good will to men!"

And they who do their souls no wrong,
But keep at eve the faith of morn,
Shall daily hear the angel-song
"Today the Prince of Peace is born!"

- by J.R. Lowell

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

If you need a good chuckle, head on over to Laurel Wreath's and read her letter to Santa. Just make sure you don't have a liquid beverage in your mouth or you might have some clean up to do.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Busy, busy, busy


Today I was pretty much missing in action around blogland today because I was busy making this:




Cheese Shortbread Cookies

These cookies are perfect for those who cannot have a lot of sugar.

1 container (250 grams/1/2 lb.) McLaren's Imperial Cheese [the one in the red container with black lid] *Update: here is a link to this cheese. Apparently it is a Canadian product but I guess made by Kraft so I'm thinking it would be available for you south of the border!

http://www.ioriginals.net/imperialcheese.htm

1/2 lb. butter

2 cups flour

2 Tbsp. light brown or golden sugar

Bring cheese and butter to just room temperature. Mix all ingrediants together with mixer. Push into a ball in bowl, cover and refridgerate 1 hour or more.

On large square of wax paper, spread a little flour down. Place half the ball of dough on wax paper, folding the paper over the ball. Now roll into a tube like shape. Do the same with the other half of dough so that you have two rolls of dough. Place in freezer for 1 hour for easier clean slicing. Cookies will be pretty much as large as you made the roll and as thick as you slice them.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Place sliced cookies on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on racks. Makes about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen cookies depending on size and thickness you make them.

If you don't consider rolling pins an instrument of torture you can roll and cut them with cookie cutters.

We also made these today with the 2 - 3 year olds:



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On a large sheet of paper, I used newsprint, trace around a small plate or dish. For the hand prints I used 2 different greens. Use the round area as your boundary for the heal of the hand. For the young kids I totally helped them to place their hands turning the paper for them.
After cleaning up on a stiffer piece of paper, such as construction paper we colored 3 round shapes, then daubed glue on them, then shook sparkles to make them shiny. After then handprints were dry, I braced the back of them with strips from an old file folder as the newsprint tends to curl up a bit.


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Then I just cut out the "balls" and let them glue them where ever they wanted and gave them a hunk of curled ribbon to glue on where they wanted. Voila: handprint wreath.

With the 4 year olds I made this Christmas countdown.

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They traced and cut out the star shape (some with a little help), then cut strips of construction paper. I made 7 for the 7 days left for Christmas. With older children you can do from December 1 as their countdown. I find that is a big concept for a 4 year old and 7 days is plenty. They grasp that easier. We glue and sparkled the star, then made a chain of the strips. Each night at bedtime they tear off the bottom circle. When only the star is left it is Christmas Day.

So that is why I didn't get to visit to many of you today. I will catch up tomorrow.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Come On In!


Welcome, Welcome! Thanks for stopping by on your bloggety Christmas Tour of Homes. Wasn't it great of Boomama to host this again? You can go on over there to add your home or to jump in on the fun!





Please ignore the nice pile of papers that my son delivers. They are a daily fixture on our step. I wish I could figure out how to make them look like they are part of the decoration.


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Here's my deal of the year. A whopping $5 at Shopper's Drug Mart on clearance. I wanted a wreath for years and this satisfied my cheapness, penny pinching frugal budget.









Coming into the living room our stockings hang. Why not from the fireplace mantle? Glad you asked. Because the 6 little rugrats that run thru my place each day will not leave them alone. So up they go. The patchwork ones are my kid's. Notice teen girl's hanging off the lamp in the background? Nice designer touch don't you think?


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You've seen this one but seeing it's my favorite thing in the room here's my nativity.




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My tree, day and night

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And just for Barb, here is my designer barricade that is used during the day when I have 6 kidlets running around. It's either this or everytime we have a potty need or diaper change I shuffle all 6 into the bathroom with me. Notice the nice touch of the Thomas Tank engines. Guess that big screen comes in handy after all. I think I'll let hubby keep it.



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Part of my snowman collection. The house is a tealight house and when lit the windows and open door glow. My fave. There is a "look with your eyes not your fingers" rule on the house which the kids totally get but they can't leave the stockings alone. Go figure. The snowman coasters were a gift from my sis. Moving on the the kitchen now.



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I used to collect stacking Russian Doll thingy's. This is one of the only ones I kept. It sits on top of the fridge.



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And my little snowman on my table. He amuses me. He's an icecube roasting marshmallows over a fire. When you turn him on the fire flashes yellow and he flashes blue. Another gift from my sis.


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And to end just some more of my snowman collection.


Thanks for coming by. It just occurred to me I forgot to have my little red cup (turned around this time to show the snowman) follow us around like in the last tour. Ah well, maybe next year! Merry Christmas!

Christmasey Tour of Homes


Today's the Day! Boomama's Christmas Tour of Homes is officially on! Grab a coffee or hot chocolate or eggnog, some cookies and let's go touring! As you can see, I'm not quite ready for company yet but I will have the house ready later today. Something to do with being totally over-committed and ultra-busy but I'm getting on it right away! Meanwhile, click on the button and tour away!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Perspective, Thanks and Link Love


Thanks so much to everyone who weighed in and gave me some great advice over "The Big Dilemma". I tell ya I'm sorta glad only one of my kids is in sports. I don't think I could go through some of this stuff with three of them. And when you see your kid really hurting that old Mama Bear instinct just rises in me. You know; protect your young. But you all are right. This is a perfect opportunity for her to learn that life is not fair and how to walk through it with grace and leaning on Jesus.

We've never quite experienced this kind of coaching in her "career" as a basketball player. Her former coaches have always been very supportive and treated players fairly. Her last that she had for 2 1/2 years, was very competitive yet was able to balance playing the girls fairly, at least communicating to them exactly what he wanted. And she also had him as a coach in club for two years where it was very much a family atmosphere and parents and the coach talked freely. So this is a huge learning curve for me also, this negotiating the choppy waters of competitive high school sports and new parent-coach relationships, or lack thereof. I think what's been the most frustrating for her is going from a top player in junior high to having her position changed and then not being played as much last year as they decided what on earth they wanted to do with her (they said she was no longer tall enough to play post), then deciding they were going to change her around, the learning curve of learning the new skills and then all of a sudden being thrown into something she hadn't worked on in a year and then sat out because her performance wasn't there. Anyhow, it's a day past it and she went to practice and still worked hard. Good for her, I don't know if I could have been so mature at her age of 16.

Anyhoo, all that to say, thank you all for helping out this mom to have a little perspective on the situation and for granting to me your sage advice and your prayers.


And moving right along, there have been some awesome posts out there in the last few weeks. I wish I would have wrote them all down but I'd like to pass on a few that I remember.

~ Barbara H. at Stray Thoughts posted a wonderful Christmas version of I Corinthians 13 here

~ Kari at Oodles of Blessings has had a wonderful series running where she takes different characters from the Christmas story and gives us their perspective of that wonderful event. It started a little while ago but if you go now you can catch up. It's well worth it. It starts here and then you can see the rest of the posts in here sidebar to get to todays.

~ Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee posted this hilarious perspective on a popular Christmas gift exchange.

~ Christine at Fruit in Season had a great post on the atmosphere in your home here and she has Mr. Linky set up with others writing on the same subject.

~ Carol at She Lives had a great post on what you can learn from each character involved in the Christmas story here.

There have been tons more this week. I really need to write some of these down. Enjoy the ones I remembered.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

What Do Ya Do?







This is what teen girl wanted to be doing in last night's game.











This is what she did the whole. second. half. (Not the holding the head in the hands thing, but the growing cobwebs thing).










Help me out here. What do you do with a coach who last year changes the position she's played for 5 years, plays and trains her in this new postition in practices and then in the game throws her into her old position which she hasn't practiced for a year? And then when she doesn't do great sits her on the bench for the whole second half. What do you do with a coach who tends to only play his hot players while the rest of the team sits on the bench? What do you do with a girl who is very, very frustrated but is horrified at the thought of you calling up said coach for a chat? Even when you promised you'd just inquire for her what his thoughts are and you swore on a pinky promise you would not act mad or tell him off or tell him what to do, even when that is exactly what you really, really want to do. When everything in you wants to tell him he's dunking your kid's self-esteem into the toilet!! And to knock it off! But you promised you'd be nice. But she still doesn't want you to go anywhere near the guy. What do you do when it's really irking you to sign a cheque for $225 for her to sit on the bench for half the game? But she loves the game.

Help me out what's a mom to do? You who have older kids on teams, what do you do? Call the guy anyway and tell him your conversation better not get back to your daughter or affect the way he treats her or plays her in any negative way or you will hunt him down? That if he makes your little girl cry one more time you will threaten him to within one inch of his life? And what do you do with the guilt feelings that come when your feelings do not match up with your Christ-like walk? Sigh!

But I'm proud of my girl 'cause this is what she did while she was on that bench! She didn't pout or cry while there.


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She cheered her team on as they came back from a 15 point deficit to tie the game in the last minute but then give up the last basket in the final 30 seconds and not get it back.
So tell me, what do ya do?

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Join me over at Faith Lifts today. Just click on the button and join in on the discussion where joy is.


A Group Blog for Christian Moms
A note to all my beta blogger friends: I have been trying to comment but it will not let me on no matter what I try. So unfortunately I cannot comment on some really great posts out there today. :v( But I did read, honest, and I really wanted to respond!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Susie, HomeBaker, I am not

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it or not but baking & I don't necessarily get along. Give me meat, veggies, a chef's knife; I'm in heaven. But exact measurements, shortening, baking powder, and I'm, well, shall we say challenged. I don't know what it is. But the sight of a rolling pin makes me turn and run screaming from the room. I start to sweat and break out in hives from the thought of having to make sugar cookies or pie crusts or anything that needs to be rolled out.

So needless to say I was less than thrilled when my ladies group decided that the thing we would do for our December fun night was to have a Christmas cookie exchange. Drat! The thought of bringing home 8 dozen other cookies was no problem. My kids and hubby would be thrilled. Let's just say they don't get a lot of homemade cookies and baking. I'd bring that home any day. But it was the thought of baking something other than your standard chocolate chip or brownie that was giving me nightmares. And to top that off, 8 dozen of 'em. And have them taste good. Where on earth is Paula Dean when you need her anyway?

Then I came across this little recipe. And being Hungarian how could I resist it? Lemon and poppyseeds? Heaven. And you don't have to roll them out or have them make a certain shape? Ok, sold. I tried a batch out on my unsuspecting little family unit. With bated breath I waited for the verdict. They loved them!! Raved about them, even! They were so thrilled with them, that guess what, not only do the ladies group get them tonight in lovely little Christmas bags, but I present the recipe to you especially any of you my friends, who like me, are a little baking challenged.
Barb & Beck, well, you're welcome to take it too, if you don't feel it's too easy for the likes of your baking prowess. And I mean that in the most standing in awe of your talents kind of way!




Lemon PoppySeed Cookies

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick or square) butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

glaze: 1 cup icing sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat granulated sugar and butter in large bowl at medium speed until creamy. Beat in egg and lemon peel. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, gradually add to butter mixture. Stir in poppy seeds at low speed.

Drop dough by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. (I used the Pampered Chef small size cookie scooper thingy). Bake 7-9 minutes or until lightly browned. (Start with the smallest amount of time and keep an eye on them for the first batch and then you're okay for the rest with the time. The original recipe said 11 minutes but mine were done in 8). Let stand 1 minute and then transfer to wire racks.

Mix glaze and drizzle over cookies. Let sit until glaze fully sets.

Makes about 3 dozen.
*UPDATE* I'm so excited! Someone actually asked me a semi-technical question about baking! And what's better, I know how to answer. :vD Chris asked me if I used fresh lemon peel or the dried store bought kind. The original recipe did not specify. I used fresh because fresh always tastes better and then I used to juice of the fresh lemon in the glaze.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Word for the Weekend


"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the govenrnment will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6

Friday, December 08, 2006

Christmas Tree Treasures


Morning Glory is hosting a fun picture linky today called Christmas Tree Treasures to let us have a peek at your Christmas tree ornaments.

"You are invited to post as many photos as you want, of the special ornaments that you hang on your tree each year. Share with us why they are special to you. Maybe they are family heirlooms, things your children made you or you had as a child, or special theme collections -- whatever it is that you put on your tree that brings you pleasure each year as you decorate it. "

Please join us and share your favorites.

Here's a few that I love to hang, although these do not cover everything.


I started collecting snowmen ornaments quite a few years back. My mom gave me this one. It's one from my childhood that hung on our tree then. It's older than I am and would be considered antique. Hmmm, does that mean I'm an antique too? Anyway, I just love him.





I also love pinecone ornaments and this, too, my mom gave me from my childhood. So it's also antique. This is the biggest one and then I've got a gold one, a blue one, and an aqua colored one that are a bit smaller.





This is the one I got for Dave and I when we were first married. And the snowman is one from my kid's ornaments. I get them each one every year. There is no theme or rhyme or reason for their ornaments, it's whatever strikes my fancy for them. They each got one of these cloth snowmen, each is a different color and silver threads make it look like snow glistening when the lights are on it. I'm sad now that I didn't get myself one because I just love these little guys!
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These next four snowmen are special because my sister got them for me as a gift one year.
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My son got me a couple of these snowpeople one year for Christmas out of his little allowance. You know that's gotta mean it's ultra special!


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These two little angels I love. The crystal one I have no idea where she came from. She just appearead one year. The country angel was one I helped to cut and paint her dress for a lady who hired me to do that for her one year for her craft business.
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There is my tree. Not a designer tree by an long shot but it's my memory tree. It's got my kid's ornaments all over it and little memory ones, and I wouldn't trade it for a "perfect" tree. In fact looking at it in the picture, it seems sorta empty although in "real life" it looks really full. Hmmm, I think I need to go get more snowmen or something. :v)

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