Ginger Cookies

Thanks to everyone who came over yesterday to make cookies; Maiby and I had a great time, and the cookies turned out really well. I had to change recipes because right before people showed up, I looked at it again and saw it was supposed to be chilled for 2 hours, but I had another Ginger Cookie recipe that I'd never tried before. They are delicious! (We didn't use the glaze.)

Frosted Ginger Cookies

3/4 c butter, softened

1 c white sugar

1 large egg, beaten

3 Tbls molasses

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 c flour

1/4 - 1/2 c white sugar for rolling

Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350

In mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

Mix in beaten egg. Add molasses and stir until the mixture is uniform in color.

Add the baking soda and salt, and stir well.

Sprinkle in the spices. Stir until they're thoroughly incorporated.

Stir in one cup of the flour, mix it all up and then mix in the 2nd cup of flour.

Measure out 1/4 c sugar and place in small bowl. When it gets low, add more as needed.

Break off pieces of dough and roll into 1" balls. Roll in sugar and place on greased sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on the sheet and then move to wire rack.

When they are cooled, make the glaze.

Combine the sugar and juice. If it's too thick to drizzle, add more juice. If it's too thin, add more sugar.

Drizzle the glaze on the cookies.

Let the glaze dry before you store them. It should take 20-30 minutes.

YIELD: 6-7 dozen (although we ended up with 4 1/2 dozen yesterday)

This recipe came from one of my favorite authors, Joanne Fluke. She writes murder mysteries about a lady that runs a cookie shop in Minnesota, and after every few chapters, there is a recipe. I have copied down about 30, but only tried 3 or 4, but all that I have tried have been delicious. I definitely recommend the books. So far there are twelve, and she has a website: HERE.

This recipe was found in her latest book, Plum Pudding Murder.

Christmas Cookies

I have a magazine that is filled with a ton of recipes for different Christmas cookies, and I have decided to attempt making a new kind each week to test them out. If anyone is interested in coming over tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) at 315, you are welcome to chat and have the kids play and test some cookies fresh from the oven.

This weeks cookie: Gingersnaps

Halloween & an old project

So, almost 2 months later, here is a picture of the project that I was asking for the fabric scraps for. I made a doll blanket for Maiby, using yoyos and buttons to sew them on. I have never quilted a blanket before, so don't look too closely; it was made with love.
For Halloween, Maiby and I dressed up as Thing 1 & Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss. I figured that since she likes matching so much that the only way to get her to wear a wig was to wear the same thing. I made the wigs from some yarn (and if anyone in Moscow wants the remaining yarn, I don't crochet, so it's available). We had a great time at the ward party, but we didn't take any pictures there.

You can see a bit of the baby bump in this one.

Such a cheesy grin!

My Girl

So I finally got the camera and computer to cooperate, and here are a few pics of stuff I've been working on. I finished my Thanksgiving Advent Calendar. I can't remember where I found the list of activities and tried to find it online again, but I don't know what happened to the link. Sorry to whoever you are, but thanks for the list of activities!



Each page has two or three leaves on it, and then the daily activity is on a small strip of paper. Each one starts out with "We are thankful for _____" and then has an idea of something to do that goes along with what we are thankful for.

Here is my cutie wearing her Halloween dress (finally). The first time we put it on her, she cried and cried, so we let her take it off. But I convinced her one day to put it on, and now she loves it. And it is a lot cuter on her than it was on the hanger.

Here's the dress coat that I made. It took some convincing to keep it on, but then she looked down and noticed that it looks like a dress, and immediately liked it.

And two Friday's ago, our neighbor invited us over to decorate Halloween cupcakes. Here are three of Maiby's five. She had so much fun, I had to make her stop, which means her last cupcake was covered in candy since she didn't want to get down. It was a lot of fun. Thanks Hannah!

Catching Up

So I have been busy sewing and sewing and sewing the last little bit. I made 2 wigs out of yarn for Halloween, which turned out great. And I am excited for their debut on Saturday! Hopefully Maiby still enjoys wearing hers then; I have been telling her it's a hat, and since mine matches, she has been agreeable to wearing it.

And I have started a Thanksgiving Advent Calendar. As I was looking for fabric in my closet, I came across some yellow felt that was from a project that didn't end up being finished, and it was cut up into book size, so it's going to be an advent book. I have almost finished putting the leaves on, and then I need to put on small pockets on the leaves and sew the pages together. Then the picture will be posted.

I also made a super cute coat for Maiby...after she put it on, she really liked it because it looks like a dress. For those of you in the area, she will be wearing it on Sundays to church.

Besides the sewing, we have been enjoying the fall weather and the chance to go to the indoor park a little more often. I love that place.

And we had our book club meeting this week, where we discussed the book "Follow the River". And I just want Ashley to know that I really, really, REALLY love my husband, and my daughter, too; I just think they are the greatest people around!!

Mysterious Noise

In the spirit of Halloween, and at the suggestion of my husband, I'm going to share a mysterious noise that I hear just about every day. Every afternoon, between 12:30 and 4, something sounds like it hits the back of our house. Sometimes it is loud, and other times not so bad, but it doesn't fail - it reverberates either on the window or the a/c cover. So strange. And it's not a new thing - it's been happening basically since we moved in. There have been a few times that I have jumped over to the window as soon as I heard it, but there was nothing in the back to explain the noise.

Talk about strange...

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I LOVE change. Have I mentioned that before? A new haircut or color, clothes, furniture arrangement, book, recipe, season, holiday, calling (usually) - I love them. I love moving, having a new place to live, figuring out how we are going to cram all our stuff in a small location without it feeling crammed.

And lucky for me, a change - I guess several - have arrived:

---- It is getting cooler, it is now October, so HOORAY for Halloween decor! That's right - it's out and up and looking great. We also rearranged the living room, so it feels like a totally new place. I am not a big fan of putting everything up against the walls, but it feels so much bigger now with how we have it set up. I love it, even if the tv is all the way across the room from the couch. It's not like it's much more than 10 feet...

---- We are adding to our family. Some of you know, and some don't, but we are going to have another baby in the spring. It looks like we will not be finding out what it is, so you will just have to wait 6 1/2 more months like the rest of us.

---- I have been feeling a lot better. I'm only getting sick 3-5 days a week instead of 7, which is great, and it's not lasting as long, which is also great. I'm certainly looking forward to the next trimester, because it's usually the best (says the woman with prior experience of 1).

---- Everyone is invited to stop by and make their own tombstone. That's right, it's back. The pens and black cutouts are waiting for any visitor to make a tombstone to hang in the front window for everyone to see. It was so much fun last year - we had the bishop, many friends, sister missionaries, and came very close to getting a man running for the state senate - up on the window with their self-made paper tombstones. Don't worry - you don't have to put your name on it, as long as you color it somehow. It was so fun we continued it with stockings at Christmas time last year.

---- I spent my birthday money. That's right, the wait is over: I bought a game. It's "Carcasonne" - a tile-building game. We played it once with some friends and had a great time. If you like Settlers or games like it, you would enjoy this one. And the great thing is that it didn't use up all of my money, so I also bought a Christmas Cookie magazine today. So fun, and such delicious-looking, tempting goodies from BHG.

---- And in a few weeks, we will celebrate our 3rd anniversary! Woohoo!

Hooray for October!!