Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I woke up at 2:00 am Christmas Eve morning with the flu. I missed a family Christmas Eve Party and Christmas dinner at a friend's house. I'm finally starting to feel a little better now at 6:30 pm on Christmas evening. I count my blessing though, it's just the flu and I will be better soon. It makes me reflect on those less fortunate, those that are very ill and in hospitals, nursing homes, those that are homeless and those away from their family... stationed in Iraq and abroad. I'm thinking of them today and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Some new finds

I went to the Salvation Army today to look around. I found this cute little chair. The print is a little too busy for me but I plan on making a white slipcover for it. It's a really good quality chair and it has a down/feather cushion. It looks brand new, I think someone must have had it in their bedroom because it looks like it's never been used. The best part...it was only $36. The picture does not do it justice at all, it's really a lot cuter in person. The colors are blue, yellow, green and pink with a white background.

I also found these needlepoint Christmas stockings the other day at another thrift store near mel. They were only a $1 each. They have a sewn-in tag that says "Do not sell, display only." I think they must have been the display stockings at a store???

The Best Molasses Cookies Ever!

Trust me I am not an arrogant person but I must say if there is one thing in this world that I do very well, it is that I can bake really good cookies. Baking cookies is very relaxing for me, it's something I really enjoy doing and it's something that has come very naturally to me. So many times in my life friends and family have asked if they can come watch how I make them so theirs will turn out like mine. I've had boyfriends and husbands of friends say that they wish their girlfriend/wife could make cookies like me....I hate when they say that! My ex-mother-in-law used to pay me to bake cookies every week for her so she could put them in my father-in-law's lunch that she packed for him every day. I will share some of my secrets because I think good recipes should be shared. My ex-mother-in-law has THE BEST recipe for Italian Fig Cookies and she won't share it because the man who gave it to her, who is now deceased, said he would give it to her if she didn't share it. I think it's such a shame that a great recipe will go to the grave with her because she refuses to share it. I keep asking my son (her grandson) to ask her for the recipe, hoping that she has become wiser as she is older and realize that it should be shared. He's afraid to ask her! Oh well, anyhow, here are some of my secrets and a great recipe that was given to me over 20 years ago. One of my first jobs was at General Electric working as a clerk in Cost Accounting...you can't get a more boring job than that. Luckily there were a lot of great women I worked with there. I was only 19 years old and I met Susan who was in her 30's back then. She was from Vermont. Even back then I adored everything about New England and I hadn't even been there yet so of course I adored Susan. She brought in molasses cookies to work one day and they were the best cookie I had ever tasted. She gave me the recipe and I have been making these cookies regularly ever since! That would be 28 years that I have been making these cookies. My kids grew up eating these and still love them. I lost contact with Susan for many, many years but in 2000 I was in the cafeteria of a different company and she walked up and asked if my name was Cindy. I was so shocked that she recognized me that I forgot to tell her that I'm now know for her great cookie recipe! I got laid off from that company and have lost contact with her again. I'm sure our paths will cross again and I will remember to mention the cookie recipe!

Finally...here are some of my tips for making great cookies: Make sure you cream the butter shortening really well with the sugar. Only use really good quality REAL Vanilla...it's worth the price! When it comes time to mix in the dry ingredients don't overmix...just mix until the dry ingredients are mixed in. I always line my baking sheet with foil, shiny side up., this really makes a difference! Under bake rather than over bake. Some of you may already know all this so I hope I didn't bore you.

Here is my (Susan's) recipe for Molasses Cookies

3/4 Cup Melted shortening
1 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Molasses
2 Eggs
2 1/2 Cups Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Ground cloves
1/2 tsp. Ground ginger
1 tsp. Cinnamon
additional sugar for rolling and sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a small bowl and set aside. Cream melted shortening with sugar. Mix in molasses and eggs. Add dry indredients and mix until just blended. (The batter will be a little sticky.) Roll into balls and roll into sugar. Put on greased baking sheet that has been lined with foil. Bake about 10 minutes. When they come out of the oven sprinkle with some additional sugar. Allow to cool on baking sheet and few minutes and then transfer to wire rack.

Let me know if you try the recipe...and remember don't over bake them they are better slightly under baked.

Peppermint Tree

This week my daughter is babysitting our next door neighbor who is 8 years old. Yesterday we made these peppermint trees by hot gluing peppermint candies to a styrofoam cone and then adding a ribbon to the top. My daughter had the idea to glue two candy canes together to make a heart. I think they are so cute!

Happy 20th Birthday Vince!

To the son that has exceeded my expectations...Happy 20th Birthday! My prediction is that you are going to be the best Political Science Professor ever! I love you Vince. (yes, he did bake that bread himself, in fact, he bakes bread almost every day.)

Victorian Kissing Ball

I have always wanted to make a Victorian Kissing Ball so finally this week I did. I bought a 6 inch Styrofoam ball, silk flowers, moss, 3 different ribbons and some florist pins at Michael's Craft Store. I love the flowers they are red and green hydrangeas. (I love, love, love hydrangeas, they are my favorite flower.) I hot glued the moss to the Styrofoam ball and then cut the stems really short on the flowers and used the florist pins to hold them in place.

I then made a loop to hang it with one of the ribbons and attached it with a florist pin and just to be sure it holds I hot glued that down. Then I just attached some more ribbon to the bottom and made some loose loops with a few of them. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. (Sorry for the bad photo quality...shhh...after Christmas my photos should be better quality because someone in this house is getting a new digital camera for Christmas and hopefully she will let me borrow it.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's 8:00 am on Saturday morning and I've already made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I love Saturday mornings! Tonight we are going on a Christmas Train Ride through Santa Cruz. There will be hot cider and we will be singing Christmas Carols. I can hardly wait!

The Birthday dinner

Every year for my daughter's birthday I let her pick what she would like for dinner. Every year she picks the same thing. This pasta is about as unhealthy as you can get. It has rigatoni, bacon, fontina cheese, gorgonzola cheese, butter, spinach, red bell pepper, onion and a little brandy in it. It's tastes much better than it looks. I didn't do a birthday cake this year because we made cupcakes the night before so I put her candle in the pasta.

Happy 14th Birthday Lauren!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl. I can't believe you are already 14! I love you sweetheart! You are my sunshine ♥

Confession: I love Donny Osmond

Okay...I'm really showing my age now! I have this CD playing now and it just takes me back to being in 5th & 6th grade when I had the biggest crush on Donny Osmond. This CD came out last year and I really like it. He still looks great!

My Centerpiece

This tiered dish is very sentimental to me. My mom bought this in a shop at Disneyland when I was very little. I've always loved it. Last year for Christmas she passed it down to me. I've had fun decorating it for every season, moss with Easter eggs in the spring, faux lemons in the summer, chocolates for Valentines Day and this year for Christmas I put faux sugared fruit in it with pearl garland and some ribbon. Thank mom, I will cherish this piece forever.