sugar crinkle cookie recipe

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Shanda

Monday night we had two baseball games at the same time so Rich and I wandered between two fields, it was freezing cold outside and I had a winter coat, a pair of jeans over leggings, gloves, a big scarf, boots on my feet, and a thick blanket around myself like a native american. We watched more of Caleb’s game than Seth’s because the older kids know more about the game and therefore do more exciting things. Seth’s team surprised us, though, we saw a few nice plays and Seth got the game ball.

Yesterday Dave had an orthodontist appointment at 11. I was out in the field until the very last moment and then rushed to get him from school. Afterwards we went to Panera for lunch. He was craving a broccoli and cheese soup bread bowl. We sat near the garbage can and were shocked at how much food grown ups were throwing away. For example, we were there for about 20 minutes and two people threw away their entire bread bowl after just eating the soup out of the inside, “criminal” says Dave. One wonders if the parents say the words, “finish what’s on your plate” any longer. Or, “don’t let your eyes be bigger than your stomach.”

Yesterday’s after school activities were 1) Dave had a baseball game 2) Seth had a baseball game, and 3) Caleb had a band concert. All at the same time.

I made tacos for dinner, dropped D and S off at their respective fields, went back home to get C, and went to the concert while Rich got home from work, changed his clothes, and went to S’s game. I pulled Caleb out of the auditorium as soon as band (the only thing he was in) was over because I just could not/would not sit through another 2 hours of chorus and awards, and we went to D’s game down the road just in time to see him get his one and only up to bat–a nice base hit. Seth’s team lost, David’s team won by the mercy rule so we were home just in time for Dave to watch his favorite TV show “Flash” at 8pm with Michael and the girls (who had stayed home together). In fact, David’s baseball expertise is stealing bases and his nickname is “Flash”. oh boy. Have I mentioned he’s taller than I am now? This morning I am washing dirt and taco sauce off of his white baseball pants because he didn’t eat his dinner until after the game.

This morning I’ve been crazy busy trying to get the upstairs ready for the professional carpet cleaner guy to come at 10. Although we use a gate on the bottom of the stairs, Parker continues to do some “marking” in Sarah’s room whenever he finds it left open and although I cleaned it the best I could with my small shampooer, I felt it was time for the big guns, so to speak. The carpet guy is also cleaning two area rugs on the main floor. Jacob is sleeping downstairs in his room.

The dog is not on my good side as he is also digging huge holes in my gardens. HUGE!

Tonight David has another game and Caleb has practice. And the weather is till winter-like. (currently 50 degrees)

Jacob is going to drive to Vermont to get Ethan tomorrow with Rich’s truck because E is done with finals and ready to come home for the summer. Grace and Jacob are both going to Senior banquet on Friday and then…….FRIDAY is ALSO Brimfield antique show with my brother, sisters, and sons and the weekend is more sports and church and then next week Rich is gone on a business trip and Ethan starts his new job………and life is just going too fast……all I can do is employ a good sense of humor and let out a necessary ahhhhh (scream) now and then.

so let us watch birds and make cookies for a little rest and relaxation, shall we?

I took these photos yesterday from 9 to 10 in the morning.

As I took these I thought I was shooting the same yellow bird, but when I got home and looked at them closer I realized they were different. One has a black mask. Taking bird photos is surprisingly hard, imagine trying to focus from across the room on a ping pong ball during a game. And then put trees, branches and leaves in the way.

Maybe bird watching isn’t as relaxing as I thought. LOL

These birds were moving around in the grass so quickly I didn’t even know they were sparrows until I looked at the photos later.

Ah, now we’re seeing something exciting…..

I ADORE the colors in these bluebird photos. So calming.

Aren’t the early springtime trees beautiful?

My friend Mr Mallard Duck, I saw him the other day, too. I refrained from saying an excited Hello as I did not want to scare anyone else away.

like this Solitary Sandpiper! I do so love to see these birds. They do the funniest motions when they walk, bobbing up and down. They are pretty little water birds with long legs and a long beak. It’s my favorite photo of the bunch, I love the reflection in the water, the muddy bank and the blurred out grasses in the foreground. Not to mention the bird itself is pretty, too.

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Delicious cookies for Mother’s day or any other day!

Sugar Crinkles

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening (I used half butter and half butter flavored crisco)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
sugar

Cream together the sugar, brown sugar, shortening, vanilla, and egg. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a 350 oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

I was a little late picking up Grace from school the other day because these were baking in the oven but she was pacified with three fresh and warm cookies (the ones in the picture!) when I finally arrived.

another snow day

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now

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Shanda

Little joys.

Living in the moment.

Because the moment is what you have.

Look out with eyes of love, eyes of wonder. Live now.

Wrestling season is over and now it’s all about brothers and sisters, bare feet, early spring, and baseball.

thin ice and ripples on the pond

different mosses

things growing in the flower bed

Marvellous happy it was to be
Alone, and yet not solitary.
O out of terror and dark, to come
In sight of home.
~Walter de la Mare.

When you’re a busy woman and you step outside at the end of the day to let the dog out and see glory.

The sky was high and clear with a brilliant moon. But what made it special was a layer of clouds passing between it and earth. All the light from the moon lit up the clouds.

“my soul is elsewhere, I’m sure of that.
and I intend to end up there.” RUMI

the stars were twinkling

God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

Psalm 19

The further the clouds got from the moon the darker they became so that I couldn’t make them out very well anymore.

*****

“The LORD will command his loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me” (Psalm 42:8).

someday (1 Peter 1:3-9)

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Shanda

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What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

1 Peter 1:3-9

sweet boy & sweet cake

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Shanda

The other day a sweet boy who lives here came to me and said, “Mom, when I was walking to Logan’s house I passed a construction worker on the side of the road picking up garbage,” he paused to self-consciously clear his throat and continued, “I stopped and told him he was doing a great job.”

“The reason why I said that to him was because Cody told me it was the little things like that which make a big difference in a person’s life.”

“When I was almost to Logan’s house, he drove by me in his truck and honked his horn and waved.”

We looked at each other and I saw in his loving eyes it was something that meant a lot to him. You might say, although he has never been anything like Grinch, “his heart grew three sizes that day”. His story touched my heart as well, and I’ve thought about it over and over this week.

It’s so strangely beautiful that when doing something for another person you not only bless that person but you also bless yourself.

In fact, this huge concept is something I use in my mothering bag of tricks. If I notice that the children (some or all) are not getting along with each other I ask them to do “something” (make a sandwich, pick a flower, give a mug of tea) for that particular sibling they aren’t getting along with. Maybe even give a hug or write a note. It does wonders in creating smiles, melting hearts, and breaking the tension in the air.

******

Cherry Coffee Cake

We explored an old abandoned house last weekend and took away a few recipes cards which we found like garbage upon the messy floor…..this was one of the recipes.

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It is simple and, without any extract, the cake itself tastes nice and buttery. The cherry pie filling could be switched out for any fruit filling and you could add a touch of cinnamon to the topping, too. I bought a can of raspberry filling to try next, with maybe a 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract added to the cake. Blueberries would be a nice variation, too, with lemon extract.

It bakes up as a thin cake, so it’s more of a snack (to eat with a mug of hot coffee). The kids ate it in their hands like a brownie and they all liked it very much.

eggs (a short chicken tale)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Shanda

Welcome month of March, month of early springtime flowers, happy birthdays, and eggs!

E G G S

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As you may or may not remember, our family owns a flock of 14 hens.

But lately, NO EGGS.

The hens are eating them. I don’t know if a hen lays an egg and then cheerfully eats it, or if she leaves her egg behind and then the next hen wanting to lay HER own egg eats the one she finds “in the way” so to speak, to make way for her own egg laying endeavors. No matter, it is happening. It is annoying.

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We are in the market for one of those nesting boxes which are slanted on the bottom so the freshly laid egg rolls away out of sight and out of the hen’s reach. In the meantime, I am positively haunting the coop in order to snatch away eggs just as soon as they appear.

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In this fashion, I have so far collected 5 of them just this morning.

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Three of which I promptly cooked and ate for breakfast. Outside. So I could watch.

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“Yes, I am watching you.”

sad cat

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Shanda

“Mom, my cat is sad,” David told me on Monday night.

It was the next day before I had the chance to stop and consider the cat. David had also said, “If my cat dies, I die.” so I knew I had to make sure everybody was okay. After all, it’s my job to keep everyone as alive and healthy as possible.

“Hmmmmmm”, I thought as I opened the front door and let the sad cat outside, “For heaven’s sake I think I see a lump on his shoulder.” I bent down and gently felt around in his fur. Sure enough, he had a large lump and gave up a sad little meow of protest.

I called the vet and made an appointment for 9:30 Wednesday morning.

This was already after getting the children off to school, laundry, cleaning, and so forth.

I showered and dressed and then did “the old heave ho ” to get up into the storage space under the addition to locate the cat carrier. Then went back upstairs, found the cat and attempted to put him inside it. We’ve all seen videos of people trying to put cats into things and the cats spreading out all four of their limbs and leaning out instead of agreeably going in. It was kind of funny the first time but I eventually was able to zip him up.

I took the carrier and my purse out to the car and away we went, driving down the road. The carrier was in the front seat next to me and moving around as Gentleman Gray yowled in a very unnatural voice every 5 seconds. He pressed his head into every nook and cranny of the carrier until he found The Old Hole. The old hole had been repaired with masking tape years ago but this cat was stronger than masking tape and out popped his head and then the rest of him.

I was driving so there was nothing I could do but keep my eyes on the road and hope the cat would keep control of his bowels. (he had an accident once in Jacob’s car) Gentleman Gray experiences an unusual amount of stress inside of cars but it seemed to help him be free from his carrier. He went in and out of my lap and looked out the windows.

I arrived at the vet 15 minutes early which is oh so typical of me. I am very conscientious about being on time. In this instance it proved to be a blessing, as I had time to dash into the hardware store which was right next door to the vet. I went inside and asked where the duct tape was and found a pair of little scissors, too.

I went back to my car and almost threw my hip out trying to get into it because the side boards didn’t come down so I could step up. I realized later on that Gentleman Gray had pressed the button to disengage them.

I made the necessary repairs to the cat carrier and then attempted to put the cat back inside of it, again with the spreading of limbs, claws, meows, and super cat strength. But I won.

I took him inside. They were able to get us right into a room, where the vet promptly took a look at him and checked his temperature. She immedietly thought “absess” which is what I was secretly thinking it was, myself. (proudly) She said that since he goes outdoors it was probably from a cat bite from another cat that became infected. She and her assistant gently restrained Gentleman Gray and did a quick but careful shave over his lump. Then she inserted a needle and pulled out some rather sick looking fluid. She took out the needle and gave him three shots in the hind quarters; rabies booster, distemper booster, and a powerful antibiotic. She retrieved another syringe “just for fun” and did one more attempt at draining as much of the pus as possible. Meanwhile, I took a few pictures because I knew the children would enjoy the story later on. I guess I was having fun, too.

I had to buy more special cat food for our other cat (Sherlock) who has urinary problems and then away I went, skipping down the sidewalk, 320 dollars out of pocket and a cat carrier in my hand moving around like there was a wild animal inside of it. (He rolled it across the floor while I paid the bill.)

But the value our dear pets give to us in return is priceless. That’s what I said to my husband when he made a few sarcastic comments about another trip to the vet for a common cat. (I love you, Rich!)

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Oblivious sad cat, right before I picked him up to begin our adventure together.

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By the time we arrived at our destination, he had busted through an Old Hole in the cat carrier. The lump is visable in this picture.

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“I wonder if I could also bust through this old window?”

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Gentleman Gray getting shaved.

When I showed 8 year old Seth the photo, he studied it and then said, “I like that guy.”

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She got as much out as she could and then told me that it might open up at home eventually and finish draining. Or it could just go down on its own and heal from the antibiotics, which would last for 2 weeks in his system. Please oh please let it be the latter.

She said we could put warm compresses on it. (so far he has had no warm compresses)

He did have a fever, by the way. Pooooooooor kitty. He was sad after all.

I put him in the back of the car for the ride home so I could have some peace and quiet. When we arrived I opened up the back and let him out. In the video you can see the repaired carrier and all the “special food”.

He said thank you, did you see that? *heartmelts*

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We came inside the house and Sherlock came over to console his friend. He knew by sniffing him just where he had been.

Gentleman spent the rest of the day and night sleeping but this morning I found him playing nicely with a little red bead on the floor and then later on I noticed him spending a lot of time grooming himself so I knew he was perking up.

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ah, adventures.

the smell of a toasting lego head

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Shanda

The girls had toast this morning and I was in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal when I smelled a smell….and yes indeedy when a mom smells a strange smell she becomes very much like a bloodhound sniffing the air and moving her nose up and down and all around the room. I decided it was Rich’s video recorder which he had just plugged in using a kitchen outlet. The smell of a battery vigorously charging? A questionable but satisfying deduction, in my opinion.

Eventually, Jacob and Caleb put bread in the toaster.

By this time I had gotten myself snuggled up on the couch in order to finish my book, I’m at the very end when things are getting deliciously riveting. Ah, Saturday mornings.

But then.

“Mom, there’s a lego head in the toaster.” Jacob informed me.

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Dang. A bloodhound would have gotten this right.

I had just read an article about single use plastics and how they should be avoided at all cost, the most fearful reasons of all being, “leaches toxins into food and drink” and “causes hormone disruption and cancers.”

Not sure if a lego would be considered a single use plastic but…….

“Get it out before it leaches toxins into your toast!”

“Mom it’s too far down to leach toxins into my toast.”

“Let me take a picture!!!!”

“Was that the smell I smelled?”

Caleb sniffed around obligingly.

“No.”

“I mean, yes! Ewwwwww!!”

“How on earth did a lego head get into the toaster is what I want to know.”

“It’s melting. It’s burning.”

“Why do you want a picture?”

“Because it’s just one more example of life with boys that’s why.”

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The boys now possess a one of a kind plastic head.

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Generic smile lego guy has a new look.

*****

Back to my book until the next random interruption occurs. Stay tuned!

a day for you

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Shanda

I believe, Lord, that you love to bless, comfort, and give.

Your word is my delight, your truth my inspiration.

You lift my soul beyond those things that would pull me down when I come into your presence in prayer.

Your Holy Spirit is there to fill me with the character of your own goodness and to fill me with joy.

I believe, Lord, that your people are there to help me grow stronger as one of your children.

You have given me friends to strengthen my relationship with you.

I believe, Lord, that as I seek you I find you.

You will always show me the way that is good for my life.

You will lead me along the right way and I know that you always love me.

You pour your love into my heart so that I praise you because of your faithfulness; my innermost being says ‘Thank you.’

Through the cross of Christ I have been brought back to you: how I praise you!

Through the cross my life is transformed.

For Jesus Christ’s resurrection and for my new life I praise you.

~Gospel Light Publications 1985

And happy are your eyes, because they see! Matthew 13:16

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. Psalm 146:8

I know I belong to Jesus because I see Him everywhere. I don’t just see Him in the Bible or in Church….I see Him constantly in my every day life. I see Him in my children, in my siblings. My husband. I see him in the secular podcasts I love to listen to. I see Him in the way He guides everyone’s life. In the stories people tell. I see him in movies, in books, in school, in the library, and online.

He isn’t always obvious, and that’s the joy of finding Him.

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

It’s amazing.

how sweet the sound

I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

I love that I can be HANDS OFF with my life, how freeing this is, how comforting.

I’m walking through the years with my eyes wide open.

And each little gift causes my heart to say “thank you, I know that was you, God.”

We had a snowy day yesterday and I kept an eye on this Cardinal. It was sitting in the bushes for hours watching and waiting out the storm. I was busy in the house but looked out the window periodically to look at it. And then, it was gone and I missed it.

We did some reading; my book is on the pillow next to Dave; All the Light We Cannot See.

Very good.

Grace was reading a favorite of hers for about the fifth time. The Likeness by Tana French

For lunch we had little fish sandwiches on potato buns with tarter sauce.

Dave had five.

Rich has a bulging disc in his neck and has to have a shot in it next month to relieve the pain. However, after spending a relaxing day at home he felt better than he has in a long time. It was good to see him take a nap on the couch with us.

He took a few calls for work and after the snow stopped he went outside and plowed the driveways.

Of all the places to take a nap!

Little Junco on Caleb’s bike which was on the porch to protect it from the snow.

But snow got everywhere yesterday.

Juncos are quite cute; it’s feathers are ruffled from the wind.

There is a bowl of sunflower seed under all that silly soft stuff.

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We watched one of my favorite movies; Babe. I study every scene of the house and barn.

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And then it was time to go outside.

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If I had words
To make a day for you
I sing you a morning golden and new
I would make this day
Last for all time
Give you a night
Deep in moonshine
If I had words
To make a day for you
~Scott Fitzgerald