note cards

Embroidered note cards for friend, Deb

Tatted note cards, 8 assorted $12

Gazettes

We are connoisseurs of cookies; especially the chocolate chip variety. We have tried hundreds of recipes over the years and have several favorites, Mrs. Field's oatmeal, Magelbys, Millers, Cape Cod oatmeal, and a plain old standby called #7. Our local paper, the Gazette, raved about the following recipe and I have to agree that it is great. Perhaps it is because of the technique of creaming the wet ingredients a full 8 minutes (I think I will try that with my other cookie recipes). The paper called them "Chocolate Chip Cookies", but our family will call them "Gazettes". I hope you enjoy sharing them with those you love!

GAZETTES

3 eggs 3 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 C granulated sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 C brown sugar 1 tsp salt
1 C melted butter 2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (I splurge on Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, it's the best--you'll notice the difference)

-Preheat oven to 375degrees
-Cream eggs, sugars, butter and vanilla for 8 minutes using a stand mixer and wire beater.
-In a separate bowl combine flour, B. soda, and salt.
-Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
-Remove from mixer and add chocolate chips, stirring in by hand.
-Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a pre-heated baking stone. Bake 10-11 minutes.
-Cool a few minutes before removing from the baking stone. Cool on clean counter top.

Worth the Wait

When I was in grade school, a half-pint carton of milk cost 3 cents (those were the days!). Most of us took a sack lunch from home, along with a nickel to buy our milk. That left 2 pennies each day which were ours to spend on penny candy at the little store across the street from the school. Two cents of penny candy was quite a treat, but if we saved our pennies for 3 days, we would have enough money for a five-cent candy bar, chocolate! Yes, those were the days! It took a tremendous amount of will power to hang on to those pennies for 3 whole days, and sometimes I just couldn't do it. But it was a good exercise for a little 8-yr. old, and a lesson I often remind myself now: some things--usually the best things in life, really are worth the wait, even if it takes a lifetime. Every birthday is a reminder that we have progressed one year closer!

Thoughts on love

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."
Victor Hugo

"Love is about feeling safe enough to be ourselves."

"I love you not only for who you are, but also for who I am when I am with you."

"The richest love is that which submits to the arbitration of time."
Lawrence Dewell

"Two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold."
Margaret Fuller

"Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays, clutch it, and it darts away."
Dorothy Parker

"They do not love that do not show their love."
Shakespeare

We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us."
Germaine DeStael

"Love is the only gold."
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. If ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--- But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever. Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love."
Mormon

My friends, may you love truly, love many, and be loved in return, this day and always,
LoveyLou

Raggedy Dolls

Two sets of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for customer Kathy in California.

hackey-sacks

Juggling hackey-sacks for customer Isaac in Colorado.

Try this! Caramel Dumplings

Try this fun and easy recipe that uses ingredients you're sure to have on hand:

Caramel Dumplings

SAUCE: Combine in saucepan:
2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 3/4 C water
Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer.
DUMPLINGS: 1 1/4 C flour
1/2 C sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix together then drop by teaspoonful into simmering caramel sauce. Cover and simmer 20 minutes (don't peak!). Spoon into serving dishes and serve with ice cream or whipped cream. Makes 5-6 servings.