Sweet Angel Cookies!

My mom used to bake these cookies for us when we were kids. I have no idea where she got this recipe, it probably came from one of her friends or a family member but I have never seen this particular recipe anywhere else in my long life.  

I have been baking these cookies myself since I was about 8 years old. 

I would get up in the middle of the night and bake cookies and then go back to bed, get up and go to school.

I still love baking by myself when the house is quiet, real quiet and dark outside. The outside world comes to a stop and I am able to concentrate and enjoy myself. Nothing interrupts me, no phone calls, no television, no people. Just me, my hot cookies, and a tall glass of cold milk.

Angel Sugar Cookies

½ cup Crisco

½ cup Real Butter (1 stick) at room temperature

½ cup white sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar

Cream together with mixer in bowl about one minute on medium speed.

Add:

1 egg

Mix together for about one minute on low, just enough to get it mixed in good.

Sift together then add to wet mixture:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Mix together on low for about another minute. Then add:

1 tsp of vanilla

Chill dough for about a half hour.

Then roll into teaspoon size balls. I then dip the bottom of a small glass (shot glass worked for me) into a small bowl of water then into a small bowl of sugar. 

And press the wet/sugar coated glass bottom onto the dough ball and flatten them a little.

This will leave a wet sugary coating on top of each cookie.

Bake on parchment paper in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

click here for printable recipe

Thanks for stopping by!

--------------------------------

I am linking up with:

VMG206

DIY Sunday Showcase

Dwellings - The Heart of  Your Home
Amaze Me Monday 74

Time is too precious...

"If you want to be happy you have to be happy on purpose.  When you wake up, you can't just wait and see what kind of day you'll have. You have to decide what kind of day you will have."   Joel Osteen

Here I am, sitting at my kitchen table this morning feeling blue because our Labor Day Holiday will be spent at home, alone... blowing our noses, coughing, and resting. 

We had friends call yesterday wanting to come for the weekend but we warned them about this awful bug.  

It is contagious, I know, I caught it somewhere, now Big Brother has it, and thehubs is starting to cough a bit.  

I wouldn't risk spreading this on to anyone else. 


So we are staying home, alone.


We will miss the lake, the boats, the breakfasts, the lunches and the barbecues. We will miss our friends who travel four hours to come and visit.  We will miss the noisy laughter, the jokes, the stories and the plans being made. 

But we will not be wasting our time, it is too precious. 

We plan a quiet barbecue for ourselves, to spend some time catching up on some chores around the house, to play with a few projects, and to rest in between coughs and blowing our noses. 

Thehubs will work on his new dirt pile, adding it to the garden, filling in holes, spreading it in low places.

I will keep working on the guest bathroom. Since we painted I have been playing with some ideas for decor.  I didn't want to just go out and buy something, I wanted to create something. I will spend this time playing with painted frames.

And I will make some cookies.

Time is a precious gift, no matter how you spend it! The garden is coming to an end, the flowers are turning brown, no matter how much we water. We still need rain terribly, this drought is taking its toll on our trees, bushes, and flowers.


It is becoming FALL at our house! I am looking forward to cooler temperatures, shorter days, and bon fires in the dark!

I hope all of you have a 

WONDERFUL

and

HEALTHY

Labor Day Holiday!

ENJOY it,

no matter where you are!

Or, who you are with!

Thanks for stopping by!

As life goes...

My friend Meg, my animal saver, animal rights cape crusader friend posted this to her status on facebook last night. 

She is building a new "dog friendly" home and has been a very busy lady. 

She posted this photo and the words 

"fall decorating - done!" 

Hilarious!

Priceless!

• 3 boxes of Mucinex cold Medicine............ $16.00
• 
  
• 5 boxes of Puffs with lotion................. $6.50
• 
  
• 2 tubes of Lysol sanitizing wipes............ $4.80
• 
  
• 1 bottle of Vicks Vaporub.................... $4.25
• 
  
• 1 can of Lysol Spray Disinfectant............ $3.40
• 
  
• One trip to the Doctor's Office.............. $50.00
• 
  
• 3 new Prescriptions.......................... $16.00
• 
  
• The CURE for the common cold........ Priceless!

Yep, I got that bug

going on eleven days now. 

This morning thehubs and I

argued about me going to the doctor.

thehubs: Babe, you are not getting any better. I need to take you to the doctor.

me: No!  It is just a common cold, all he will do is tell me to continue taking the mucinex and ride it out.

thehubs: But Babe, you coughed all night and yesterday you were clammy all afternoon.

me: Oh, it is just a bug, I can ride it out for a few more days then if it's not better, I will go.

Then after trying to drink my first, albeit IMPORTANT, very important FIRST cup of coffee, I popped over to facebook to read a message from my friend Sara. It was a special message to her husband Gary on a special day. I scrolled down to the comment section and wrote "Happy Birthday Gary" right under her message. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't swallow my coffee. I sat in my chair.  

Thehubs urged me again...

thehubs: What is the doctor's phone number I am calling him and getting you in to see him today.

me: Oh, I will be okay. It's just a bug, I can ride it out.

thehubs: Well, I don't think so. You just wished Gary a happy birthday after Sara told everyone on facebook it was their anniversary. 

me: I did?  I can't believe I did that... here is the doctors phone number.

Have a Greatfull Day!

What do I do?

I have told you about my friend. Two years go, she went through a major life changing medical issue and is physically doing very well. But she is angry. Our conversations changed, they are different since her emergency, very different.

Now our friendship
is estranged a bit.

I have tried to be positive, to offer encouragement, to help. I have taken her to my doctor only to have her give him a cussing and spread vicious lies about him. I have suggested a mental health counselor and she let me know right away that she was "too strong a person to have any mental problems". I recently quit driving her anywhere because I found myself wanting to leave her when she explodes in public. It has been a rough two years.

My efforts to be in her life are met with anger. Verbal, cussing fits, accusations of theft towards the very ones she loves. The content of our conversations is always the same, only the name changes.  I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Then it did. Her husband walked upon our phone conversation and begged her to calm down. I heard her talk to him with her rage, she verbally abused him. Her words to him were demeaning, violent and totally inexcusable.  I hung up.

Now... I don't know what to do.

Do I keep trying or do I draw a line in the sand? 

Do I tell her enough is enough?

Or, do I keep quiet?

How do I take a chance that our friendship might end and not feel this enormous amount of guilt if it does? You see guilt has always been my thing. For many, many years I thrived on it, built my self esteem around it, then one day, it all fell apart. I promised myself I would never allow guilt to make decisions for me ever again.

Now here it is,

right in front of me,

staring at me,

daring me to make a move.

I was so excited!

I got my follower email from the blog 

A COZY LITTLE HOUSE!  

So I clicked on the link and the COZY LITTLE HOUSE blog loaded and appeared.  I love Brenda's blog, it is one of my absolute favorites and has been for more than a year. I read every post she publishes. I even read every comment.

I read and scrolled down. Oh, what beautiful photos of lovely things!  And then, here it was, my photo and a link to my blog!

I jumped up, ran into the office and showed it to thehubs. Then I popped over to facebook and told ALL of my friends how happy and proud I was to be featured on Brenda's blog.  

I was so excited I couldn't go to sleep! A goal of mine was to be featured at Cozy Little House and my work was accepted!

I have learned so much since I started blogging.  I have gotten to know myself better and feel proud of my work.  I knew absolutely nothing about blogging when I started. It all began when I happened upon 

Lindas Life Journal

Linda is a great writer, decorator, artist and is full of enthusiasm and gratitude. Reading her blog is fun, brings me joy and makes me feel as if I am a neighbor who has come over for a glass of ice tea. Linda is the reason I created my blog. I needed that positive woman in my life. I wanted to meet more Linda's. And I did. I have met some amazing people who live in amazing places.

What is ahead for me and my blog? 

I have so many ideas and so much new stuff to learn, I can't wait to get started.  I hope you will see this blog become more organized in the future, easier to find, read and follow. I plan to pay more attention to what day it is, to take more photos, and make time to be myself. I hope you will follow along!

As life goes...
We haven't been home much lately but I have tried to read every blog on my list. Many times I read them on my smart phone using my big reading/magnifying glasses leaving no comments because it is just too hard to do on my phone. I am still wearing my "Bone Growth Stimulator" 4 hours a day since my neck surgery, not easy in these ozark mountain heat waves. I have enjoyed our air conditioning this summer. I think it is healing just fine. Our life is pretty boring, at least to me.

A can of spray paint... A trunk full of Arkansas treasures!

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."  Walt Disney

----------

I have had so much fun with a few flea market finds, or treasures as I prefer to call them.  On a recent 5 day trip to Little Rock Arkansas, I made a "few" purchases. We had a lot of fun going from small town to small town and meeting so many friendly people. I love Arkansas, it is a great place to relax and enjoy the beautiful ozark mountain scenery and small town shops.

I had been looking for a tray 

to sit on my living room ottoman!

When I found this one in a flea market in Sherwood, Arkansas

I knew it would work. I loved the detail, the size and the handles. And I knew I would be spray painting it white using

this Rust-o-leum American Accents 2x coverage paint. This paint covers quickly, dries evenly and the sprayer does not clog up.  I had to give the tray several coats to get the pure white that I wanted.

This paint transformed the tray, 

and candleholders from

a dark brown to a bright and cheery color!

A trunk full of flea market treasures!

I am happy with how it turned out,

and happy about the price that I paid for it.

I will always remember the young lady

and her little shop in Sherwood!

Thanks for coming by for a visit!

I am linking up with the following blogs:

Amaze Me Monday #71
at Dwellings - the heart of your home

Tweak it Tuesday #102
at Cozy Little House

229th Inspire Me Tuesday
at A Stroll through Life blog

Much ado about Monday
at huckleberry love blog

History and home link party
at We call it junkin

What's it Wednesday
at Ivy and elephants blog

Party Junk 253 - upcycled trays
Funky Junk Interiors

Anything Blue Friday - Week 68
The Dedicated House

Photo Challenge - Animals

“You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”  ― Ansel Adams

Today I am linking up with

Donna

for her monthly photo challenge

over at her blog

A personal Photo Challenge

topic: animals

--------------------------------

This challenge was a pleasure to post.  We have been blessed over the years to have had great pets come into our lives.  Trying to catch them with the snap of a camera lense isn't so easy. They move a lot, lick a lot, wiggle a lot, or totally ignore me.

This is Lillie.

 Lillie never sits still, is very curious and a hard photo to catch.  This was late in the evening, she was tired, and we used chopped chicken as a treat to get her to sit still. I took about 25 shots as quick as I could and only 5 were usable.

She is sitting in a black leather chair, and I am using my Nikon Coolpix L820 (pet portrait selected) on a tripod with the ceiling lights on. Then I used Picmonkey to crop, add Radiance and then framed it. We loved this pose so much that we put it on the front of our Christmas Cards.

--------------------------------

This is Tater Pie.

Tater Pie is a confident cat. She could care less whether the world turns or not. She spends most of her time sleeping. I got lucky, had my camera in my hand ready to go after taking some landscape photos outside. I had one chance at it, one shot, and I think I just got lucky.

She is walking down our sidewalk in the late evening, and I am using my Nikon Coolpix L820 (automatic selected). Then I used Picmonkey to crop, add dark edges, then I played with the HDR feature, worked with the spot light feature and finally used the focal zoom.

------------------------------------

This is Braddock.

Braddock is my cousins dog that thinks he is a human. He understands the english language and loves to go to McDonalds for his favorite treat chicken nuggets. This is a collage I made in Picmonkey with no photo editing, taken with a point and shoot Kodak camera.

I hope you enjoy these photos of our pets!

Doing nothing...

"The trouble with doing nothing,

 is that you never know when you are finished". unknown author

The month of July went by too fast for me. It began with a week long cousin family reunion, then several birthdays, a beautiful wedding, our annual 4th of July bash, Kdaughters enormous garage sale and their move back to the city they love. 

We came home a few days ago and I have done "nothing" since. I have enjoyed a few afternoon lifetime movies, some simple meals on paper plates and bubble baths.

Sometimes nothing

is a good thing to do!

------------------------

We spent a week in Little Rock the last part of June for thehubs cancer treatments. Each day, we picked a direction (east, west, north, and south) and drove around looking for flea markets, mom and pop stores, and cafes. We met so many nice people, enjoyed quaint shops in small towns as we drifted from place to place.  

I filled our trunk with treasures

of both the "necessity" kind

and the "just have some fun with" kind.

I kept with my usual $100 budget, not bad for a 6 day shopping trip in the city!  After we arrived home, we unloaded the trunk and I put it all on the living room ottoman. I suddenly realized just how much there was, feeling partly excited about the new decorating and craft adventures ahead of me and partly overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I had brought home. 

There are new curtains for the guest room (from Pottery Barn, only $10), two silver trays that I had been wanting for so, so long (a bargain for $15), a wire basket filled with spheres (a must have for $10), a blue pitcher (only $1), white glass dishes and plates ($6), a new lamp ($4), several glass votive holders (only $1 each) and a bit more. 

Thehubs surprised me with the two signs.  He has a great sense of humor. I know that I care too much about too many small things and need to not worry about the many details that fill my days.  In the words of a certain famous comedian "where's your sign?" well, now I have one, no two, to remind me to laugh more and not take life too seriously.

I tend to do that...

to take life too seriously,

to worry about the details of 

what, who, when, and how,

 to get everything done

that needs to get done.

At times, it is exhausting.