Thanksgiving is over, and it's time to start craftin' and fixin' yummy goodies.  Today Katie and I made sugar cookies on a stick.  They're super easy and taste so good!  Katie loves to be in the kitchen, and this is a kid-friendly recipe!

I have used many recipes for sugar cookies in the past--the following is the recipe I used today.  It is actually a gift recipe to be used as a "recipe in a jar."  It makes the perfect cookie for a cookie on a stick, so that is why I chose it.  If you want to just use it as a "recipe-in-a-jar," the recipe is written as you would provide it with the jar. 

The cookies turn out crunchy around the edges and chewy in the middle.  This is not a good recipe for cookie cutters because they puff quite a bit when you cook them.  I just shaped a ball and flattened to about 1/4 inch, stuck in a craft stick and baked for about 14-16 minutes at 350.  Yummy goodness!
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar  
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (optional)(You could use almond extract or orange extract instead of lemon depending on your preference.  I love lemons, so I use them frequently when I cook.)
 
Super easy directions:

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.   Cut in 1 cup of softened butter until the mixture is crumbly. In a separate bowl, beat 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract until light and fluffy. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Cover bowl and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cut or shape as desired. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 16 minutes (depending on their size) in the preheated oven, until edges begin to brown.

Katie used paint brushes, colored icing, and sprinkles to decorate...
(Daddy couldn't wait; hence, the missing bite.)

Icing recipe

1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 TBS light corn syrup
2 TBS milk
Mix and then add food coloring.  The icing dries nicely and keeps the color of the food coloring well...

It's Thanksgiving, so like all parents, I want to get a photo with the kiddo... Yah, right!  Katie's latest rebel move is to stick her tongue out when I try to take a pic.

It would probably help if we had someone else shooting the camera--but were without extended family this year... Failed again...

(She's holding her face to help her smile...)

Now she's closing her eyes on purpose...  I give up!

*Warning*  The following post does allude to profanity—if you are sensitive to or offended by tasteless language, you may wish to pass on this entry…


We were at the library this weekend—I noticed that there is an awful lot of “The Dummies Guide to _______ (fill in the blank)" manuals on the shelves.  One guide that I didn’t see was The Dummies Guide to Profanity…
 
I was thinking about calling the publisher, you know, because I seem to have a knack for it. I’m not saying that I’m proud of cussing or anything, just that I’ve noticed that I tend to exhibit potty-mouth, maybe too frequently.  For example, we were leaving the grocery store today, and I realized I forgot a pie crust. “S#!t!”  Seemed appropriate at the time—seeing that the lines were extraordinarily long for Thanksgiving and all…  But a fellow mom shot me a look that said… “Well now, you pathetic excuse for a mommy. How could you?”

Like I said, I’m pretty good at gauging when and when not to swear.  I’ve mastered the silent curse (just mouthing the word).  And I’ve even practiced “the look” that executed properly can imply all seven of George Carlin's “seven dirty words.”  Very rarely will I actually use the iniquitous f-bomb.  I reserve that for circumstances like the time when I backed into my husband’s new truck sitting clearly behind me in our driveway: Or like when I ran over his brand new deluxe PoulanPro gas weedeater, turning it into the shape of an L.  Those times seem worthy of the f-bomb to me…

You say this is a mommy health blog, why the he** are you discussing expletives.  Well, it does seem likely that there are health benefits to uncorking the old kisser letting some baddies rip…  Endorphins released will surely benefit your overall feeling of well being. 

And yes, I am aware that there are repercussions for using profanity, no s#!t.  Part of life, I guess, is learning to weigh the consequences…    
 
Let's get someone else to weigh in... How about Shakespeare—the master wordsmith himself?  “It comes to pass oft that a terrible oath, with a swaggering accent sharply twanged off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned him.”  

Okay, find substitute words, you say.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  Grasshole, flippin’, turd—everyone knows what you really mean, don’t they?

I do feel that there is a certain trashiness associated with bad language, and I’m trying to keep it at a minimum… But at my age, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to quit completely—that won’t stop me from trying, though.  I did, however, find a book to check out at the library… “Dummies Guide to Maui.”  Now, that’s a book I can learn from!

Are you eating the way you should?  Do you have youthful skin and a healthy weight?  The more colorful your diet is, the more likely you answered yes.  If you are eating a good variety of colors of foods, you are probably getting an extra boost of antioxidants. Antioxidants are good—they decrease damage to your cells and even prevent heart disease.  What colors are you looking for? Oranges, reds, blues, purples, greens, yellows—you get the point!  Here’s an overview of colorful foods you could be mixin’ together to create the healthiest diet that you can!

Red: The red fruits like watermelon and tomatoes have lycopene—great for heart disease, and potentially preventing cancer.

Blue or Purple:Blueberries and blackberries contain anthocyanins.  They have received attention for prevention and suppressing tumor growth.

Yellow or Orange:Sweet potatoes, mango, corn, pumpkin, carrots, and squash—they are rich in carotenoids, and cartenoids are great for preventing cancer.

Green:Spinach, broccoli, kale—these greenies are high in lutein--healthy for your vision.

White:  Garlic, cauliflower even potatoes are all have their benefits. There is emerging evidence that the sulfur compounds in garlic and onions may prevent stomach and colon cancers.

Hope you have a colorful and joyous Thanksgiving! 

Let's not spread this around, but yes, I've been taken in for exposing my face without makeup--indecent exposure.  My husband turned me in...  And all this for what? For a chance to win a goody bag from AVON.  Don't believe me?  Check it out on The Mom Buzz.  You can get all the juicy details to enter there....

(Lovely picture, eh?) 

Has this ever happened to you?  You’re up early getting ready for the day, and you hear something coming from the shower; it’s singing…

“Oooh ... Ahhh ... Oh Ohmphf ... Oooh ... Ahhh ... Oh Ohmphf 

Deep inside the jungle where nature's running wild…
(mumble, mumble…) is a very special child
Talking to the animals (mumble, mumble) a vine
This rough and tough adventurer is working all the time
Yo Viene Diego ... Diego ... Diego ...
Go, Diego, Go!”

Pretty soon you’re hummin’ along, too.  Bizarre...  Singin’ kids tunes in the powder room. 

They warned me about letting Katie watch too much of the small screen, and now see what’s happened to me? I’m even chanting Noggin theme songs in my sleep. 

Do you recognize this one?

(Yet another brilliantly written kid’s tune…)

The phone ... the phone is ringing.
The phone, we'll be wight theowe!
The phone, the phone is ringing!
There's an animal in trouble ...
There's an animal in twouble!
There's an animal in trouble somewhere.

Or how about this one (My little McNugget’s favorite.)

Max and Ruby ... Ruby and Max
Max and Ruby ... Ruby and Max

[Choo Choo Toot]

And the inspiration behind the name Noggin?

 

NOGGIN-noun

1. a small cup or mug.  2. a person’s head. 3. a small amount of alcoholic liquor


Frankly, after another hour of Noggin, I'm gonna need to use some Noggin, too.... Some egg-noggin...  

I have a little problem.  I'm addicted to Entrecard.  C'mon, I know I can't be the only one out there that's feeling this way, am I?  It's after midnight, and I've just finished my drops...  Like a guilty pleasure--I wait till everyone in the house is asleep and then I jump in...  I started out dropping 10 or 15 cards a day--then I added a second blog... Now I'm dropping on so many I can't keep track--and sites I never thought I'd visit; I'm bummed if there not in my inbox--voodoo sites, political dissenters, alcoholics, blogs that claim you can actually make money on the Internet, blogs that claim that you can't make money on the Internet...  So what's the addiction really about? It's those really cool bloggin' treasures out there waiting for me to find them.  There are more and more blogs that I want to visit daily--and it's fun to get to know people in a kind of incognito way... That is unless it takes more than 3 seconds to load your page--then I'm sorry, but I'll have to cut you from my list...

Tonight's cool find came from Rants, Thoughts, and Other Things.   There's a new site in beta that reads your personality through the words you've written on your blog.  Typealyzer.  Well, as the blog owner suggested, I gave it a try. 

I plugged in two of my blogs: this one and my teacher blog.  This blog came back as an ESFP--the performer--essentially and extroverted, sensing, feeling, perceptive style (seems to be based on the Meyers Briggs, which is based in Jungian theory), and I suppose is true to this blog's style.  But where it gets interesting for me is my teacher blog came back as an INTP--and introverted, intuitive, thinking, perceptive--which is what I tested as the last time I took the Meyers Briggs (16 different personality types). 

So in a way, I guess you could say there is some accuracy to it all...  Stop by Rants, Thoughts, and Other Things and check out his site--and stop by Typealyzer to find out what's the style of your blog--I'd love to hear back what style you are--I've always been interested in analyzing personality stuff!

Here's an INTP

The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about. 

Here's an ESFP

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Katie's CurlyQ has arrived.  She loves her little monster!

Thanks to The Mom Buzz for reviewing this fun product...  Katie loved to build her own monster, and when it arrived, she couldn't believe it!  

The only time Katie doesn’t want to eat fruit, vegetables, you know, healthy food, is when she has the option to gorge herself on some sweet sugary goodness full of empty calories. 

I do try to balance her selection as much as I can, but that’s not so easy because OMG she is into making everything a choice…  These grapes or those bananas, this sandwich or that soup...  I have to have an alternative for it all… (Even her Disney Princess Gummy Vitamins--she's gotta choose: Cinderella or Snow White?!)

I already know what’s she’s gonna pick, but I have to humor her, or well, she’ll dig her stubborn heals in like a husband being asked to buy Tampax. 

I am making some progress, though: Let's say Grandma offers her potato chips or apple chips, she’ll usually pick the one that is not completely crap--usually…  But if the potato chips come with a gizmo or they’re in a pretty pink package or they have a crazy cartoon character on the front—the healthy apple chips go directly out the proverbial window.  Take it from me, I know what the kiddo’s gonna pick; I even conducted my own study to figure it out.  Called it, “No sh*!, Sherlock.”  ;)