Author: Launi

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Family Day

…in Canada.

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I have this funky little calendar that says that today is National Family Day in Canada. I’m good with that. Any reason to have a celebration is usually fine with me–but Family Day? How can you possibly beat that?

This day is supposed to be spent having all kinds of adventures with your family–indoors or out. I’m an inny sort myself. It’s a bit nippy out.

Since this day falls in a cold month–the books say that Hot Chocolate and Cookies are the thing to do.

I’m pretty darn ok with that too.  :]

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Since we wanted to do this properly, we chose to make Canadian Maple Cookies in honor of the day. They were a hit.

So take this as the excuse you may need to stay home tonight and play games or watch a movie or just sit around eating cookies and being with your family.

Grab them while you still can. They grow up sooo fast.

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You must trust me on this.

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Canadian Maple Cookies

Ooooh—maple cookies…all the way from Canada!

Or your kitchen.

heh, heh.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg, syrup and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Stir into mixture until well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool on wire rack.

Canadian Maple Cookies
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Grease cookie sheets.
  3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar.
  4. Add the egg, syrup and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
  5. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.
  6. Stir into mixture until well blended.
  7. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar.
  8. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
  9. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven.
  10. Let cool on wire rack.

 

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A Dreadful Deed…Undone

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When I was a young pup–ok, about 34–out shopping with the family, I spied a cable-knit sweater that…ahhh…struck me. I don’t know why exactly, but I needed the sweater. So, being sweetly conniving at that young, tender age, I devised a plan. I told my husband that he would look so great in this sweater-knowing full well that he’d wear it a few times and toss it away and it would ultimately be mine! (Incert evil laughter here). My wicked plan worked…to a point.

Oh he did, indeed, wear it a few times, but he never would toss it. In fact, if I ever mentioned giving it away to the needy–in this case- ME–he would rally around the silly thing and wear it a couple more times, then tuck it away again.

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I know what you’re thinking, but no, I couldn’t just ask him for the sweater. Trust me, it wouldn’t have worked. My dreadful deed would have been discovered–the risk was just too great.

Perhaps it was my guilty conscience, but it began to feel like the sweater was…

…laughing

at

me.

Creepy thing.

Well, I came across “the sweater” the other day–in an ancient mending basket. You know the kind that has clothes labeled 4T when your youngest is a senior in high school. Yeah, ancient. Anyway, there was this sweater sitting smugly,  just coming apart at the seams and waiting to be rescued.

sweater-012snip, snip here…

Ha! I thought. I don’t actually feeeel like mending the sweater that has taunted me for 10 years. Why…I…oughta…

So

I

dismantled

it.

sweater-016snip, snip there…

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Now, I have a total of 6 big balls of lovely yarn, just waiting to be magically transformed into something else…

…this time

with

better

Karma.

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Connected- 2nd Generation

Twenty-six years ago when Lyndi, my second daughter was born, Grama brought little April to the hospital to see us and of course her sweet baby sister. Filled with new mama hormones and missing my “original baby” desperately, I was nearly in tears when she burst into the hospital room–just a few hours after the birth.

To my surprise, she ran right past me and my outstretched arms, around the big bed and straight to the isolette that Lyndi lay wrapped in. She climbed right up onto the side–with dad steadying it–and leaned over so close that she could nearly lay her head on the baby’s chest.

Because she was only 21 months old I was nervous that she’d be too rough and pokey–but just as I took her little arm to help her back down, she breathed a huge sigh, and whispered, “Ohhhh—I missed you.”

There were no words at that moment…

…and there are no words for this.

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The Bald Kid’s Take…

on President’s day.

So “Bruce” and I are having this conversation.

I say, “President’s Day?”

And he says, “Yeah, President’s Day.”

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I say, “Don’t you mean Honest Abe Lincoln’s Birthday where you cut out silhouettes of his face and make log cabins with pretzels and read stories about walking 5 miles to return a book and about abolishing slavery?”

And he says, “No. President’s Day.”

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And I say, “Don’t you mean His Excellency, President George Washington’s birthday where you cut out silhouettes of his face and make cherry tarts and read stories about chopping down trees and telling the truth and about crossing the Deleware with his freezing soldiers?”

And he says, “No. President’s Day.”

And I say, “Who’s birthday is that?”

And he grins and says, “Who cares? We get a day off of school.”

And my brain says….tick-tick-tick—–
KABOOM!

It’s a good thing he was kidding.

Switching a 17-year-old to home school could really put a chink in his chain.

Note: The characters in this story are real. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.