Peter's Shortbread Cookies

Well, I searched and searched, literally for days and could not find this recipe. I even posted a plea to C'ville thinking I had sent it someone, but nothing.
Today, while looking through pattern drawer......TADA ..... there it was, the precious recipe.
I decided to post this recipe here just in case I ever misplace it again. Go ahead and try it, you'll just love it. Trust me. BUT, please do not submit this recipe anywhere as your own.
It was given to me by my old neighbor. He was (10 years ago) a widower and in his late 60's. He took a liking to me and my kids because he didn't like what he saw of my ex husband (note the EX husband). He'd invite us over for tea and cookies. He always had these cookies in the fridge and one day I asked him where he got the recipe. He told me it was his own and the secret was the 'fruit sugar' instead of anything else. He gave it to me because he didn't have any children to give it to. I felt honored.
I ended up splitting from my ex and shortly thereafter moved to Texas. I don't know if Peter is still 'with us' but I think of him many times a year, every time I make these cookies. Thank you Peter.......

Peter's Shortbread Cookies

1lb butter (has to be butter)
1 cup fruit sugar (+some for rolling after baked)(has to be fruit sugar....no substitutes....can be found in baking stores)
1/2 tsp or less salt
1/2 cup Corn starch
3 1/2 cup flour (+1 cup flour)

Make butter very soft. It is easier to mix this way. A little tip is to cut butter in small pieces and place in a bowl that is sitting in hot water in the sink. This will melt it so watch that it does not separate. Mix so it does not separate.

Mix butter, salt and fruit sugar. Blend thoroughly. Add cornstarch. Add flour gradually. you may have to knead by hand.
Take one additional cup of flour and add small portions as you mix until dough begins to crack. you may not use all of this last cup.
Roll out 3/8" to 1/2" thick, in squares or cookie cutter.
Cook at 325F for approximately 20 minutes. Watch closely as they are easy to over cook
Take out when they have a golden tint.
Roll in fruit sugar when cool enough to handle. Store in fridge or freezer for best taste.

Note: I may make some tomorrow and post a picture. I'd make it today but have to go trick or treating in a few hours.

Yummy yummy yummy!!!!!!

Robotic Halloween

Here is my little fella, Austin. Here in our small town they have what's called 'Brick Street Trick or Treat', where the kids can go to all the stores on the brick street ('downtown' has roads made of bricks instead of pavement) hand out candies to all the little trick or treaters. People around here don't really trick or treat, instead there are Halloween parties and carnivals. On Monday we may go to a carnival in a town close to ours and on Tuesday there is something called Hallelujah Night at a big church in the area and it's a lot of fun for the kids, instead of going trick or treating, when you may get things that are not the safest. Austin loves loves loves Hallelujah Night and talks about it all year long so he's excited about Tuesday.
Anyway, here's his costume. I made it last night using cardboard boxes and duct tape. He's a robot. I love it! He got so many compliments today it wasn't funny! Everyone just thought he was adorable!! I thought so too............

How many have your name?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 29 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Done!! My daughter's scrapghan

I am very pleased with the way this turned out. She picked out some very nice colors. She won't get it until Christmas though.

As you can see, my son, Matt, was being a bit of smart aleck and 'trying it out'. He did say it was very warm, which was good, just not long enough for him. So I know to make his a bit longer. Haven't quite picked out a pattern for him yet though.......grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! HELLP!!

Another round ripple

Well, here are 2 more FO's. They are both for women at my dh's work who are both expecting little girls. I like the round ripple better though. To me it looks like sherbert ice cream. I love making these! I saw one on Crochetville where a woman was making one with 2 strands and instead of using white as the 'go between' color she blends a strand of the color she just did and the color she is about to do. It looks waaaayyyy cool! I must, I must, I must do it!!


Alrighty then.........off to finish my daughters scrapghan.......

Here we go

Well, 'tis the season......the season for colds and flu.....lovely. Being a stay at home mom, everytime the kids come home from school with something new to pass on, I get it...EVERYTIME!! I swear! Right now it's a bad head cold. Ok, I'll admit, everyone got the cold this time, everyone but my 15 y/o son, who you know has to be the one that brought it home and that's why he's not sick! But they all seem to get rid of it quickly while I tend to hang on to it for much much longer, not sure why, just lucky I guess.
So, go to bed and get a good night's sleep, right? Tried that and slept like a baby last night...a colicky one! Every hour I was up. Head pounding. Nose running. Throat burning. Cough coughing. I swear!! My only saving grace is that I have time this morning to fit in a nap before the little girl I babysit gets here shortly after lunch.
So, now, tell me this. What am I doing here? Wasting good sleep time on my blog? .................. See ya!

Some squares I've received lately

They're all so pretty, aren't they? I can't wait to add them to 'ghan I'm going to put together for myself soon! Thank you to Carol, Miranda and Donnalynn for the lovely squares.

Texas Crochet Weekend

ATTENTION ALL TEXANS........or wannabes!!

Check out this post for some information for what might possibly be the most fun you'll have in the next 12 months! We are planning a Texas Crochet retreat weekend.

If you think you might be interested, come along. Check out the posting at C'ville for all the information but I think it will be just much fun!!

Let me know if you are interested. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have!

FO -- Round Ripple

I finished it!! Yayyyyyy!! Here is my 7 y/o son's round ripple that I'm giving him for Christmas. Yes, it's true, he did pick out the colors and see my progress but it's going away now until Christmas. I was going to add another row but it's as wide as my queen size bed, and big enough for my son to wrap up in, that I would finish it off with the blue. It took me less than a week to do too. Worked up super fast. Now my daughter says she's jealous, even though I'm half way done her scrapghan....... little brat .... lolMy cat Minnie liked it so much, I literally got off the chair after taking the picture, looked up and she was already laying on it. Silly kitty!

Ahhhhhhhh, the rain

As I was sitting on the couch this morning, crocheting, listening to the rain fall on the window, alone in the house with no voices but those on the tv, hearing the the little puppy sounds from behind the couch as they suckle, my hands cool, the round ripple I'm making actually keeping my legs (dressed in shorts....it's still in the 70's after all) warm instead of making me sweat, I thought "I have to blog about this. It doesn't get much better than this."........... so I did!!
Ahhhhhhhhhh, the rain, and the coolness it brings. Welcome Fall! I've missed you!

Happy Hooker Chain Gang

Hey y'all. I just joined Happy Hooker Chain Gang. How cool! Take a look!

Maisy had her puppies

Here they are. She had 2 puppies on Sept 27th so they are nearly 2 weeks old....and cuuuuuuute!! The brown one is a complete rollie pollie, weighing in at 3 1/2 lbs already. The black one is almost 3 lbs. We don't plan on keeping either one of them because I still have my heart set on an 'itty bitty' doggie. Anyone want one??? *wink* *wink*
In the first picture of the brown puppy it actually looks like she's having a small burst of energy, when in actually, the camera caught her at the end of a yawn. Of course sleeping is pretty much all they do. They're eyes are starting open too so that's so much more cute! How can anyone resist puppy breath??BTW: they're both female. Maisy is Bassador (Basset Hound/Lab) and the father was a Lab mix so who knows what they'll look like when they grow up.

Crochet progress

Alrighty........here is Austin's round ripple. I think I'm going to add at least another 2 or 3 colors after I get the yellow done. These are the colors he's picked, and while they may not be MY first choice, it's his blanket after all!! It's about 38" so far.

Next, Samantha's 'scrapghan'. I started this off as a baby blanket for someone but she loved it so much I decided to make it longer for her for Christmas. Here it is so far, about half done I think (it's folded in half, by the way) and she's picked out most of the colors for this as well. It works up relatively quickly, just like the ripple so that's great for me, only 2 months from Christmas!
Now, just to put together DH's blue king size afghan and make my other son's snowflake 'ghan'. Still have to get more yarn for that one so I figured if I can get these other 2 done I'll have plenty of time for his. Phew.....who knew making all these things for Christmas would take so long? Certainly not my dear dear hubby, who thinks I should be able to whip up a blanket in a weekend, a king size one that is. Geeeesh!!

Round ripple progress

Well, this is what I started last night. It's a round ripple and I got the info from C'Ville at this thread. It's been working up quite quickly so that's great! I've finished 17 rounds since last night.

K, gotta go, gotta keep pluggin' away!!