I love Snickerdoodles

I love to make Snickerdoodles. I remember the first time I made them. It was in Mrs. Shrewsbury’s Home Economics class at Clay Jr. High.  She gave everyone a packet of recipes of things we were going to make.  I had eaten snickerdoodles before of course but, I hadn’t made them. It was a really good recipe and I lost my packet of recipes. I thought about going and asking for a new packet even after I was out of jr. high.  I was pretty sad that I couldn’t find the packet anymore.  As you might know I keep cookbooks for forever. I still have my 4-H cook book and my cookbook from when I was 8. I had to find a new Snickerdoodle recipe.  I found my new one on Crisco’s website. I think it was originally on the package of Crisco sticks, which are really convenient when you don’t want to mess with measuring shortening.   We have made these many times. We even made them in the shapes of fish and other sea life.

Here is the recipe from Crisco’s website:

Snickerdoodles

• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 1 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• OR 1 stick Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:

HEAT oven to 400°F.

COMBINE 1 1⁄2 cups sugar, shortening, eggs, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended.

COMBINE flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Add gradually to shortening mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

COMBINE remaining 1⁄2 cup sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE 7 to 8 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheets. Place on cooling racks to cool completely.

What kinds of cookies do you like?

I was a Poster Child

When I was in Jr. high and high school, I would decorate my room in posters  and other random things. My tastes changed of course as I grew up. I no longer had a huge crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas or Elijah Wood. I had moved on to Leonardo DiCaprio and pretty much any good looking Abercrombie guy I could find.  I had every Romeo and Juliet Movie poster. I also had a John Elway poster. I even had a poster of The Grateful Dead. I was really in to the Dead in high school.  I have an afghan that I got for Christmas.  I would hang pictures on my wall too. When I think about hanging posters I think of my cousin Rosa and how when she was living with my Grandma she would use toothpaste to hang posters. I never did that, I always used push pins. If I was hanging photographs I would use tape.  My bedroom was pretty awesome. It was my own space to relax from the pressures of high school and the drama that it entailed.  I loved to decorate my room.  At one point I wanted to be an interior decorator.  I remember going to Karma Records and looking for new posters. Posters from Karma were awesome because they were scented. They weren't sold scented, the store just smelled so much like incense that everything you bought there would smell like incense for months if not years.  Noah has a couple posters in his room about fish and sea life. One of the posters Noah has is a Guy Harvey poster than he totally loves.  I am sure he will want more posters as he gets older. I will let him have them as long as they are appropriate.

What kind of posters did you have when you were younger?

Favorite Childhood Movies

Since Noah is on Spring Break I thought it would be cool to have him watch some of my favorite childhood movies. It prompted me to ask on Facebook and Twitter what people's favorite childhood movies are. I asked not to list Animated Disney movies because everyone loves those. I decided to make a list on my blog. I am not saying I would let Noah watch all of these at his age now. I will watch them with him when he is old enough depending on the movies.

Peter Pan with Mary Martin
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Heavyweights
Camp NoWhere
Problem Child
Problem Child 2
Pete's Dragon (ok that is a Disney movie but not like Beauty and the Beast)
The Carebear Movie (he may not watch this one)
Strawberry Shortcake and Big Apple City (or this one)
Huck Finn
North
Radio Flyer
Man of the House with Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Stay Tuned
The Witching of Ben Wagoner
The Witches
The Chipmunk Adventure

That is all I can think of for now. I may update with more.

What are your favorite childhood movies?

The Day the Fridge Died

One of my most memorable Christmases was the year that our refrigerator broke on Christmas Day. Thankfully we were living in Indiana and it had been very cold that day so we were able to keep everything outside on our screened in porch. My mom and sister were going out of town to Chicago the next day so I was left without a refrigerator for a few days. Normally on Christmas Eve we always have a bunch of appetizers means there's always yummy leftovers. In case you were wondering they did not go to waste.Then my family had the task of picking out a new refrigerator. We wanted to make sure that we purchased one with the specific features. The first important feature was that it had two doors because I really like to stock up on frozen food. We have grown accustomed to having a water and ice dispenser so of course that was a key feature for us to have. After we decided which features we wanted we also had to decide what the refrigerator would look like because it has to match the kitchen. Finally we had to think about costs with it being just after Christmas and the fact that I received a new computer that year and we were not expecting our fridge to die on Christmas Day we wanted to make sure it was something that was in our budget. Don't worry we were able to find one. I no longer had to be like Abraham Lincoln and go out in the snow to find something to eat. I guess it could've been worse the heat could have been broken and when my mom and sister came home they would have found an ice lolly named Sheila.

How Do You Start a Blog?

When I talk about blogging with my friends that are not bloggers I always get a lot of questions about it.  I have had a few ask me what it is because they are not sure what a mom blogger is.  They are usually older and no so internet savvy. Some of my friends that are familiar with blogs ask me how I did I get started in blogging. I tell them that I have always loved to write; even when I was younger I kept journals and wrote poems in a notebook. I have had a blog since 2001, I was on Live Journal. I wouldn’t really call it a real blog. It was just random thoughts about things.  When I told my aunt and uncle about blogging, they were kind of skeptical at first, but quickly realized it was legit.  I have friends that ask me how do I get in to blogging.   I always tell them, first start a blog. Write as much as you can about what you love. If you want to review products, start writing about things you use at home that you love. It is important to show your writing style and personality. The brands you will possibly be working with, will want to know that you are a great writer. I had never been big on spelling and grammar, I would try and use good grammar and spell things correctly, of course but other people’s spelling and grammar didn’t bother me all that much, until I started blogging. I am not sure why that is, probably because I am more aware.

The most important thing to learn when you decide to start a blog is, it takes a lot of time. You have to start small when asking for products for review. You will be doing most of the grunt work when it comes to finding reviews. You will eventually start receiving emails once you have been noticed by companies and PR reps. It can be hard in the beginning. I remember that I cried when I started blogging. I was afraid I wouldn’t get anything else to review and what I had on the list was it. Once I built up my Brand experience working with many companies, the emails keep coming. The more you blog the better you will get. Blogging is fun, but it is also hard work. You really have to have a passion for it.  There will be times you will get overwhelmed or told no, but if you keep trying and keep blogging you will get past it.  You will meet some of the most amazing people through blogging. It is such a great job.