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   I Love This!

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   How To Make Rolled Sugar Cookies With Kids ......

   
   1. Start out with a clean kitchen (because it's going to get a lot dirtier.)
   
   2. Put 2 cubes of butter in mixing bowl and let them come to room temperature. (Snowy days are nice, but they tend to make for colder rooms and hard to cream butter). Consider the microwave .....

   
   3. Answer the doorbell and find your son, shivering in the snow. Beside him is... his dog Frankie. They have been nice enough to walk over and deliver your cell phone. Ask them in to thaw out a little, but the thought of having two dogs in the house at the same time is not good! Fix him hot chocolate, tie plastic bags around his feet and send them out the door. Make note to get boots .....

   
   4. Allow Child Number One to measure flour into separate bowl. Try to overlook immense amount of flour in places it doesn't need to be. ( That would spoil the moment.) Don't get busy and look away, trusting that you will end up with the right amount of flour ...... add baking soda and and set aside.

   
   5. Watch helplessly while children measure out the white powdered sugar ..... it's even in the air now and "It's beginning to look a little too much like Christmas".... in here. Not to worry, we are making memories and I will clean tomorrow.

   
   6. Keep your "Dr. Phil On Raising Children" close at hand. Have the chapter on teaching kids to cooperate and work together, bookmarked. Also, having taken a class on speed reading is helpful at times like this .... SOLVE THE PROBLEMS AT HAND.

   
   6. Whew, glad we made it through that! Start the "rolling" process and watch the children's faces as they cut out their favorite shapes. On the sly, secretly slip a bit of cookie dough in your mouth. If they ask for some say, "There's raw egg in there honey and I don't want you to get sick".

   
   7. Turn on the oven light so that they can peek while the cookies bake. When cookies come out of the oven, set them way up high. The kids I trust, the dog I don't. Put colored frosting in a zip lock bags which have a corner snipped to pipe frosting out of..... decide that is too much of a hassle and pick up some professional cake decorating tools from the store. Have spaghetti and meatballs for supper.

   
   

   8.  Don't loose sleep over the mess you will be cleaning up tomorrow ..... hey, you will need all of the rest and energy you can get!

You know ......

........  the first thing I see when I get onto my facebook home page, under update status, is that question, "How are you doing Sharon?" It's as if they know something ....... and it doesn't help that I have a guilty conscience right now. You see, last nite in a dream, I rolled a friend's baby pig down a hill (by accident, mind you) and since the poor little thing (bless it's heart) survived t...he tumble, I wasn't going to say anything. I tried desperately to rescue it but my efforts were hampered by the fact that I was running in slow motion!

It all took place at a convention I was attending and several of my facebook friends were there. I have this friend who is a wonderful and kind Grandmother (Hi Kay!) and she was in attendance ..... pushing a baby buggy with a precious, newborn pig in it. (O: Well, she left her baby pig with me for a short while and during that time I became aware that the hotel I was staying in was having a $500 drawing. I learned that the number which would have been my entry in the drawing was on a tee shirt that was supposed to have been given me at the time I checked in ..... but it wasn't. So, I was on my way back to get it.

 This is when it happened. I stopped for just a second, let go of the handle and the buggy tipped over and that poor little guy rolled all the way down hill. Naturally, I panicked .... fearing for the little pig's life and my own as well ( knowing that if Kay ever found out what happened, I would be in BIG trouble!) I gently lifted the little traumatized pig to my shoulder and softly sang to it, "Rock a bye baby ....." and I knew it was going to be ok because it began to purrrrrr! I did notice a few scattered angel feathers along the way, so I knew someone was watching out for us both! Whew! At that time, I could see that everything was going to be ok and decided not to mention this to Kay......

Of course, this doesn't have anything to do with the little pig, but later on (in the same dream) I also decided to go somewhere and chose to take a shortcut down a dark alley. Bad judgement. I knew I shouldn't have done it but .... you know how it is. Well, I had hardly started out.... and these two really scary hoodlems appeared in front of me. One of them was holding a really big silver spatula. I thought, "Oh no, why did I do this." I figured I was a gonner. Then, I figured, "Naw!" So, I started making a lot of noise, grabbed the spatula and the hoodlem holding it by the neck and started dragging him down the alley toward a cop, that thankfully, appeared up ahead. I swear, this guy was crying huge tears ..... I almost felt sorry for him. His loyal sidekick just followed along, with a look of great distress on his face. Yeah, I did that! (O:

Now, you may wonder what would cause me to have such a dream as this ..... and here is my conclusion: too much time online! (O: Yes, of course, Kay is my Facebook friend and I am aware that she loves kids... not sure about the pig thing though. Yesterday I saw a post of the world's smallest elephant. It was a precious newborn and they were having to watch it very closely because of complications. Then, I had seen a YouTube video which was discussing items a woman may carry in her purse....one item mentioned was, a spatula? The purring pig had to be my cat who was sleeping on my head. Finally, I ordered a tee shirt for my son in law for Christmas and it didn't arrive, so we had to call and inquire about it's status. 

Did the baby pig survive? Yes. Did I win the $500 ? I don't know ..... I woke up before the actual drawing took place. Did the hoodlums go to jail? I sure hope so. Did my son in law ever get his shirt? Yep, he did! So, I felt all that was left to do was to apologize to you Kay and to say that I am very sorry for what happened when your little pig was left in my care ..... especially because my job is being a nanny! (O: Please don't tell one me!

Only a child could realize this ..... as a teacher at a Christian School, I was always trying to make our "Creative Writing" sessions fun. Homework was another thing that I tried to make interesting ..... since we all know, IT'S A BUMMER! This one nite, I sent home an assignment asking my kids to write a short paragraph describing what it would be like if, while they were at home .... the telephone rang, they answered ..... and it was Jesus. How would that make them feel? What things would they like to tell Him and what do you suppose that He would say? As I was reading over the results, I came to this one page ..... it only had one sentence, but that one sentence said enough to make me stop and do some serious thinking: I would say, "Jesus, why are you calling me on the telephone when you can talk to me in my heart?" The profound faith and wisdom of a third grader! (O:

Are we seeing the start of an epidemic far more lethal than any flu season could bring on us? It started in Washington D.C. around the United States Capital and is spreading rapidly. It is triggered by fear, but here is the thing I don't understand: Each new year before the anual flu season shows up they begin studying the newest strain and trying to find a vaccine for it. Some refuse to take ...the vaccine and that is their choice .... seems that in order to develop immunity to the flu, a small amount of that bug has to be introduced into our systems, in order to strengthen our bodies against that fight. It is good that folks are able to make that choice for themselves though. On the other hand, our government is telling us that we are in grave danger of being gunned down and in order to protect us, they will be taking away our guns. That's a little like telling us that a very nasty strain of the flu is coming our way, but not to worry ...... there would be no shots or vaccinations offered this year. That little bit of "the bug" each shot introduces into our systems for the purpose of strengthening our immune systems against that flu ..... is just too dangerous! Now folks, I am not a fan of flu vaccines or guns, I just know that it's our choice to make, not Washington DC's. Our best defense, I think, against a criminal is and always will be, a gun of our own.

Rest in peace, whatever you were that I just washed down the garbage disposal ...... my Son has been moved out now for only 12 hours and I am cleaning out his room. I feel a bit like a murderer, I know it was still fighting for life. I should know what it was, I probably cooked it! (O: