Cookie Traditions

Matthew and Melinda and the boys are coming for Christmas this year!  We can't wait.

Asher is looking forward to making cookies with his Grandpa.

Malachi says grandpa really funny and I can't remember exactly what it is right now.  Melinda will tell you.  It's super cute and funny.  Like gunpa??

Any way.

Christmas means Patrick makes cookies.

It's a tradition and it's a good one!

When we were growing up our dad brought cookies home from the bakery in Chicago.

They were very pretty but not really tasty.

They were big cookies with a paper image of Santa 'glued' on them.

They may have been gingerbread...but I'm not exactly sure.

So now when I see beautifully decorated cookies, I appreciate their loveliness...

but I actually can't imagine that they are tasty and moist.

Let me look on Google to see if I can't find a paper decorated Santa cookie....

I can't really find an exact thing... but the Santa was like this Santa.

I see rectangle cookies with paper images on the google..

but I remember  our bakery's being a shape like the Santa.

Oh to have a picture....

Wishing you warm Christmas memories and traditions that continue from year to year!

Love

Donna

Quiet trees

I talk to the trees But they don't listen to me I talk to the stars But they never hear me The breeze hasn't time To stop and hear what I say I talk to them all in vain

Name that movie.

Run Santa 5K Madison

Katie and her sweet cousin Wesley

The best part is seeing all the fun costumes....

and cheering on your family!

Off they go!!!

They had a really fun time!  The weather was quite nice for December.

Way to go!

XOXO

Donna

There they are!

Melinda wrote this morning to share that MORE of the trees are in the online magazine!

Looking for my trees is the Quiet Life version of Elf on the Shelf!!!

hahaha

oops...i mean

hohoho

Love

donna

The season to be jolly.

Oh! she looks so serious.

There is a bit of a pretzel at stake so she is obeying and sitting very still.

I just want to tell her to lighten up...buttercup! 

She would be a perfect Buttercup wouldn't she with her blonde hairs.

Katie and I decorated for Christmas last night.  This is weeks early for me.

But my sister Cindy and her husband Pat are coming to town for a fun 5K tomorrow and we have decided to celebrate Christmas together.  Stephanie and Wesley (Sue's son and daughter in law) are coming too!  

Cindy was hoping for some holiday decorations....and she's got em!

We found this darling collar in with the Christmas decoration.  Ginny may look serious but she  sounds super cute dashing around the yard with her jingle bells on.   

So today I am busy making lists and cleaning.

Here is what I plan on serving tomorrow night after the race.

Potato soup

BBQ pork

Broccoli Cauliflower salad

Mandarin Orange salad

Chocolate pie

Cindy is bringing lots of favorite snacks.

We are doing a nice white elephant.  I don't think any of us have the heart to give joke gifts.

I'm heading out for a little shopping in a minute.

Gosh.  This is the last time we have all been together. 2012.

Cindy took this picture!  

Thanks Cindy.

Patrick missed his nap.

Eh. Hem.

Ho. Ho. Yummy. Yo!!!

Donna

december is here. already

“Is it snowing where you are? All the world that I see from my tower is draped in white and the flakes are coming down as big as pop-corns."  ~Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs

Same trees...different year.







If you live in up north.
This.  You know.


December has come.
Why is it so surprising?  You'd think I'd get use to the months whizzing by.
But I don't.


Happy Wednesday!
I'm wishing you well and sending love.
Donna



UPDATE

Tawnya sent this to me.





extra trees!

On the website the snow is falling.
But that's it.  :oP

Tangled roots.

Hi friends!

Sorry I have been gone so long!  I drove to Chicago to pick up Patrick Jr. and Emma on Wednesday and since then it has been time for family and food, long talks and movies.


Here are a few pictures I took in Chicago...

It was warm for the Midwesterners and chilly for our California boy.

The new Maggie Daly park has a ice rink that is called the ribbon.  It reminded me of Hans Brinker.  Apparently I did not read that book to my children because they had no idea what I was talking about.  Ice skating is free if you bring your own skates.  But there can be a long line.

Everybody loves the bean. (Cloud Gate)

We stopped by the Christkindle Market.

Who doesn't want to be a princess?

Love them.

So much.

“Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that.”  ~allie condie

Walk carefully, well loved one,
walk mindfully, well loved one,
walk fearlessly, well loved one.
Return with us, return to us,
be always coming home.

~LeGuin

XOXO

Mom

Uncanny.

June 12, 2009

Adele 25

November 2015

Album cover

When I saw Adele's album cover, I thought...well....

doesn't that look exactly like the diptych I made of Katie and Emma so long ago.

Yeah.  Uncanny.

But hey. Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy anniversary to my hubby and

Go Pack Go

Miz Boo aka

Donna Elsie

my favorite black and white portraits

contrasty

















not contrasty










Zeekie




Asher and Melinda





I had to include Malachi....


Lost in Flickr again....
Hours.  I could look for hours.

Happy Monday dear friends!

Encourage one another,
Donna

The Easy Chef bakes.

These are the only chocolate chip cookies I can bake successfully.

They are the Neiman Marcus cookies.  I've told you this before...but they turned our especially nice and pretty yesterday so I thought I would take pictures and share them with you again.

Now you are really part of the family....getting to hear my stories over and over.

******

Neiman Marcus Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, slightly crushed (I use 1 teaspoon of instant coffee instead)
8 ounces chocolate chips (I use less)

Directions

1. Cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract.
3. Combine the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
10 to 12 minutes for a crispier cookie. Makes 12 to 15 large cookies. 

I skipped the expresso powder.  They are still delicious.  

I am nothing if not loyal....these cookies are on the first page of my recipe blog...from 2004 :o)

http://mizbooshay.blogspot.com/2004_10_01_archive.html

Try them!  You'll like them!

Donna Elsie

be swift to love

When we visited Paris in 2007 my camera was about a month old.  I only had a 50mm lens on it.

I learned that with this lens...I could not get a whole lot in the picture.   We were up all night flying and arrived at our hotel at about noon.  We put our luggage away and took a bus immediately to the Eiffel Tower.  

None of us wore gym shoes.

Our biggest fear was that we would be snickered at for wearing gym shoes in the most elegant city of lights.

The fear is incredibly different now.

But I know, without a doubt, that

Paris will overcome the fears and terrors of this terrible week.

“He who contemplates the depths of Paris is seized with vertigo.

Nothing is more fantastic. Nothing is more tragic.

Nothing is more sublime.”  

~Victor Hugo

My friends, life is short, and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts

 of those who travel with us, so be swift to love and make haste to be kind.

And my the blessing of the One who made us, 

and the One who loves us, 

and the One who travels with us, 

be with you and those you love this day and always.

Amen.

~ Adapted from Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)

Encourage one another,

Donna

bird brain

SOMETHING TOLD THE WILD GEESE

By Rachel Field



Something told the wild geese
It was time to go,
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered, "snow."


Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned, "frost."


All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,
But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.


Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly,
Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.

My favorite :o)

Both Patrick and I have noticed the geese don't seem to be flying over and heading south yet this year.  

Do you think they know about El Nino?  Do you think they know it will be mild enough to find open water?  I'm not sure how much a bird brain ;op can know.

But it's interesting that they are hanging around.

Not my picture.

Found on Shuttur via google.

XO

Donna

Always get up.

Today is a tough day for me...because our Katie has had a big disappointment.
As of today, she is not on a club team.
Her team of three years closed down,
so she tried out for a small team that a few of her school friends played with.
(We try out for the smaller clubs because they cost 1/2 as much.)

The emails go out on Sunday night and Katie did not get an email with an offer.
Her friends got offers.

We do not know how many newcomers they had room for on the team. Maybe only two or three.

But what I do know is my girl is sad.

And I can't stand it.

She reassures me that it's going to be fine but I worry so.

I know it's important to face disappointments in life.
It builds character.

But that does not help me sleep.

Emma told me to make Katie pancakes for breakfast.
And so I did.

I think it helped both of us.





Life is tough.
But so are you.
~Kid President



First rule:  Always get up.
~Derek



Encourage one another,
Donna


UPDATE:
I just opened my mail and Katie did get an offer...it was sent yesterday at 4:05 but we did not receive it due to a email mixup!
Oh my goodness.
So happy.

surprise smooches

Here are some twinkle lights to brighten your fall afternoon :o)





This silly picture is my favorite.




Emma is the Queen of goofy faces.  Did you know that?




Surprise momma kissing is the best.


I hope you have a sweet Friday filled with laughs and light and kisses.

Love
Donna Elsie

Crooked little picture

I took this picture a while ago.  I tried to straighten it but wasn't crazy about how it looked so I promptly forgot about it.

The other day I came across it and decided to try again.

I made it with poster edges in Photoshop.

The whole composition works best for me before crop. 

Here it is cropped and straightened.

The composition is not right here...I think because the shed is too much in the middle.  You lose the numbers on the red building on the right and the dramatic canopy of trees and the great tree on the left.

I love the dark outlines on the tree.

poster edges rock.

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;

He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

XO

Donna Boo