Rain it did !!!

 The rain finally came, just a bit after my last post actually. It was a good first winter storm for here. It rained through the night and by the next day it was bright and sunny. Not warm, however, but chilly. We are actually waiting for another one this weekend. Some of the trees are turning and the rain freshened up the air nicely.

 I did stay nice and warm and dry inside and true to my word, hahahaha, I baked the yummy soft gingerbread cookies.

 Paula Deen has some really nice candles, by the way. I get mine a Wal-mart. They lean towards more expensive for me, but they smell great all the way through and the jars are really cool.

 I think I may be on to something. Bear with me for the story and you will see why I am just a bit excited about this recent AHHH HAAA moment.

 While my cookie dough seemed right and in fact tasted perfect heehee I decided to sprinkle the sugar on them this time as apposed to rolling them in it  like I usually do.

 They puffed up great in the oven.....

 But when i got them out , they were just to soft to take off the pan. See the folded one in the top left corner. So I scooted the parchment paper off the pan onto the counter for them to cool This worked great. I then transferred them to the cooling rack to let them finish up cooling. You may be thinking "no big deal" they tasted great and they look ok.... but this is NOT the way the recipe is supposed to turn out. I have made these in the past and they come out puffy and thick and chewy in the middle. Ok so my ahhhh haaa moment.
It was raining.... That means humidity..... Same as in Georgia....where every single time I try to bake my cookies, they turn out looking like something the cat dragged in. I have been so discouraged by this. I thought for sure that when the surgeon removed my knee joints he took my baking skills with him. He set them aside and forgot to put them back in when he put in my new knee joints. I was convinced. Try to tell me otherwise and I will argue with you till sundown. But..... I was thinking... Just maybe it has something to do with the humidity... DUHHHHHHHH.... Maybe I need to add a touch more flour..... This I shall try and I will let you know the results.. Wish me luck...

 All the while Miss Charlotte ( Charlie) snoozed the afternoon away, on my unmade bed. She loves the new afghan as much as I do !! Notice by her tail is a whiffle golf ball. Seth hits them up on the hill and Charlie goes hunting them. She will carry one around for 1/2 the day after she finds it. Isn't that adorable? hahahaha

 I finished up some yarn I have been spinning for quite awhile now. I decided to Navajo ply it so the colors would stay more true. I have about 4 more ounces to do up and then I will be ready to start yet another project I have up my sleeve. (Navajo plying is a three ply yarn, it keeps the colors more seperate by plying sections onto themselves, the end result is a more rounded yarn that  I like to use for crochet.)

 And my baby Emmaline's hats are are clean and getting their finishing touches. My goal is to send a package by Wednesday. Wish me luck on that one too. I'm so bad at actually mailing the package. I'm not sure why, some weird psychological reason I'm sure... Or given enough time to think about it, I could come up with one. hahahahahahahahahaahaahhaha

 Oh yeah I almost forgot... I found this cookbook at the swap meet the other day. It's an older edition but I still love reading it. I haven't found any recipes that jump out at me yet, but I'm sure I will. Are you bored out of your mind yet? hahahah. I will close for now, but I have a new kitchen gadget to share with you that is the coolest thing EVER!!!! See you in a couple of days.
Blessings, Sue
Edited to add: I never use shortening in my baking, it grosses me out. I use real salted BUTTER!!! and if you click on the pictures they will get bigger and you can see the recipe very clearly. :)