Movie and a Pizza....

Can you believe that it is Valentines day already? Mack and I celebrated by going and seeing "Paul Blart: Mall Cop". Kevin James played a funny, yet nice guy who turns into a hero. It was a nice family movie that didn't feel the need to use the f-word as the building block of every sentence. It's nice to find these kind of movies.

After the movie we stopped by Papa Murphy's and picked up one of their popular Heart-Shaped Pizzas. It was topped with freshly grated cheese and had loads of pepperoni and was a great low price of only $7.99.

I hope you all had a great Valentines Day!!

When I think of Valentines Day...

I can't help but think of yummy sugar cookies with delicious frosting. Yum! Yum! Really when I think about it, its kind of funny that chocolate doesn't pop into my mind. It just seems that chocolate = Valentines. However, as a child growing up I had the chance to make cut out cookies with my mom. Putting hard labor into mixing, rolling and decorating. These wonderful moments will be treasured forever.

So, when I stopped over to my friend Peg's house she had just got done making these beautiful cookies. The timing could not have been better. Don't get me wrong....I love making these tasty morsels, but receiving is always much more fun. (Thanks Peg!) Just what I was needing after a stressful day. These cookies are like high class, compared to my younger days. We didn't always use decorator tips, I think manly due to not wanting to deal with the hassle. We used candy. Oh, how I loved to decorate with Valentine conversation hearts, M&M's, and JuJu hearts. Pretty basic but still cute. No two were ever alike.

So the recipe that I grew up on is posted below. I have tried many recipes over the years, some with powdered sugar, or sour cream, or lemon zest. But I always resort back to my family recipe. It's still a winner in my heart. I just love the buttery flavor with the hint of almond. It always gets me at that first bite.

Cut Out Cookies (family recipe)
3/4 cup margarine or butter (we always use butter)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and extracts and beat. Stir in dry ingredients. Works best if you chill the dough for at least one hour. Roll out and bake on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for about 7 minutes. Cool and frost to your likening. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Answered Prayers....

Now, that I don't feel like I have been swallowing razor blades wrapped in sandpaper I would like to tell you about my adventures from last Saturday. I have been wanting to share, but since I had to save my energy to work four days this last week, I kept my story to my tired self.

Anyhow, I went snowmobiling with a group of friendly folks on Saturday, which was a beautiful day. We went north of where I live and put on probably 80 or so miles. We had a good ride. Once arriving home and going up the drive way my dog, Dory came to great me like always. She jumped on and I continued up the driveway. We went up the little snow bank to go down the hill and the sled got stuck. I did not want to give the sled to much gas, cause I didn't want Dory to go sailing off the sled. After a few tries I got the sled to go down the hill and parked it for the evening. I turned it off immediately and was taking my helmet off and was saying to Mack that it was a windy evening. Right as I was saying this we heard a "whoosh" sound and we looked over and saw that a tree had blown down. It went down in the same spot that the dog and I had been stuck on. Friends that was within minutes, in fact seconds. I'm very blessed not to have it land on me. I feel that my morning pray saved me. Yes, prayers do come true. I can attest to that.

Not a ginormous tree, by any means, but big enough to make a persons head spin.

This is where I was stuck on my sled. So, I guess this could have been the part to get me. I'm really glad it didn't. I feel blessed. Mack, was also amazed. However, he was more amazed that I even made it home. The reason I got hung up on the hill is because the skid frame had lost most of the bolts and the two that were still in were only hanging on by a thread. So, I was blessed twice in one day. Can I get an "Amen"?

I love happy stories. Specially, when they pertain to myself. Sorry, I don't mean to brag. I just think its nice to experience both the good and the bad....well, ok mostly the good. *wink*

I hope you had a great weekend. Sounds like we may be in line for some winter weather. I guess I best get my sled fixed just in case we get some fresh powder.