Best Way to Cheer Me? Cashmere Me!

Picking up my sticks again to knit some adorable baby booties for a friend's newborn. I love this yarn. It's a cashmere blend and comes in the most wonderful colors. I'll add a tiny black and white gingham ribbon to these and knit another pair in petal pink for a special welcome to the brand new baby girl.

Be A Doll

I don't remember being really interested in dolls as a little girl. Oh sure, I thought they were beautiful and I probably wanted them, but I don't really remember playing with them. I loved paper dolls, though. I remember looking forward to each issue of McCall's magazine to cut out the Betsy McCall feature of the month. I loved Betsy and her outfits designed to correspond with the holiday or event of the month. I loved her little weiner dog, Nosy and her cousin Barbara, too.

Here's a scanned page from a Web site. Its from March 1957. I loved the little games and puzzles on the page, too. And another shop on line called Tiny McSmall that has wonderful paper dolls and other neat crafts and gifts for kids.

Sun Day

This was my view today from about 11am-2pm. Gloriously warm and sunny. I had one of those V-8 knock yourself on the head moments today. It had been so long since I had been to the beach and once I got there and started to relax and unwind, I did the V-8 thing..."geesh, I could have been coming to the beach every weekend instead of (insert any mundane activity here)." Sometimes I forget I live only 3 miles from a spot like this.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

Not exactly unique but certainly a classic---and so easy!

From the Pantry

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 cup white sugar (plus some for rolling)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Use a silicone mat on a cookie sheet or spray cookie sheet with Pam.

Note: Oven temp will be 375 but dough must chill for an hour before cooking- so dont preheat too early.

Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour (this step is important especially for nice criss cross patterns on top!)

Roll into 1 inch balls using hands. On a small plate, pour about 1/2 cup white sugar and roll balls in sugar, coating all over. Place balls on cookie sheet and press flat with tines of fork, making a criss cross pattern.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees or until just golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Refrigerate unrolled dough in between. Let baked cookies sit for just a few minutes and then transfer to wire racks for cooling.

Makes about 48 cookies.

Take a Card

Remember these? Library catalog cards? The Dewey decimal system? Make your own at this site. Make up a title of a book---the epic you never wrote but always wanted to. Then type in comments that will appear as scribbles on the card. I kept it clean. Its a new roses I have.

A Toast to Good Health

Drinks and a nosh on the patio.

The Mr.'s : Ketel One and tonic with a splash of orange juice and a slice of backyard-grown Meyer lemon. This drink is a family special known as a "Parker". The nosh is fresh little mozzarella balls (called bocconcini) marinated in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt and black pepper.

The Wudgie's : Mott's for Tots apple juice (full strength as it is already reduced sugar). This is known as a "joooosh". The nosh is baby goldfish.

The toast: Here's looking at you, kid.

Honey Bee Lost

I love Haagen-Dazs' new campaign to help the honey bee. Did you know that 25% of the Western honey bee population has disappeared over the past few winters? There are several reasons for this---mostly a mysterious condition called Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. No one knows why whole colonies of bees are just disappearing at a very alarming rate. Bees are so integral to our food supply as pollinators of many crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that about one-third of the human diet is derived from insect-pollinated plants and that the honey bee is responsible for 80 percent of this pollination.

Check out the Help the Honey Bees website that H-D has created just for this campaign. It explains the seriousness of CCD and what you can do to help--including planting such lovely things as lavender, violets, sunflowers and rosemary to attract and sustain bees. You can even download a great (and free) screensaver and wallpaper, create your own bee (you pick the hair style, eye color and body type!) and send bee mail. It bee good.