Ugh. The last two weeks have been a blur. I’ve been rolling with the punches and trying to make the best of things as I dealt with all the good, bad, and ugly of the last 14 days. My son is better and is out of the hospital. I fractured a rib on the opposite side from my bad hip, and walking with a cane became utter torture for a week. My outdoor roses are blooming their hearts out. I had bloodwork done and I’m happy to report that I am recovering some lost ground with my scleroderma-induced organ damage. Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. The smoke rolled back in from the western wildfires, my symptoms flared, and the weather turned nasty hot again. Inhaled steroids brought my symptoms back under control in just a couple of days! My neighbor repaired the fence between our yards: this is great news because… pit pull in her yard. The Covid-19 death toll passed 200,000 in the US. I bought some wicked cute new clothes. Miss Pitty-Pat, the cutest hamster ever, died. I went crazy and bought new yarn, and I finished knitting my fabulous The Sharon Show.
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this entire MKAL experience. It was so much fun; the rapidly changing knitted elements in the shawl made it engaging and interesting, and the support and camaraderie of the Facebook group was just amazing. Did I mention that there is cat snark and policing going on, not to mention the multi-state chase of a stolen squad car with a platter of sushi in the glove box? In fact, the whole thing has been so positive that the adventure continues with another MKAL being run by Sharon that is a cowl called The Secret Handshake and the Facebook group is all atwitter with excited knitters showing off their yarn, the first knitted efforts with Clue 1, their drinks (yes, these clues come with beverage recipes…), and the kittens that they just adopted. If you don’t want to own a cat, this is a dangerous group for you as kitten adoption seems to be contagious right now…
Speaking of kittens, Hannah and I had our birthdays last week and we made cookies to celebrate. As chance would have it, my birthday and Hannah’s 6 month birthday were the same day.
I had planned a post all about Hannah, but it kind of flamed out in the general chaos of the last two weeks. She is growing fast and has really started to develop a personality all her own. Especially when I’m working in the kitchen!
Which brings me back to the cookies. 50 years ago I copied this cookie recipe out of my mom’s loose leaf collection of favorites. It was originally a gumdrop recipe that has been adapted to become my family’s favorite chocolate chip recipe. Here it is for you, as a birthday present from me. 🙂
Cream together:
-
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
Add and mix well:
-
- 2 large (or extra large) eggs
Add to the bowl and mix well:
-
- 2 cups white flour (I never bother to sift)
- 2 cups fast cooking (minute) oatmeal
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- (1 tsp. salt – I never add this as I am living the salt free life and if there was salt in the butter you may not want it. Suit your own taste.)
Add in 12 ounces of chocolate chips (or about 2 cups) and mix well. If the mixture is too crumply for your liking you can add a little milk.
Spoon cookie amounts of the dough onto the cookie sheet, flatten a little if you like with a little pat, and bake about 10-12 minutes at 350°F. The cookies should be lightly brown on top and will spread as they bake; they puff up while baking and then flatted when they are done. Let them cool before you start eating them!! These cookies freeze well and have survived shipment in care packages many times over the years.
My mom would put all kinds of things into the dough… raisins, chopped dates, nuts, gummi bears, shredded coconut, you name it. It’s your cookie, make it your own!! The total amount of additives should be around two cups. I’ve also used old fashioned rolled oats, but I didn’t enjoy them as much as the instant oats.
Happy cookie crunching, everyone!
I think that I may now go online and buy a little more yarn while crunching my own cookies…
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Sending you a virtual hug for your birthday, for the craziness in the world and for the sad loss of Miss Pitty Pat…I imagine Mackenzie will be pleased to see her 😉
What fun that KAL seems to have been. Sounds like it was just what you needed. I hope you both had a lovely birthday.
It actually was as good as it gets in the time of Covid. I went for the blood draw and the ladies sang happy birthday and gave me a can of cranberry juice. 🙂 Then I hit the yarn store for the first time and got a little silly snatching up all the yarn that I’ve been longing for. It was a fun outing and I ordered in food that evening.
Happy Birthday! Those cookies look so good. They reminded me of how long it has been since I baked some.
I am sorry to hear about Miss Pitty Pat.
They are good! Pitty-Pat was getting pretty old for a hamster so I kind of knew it was coming. I found her in the middle of a pile of fresh hay in her cage. Hannah misses her.
How long do they typically live?
About 2 years.
Awww. That’s not nearly long enough.
Happy birthday!
Thank you!
So glad to hear you are alright. I am sorry to hear about Pitty Pat. I wondered about you and your family , human and 4 legged all week when there was no update. So glad things got better. I am currently in Atlanta helping my daughter and granddaughter. We go back to Canada in a month for our 2 weeks quarantine. Lots of knitting . I am glad I have a big stash.
I’m glad to hear that you got to Atlanta to help your daughter (and granddaughter!!) One of the truisms of the pandemic is that we yarn stash owners have been completely vindicated! I hope that all goes well for yourmonth in Atlanta and that the quarantine is productive for you. 🙂
Poor Pitty-Pat. She was a happy hamster and had a good little hamster life. I do miss the sound of her running in her little wheel.
So good to hear from you and glad your son is out of the hospital. Hope things stay on a good course for both you and him. And happy birthday to you and Hannah!
Diane, things are really picking up now that we’re at the end of the second week. 2020 has certainly been an adventure. Did you see the new Caitlin Hunter sweaters that just came out. I’m knitting as fast as I can, but I do need life to be a little kinder to me for awhile. 🙂
Stay safe!!
You never complain, but you have clearly had a bad time – it is good that things picked up for your birthday
Thanks. I did have a tough time for a few days but I’ve perked up again. 🙂
I’m so sorry to hear that Miss Pitty-Pat passed. I would guess she’s with MacKenzie now where they can play nicely together while eating lots of treats.
I hope your rib is better! Ouch.
Happy Birthday to you and Hannah. She has grown lots.
Your shawl is gorgeous! Reading about the shenanigans on Ravelry sucked me into the cowl MKAL for the project I didn’t plan on;)
The cookies look delicious!
I’m afraid 2020 just isn’t going to behave. We just have to endure. 2021 will be here soon enough.
I knew that she was slowing down and I was concerned that she was at the end of her lifespan, but still a little sad to find her. I do hope that Yellow Boy is nice to her if she is hanging out with MacKenzie in a better place.
I cast on y Secret Handshake last night and am pretty happy with what is happening at the moment. I struggled with the forum in Ravelry from technical issues (with me), but the Facebook forum is priceless and easy to follow along on. Someone posted an artistic addition she did to her shawl that was double stitched cats… so cute!! I need to do double stitch as there was also a super cute fish skeleton that was done and then there are those cat footprints and maybe a funny message. Lots to be creative with. Anyway, I do hope that you love the MKAL, and I also want to mention that I have a couple of other cowls that I need to get going on because of your bad influence. Next post I’ll show off the yarns.
I also need to knit a little birthday present for a cousin that is waaaay overdue.
Happy Birthday to you and Hannah!
Thanks!!
Happy Birthday to you and Hannah. The cookies look good:) I’m sorry to hear about Pitty-Pat and everything else you’ve been going through. Take care.
Thank you. I blame all of the crazy days and bad events on 2020. Eventually we will be through it. 🙂
My goodness, what a roller coaster this past two weeks has been for you! Happy birthday to you, and happy half birthday to Miss Hannah! Your cowl looks amazing, and I’m so glad you have the new MKAL to look forward to 🙂 I am so very sorry for your loss of Miss PittyPat! And also so sorry for your health problems and the fractured rib. I hope things calm down for you and start going more positive in general. Virtual Hug!
I had a really nice weekend and I am looking forward to a calmer and more productive week with baking, knitting and maybe even a pot of soup! My rib is much better and I’m so happy with how the new MKAL is going.
🙂
Happy Birthday to you and Hannah! Sorry about Pitty-Pat! ❤ I hope you are feeling better and enjoying all your new yarn. Your shawl turned out great! I think that we all just need to knit and eat cookies for the duration of Covid.
I am feeling much better and knitting up a storm again. I’m totally on board with the cookie Covid plan!! Today I’m making pumpkin bread and maybe some shortbread cookies too: take that, Covid!!
🤣😂 it’s a shame I am not your neighbor! Pumpkin bread and shortbread cookies sound delicious!
They are! No matter what is going on, shortbread makes it better. 🙂
Happy belated birthday. I’m so sorry it has been an overwhelming slog of pain and misery, sadness and grief, bad air (but nice flowers), etc. Your kitty is sweet as can be. I’m sure she’s a welcome respite to the grind. I hope your days improve, though with RBG gone and the crazy election season upon us, it’s really hard keeping one’s head up. Sigh. More fires here too. It’s exhausting. I’m so, so, so sorry about all your health challenges. You have such a good attitude. xo Alys
Hey, it’s 2020, what other type of birthday would I get? Losing RBG was such a blow I’ve been considering writing a post about it. I worry about more fires in the west as the weather forecast wasn’t the best for you guys. Hannah is the best little companion ever!! You know, life is full of challenges: it’s how you roll with the punches that matters. 🙂
Happy birthday! What a rough time you’ve had, but I hope things are starting to pick up now. New yarn certainly helps things feel better 🙂
Things are much better now. Also, I got even more yarn and started the cutest new knitting project.
I’m glad to read that your son is out of the hospital. I’m glad you had a good checkup at the doctors. I’m sorry to hear about those other things. You are still in my prayers.
And happy birthday! Thanks for the cookie recipe. I never thought to put gummy bears in cookies! I might have to try that.
Thank you! Hope your cookies turn out well. 🙂
Thanks. I guess you really are the Midnight Knitter. It is 11:40 here. 🙂 . . .I was just heading to bed, when I noticed that Roamans is selling sweater dresses.
Yep, I literally am the Midnight Knitter. Best part of retirement; knitting into the night knowing I can sleep as late as I want, which is wonderful after years of getting up at 4:30am for work. 🙂
All ok? No Saturday post this week. I hope all is well x
You are so sweet to check on me. 🙂 I got a high dose flu shot on Tuesday that pretty much knocked me on my butt, and then the smoke in the air just finished me off. I went back on steroids and I’m doing better this week and plan to stay inside as much as i can. Sadly the fires are still going and the weather report isn’t good with hot days and no rain in sight.