Anonymous Letters

I cannot begin to count how many times I have thought about writing an anonymous letter.  Maybe a letter to inform someone that they are severely incorrect about something or maybe a letter to blow off some steam or maybe even a letter to tattle on someone else.  I've thought about it so many times, but I have never followed that impulse and actually pulled the trigger.  Maybe just the act of fantasizing about it is enough for me.

This is not true for everyone else.  As a school board president, I get anonymous letters.  Sometimes the letters are from teachers, sometimes the letters are from past students, but usually the letters are from a community member who thinks we are complete idiots on the school board.  Although some people are more than happy to tell us to our faces, there are many who would rather just spell it out in an anonymous letter.

I received this letter from a "Frustrated Taxpayer" this week.  This person was not unreasonable at all.  I don't know why he (judging by the writing) didn't go ahead and sign it.  He made some very good points.  I wish I could sit down with him and talk about it.  I'm sure a lot of the decisions we make look rather stupid to someone who wasn't at every workshop, didn't read all the information and doesn't know all the  mitigating factors.  I get frustrated too -- and I'm supposedly someone with a little power.  Right now my husband and I can't afford another penny in taxes, but pay we must.  The public school system in this country is going to have to be redefined pretty soon if we stay on this current dwindling financial path.  School board members constantly think about educational quality and how to deliver it for less and less money.  There are pressures from all directions.  Everybody hates taxes, but good or bad, we live in a county where we all contribute to the common good and educating children is part of that.

Jack of all Trades

The big moment is here!  My RubyLemon business cards, hang tags and satin labels have arrived.  This means I'm just about ready to launch RubyLemons on Etsy.

It's amazing how many details have to be taken care of in order to do something like an Etsy business.  Maybe I'm just over preparing - that wouldn't surprise me.

But there are so many roles to play just to get started.. graphic designer, supply purchaser, organizer of raw materials, marketer, accountant, set designer, photographer, banker, shipper, and last but most important -- producer of handmade goods! 

So, with the arrival of these cool, sturdy, glossy, bright hang tags, labels and cards, I can check off one more thing on my long "to do" list.  Thank you to Custom Couture Label Co. (on Etsy, of course).

Cookie of the Month - Green-eyed Monsters

It's cookie of the month time again and we are being terrorized by green-eyed monsters (aka chocolate mint) already coming out for Halloween.  I am so excited to report that I made changes to the recipe in hopes of making chocolate cookies that did not flatten out like lifeless pancakes.  And as you can see by the photo, the changes worked!  I have made chocolate cookies a couple of times before and they always went quite flat.  This time I wanted bumpy, fudgy, yummy cookies and I have to say... they turned out PERFECTLY!  I am addicted to Allrecipes.com.  Love that site.  I get almost all my new recipes from there.  I first check the rating to make sure a lot of people have liked the recipe and then I check all the submitted photos.  In this case, I checked to see if the chocolate cookies in the photos were  bumpy, thick and fudgy or flat pancakes.  They weren't all flat.  Then I read the reviews and the different suggestions made by various people who already made the recipe and usually incorporate some of their ideas that  seem to make sense.  Here are the ingredients I used:

3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Crisco
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2/3 cups cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 12 oz. bag mint chocolate chips
green mint chocolate chips for the eyes

Start out with the butter and Crisco in your bowl.  This is the first place I changed the recipe.  The recipe called for 1 cup of butter.  I love butter.  I always use butter.  My hips will explain that to you.  But, I know Crisco usually makes cookies with more body, so I compromised just a bit.  1/4 cup Crisco -- what did we ever do before Crisco sticks?  I always hated measuring the dang Crisco in the old days when the only choice was the big fat can of fat.

Add the sugars, eggs and vanilla.  Another change to the recipe which called for 1 1/2 cups of white sugar.  I changed it to 1 cup white and 1/2 cup brown.  I just thought brown sugar would add to the flavor.

Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  OK another change here.  The recipe didn't call for the baking powder and only 1/4 tsp. of salt.  I wanted pudgier cookies so I added the baking powder.  Also, salt brings out the flavors so I doubled it.

I barely mixed this together in order to keep the rising ingredients active.  At this point it was a fudgy wonderful bowl of yumminess.

Oh, yeah.  There will be some bowl lickin' today.

Now that the holidays are getting near,

the stores are carrying mint chocolate chips.

 

Add the whole bag and gently stir.

Drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet -- gotta use airbake.  Quite often I like to refrigerate my dough before putting it onto the cookie sheets, but I didn't this time.

Add two green mint chips for eyes.

Oooooh, creepy.

"I always feel like -- somebody's watching me."

Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes or so.

Will they flatten out or have some fudgy, bumpy depth?

 

I watched through the window in the oven door as they cooked.  It seemed like they weren't flattening out!  Would they pancake as soon as I took them out of the oven and they hit the cold air?  The answer?  NO!  Yipee!

These little beauties kept their shape!

And the taste was to die for!  Not cakey, crumbly or dry... just yummy, fudgy, chewy, chocolatey, mintness.  I hope Beth and her family enjoy this month's cookie.  Maybe next time I make these, I'll skip the mint and add pecans.  Makes about 44 cookies.

Signs of Fall

 It's been chilly and rainy all week.  Here's a little reminder for myself and everybody else that autumn is a beautiful time of the year.  P.S.  If you have any ideas what to do with all the concord grapes, leave a comment.  P.S.S.  No, I don't know how the jack-o-lantern totem pole came to wear the viking helmet, but it's been his favorite hat for years... and this year with Brett Farve on the Vikings it's especially questionable attire in Wisconsin.

 

 

 

 

 

School Board Appointments and Schmucks

I remember when I was appointed to the school board ten years ago.  There were three of us seeking a seat made available when a long time member resigned.  We talked about ourselves and answered questions in a public, televised meeting.  I thought it would be easier than running a campaign during an election.  It was nerve-racking.  Plus I was up against a local legend - a beloved, retired elementary principal.  When it came time for the remaining six school board members to make the selection, the ballot vote was tied 3-3, three times in a row.  Finally, on the fourth try someone switched their vote over to me.  In seconds I was sworn in, seated, and voting on heaven only knows what.  If the audience could have seen under the skirted table they would have viewed my hands clutched white in a death grip.

Fast forward ten years.  Monday night we had another school board appointment to replace Anne, our vice president (See previous post "Thank you Anne" 10/7).  This was only the second appointment in ten years and the first since I've been president.  An unprecedented eleven people applied for the position.  Wow!  These people came with impressive backgrounds in everything from finance to law and most with extensive involvement in schools.  After nine rounds of ballots, including a 3-3 deadlock for several rounds, we finally achieved a majority vote for a new board member (congratulations, Cindy).

Although I am not known for sticking my foot in my mouth (at least I hope not) too often, I'm pretty sure I did Monday night.

Wanting to emphasize how impressed I was with the pool of candidates and unfortunately all too willing to be self-depricating, I said something to the effect that I felt like a "schmuck" in comparison to the talented candidates.  You know what I meant, right?  Like a rube or a minor leaguer.  Sometimes I just get a little too slang for my own good.  After the meeting I was discreetly informed by Dave, our resident expert in Yiddish, what the word, "schmuck" really means.  Oops.  Forgive me Menomonee Falls.  I guess I've just watched way too many Mel Brooks movies.

These Kids of Mine

By now, dear blog reader, you have met all my kids through my Halloween costume pictures.  Maybe it's time to get an updated image, so here they are:

That's big Nate (23 in a few days) on the left - maybe changing his major from Physics to International Relations.  Chelsea, the 18-year-old piano performance major stands between her two brothers.  Lars (25), the Chinese major about to graduate with his lovely wife, Spring.  These are my three oldest and they all attend BYU while the remaining three of us (Mom, Dad and Keaton) are 1500 miles away in Wisconsin.

Got Your Halloween Costume Yet?

Time's a-wasting.  Have your kids decided what they want to "be" yet?  I actually heard my 14-year-old say the other day, "What am I going to "be" this year?"  What?  Huh?  I thought I was off the costume-go-round!  Maybe he'll finally give in and be a tornado.  I once heard this idea to wrap yourself in tons of fishing line strung up with matchbox cars, doll furniture, dirty puffs of cotton batting, sticks, farm animals - you get the idea.

Here's Chelsea in 5th grade as a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.  All you need is red pajamas or sweats and add some yarn, some pom poms and a colander.

Here's cute little Nate as a cowboy.  That's probably 16 years ago.  He's a big 6'-4" brute now... a "brute" that loves ballroom dancing - hee hee.

And Let's not forget Lars as Darkwing Duck.

He always was into secret agent stuff.

Should have known that someday he would go into the biz... he's about to graduate and looking at a career in the CIA.  "Let's get dangerous!"

Keaton sure enjoyed being Draco Malfoy a whole heck of a lot more than being a deviled egg.  I know he had the perfect attitude.

18 days till Halloween... better get busy!