Linda @ Linda’s Lunacy

Sugar Cookie Recipe

October 20, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I got this recipe from a little recipe book that came with a set of cookie cutters. It’s our favorite sugar cookie. They seriously are the best!

Sugar Cookie Recipe

In a large bowl, cream:

3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla flavoring

Add and mix:

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Chill the dough for at least one hour.

When ready to roll out the cookies, preheat oven to 375*.

On a well floured surface roll the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Dip cookie cutters in flour with each use.

If using sugar on the cookies, now’s the time to add it, before baking.

Bake the cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet until firm to the touch, about 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks. When completely cooled, cookies can be frosted.

Look how good that cookie is! Soft, flaky, and oh so yummy!

Watch the cookies carefully! You don’t want them to be any darker than this! In fact, these are getting close to too dark. Don’t wait until you can see brown around the edges of the cookies. Check them at 10 minutes, and lift one with a spatula to check for brown-ness.

Store in an airtight container. If you have any left to store!

*We usually double the recipe. The raw dough and the baked cookies can be frozen.

Kitchen Tip – Mix 2 egg yolks with food coloring. Paint on unbaked cookies. Bake as usual. Frosting gets hard, won’t smear, etc. when carrying out or stacking in containers for gifts.

If you like sugar on your sugar cookies, instead of frosting, here’s how I make colored sugar.

My Daily List

October 19, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I have used lists to keep me on track for years. I prefer to use routines, instead of a schedule. I have learned that is is next to impossible to follow a timed schedule. A list of tasks to finish sometime in the morning or afternoon is much more achievable for me, and for my children. The four youngest that I am homeschooling (the older 2 already graduated from our homeschool) have their own morning and afternoon lists. Morning list are supposed to be done before school starts, and afternoon lists are done right after lunch.

Every so often, I go through my lists and update them. For example, I don’t need “test the pool” cluttering up my list in the winter. The change of seasons is a good time to update my lists.

Here is my current daily list:

MORNING
Make my bed
Pick up master bed, bath
Take dinner out of freezer
Breakfast
Vitamins
wash dishes
desk duty
School

Clear Hot Spots:
computer desks
washing machine
LR-TV
tables- school room, living room
piano

AFTERNOON
Lunch
Vitamins
wash dishes
Check school work
Put away School stuff
Start dinner
weeklies
monthlies

EVENING
Dinner
Vitamins
wash dishes

Clear hot spots:
computer desks
washing machine
LR-TV
tables – schoolroom, living room
piano

A hot spot is a place that everyone dumps their stuff. The places that would be piled sky high if not dealt with on a regular basis. You know the spots I’m talking about, every house has them.

Now, my list probably will look quite different from yours. My kids have a lot of the daily tasks on their lists.

They set the table, clear the table, take out the trash, do pick-ups of all the rooms, do the daily vacuuming. I believe in training the kids (boys and girls) to do housework so when they move out, they are equipped to take care of their own houses.

Housework is the responsibility of ALL the people that live in the home. Not just the girls. My boys hate it when I say that. lol

You’ve probably also noticed that laundry is not on the list. The kids are responsible for their own laundry. Since my youngest is 10, I just have to supervise the laundry process, which includes hanging the laundry on the clothesline outside.

Next week, I’ll share my weekly cleaning list.

For more homemaking ideas, visit
Homemaker Monday

Tackle it Tuesday

This Weeks Blog Hops

October 18, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

These are the blog hops I’m participating in this week. Blog hops, as well as Twitter & Facebook hops are a lot of fun, and a great way to find new blogs. It’s also a great way to increase your followers on your blog.

If your visiting Linda’s Lunacy for the first time, Welcome. I hope you can stay and visit for awhile!

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Fun Follow Friday

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Thanks for stopping by to visit! Hope to see you again soon!

What’s For Dinner?

October 18, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Saturday – pizza night – Pizza and carrot sticks-For me, the rest of the family went on a church outing that included supper.

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Chicken soup with rice and veggies

Monday – chicken – BBQ chicken legs, baked potatoes, corn, beets

Tuesday – beef – Spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans

Wednesday – super simple – leftovers, cooked carrots

Thursday – chicken – White Chicken Chili, carrot sticks

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Steak, Challah Bread, fried green tomatoes (if I’m up to it) or corn

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Garden of Giveaways

October 18, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Have a giveaway on your blog? Enter your link below!

It’s Mega Swagbucks Day!

October 15, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I have been using Swagbucks for a couple of years now. I always get gift cards to Amazon with my Swagbucks. So my whole family has benefited with the things I have bought with my gift cards.

On Fridays, more Swagbucks in larger amounts are made available. Mega Swagbucks Day!

Have you signed up for Swagbucks yet? If not, what are you waiting for? You can earn free stuff just by searching the internet. It really works!

Ecostore USA Dishwash Liquid & Laundry Powder – Review

October 15, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Ecostore USA recently sent me 2 products to review. Since I try to use very few chemicals in my home, their products were perfect for me to review.

Way back when (lol), when I used chemical cleaners because that was all you could buy, (and I had never heard about making your own cleaners), I was very careful with my children and the cleaners. I most definitely didn’t let them use the cleaners. I wouldn’t even let them in the bathroom with me when I was cleaning it. I didn’t want them to breathe the chemicals.

My oldest is 24, and back then, you never heard about cleaners being bad for you. I just knew I didn’t want the cleaners on my kids skin, or want them breathing all the fumes. We know so much more now about cleaners and the effects on our bodies and our health now than we did back then.

That’s why I’m always happy to hear about companies who make cleaners and health and beauty items without chemicals.

Ecostore makes baby care items, bath and body items, cleaners, and even pet care items with no nasty chemicals.

They let me pick two products to use and review. I picked the Front Loader Laundry Powder and the Dishwash Liquid.

The actual products sitting on my washing machine.

Front Loader Laundry Powder comes bagged inside a box. It has a convenient measuring scoop. We do a lot of laundry here for 7 people. Including my husbands very dirty work clothes. This laundry powder worked amazingly well on all our clothes. It is plant and mineral based, so no chemicals. Therefore it doesn’t have a strong chemical smell. I don’t like a strong smell on my clothes like chemical based laundry detergent leaves. I want my clothes to smell clean. And that’s what this powder did.

The box says it will do 33 loads of laundry. I haven’t finished my box yet, so I don’t know how many I will get out of it. Even though I was writing down how many loads I was washing, when others used it, they didn’t write it down. It’s safe to say that we have washed 30 loads so far with it, since for a lot of our loads, we only used half a scoop of the powder.

I also used the Dishwash Liquid. The 7 of us use a lot of dishes on a daily basis. Since we don’t use paper plates except on special occasions when we’ll have more people than we have dishes, birthday parties and bbq’s for example, we use more dishes than the average family. I also wash all those dishes by hand. We haven’t had an automatic dishwasher for almost 3 years.

This dishwash liquid has a light citrus smell that is quite nice. Since this liquid is also plant based with no synthetic chemicals, it does not make as many bubbles as store bought dish liquid. That can be hard to get used to, as we’ve all grown up washing dishes in very bubbly dish water. I found that by using a spoon or spatula to beat the dish water as the sink was filling, I could get quite a bit of suds that lasted longer.

Since I also cook most of our meals from scratch, I can have some really dirty pots and pans. this dishwashing liquid was very effective on the greasy pans.

I was very happy with the quality of both these products. So if your looking for products with no nasty chemicals, visit Ecostore USA.

*Disclosure- Ecostore provided me with one box of laundry powder and one bottle of dishwash liquid to use and review. The review is my own. I really did use the products, and I really did like them.

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