For the Criminally Inane

My mother loves to make cookies. She often creates a cookie platter with a half-dozen or more DIFFERENT cookies. She spends a day or two making them, then she delivers them to all her neighbors and friends. So Christmas cookies are some of my favorite childhood memories. I listed three of my favorite. One I couldn't find my family recipe for, so I just found one online that looked pretty similar. Peppermint Pinwheels or Candy Cane Twists is my favorite Christmas Cookie. I thought I'd share it with you! Now, I've stopped using shortening. I replace with either unsalted butter or cocoa nut oil, depending on the recipe. In this one, using butter will make the cookie crunchier.  Basic Refrigerator dough: ½ c. shortening ½ c. margarine or butter 3 c. flour 1 c. sugar 1 egg 2 Tbls. milk 1 tsp. vanilla ½ tsp. baking soda ¼ tsp. salt Cream shortening and margarine with sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and mix into sugar mixture to make a soft dough. Di

Christmas is a special time of year. I love how we are focused outward in giving service, making sure the poor are taken care of, and tending to our loved-ones. I also love Christmas for the opportunity to give good gifts. My brother's slogan is give them the gift they didn't know they always wanted. That's a high commission to bear. No gift cards could possibly satisfy. One of the hardest groups to buy for I think is teen boys, especially boys who aren't into sports. So I thought I'd offer a few suggestions in my first annual Teen Gift-Guide.  These are a few of my favorites things. Most are around $30 or less. Some of the DVD collections run a little higher. For the TV/Movie buffs: 1. The Office complete series. 2. Harry Potter complete eight movies on DVD. 3. Indiana Jones complete four movies. (Although that last one was fan-fiction.) 4. Avatar: The last airbender  is a favorite around my house. Even my 18 year-old daughter will watch it. I listened to it ove

 Hello! Happy Mother's Day to all you fabulous moms who do way more than you should, get thanked way less than you ought, and are waaaaaay underpaid to listen to complaints about dinner!    Mother's Day is this Sunday and I'm excited! My husband is really great about remembering flowers and gifts, unless he's not. Sometimes he forgets, like we all do sometimes.  Are presents your love language?  There's the book (you can check it out on Amazon here), the Five Love Languages, that talks about how we give and expect to receive love.  When I read it, I had a revelation! We often show love by how we want to be loved.  I found out my husband's love language is acts of service after about, you know, 20 years of marriage when I finally figured out why he loves to help people all the time. It's his way of showing love.  (My love language is time, by the way. I love to just sit and be with people I love. No need to get my presents, although I like those too. But if

These are some of my most used items! I couldn't live without these items! 1. Grocery delivery or curbside pick up. Wal-mart, Safeway even my local H-E-B gained popularity during COVID. But I've been doing pick up for at least a year before the pandemic! It's worth $5 to have someone else spend an hour shopping for me. 2. Slowcooker bags For fast and easy clean up, I use these for my slow cooker! Easy recipe? Chicken breasts, one chopped onion and BBQ sauce. Let sit on low for 6 hours! Eat on buns. 3. Dry shampoo Some days I just don't have time to go through my full shower routine. On those days, I rely on dry shampoo to keep my hair from looking nasty. I might even go two to three days! 4. Ath-leisure wear like these pants here that have a side pocket for your phone. I love the ones I got. You can't even feel your phone. Comfy, sporty and I feel nice in them.   5. A planner like this one to help keep my organized on track. When I have due dates and d

 ***Post contains affiliate links as part of Amazon's program. I get a small commission using this link**** Some people have asked my opinion about Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program . If you are an avid reader and enjoy reading lots of books for a small monthly subscription, then yes, Kindle Unlimited is for you. Many books included with a KU subscription and are also offered at a for purchase price as well. Some of my author friends really enjoy listing their books there. Pros and Cons Pros: *You can read anything included with Kindle Unlimited without having to pay more for the book.   *If you are a fast reader or a reader who reads more than a few books a month, having a subscription can actually save you money.    *Wide variety of books and genres to choose from. (I'm thinking of writing for KU just to give more readers an opportunity to find my books.) Cons: *Monthly membership subscription is required. Again, at least check it out and see if Kindle Unlimited is right

When I was in theatre in high school, I auditioned for our school's mime troupe. I had to come up with a small sketch showcasing three different mime skills. I did my audition and thought I did well, but the advisor didn't immediately tell us if we made it.  They had a special way of inducting new mimes.  When I got accepted, the rest of the troupe came to my house early in the morning (thankfully my mother warned me to clean my room!) and kidnapped me, painted my face with white mime makeup with the black over the lips to symbolize no speaking, and then took me and the other new inductees out for breakfast.  Then I had to stay in mime makeup all day with a sign around my neck that said, “I can’t talk because I’m being initiated into the International Mime Society.” Well, you might imagine how well that went over in high school. I actually did pretty well adhering to the sacred code of not talking while in mime makeup.  Except for one time. As a sophomore, I took driver’s ed. B

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I can't resist the call of a great story. As the child of a world-class machinist and a frustrated artist, I learned early on the joy of creating handcrafted jewelry. Each piece, like every customer, has its own tale to tell. You'll find them, collected like pearls in a strand, inside my steamy contemporary romance and edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense novels. Like my one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry, the heroines in my books are rare, desirable and priceless. Their hearts can only be won by sexy, formidable heroes. ~*~ Find me online at: http://JayneYork.com BLURB:
Juliette Rochambeau was heartbroken when the boy she loved ran from South Carolina. Fifteen years later, she returns to her hometown to appraise her family's historic gem-encrusted necklace. Becket Ford is a thief whose regret over leaving Juliette behind tears at his heart. His remorse, however, must take a back seat when a sadistic puppet master forces him to use their connection to steal