Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

I used to make these cookies when I had my catering company in Regina. After the kids all got married and left home I stopped making them for the obvious reason I as very overweight and making these many cookies was not very conducive to a healthy lifestyle. But today I am making them to sell at the yard sale. Then I thought maybe some of my readers who perhaps have a large family or need them for an event might like the recipe. These literally melt in your mouth.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(sorry about imperial measures but that was the way it had been written)

2 1/c cups butter or shortening (butter makes them richer tasting)
1 1/2 pints of white sugar
8 eggs
2 quarts flour
5 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoon baking powder
equal amounts of chocolate chips and coarsely chopped nuts of your liking. This totally depends if you love more chocolate chips, more nuts then chips..your choice. what I use with my measurements is
1 pound 4 ounces each chocolate chips AND macadamia nuts

Drop by heaping tablespoon or teaspoon depending on how big you want them. You obviously will get more cookies if you drop by heaping teaspoon. They do not spread out a lot. In the picture below I did tablespoon. I also use parchment paper on my cookie sheets but you don't need to. You can just use a light spray of Pam or if yours are non stick then nothing needs to go on them

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. You will see that they start going brown around the bottom edges first. If you wait till the whole cookie is brown the bottom will be burnt. Let the sheet cool on a rack for a few minutes before you take them off and they continue baking on the inside.

As you can tell by the one picture I used about a heaping tablespoon and this recipe for that size cookie made 9 dozen exactly minus the one that accidentally broke when I took them off the pan :)

Before

Middle


end result :)

Rack Field Sports in High School vs Middle Age at Track and Field

I was pretty good playing on different track events in high school... my personal best were the throwing ones, discus, shot put and javelin; the relays or metered races were not my forte, I can shoot out of a starting gate but lost momentum early. It would be oh look what that person is wearing and that would be it I would lost my focus and that was it.

But I was really good at Hop Skip and jump into the san pit. Do they even still have that in high school?

Well in case you don't here are the steps..you go running at full speed down a measured path get to the end of the path, take as high of a hop that you can, then once you are hopping and are in mid air hit the ground with one foot hitting the ground then do the jump and which has to propel you as far forward as you could possible get.

Now that is high school track and field event for hop skip and jump. Rules change when you are a 54 year old grandmother of 15 trying to move things around the house at 2:30 in the morning instead of working on the sale...you hop over 3 boxes where they used to be the hallway, you skip over the 2 monitors, and propel your jump so that you can jump clear past the stilts that have now moved since you last moved them and you catch your toes and jammed down right into the ends of them...sigh.. I was going to bed ... no seriously I really was heading off to bed cause now I have to stay awake to make sure I can move my toes and foot..

My Love

My Love

This is a tribute to you
unlike any other you've read
From the very bottom of my heart and soul
You are a thousand times I've said
My Love

From that day we met
And our first cup of coffee
To the day you let me come
To your home to become
Your Love

I've learned to love you from
The three little words on the door
From the tip of your head
To the bottom of your feet on the floor
My Love

When I look into your blue-gray eyes
My stomach becomes butterflies
When you hold me in your arms
The words from me are contented sighs

You'll never know the joy I have felt
Not once, twice but three times
That made the love that dwelt
In my heart become you as
My Love

First time was when you proposed on your knee
In that fireplaced lit room
When you made me believe you forgot
The ring I knew I was doomed

The second time was when you
Stood by my side and placed
The ring on my finger
All I did was cried

The third time was when we were
Sealed for all time and eternity
Then I knew what I had always known
We'd be together and my dreams became a reality

My Love

Just like our song Three Times a Lady
These three times are special times in my life
You've always made me feel special
To know you had chosen me to be your wife.

Keith you will forever and eternally be
My Love

Happy 29th Anniversary My Love, I have never regretted one single moment of it.

No Rest for the Wicked :)

I had a conversation with my mom this week, well actually a couple of them, which is not unnatural in itself but she was giving me heck for in her mind, doing too much. I had to placate her and tell her I was fine and that I had a wonderful example in constantly doing. So we "argued" back and forth about acting our ages and that I would slow down when she did (she is 80). Then she told me that I must be very wicked so asked her why...she said you know..no rest for the wicked so you must be very wicked.. I laughed at that and replied back if that was the case then she was going straight to hell and could keep me company hehehe

Then this morning I was at a seminar where I was one of the instructors and came across a crew who were cleaning the building before we got there and I commented to one of the women there that you can tell the difference between someone who just cleans and someone who knows HOW to clean and knows the value of doing a great job. And she said that was how she had been raised, if you are going to do something do it right the first time. I said yup exactly. I think that is fast becoming a dying breed.

So tonight as I was sitting in the recliner waiting for my soup to cool to eat it, I was thinking of what I did today, went and taught at the seminar till noon, had lunch, got dropped off at our daughter's place, grabbed her went off to run errands, checked on Keith who was building a green house at our garden to see if he needed help which he did so dropped our daughter off at her place where he picked me up, went to the garden to help him till 6:30, came home made a lemon vanilla cake for Keith for his birthday for tomorrow, made some homemade cream of potato soup for supper, then worked on my to do list for this coming week. I started laughing inside as I remembered my last conversation with my mom thinking I probably should be thankful she doesn't live near me or go online to know what I have to do this week.

Week of Sept 19-25

-ice the lemon vanilla cake I made for Keith's birthday and our anniversary
-have Keith's birthday dinner
-contact all the exhibitors for our genealogical seminar next month to get their last minute requests
-make 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies
-make 6 dozen vanilla cupcakes and pink ice them
-hold 2 interviews at work
-finish going through last 3 rooms of our house to gather up things for the yard sale
-finish the planning for our huge yard sale
-price tag all items for the sale
-work my shift at work
-pick up helium tank and balloons
--make signs
-go to Costco to get the chips, pop and hot dog supplies for the sale
-shop for the items for the gift baskets for the raffle prizes at our sale (must be pink items hehehe)
-hold our 2nd annual Run For The Cure yard sale to raise money for breast cancer awareness and cure


there was something else but I can't remember what it was..oh well it will come to me :)

3rd Annual Run For the Cure

Hello Family and Friends

Getting a cancer diagnosis is probably one of the most devastating things a person has to experience. You read all of the time about people telling you how to cope with cancer and what your treatment options are, so I'm not going to do that. What I am going to do is to tell you that you are in my heart and on my mind, and I promise to continue saying a prayer for you every day for all the support I have received from my family and friends these last 2 1/2 years!

If there is one thing I know, I know that God is able. And as if that weren't already enough, I know I?m a trooper. I instantly thought that if anyone could get the diagnosis and beat it, surely, it was me. I can't say that I wasn't scared to death when the doctor told me the news, but I can tell you a few things grounded me in that instance first, my faith, then, my love for my family, and then my zest for life.

I didn't flinch as I asked my doctor, "So, what's next?" She said, "Well, I believe I've removed all of it, and it doesn't look like it has spread. Through 6 long surgeries and recuperation sessions in these last eighteen months I?m happy to say my story ends well. The cancer hadn't spread, and I will be fine. I know everyone's story doesn't end like his. And I didn't tell you that to make you feel bad if your experience with yourself or someone in your life isn't looking like it will end the same. What I do want to offer you is hope; hope and belief other good things may come from it like how something like this pulls and welds families together.
So, if you're living with cancer or experienced it the way I have or through a loved one, a diagnosis doesn't have to be the end. Everything happens for a reason. Whatever season I'm in with this disease, I take it one day at a time and sometimes one hour at a time. My prayer is that a cure will be found to stave off this disease once and for all. But until it is discovered, I take heart that someone out there loves me and is praying on my behalf.
I also have an amazingly strong will to live.
I get out of bed every morning as if nothing is wrong. I may have known I was going to have to face things and could feel sick during the day, but I never got out of bed that way. There was a lot I was fighting for. I have children who think I am the best thing since sliced bread, a wonderful life and a magical love affair with my husband and since I was diagnosed I now have 2 more grandchildren making a total of 15 grandchildren! Who wouldn?t want to live after that?


My will to live means that I really want to live, whether or not I'm afraid to die. I want to enjoy life, I want to get more out of life, I believe that my life is not over and I am willing to do whatever I can to squeeze more out of it. The threat of death often renews our appreciation of the importance of life, love, friendship and all there is to enjoy. We open up to new possibilities and begin taking risks we didn't have the courage to take before. Facing the uncertainties of living with an illness makes life more meaningful. The smallest pleasures are intensified and much of the hypocrisy in life is eliminated. When bitterness and anger begin to dissipate, there is still a capacity for joy.

A way to strengthen this partnership is to extend the relationship to others. The emotional experience of sharing and enjoying your family and partnerships supports your love for life and your will to survive. I know that being around that large of a family would be a drug that was like no other medication I could have been put on.
As I made the transition from helpless victim to activist, one of the most important realizations is that you have everything to do with how others perceive you and treat you. If you can accept your condition and hold self-pity at bay, others won't feel sorry for you. If you can discuss your disease and medical therapy in a matter-of-fact manner, they'll respond in kind without fear or awkwardness. You are in charge.

Sharing my life with others and receiving aid or support from friends and family will improve my ability to cope and help me fight for your life. A person who is lonely or alone often feels like a helpless victim. There is a need to share your own problems, but helping others find solutions or cope better with the problems of daily living gives strength to both the giver and the receiver. There are few more satisfying experiences in life than helping a person in need.

Hope can be maintained as long as there is even a remote chance for survival. It is kindled and nurtured by even minor improvements or a remission and maintained when crises or reversals occur. There are times when I feel exhausted and drained by never-ending problems and feel ready to give up the struggle to survive. All too often it seems easier to give up than to keep on fighting. Frustrations and despair can sometimes feel overwhelming. Determination or dogged persistence is needed to accomplish the difficult task of fighting for my health.

The experience of cancer is not only destructive in a physical way but can be a major deterrent to my fighting attitude and will to live. But even during the roughest times, there are often untapped reserves of physical and emotional strength to call upon to help me survive one more day. This reserve adds meaning to my life as well as serves as a lighthouse that leads me to a safe haven during a turbulent storm. Hope has different meanings for each person. It is a component of a positive attitude and acceptance of our fate in life. I use my strengths to gain success to live life to the fullest. Circumstances often limit my hopes of happiness, cure, remission or increased longevity. I also live with fears of, pain, of being a real financial burden to my husband, a bad death or other unhappy experiences.
Each of us has the capacity to live each day a little better, but we need to focus on both purpose and goals and set into action a realistic daily plan--often altered many times--to help us achieve them. These resources are the foundation of the will to live. Only by using the power of the will to live--nourished by hope--can we achieve the sublime feelings of knowing and experiencing the wonders of life and appreciate its meanings though vital living.
So that is why I am going to put my body into action so that it practices what it preaches. I have registered to attend my 3rd annual Run For The Cure Breast Cancer Race on October 3rd 2010. I had been unsure whether or not I would be able to attend as I knew that my doctor has cautioned me to ease my walking. But the first thing I did was to send in my registration to do the race. Here is where you come in by choosing one of the following ways you can assist me with my goal to raise awareness for breast cancer research.

Go to this site: www.cbcf.org,
Halfway down the page you will see a button that says DONATE NOW click
Go down the page until you see Donate to a Run Participant
Click on Support a Run Participant
Type in either my name Sally Haysom or team name Smilesonly then CLICK
At the bottom you will see my name/team name CLICK
On right hand side of page you will see "Support Sally" or "Join Sally's Team" CLICK
If you are donating monetary support just click on a set amount or choose the bar that allows you to put in the amount you wish. It is very easy. If you have problems give me a call :)

1. Join our race team named SMILESONLY. If we can get the minimum of 10 people registered we get our t-shirts monogrammed You can still do the race with us and not register. You can run the race, walk it, be in a wheelchair, stroller or any other way you need to do it by.
2. Send a monetary donation either through my snail mail address or through the website (at end of letter)
3. Join us for our 2nd Annual Race For The Cure yard sale on September 25th. Address below. We will be celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate it then by being thankful we still have one to celebrate and by using the funds collected that day to donate to the Breast Cancer Research. You can either come by and support us by visiting us that day (and buy things hehehe) or else if you have household items you are trying to get rid off please feel free to drop them off the day before with the understanding ALL monies collected will go to Breast Cancer Research,

4. Offer your continued support through letters, emails, calls, cards.. all things I get I print and place them in my pink scrapbook. So on days where I don't get dressed and I spend more time with my head in the bucket then out of it, I open up my scrapbook and I am reminded I am loved by a lot of people.
5. Do the run in the city you live in

So whichever way you wish and are able to support me, I am eternally grateful. On closing I would like to give you the lyrics by Melissa Etheridge to a song she wrote after she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She too is a survivor.

It's been years since they told her about it
The darkness her body possessed
And the scars are still there in the mirror
Everyday that she gets herself dressed
Though the pain is miles and miles behind her
And the fear is now a docile beast
If you ask her why she is still running
She'll tell you it makes her complete

[Chorus:]
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother your sister your wife
I run for you and me my friend I run for life

It's a blur since they told me about it
How the darkness had taken its toll
And they cut into my skin and they cut into my body
But they will never get a piece of my soul
And now I'm still learning the lesson
To waken when I hear the call
And if you ask me why I am still running
I'll tell you I run for us all

And someday if they tell you about it
If the darkness knocks on your door
Remember her remember me
We will be running as we have before
Running for answers
Running for more

Again thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul!!!! If you have any questions please ask away or if you have any fund raiser ideas that I can do in one more month let me know that too!!
All my thankful love
Sally
#101-13340 70B Ave
Surrey BC V3W 7Z1
shaysom@gmail.com