Gingerbread Men Casualties

Many stories come from Grandma’s kitchen and told down through the ages.  Mine is a little different.  You see, I am in my 80’s,  and making gingerbread men came down through my years,  but after many years of not making them, grandma caused a few casualties. Children fondly called them boo boo cookies.

The Gingerbread Men were to be a surprise for a Bunco party I was hosting.. I carefully kneaded the dough then I proceeded to roll the dough to about ¼ inch thick. Now, the trouble began! I pressed the cookie cutter into the dough and tried to put it on a cookie sheet. Well, it stuck.  I lightly floured the cookie cutter and tried again. Better results this time. I managed to get a dozen cut out and onto the cookie sheet and baked them according to my recipe. After the cookies cooled on the sheet, it was time to place them on a cooling rack. Casualties began to happen! A leg fell off one, an arm fell off another until I only had six whole ones left. This would never do! I needed six more.

The process for making the cookies started over again. I was working along and realized I made the recipe for gingerbread cake instead of cookies. Well I finished the cake and frosted it with the cookie icing. The cake looked pretty good but was a little plain so I put a whole gingerbread man right in the center of the cake. He looked handsome there.

When we were ready to serve the cake the lone little gingerbread man became the casualty as the cake was sliced

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

 At the age of 83, I started learning to knit at the Mt. Juliet Senior Activity Center. My teacher, a group of remarkable senior women who meet at the center and knit and crochet for various charity organizations. They share their knowledge, skills, friendships, and a lot of conversation. I never learned the stitchery as a child. I grew up in a family of 8 children whose mother's day was filled with cooking, laundry, house cleaning, and mending. So to be a part of this group I made a bold statement:" I want to learn to knit".
Right after I made the statement I came a crossed an old saying:" Let your self-be a beginner" which I did. The thought took a lot of stress away when mistakes were made and so much quicker in learning to correct mistakes. It also allowed me to see daily improvements.

The first two scarves I knitted were for Charity. The third one, the black, grey and creamed one pictured in the upper left-hand corner, I made for myself. The fourth project I made my first hat and a scarf to match. It is the picture in the upper right-hand corner. This set also went to Charity,

Each day I am becoming more comfortable with knitting and my stitches are even. When All the quotas have been met by various Charity Organizations, I will be working with the group to fill the the Local Cancer Society need for soft cancer hats.
It is so rewarding to be able to learn new things, help fill a need, and experience a heart warming feeling of being needed.