Before I signed the contract with Comfort Publishing, I entered He Heard Hannah in a contest. I earned a Certificate of Merit. I don’t know how many they gave out, but I read on another blog (another winner of a Certificate of Merit) that they picked 17 out of 200 for this award. So, if that’s right, I’m feeling pretty good about it.
If it’s not correct information, I still feel pretty good about it.
Comfort Publishing is at work editing and I’m at work filling out a monster Author Questionnaire. Fun times! (Especially when I’m done with the questionnaire! ha!)
I didn’t plant these flowers. One day (after we’d lived here for about 5 years) they just miraculously appeared and they’ve been here every year since. The same happened with a beautiful tulip that pops up in the spring. I think they are God’s gifts to me, especially the tulip because it is absolutely beautiful! (I’ll show you when it blooms.)
Today we continued with our spring cleaning. We’ve finished the kitchen, pantry, upstairs bathroom, Ab’s room, and today… Cecily’s room.
Oh my goodness, she is one (adorable) PACK RAT! We took out 5 (FIVE!!!) – 30 gallon trash bags! Three of clothes, purses, shoes, etc… and two of trash! Oh my. I guess I’ve been to too many thrift stores and garage sales!! I’m so glad she is sleeping in a peaceful setting again. No wonder she couldn’t keep it clean!
I have two children on a gluten-free diet. It’s something I do on occasion for one reason or another. Our whole family ate gluten free for about 2 years back in 2002-2003ish, so I’m very familiar with gluten free cooking and baking and rather enjoy it. Today I made a batch of our favorite tea scones, but substituted the flour for gluten free flour. They were delicious! I think I’ve shared the recipe before, but I’ll share it again.
Chocolate Chip Tea Scones
Lynnette Kraft
3 C Unbleached Flour
1/4 C Sugar
4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 C Butter
3 Large Eggs
1/2 C Sour Cream
2 tsp. Vanilla
3/4 C Bittersweet (or semi-sweet) Chocolate Chips (or other mix-ins)
*Other delicious mix-in’s: chopped fresh cranberries, dried cranberries, orange peel (YUM! Great with the chocolate chips), raisins, white chocolate chips, etc.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet. Mix together all the dry ingredients. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. Mix together the Eggs, Sour Cream, and Vanilla. Add to flour mixture. Mix until blended. Add Chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Form dough into a ball on a floured board or countertop. Press out until it is about 3/4 inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter and place onto cookie sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until done.
Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely and store in storage bag. These also freeze well.
Makes 12-15 large scones.
Printable Version Here
Hope you’re having a lovely week! I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday! Times flies when you’re having fun (or working hard in this case). We are having fun too.
Oh and one last thing. Please go to my main page and read my announcement box (I haven’t figured out how to make it show up on all my pages yet). THANKS!
Wow…5 big trash bags full? That’s amazing. (:>) Does Cecily take after Grandma? I need to clean out my closet again…cuz somehow it just keeps getting more full! ha! (:>) It is a good feeling to be all organized again huh?
Those scones look so good. Hope you all enjoyed them.
Can’t wait to see you all tomorrow night at 5:30.
Love, Mom
Oh..and congrats on the achievement award! It is a wonderful book. Can’t wait until it comes out!
Mom
Um, well, are you a pack rat?
You know me and organization and de-cluttering. Comes natural to me. I LOVE the feeling!
Thanks for the congrats. I keep pinching myself – this story still causes me to marvel. What an incredible God we serve!
Love,
Nettie
That is AWESOME, Lynnette! I’m soooooooooooo PROUD of you! Yippeeeeeeeeee! You SHOULD feel pretty good, no matter what! An achievement is an achievement! *woot*
5 bags…. betcha if I cleaned out my parents’ house I could beat that. Uhhhhh, we won’t go into that. LOL! You know, there is a community garage sale here in Newton July 16 at the rec center (you rent a booth if you want to sell stuff)…maybe you could sell some of your “spring cleaning” there!
The daffodils have been so beautiful around here the past couple weeks! LOVE the scent in the air! Waiting for the lilies to bloom, they smell even more heavenly!
Mmmmmm, scones… without chocolate, please. =)
Thanks Diane.
Yeah, agreed. I feel good! (Did I just sound like James Brown?) ha!
Too much gives me a headache.
I didn’t know about the community sale in Newton. I’ll have to check that out.
You don’t like chocolate or chocolate doesn’t like you? It doesn’t like me much. I eat it in moderation.
Haha…we both just posted recipes. But mine is oh-so-not gluten-free. I made Brad a totally decadent and, well, sort of healthy dinner
. Bailey likes to hold onto stuff, too. She doesn’t have that many clothes (that she actually wears), yet her closet and all of her drawers are full of S-T-U-F-F. She loves to “organize” and clean her bedroom…but still has trouble letting some things go. I miss my daffodils, we had to dig them up a few years back for some reason. Maybe I’ll plant some new ones next fall – I get so happy when the bloom, but they’re never around long enough & then I get sad! Hey, just the fact that you’ve written two books is fantabulous…and I’m sure you got the certificate because it’s the bomb-diggity. Better go to bed – getting pretty silly! Love ya sis!
Well, those lemon supreme muffins were AWESOME!
Do you know how much I love the term bomb-diggity? Yeah, that’s pretty darn fun sis. I think I’ll use that.
Love you! Fun seeing you all tonight!
Lynnette
My dad is a bit of a pack rat. I read (email) the other day he was considering throwing something out & i was astonished. It scares me sometimes because they built a 5,000 sq. foot house for their retirement! :/ I kind of dread a coming time . . .
Good for Cecily for letting it go! It feels sooooo good to let go of the clutter.
Thank you for sharing the scone recipe. I’m planning to have our “rent a kids” over next week (one at a time) & making scones with Sierra and having a tea party would be so fun!
Trillium and tulips are pushing their way up, but we’ve had over 12 inches of snow in the past week, so i think it will be a while longer, yet.
Blessings on you & yours, dear.
Wow! A 5,000 sq. ft house for retirement! That’s huge! Yeah, I catch your drift. Ugh.
In my opinion, clutter clutters the brain. Life is just so much more peaceful when you don’t have to kick stuff out of the way… look for stuff… find stuff… you know.
I’ll have to look up Trillium. Not sure I know what that is.
Hope you have that tea party!
Love,
Lynnette
Well, my sis has 6 kids, and they each are from big families. I think they did it because they were hoping for lots of company. : )
Also, the house is built so that the upstairs is the main floor & is about 2800 sq feet. The downstairs can be closed off & is built so that it is like its own house. It even has a garage. The house is on a hill, so the basement still has lots of big windows. I think they also had in mind that the might someday need someone to live with them, this would give that person their own space.
Still, that is a lot of house for a pack rat!
Well that makes sense. I think we might need to keep a large house for company someday too… for that same reason. Our children and their families will need some place to stay if we want them to come. But stuff… that’s another story. I’ll keep it stuff-less. ha!
Thanx for sharing the recipe. Sounds yummy gonna try it.
Yay for Cecily & getting rid of clutter. I have been working on that too.
Yay for spring flowers , I saw a few yesterday but the snow machine turned on last nite. We have 6 inches of pretty white stuff now. I’m still smiling !!!
Let me know how you like the tea scones!
Yay for Cecily! It was a little challenging for her, but she did it!
Six more inches of snow and you’re still smiling? Well, GOOD FOR YOU!
Love you.
Lynnette
I LOVE scones!!! I am going to have to try your recipe! I’ve never made them before, but I love them! LOL about your comments announcement!
I love scones too! They are a perfect breakfast, snack, and even supper when Kyle’s traveling. ha!! Try the recipe. It’s super easy!
Love you.
Lynnette
Congratulations on your achievement award! Oh those scones look so good. I am on a pretty strict diet these days, but when I am done (in about 3 weeks) I am thinking about going Gluten Free to weed out some other things. I would love if you could share some more recipes or refer me to some website that have some fabulous gluten free cooking! 30 bags? Wow, that is quite a bit but thankful you are getting through the Spring cleaning.
Thanks Barbie! Those scone ARE good!
We have gluten free spurts over here. We do it to clean out our gut – and it’s actually a great way to lose a few pounds too!
Yeah!!! So excited about your award for He Heard Hannah! And that you are with a publisher as well! Such great news! And now I am so inspired to attempt Spring Cleaning…but we’ll see how long that lasts
Thanks for being joyful with me Joye.
I’m so thankful for the God given opportunity to get He Heard Hannah out there. It’s such an exciting story… I still can’t get over it. It will move me forever.
Thanks for stopping by friend.
Love,
Lynnette
First-many many blessings to you & your family I read your story & I am so happy you know those blessed angels of yours are in heaven with Our Lord Jesus.
Second-I am going to try these scones my husbands loves scones so I have no excuses now.
Many Blessings~