Jenny the Housekeeper: Stir Crazy

Lots of folks work from home these days, including me.
I like making cookies the old fashioned way.

So after finding a shoebox full of Granny’s Recipes, I’m starting out on a Real Loose Shoestring Budget for buying ingredients so I can make as many of Granny’s recipes as possible.

Starting today, I want to pull a baking sheet full of dozens of Granny’s freshly baked cookies, hot and fragrant, from the oven. My tastebuds and I remember nibbling cookies at her kitchen table when they were still warm from the oven.

If I make and bake all of her cookie recipes, I will have a small cookbook.  I already know its title: Stir Crazy.

Antsy fidgety me, feeling unusually restless in a stir-about way. Is there such a thing as stir craziness? Because, if there is, I’ve got it.

I really need to stir up something because otherwise I’ll go Stir Crazy.

I’ll have Cabin Fever. I need fresh air. I need a new situation.

So, confined to my kitchen, the first of Granny’s Cookies will be Icebox Cookies. Granny’s shoe box holds three recipes for Icebox Cookies:

Oatmeal
Peanut butter
Brown Sugar

Granny’s Colossal Cookies and Jumbo Cookies will be a challenge to make and bake, shoe-horned in as I am in my little kitchen.

In retooling my work-a-day life, I’ve discovered that I like to bake in my bohemian kitchen a lot more than I like to clean other people’s stainless steel kitchens.

Not that I’m hoity-toity or anything.

It’s Friday at my house and I’m getting ready to bake icebox cookies.

A bit of crunch and a nutty flavor is what you get from biting into one Granny’s Oatmeal Icebox Cookies. Chew on!

Some of Granny’s cookie recipes are too fussy for me, that is unless I can do some preparation in advance of popping the baking sheet into the oven.

Time for the Jenny Test: Did the test cookie crumble and fall apart?

Whew! It’s warm in my kitchen. That’s not too much of a problem. There’s a problem and it’s right under foot all day. The cat worries me a bit. What if cat hair ends up on an icebox cookie?

My cat, Teddy. I should have named my cat Sheddy instead of Teddy. A buzzing fly is a problem, but the cat (fur) worries me more.

Maybe it’s time to take a cool break on the screened porch off my kitchen. Granny’s cast iron skillet hangs on a hook over my stove. I use it in so many ways that I can hardly count them. Today, my next recipe is Granny’s Super-size Skillet Cookies.
© Copyright 2020 BelleAire Press

Other works by Faith Connors

Love, Midgie

Love, Midgie is now a digital book…only a click away.
New: A free 2018 on-line Reader’s Guide prepared by author Faith Connors for home schooling educators.
Home schooling parents and adults reading to young people will find the new Love, Midgie Reader’s Guide an important and useful resource. The new, free download was prepared by author and reading educator Faith Connors to make the LM reading experience more fun and meaningful.
Love Midgie

“Midgie is a refreshing, true story of a young Florida girl with indomitable spirit who meets each challenge as a new adventure. From the first page the reader is caught up in Midgie’s world–a combination of family and friends, as well as a haunted house. The author captures her unshakable spirit–‘Midgie’s magic’–as she moves from one adventure to another. Her postcards in each chapter help the reader visualize the fascinating story of a bright, energetic, young girl. The reader will laugh and cry with this remarkable, young girl and her brother, Henry. The book is a ‘winner.”‘

Dr. Frances Bartlett Kinne
Chancellor Emeritus
Jacksonville University

Flavors of the Fjords

History has never tasted so good! ™

“The book may be the most detailed history of a Norwegian-American family yet published. Flavors of the Fjords exemplifies what dedicated compilers and relatives can do to preserve knowledge of their family’s complex past. This one family’s legacy should inspire others as well.”
– Royal Norwegian Embassy

Revised, updated, expanded digital edition available July 2018.

Flavors of the Fjords has the largest number of traditional Norwegian holiday recipes–cakes, cookies, breads–ever put together in one book! Interwoven with fascinating bits of Norwegian social history, including explanations of Norwegian Holiday traditions and customs, many of them kept alive to this day by millions of Norwegian-American families.

Authentic Fladvad and Bjørke family recipes for over 125 holiday cookies, cakes, breads, toppings, and puddings are interwoven with fascinating bits of Norwegian and Newport, Rhode Island social history. These authentic Norwegian recipes reflect the holiday cooking, uniquely Norwegian, brought to America by nearly one million Norwegian immigrants.


Just off the download…

PeeWee, Clark's Hill Cat narrates his story as the feisty owner of the Raymond Family of Stamford, Connecticut during World War II.
PeeWee, the Clark’s Hill Cat narrates his story as the feisty owner of the Raymond Family of Stamford, Connecticut during World War II.

The BelleAire Press “Cat-itorial Review Board” recently granted its CRB Seal of Excellence to a new work of feline historic fiction by Faith R. Connors, author of Flavors of the Fjords and Love, Midgie.

Pee Wee, The Clark’s Hill Cat is a cat’s tale, as told by himself to Connors. Actually, the story was the outcome of Connor’s discovery as a young girl that she knew what her cat was thinking. The result is a gripping tale of cat life in the Raymond household in Stamford, Connecticut during World War Two. From blackouts and Victory Gardens, to Sailors “borrowing” the family car, Pee Wee shares his unique experiences and outlook.

“Why do you want to read a book by me?” Pee Wee asks. “Is it because I am a cat?”

We believe you will agree with the BP CRB that Pee Wee’s tale is not too long, not too short, but just right.


Most Recent Postings…

About Tracy Connors

Tracy D. Connors graduated from Jacksonville University (AA), University of Florida (BA), the University of Rhode Island (MA), and Capella University (Ph.D. with Distinction, human services management, 2013). Ph.D. (Honorary), Leadership Excellence, Jacksonville University, December, 2013. Designated a "Distinguished Dolphin" by Jacksonville University, Feb. 2, 2010.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *