July 9 - National Sugar Cookie Day!

Did you know that July 9th is National Sugar Cookie Day?? Seriously! It is go look it up! So how about we discuss today cookies, and I'll even add a recipe at the bottom!

I'm not a huge fan of sugar cookies and I willingly admit it. I mean I'll eat them (who wouldn't?) if offered in front of me but sometimes you get a sugar cookie that is hard as a dang rock. You try to eat it, you do, but each bite is just nothing but sandy bits of hard crunch and you smile sweetly while swallowing it right?

Yeah, that's about right isn't it? Thanks Peter for the great example! 

But come on, sometimes you get that amazing sugar cookie that is soft, moist, just delightful! Sweet but buttery, and you can't help but eat one, two, ten...the whole package right? What is your favorite kind of sugar cookie? I love the soft ones so here's a great recipe for that! This is Alton Brown's recipe. To be honest, my husband does a lot of this man's recipes so we're going to share his today!

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Elizabeth is a wife to her wonderful husband, a work at home mother to her beautiful little girl and a blogger for some time now. When she isn't spending time with her "Livvybug", or laughing with her husband, she is looking for new review opportunities and writing or singing along to classic rock and pop music!

No BS Active: Working out & Working Hard Review:

No BS Active: Official Website
No BS Active: Official Instagram

All No BS Active images collected from their official Instagram.

If you are like me, and you've spent your adult life gaining weight you always feel like you are just not capable of losing it. I was 114 pounds in 2002. By 2006 I had ballooned up to 210 pounds. I went to Curves and I dropped to 170 when I met my now husband. Unfortunately, between having my daughter and medical issues I'm currently much higher than that. So when I saw how hard Whitney Way Thore worked out on My Big Fat Fabulous Life, I decided to give her workout program a try! They were giving away 1 month free in April so I jumped on it!

The Struggle of Childhood Epilepsy (TLE) & The Return of The Review Ballerina!

I have been a blogger and reviewer now for, I want to say about four years? You all have watched me move cities, watched my daughter start school, and more. But nothing could've prepared me for the challenge that we have faced over the course of the last few years and now that it seems to be getting under control, it's time to tell everyone what's been going on!

First, to all companies that have worked and partnered with The Review Ballerina, thank you for your patience and understanding as we helped our daughter. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.

A Thank You Letter to Arnold's Martial Arts:

To Arnold's Martial Arts:

We have been happily a part of your team and family for two years now. I brought Olivia into your dojo shortly after she was bullied in Kindergarten, and after only two classes we knew she needed to be here. But not only have you changed our daughter's life in two years, you changed our family's lives and for that we will forever be eternally grateful to you.

Whether it's having fun while learning to spar (yeah don't give her the chance again Mr. Colton!! haha), or being serious and learning every single pattern move tight and strong you always make sure that Olivia has the best time in every class. She knows that if she's called out for a wrong thing that it just means to work harder and listen more and you make sure she keeps pushing herself to be the best she can be. She still tells her friends all about the Ascent tournament, and the Black Belt Show and how much she wants to be just like the ladies of the dojo!

 

We have come to feel that you all are family, not just wonderful instructors and listeners. There are times where I feel so overwhelmed by everything happening with Olivia but then we come to your dojo, and I watch her work with you on the mat and it just changes everything. By the time we leave even though I didn't physically do anything, there's a sense of renewed energy and pride in hopes of the next day becoming even better and it's because of how you all are. You're always smiling, and helping and hoping the kids leave better than they walked in. You're just an incredible family and an incredible group of people to know.

I cherish this video deeply, because this showed me just how much what you do stays with children even when they are having memory difficulties and going through so much. It had been three months since Olivia had even attempted this pattern, yet not even half an hour with Ms. Haleigh and she was able to bring back that muscle memory and that confidence to remember everything. With this, we knew she could continue working with the classes and continue on in her young career and that's what we wanted with her epilepsy, to not allow it to hold her down. 

To Ms. Haleigh:

I sit here even now almost choking up as I write this because it's been a rough couple of years for our daughter, and yet you have been right there every step of the way. When we first thought she had ADHD/OCD/Anxiety you listened to me as I tried not to turn into a tearful mess before you discussing how I was unsure she could continue in classes without it appearing she wasn't trying or didn't care. But you knew; You knew what was best for her in your dojo. When you came to the hospital to visit when she was being confirmed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, I cried so many times at home after that. Olivia knew at that point that at any time she could come to you and confide in you, or hold her Haleigh-Teddy when she was in pain or scared (which she still does just FYI!). You have made this experience so amazing and powerful, and to know that you and your family still pray for Olivia and us and you keep an eye on us just helps me to know that we're not alone in this here. I have not been a following Christian since I was a teenager; I follow the path of Wicca and the Goddess. Yet I believe that God is speaking through you as you help children who need that extra hand in their lives. I truly believe that the work you do is by God's hand and will, and I know that you bring that love to our daughter. Olivia is strong, confident, sure of herself, and that is because of the power you have given her to believe in herself even when medically she can't be sure everything will be alright. Thank you Ms. Haleigh, for everything.

To those in the Texoma area, who want to have something special for their child: Check out Arnold's Martial Arts in Sherman. No, I am not sponsored for this statement, nor is it affiliated with this blog in any way. I am merely a mother of a soon-to-be purple belt who has crawled from being a bullied young girl and a medically misdiagnosed child, to a strong and confident young lady with Epilepsy who knows she has family inside and outside of our home. Thank you Arnolds. 

Elizabeth is a wife to her wonderful husband, a work at home mother to her beautiful little girl and a blogger for some time now. When she isn't spending time with her "Livvybug", or laughing with her husband, she is looking for new review opportunities and writing or singing along to classic rock and pop music!