I always use Nancy's Cream Cheese cookie recipe-- cookies stay nice & tender no matter how you're rerolling scraps. Diane Diane's Home Cookin Chapter: Christmas Cookies CREAM CHEESE COOKIES ==================== This Dough Is One That You Can Roll Thick, If You Like A Softer Cutout still holds up. 1 ½ cup sugar 1 cup unsalted butter 1 8 ounce package cream cheese 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla ½ tsp almond extract 3 ½ cup flour (I like unbleached) 1 teaspoon baking powder . In a mixing bowl cream sugar, butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add egg and flavorings, beat smooth' Stir together the flour and baking powder, add to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly. FOR CUT-OUT COOKIES Chill dough. Roll out on surface dusted with a mixture of ½ powered sugar and ½ flour, ¼ to ½ inch thick depending on your preference. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet ( I line with parchment paper) and bake in a 375° oven 8-10 minutes. Watch for the edges to just barely begin to brown if you like a moist cookie. Cool and frost. COOKIE PRESS COOKIES Divide dough into portions and add desired colors. Force through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in a 375° oven 8-10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack. Before baking brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with colored sprinkles if desired. Note...I have added about 4 oz of almond paste to the dough when making the cookie press cookies.....yum! FAVORITE ICING FOR CUTOUT COOKIES 2 c powered sugar, sifted 2 Tbsp softened butter ¼ tsp vanilla ¼ tsp almond extract 1 egg white ¼ C milk or cream Combine egg white and milk, set aside. Beat together powered sugar, butter and flavorings. Add small amounts of the milk mixture until icing is spreading consistency. Tint with desired colors. Using the egg white will give you a nice finish on the icing, the butter will keep it soft on the inside. Nancy

Potpie, I've made this recipe for years Here's my long time favorite cut out cookie dough. If I remember correctly it was originally in a BH+G magazine in the late 70's. I usually double it in my KA mixer and usually make at least three bowls of the dough. I have a very large tree shape cookie cutter (about 9") and love to make and decorate special cookies for those that love cutouts. This dough is one that you can roll thick, if you like a softer cutout, yet still holds up. CREAM CHEESE COOKIES 1½ C sugar 1 C unsalted butter 1 8oz pkg cream cheese 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp almond extract 3½ C flour (I like unbleached) 1 tsp baking powder In a mixing bowl cream sugar, butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add egg and flavorings, beat smooth' Stir together the flour and baking powder, add to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly. FOR CUT-OUT COOKIES Chill dough. Roll out on surface dusted with a mixture of ½ powered sugar and ½ flour, ¼ to ½ inch thick depending on your preference. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet ( I line with parchment paper) and bake in a 375° oven 8-10 minutes. Watch for the edges to just barely begin to brown if you like a moist cookie. Cool and frost. COOKIE PRESS COOKIES Divide dough into portions and add desired colors. Force through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in a 375° oven 8-10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack. Before baking brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with colored sprinkles if desired. Note...I have added about 4 oz of almond paste to the dough when making the cookie press cookies.....yum! FAVORITE ICING FOR CUTOUT COOKIES 2 c powered sugar, sifted 2 Tbsp softened butter ¼ tsp vanilla ¼ tsp almond extract 1 egg white ¼ C milk or cream Combine egg white and milk, set aside. Beat together powered sugar, butter and flavorings. Add small amounts of the milk mixture until icing is spreading consistency. Tint with desired colors. Using the egg white will give you a nice finish on the icing, the butter will keep it soft on the inside. Nancy

Yes, trees can also turn a hot yard into a cool, shady, oasis. But, in my opinion, that decision should be made by a homeowner about his/her own property, not by an inconsiderate neighbor. I'm not sure what makes anyone think it's okay to take away someone's sunlight like that. Not everyone likes shade. Not everyone wants their yard turned into a shady space and not everyone wants a tree shading their house and turning it into a dark cave. It's really inconsiderate, imo, to plant a big tree that shades your neighbor's yard and/or home. Additionally, if a tree is shading a neighbor's roof, that can interfere with their solar panels. Big trees certainly are beautiful, but they have their place and, imo, that place is not in small yards, especially when they shade a significant portion of a neighbor's yard or shade a neighbor's home. My user name is veggiegardnr. Do you think my ability to have/grow my little fruit trees and my vegetables should depend on whether a neighbor decides they want to plant a huge tree that will shade my yard? It's one thing to move into a house that already has a shady yard and little natural light inside the home. When you do that, you've made a choice that shade is fine by you. It's quite another thing to buy a home and then have your sunlight (and your ability to grow what you want on your own property) slowly taken away by an inconsiderate neighbor who plants a huge tree. I don't like it when tree people try to impose their shade on everyone else.

I started with Miracle Gro cactus mix (erroneously thinking that this was the perfect mix for succulents) and I have moved to grittier and grittier mixtures. First I added 50% perlite, and I still use that on some things. But generally, this mix stays too wet in our summers. Then I went to a mix of NAPA floor dry, Reptibark and perlite or granite grit (chicken grit). My first bag of NAPA worked all right, but it breaks down in about 18 months. The second bag was not good and turned to mud very quickly. And ultimately, the bark broke down into compost down in the pot. So everything ended up retaining too much water. I am now using a mix of perlite, Turface and Manna Pro granite chicken grit. I sift and rinse the ingredients to get the dust off of them. I no longer use the bark. Many recommend a 1-1-1 mix of the above, but, again, our summers rains make that ratio iffy. It works for some plants, but most of my pots have only about 20% Turface in them. This has worked best for me and I like that I can tweak the ratio for different plant's needs. Here's what it looks like. Turface was difficult for me to find. Finally - I found that Ewing Irrigation and Site One (previously John Deere Landscaping) carry it. Hope that helps!