Monday December 3, 1962

Dear Diary,

The weekdays are the loneliest for me, only because Colten spends his day at the state’s capital building, where he is working as a guard.  With his background in the Secret Service, the position is perfect for him. He will work there until spring of next year, and then he and I will move into his grandfather’s homestead while he clears the land where our permanent house will be built.

Living in his ancestor’s home will be a new experience for me.  It has no running water or electricity; however, I believe I will enjoy the adventure. I have always enjoyed a challenge, and having a 9-year-old underfoot, along with our new baby, will add to the venture.

While Colten and Donald were working, Barbra and I made some Lemon Butter Cookies.  Another treat that will be frozen and stored in the freezer, where they will remain until Christmas. As usual, Barbra kept a few out for the household to enjoy before packing them away. I am glad she had taken them out of my sight.  They are so good! I’m afraid I would have been tempted to eat more than I should, and my body does not need help growing larger than it already is with the baby growing inside me.

Come soon, baby!

This evening, when the newspaper arrived, I read that the Beltone Hearing Service opened its business at its new Broadway location this morning, only to discover a blaze in the building that took two firetrucks to put out! The article mentioned it was their first day at the new location.  The fire started from a gas stove that became too hot and ignited a section of the wall between the two small offices. Fortunately, no one was injured.

There are 18 days to Christmas.  Thankfully, Colten agreed to leave Clinton here with his parents and TJ so we could browse and perhaps pick up a few things to wrap.  We shopped at Osco Drug and then A.W. Lucas Co. and found a few things.  We will be stopping at Penney’s this week, possibly on Wednesday. It’s their 60^th anniversary, and they are having a few sales to celebrate the occasion.

Here is Barbra’s recipe for her Lemon Butter Cookies:

Makes 60

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

¼ lb (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup sugar

1 egg yolk

¼ tsp. salt

1 Tb. Water

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Grated rind of 1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup superfine sugar

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolk, salt, water, lemon juice, grated lemon rind, and vanilla extract. Beat in the flour. Form the dough into a ball. Wrap in wax paper and chill for two hours.

Roll the dough thinly on a well-floured surface. There is a high proportion of butter to flour, so if you have any difficulty rolling the dough, knead it between your hands for a minute to soften it and warm it a little. Cut the dough into 1 ¼ “ circles and bake on unbuttered baking sheets for 8-10 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the baking sheets immediately and cool on wire cake cooling racks. They will crispen as they cool.