Category Archives: holiday

Dec23

Santa’s letter to me!

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Santa’s letter to me!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Wow-I can’t wait! I think what I want is still on back order though!

My baking for today-minus the Rum Raisin bars-Sour Cream Drops-heavenly goodness-thanks for the recipe Jennifer; Microwave Peanut Brittle and Sugar Cookies-these are vintage Tupperware cutters like the ones my mom had. I would suggest not to save sugar cookies for last-too frustrating.

Cookies and Candy Goodness for the 22nd of Dec.
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Congrats to Missy and her family over at A Treehugger’s Wife-she welcomed Seamus 12-18 in a water birth and said it was a great experience. So happy for her.
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Please keep Brian and his fellow employees in your thoughts as the newspaper company where he works is going through hard times. All the papers (7 I think) need to be sold, except the one where he works, or they will be shut down. At Bri’s work there will be employee changes. He’s been there and in the different offices for almost 11 years now. Things will be going on in early January.

Dec21

It’s really almost Christmas now

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Yesterday I felt a bit frantic as every cookie recipe I looked at called for something I needed to purchase. Bri and I went on an early evening shopping trip to an almost empty store. They didn’t have unshelled pistachios for a cookie I want to try (recipe from Jennifer) and a few other things. Today I made ‘candy’ (I say that loosely)- Chocolate Cherry Bourbon Balls that my pal Warren said I should try. Brian went for a booze hunt in the basement and came up with a gorgeous bottle of Taylor Kentucky Bourbon. It had a ’68’ on the bottle, and sure enough it was from 1968! Bri did a Google search and found the exact bottle. The little balls are very potent! I don’t know how many anyone will be able to eat without feeling tipsy-lol.
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A condensed ‘I recommend’-
What made my day was finding a recipe for Peanut Butter Pinwheels which has to be the exact recipe from one of Peg Bracken’s ‘I hate to cook’ books. I made them as a teen and loved making them, smelling them baking and eating them! I made some and the following are photos of the rolled up peanut butter dough with the melted chocolate inside, to the finished product. I may bake a batch of easy peasy 7 layer cookies when I finish here-all in one pan-and finish up the rest tomorrow.

    Making Peanut Butter Pinwheels

Recipe for
Peanut Butter Pinwheels-
Taste of Home-Best & Loved Cookies and Bars (there is a new edition every year it seems-I only have last year’s issue which I recommend)
Sent in by Kandy Dick
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tablespoons milk
1 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
In a mixing bowl, cream shortening, peanut butter and sugar. Beat in egg, and milk. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture.
Roll out dough between wax paper into a 12″ x 10″ rectangle (I think it could be a wee bit bigger). Melt chocolate chips; cool slightly. Spread over dough to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Roll up tightly, jelly roll style, starting with long side; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes or until easy to handle.

Unwrap dough and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield about 4 dozen.

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Brian took some outdoor shots-we need to get the tripod out, but here’s an what it looks like:
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The bluish lights are LEDs that I had on the Christmas tree a few years ago. They are very energy efficient.

Dec19

Cookie baking!

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Peanut butter cup cookies and Butterballs
I finally got around to cookie baking. Not that I am finished by any means. I used the Butter ball (Russian Tea cakes) recipe from The Silver Palate cookbook. Now my oven is only two years old and I have to watch delicate foods like cookies. The recipe called for 35-40 minutes in a 300 oven. They were done in 15 minutes and got a bit too brown on the bottoms. It said it would make 36-no way. This is the recipe that the gourmet take-out place where I worked used all the time. Also made cookies with mini peanut butter cups-they turned out better! The recipe is similar to chocolate chips. Jennifer over at ‘Sweet Pea Stitches’ shared some yummy tried and true recipes, but I need some key ingredients to make them. I’ll do some more baking tomorrow, plus a ton of other things!
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I liked the way this turned out:
IMy only niece-age 9.5 with her gr grandmom's portrait
My dear only niece’s most recent school photo next to her great grandmom’s photo. They share the same middle name of Caroline.

Dec18

1 week to go

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I’m glad to have my helper Sean home. He took me to a few places yesterday and we plan to go somewhere later. I’m having some issues, not uncommon for ladies my age, so my mom says, but interfering with my time crush. Let’s say I’m keeping Kimberly Clark in business as I just used their products 3 weeks ago.
I did get the last of Bri’s gifts and wrapped most of what I have. I do need to do some baking and figure out what we are having for dinner Christmas eve and Christmas.
I’m going in slow-mo right now, so I plan to chill tomorrow when the weather is suppose to be dicey.
I hope everyone is getting everything done that they want done! Don’t forget to view my slideshow down below.

Dec16

A change in the weather

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Seems like almost everyone in blogland is getting some kind of rain, sleet or snow today. It held off for a while, but the temps are dropping to the 30s. Yesterday it got to 66 degrees! It seems to be bothering my sinuses. Bri says he feels like he has a cold too. I heard general stuffiness all around me in Walgreen’s yesterday. Speaking of Walgreen’s-they have some neat holiday decor-from purple, pink and red/green lights on the string-two for $5 to fun Frosty the Snowman and Peanut comics stand ups. I bought the red and green lights and a set of three light up large Christmas balls then promptly decorated the front edges in anticipation of Sean’s arrival. He got home right when I was wrestling with an outdoor extension cord that was buried under stuff piled in the shed. Bri isn’t one to stack nicely.
Of course I was so happy to see him. He made good time-3 hours, but said the traffic was rough.
Mom has a follow up eye appt today, so I hope she’ll just get rain. We plan to take her to a wholesale club tomorrow or the next day and help her put up her tree. She wasn’t feeling well at all yesterday.
Today I plan to do some gift wrapping. I have almost everything I wanted to get-not a lot this year, but enough. One of Bri’s gifts is on back order, so I may try and find if locally.
Stay warm and dry!
~~Thanks to all who stopped by and looked at my slideshow yesterday~~ I plan to check more out too and leave comments.
~Update-Bri came home and showed me an obituary in the local paper, it was of a teacher from Sean’s elementary school that he had briefly in first grade. She was only 52. I left this condolence-
When we think back on Sean’s time at New Garden, Vicky is definitely a stand-out in our memories. She was so sweet and her niceness was contagious. Sean had her briefly for a teacher, so we always chatted when we saw each other over the years he attended the school and if we ran into her at the store,etc. She touched many lives in a positive way, I’m glad we knew her.

Dec15

Boo Mama’s 2008 Christmas Tour of Homes

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I think this is my third year participating in this fun event-what a great idea and thanks Boo Mama! What’s neat is that I will surely add more photos as I get things the way I want them. We haven’t really decorated too much outside, I’m hoping Sean will help with that on Tuesday.
The slide show should load quickly and if you mouse over the photo, it tells you about the photo. Enjoy and please leave me a comment-I love comments!

BooMamaChristmasTour

Here’s last year’s slideshow too!
And my first share from 2006!

Dec13

Sneak Peek #2

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dicos
We are a bit out of focus-gotta get Bri to use that camera more. Plus Mr. Cosmo didn’t like posing with his hat on, the poor guy!
Used ornaments I haven’t used for years! Well you’ll see a portion of them on Monday. I found a big box of those ‘bubble’ ornaments at the Goodwill last year-about 18 of them for only $2. I was going to make photo ornaments-maybe sometime down the road, but I like them so much the way they are too. I actually have two more big crates I didn’t look in yet! I know the one is the Victorian stuff. I plan to go through and donate some of the ones I was looking at today, just not my style anymore.
I have a terrible tickle on the right side of my throat-not all the time, but enough to be annoying. I think that’s where I have post nasal drip-drip. As soon as I get out of the dust, I’ll be better! Happens every year (and I worn a dust mask the last few days).

Dec12

The tree is up-the tree is up!

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Brian got the tree out of the attic and it sets up quickly. I had trouble locating the multi-color lights I planned to use. Over the past few years, I’ve done pink and white, white and blue and red and white, so this is back to our ‘traditional’ look.
I met my mom at the Farmer’s Market, which was crowded and then thinned down. First I stopped at the TD Bank and got $117 for the coins I had. It kept telling me I had a lot of coins-no kidding! I split it up and saved $50 for Bri, but used the rest at the market. What a great feeling! I got mostly stocking stuffers for Sean. I have to watch what my mom picks up, so that makes me a little nervous. Got lots of yummy candies and Amish made salads, etc. for tonight and the weekend. We had pulled pork on rolls with fruit salad tonight. It was so much better than what Ruby’s passes off as pulled pork (I had it last Saturday and it was all dried out on top). Mom bought us half a chocolate cake-yum! I bought a little red poinsettia that looks like it has pink spatters on it and a new Christmas cactus-one of my favorite plants.
While in the end store I saw someone who looked familiar. I asked if she had gone to my high school and she said yes and I asked what year and she said ’77’! It was Lynn my old classmate shopping with her daughter. It’s so ironic as I am friending so many of my old chums on Face Book and Bri and I just went to that get-together last week. : ) I told her to come next time. She was a brain and great tennis player in high school.
I got an ornament exchange from Peggy in NC today-a great surprise! She sent a penguin made out of a light bulb-adorable!
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She makes soap and lotion from her goat’s milk, so she sent me some. I’ll have to take photos tomorrow. I have her ornies almost ready to go. I had to make a few too.
Tomorrow I’ll decorate the tree-can’t wait. I hope my back holds up!