Driving Down a Snowy Winter Road

3:30 pm driving down the road to my home.

There's my mailbox.
It's so beautiful that instead of going inside, I took a short walk back down the road and then to the back yard. I don't know how much more snow we got today, but I heard people at work talking about 9+ inches.
It is gorgeous out there!

Inside I found some cute candy ornaments.

Until a few minutes ago, I didn't remember that I had them. If I had, I would have used them on the kitchen tree.

I was looking through a disc of Christmas past photos to find a particular table I did when I saw these. Now I remember that I bought them after Christmas one year. They must be packed in the big gingerbread man tree tote. I only pulled a few things from the top of that tote for my kitchen tree.

I wonder what else might be in there?

Every year I come across items that I have forgotten. I own too many Christmas ornaments.

It's a good thing I have a basement.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Twist

I made a pretty good chocolate chip cookie today.

The "twist" is that it has ground oatmeal in the batter.

I have always like regular oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips. These are a bit different because they don't look like they have oatmeal. I like them better than the Toll House recipe because they aren't as greasy.

I will most certainly make these again, so I am going to take the time to put the recipe here. That way I can find it when I want it again.


Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Twist

2.5 cups oatmeal
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup of butter ( I used real butter)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 11.5 ounce bag of chocolate chips

Dump the oatmeal into a food processor and pulverize it for a few seconds. Then put it in a big bowl and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and all-purpose flour.

Set aside.

Cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until all the flour is incorporated.

Toss in the bag of chocolate chips. Stir them in with a spoon, not a mixer, so you don't break them all up.

Spray (or lightly grease) a cookie sheet. Roll the cookies into balls. Mine were about golf-ball size. I placed six on a 1/2 sheet pan.

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Remember all ovens are different so keep a close eye on them. If you bake more than one pan at a time, the top may bake differently. The ones I had on the top shelf took a good minute less than the ones on the bottom shelf.

If you like them soft and chewy, then you want just a light browning. Like this:
Let them cool on the pan for a couple of minutes before you remove.

If you like them crisp, then just bake longer.



I took two days off work because we planned a 3-day getaway for my birthday. On Thurs. night we cancelled due to snow. Friday morning we decided to throw caution to the wind and take off for the rest of the weekend. We had a great time, but we were worried about making it home today as last night they closed I-75 in the area we stayed. They had 60 mph winds with lake effect snow and drifting. Luckily the roads were plowed by this morning and we made the 160 mile trip home with no problems. I guess we got a lot of snow here, too. Just look at the deck rails. While engrossed in DH's snow blowing adventures, I accidentally made some nice brown crisp cookies. I don't know how long I cooked them because I didn't set the timer.


See how much lighter the back cookies are than the ones in the front? They were on the bottom shelf and the dark ones were on the top....big difference!

Gingerbread Men & Lollipop Christmas Tree

Since I had the day off, I decided to use the lollipops I bought months ago and do a quick kitchen tree.

I had a casualty when I tried to put the biggest gingerbread man on the top.

Ooops!
Rest in peace.


Here is it when I thought it was finished.


Then I decided to add a big double wooden candy cane to the top. A friend made it for me years ago and it makes a great topper for a candy-themed Christmas tree.

There done. It didn't take much time at all this morning -- less than an hour and that included hauling the stuff up and back down to the basement. The tree was already up and fully decorated. It used to be on top of the kitchen counter, very close to the big tree so I had to similarly decorate it. I didn't really like there. So I moved it. Then I just pulled off the glass balls and added the lollipops, etc.

Here is where it is in located to the main tree now.
It's far enough away that the lollipops don't clash. You can only see both trees as you enter the kitchen from this direction.

This is what I see this morning every time I walk in the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

Pink & Gold Christmas Table

I finished the little pink chair back throws and gold rosettes that I've been making the past couple of days.

They really worked to tie the table into the tree colors.

I took the day off work today and plan to do a bunch of cleaning. The stuff I refer to as heavy duty cleaning--climbing up the ladder to clean the kitchen lights, scrubbing floors....all the chores that most of us hate, but they have to get done.

I also have to put all of the items I took down from the kitchen cupboards back up. I have decided that I am not going to decorate up there. I need more live greenery, but the limbs are all buried in a foot of snow. I think I have done enough decorating for one year anyway.

It's almost 8:00 a.m. already. I had better stop blogging and get to work before I waste my day off.

Treasure Hunt Christmas Party Game

I have been working on my treasure hunt items for our Christmas party.
All of these items will be hidden around the house. Each guest will have a sheet of paper with the items listed. It might say "a McDonald's chicken McNugget with antlers". He would be in the middle top row. When they find him, they will check off the box. When they find them all, they get to pick a gift.

Hey, Christine, I know you are probably popping in here thinking you are getting a head start. :)

I have printed copies of this box full of items and everyone will get to see it so they have an idea of what they are looking for. So it won't matter that you saw it first because you don't know where they are hidden. I am a sly one, aren't I? hee hee
By the way, make sure you get in the gift stealing exchange. It will be fun.

The whole purpose of games like this is to get people up and moving. It's always more fun than if they are plopped in a chair all evening. Some people won't play (most of the men), but that's their loss. We ladies have fun. I don't get to play, but I have fun making up all the games.

Does anyone else have any games they play that they would like to share? I can always use new ideas! I have a new one for this year, but I have to get ready for work, so I will tell you about it later.

The Pink & Gold Christmas Tree

This is the one that started as out with bronze and gold ornaments. I removed all of the bronze, left the gold and added the pink.


See how you can see the living room valance? This tree works so much better than the bronze one.

I am now working on pink chair back enhancements for the silver dining chair covers I made last week.

I can already tell that I am going to get hooked on making new duds for my dining room chairs. It's so easy and such a great way to tie into the colors of the dishes, etc. I will show it to you when I get it all done.

If you are dreaming of a white Christmas, come to my house. I am pretty sure we will have one!

Who Knew They Made Aqua Christmas Tree Birds?

Not once did it occur to me to have an aqua Christmas tree this year.

Then I made those little aqua rosettes for the valances.

Then I saw (and bought) those aqua teardrop ornies.

Then I found that aqua ribbon in the basement.

The next thing I knew I had an aqua Christmas tree.

When I was on my pre dawn shopping spree, guess what I saw? Aqua birds! By this time I was obsessed with aqua and I knew they were exactly what I needed for the finishing touch on my main Christmas tree.
You can probably see the price on the box, but no way did I pay $5 per bird. I got them at 70% off and I bought all they had - 4 boxes (8 birds).
Are they not gorgeous? I mean just look at that little bit of bling on the tail!

How could I possibly resist?

I also bought a couple yards of aqua fabric for a tree skirt. I didn't even sew it, just folded under the raw edge. Big Lots had a nice roll of wrapping paper with aqua boxes for only $2. I bought that, too.
Here you see more of the skirt and less gift boxes. If you click on it, you can probably see all of the birds.


I am now finished tweaking this tree. And even though I never wanted an aqua Christmas tree, I must admit that I really like this one!

So What Happened to all the Bronze & Gold Decorations?

If you had asked me this morning if I would be spending over 5 hours redecorating with the bronze ornaments, I'd have said, "When pigs fly!
I have already wasted 3 hours decorating the two trees."



Well, the pigs are flying around my house.


I had planned to pack the bronze stuff away, but when I started opening boxes of family room decorations, I noticed that the three small trees I used on the entertainment center last year still had bronze & gold balls attached to their limbs. The lightbulb flashed in my brain and suddenly I had a plan for those ornaments.

I went outside and cut down some real greenery.

I like to add a lot of the real stuff so I get the evergreen smell. I let is soak up water while I worked with the fake garland.

Five hours later I had it all competed.
This is just the center of the entertainment center.

This side has all of the real geenery.
And here is the total finished product.


I think it was worth every hour I spent. This little picture really does not show it very well. Give the pic a click and you can see it so much better.

Here it is using a flash


The flash makes the pears look brassy gold, which they are not.

I used the geenery that I usually use around the dining room arch. I think I will enjoy it much more here because I can see it from the kitchen. It was a ton of work, but I am happy that I took the extra time to do it.

Now I am going to order a pizza because I am way too pooped to cook!

Out with the Bronze

That bronze color is just not working for me.

I called DH from work yesterday and asked him to remove the ornaments from one of the trees and throw that tree in the garbage. Yes, he was a little shocked with my request.

But look what a fine job he did. Everything is on the dining room table in neat rows. You 'gotta love a man who will take a tree down like that.

While I was decorating it the limbs kept falling off. I decided I had no desire to work more with it to make it look decent. The poor old thing has held up tons of ornaments for years. Finally it gets to rest in peace. We had a moment of silence as it was tossed on the big garbage truck at 4:15 p.m. Friday.

(It was garbage day so that is why the urgency to have him get it done. I didn't want it sitting around the garage for another week)

Now I am left with only one bronze tree and I don't like it either. I love the bronze color, but it clashes too much with the pink living room. So today I will remove all of it and start fresh with a pink/gold palette.

I loved the 5:00 a.m shopping yesterday. I normally hate to shop, but there was a certain camaraderie as 30 of us (I was #20) stood in the dark outside Joanne Fabric waiting for the doors to open. Just before they opened those doors, I looked at everyone and said, "Now let us all remember that sewers are friendly people." We all chuckled, then dashed through the doors toward our chosen items. Lucky for me nobody wanted a Rowenta iron. There were only 4 of them and I got one. Just about everyone else was racing toward the fleece fabric sale. I wanted to buy the 7ft skinny tree they had as one of their door busters...just $29.99. I couldn't find it. When I asked about it, they didn't have any! She said they may get some in later, but not at that price. I do believe that is against the advertising laws, but I had no time for hassles since I had to get to work. So I have no replacement for the tree I threw away.

I also bought these beauties at JC Penney for 20% less than 1/2 price.

Whoo hooo, I love a bargain. I will be slipping into these in just a few minutes because I have to go into work for an hour or so. I hope they are comfortable. I have similar boots, but this heel looks slightly higher.

I have tons of decorating to do today so I'd better to get work so I can get home and begin.

Poinsettia Tree

Tree #4
My long time readers may remember that I decorate a few trees at work. I used to do 5 or 6, but I am getting very tired of doing them and have dwindled it down to only 2 this year. I've done the same ones for the past 3 years and it's pretty boring, so I won't spend much time talking about them.

This tree has red poinsettias, white ribbon, gold& white balls.

Tree #5 - The Sunflower Christmas Tree

Again this is a third time repeat.........I used to love this one, but I am tired of it now. The one thing worth mentioning on the sunflower tree is this burlap ribbon.
I just bought a few yards of burlap fabric and cut strips. They don't have to be even--just nearly the same width. No sewing required...just let the ends fray. I also used this fabric for the tree skirt.


Yes, I did do them today.... Thanksgiving Day.....
So remember if you like to be off on the holidays, don't work in a hotel.

Actually I had a good day at work. It went by fast (as it always does) and I got a lot of work done because nobody calls me on a holiday and I got to spend time chatting with my work friends. I truly did not mind working at all. It's amazing how all of us have learned to plan our holiday celebrations around our work day.

When I got home today I immediately started on my broccoli cheese dish to take to my mother-in-laws. I had it done in plenty of time.

And I am happy to say that it was pretty tasty.

So I have had a very busy day. I've worked, decorated two Christmas trees, made the broccoli dish, cleaned up the kitchen from that mess, then spent three hours at the family event. Oh, and I ate turkey -- for the sixth day in a row! :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I must get to bed now because I intend to be at JC Penney at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. I see some black pant boots at less than half price. Then I must get to Joanne's at 6:00 a.m. because they have Rowenta irons for 1/2 price. Mine died last week. By the time I get to work at 7:00 a.m. I should have a trunk full of goodies.

So Bronze & Gold it Is

I worked on the two dining room trees last night. They will be bronze and gold. I still have some work to do on them, but here's the direction I am going.

I removed the birds from the aqua/white tree and put them here where they match much better.

Last year I bronzed some faux pears and I have added some of those, too.


I will show more of it when it's complete.

Bronze, Gold and PINK?

Since I didn't use my bronze ornies on the main tree, I am left with a lot of bronze and gold ornaments. I am wondering if I should use them for the two dining room trees. I don't think I will have quite enough, so I am thinking of adding pink. Hmmmmm, I don't know..........


Maybe pink/bronze is not so good together. :) I made a frozen cranberry salad and noticed when I uploaded the pics that it was about the same pink color that I have for ornies.

I might have to engage plan #2...don't know yet what that is, but I will think about at work today.

I still have those 12 big lollipops that I wanted to use. Now that I have done the more formal main tree, the lollies won't match a thing. Dagnabit! Now what will I do with a dozen giant suckers!!##??

Perhaps I can find a way to use them on top of this section of the kitchen cabinets that I have cleared for some sort of decorating. I am planning to go cut down real greenery for this spot. So far that's as far as I've thought it out.

Look! I found a spot to store my pumpkin dishes. I was a little worried about where I could fit them upright in their box. I had forgotten about those Harvest gold plates I put there. They are a good match so next year I will find them both at the same time.

I guess this is my harvest season storage since I have so much of my amber-colored glassware here.

Oh, my, as I am previewing this post, I notice that the amber glasses sure look nice with those bronze poinsiettias.......Hmmmmmmm........perhaps they will be dining table decor?

The Weather Outside is Frightful, But my Tree is so Delightful

Well, maybe not quite yet!

It looks like I had a few too many cocktails before I took this picture, doesn't it?

At this point I stepped back and thought what a splendid mess it was! Oh, how will I ever make this thing look decent?

I never really have it all planned it out. I just bring up boxes and as I open each one, I grab stuff to put on the tree. At this point I was planning on a bronze, gold and white color scheme.


But what would I do with these gorgeous aqua tear drops I bought two weeks ago?
When I bought them I had a general plan to use them on top of the entertainment center trees, but I really, really wanted them in front of a window to reflect the light.
So I stuck one on and thought, oh, my, 32 of these sparkling in the sunlight would be beautiful. I decided right then and there to change the color scheme to aqua and white with just a touch of gold.

Luckily I found this big spool of 25 yards of old ribbon in the basement.
It's so old it's not even wired. I decided to give it a try to introduce more of the aqua color.

I started where most people end -- I made a big bow and plopped it on the top. Well, truth be told, it was not quite that easy. I had to climb that ladder, then bend and stretch until I nearly fell off the darn thing to twist the bow on the top. I climbed down, took a look and thought, yes! That's exactly what I need! So I climbed back up a few more times to add three long aqua streamers. Three hours later it was complete.



I am sure I will still be doing some tweaking. I also need to find something to use for a tree skirt. Last year I bought some bronze fabric, but since I ditched the bronze color scheme, I need to think of any alternate plan.

I think the tree sort of matches these glasses that I just ordered.