Baking Christmas Cookies

I am in a cookie exchange with 3 friends from work. We are each making 8 dozen cookies (4 dz of 2 different cookies). We will take our goodies to work on Thursday and exchange 1 dozen of each cookie with each person. We will end up with one dozen of eight different cookies.

Boy, that sounds complicated, doesn't it? LOL.

This is the first time I have been in a cookie exchange and let me tell you, I didn't think it would be this much work!

I definitely picked the wrong cookie to make (Almond Raspberry Sandwich cookies--they have almond paste in the cookie & seedless raspberry jam in the middle). It took me 4 hours just to make the cookies. I have not actually sandwiched them together yet (just the one in the picture so I could try them). They are pretty good although a bit crunchier than I expected. I will put them all together Wednesday evening so that they will look nice when I take them to work.

Since these cookies require two cookies to make one cookie, I had to make 8 dozen instead of 4. That was a lot of rolling and cutting out.

I did learn something valuable during the experience, though. . . All silicone baking liners are NOT created equal. Recently I was in Wally's World and bought a set of two because they seemed so reasonably priced. Well, you get what you pay for. I opened the oven and was shocked to see this

which caused my cookies to turn up in odd ways. NOT GOOD.

Here is a Silpat (a wonderful liner!). See how flat it stayed?


Moral of the story? DON'T waste a dime of your hard-earned cash on Walmart's silicone liners.

Now I am working on Coconut macaroons drizzled with chocolate.
Oh, so much easier than the first ones.

I have the last batch in the oven and then I will melt the chocolate and drizzle them.

In between baking the two kinds of cookies, I had to run to Walmart to buy coconut. While there I spotted these Danskin pullover tops marked down to $5. Well, who could resist a bargain like that? Not me! I bought three of them in different colors.

Can You Identify This Shrub?

Remember the Old Barn?

My footprints from trudging out to get the barn picture.


Appropriate sign hanging by my garage

Seasons of a Garden

Summer

Fall

Winter

Winter Storm Warnings for Us Today/Tonight

Doesn't this look like fun?

Alice, Calidore, Chloe...and all of you in the warm climates...I wish I could trade places with you!
We have already gotten about 8 inches and another 4 - 5 is supposed to fall this evening.
The roads were terrible when I came home from work at 3:30 today.

All day at work, I felt like going outside to make a snowman. It was so beautiful looking out at the snowy trees. But once I left the building and stood out in the wet, miserable stuff scraping my car, I came to my senses. LOL. My hair was soaked just from that 5 minute chore.





And speaking of hair -- I got a new 'do' yesterday. My hair was getting too long (touch below shoulders) and I couldn't stand it a day longer. So I went and had about four inches cut off and I like it so much better. I will miss being able to pull it up and wear those pretty clasps and things in the back.
Here I am with the new 'do.'

Favorite Childhood Christmas Gift?

I was surfing some blogs and someone was asking,
What was the best present you ever got for Christmas?

This got me to thinking....trying to remember gifts from my childhood. I remember two gifts from waayyyyyyyy back when I was about 7 - 8 years old.

One of them is a 1963 Swirl Pony tail Barbie Doll. I thought she was the most beautiful of all the Barbie dolls of that era. I still have her and her original red bathing suit. Oh, how I wish I would have saved that box! Today mint in the box this doll is worth over $600.00. In very good condition without the box, probably about $250.00. I would never sell mine, though.


The other was a Susie Smart Doll. I think my Mom said she bought her at the A & P store. She came with a little yellow plastic school desk. She was wearing a plaid school girl dress. She was a talking doll and said things like, "2 + 2 equals 4" and "D-O-G spells dog." I just adored that doll. I still have her, too.

About ten years ago I found a Susie Smart doll with the little yellow desk at a garage sale. I bought her because I wanted the desk. I wish I had her original clothing. I have not been able to find any pics of this doll on the net, but here is mine from nearly 45 years ago sitting beneath the Christmas tree.


She is, of course, dressed in her holiday finery for this picture. (I used to put her out each Christmas).

Relaxing Sunday

I usually do a lot of cleaning and cooking on Sunday, but today I didn't do much of that at all. I had thought I might do some Christmas baking this weekend, but didn't do any of that either.

I did cook a nice breakfast for DH. He loves breakfast, but usually I only make it once on the weekend. This weekend I cooked him breakfast both Saturday and Sunday.

I spent the rest of the day quilting and watching Christmas shows on television. I did take a few breaks to throw in some laundry. Laundry is the perfect chore to do while quilting. You can toss the clothes in the washer and you have 30 - 45 minutes to quilt. Just when you are ready to take a break, it's time to throw the clothes in the dryer. Then you have another of hour of quilting before you have to break to put the clothes away.

DH did some grocery shopping this morning while I stayed home to quilt and make breakfast (more like brunch since it was 11:30 a.m. when we ate). He came home with a dozen beautiful coral-colored roses........awwwwwwwwwwww....I was so touched....

Here they are all arranged in my rooster vase


I wonder if the double breakfasts gave DH some extra good feelings this weekend?

My Latest Addiction

Bob's Sweet Stripes
I bought these at Wally's World last week and, OH MY GOSH, I can't stop eating them! They are a lightly minted candy--not a strong mint like those hard pinwheel things-- and they are soft enough that you can bite right into them...pure bliss!

Shocking Shoes

Just have to show you all these shoes! Are they crazy or what?
Quite a few people thought they were "or what?"!
LOL.
They were worth the price if just for the shock value.

I personally like them. If I just had a jacket with the same pattern on the collar...I had to find something with both black and white to wear on the top half of my body. So I rummaged through my costume jewelry and found a necklace with big round black/white beads.

I know you can't see me very well, but here I am at 6am ready to head out the door.




The shoes are really quite comfy (if you are used to heels as I am).

Thanks, everyone, for the birthday wishes. I did not do anything special...just worked 10 hours and came home and cleaned the toilet and scrubbed the bathroom floor. Do I know how to celebrate or what? LOL

Slow Down World

I have had a very busy two weeks at work...running around like crazy trying to keep up with all the Christmas party details and hockey room blocks. I hope today is slower. I am planning to wear my new black/ivory tweed shoes with the 3-inch heels...not good for too much running. I will take a second pair, just in case.

All of the clothes I ordered last week arrived yesterday. They all fit, too!
I spent over an hour ironing everything last night. Don't you hate it when you buy something new and you almost have to send it to the dry cleaners just to get the wrinkles out!! That purple suit was hard to iron...I had the steam going and a wet pressing cloth...took forever......

My birthday was Monday and look at the beautiful gold necklace DH gave me...




I love it.

Tie one On

My mother-in-law made me the cutest aprons.

This Christmas one is a perfect match for my gingerbread man Christmas tree decorations.

I will have to remember to wear this when I bake Christmas cookies.




















She also made me this one with roosters (I have a lot of roosters in my kitchen)








Aren't they adorable? I just love them.

Better than a sleeping pill

I worked on my quilt for a few hours this morning. I am ready to move on to something else, so am beefing up my quilting time to get finished.




The problem is, every time I work on it, it puts me to sleep! At this rate I will never get finished!


I have dinner (BBQ chicken thighs, baked potato) in the oven. I think I am going to read a Christmas story tonight. I always get in the mood to read holiday stories in December. When I went to my bookshelf to see what I might read, I found I had quite an assortment of holiday books to choose from.


Not sure yet which I will read...

It's Time for some New Clothes

I went on a little spree today and ordered some new work clothes.
This 3 pc purple suit looks so cute. I hope it looks half as good on me.



I ordered these shoes in the black/ivory tweed. I wear a lot of black and these should nicely perk up a black skirt/black tights ensemble.


I liked the simple lines of this sweater set and ordered it in black.


I just hope everything fits. I prefer to try on clothes prior to purchase, but in my small town there aren't a lot of places to shop. If you don't want to see everyone wearing the same thing you have, you are forced to shop catalogs or online.

Robed in Winter White

What a fitting welcome to December.
I do not often venture outside during the winter months, but it was so beautiful today that I had to grab my camera and capture the moment. I took these about 20 minutes ago.

To make your life a little easier.....(a household tip from Zoey)

Quite some time ago I discovered this little household helper. I have been keeping it to myself for years; but now, dear blog readers, I have decided to share it with you.

Do you all recognize this?

.
It's a binder clip. It is used in offices to hold thick stacks of paper together. Binder clips come in many different sizes, but this is the size I like best to use as..............................................



I know you are all holding your breath for the big reveal

So here it is.............................................



















A potato chip bag clip

These work so much better than the big plastic things you buy for the same purpose. You know, the ones that break so easily. I have never broken one of these.

Of course, I use them to hold all sorts of other food bags together...cheese is a favorite. Even though the shredded cheese has those little self closures, I find it takes numerous attempts to get the thing shut, so I just fold it over and use a smaller binder clip.

These are quite inexpensive. I think I paid something like $4 for a box of 12 of the large ones.

So now I bet you will all tell me that you have been using these for years,too. My one claim to inventor's fame will be shattered. :)

DH just walked in and stood over my shoulder. "You're putting that on your blog?" He shook his head and walked out muttering, "It must be a slow day for blog material."

LOL - I am always amazed at just how smart that man is.

For crazygramma

Crazygramma asked for a picture of my denim quilt. If I had not been so lazy when I mentioned it in the earlier post, I would have linked to the pic in the archives.

I started it last winter and posted quite a bit about it (in the Feb/Mar archives, I think). I only quilt during the winter months, so it has been patiently sitting in a corner of the family room waiting for me to get the urge to pick up the needle.

Since crazygramma asked so very nicely, I searched my picture files and found one:




I am hand quilting this which is a bit insane.


Denim is way too difficult to hand quilt.

Crazygramma, good luck on the one you are going to make for your DH. My only bit of advice -- save your fingers and sanity -- tie it or machine quilt.

Cute Snowman Centerpiece

I was surfing technorati for "Christmas" just to see if I could find any interesting blogs. So far, not, but I did find this commercial site which has a cute idea for a snowman cookie jar centerpiece.

I thought it was different and I have a cookie jar very similar. Hmmmmm....might have to treck down to the basement storage shelves and rummage around for that cookie jar....just look at those pine branches for the arms...how cute!

I Love Sundays

I stayed home all day today. I moved all the furniture in the family room and living room (I have a summer arrangement and a winter arrangement). I like to change it seasonally so that different pieces get the brunt of the sunlight to help with even fading.

I also worked for about an hour and a half on my denim quilt while watching taped episodes of Alex Anderson's quilting show on HGTV. My eyes were getting heavy and I was getting cold, so I removed the quilting hoop, layed on the sofa, pulled it over me and promptly fell asleep for at least an hour. That quilt is so heavy; perfect for cold days when the heat is set at 66 degrees.

I just made two pans of lasagna and a meatloaf which are waiting to go into the oven. We will have the lasagna tonight, I will freeze one of the pans, and the meatloaf will be ready for tomorrow. I always cook a few extra meals on Sunday so I don't have to bother with cooking when I get home from work.

Yesterday I did a lot of Christmas shopping. I was at the JC Penney counter at 10am with my arms overflowering with purchases. They had a sale and I could have saved $30 on my purchases, BUT.......the darn sale did not start until 4:00 p.m. ARRRGGGGGGG...I should have read the flyer more closely. I decided that $30 was worth a return trip, so I decided not to buy the items until 4 p.m. They said they could hold some of the items, but not anything that was on clearance. I had quite a few items for myself that were clearance priced. Really I don't see what the difference is...why couldn't they just sell me everything and give me the discount at 10 a.m.?
By the time I went back at 4 p.m. I decided against all the clothes for myself, so in the end, they lost over a $100 in sales. I feel good about that (so does my checkbook).

This morning I wrapped all the gifts (everything in the same paper because I don't like a big mismash of wrapping paper under the tree).

I changed my profile pic again today. I am wearing gold earrings and a necklace that DH got me for Christmas a few years ago which makes it a seasonally-appropriate pic...LOL.

Visitors From the North Pole?

I have little elves all over. I wonder if they are watching to see if I am being good?

I am DONE, DONE, DONE decorating!! It feels so good. (I am sure I will be doing a bit of daily tweaking as I can never leave anything alone.)

I have a dozen or so of these elves that I made a few years ago. I used them in the dining room trees and in the archway greenery. I have used a lot of red, which I almost never use...now I remember why...it clashes terribly with my furniture. Oh, well, it's the holiday season, so that's OK. I also made all of the felt ornaments on these trees (many, many, many years ago...like 25 years).

I finished setting the dining room table, too. I removed the table runner I made yesterday and put it on the kitchen eating counter.




My dining room is between all the trees, so when we eat dinner each night, we are in a Christmas wonderland with lights on all sides of us. During December we will eat at the dining room table almost every night ...even if dinner is just a bologna sandwich we shall be nibbling it amongst the Christmas china and silver just to enjoy the holiday ambiance that I have worked my butt off to create!

This little tree on top of the china cabinet has green lights.


Here is a view of all the trees to give you an idea of the room layout. (well, actually, there is one more little tree on a second china cabinet that is not in view)



And here it is all lit up a few minutes ago

christmas

Blue Jeans & Gingerbread Man Tree

I did not use my blue jean stockings on the trees at work, so I added them to my gingerbread man tree at home. I had to use them, since I went to the trouble of making them all.

Today I have to finish my other 2 trees at home and make a centerpiece for the dining room table.

I still have boxes of ornies sitting around the family room. I will be happy to get everything done and cleaned up.

I am hoping at work that someone else does the dining room tree over the weekend. I left it in a banquet room with just the lights on and hinted to a few people that it wouldn't hurt my feelings if someone else did it before I get back on Monday.

How much do you want to wager that nobody touches it?

christmas

Golden Splendor Christmas Tree

This tree is done mostly in gold so I have named it "Golden Splendor".






christmas

Christmas Table Runner

Yesterday I was reading Calidore's blog. She posted a picture of a table runner she had made for her hutch and was nice enough to post the web site where she had found the free pattern. I went there and printed the directions.

I got home from work about noon today. Since I had four hours before I had to go to Mom's for Thanksgiving dinner, I rummaged through my fabric stash and found three Christmas fabrics and made the runner. Just as Calidore said, it was easy and fast. It took less than two hours.

Thanks, Calidore for sharing this. I plan to make more this winter.