Christmas Aftermath

Merry Christmas to all! I hope I've already said that to you. This year we were doubly blessed to have Michelle and her boys Nat, Mason and Todd with us for Christmas. Granted, we were like sardines, but it was so nice to have family here. It was a fun day of food, family, and above all else remembering who gave us this all to enjoy.

This is the aftermath... (from left) Michelle, Todd, Nat, Mason and Ray

Ray waking up and Eric playing Santa

It started out as a beautiful cute tree nook

The boys: (from left) Ray, Mason, Todd, Nat

Me, Eric and Michelle (the big kids)

Todd with his Chuck Norris shirt

Opening Stockings

The whole family: Me, Eric, Ray, Mason, Todd, Michelle, and Nat

The most wonderful Christmas banner ever! Thank you Erin and Charlie

Merry Christmas again! Love to all

Here's a sign...

I love the public. I love the public more when they have no clue how to speak/understand/grasp/communicate the English language. I am a firm believer that one should not be redundant, repeat one's self or even be repetitive. I always constantly tell Eric to say ATM... not ATM machine, but the public ruins that.

the elusive "automatic teller machine machine"

We discovered this gem while shopping yesterday. It's a brain bender:

can you imagine the person who put in THAT complaint???

Good Morning Martha... er Alison

I've been a baker for a very long time... I've also had insomnia for quite a few years. My husband accepts it and understands the fact that they often go together.

This morning at 345 I was wide awake. And, being one to not waste time trying to go back to sleep, I decided to be productive.... Ray needed 52 decorated sugar cookies for class, I needed to make shortbread cookies for all my co-workers, and generally get a start on my holiday baking. At five fifteen I had baked off all the sugar cookies and had the shortbread mixed and ready to go. Hopefully I'll be completely done by eight.

And, on the bright (ugh) side, now I have the whole day to ... do laundry and clean my house for company ... :(

fifty two cookies!

a dirty kitchen at four fifteen in the morning

almost done!

i'm always leery about making candy cane cookies, they can come out looking sooooo wrong lol

yay! how cute are those!

A Lesson In Auto-Save

My step-son had a project due at midnight on Friday night. Naturally, being a sixteen year old, he had completed half and was going to do the last half on the computer at home. (Thank the Lord that Microsoft has a trial option for it's programs... the bloody program cost 499$)

Needless to say, amidst Facebook, Youtube, and whatever other thing he was doing on the internet, he managed to compose a very nice looking newspaper for his project and finish well before the allotted time frame. At nine-thirty I asked him how it was going emailing the project to his teacher.... did you save it? of course i saved it! well what did you save it under? i don't know, it didn't ask.... Much looking on the computer later (after finding he had closed the program, deleted it off his email AND emptied the trash) we came to the dismal conclusion that the newspaper was no more.

After a "no, i will not write you a note to get out of a project" he turned right around and put his nose to the grindstone, er keyboard, again. I supplied all the necessary snacks, soda, whatever. We both stayed up while he worked, and finished by eleven fifteen. Saved.... and sent. Bless his heart, he should get two A's.

Yet again....

I hate goodbyes, I've never been really good at them. Eric is gone for two weeks, and I had to take him to the airport today. And now I'm bummed... I hate goodbyes.

Hopkins the (Spoiled Rotten Whiney) Cat

Well, the time has come again for me to say goodbye to my hubby for a little trip. He's only gone two weeks, and in that two weeks I'm going to spend time with our son cleaning the house, putting together a new bunk bed, decorating for Christmas, shopping for Christmas presents, shopping for more food, and preparing for four more wonderful people to move into our little abode. So, amidst all the stress, it will now be me who is the first one up in the house and I will feed our cat, Hopkins.

Let me describe the morning with Hopkins.... at five forty five he wakes up to realize that he hasn't been fed yet, at six he is walking over our torsos while we lay in bed, at six fifteen he starts in on the chorus of meows to let us know he is here, at six thirty he starts running from our bedroom to his food bowl and back to the bed to pounce on us. At that last point is when I give in... and he gets his food. Here is where he is the most spoiled cat in the world: he will only drink out of  a human glass of water, and eat out of a kitchen bowl. So, every morning, we fill a small glass with purified water, put two or three ice cubes in it, fill "his" bowl with food and let him have at it. I just happened to look at it this morning and realize that he is the most spoiled rottenest cat, but he's lovable so it's all worth it.

A Day of Thanks

I was mostly thankful that I made most of the food for Thanksgiving the day before, and all I had to do was bake everything off. The actual day of Thanksgiving was very relaxing and I only spent 1/2 hour in the kitchen. We all had the day off, relaxed and played games and ate. Eric was on call at the hospital, but he didn't have to go in once during the day so that was nice too. It was Ray's first thanksgiving with me, so I made so much food because I didn't know what his favorites were. :P

We had: orange glazed ham, herb roasted hen, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, sage stuffing, hot rolls and chicken gravy. Dessert was: apple cozy, pecan pie and pumpkin pie all with fresh whipped cream. Oh! It was a FEAST!

What a happy Thanksgiving.....

cut by the pumpkin can lid..... the only Thanksgiving injury

apple cozy before baking

baked desserts (I ran out of pie dishes)

hot Thanksgiving feast food

MMMMMMmmmmmm roasted hen

Eric and Ray

All of us

The Thanksgiving table

Thou Shalt Not Predict.....

I'm pretty sure that's the eleventh commandment that Moses accidentally rubbed off the bottom of the tablets... but then that also might be sacrilege to say. This evening at seven forty-five I was finally taking my last break at work. I called my husband, as I usually do on break, to let him know that the day was almost over and I should have no issues leaving work on time and being home at 8:15 with dessert...

Bad bad bad idea to say. Maybe it was a jinx, if you believe in those things, or maybe God just had the idea to not have me predict anymore plans. At seven fifty-five one of my cashiers decided to, with much profanity, tell a customer where to go. Alas, there went me going home on time. I pulled said cashier off the register, promptly took her to the management office (kinda like going to the Principal's office) and proceeded to write her up. All said, this took about twenty minutes. After, I needed to let other management know what had happened, which took another five or so minutes. Then, I got stopped by someone who needed to know where electric blankets were... sigh.

At 8:40 I was at the drive-thru for McDonald's getting my dinner and dessert for my boys.... I walked through my door just shy of 9pm. So much for being on time...

my pick me up present

eric brought me home a new present.....   soooo much nicer! (and the soup was great)

Broken Blenders and Broccoli Soup

it was yet another day at work when i wanted to crawl under a table and suck my thumb. after work it started snowing and slushing outside on the road, so the cold wasn't helping my mood. i was an hour late picking up ray at school, so he was a little ray-cicle too. so, being me, and realizing that food solves everything, i decided to make broccoli cheese soup with home-made croutons to put on top.
a PERFECT winter cold meal that would take away the chills, headaches and tired feet of the day. at four thirty i began to make my soup... putting broccoli, all sorts of good herbs and spices and a little love into it. the croutons were baking, perfect! it smelled DELICIOUS... and tasted good too. ready to blend, i got out my trusty blender, put a tiny bit in to test that everything worked. AND IT DID! delicious home-made soup was just five minutes away.... i had such a migraine at that point too, i couldn't wait for family sit down time in the chilly weather. i put the soup in the blender....... and then it happened. BOOM! broccoli soup EVERYWHERE! i dropped everything stopped and burst into tears. eric came over, gave me a hug, put me on the couch, and discovered that the blender bottom had split in two.

 he cleaned up the kitchen, put the soup that hadn't exploded into the fridge, and promptly ordered chinese.

 so, i still got my soup (even though it was won ton), my headache went away and eric is buying a new blender for me today. we will see if the soup is still as good today....

A House in Mourning

Mom sent me an email saying that Dave Niehaus died yesterday. I honestly didn't think much of it as I scrolled through the article link, but as I read more I begin to think about almost every summer and fall having his voice throughout our house while I was growing up. My mom cheering loudly when he would yell "my oh my" and how it seemed that there wasn't a game missed. That made me tear up a bit... because we will never have that time again. Now a new announcer will be telling the play by plays and mom and dad will still probably be listening, but my sister and I won't be there, and it will forever be different. I didn't think I would care as much as I realize that I do. His death is not only sad for the team that I grew up listening to while my mom cooked, but for a family that, without realizing it, centered many memories together around his voice.

You will be missed Dave Niehaus, not only by the Mariners, but by a grown up girl in Kansas too...

New Hobby.... Cus I Have So Much Spare Time :)

I have been remiss in making time to create blogs, however in my defense.... I've been quite busy with work, Ray moving back home, planning for a move, and all the normal holiday stress.

So, to add to my already busy lifestyle, I have started a new hobby. I have been wanting to make my own beads and jewelry for quite some time, and finally Eric took me shopping for all the necessary starter materials. I spent this evening sitting in our living room with the coffee table as my work space. Once we move and get a bigger house I will get a craft area, but for now all my stuff is mobile. I included a few pics of all the jewelry I made today. Be ready to get "quaint, homemade and crafty" jewelry for all holidays/birthdays and the like.

This stuff is so fun! Make all sorts of designs, then bake for 15 min and they are set.

My mobile coffee table work station

Vegetable beads (clockwise from top: corn, tomato, carrot and peas)

Vegetable earrings (yes, I'm sporting them tomorrow at work)

Snowman earring - getting close to Christmas :)

Snowman on the left and Rudolph on the right... hard to see but very cute!

Pumpkin Carving... Small Scale

Sunday afternoon is my favorite time. Neither Eric nor I ever make plans for anything... it's our time to spend together and relax. This weekend I had those pumpkins that hadn't been carved yet, nor had they been sacrificed to the Great Pumpkin, so we decided to make quick work of them. Eric didn't carve the normal face, instead choosing to go with a picture of a witch. I, however, wanted to pay homage to my current "home" state... and made a pumpkin fitting a Kansasonian. Either way, it was a wonderful fun afternoon. I even roasted the pumpkin seeds.... and they turned out great!

He's losing his mind!!!!!

Eric starts in on his

What a diligent worker

Pumpkins is shore messy bidness!

I think I'll make a witch

Toothpick alternative

Finished products (Alison doesn't have any candles in her house right now)

A true Kansas pumpkin.... check out the teeth. :)

A Sleuthing Day Off

So yesterday was my first day off where I wasn't going anywhere, visiting family, shopping, or doing anything else that grownups need to do. Eric was working a 24 hour shift, and so there went all my other normal cooking/cleaning chores. My new Nancy Drew game from HerInteractive (I say that just in case I'm not allowed to say brands on here.) came in the mail at 11am. I decided that it was going to be a marathon video gaming day. I felt a little guilty about my laundry that needed to be folded, but in the immortal words of my sister... "the laundry will still be there tomorrow, today you need to play Nancy Drew." (Maybe not a direct quote, but definitely the meaning was there.)

Game pic of one of the suspects~ oooh, did she do it?

So my day was spent shirking my duties and enjoying the soothing sleuthing sounds of Nancy's voice telling me... "I can't do that yet." Can I just say... I LOVE LOVE that bow!

Obviously it wasn't all Roses

But in the end... relaxation is key. It was a good time and... yes, I did solve the case. (The butler did it!)

Welcome back.... to the grind.

This has been a very hectic week, and it's only Wednesday. Eric is still at work.... if you look at the time that I'm posting this you will see he's been there for almost 15 1/2 hours. Too bad he's not hourly LOL. Well it started with a bang on Monday, the retail giant I work for decided to cut every one's hours (except mine I guess) and so we are supremely short-staffed, and to make my day even more wonderful, I lost a gem out of my wedding ring. Eric found out he's: on call, working about 13 hours a day opening and closing, and..... we're being restationed. Sooo, WHAMMO! On the bright side, it could only get better, right?
Tuesday went by so fast in a blur of "holy crap I hate my job" and "I wish it was the weekend" that Wednesday was soon upon us. Today was much of the same, work was hectic, we were understaffed, I'm pretty sure I got called every name in the book (behind AND in front of my back) by customers and associates alike. Eric got "volentold" to have guard duty tonight.... as well as all day tomorrow... so I get to see him on Friday now. Sigh... these are the times when I wished I actually drank.
Well, no pretty pictures tonight, just an update on why I never call anyone... I'm usually too tired or already asleep. LOL
Better luck next week I guess, thank God tomorrow is a day off.

To Carve Or To Eat

These are the cute little punkins that I bought from my store yesterday. I didn't know if I wanted to cut into them with Eric or cut them up to roast. After a few mins I decided there were so many things I could make with fresh pumpkin, that I had to roast at least two of them. If only to get the scrumptious pepitas out of them so I could have a good for you roasted snack...

Well.... for those of you who know, Eric came down on new orders and we are moving to Georgia... I found that out while roasting the seeds, soooooo....

 Alas. These are the really "Europeanly Done" pepitas. If I had pulled them out ten mins earlier they would have been edible, but they were burnt. How sad.

I did however manage to save the roasted pumpkin and make some delicious iced cookies. Eric took some to work this morning and I took some to work today... They were a hit! (as free food often is)

My roasted pumpkin

Eric (badly in need of a hair cut) enjoys a warm pumpkin cookie!