Old Pictures

One of these days I will post again. Right now I am in the middle of a break from school and work. It is lovely.

But just so you know I have not forgotten you, I decided to post some photos pf LAST Christmas. I would totally post the ones from this Christmas, except I haven't had time to go through them, yet. So, you have those to look forward to, still. :)

In the meantime, here are some pictures from last year, right after I got my DSLR. I wasn't to savvy with the compression yet, so if you see some digitalization, it's not the camera. Really.
:)

I hope you are enjoying your break too!!!!!

Last Minute Christmas Treat

If you need a quick treat to take to a party or dinner because you put this off till the last minute and now you are in trouble, this is quick and is a big crowd pleaser:


Bag of "O" shaped pretzels (squares work OK if you're in a pinch.)
2 small bags of Hershey's Hugs (or a big one if you can find one)
Bag of Christmas Colored M&Ms


1)Have one of your kids unwrap all the Hugs. Good luck keeping them from eating them. :) Maybe you should buy three bags.

2)Place wax paper over a baking sheet and scatter "O"s on the wax paper.
(Eat the broken ones, because they are of no use to you in this recipe.)

3)Place one unwrapped HUG in the center of each "O".


Place this whole tray into the oven at about 250-300 degrees. DO NOT go above 300. I have found that if you do, the chocolate browns and hardens at the tips, making it very hard to smoosh down (that's totally not  a word).

You want to see that they are softening, not puddling. Pull the tray out and test one by placing an M&M on top and seeing if the chocolate is soft enough to fill the pretzel. If it is, keep going. If not, put it back in for a few minutes. Keep watching and testing till they are ready. This should only take a few minutes.

4) Place M&Ms in the centers of the Hugs and press them in so that the chocolate spreads out to fill the pretzel. If you are careful, you can keep the stripes intact. They look really cute!

5) Place tray in freezer (or put them out on your patio table) for about 5 minutes. It doesn't take long till they are firm enough to remove from the tray.

These got a little swirly, so we ate most of them as "tests". The more I made, the prettier my stripes were, but since this is a "last minute" kind of thing, I was running late and did not get pictures of the best ones. But you can see the stripes in here some. Either way, they taste yummy!

 Soooo addictive.

Enjoy!

Aunt June's Cornbread Taco Bake

Right now, I don't know if I am coming or going, but I do know if I have a spare minute, I do NOT want to be cooking dinner. Cookies, yes. Meals, no thanks.

So I turned to my Aunt June for help. My Aunt June was actually my Great Aunt June, my Grandfather's sister. Apparently, she was quite fond of him (her little brother) and was the only one who called him by his middle name, Linden. Aunt June lived just outside of Chicago, so I rarely saw her. When I did, I didn't pay much attention to her, of course, because there was fun to be had with all the cousins at the family reunions. As an adult, I visited her once in her home; she was quite elderly by then and was not able to get out of her chair, that I recall. Still, when Aunt June died, my Grandma (her sister-in-law) made sure I received a copy of her memorial recipe book. You see, Aunt June was known to be a good cook, and even did some catering in the Chicago area, from what I hear. So, when she passed away, her family collected all her recipes and put them into a book for the relatives. I love the idea. I try to use the book often. Her recipes are typical of recipes from her generation, lots of Jello salads and Pet Milk, maybe not what you'd call gourmet, but I love them. I haven't tried them all, but tonight, I wanted something fast, so I opened the book to one of the earmarked pages and whipped up a one-dish casserole that was surprisingly delicious! I say surprisingly, because I was very nervous about the French Fried onions. I figured the kids would balk. I thought we might like it, but I did not expect we might love it. My only regret is that Superman was not here for dinner because there is something so great about pulling a new recipe out of the oven for the first time and "wowing" them with it.

If you are as busy as I am, you may enjoy the fact that you probably have all these ingredients on hand and it is super fast to assemble.

Aunt June's Cornbread Taco Bake

11/2 lb lean ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
1/2 C. water
1 can whole corn, drained
1/2 C. chopped green pepper
 (I skipped this because I would never, in a million year put green pepper on a taco!)
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1 pkg corn muffin mix (like Jiffy)
1 can french fried onions.
(I bought the only size I found and it was about twice what we needed. They must make smaller cans.)
1/2 C shredded Cheddar cheese

Brown the ground beef and drain the grease. I added some chopped onion to the ground beef as it cooked. Stir in the seasoning, water, corn, peppers and tomato sauce. Pour into a baking dish (I used a 9x13" pan, though she suggests something smaller like a 2 qt. casserole.) Prepare muffin mix as directed, except add in 1/2 the can of french fried onions. Spoon the mixture around the edges of the casserole. Bake, uncovered for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Top with cheese and the rest of the onions and bake a few more minutes until it's all melted.


Let me just say, do not fear the onions. It was not onion-y. It's actually kind of sweet. It tastes pretty much just like a taco, with corn bread instead of the taco shell.

Yummy and EASY!

Snowmen Handprint Ornament

Here's an easy and quick little project to keep the kiddos busy while they are out of school.

I was asked how we created this ornament:

Here's the skinny:

Take an ordinary ornament of any color. (In the following pictures I am using a clear frosted ball ornament.)

1) Slather the kid's hand with white paint.

2) Make a hand print on the ball, fingers pointing towards the top (where the hook is).

This may be obvious, but I have to mention that it is important that they do not move their fingers once they are on the ornament. If they do, you will be on your own as to how to make those smudges into cute little snowmen keepsakes. 

We did a "dry run" with the little ones just to be sure.

3) When the paint dries, begin adding details to turn the fingers into snowmen. There will be 5, in case you were wondering. ;)

Make eyes, buttons, scarves...whatever you like.

I added little asterisks snowflakes for kicks.

You could also flick white paint on there if you are a "flicker". I love the splattered look, so I say "go for it"!

On the back, I painted the child's name and the year.

We also added fake snow inside the balls, because it's cool, but you can't see it very well. Maybe we didn't add enough. Our funnel was not big enough to fit into the hole in the ornament, so it was a slow process and in case you hadn't noticed, our collective attention span is not very long. ;)

This week we are doing a project with clear ornaments and snow, so maybe that will be better.

On another note, I am wondering if there is a Twelve Step Program for people who are addicted to smileys.  :) 

I totally am.

In case you hadn't noticed.

;)

 oh look! another one! My son wants to know why that one has no eyes. LOL

Gingerbread Christmas Ornaments

Here is a crafty idea for Christmas adorable ornaments. No tutes from me today, as we are having family over to celebrate an early Christmas, but I think you'll get the idea from these pictures.

:)

Theme Party Thursday

A Crafty Reflection for You

We talk a lot about crafts here. Well, I do, for sure. Tonight, while doing laundry, I found one of the eyeballs I had made for Halloween.

I think someone had pulled it off of it's tea light stand and used it as a bouncy ball, then lost it in the laundry heap. I just picked it up, walked into the attic, stashed it in one of the Halloween boxes and went about my business. It didn't bother me. I wasn't sad that my creation was not well-treated. I'm all-Christmas-all-the-time right now. Halloween is a distant memory. It means nothing.

I'm pretty sure there is a profound lesson for teen girls in this crafting tale of would-be woe.

:)

I want to mention to you that aside from my deep and provocative musings on life and other ideas, you will find lots more (OK, a few more) features and links on my FB page. It is easier to be random and disjointed ... short and pithy over there, so I hang out there a lot. Stop by and say hi!









I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS THURSDAY ALREADY AND I AM NOT FINISHED SHOPPING!!!!

And with that little reminder that I need to wrap this post up, let me move on the Theme Party Thursday.

Yikes! 

Let's hope I am in better shape by next Thursday, eh? 

Last week, I was totally blown away by you all! You are awesome!

This picture, in particular pulled at my round ligaments heartstrings.

How adorable is this baby??? Seriously!

Oh, right. It's the hat that was featured.... 

If you really want to be amazed, hop on over to Sew Can Do and see what else Cheryl can do.

Something about this little decoration from Sunny at Life in Rehab just made me smile.

So tiny, but a really, really cute fish idea. I may be going through a hat phase. Brace yourselves. :)

Birgit, at Studio Birgit Kerr, made these adorable jammies for her Christmas morning pictures.

Of course, now I really want to do this for my kids.

I just want to thank you all very much for linking up with me. I really enjoy it and I hope you do too! I have not been in all of your linky parties much lately because I feel guilty linking up when I know I won't have time to comment that day. I will jump back on that horse after the New Year.

Theme Party Thursday

This month's theme is pretty much anything you can make for Winter or Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.
It could be a craft or a sewing project...something decorative or delicious or just anything you would GIVE someone as a gift.

I'd love to see your holiday party or birthday party details and tutorials too!




My buttons are in the sidebar---->





Here are some RULES :1) Please add one of my lovely buttons (or text link) to you blog sidebar 

or to the post itself so others can play along.

 2) Please stick to the theme as closely as you can. 

3) Only family- friendly links, please.

4) If you link up, please leave comments at some of the other blogs. 

Everyone likes comments, so please spread the love!

Magic Reindeer Food

It's official, I have lost it.


I was looking at The Princess's fingernails. Her blue polish is chipping again. It took me a minute to remember that this is not the same polish as pictured above. I have re-painted...and it chipped again. It does that, you know. But my point is that is quite a lapse in time!

It's happening a lot lately.

Christmas. Christmas. Christmas.

It's all I can think about.

Tonight, I put Swiss Miss in the coffee filter!

Christmas!

In case your brain is fried too, I'll take it easy on you. No math problems here. :)





My Daisy Troop made Magic Reindeer Food last week. I thought you might like to see it:

This is a fun project because you can put anything you want in it. Here is what we used:

Oatmeal (a staple in any MRF recipe)

Red Hots (because they love sweets, of course!)

Reindeer Moss (found at the Dollar Store

...it's real moss...

biodegradable

so it's cool to throw it on the lawn)

Glitter (lots!)

I found this little poem on the internet. That computer is just so darned handy, isn't it? :)

I don't know how to make the file downloadable. Do you? I'd be happy to share it. Somebody tell me how. Until then, email me if you want the jpeg and you can print out the little cardboard thingy for yourself.

TTFN

Go tell those you love that you do!

I Could Eat my Weight in These Things!

I have decided to do a couple of short pictorial posts for you guys about stuff I really like at Christmastime. Short because we are all so busy right now, and pictorial because, well, I like taking pictures. :)




For this recipe, you will need and enthusiastic helper!

Take some of these:

Chow Mein Noodles

and some of these:

Butterscotch Chips and SemiSweet Chips. However much you like. 

I did a bag of each, but I often use a 2:1 ratio, respectively.

melt chips in a double boiler.

Stir it up!

add noodles.

This is a tough recipe.

stir some more.

NoT!

Drop clumps on waxed paper.

(I prefer bite-sized.)

try not to eat too many before they harden. They are MUCH better when dried.

Kiss your helper.

:)

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday eating baking.
Remember to come back Thursday and link up your goodies!

Have a great day!

A Short Christmas-ish Post

I had a blast yesterday on Theme Party Thursday! The linky will be up all weekend, so keep on linking! I will be stopping by to visit you all in the next few days.

***


These snowmen ornaments are all over blog-land, so I had to post mine from last year. Unfortunately, Turkey already dropped this on the ceramic tile and shattered it. (Have I mentioned how much I hate ceramic tile?)

We are remaking this ornament...plus a few others. I hope I have time to take some pictures of all our little projects. I have Daisies today, so I am off to finish up the prep for that.

***

I will leave you with 2 Things You Cannot Do With the Color Green:

If my ninja cell phone camera skills were better, I'd include pictures. As it is, use your imagination. :)

1) No matter how in-style leggings are this year, you CANNOT wear kelly green leggings and NOT look like an elf. You just can't. But hey, if elf is your thing, go for it!
2) No matter how much you want to embrace the holiday spirit, you CANNOT dye your mustache green and NOT look like a nasty old man. It's just not possible. You just look like you could use a good scrubbing. Sorry to break it to you.

LOL

I am seeing a lot of red and green these days. Have you spotted any "violations"? Come on, spill it!

Theme Party Thursday

This week, I am more excited than ever for Theme Party Thursday! We had soooo many awesome link last week; I could hardly believe it! I am so truly inspired by all of you. 

In fact, last week, Amanda from We are the Joneses shared her creative spin on a 

Christmas card holder.

I loved it so much, I brought it to the attention of my Mother in Law (Crafting Queen) and guess what? I now have one hanging in my breakfast room! I LOVE it!

Here's mine:

Sorry I waited till dark to take the pictures, but aren't these adorable??? MIL and I both like a little bling with our Christmas, so she added this fabulous glitter to the bulbs. I think they are adorable either way, but the sparkle is totally me. :) This year I am a little bored by red and green, so I LOVE the fact that these are multi-colored. They really brighten up my window!

Now...I am just hoping not every one took us off their Christmas list for not sending out cards last year. LOL

I think these snowman ornaments are totally adorable! These were submitted by Jennifer of Simply Cute Creations. 

Shantel from it's a Priceless Life put up a beautiful, lit-up holiday mantle makes me want to try to string lights on my own mantle. I just love it!

And, of course, as always, I was thrilled with these Oreo Surprise Cupcakes posted by Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life. I want to live in Jocelyn's kitchen. Look at that frosting!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem*

Now, let's get on with the party!!

This month's theme is anything pretty much anything you can make for Winter or Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.
It could be a craft or a sewing project...something decorative or delicious or just anything you would GIVE someone as a gift.

I'd love to see your holiday party or birthday party details and tutorials too!



RULES :1) Please add one of my lovely buttons (or text link) to you blog sidebar 

or to the post itself so others can play along.

 2) Please stick to the theme as closely as you can. 

3) Only family- friendly links, please.

4) If you link up, please do your best to visit some of the other participants. Everyone likes comments, so please spread the love!

Candy Cane Brownie Bites

A wile back, Joceyln from Inside BruCrew Life posted this recipe:

PUMPKIN SPICE BROWNIE BITES

Well, I made them and they were as yummy as she promised!

That same day, I pledged to make these babies with my all-time favorite Hershey Kiss: the Candy Cane Kiss.

And I did.

And they were YUMMMMMMYYYYYYY! (do you find that annoying?)

I followed Jocelyn's recipe except that I used a Candy Cane Kiss instead of a Pumpkin Kiss. And obviously, I used almond bark coating, rather than the chocolate...though that will be next!

Then, we finished off the top with a sprinkling of crushed candy canes.

Like I said YUM!

My testers all agreed they were worth making again. Yay! I love when that happens!



Have you had any holiday experiments yet? How did they turn out?