Will the decorating ever end

Peppermint bark
Two pans makes lots of goddies

Christmas village is done!

Left the house at 9:00 AM this morning to meet our girls, then lunch with all the kids, shopping that took forever and finally back home at 4:00 PM. I hate being away from home!!! Before I took off this morning I got the Christmas village set up, finished up when I returned this afternoon, mark that huge job off the to do list.

Got the Christmas shopping started for our Christmas Angle this year, we have a 4 year old little girl, Heather and Shannon has her twin Brother. Their Mother ask for a coat, hat and gloves for the children, they are a homeless family therefore whatever they receive they must carry around all day, they are not able to leave things at the shelter during the day when they are required to leave. So very sad, Bob and I are going to meet the kids this weekend and finish shopping for our Angels, we decided to pick up small book bags that they will be able to carry themselves then add a few small toys, socks and undies in the bags. Along with the coats, hats and gloves maybe it will bring some joy to their day. Our hearts break to hear what a hard life these poor children are having to endure. I hope each of you will open your wallet and hearts to help a needy family this year. Bob and I have adopted an Angel each of the 36 years we have been married, when our girls came along we would do shopping for our Angle together, we are so happy our Daughters are carrying on the tradition with their own families now.

Even with all the ripping and running today I felt the need to get in the kitchen and make a little something, decided to give the peppermint bark a try. It is super easy!! I made 2 pans to use as small gifts for neighbors and whoever might stop by over the holiday. I want to get a little time to hit the scraproom and come up with a cute tag and a little ribbon to dress up some jars of the peppermint bark. Recipe below, give it a try, very inexpensive and pretty tasty.

Tomorrow is HOME all day, yaaaa for me!! Have lots that I need to get done and more that I want to have the time to do. Gonna take a deep breath and hit it early, so very close to finish decorating and shopping, then I can play in the kitchen for days on end!!!

Peppermint Bark:

Line 9x13 pan with foil or parchment paper

16 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp peppermint extract

12 ounces of white chocolate

2 to 3 Candy canes crushed

Melt Semi sweet chocolate in microwave, maybe 1 or 2 minutes

add extract

spread in 9x13 pan, let cool until set, maybe 15 to 20 minutes.

Melt white chocolate in microwave, let cool down a bit then spread on top of the dark chocolate, sprinkle crushed candy canes on top while still warm. I used my small electric chopper to make the pieces really small

Once it is set and cool, break into pieces or cut into small pieces, a little goes a long way.

Store covered, if you don't eat it all!

So Cold BURRRRR

Saturday's Snow

I can't believe how cold it is here, this has been going on for a week, doesn't look like we are gonna get a break anytime soon. I rarely wear a coat but I can tell you while running around today I had on a coat and gloves but the chill still got to me. Home tonight on the couch with what feels like a cold coming on, loading up on juice, chicken broth and a bit of chocolate.

Ran myself out of bags for the food saver today putting up baby food and chicken stock, hope they will be going on sale soon!! Also put frozen corn in the dehydrator that I picked up at the grocery today, super good deal. Frozen corn was on sale for $2.50 a bag, had a dollar off coupon for each of them so $ 1.50 a bag, regular price is $3.69. Have broccoli from the garden to throw in the dehydrator tomorrow, the broccoli and cabbage are coming along but so slowly I am not sure it is worth the trouble, we need to till it under soon, might just give up and turn it all under except for the lettuce that is doing amazing.

Grocery store total today was $35.66 coupon savings was $68.64 I consider that a good day! With gas up to $2.94 a gallon we need all the savings we can get. So hope that the nuts in Washington can get their act together soon, if the Bush tax cuts expire it is really going to cut into our budget, but I know we are very lucky to even have a job in this economy so I don't want to get to fussy.

I can't for the life of me understand the thinking in DC, they say oh don't bother cutting this that or the other in the budget, it is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total spending. I don't know about your house but at our house it is the drips in the budget that kick our butt, wish our government would be as responsible as the American people are.

Family Heirloom

Our Nativity is one of the most precious heirlooms we have from Rambo Man's Mom and Dad. Ma and Dad Handy's neighbor made a ceramic piece of the Nativity for each of her neighbors for Christmas. The nativity is beautifully hand painted with loads of rhinestones, really and truly it is breathtaking. When Mrs. Denmark found out Rambo Man's Dad wouldn't make it for many more Christmas's she finished the 18 piece set for him and gave it to him for Christmas. Turns out that was his last Christmas, he passed away in March of the next year. She started the set for them in 1960 it was quickly finished for Christmas 1971. I use one of Ma's dinning room table cloths to set the Nativity on and of course we keep it far away from sweet little hands. We would both be broken hearted if a single piece were broken. Didn't get any more Christmas decorating done today but I did get a bit of shopping done and a few handmade gifts for friends knocked out, yaaa for me!

Got in the mood for a pot of stew today, with the temperature in the teens at nights and highs in the 30's with a super cold wind I wanted something warm and cozy. I have no idea how to cook a small pot of stew so I shared with our kids families and a friend who is always happy to have a home cooked meal, still have enough to last me a couple of more days we don't like potatoes frozen then rewarmed so I needed to spread the pot around a bit.

Lots of errands, UGH, a bit of coupon savings at CVS (spent $47.52 saved $54.95) and checking Santa's list. Sooo close to finishing up but Rambo man loves to Christmas shop so I have to hold off so he can help finish up. Also found a few interesting recipes surfing the net today, have you ever made marshmallows or how about peppermint bark? I found peppermint bark for $45.00 a pound, stuff must be super good, gonna give it a try next week, I think I have everything I need in the pantry, just need to find the time! Tomorrow I am gonna do my best to finish ALL of the decorating, dread putting up the Christmas village :(

Lots of Carrots

Picked up 15 pounds of carrots this weekend from the market to work on, ours were a total flop didn't get a single carrot. I put the majority of the carrots in the dehydrator but saved 3 or 4 pounds to make baby food for the little girls. Thanks Teresa for your expert opinion on this super new kitchen tool!

Here is the scoop on the "Babycook" by Beaba, I picked mine up at Williams Sanoma a few weeks ago and finally found the time to make some baby food. The initial cost is a bit high $150.00 for the machine and the freezer tray runs $20.00, there are lots of other accessories and cookbooks that you can purchase but at this point I think the machine will do what we need. You can steam, puree and warm up using this one machine. Now I could have just steamed the veggies on the stove or rice steamer, then pureed using the food processor or blender and to warm up the food I could always use the stove but this is so much simpler!!! It took 15 minutes to steam the carrots, maybe 2 or 3 minutes to puree the cooked carrots and a few seconds to pour it all in the freezer tray. When we are ready to use a serving all we will have to do is pop a carrot cube in the machine and steam for 5 minutes, LOVE IT!!

Why the heck would I take this project on? With 2 babies in the family this year who will both be going through lots of baby food at $1.00 or more a jar. At some point they will be up to 3 or 4 jars each a day so that's $8.00 a day, for a year that's close to $3,000.00. With this little jewel we can make food in bulk for the girls when it is in season with no preservatives, sugar, additives or artificial coloring, nothing but whole fresh foods for our sweet little girls and super cheap, most veggies will come from our own garden or the market down the road. Score one for Nanny!!

The majority of the day was spent cleaning up from the weekend, the entire house was upside down. We were also without water for most of the day, they got it back on but it is only a trickle so no shower, laundry or dishwasher today washed dishes by hand which was not so bad, honesty is was a bit relaxing. Decorating for Christmas is messy business, wish it was all done but it will take a few more days to finish it all. We have WAY more decorations than we should have but so many things are family collections that we wouldn't want to give up, I will just keep plugging away. Temperature will dip down to 17 degrees tonight, gonna throw an extra blanket on the bed and call it a night.

Decking the Halls

Our VERY favorite Christmas tree, the ortanments are from Rambo Mans Grandmother and Mother. I have been able to trace a few ortaments on the internet they are from 1930's. We use one of Mom's table cloths to cover the table and Grandma Morris side table cloths to wrap around the tree, I finish the tree with icicles just like they use to do. We know they are always with us but this tree helps us pass down traditions to our children and Grandchildren with somethig they can see and touch, well not much touching!!

We have had a busy, messy and COLD weekend, even got a little snow On Saturday!!! Have 6 trees decorated, only 2 more to go, wheee...... I will be glad when they are all done. Rambo man got the outside decorating finished today in the super cold weather, taking lots of break to come in for some Carmel apple cider and thaw out at the wood stove. Poor guy was working in the sleet and snow Saturday until I put my foot down and made him come in. Still have the Christmas village to work on this week and a few odds and ends then its time to set back and enjoy the season.

Finished doing the piece work on Kara's stocking, working on Karsyn's tonight, hope I will have the time to do the needle work and sequins before Christmas Eve but I refuse to make myself crazy at least they will have stockings, I can always work on them over the winter!!

We worked on our December calender a bit this morning, we are in total agreement to cut back on commitments this year, we both want to have more time at home to relax and truly enjoy family time. How crazy is it to dress up, fight traffic and go to holiday parties where everyone is afraid to use the words Merry Christmas, we just refuse to do it anymore, enough is enough.

Have a pot of chicken stock on the stove from Sunday dinners leftovers and an oven full of cast iron that needs to be reseasoned, I suck at keeping the cast iron seasoned, I decided to try using bacon dripping this time, hope it works better!

Here We Go

Decided to start with the kitchen tree this year, that's where I spend most of my time so I get mine first seeing as how I end up putting up all of the tree's! Man decorating for Christmas is for the physically fit, which I am not. I spent most of the day rearranging furniture, taking furniture out and bringing in cartons and carton's of holiday cheer, still lots more to bring in but I am calling it a day.

The kitchen tree has Hallmark's "Nostalgic Houses and Shops" ornaments that Rambo Man started for me 27 years ago, LOVE it. Picking out ornaments are one of our favorite things to do each year together. Our children get an ortament in their stocking, that is it, nothing else, we really are trying to cut back! We started each of our married girls a collection their first year of marriage, unmarried Daughter and Grandbabies also recive an ortament that reminds us of them or whatever they are into at the time.

I worked on one of the babies Christmas stockings until 3:00 AM last night. I got in the groove and kept going, have 33 of 125 pieces sewn on, then I will go back and do the needle work lastly will be the beading and sequins. I could smack my sister for starting this tradition when our first daughter was born 33 years ago, durn things take forever to make and having two to do this year may be more than I will be able to handle but I will at least get the piece work done before Christmas may have to finish the rest after the holiday's.

Hope to get a bit more Christmas cheer done tomorrow if Kara will let me!

Grounded today!

I grounded myself today!! I need to get a handle on all the messes I have around the house before the weekend so Nanny gave herself a time out. Made OK progress and plan on getting a little more done tonight before I hit the sack.

Christmas cards are totally done and setting on the hall table waiting to go the the post office on the next trip out. The last 11 cards seems like it took as long to make as the first 60 cards, why do I do this to myself? I always think I will get them done over the summer so I won't feel so squeezed for time but that never happens, at least I made my December 1st goal!!

Finished cleaning out my closet this morning, have a few bags ready to go to goodwill on my next trip out, lots of nice corporate clothes needed to go and a few things that have become a bit snug lately, hummm must be retaining water.

Closed the doors to the dinning room and called it good. I can't move the last two big pieces of furniture by myself, closing the door and not seeing the mess makes me feel some accomplishment.

Found one counter in the studio today, yepee!! Plan to get the other counter cleaned off in the morning and hit the sewing machine projects that need to go in the mail. If I figured right I can knock it out lickity split, durn hope I have the right color of thread, forgot to check.

Have had a fire blazing away in the wood stove today since I knew I would be home. I think our sweet little beagle has forgiven me for freezing her buns off yesterday. My nights from now until December 25th will be working on the baby girls stockings that I have been carrying around since July, I dread even opening the packages, sooooo much work. But the mantel won't be complete without them.