Wheww... am I pooped! Is it Christmas YET?

Oh seriously, I just deleted everything I typed... Dang, if I didn't go & hit the "USE THE NEW OPTION" thingy when I have 9,000 things to do & NO time to mess with learning this NEW way to post.... Ok- it's been a while so let me fill you in on what we've been up to:

1. Gingerbread House- PRE-baked & in my opinion, the ONLY way to go!!  They had this one at Joanne's & it's by Wilson less than $10!  Comes with everything you need (except patience!)

 

Darlings favorite part: sucking the (yucky) frosting from the bag...go figure!

Then we decided our angel that my Mom made us last year needed an extreme make-over... sorry Mom, no offense!  It's just when your child is afraid of the Christmas Angel, & wants to sleep in your bed every night as it is- you must take extreme measures to remove anything within your holiday decor' that will cause nightmares....

Here she is with her "hair" removed... it was Spanish Moss & something about the grey color wasn't very Heavenly... again, SORRY MOM!

Now I realize at this point, she still is looking creepy, but... hang with us, she's not done yet!

Still creepy... but there is a PLAN!

Then... the Advent Calendar!  I know, I know- I've had it since LAST year & I decided the last day of November to start the re-vamp... (keep your shorts on Cheeky Green- today is the day I finish it!).  This is how it started out:

Step 2:

ALMOST there... almost!

I just need to get the rest of the doors finished!

It's been perfect here for finishing projects, since we can't leave the house:

We've been under a Blizzard WARNING for the last 3 days!

Yes, these pictures were taken from the INSIDE- the only way I go outside:

go out kitchen door which leads directly into the garage

get in car

ride in passenger seat & let the Mister man the wheel

get dropped off at the door

get picked up at the door

have the Mister pull into the garage

walk back in house.

This gal was made for a tropical island... Maui, Maui- how i miss thee!

the sky really isn't this blue, I used my mac to "enhance"...

the view from my front door... No, no, I didn't open the door- it was taken thru the window of course!

Ok, I have to finish my cards, finish decorating, finish the advent, the angel, the gingerbread house & START my Christmas shopping.... I wanted to wait & see who was going to be naughty & who was going to be nice!

We've also got 2 Christmas parties to go to this weekend & let me tell you, that glass of Merlot will be well deserved!

Cheers Gals!

Oh geesh, don't tell me I don't have spell check anymore?  Yikes, I use that all the time so I can type sloppy & let spell check do the work...

OH &... enjoy the NEW Christmas music (thanks MO!)

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies!!!

Well, it's that time of the year...

Christmas Cookie Time!

Last year I heard of this FABULOUS drink: Mexican Hot Chocolate!! Cinnamon & Chocolate- my favorite combination-evahhhhhhh! So good! When I saw this recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies, I knew I had to have them!

1st gather your supplies, then WASH your hands!:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

6 tablespoons of margarine softened (I used REAL butter because I don't eat food that's 1 molecule away from plastic... but that's just me!)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Generous pinch of ground BLACK pepper (it's TRUE!)

Generous pinch of Cayenne pepper (NO, I'm serious!!)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 an overripe banana or... i used a MOTT's mango peach apple sauce (for once I didn't have a rotten banana sitting around- the apple sauce worked just fine!!)

pre-heat your oven to 350

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt in a med bowl. Mix thoroughly with a whisk. Set aside.

Combine the sugars in a small bowl & mix well with fingers pressing out any lumps. ( I hope you store your brown sugar in the freezer, for some reason mine wasn't & it was like a chunk of rock & when i tried to break it up it flew EVERYWHERE... i found pieces of it in my bra...

moving on...)

In a med. mixing bowl, beat margarine/butter until creamy. Add sugar mixture, cinnamon, peppers, & vanilla. Beat on high for about 1 min. Beat in banana or applesauce.

Add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until incorporated. Roll into 1 inch balls & place on greased cookie sheet. Bake 12-14 min. Cool on a wire rack.

Lick the whisk (NO RAW EGGS!!)

Wash your hands then-

Eat till you puke!

Chocolaty & Spicy!!

Hope you ❤❤❤ these!

Recipe from Jan Holst/Penasee Globe.

Stuff, stuff, and more STUFF!

Well, I've only been loading pictures for 3 hrs... NO joke! My connection is snoozer-ville slow today.... ugh! Well, let me show you what I do have loaded:

A few months back my cousins were going through my Grandma's things (she passed away a few years ago) & thought I might like to have her old "craft" supplies. I forgot what a crafty-gal Grandma was! This is my Dad's mom. She was from Tennessee & was one of those soft spoken southern gals with the tackiest taste ever (NOT that Southern Gals all have tacky taste... you've seen Mrs. Jennifer Hayslip from GA, haven't you? Go see her blog: Sweet eye candy creations!). Haha... she just liked all kinds of stuff like plastic doll heads with tea towels hanging from them.

Anyway, you can imagine my delight when I saw these giant metal boxes FULL to the gills with STUFF... some call it junk :)

This drawer had her high school autograph book full of witty quotes like: Be careful when you get home from a date, cause love is blind but the neighbors ain't! Oh yes, those kids were quite the cards...

Then there is the HUMOROUS MONOLOGUE book...written by: Mayme Riddle Bitney- with a maiden of Riddle, it only makes sense she would write a book like this! She's also the proud author of: Monologues: Grave & Gay. I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with homosexuals purchasing burial spots...

whole drawer full of..... itty bitty things...Darling Daughter is afraid of those doll heads... yeah, they ARE a bit creepy!

4 Vintage glass Christmas ornaments!!

I promptly smashed the green one after this photo by pushing the drawer in without making sure they were sitting on the bottom of the drawer....Grrrr! I made homemade glass glitter with it...

and then this box, not a lot of goodies in here, but a little bit of stuff & of course, the metal box!

There was another drawer full of trims & ribbons but it's almost 2 in the afternoon & I have been downloading these few pictures for hours... the 8 inches of snow we got must be interfering with my connection!

Have a geat day! I'm going to try those Mexican Hot Chocolate cookies later... Darling daughter was sick & there's nothing worse than a kid sneezing in the cookie dough!

Everything Brittle...

No, I'm not talking about brittle bones... I found this in the little free paper that comes to the house & thought I'd post it, sounds YUMMY!

Everything Brittle

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup cashews (if your husband hasn't eaten them all- Grr!)

1/4 cup crushed peanuts

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Cover a shallow cookie sheet (one with a lip all the way around, is there such thing as one where the lip doesn't go all the way around? I thought that was kinda weird) with tin foil & lightly oil it.

In a lg. saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add sugar & cream of tartar, stir until just mixed & wait until mixture starts to bubble & caramelize.

Add remaining ingredients & stir until threads appear. Remove from heat & IMMEDIATELY pour onto the tin foil. Let cool for at least 15-20 min. before breaking up & letting your husband/kids/friends scarf it down!

Darling daughter & I are going to make Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies this weekend, I'll take pictures & let you know how it goes!

Tonight the Mister & I have some fancy schmancy Christmas dinner & a show... He's hunting right now & darling & I are off to a craft show to see what's hot in Christmas crafts. I sure hope it's not a lot of that plastic canvas gunk...

Happy Saturday!

Turquoise & Red for Christmas! (& of course some pink)

Here's a little tour around my home:

I'm in ❤ with Red & Turquoise...

Isn't this tray CUTE? Target!! (last year)

Most of the circles are GLITTERY & we all know I ❤❤❤ GLITTER!

Also from Target (last year)

This little snowman is VERY dear to me... He was made by my very special Aunt Renee. Renee was my Dad's youngest brothers wife & they were high school sweet hearts- I really don't remember a time she wasn't in our family. On January 3, 2004 my dear Aunt went to Heaven... she was only 45 years old. I still miss her so much especially at the holidays because that is the time we would see our family in Indiana. It's still so hard to believe she's gone, but I'm pretty sure she's making sugar cookies in Heaven!

Mmmmm... do you like the Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks? Me too! but... this will sure do at home!!

The little houses I did last year with real silver glitter- it's all tarnished this year, but I still love the look!

Ohhhh... how do i love Target & their $$$ bins? This was in their $2.50 bin & I'm quite sure I got the last fuchsia one they had...

A little mixed media collage thing-a-ma-bopper I made with one of my very favorite pictures of darling daughter! This picture was taken the summer she came home from China, so she had JUST turned 1. If there was 1 day I could live over & over again... definitely the day I became her Mommy!!

Target again...

and because PINK is in the mix, here is Mr. Teddy in his sporty PINK (remember: dogs are color blind & he doesn't know he's a boy!) winter coat! That stack of totes... just a small portion of the Christmas that still needs to be put up. You can see in the NEXT picture why he needs his jacket...

Yep, this is today (Friday- November 4th). It's now 12:25 & the snow JUST stopped 25 min ago & the ✺sun✺ is actually OUT!

Here is part of my Red & Turquoise tree... & Mr. Glory Hound himself in the corner... Who loves the camera?

Well gals, have a GREAT day & if you have Christmas decorations you'd like to share, just put the link in my comments!!

Also I added a couple pieces of button jewelry to my etsy store ( chinamommy.etsy.com ), boy have I NOT been on the ball with getting my store stocked for Christmas... maybe next year!

Ok, off to get that Advent Calendar done... you know the one we were suppose to start opening 4 days ago!!

Granny Square done kicked my butt!!!

Next time you roll your eyes at a $76 neck warmer or scarf, let me assure you I will NOT be crocheting you one for less than $795.00!! I had 2 crochet classes this week: Monday "Crochet 101" & Wednesday "Crochet 201 (or is it 102, or 202?)-the granny square". My class Monday had 4 students besides myself & one of the gals came to our class because the 1st class she attended had 11!!!!! people in it. Now, if you've never crocheted before let me tell you 11 people in a beginning class would be total chaos-think of 150 chickens released into a room full of kindergartners. I can now cross another thing off my list of "Things I might want to be"... and that is: "Beginning Crochet Teacher". I pity the woman that had me & the lady next to me in her class! Gram (the lady next to me that was wearing a blouse I am quite sure my 100 year old Grandma owns & provided peanut butter cups as snacks-YUM!) was there for her 2nd time because, as she announced enthusiastically, had "flunked" her 1st 101 class! She had a 2 inch piece of wonky mauve yarn that was the fruit of her labor. She was an ex-art teacher so you know she & I were kindred spirits in our confusion! She was there because she had bought a pattern 9 years ago that consisted of a crocheted necklace with about 125 buttons hanging from it... it's for her daughter, who is a 3rd grade teacher, & she just knew the kids in her class would love the buttons! I know as a 3rd grader, I was a large fan of buttons...? Anyway, she was as sweet as can be! I know where she's from, the fact that she & her husband have been married 53 years & they were high school sweet hearts. The Mr. wondered if I was there to learn or there to interview...a bit of both I guess!

So here is the result after 3 hours at my 1st class:

yeah, it's probably about a 2" square- it was HARD people!!

Wednesday I went back because I own the book "101 Granny Squares" & about 215 balls of yarn. The class ran from 1-4 & thankfully there were only 2 of us this time. By the time i left at FIVE... yeah, I had to stay after class! I called the Mr. & said "i had to stay after class, i was the slow kid." My hardy-har-har step daughter yells in the background "was there math involved?". The only math I know is: 50% off or 75% off or I can figure how old I was when the Mr. was a certain age in the blink of an eye (Hey, do you know that when you were 21 I was only 10...ewwww! He loves that :) and... Yes, as a matter of fact there is math in crochet, so no wonder I found it so difficult... there were numbers & counting & I was confused, so what! I was much better at choosing the yarn colors!

So here is my 1st EVER Granny Square:

My hand looked like the claw of a lobster by the time I was done & we had to order a pizza due to my weakened condition, but I'm NOT going to give up!

The lady that taught the class was GREAT ("hey Fern", if you're reading! -You know I had to pimp my blog with the use of some biz cards). We figured out (due to my fabulous interview skills) that we actually live about 10 min from each other, so she gave me her # & address & told me to call anytime... Oh honey, do you even realize what you've done? "Hi Fern, I know it's 3:12 am but I'm really stuck on this one part...."

To prove how tough this was, I'm going to share 1 line of the granny square pattern:

With B, ch 3 (counts as dc), dc in next 7 dc, *(3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc) in next ch-6 sp, dc in next 8 dc rep from * 2 more times... and on & on & on...

Oh, I have to run, I have been quite the social butterfly this week, which is weird for me! I'm usually like a troll down in my studio daydreaming about dandelion fluff or glitter.

Ok, who is as much of a glory hound as his momma? Mr Teddy, that's who!

See him smiling at you?

Ok, I'm off to lunch with a friend & then tomorrow I'll be finishing that advent calendar I needed to have done for Dec 1st... Advent calendars have numbers on them & well, you know how i am with numbers...

Have a GREAT day & be sure to share my blog with someone you love this holiday season- the gift that keeps on giving!!!❤

I'm dreaming of a PINK Christmas....

Oh my!! Can you stand these pictures? Pink, Pink, & more pink!!!

(all these beautiful photo's were found on flickr & the photographers name is under each photo-go see their other stuff!!)

abbylanes

boopsiedaisy

(if you don't know of boopsie- you need to!! she has a GREAT store on etsy)

also by Miss boopsiedaisy

holiday_jenny

Oh i am in LOVE! I could have just copied her entire folder & put it on here! Beautiful, beautiful pink sweetness! Make sure you go see her goodies on flickr!!!!

holiday_jenny

holiday_jenny

How cute is this button ornament!!

RachaelH

Blythe... although I've never fallen in love with mine (i don't quite get "the love"), I do love the pictures others take of their dolls!

Ragazza

Love the stars she added to this photo... how DID she do that?

slcook52

GREAT...

just when I am getting close to finishing MY advent calendar I see this one by sugarsugar...

DANG, every time I think "man, I'm making beautiful work", I see something I love so much more! Anyone else do that? You make something that you think it awesome & then you find something that makes you feel like yours looks like a kindergarten project...

sugarsugar

I want this for my home... don't you??

beautiful wreath by TreasuredHeirloom

The tree is also by TreasuredHeirloom...

LOVE IT!

I know you're dying to know how my crochet class went... I will give a total update tomorrow because I have my granny square lesson today! I will tell you that at 1 point during my 1st class I thought "OH NO... I am NEVER going to get this..."

Enjoy the pinky goodness & please head over to flickr and type in "Pink Christmas" to see MORE!!