(((Hugs))) *Sniff Sniff*

I have been blessed in my life to have known a lot of great people. The past year I have grown particularly close to a really wonderful group of women. We got together and planned a not-so random act of kindness for a family in need. It feels really good to be able to help someone, even better to be able to share that feeling with your friends.

Merry Christmas, Weavers!

Ho Ho No!

Well I am pretty excited about Christmas, but we are not ready at all. My darling spouse asked me today if I could take off work tomorrow because he needed to shop for Christmas. In case you were wondering, the answer is no. I mean, I love the guy and all but I have decided to let him suffer from his own procrastination. Anyone in my position knows he won't suffer alone.

It has been a rough couple of days. I got into an accident earlier this month with KC in the car so that has left me a bit nervous about driving wih her in the car. So we have been somewhat limited in our activities. KC also seems to be sick with the ongoing funk that we have all had this month.

She is losing interest in the giant tangle of Christmas ribbon and grinding goldfish into the carpet so I gotta jet. Hopefully update with more Christmas recipes later.

Strange but Tasty Pork Chops

I got this out of Calling All Cooks (the Telephone Pioneers of America Cookbook.) One day I just so happened to have pork chops, no clue what to do with them and a lot of time on my hands. Viola!

Sour Cream Pork Chops


Pork chops

Salt and pepper

Flour

2 T butter

Whole cloves

1 T sugar

½ cup water

½ cup sour cream

1 bay leaf

2 T vinegar



Season pork chops with salt and pepper dredge in flour. Brown in 2 T butter. Insert a clove into each pork chop and place in baking dish. In same pan where pork chops were browned, put sugar, water, sour cream, bay leaf and vinegar. Bring to a boil; pour over pork chops. Tightly cover and bake in 350 degree oven for 1 ½ hours

Holiday Pictures : FAIL

I can be really uptight. About some really stupid stuff. In efforts not to sweat the small things, I have decided this year to not stress myself out and turn into a psycho this week in order to get Christmas cards out on time. So when you don't get yours, don't think I have forgotten you. I haven't!

We aren't really photogenic people. The Mr. and I look like we've been captured mid-seizure in just about every photograph. Back in November I had a fabulous idea to capture that perfect holiday moment in our picturesque backyard. I was going to find the perfect outfits for us. A few times we were even taunted by snow predictions. Even a dusting of snow in a Christmas card in Alabama is a rare opportunity. But alas- mid November the Mr. decided to have a dead tree cut down and we have yet to find a team of pack mules to drag it out of there. And let's face it- not even a dusting of snow and a rustic garland can make piles of rotting foliage appear festive. Fa la la. . .

So next I thought it would be darling if I took some shots of KC at Tannehill State Park. They were advertising some craft open houses so I thought I might find so cute decorations. I dragged my mother and child and made the trek out there. Lesson two - One year olds cannot be trusted amongst the fruits of the labor of folk artists. They seemed less than thrilled at the prospect of having their art redesigned by my darling. My attempts to keep KC in check sort of killed my creative liberty for photography. But we had fun.

Defeated, I thought I would try to recreate KC's picture from last year. I tried to park her in front of the Christmas Tree and gave her some things to play with. Unfrotunatly, my camera has a delay. It only takes her 1.2 seconds for her to lose interest in looking holiday precious. You can see those results above.

I thought about trying it again every day until I got it right. But what for ?

When I get home from work I can't wait to see her. I like to get comfortable and I secretly confess to holding her entirely too much. The past several weeks I have tried to include her in my christmas preparations. I've loved watching her touch the tree, move the ornaments and inspect the needles. It thrills me to look on as she gleefully wrinkles the wrapping paper, sits on the presents and fingers the tangles of ribbon. It was way too hard to enjoy all this from behind a camera. So while I may not have gotten the perfect picture of all the holiday fun, trust me when I say it was had.

Holiday Treats

Every year I aspire to make a plethora of holiday treats and every year I fail miserably and end up buying a crapload of candy to compensate. Until now. I've actually cooked more than ever in the past year and have been trying to hone my baking skills. The little one doesn't mind hanging out in the kitchen most days, so it is a nice way to spend our time at home.

So far I have made spiced pecans, magic bars and fudge. The fudge was actually a kit from Sams that I highly recommend. It had everything you need pre-measured so it was nice for a first timer like me. As promised, here are the other recipes:

Spiced Pecans
(this recipe is from my interweb friend, Stacy)

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3c pecan halves
3/4c sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg white

Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Beat egg white till stiff in large bowl. Stir in nuts and dry ingredients. Stir well to make sure pecans are well coated. Spread out on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes making sure to stir them every 15 minutes so they don't stick together.

Just as a few added notes (from Stacy)...I usually double the recipe so I have plenty to give out and keep around the house since a double batch is just as easy. Sam's is the best place to get the large bags of pecan halves. You can also do this recipe with almonds.

Magic Bars
(as recommended by Kristi-
http://www.recipezaar.com/Layer-Cookies-Magic-Layer-Bars-4571 and modified by me )

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup graham cracker, crushed to crumbs
1 cup flaked coconut
6 ounces chocolate chips (1 cup)
6 ounces butterscotch chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup nuts

Place melted butter in a 9 x 13 baking pan.

Spread graham cracker crumbs over top.

Layer the coconut and chips in order given.

Pour sweetened condensed milk over all.

Top with nuts.

DO NOT mix together.

Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.

My changes - I used about 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs- basically one wrapped stack from the box crushed up because what else was I going to do with them? I also used peanut butter chips and dark chocolate chips.

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Now if anyone has a recipe for rumballs, please do pass it on! I need something to take me back to 10th grade when Amy Newell and I tried to get a buzz off them during Ms. Marsh's health class. : )

Sooooo . . .

Let's be honest. I am not the best at keeping up with correspondence. In fact, I am downright terrible. I also have the worst time answering questions like "What's going on with you?" (um, nothing really- I like to keep it that way) or "What have you been up to?" (I promise you don't want the honest truth answer to that question and I can't think of anything polite). Strangely though I secretly love to rant about some of my daily happenings. Actually that may not be a suprise to some of you. None of this may be.

At any rate I figured I would add my name to the list of people filling up the internet with their randomness. And help keep everyone up to date with my family and me.