Peppermint Bark 09

Here's something productive and sweet. For the past few years I've been making peppermint bark at Christmas time to put in gifts. It's most fun to do with two wild monkeys wanting to help.



In case you wanted to make some for your very own...here's a breakdown. It's pretty easy. Even I can't screw it up.



First crush a box of candy canes. Or if you are lucky like me, you sat up all night with insomnia when you were pregnant in 04 and fell in love with the infomercial for the Magic Bullet Blender and your wonderful mom got you one for Christmas that year. Because those things pulverize the candy canes way easier and less messy than doing it with a mallet and Ziploc bag.



Next you melt a bag of Andes mints baking chips (or box of the unwrapped mints). I put mine in a measuring cup in the microwave. You have to stir it and work with to get the mint to dissolve into the chocolate. Next pour it out on a sheet of waxed paper. Let it set up. It starts to loose it's shine.

Next step, you melt half a package of white almond bark. You know it's that vanilla candy coating. I do mine in the microwave also. Then pour and spread it over the chocolate.

Immediately sprinkle the crushed canes on it. If the pieces aren't quite powder like mine end up, press them gently into the white bark because some with fall off when you break it into pieces. Which leads up to the next step. Break it into pieces while peeling it off the waxed paper.

The original recipe called for putting it on a cookie sheet and refrigerating between layers, but I found that it stuck to the cookie sheet and was a pain to get off. Also when I pulverize my canes, I end up using only half of the canes on one recipe. Actually today I made three recipes with only one box of canes.

Good night and sweet dreams!

What I accomplished today.

First I woke up way too early. But it was nice to see my husband and dad off on their hunting trip.

Mom stayed here with the girls while I ran errands. What a blessing. The weather was horrible. Well I should re-phrase. The visibility was horrible. It was like driving through an M Night Shamalan movie. All mist. (PS I've really only seen one of his movies and that was Signs and it didn't have mist that I remember. Creepy. But no mist.)

Anyway. First stop the photo lab. There is the little place in town that's been here forever. And if you want good prints, I mean really high quality prints, you go there. Not Walmart. And definitely not (shudder) Walgreens. So I had pictures of D's grandparents printed. They should be ready tomorrow. (See-not really a ready in an hour type of place.)

Next I shopped like I have 25 kids. I went to Walmart to get gifts for my two nieces, and three boy children in the family. Oh and while we're on the subject of boy children types...I have no idea what a little boy would like. Legos? Transformers? GI Joe? Swords? Hot wheels? Crap. I started to get stuffed animals, but thought....no, definitely more girl... So I ended up with three 5 packs of Matchbox cars. We'll see. These boys are 2, 4, and 5. I figure the 2 year old will play with the same thing his 5 year old brother would play with. And the 4 year old is their cousin, so they can all race or dog pile them or what the hell ever boys do.

I also had to get toys for the two names that were drawn for Little d and Little m. Guess what? All the kids at Grandma's house and we got two boys. Ages 6 and 10. I got the 6 year old Legos, and the 10 year old GI Joe walkie talkies. Then found out this evening that the mom of the six year old gave away his Legos...guess he wasn't playing with them. SO now I have to return those and get him a gift card to "Gamestop" a video game store. Whoa is me if this baby is a boy. I am sooooo clueless.

Then I had to get two baby gifts. One boy and one girl. Those are fun to shop for though. And some warm PJs and hats and mitts for my girls. Let's just say the shopping bill today...high with a chance of thunder. HA! I'm so clever. Any way. I am SO prepared for Christmas this year! BRING IT ON SANTA!

OH I have to tell one more funny. (I hope I haven't already told you this story--I'm too lazy to go check) I bought my husband Transformers 2 for Christmas. We really aren't doing gifts this year since we're building the house {I totally use the term building loosely since nothing has been done in weeks due to weather.} So I get him this DVD knowing it would totally surprise him and totally be his type of movie. Then he tells me the other day he wants to order it on pay-per-view. I distract him. No not like that! I convince him we should watch G I Joe...which I totally fell asleep during. ANYWAY he went out shopping yesterday and bought GI JOE so I could finish it (how sweet) and TRANSFORMERS 2 for himself. Goof-nut. So the surprise is blown.

I totally used the word totally 4 times in the last paragraph. English teachers everywhere are groaning. Have a good night!

Merry and Bright

I've taken the time to upload a few more pictures and our computer is SO slow right now, it took forever!

Here's a few more of the girls playing in the snow from Friday. Why, yes, Little d is sticking her tongue out in every single picture I have of her in the snow...

And the moring after the snow we woke to a brillant frost covered yard. Yes this is the back yard, and yes, the weeds really do grow that big in Texas...especially if you don't mow.

Here's a glimpse of one of my favorite ornaments on the tree.

And these are the beautiful flowers my husband bought me for our anniversary last week. These flowers seem to last a really long time. Not sure what they are called. I've seen them a lot in arrangements.

I have so much to do this week. We are going to the inlaws for Christmas next weekend, and I need to do stuff for that. Yeah. Hopefully we get to take our Christmas pictures in the next few days also...

A couple of wedding cards

The first one is the one that D's aunt ordered for next weekend. Really love Silhouette papers for wedding cards.

Here's a detail of the vellum flower. I stamped in bamboo and then used clear e.p.

D's going to his cousin's wedding today so I made this quick card for him to take. The base is from a set of black and cream cards by Paper Studio.

I really really wish CTMH would keep the adhesive pearls in their embellishment section. I use the heck out of those things!

Details: all CTMH except Paper Studio card base on second card. (oh and the scallop border punch from SU!)

This global warming stuff isn't so bad...

And this post isn't even a commentary on the whole global warming-oops-now-we're-calling-it-climate-change scam.

For the second time in my life, I've witnessed snow falling. The first was in 2004 in POC. We had about 14 inches of snow. It was the first time in snowed in over 100 years there. It was completely awesone. Little d was four months old and it began snowing on Christmas Eve and snowed all night until mid-Christmas morning. Absolutely magical. I have no pictures of my daughter's first Christmas in POC because I spent my ONE roll of film taking pictures of snow. I know, who packs one roll of film? Can I blame it on sleep deprivation...severe sleep deprivation?

Anyway, today it snowed here. A little, but enough to take pictures of. This was our yard:

Here's Little m in the snow. I have a few pictures of her with a bewildered look (not here on the laptop). It was as if she was wondering 'what the heck are we doing out in this crazy cold?' The novelty of the snow wore off quickly and she said "cold cold cold" and then "back inside".

Little d however, could not get enough! She wanted to eat the ice so bad she was scrapping it off the truck and licking her hands! Ewwww! I tried to stop her. She loved it.

And I told D to get a picture of the baby in the snow too. Well that means you get to see me in all my puffy face, no makeup glory! You're welcome.

D and I went and got our real tree this morning in the falling snow. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Magical!

Updates and Candy Award

Congrats to Sarah for winning the blog candy...it was a close call...what with one entry! {wink} Seriously, stop by her blog and check out all the cute work she does!

Also Kelley (who I told you was battling cancer) has had a successful surgery and great pathology report. You can get updates through her blog, or her husband's blog.

Now I must go make a wedding card for D's aunt. Remember me telling you she ordered those 20 Christmas cards? Well when D dropped them off, she paid me $20. (that's what I told D they were worth.) But then today I get a thank you note from her and she included $50 in local gift certificates!! That woman! She's sneaky. Anyway, she wants a wedding card for two weeks from now, so I'm going to get it done now!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rain rain go away!

Well things are definitely on hold with all the rain we've been getting. I'll say a big "you're welcome" to farmers and ranchers around Texas for single-handedly ending the worst drought in 50 years of Texas history by starting our house.

We still don't have a tree. Our artificial one is in storage in POC and it would be Thursday or Friday before D could go get it. (it weighs a TON). So I'm leaning towards trying a real one this year. It might be fun to have a real one for our last Christmas in this house. Don't tell D but I really want to put up a couple of trees in the new house...

If any of you fellow consultants have a MyCTMH site you would like me to direct customers to, let me know. I'll be sending out an email telling them about the online clearance sale later today or tomorrow. I don't have one, and I don't know anyone locally that does, so I thought if I were throwing business around I would try you my fellow bloggers. Don't get you're hopes too high though. None of my customers are really buying anything...for months now.

I feel like this pregnancy is racing by. I think it's because I am so busy thinking about house and Christmas stuff and plans. I have been feeling more and more movement which I am so happy about. I am savoring every minute of that, because this will likely be my last pregnancy. I have a feeling there will be a lot of sappiness on my part because of that, especially with every milestone that passes. {Of course watch God surprise us in a couple of years....}

New Moon was an awesome movie in my opinion. Get this. We purposefully waited until it had been out for a while to miss the huge crowds. The Cinemark here has it showing on 3 screens, so I thought it would be pretty safe by now. Then we chose the noon time slot to avoid screaming tweens and teens. So we pull up and are happy to note about 5 cars in the parking lot. As we are waiting in the concession line, guess what? A bus of teens from an area school pull up. Wild guess as to what movie they ended up seeing... Oh well, I guess it wouldn't have been the complete theater experience without a couple of teen girls screaming when Jacob took his shirt off.

My wonderful husband brought me flowers last night for our anniversary AND an evergreen wreath for the door. (I get one every year and hang it on the inside so even with a fake tree we still have a little of the real tree smell!) It was perfect timing too, just yesterday afternoon Little d said "mom, it seems like everyone is getting ready for Christmas except us!"

Okay today's the last day for the BLOG CANDY draw. It closes at midnight tonight.

Eight Years...

or at least that's which anniversary I think it is if I did the math correctly.

It's seems longer, but in a good way. We're great compliments for each other. He's laid back. I'm high strung. He's slow with everything. I'm at ninety miles an hour. He's an early bird. I'm a night owl.

He stops in stores to say hi to people he knows....I hide and pretend I don't see them.

He loves country music. I'm more rock and roll.

Around the house, I'm very vocal. He's very not.

But we have alot in common. We love to laugh. We have a strong faith. We're conservative. Our goals are the same. We work well together on projects. We make amazing kiddos. We've been together long enough to complete each others thoughts and sentences. We put up with what I call each others 'weird stuff'. You know, our proclivities.

The best part about D, and I've said this since I've met him, is he accepts me just the way I am. He has never tried to change me. And to be married to someone like that is a pretty good place to be. If fact I could never fathom why you would marry someone and want to change them. I even mentioned that last year.

If you want to read about our wedding HERE's the post from last year. It really was a perfect day.

(Oh and guess how I'm spending my anniversary? Going to see New Moon with my mom and sister in law. Hehehe....D has to work.)

Almost forgot to mention the BLOG CANDY.

Silly little things

My goal is that one or more of these things will make you smile!



I recently told my daughter to stop licking the bath water because it has pee in it.



I was actually disappointed when Little m was making too much noise for me to catch the dialog in The Santa Clause 2.



Number of times during this pregnancy that I have completed my shower and started to get dressed only to realize that I forgot to shave one of my legs? Twice.



I became absolutely giddy to find out that they make stand-alone shower kits in 60 inch widths not just 48 inches. So happy in fact that I am donating part of my closet in the new house to accommodate the bigger shower. Here's an example of one.

Okay gotta go for now...hope you had at least one smile in there somewhere!

Don't forget my BLOG CANDY.

Blog Candy and Prayer Request

Okay it just hit me how to give away this pile of blog candy! I found out yesterday while blog surfing that Kelley is battling cancer. I hadn't checked her blog all week and was completely shocked to learn of her news. Take a minute to read her story, and if you feel moved to do so, leave a comment of encouragement and prayer for her.

Here's the requirements to win the candy. If you have a blog, post a link to her blog for believers to visit it and say a prayer for her. If you don't have a blog, say a prayer for her yourself. That's all. Then leave a comment here, letting me know what you have done and I'll enter your name in the drawing for the blog candy. Does that make sense? Oh and she doesn't have a clue I'm doing this, so you don't need to mention it to her.

I know that most of you would say prayers for her regardless of whether or not there was a prize involved, so that's not why I'm offering the blog candy. And I know that those of you who don't believe in God would even likely stop by her blog and let her know your thinking of her. But I thought, maybe this would be a little like an organized prayer chain. And I had a few of those prayer chains going when I was facing my biopsy surgery, and I know from personal experience it is possible to feel God's love and peace through people's prayers. So my hope is that there will be so many people praying for her, she will have no choice but to feel God's peace when she has her surgery Monday!

Here's some pictures of the blog candy. It's mostly paper, stickers and a few odds and ends. If I find more to throw in the box, I will.

Lots of alpha stickers. The brown ones on the left are epoxy.




Here's a few cards from me.



12x12 pages of stickers. Very thick stickers.

Miscellaneous stickers.

More alpha stickers.

Paper. Here's a sample picture. I have almost THREE INCHES of 12x12 paper stacked up.

Some odds and ends. Paintable Christmas ornaments, battery-operated flickering tealights, chipboard slides, golden bee clips, and a gently used stamp set. There is only slight blue tint on one of the small stars. I don't even remember using it??

More stickers.

Okay that's what I have so far. It's all being packaged in a Huggie case box. (we go through a lot of wipes with kids AND stamping!) So after I get it all in, I may find something else to throw in. I'll update if I do.

I'll close the date for this candy Wednesday December 2nd, 2009 at midnight central time. If you are posting something about the blog candy on your blog, feel free to use these pictures. I will only count comments on this post for the drawing, so each day I'll post a link to this entry.

Have a great rest of the weekend!!

Black Friday from home

I don't do large crowds. Especially large, crazed to fight for the latest toy, crowds. But I did get some online deals today. And technically in my book they are really good deals if they involve the phrase 'free shipping'.


I got a pair of black boots for myself. My current black boots are 12 years old and the inner lining is starting to tear out. So-time for a new pair. Here's the ones I desperately wanted. (and had we not been building the dream home, probably would have purchased for $310.)



OH and if I could have thrown $600 at shoes I would have picked it up in this color too!


Divine, right?


But I settled for these. I still really love them and, get this, they were only $34! Cool right?!? Plus I got...say it with me...free shipping!!! Sorry I had to post a link, since I couldn't get the picture to copy...



I also got Little d and Little m the Barbie Dollhouse. I am not posting a link or pictures because if my daughter accidentally stumbled across it, how would I explain that!!?! I found it at Amazon for $99 plus FREE shipping! Originally it was just for Little d, but the more I thought about it I realized they will play with it together, so I'll just get them their own Barbies to play with separately. I am so excited to see their faces on Christmas morning!!

I had a wonderful day yesterday. The only thing that would have made it better was D not working nights. But at least we all had our turkey meal together.

Now to figure out if we're buying a real tree this year or not. It will be a first for us if we do...

Nothing to eat?!?

How is it possible that there is nothing in the house to eat on the day before Thanksgiving?? I mean all the fixings are here, ready to go, and even some prep work is being done. BUT there is nothing we are allowed to eat yet. So here I sit, starving, smelling rolls rising, stuff baking and contemplating if I will eat peanut butter and jelly sandwich or beefaroni. So sad. HA!

Also I have to say that I didn't mean to give you all a fright with the heartbeat story...that was not my intention!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving all!

My little stinker (baby news)

We had an appointment today for a heartbeat check. First, I've gained three pounds since last month, so my weight now is 133.2. But who counts the ounces, right? ANY way. I'm sure some of you could care less, but I am using this as documentation for me.

We went in for the check. My doc always asks if anything is going on or if I have any questions and most of the time I don't, like today. He joked 'just doing time then.' We smiled. When he was about to use the dopplar he said that he has to be careful who he says that too. Once (when he was doing his work with a program catering to low income patients), he made that comment and the woman's boyfriend popped up and said "no, I'm already out."

So he tried to find the heartbeat and tried and tried. Nothing. I started getting nervous. He said "this is the hardest time during the pregnancy to find it..." Not feeling comforted, I just bit my lip while he keep listening. Occasionally it would pick up the heavy thumping of my heart. I was not fooled. I've heard it too many times to know. Still we listened.

Finally he said, 'try straightening out your legs and I'll try it a little lower.' So I did. And instantly we heard the quick soft swishing that caused my lungs to fill with air. Apparently the little stinker was hiding somewhere in my pelvis! Already the little toot is giving me heart attacks.

Next stop we went to a local clinic and D and I got our H1N1 vaccine. I am so glad to be done with that nagging worry in the back of my mind.

I am very much looking forward to our Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for this year. God has truly blessed us and I hope that you all are feeling His blessings as well!

(Oh and I'm going to forget that I turn the big 3-5 on Thanksgiving day!) I'm kidding, I LOVE it when my birthday falls on the holiday!!! The turkey feast is my all time favorite meal!

The rest of the Christmas card order...

I got them all finished today. Which was no small task considering Little m took a short nap, and then when they played in the scrap room with me they completely annihilated the room. Uh, and no, I haven't cleaned it up yet.

Five of this one...

Five of this one...(you can't tell from the poor lighting, but this has a gold embossed star.)

One of each of these (six pounds of Prisma Glitter included free of charge.)

Details: all CTMH. The exception is the colored pencils I colored the nativity with, they are EK Success.

Did I mention in my spare time I am reading the Reid Health care Bill. I'm on page 50 (of 2000 something). Lots of bureaucracy so far. LOTS. Oh and I get a kick out of every time it says something like "$5,000,000,000 to be appropriated from the treasury". As if there is actually that kind of money hanging out in the nation's treasury.

Christmas Card Order

I finally cleared off the scrap table of craft fair stuff. Yes, it's been that long since I've done any cardmaking. D's aunt wanted me to make her 15-20 Christmas cards and I thought I better get off my tail and get crack-a-lackin'. I decided to make five cards in each design. Here's the first one.

Her only stipulation? Put something on the inside so she doesn't have to write. Can do! I really want to finish these by Tuesday at the latest. Wish me luck!

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: Evensong Creative Basic, colonial white cs

Ink: Olive

Stamps: Christmas Melodies

Other: scallop punch (SU!), coluzzle, liquid glass, sparkly red ep (HL)