Christmas Break, Day 4

Well, plans for Clarksville were canceled due to illness (not mine!).

Since I had errands to carry out in Jackson, I was off early to begin.

There was surprisingly little traffic and the stores were not very crowded! YAY for that.

I managed to return one item at Bed, Bath and Beyond, give the Grinch and Max a new home, ship my 7 boxes of trash to New Jersey, complete all of my grocery shopping, and arrive back home by 1:00!



My Christmas activity for today was to make cookies! A few months ago, while visiting my MIL in Alabama, I purchased this cookie press for $1.25. Since I make these cookies only at Christmas, I had to wait until now to use it. Here is what I started with...several new cookies shape choices!







I made my cookie dough...not using my mother's recipe, but one that I found that I like the consistency of better. I also use almond extract to make it taste a bit more interesting!



As a child, I remember spending what seemed like hours decorating cookies with all sorts of decorations: sprinkles, M&M's, chocolate chips, red hots, probably more.


I typically use M&M's and colored sugars.
Mostly because they make the cookies look pretty. I don't like a lot of sugary candies on my cookies. They don't take long to bake, so by the time the first tray is finished baking, I have the other tray ready to enter the oven.





Each recipe takes TWO sticks of butter, so they are very rich. I make a double batch each time, and I manage to get 4 trays of cookies, about 8 dozen cookies.

One of my favorite traditions as a child was that if any of the cookies broke when we took them off the tray, we could eat them. I think my father may have started that one!

Of course, there were a few breaks this year (as always), so I had a chance to test the cookies! YUM.

I also remember my mother baking numerous batches of cookies in the weeks before Christmas. She would always 'hide' them from my father. They were always stored in the old Tupperware cake container (upside down like a bowl with a lid). It was Dad's mission to find the cookies and eat them before Christmas!

Christmas Break, Day Three

"Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Man"

We have all heard this sentiment especially at this time of the year. What does it mean?

Yes, it is a wish that everyone wants to come true.

Is Peace the end of all wars, murders, thefts, lying, cheating, and hatred? Do we have to wait for Peace?

Peace on Earth would be wonderful, but one person cannot do it alone. However, Peace on Earth starts with one person. Is that person you or me? Perhaps.

I alone cannot stop violence on a widespread basis all at once. I can, however, show kindness to everyone I meet. A smile; a wish for a Merry Christmas; holding the door; giving an item that is needed; wanted or that will bring a smile; a phone call or a card. There are many ways to be kind, but is that Peace?

Peace starts within. If I am at Peace with myself, then I can spread Peace to others. This has been a year of reflective thought for me. I think because I take an hours drive each Sunday after church. All of that alone time causes me to think! In the past, I never allowed myself that luxury. Even now, that is the only time when I am not multitasking.

Take some time, sit and think or meditate or pray, whichever suites you.

Find your Peace. Share it with others. We may not be able to bring about Peace on Earth worldwide, but we can bring about Peace to our little corner of the world.

Peace.

Christmas Break, Day 2

Even on my 'days off', I am up early. Today it was 5:30 AM. At least I was able to accomplish something productive!

I wandered downstairs to where I have the jigsaw puzzles set up. Yes, I did mean to say PUZZLES in the plural.

This was my mother's puzzle set, as you can see, there are three puzzles in one box. When she finished with them, she put ALL of the pieces together in the box. Without bags to separate the puzzles.



So, I have been working to separate the puzzles and that requires me to put them together. Over the summer, I did this with 4 puzzles that she had mixed up. Those, at least, were very different puzzles so it was not as difficult! Here is my progress so far on one: So, that was my early morning wake up activity. After Vince arrived home, I left for school. Whitney and I scheduled today to get our grades in the system, plan our lessons and finish cleaning up our rooms so that we would not have to do much over break.

So, Whitney and I sat and worked for about 3 hours on school matters. I boxed up all of my Terracycle items and labeled them. Those are in my truck for drop off on Monday.
I finished putting all of my grades in the system. Averages are pretty good. I also laminated the posters for my next series of bulletin board activities and decided to follow Whitney's lead and do my lesson planning with the form that our principal wants us to eventually start using. Her theory is that she will have the lessons in her computer in an electronic format and it will be easier to change and update next year. Good idea. So, I started with that and will finish tonight.

We had lunch at El Ranchitos and then I went to McDonalds to drop off some items to Valerie and pick up more Terracycle recycling. I also dropped off a box of items at Susan's house for her future use. Then I brought Frito and Burrito home with me for the break (Whitney's class pets).

I made my (grocery) list and checked it twice. That is Monday's activity at the commissary on Ft. Campbell.

Lisa came by and picked up her freecycle items {glasses, plastic Christmas goodie bags, a large plastic dog treat container (great for storing small toys!) and 8 refillable plastic/metal ornaments}. Her friend looked at the 4 ceramic crocks that were in front of my garage and asked if I was interested in selling them. I have been for a while and said "YES! $5.00 each." and those left as well and I am richer in many ways.

Now, I get to watch a little TV since dinner is over and the kitchen is clean.

Christmas Break. Day 1

Well, it is official.

School is out. I had a partial day today. The annual Christmas Party was held. We ate breakfast in class as I work hard to make sure we are not eating tons of sweets and other junk foods. At least there was fruit and sausage balls to balance the diet.

The kids were great and fun and we all had a great time. I was out of there by 11:00.

I then proceeded to the post office to mail off my Christmas Cards for the Angel Card Project, my son's and his fiancee's Christmas Gifts (only some!), and a package for my sister.

Southern Oaks was next on the list of places to visit. I rarely get there anymore with my hectic schedule. I visited for a while with Debra and had a few laughs.

Upon arrival at home, I unpacked my haul of gifts from my students (a reasonable amount and nice items too!) along with the mail from two days.

Our new water heater was delivered today, I woke Vince up to handle those arrangements. We purchased a GE GeoSpring water heater, which will save us money yearly on heating water, plus we get a tax savings for this year. It looks rather futuristic. We have named it R2.





I also cleaned out one kitchen cabinet and posted some glasses on Freecycle, along with several other items. I did post ads on Craigslist as well for some Barbies, and a decorative Christmas plate we no longer want.

Now that my studio has been rearranged to facilitate the delivery of R2, I really need to get in there and clean it up.

Drunken Santa??

Many years ago, my brother and I were shopping for a Christmas gift for our Nana. We spotted this great little Santa figurine and decided that it was perfect for Nana because Santa was holding a bottle and appeared drunk.


I am not sure how Santa eventually ended up back in our house, but he did.

I am not even sure when Jim and I finally figured out that Santa was holding a BELL and not a BOTTLE!

Of course, we never looked on the bottom of the figure to see that the title of this piece is "Ringing in Good Cheer"!

Drunken Santa now resides with me and every year when I take him out I reflect back on when Jim and I first purchased him and what our thoughts are and chuckle to myself.

In honor of Jim's recent request for a new photo of Drunken Santa, we gave him a few more bottles for his holiday cheer:








Merry Christmas Nana and Jim and all of my friends and family!

The Purge.

The Purge. It is like a dormant virus that awakens every few months. It strikes me at odd times during the year, causing me to look at my belongings and figure out what needs to find new homes.

The problem is, I am a saver. I do not like items to be "thrown away" (because there is no 'away') when they can be reused, recycled or repaired. I am also the person many others come to when they have a useful item that they believe I can find a home for or use in some fashion. My friends also save their 'trash' for me to send to Terracycle for upcycling.

Thus, I always seem to have a number of items that are on their way somewhere else or waiting for me to use in the creation of a more useful item. Some are big, some are small, some are many, some are few. Some actually end up in the house or my studio, others remain in the garage, sometimes never leaving the back of my truck.

Whenever the Purge shows up, I enter a frenzied state where items get posted on Freecycle, Cheapcycle or Craigslist at a rapid rate. I also tend to send emails to friends and family if I think they may have a use for an item I no longer can use. I then resort to the waiting stage of the Purge as I religiously check my emails for that elusive request for my items.

With a little spare time on my hands this weekend, I have given in to the Purge's urge. I have collectible Barbies, books, household items, craft items and more that I have posted ads for on Freecycle and Craigslist. Now am wondering when I can get them to their new homes!


I am thrilled with the organized state of my garage right now. I have put all of my "Purge" touched items in boxes that are neatly labeled. The boxes neatly line the walls of the garage, along with several other items that are being stored for the winter season.


I have been receiving emails from friends and freecyclers most of last night and this morning. Several items have found new homes. Wilda showed up to pick up a set of decorative Christmas blocks and a roasting pan and left with a jigsaw puzzle, a rug, and a bag of fabric! Thanks Wilda!!

Camera Woes

The other day in class, I was attempting to take photos of my students' 4-H projects and I was receiving an error message on my camera...a memory stick error. We shall see what the ultimate solution to this issue will be!

So, today, I am making sure I have my photos removed from the camera (I sometimes forget some and leave them there!)

I found these two interesting items:




This is a potato (Obviously). I liked his face!


















This is a leaf (obviously) who only had eyes for Vince!