Happy New Year!

We have had a whirlwind holiday over here. I apologize for neglecting you! I promise to post some pics in the coming week. I hope that everyone has a happy and healthy New Year! Toodles and be safe....

Bedtime Stories

I'm copying JoLynn and sharing a bedtime story involving my kiddos. Sunday night I went to the walk-in clinic with strep throat. I arrived home just in time for the bedtime shenanigans. They were put to bed and one of innocents emerged not even five minutes later with a "sore throat" (a sympathetic one, of course). I proceeded to tell them that sleep is the best medicine for sore throats. The reply was, "Yeh, but MY sore throat said that it doesn't want to sleep." That's how it goes sometimes in my house; kids won't go to bed and ailments SPEAK!

Christmas Comfort

Yahoo, the Christmas cards just arrived. I was getting kind of nervous, because it had been almost two weeks since I ordered them. (I thought that I was going to be early this year! haha...) We finally put a tree up also. We usually get a real tree, but this year we changed things up and bought a fake one.




(Beware, I am still a really junky picture taker)


Last night I also made these....

You know that I love chocolate. These are a chocolate take on the ordinary peanut butter kiss cookie. My husband had me make them so he could take them to work. Here's the recipe:


Brownie Kiss Cookies
1 (13x9 size) Box brownie mix that comes with a packet of Hershey syrup with it
66 Hershey Caramel kisses
1/4 c. cocoa
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. water
1 c. ground pecans
2 tsp. milk

Lightly grease cookie sheets. Mix together until well blended the brownie mix, syrup packet, cocoa, eggs, oil and water. Refrigerate for 1 hour (dough will be sticky). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough into 48 (1 inch) balls. Roll in pecans (I only rolled the bottoms in pecans and the recipe said that they are optional, but they did help with the stickiness.) Gently press thumb in center. Bake 9 - 11 minutes. Cool completely. In microwavable bowl, combine 18 caramel kisses and milk. Microwave for 30 seconds, and then 1o second intervals until melted. Put 1/4 tsp. of melted chocolate on each cookie and then press a whole caramel kiss on top.


I have a few admissions to make. I didn't have the brownie mix with the hershey syrup. I ended up adding some chocolate syrup that I had in the frig. I also added a little more oil and water (since I didn't have the correct brownie mix). My husband wasn't able to find the caramel kisses, but he did find some super yummy mint filled dark chocolate kisses that I used instead. So if you are a rebel like me and want to make these cookies on a blizzardy night and don't have the right ingredients...it can be done! Happy Tuesday to all and to all a good chocolate cookie recipe!

You Can Pick Your Nose, You Can Pick Your Toes...

Is there a rule about picking your baby sister's toes???

Baby Feet

6 Things That You Might Not Know About Me....

1. I once shook the hand of Prince Charles. (Does that make me royalty? I'd like to think so!) It was the highlight of my week back when I was studying abroad in England. I had actually forgotten about it until just recently. From what I can remember I think he was kind of short and not heart palpitatingly handsome.
2. I love the smell of this antimicrobial "juice" that we put in one of our incubators at work. It is just a really nice clean smell that I would love to replicate in a household cleaner. (Too bad I wasn't a chemist!)
3. I love my sauna. Many of you who know me already know this, but I had to include it because I love it so much! I detest being cold coming out of a shower. My husband even installed a heat lamp for me in my bathroom, but that still doesn't cut it. I often turn on my sauna every night just for the warm shower. (I know that you green folk out there probably wouldn't approve of my selfish use of electricity, but I am not sure that I can live without it!)
4. My dream job would be as a food taster for competitive chef shows! I love to cook, but I think that I love eating more. I would have to go back to school to be a chef (who has time for that?), plus I hate cleaning up. I think that I would be an even better chef (and mother) if I knew that I wouldn't have to clean up the mess I created!
5. I hate my feet. I love baby feet.
6. I might be related to Elvis. I thought that my mom said once that someone that she was related to had a fling with Elvis...but then again it could have just been a dream! Either way it makes for an interesting topic. Maybe that is why I love to sing (even if it is horribly). Have a good day and toodles!

eta. since it is the season for giving, I wanted to give you, my reader, a seventh little known fact about me. So here it is....

• I love chocolate. I can eat it straight out of the bag, and the darker the better. However, I sneeze almost every time that I eat it. It must be an inherited trait, because my two year old loves chocolate also (she is always digging in the baking cupboard). She sneezes also, and I am left with a chocolate spray to clean up!

My Little Nutcracker

This little girl was talking my ear off this afternoon while the other nuts were napping. When the other kids are up, she follows them around and mimics them, but when they are not around...she's a dandy (who wants a phone and a "puter" for Christmas...too bad that Santa already did his shopping!)

My Life in a Nutshell

Wow, December is here, and I have been kind of neglecting this blog. I know that I have let down all of my dedicated fans. My deepest apologies. Much has happened. I will ramble randomly to fill you in on my newsworthy life! My family was all home for Thanksgiving this year. I cooked the big turkey-lurkey (and no one fell ill that I know of!). I re-entered the work force a couple of times since my last post. I usually try to pick up a couple of shifts a month to keep up to date. Kali had her first Christmas program at school. It was so cute to see a bunch of little kids so pumped to sing Christmas songs. Bruce and I went Christmas shopping; I think that we are done. For those of you waiting for my Christmas card, it is coming. I am slow as usual. We just got a new camera. My husband didn't think that I was ready for the SLR. Now that I have my new point and shoot, I may have to admit that he was right. I just won't say it too loud! I have been using a very old digital camera, and have been and probably will break all of the rules in photography, but I am having fun learning!

I have been trying to bake more of these...

with these clowns...

and this one who always wants pancakes for breakfast...

and this one who likes to eat artwork...

and that is my life in a nutshell! Toodles.