Merry Christmas!!!

Since I don't have your physical addresses, I'm blogging you my Christmas greetings. May you have a fabulous holiday! Be safe and happy!

Love,

Kelly

A cherished family recipe

I'm not much of a cook or baker, but there are somethings I can make well.  I get requests for this recipe year after year so I thought I would it share it with all my bloggy friends.  Enjoy!!

Tequila Christmas Cake

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar
Lemon juice
4 large eggs
Nuts
1 bottle tequila
2 cups dried fruit


Sample the tequila to check quality. Take a large bowl; check the tequila
again to be sure it is of the highest quality.

Repeat.

Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat again.

At this point, it is best to make sure the tequila is still OK. Try another
cup just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy.

Break 2 eegs and add to the bowl and chuck iin the cup of dried fruit.

Pick the fruit up off the floor.

Mix on the turner.

If the fried druit getas stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a
drewscriver.

Sample the tequila to test for tonsisticity.

Next, sift 2 cups of salt, or something.

Check the tequila.

Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

Add one table.

Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.

Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.

Don't forget to beat off the turner

Finally, throw the bowl through the window.

Finish the tequila and wipe the counter with the cat.

Cherry Christmas

The deed is done

Earlier today I realized that tonight is my last free night until Sunday. I still have a L O N G list of stuff to get done before the 25th. I had planned to go to Target to pick up some stocking stuffers, but I had a better idea....Go see Santa and see if we can use the pic for our Christmas cards.

So at 8:15 pm I get the kids out of their P.J.s and into the car (you know this is helping my husband build the insanity case against me!). I call the Santa booth at the mall to find out when they close (9pm) and when the line is shut down (9pm). I figure by the time I get there, I'll have 15 minutes before the line closes. My kids were so unprepared for this venture that their minds went blank about their wish lists. Luckily their amnesia turned out to be temporarily because by the time we got to the mall, they were ready. We got to the Santa booth at 8:45 pm and the line was closed. The pissy, teenage girl informed me of this after we had been standing there for a couple of minutes. I protested and argued that I had spoken with someone at the booth that informed me that the line would be open until 9pm. Pissy teenage girl gave me a look that said, "I don't give a sh*t". I asked to speak with the manager offering to show them my call registry to prove I had just been on the phone with them 10 minutes before...The manager didn't come over and talk to me, but allowed us to stay in line...My poor kids having to live with such an unorganized Mom!!

Now call me sick, but I was hoping that Jackson would go ballistic on Santa's lap which would make a hilarious Christmas picture like this one; too bad Mommy procrastinated last year and couldn't use it (it was taken 12/24!).

As we were waiting for our turn, Mr. Jack seemed pretty comfortable staring down the "old man" and even started laughing when the baby in front of him started screaming. Then we were "up", I had already prepared the staff that I was going to let the girls talk to Santa and then I would put Jackson on at the last minute for the piece de resistance. Jack, however, allowed me to place him on Santa's lap without so much as a peep! In fact, Jack went into "silent ninja mode" where he sat really stiff and didn't turn his head or make a expression; almost like he was thinking, "If I don't move, he will think I'm invisible". So the picture is still funny (I'm twisted; I know this), but not hilarious:

Time keeps on ticking, ticking....

Here I am again on "countdown" to Emmy med time...which again also = quiet Mommy time.  So even if I'm about to get toothpicks to keep my eyes pried open, quiet time is still nice.

Word of warning: if you are involved in any high level Girl Scouting council position, you may want to go read another blog now....

Did I share that I hold the esteemed title of "Cookie Chair" of Emmy's brownie troop?  I was suckered picked for it when the brownie leader asked for volunteers and all the other Moms literally took a step back and I was left in the front.  I took on the position thinking, "Aww, it can't be all that bad"  (Hubby's response was, "Sucker!").  A few weeks ago I had to attend a "Mandatory Cookie Meeting"; believe me, I tried to get out of it, but no dice.  I go to a local church for the meeting expecting may be 10 people; SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE....There were at least 75 women at this meeting.  My first impression was, "Man, these Girl Scouts take their cookies seriously!" which turned out to be the understatement of the night!!  The ladies running the show would have fit in nicely in Germany circa 1939 if you get my drift.  There were many times I just wanted to shout, "They're just cookies, damnit!!!"  After 3 hours of cookie tutelage, I was wondering, "What the Hell have I gotten myself into?!" The women were actually giving advise on how to "bust" rogue Brownie troops who set up booths outside of their "territory"....Seriously!!  Why am I sharing this now, well part of my night was cookie planning meeting phase II.  I had to go over to the troop leaders house and discuss the goals and sales strategies to give to 6-7 year old girls.  The whole thing has a bit of a surreal quality to it!!  But, if ANYONE is in need of a cookie fix, you know who your connection is :)

Stop my life, I need a break!!

First of all, thank you guys for all your heartfelt, kind, and loving comments. It was a ray of sunshine during a very sad time. I can't tell you enough how much it meant to me!

I planned on giving myself a little time to re-acclimate, readjust, etc., but life sometimes gets in the way doesn't it?

My monkey-in-the-middle, Emmy was in the hospital all weekend. She started coming down with a cold on Thursday and on Friday she was having some wheezing. (Emmy's lungs are always effected when she's ill...it's like they don't want to be left out and they end up stealing the show!) I treated her with her inhalers, to which she responded well, and sent her off to school. I got a call from the school clinic in the afternoon that she was having labored breathing. I had my hubby pick her up and drop her off to me so I could take her to the doctor. Apparently by the time, Daddy reached her, she was coughing continuously and really having a difficult time catching her breath. She had 3 breathing treatments before seeing the doctor (she would respond and then go right back to the wheezing in 15 minutes). We did a couple more treatments at the doctor's office and we were given the instructions to continue to treat as needed which meant she had 12 more treatments prior to her 8:40 appt (Now for you RNs out there cringing, the MD told me to treat like this...) At the pediatricians office, they were not able to adequately open up her passage ways and recommended we admit her to a local children's hospital so that she could receive oxygen, etc. So we were off for our little adventure (which is how we "sold it" to Emmy). In the car on the way to the hospital she asked me, "Will I be getting stuff?" Thinking she meant needles, IVs, etc, I asked, "What stuff?" to which she responded, "Never mind..." I pressed her on the topic and she asked, "Am I going to get cards and balloons that say, Get Well Soon?" I just thought this was so cute...I ended up calling in the troops and balloons and cards were on the way. She thought she was in hog heaven the first 12 hours...she got to play (hooked up to portable O2), walk around, etc., but then the doctor put in orders to have her continuously monitored. Emmy did not like being stuck in one room for a 24 hour period. She almost RAN out of the hospital after they took her off the monitor!

So I sit here alone in my living room where all the rest of the family is sleeping, capturing some "Mommy time", "work time", and biding time until Emmy's next treatment (in 10 minutes). I am then off to my OWN bed, my OWN pillow, and drifting off into a heavy sleep.

My fingers are crossed that I have a boring week!!

Emmy posing with her balloons and "Get Well" gifts:

M.I.A.

Yup, that's been me more often than not lately...this time I have a really good excuse.

We lost my Grandmother on Sunday after a fall, surgery, etc., etc....It's been a really hard, hectic week. Quite honestly, I can't really talk/write about it yet.

I'm around peeking in on you guys...Hope your holiday season is off to a better start than mine :)/:(

Kelly