Cheers to the Drama Free Christmas!!

That's my wish anyway...

I was just thinking that it was a pretty uneventful holiday season, which is probably what jinxed me, when I found out a few days before hand, that my father in law was going in for surgery-- an out patient procedure-- on his shoulder. While he was getting the once over the nurse asked him about his oxygen saturation levels, which were low. He told her that she was the 2nd person to ask him about that recently so he asked the anesthesiologist about it and was told that he should be tested for sleep apnea, etc, when he's feeling better. Then after surgery they decided to keep him over night because of how low his sat's were. So they settled him onto a room and started to run a bunch of tests. Found that he has a partially collapsed lung that he wasn't aware of. Which was why he was so winded and couldn't keep his sat's up. He ended up staying two days and coming home with oxygen.

Then Kelly came home sick on Friday, and Cameron also woke up sick on Friday. Cameron was with my sister for two days because she watched him while I went to sit with my mother in law during the surgery, then she decided to keep him an extra day to give me some me time. Which I cleaned. lol Poor Brenda is sick now too. :(

So I've had two sick kids for the weekend, and my cute, adorable 8 month old dog we just got, went into heat!!! As if I didn't have enough to deal with already. It's been so long since I've had a dog, I had to look up how long their in heat for: IT'S 3 WEEKS!!!! She's been bleeding all over my house! And I can't get her fixed until she goes out of heat!! I just hope she's done by Christmas!!!

Which as it turns out, we are going to be having here.
And, I've been baking cookies all weekend and trying to finish my sister's Christmas present! I'm not even half way done yet and less than a week to try and finish it. I might be giving it to her with what I have done and taking it back to finish it and then giving it back to her.

I got a bunch of packages in the mail today, so once I wrap them, I am caught up again. I'm trying to keep it as stress free as possible. lol

Oh and hey, I tried to make some peppermint hard candies, and the first little bit was fine, but I had to keep putting it back in the oven, and it got a bunch of air bubbles in it and made wrapping it around a wooden spoon (for the curl effect) very hard. It kept breaking apart where all the bubbles were. It was the first time I have ever made candy so I don't know what I did wrong. If anyone out there does, please let me know. THANKS!!!

Here is the recipe, it was super easy until the bubbles happened. lol Even with the bubbles, it's still really good!!

HARD CANDY PEPPERMINT TWISTS

1 Cup Water
1 Tbsp White Vinegar
2 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract
1/8 tsp Red Food Coloring

Coat two 9-in. square baking pans with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. (Do not use butter or foil to prepare pans.)

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine water and vinegar. Add sugar. Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a boil, about 8 minutes.
(If sugar crystals are present, cover saucepan for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes to allow steam to wash crystals down.)
Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 300 (hard-crack stage), about 26 minutes.

Combine extract and food coloring. Remove syrup from heat; stir in peppermint mixture until well blended. (mixture will bubble up slightly.) KEEP FACE AWAY FROM MIXTURE AS ODOR IS STRONG. Immediately and carefully pour into prepared pans (Do not scrape sauce pan or tilt pans to spread mixture evenly.) Cool for 1 1/2 to 2 mintues.

Using a sharp knife, score candy into 1/2-in. to 3/4-in. wide pieces, about 3-in. long. Place both pans in a warm oven (150 or your ovens lowest temp) for at least five minutes or until candy is warm enough to cut but cool enough to handle. Using a heavy duty kitchen scissors, cut along scored lines, one piece at time. Immediately wrap each piece around the handle of a wooden spoon; remove candy and place on waxed paper to harden. Continue cutting wrapping until mixture in pan begins to harden. Return pan to oven for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove second pan from oven. Cut and wrap as before until mixture begins to harden. Return to oven and repeat with first pan. Repeat until all mixture is cut and formed into twists.

YIELDS about 1/2 pound.

(it was in the returning to oven process that I got all the bubbles.) but it's still yummy!!

The Joys of Christmas

Normally I really do love this time of year. With this weird weather we're having I am just not feeling at all Christmas-y. I put up my tree. I even went and got it from my mother in law's house all by myself. She wanted a smaller tree for her house so she gave me her old one. I love it. I've done it with red ornaments and white lights. Very pretty. Anyway, I've put up a tree, a few wall decorations and that's it. No outside lights, no lights anywhere else in the house. It just doesn't feel like Christmas yet. Maybe that's why.

One a plus side, Pat and I finished all our Christmas shopping in one day! And we even squeezed in a movie!! We got Pat's present while at Best Buy, and he's been like a little kid ever sense. "I better hook it up and make sure that it works properly", "If we wait until Christmas and it doesn't work it'll be too late to take it back," "It's only got like a week return policy, I'd better hook it up now and make sure that it's ok." He even suggested that I hook it up and then have somewhere I have to go for awhile and leave him here to "not" play with it! lol

I had to order my present today. And BONUS, I got free shipping and no tax!! Go Me!! LOL I am getting really good at finding deals on line. I think that means that I shop online too much! Not like I'll stop anytime soon. It's just so easy!

On other news, we got a dog. Her name is Dixie -- most days. lol I sometimes call her Daisy, not sure why, she is an 8 month old Border Collie. She is so cute and fun! She is just full of energy. When the wind blew leaves across the yard she was in heaven running after them and chasing them. And when it snowed, she was scared to go out, until we showed her that its ok to go out in it. That it won't hurt her. Then she had a blast!! Nose down in the snow, flipping it up into the air and trying to catch it.

I'm wrapping all the presents we have here tonight so that they are all done and I don't have to worry about it. The only other person I have to buy for is my dad. He likes coin stuff so I have to go to the coin store for his, but other than him, we are completely done!! YAY!!!

So why am I not more in a holiday mood?? Good question, but I am going to assume it's the weather. I don't like gray days. And it's hard to think Christmas when it's so warm outside. I could never live somewhere where it never snows in the winter. I don't mind visiting, but I like the differences in the seasons. And it's just too warm. Which in a way is good, because our car does not go in the snow at all, and with Pat driving to work everyday, it's better for us this way. But I hope that it does snow in time for Christmas, so we can have a white Christmas. lol

And of other news, I dyed my hair red, only it went ORANGE!!! I have orange hair. It's like Anne of Green Gables red, or maybe the Wendy's 'Wendy' orange. Even Pat doesn't like it. So I guess I live with it for a few weeks and try to fix it. I would post a pic, but it would embarrass me too much. lol