No TWD (again)

I am not going to be able to make the TWD Cheesecake today. And I know I said I wouldn't be blogging, but plans have changed. What was originally going to be a leisurely week at my house. Turned into house sitting at my parent's house.
They live in the middle of nowhere...
...surrounded by corn fields
...and wide open spaces (did i just hear someone belt out some Dixie Chicks?)
...and lots of animals. LOTS. horses and dogs and cats Oh my!

So I will be reading and knitting, (one hat done!) and just chillaxin'.

I will be back next week, with stories about my winter break that will put hair on your chest. I don't know if that is true, but maybe I am enticing you to come back and visit my blog next week. :)

Happy New Year and Auld Lang Syne your little hearts out...

Merry Christmas

****disclaimer: this is not a picture of my tree... I have a tree similar to this, but this was my inspiration. I'm not that cool.****This is my tree, but it's taken from last year, with my Marius under the tree.

No TWD

I am taking a break from my regular TWD posting. I'm not a huge fan of butterscotch pudding, and I will be baking other things for Christmas. I won't be making the cheese cake next week either. So I will see you all in January!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Blog Worthy Return! I Repeat, Blog Worthy Return!

I know I said I wouldn't be blogging for 2 weeks, unless something totally amazing happened. Well something totally awesome and amazing did happen! Today I received a package from my secret Elfster pal. Tuesdays With Dorie did a card exchange through Elfster and I happily decided to join in the fun. Well.... The nicest thing happened today, I received a very cool care package, and not only is it just special because I got a flippin' rad package it was from one of my FAVORITE foodie bloggers, Michelle!!!! THANKS MICHELLE! Check out her amazing cooking\baking abilities at Sweet Sensations.
Oh did she give me the goodies! Christmas Sugar Cookie Set, Fun Socks, Christmas Pot Scrubbers (she must have seen my dishes piled high!) and a really yummy smelling lotion\bath\body set!! I feel like I just have won the lottery! Awwww!!! And the really funny thing was, when she posted that she sent her Elfter package, I thought to myself, Wouldn't it be so cool if she was sending it to me! Really, I thought (and hoped) it would be me!
Michelle is the best! She also has busy days coming up with a move to Texas where she will be at Fort Bliss to serve with the 1st Armored Division AND her hubby Malu is currently serving in Iraq. Be thinking of Michelle during this time, especially during Christmas when I'm sure she will be missing Malu!
I would take a picture of all my wonderfully awesome gifts, but alas, i lent my camera to my cousin Kelly, (who is currently on a plane to Cambodia as I type this!). BUT... I'm glad she did have my camera because:
a) she doesn't have to lug around her big monster camera
b) she called me from LAX today to tell me she got her picture taken with someone totally famous and awesome!
I won't give away who it was, but when she gets back it is going to be a sweet blog post!
Also as I am snowed in today with no thoughts of going out in this crazy weather!! Ick! I got a really funny phone call from Heather of the EO laughing and giggling and inviting me out to join her and friend celebrate being snowed in at a place called Grumpy's. (Isn't it ironic, don't you think?) I'm so happy that she is able to get out of the house, have some laughs and just have silly fun! 3 cheers for Heather!
And as much as I would love to join her, i am a big baby about driving in the snow. Plus I'm still in my pajamas and it's 6:30pm! HA!
So I will watch White Christmas, eat some chocolate and smile lots cause there are such wonderful people in my life! Merry Christmas!
And thanks again Michelle!!!! Big cyber hug to you!

A Reprieve

Today is the last day of school, for the kids and for the staff. We all need a break, from each other mostly. A true benefit of working at a school is that you get these ridiculously awesome breaks. For two weeks I will be doing whatever my little heart desires. Okay maybe not WHATEVER, because if that were the case I would be on plane to Cambodia with my cousin Kelly. (I miss you already!)
I will however be doing a lot of local activities, family gatherings, friendly competitions over Wii, reunions with old friends, and going to see Irving Berlin's White Christmas Holiday Show!
There will also be sleeping in, reading (maybe I will finally read Harry Potter, maybe), cooking, baking and just taking a break.
I want to spend as much time with my family and friends and also take time to breathe.
But most importantly I want to really sit and reflect on what this time of year means. What is Christmas and the profound effect it has had on my life. I don't want it to pass by in a flurry of wrapping paper, come and gone like it was just another day.
I am also going to take a two week break from blogging. Unless of course something truly amazing happens. I really want to spend as little as possible time at the computer. I sit at a computer all day and I need a break from that.
Have a wonderful, safe and meaningful Holiday season! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!
May God's love and peace be all around you...

And here is a little gift to you, a pretty little song that is currently my favorite seasonal song. Winter Song - Sara Bareilles/Ingrid Michaelson (the video footage is tres cheesy BTW)

TWD~Buttery Jam Cookies (not!) AND A GIVE AWAY!!!

(those don't look like buttery jam cookies to me!)

Oooooops!!!! Have you ever got something so stuck in your head that no matter how many times you see the real thing, the thought that got stuck in your head wins!? This week for TWD I was supposed to make Buttery Jam Cookies. But instead i had it in my head for weeks that i needed to make Thumbprint cookies! I even sat at work reading the TWD website where it says BUTTERY JAM COOKIES and i still thought I was supposed to make Thumbprints. Der!

And on top of that, I thought I would be all inventive and make chocolate thumbprints with vanilla filling and Andes mints crumbled on top. I set to work, tweaking Dorie's recipe, omitting nuts and upping the flour and adding cocoa powder. Whoo whee, yum-a-riffic!

And while i took a break and headed over to the TWD website to just browse, there it was staring me in the face BUTTERY JAM COOKIES.

For real? How did I mess that up?

But then I thought, NO problemo, i can still make the buttery jam cookies. easy.

wrong.

No i can not because i just used the last of the flour and sugar.

And so you say, Why doesn't she just run to the store that is 3 blocks from her house?

Because people, it is 30 degrees below zero here in Minnesota! You could lose all your appendages in seconds to frost bite. And everyone knows that appendages and mistletoe help to make the season bright.

So I resigned to sticking with my thumbprint cookies and making the best of it. Please don't shun me. I mean really, just the other day Martha Stewart was saying, I just had it in my head to make tuna noodle casserole with condensed cream of mushroom soup when all along i was supposed to make wine-poached salmon with black truffles. (see we all make mistakes)

So without further ado, here they are, Thumbprint Cookies! yay!!!!...

Have a wonderful, safe, and meaningful holiday!

Oh and if you read this far... (you like me, you really like me!) I have a give away for you! A book came into my possession that I really don't need.

Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.

I do not have children, and I like veggies, so I do not have to hide them in anything. But you my friend might have children or a significant other that needs a little food deception. So.....

I want to give this book away as a token of my gratitude... for you!

Just leave me a comment about one veggie you wish you could hide cause you hate it so much and a winner will be drawn on Christmas Eve.

Cookie Weekend

This weekend was all about the cookies. Shannon came over Saturday night to bake cookies, so Sunday we would have cookies for Kelly's Cookie exchange and gift wrapping party.

Shannon and i totally cut corners and bought a tub of sugar cookie dough instead of making homemade sugar cookies. But we had fun decorating and pigging out on really bad junk food. It wasn't my idea to buy squirt cheese in a can!

Here are some of our creations:

Sunday afternoon we packed up our cookies and headed to my cousin Kelly's house for her party. We had oh so much fun with some of our swell friends, wrapping SoS Megan's presents,
gorging ourselves on delish goodies and me showing Heather of the EO my special moves to Last Christmas by George Micheal.
Kelly's place was festive as always, sans tree... you didn't even need one my dear! Loved it all!
I still can't believe she leaves this week to be with our beloved Erin in Cambodia! This will be the 2nd time in 31 Christmases that i haven't spent it with Kelly... and i will really miss her. But I'm glad she can be with her sis on Christmas in 90 degree tropical weather (sigh).

(Heather and Kelly discussing the pros and cons of being friends with me)

(hi my name is Sarah and I'm going to be the newest Bachlorette!)

(Ellen who knows where her keys are at ALL times, just like me!)

(Megan the slave driver!)

All the cookies i brought home and some that Shannon and I made will be going to a very special soldier. Operation Baking Gals is on it's 5th round and I am on Team Clarkson hosted by the sensational chef Shelby (say that 10 times!!!) Aka HoneyB! yay!


Hopefully I can make it to the post office tomorrow in the FREEZING weather! ick!

M to the Merry Mraz

I can't take credit for that title... that would be Heather of the EO. She sent me an email with a link to one my favorite performances by my boyfriend Jason. Thanks Heather.

TWD~Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

Just to clarify, this is not my Grandma's sugar cookie recipe. This is Dorie's Grandma's Sugar Cookie recipe. This is a great recipe. Taste just like store bought sugar cookies. mmmmm.

Anyway, I had fun with these. I made cookie cutter shapes and then circle ones. All using the icing, sprinkles and glitter gel from a recent care package from my aunt Lori. Thanks Auntie Lori!

What is better than making your own icing, well using Wilton's finest. I really love their stuff. I used to take cake decorating classes at my local Micheal's craft store. There I would spend ooodles of my dollars on cake decorating equipment to make a cake that looked like this:

and this:

And funnily enough, when i made that cake I ended up giving it to a girl for her birthday, who not too long after that my then boyfriend would end up marrying. So she really did get to have her cake and eat it too. See, I can joke about it now, so it's all good.

Back to the sugar cookies. They were super easy to make, but I had to watch them carefully so they didn't brown around the edges. Oh and if you think that people don't secretly envy our TWD cool club, oh they are out there. Including my friend Megan who is so insanely jealous that she created her own TWD... you can read about it here.

Happy Baking.

Farewell my friend....

Tonight I said goodbye to my cat Marius. After watching him deteriorate so rapidly, I knew that it was time to let him go. He was my sweet baby and I already miss him so much. But he had 16 good years. Including wandering the farm, knocking up every cat in a 5 mile radius, and surviving a coyote attack! He was the amazing Marius. Named after none other than the character from Les Miserables.

It's really strange sitting here and not hearing the tinkling of his collar and id tag moving throughout the house. I keep expecting him to walk in any moment. sigh....

I really miss him. :(

Lucky!

Kyle of the other half of K and\or K aka Waiting for a Little Vlachster, sent me a text today saying he was at a food demonstration with cool foodie awesome person extraordinaire Andrew Zimmern! If you have ever watched Bizarre Foods on the Travel Chanel, you will know who I am talking about. Andrew Z. is a local celebrity. I got to see him once with Kelly, he was at a movie premiere we were at. It's neat to feel so connected to someone so kinda famous.

Here is a picture that Kyle snapped of Mr. Z... Love the ginormous cucumber. It resembles his head! Twins!

Bored

Yes... I am bored with blogging. Does everyone go through a blogging slump? I just feel like I have nothing mildly interesting to say anymore. Or maybe it is interesting, but I am just too bored to write it down.
Does anyone else feel that way?
I really like blogging though... So I don't want to stop completely, but I don't want to write just to write either. I'm not going to stop blogging, Im just being honest in saying I'm bored with it.
In the mean time I will write 3 good things that have happened recently.

1. I got a new car! Toyota Camry baby! It's a spectacularly wonderful car that I got for a steal! I feel like i won the lottery!

2. I cleaned my kitchen! Okay maybe that is not a big deal, but I hate doing dishes, so sometimes they pile up. But i spent yesterday cleaning and now i feel all fresh and clean and sparkly and ready for Holiday Baking Madness

3. I am wearing a sweater I haven't worn in about 4 years! I gained some of my childhood baby fat back a few years ago. I guess I was being really immature and acting like a baby, so when that happens the baby fat fairy shows up and presto chango... you get the chubs! (or was it going out to eat almost every other night with my boyfriend that did it????)
Anyway, I am wearing the sweater today. And boy oh boy does that make me feel like 1 in 6 billion!!!

Tubular! (my new favorite word, im bringing back)

Would you like to swing on a star....

I woke up singing that song. Remember that show from the 80's, Out of This World? I woke up singing the theme song. Maybe because there are moments when I would like to freeze time like alien Evie Ethel Garland did. This past week i think having freeze power would've come in quite handy.

Really though wouldn't you get bored with that power? What could you do besides push people over and steal things?

If I could have a super power I would erase people's memories. That way whenever i said something inappropriate or weird or potentially offensive, I could just rewind and erase! Viola!

What would be your super power of choice?

A winner and prayer....

Awhile back I held a contest. Guess the number of bags it would take to get up all the leaves in my backyard. Well, after leaving one big pile on my patio because I'm too lazy to rake the rest, I have a total number of bags. 23.
Heather of the EO guessed on the dot. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
This is a perfect day for Heather to win something. Today her little baby boy goes into surgery to have a shunt put in to drain excess fluid on his brain. You can read her wonderful blog here.
And also please pray for little baby Asher... And for the family. I can't even imagine just how scary this is for them. I have got to personally know Heather over this past year and she has been a wonderful and kind friend. And I have also got to know her two little sweet boys... And I just want them to be healthy and happy.
Sending out the love, prayers and lots of peace to you today Heather!
Big Hugs!

TWD~Linzer Sables

I know, I know the name Linzer Sables sounds so frou frou shi shi, but really these were really easy easy. And although I do not like roll-out cookies, because they are more time consuming, these ones didn't seem to bad.

I chose to use ground almonds for the nut. I thought that it might give the cookies a more lighter taste then ground walnuts. Rolling it out was a breeze and into the freezer the disks went.

So while waiting for my dough to get nice and chilled, I watched Gossip Girl, and knitted a scarf and read Twilight! Oh i know, some are saying 'bout time! while others (ahem, kristina p) are saying "Oh great, not another convert!"

But tonight at book club all we talked about was Twilight... Only a few had read the book we were supposed to be reading, because they were all obsessing over Twilight!!! Including our token male who acts all cool like, its just an "alright" book, but has now devoured each book from what i have heard! whatevs...

I am now reading it, just to see what all the fuss is about... I digress.

The cookies came out great. Although i didn't watch one batch close enough and the edges were burnt. I threw those babies out.

I made cute stars, with the cut outs. I made three different types too. Chocolate, Black Raspberry and Lemon Cheese! Okay fine, we would call it Lemon Curd here, but my parents got me a jar in England and on the bottle it says Lemon Cheese.

See...

and my Christmas Table setting that i call Reindeer Chic...

I love cookies and Christmas!