Abidale Tiddy Durl on her Throne

I have a picnic basket sitting under one of our living room windows On top of the basket are some "rug weave" place mats.

Abby LOVES to come in and sit on it. I call it her "Kitty throne."

Annabelle Lee

Annabelle Lee is the "given" name of Abby, my oldest child. However, she onl comes to me when I call her "Abidale Tiddy Durl."  Go figure?

She has such an awesome personality, especially when she is playing. Her thyroid is overacting, so she has lost quite a bit of weight since we moved here in 2006. Now, she is on meds, and she seems to be p laying more . . . so I guess the meds are helping.

She, like most cats, LOVES to play in boxes. Here she is with her two favorite Christmas presents . . a box and a catnip filled "cat-erpillar."

Peek-a-boo . . . I see Abby too.

You can see that her right front paw
 has just "whacked" her catnip cat-erpillar out of the box.
From here she was on a race around the living room . . .
finding, hitting and chasing it.

Then, when she got tired she decided to "bother" her dad . . in his "mustard and relish" colored Christmas thermal sweater.

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night before Christmas Poem

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

Homemade Turtles

First of all,

 I need to show you the GORGEOUS light glass block

 my cousin Debbie gave me for Christmas.

This WAY before

the craft stores started carrying the glass blocks

 with hole cut in them for the lid.

So she had to do all the work.

Came out SO GOOD

I keep it in the kitchen all year long.
Now, on to the

Homemade Turtles

Ingredients
Small Pretzel Twists
Unwrapped Carmels
Chocolate Candy Wafers
Used for making candy.
Usually found in grocery baking dept.
Parchment Paper
The number of ingredients depends
on how many you want.
12 turtles
you need:
12 Petzels
12 Carmels
12 Chocolate Candy Wafers

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place pretzels on a parchment covered cookie sheet.

Top each pretzel with a Carmel.

Warm in oven for 5 - 6 minutes.

Remove from oven.

Add Chocolate Candy Wafer to the top
return to oven for 2 minutes .

Remove from oven
place Carmels (on parchment paper) on a cooling rack.
Top with pecans . . .
gently pressing into chocolate/Carmel.

I told the husband we should call them Turtles on a Lily Pad
the way the Carmel ran on some of this batch.

Let cool completely and store in airtight container.
(Chocolate takes longe to cool than the Carmels.)

The batch shown were our 1st try . . .
recipe is the "fixed-up/corrected"
2nd batch.
They came out BEAUTIFUL
but I wanted to get this posted
so you will just have to believe me.
(Have I ever lied to you?  LOLOL)

Heath Brickle Cookies

#1 Christmas food addiction will ALWAYS be

my homemade Scrabble

(a better version of Chex Mix . . as a matter of fact, Chex Mix doesn't even come close to my Scrabble.)

But, this year,

the husband has come up with

the PERFECT Christmas cookie . . .

perfect, that is,

 right behind his mom's recipe for Christmas Cut-Outs . . .

 they are TO DIE FOR . . . but, I digress.

OMG ! ! ! ! ! They beat sugar cookies by so much and SO EASY.

Just take a bag of these

and mix into a bag of these and follow cookie directions.

B*I*N*G*O ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

CHA-CHING ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

BAZINGA ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Get my drift?

Good Lord are they awesome . . .

and

SO,

SO,

SO,

SO

easy.

Wanna see what they look like?

Huh,

do you?

Well, give me a minute to take pictures.

I took a set and uploaded them

but the computer was in some

FUNKY mode

and when I restarted

they were nowhere to be found

probably floating out there

on the INFO HIGHWAY

looking for a home.

Okay, here come the Brickle Pix:

Don't you just want to grab into your computer

and snatch one?

Warm . . . dunked into a glass of cold milk?

To Die For!

Enjoy your day.
God willing
and the creek don't rise,
I'll be back tomorrow with more
holiday news.

Mom and I

Mom, who is a ghost now,

and I

are going to play a guessing game.

"Paula", says Mom,

"What have you been up too lately?"

"Mom, you have to guess," I said.

"Hum," came the reply, "Is it bigger than a bread box?"

Me, "Nope. . . you now have two guesses left."

"You don't play fair, Paula.

I thought I taught you better,"

was the reply.

"Better hurry, I don't have all day, Mom."

"Okay, guess #2 . . .

would I put garlic on it?"

said the woman from the home

where we put garlic on everything

except sweets.

"Nope . . you have one guess left."

"Okay, my darling daughter . . .

would it have anything to do with

the pictures in this post."

"Cha-Ching!

You are SO SMART, Mom,

I must have gotten both my

brains and beauty from you!"

"You sure did, dear . . lolololol."

If you would like to make these,

they were one of the Red Heart

12 Weeks of Christmas Patterns.

It can be found here.

Just Thinking

Christmas 2011 . . . yes, it's just around the corner for we lovers of floss, threads and yarn.

I was just sitting here thinking of what I can make. One niece is a "frog-aholic" so I need to find something(s) in that genre.  If any of you know of something(s)I could do . . . and the patterns are free  . . . I am just to cheap when there are so many great things out there that just don't cost a thing.

I saw something that would work perfect for my sil, but, of course, I can't find it
. Her decorating genre, in the kitchen/dining/living area is Mexican pottery. I am sure most of you have seen things made in those bright colors . . . so again, any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.

So, now that I have begged for pattern help, I shall leave for a while . . . but no fear, like McArthur, I shall return :0}