WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE #567

Thank you Joyce.

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1. Something you're working on currently? 

I'm not working on anything specific right now but I am pushing myself to do something in the house each day like dusting a room. That way the house should stay pretty clean rather than rushing around to clean every room because someone is coming over. (Not like we have company very often)

2. Tell us something about your first job? Was it a positive or negative experience for you? Did your parents insist you work while in school (either high school or college) or did you work because you wanted to? 

My first job was right out of high school and one of my classes found me the job. The class taught you all kinds of things a secretary would do. Yes, it was a positive experience.

The company was called E. L. Essley and they sold big machinery. This was just the office for sales. I did all kinds of things like handling the mail, working the switchboard when she went on break. I learned how to use a lot of the old machines they used at that time in offices.

No my parents didn't make me, it was just what you did after graduation.  

3. Have you ever had a job that required overnight travel? How did you feel about that? Have you ever had a job that required you to wear a uniform? Do you work better in the morning or at night? 

No, I never traveled and I didn't have to wear a uniform. My job was a day job. 

4. What's something you bake or cook that is labor intensive? Is it worth it? 

I actually don't do much of that anymore. Our meals are simple. However I know that baking at Christmas was a huge deal for me. I used to make so many different things. It was definitely worth it at the time. 

5. One thing you're looking forward to in the month of September? 

The last weekend in September we are flying, with Adam, Gabby and James, to Houston for a few nights to visit with Mark's mom. James keeps talking about seeing his great grandmother again. She is 96 and now lives in a retirement community. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I have shared pictures before of James holding airplanes. That's what he is into these days. Mark did a search for children's shirts with airplanes and found this on Etsy. Isn't it adorable. James loved it! 

We went to Adam and Gabby's on Sunday. It was a fun day and Gabby's Mom, Sister and her family were all there. The kids had a great time swimming and hanging out. 

On Saturday Adam and Gabby went to a park they hadn't been to before. Roxy and Gracie headed for the water and went for a swim. I love this photo! James was spending the night with his cousins and come home on Sunday afternoon. 

BAKING WITH JAMES

We babysat James on Saturday night and we baked cookies. He was so excited and he had so much fun. 

Frosting the cookies...

He loved putting the sprinkles on too! 

Next we will decorate a Gingerbread House over at our house before Christmas. I buy the ready made house so all we have to do is decorate it! This year we will put Frosted Mini Wheats on the roof. 

This was last years.....

ARE YOU PINTERESTED?

Probably not but here we go anyway.....I pin....so sometimes my family gets to eat! If nothing else Pinterest can be motivating or at least it's that way for me!

I started feeling better on Wednesday which was a good thing but it would have been nice if it had been Tuesday so I could have gone to bowling. Anyway I ended up making soup in my crock pot. I had come across this recipe for Slow Cooker (or Stove top) Vegetarian Black Bean and Rice Soup with Lime and Cilantro at Kalyn's Kitchen so of course I pinned it! 

 

I ended up doubling the recipe since I had the ingredients and was using a large crock pot. What I did do was leave out the juices from the additional cans used to double it. I was concerned that it might be too thin and we like a thick soup. I also added a small can of green chilies because Mark wants them in everything! This was so good and I will definitely be making it again.

 

I also wanted to share with you something I made a few weeks ago. I had never tried Spaghetti Squash and decided it was time. I had a recipe from Skinnytaste.com that I tried and of course I pinned it also. I loved it and will definitely be making it again. I also had some tomatoes to use up so this is what I did with the tomatoes and a pin from My Kitchen Affair for Parmasan Baked Tomatoes . So I buttered the spaghetti squash and topped it with the tomatoes. It was delicious!

 

 

 

 

Originally we were going to go out to celebrate Valentine's Day on Tuesday evening to avoid the crowds but since I was not feeling well that didn't happen. We have since decided to go out this weekend to see a movie and have a fine dinner. So on Valentine's Day I decided to make some PB M&M brownies and thought I would order a pizza since I had a 50% off coupon to use. We would have some wine and eat by candle light.

 

 

Well the Papa John's internet site was acting up and ended up being down. God forbid I need to make a phone call ....LOL! So I waited and tried again. It was working but it wouldn't go through. I ended up taking out our last Lou Malnati's which has to thaw for 30 minutes before we bake it for 40 minutes. Then the doorbell rang. Guess what?....yes the order ended up going through without confirmation to me. Luckily the Lou's pizza was still frozen so back to the freezer it went and off went the oven.

 

We had a very nice time at dinner and then we watched "What to Expect When Your Expecting." It was a lovely evening and just what we needed......

 

Card I got for Mark....

 

THIS IS A FIRST FOR ME

I cannot remember~e.v.e.r ~missing a day after Christmas sale. I am normally out of the house early in the morning. But today I sat in my pajamas and robe typing away at the computer. I was exhausted and don't want to get off of my butt. I feel good today which is great! I keep thinking I should go but then I remind myself that I still have many years worth of Christmas supplies. (cards, paper, tissue, ribbon, bows, bags & tags)

Christmas Day was perfect. We started around two and ended around midnight. I worked my little (not really) butt off. Everyone was happy and thrilled with their gifts. Another Christmas to be recorded in the books. Well not really but it's here for you to read! I had this idea on Christmas Eve while I baked goodies for 8 hours so here is what came to mind:

"'Twas The Night Before Christmas"

By Clement Clarke Moore
(changed by Debby)

'Twas the day before Christmas, when all through my house
One creature was stirring and there better not be a mouse!
The stockings were not hung by the chimney with care,
I didn't even have time to run a comb through my hair;

Somewhere my children were still nestled snug in their beds,
While visions of spritz cookies danced in their heads;
I was still in pajamas, no time for a nap,
I was certainly ready for a winter's nightcap!

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the kitchen to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash, (not)

The sun was still shinning on the mountains of snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to cars down below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
Skye with her tennis ball, and my husband so dear,

There were balls to be chased, and pruning to do,
Me drinking some coffee, needed help to get me through,
Rocky Road candy and Alton's White Trash,
But oh how the dishes piled up so fast,

Back in the kitchen, had more batches to bake,
I wondered if I would ever shower or get to that cake,
Started my day with burning the butter,
There were some very choice words that I did muttered,

I dragged myself to the shower, got clean as a whistle,
And away to my office, I shot like a mistle,(toe)
But I had to exclaim, I'm all done for the night,
It's now time for me to watch "It's a Wonderful Life!"

So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night,
I can't wait for Christmas with our faces so bright,
We will open our presents and share in the joy,
I know Skye can not wait to see a new toy!

Debby Pucci

Okay, here are some pictures from our Christmas Day and all the treats that I baked. First and foremost Mark watched It's a Wonderful Life with me :) Skye laid between us on the sofa on Christmas Eve. Mark also helped with some dishes when I baked and with the Hoska.

Started with treats to eat, opened gifts for 3 hours, ate our pizza dinner, worked on gingerbread houses (ran out of time), and danced the evening away with Michael Jackson. (not me!!) Clean, clean and clean some more! (of course my day started at 8am getting things ready for the 2pm party!)

Christmas for us is "go all out", each year is better then the last! All the goodies I baked were fabulous but you know what, 3 batches would have been plenty. Never even got around to the Eli's peppermint cheesecake and Phil brought over a red velvet cheesecake that still sits unopened in the refrigerator!

Everyone had the best of time. Skye never stopped getting squeakers out of every toy and was exhausted by midnight! I finally got a Wii and now we can also stream Netflix! I got a Pandora Charm Bracelet and will be getting a Droid phone! It's about time I join in and actually have interenet on my phone. Not to mention that I am tired of texting with the abc,def way! Also got so many other fun gifts and a very generous check from my father.

Sorry, I was a little long winded today. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Finally finished my mini tree on Christmas morning. I also put out a few pieces from my Christmas bag collection. Would you believe me when I tell you that I have 7 bins that I did not put out this year!

If you missed the pictures of the house and tree that I posted on Christmas Day here they are!

Now it's time to enjoy the decorated house, eat the leftovers and relax with a glass of wine!

I think Phil had a nice time. (he works with Mark and his family is in the UK)

Also thanks to Headless Mom's Mom for mentioning the Alton Brown White Trash.

THE REST OF MY WEEK....

Baking....

Wrapping....

Making things merry & bright....

Tree is finished *check*

IT WAS AWESOME

Just a quick note to let you know what's going on here. As you can see I got all my baking done.(Well I did have some other things I was going to make but we will be lucky to eat what I did make) I made Cracker Candy, Hot Chocolate Cookies, Peanut Butter Blondies, Muddy Buddy Mix, Orange Cream Cookies, Original Chex, Pretzels/Rolo/Pecan Treats, and a Bohemian Hoska. I also made some Kolache but I guess I forgot to take a picture of them.

We had the most wonderful Christmas Day. As you can see I did wear my cupcake PJ's like I said I would. For lunch we had Potato Soup and assorted snacks. We had our pizza later for dinner with some peppermint Eli's cheesecake for dessert and my husband Mark did all the dishes for the day which was a big treat for me!

Skye and Charlie had so much fun. I have some video of them playing but I'm to lazy today to get them posted. Sky sleeping with her favorite toy and later she was knocked out for the rest of the evening. The toy she is laying with is a flat/no stuffing toy. She did get the squeakers out of the nose and tail. All her other stuffed toys were destroyed, stuffing everywhere until she found the squeakers in those. As you can see the turkey has no stuffing anymore. Charlie doesn't do that.
We opened presents for about 4 hours and we all received the best gifts. After we opened presents, before we had dinner, the kids (adults of course) had so much fun making little Gingerbread houses. I think they spent about 2 hours on them. I had seen the kit at Walmart and they said they want this to be a tradition every year. It was the most enjoyable two hours.
This morning I left the house at 6:45 am to do some after Christmas shopping. I went to Target and got some gift card holders (remember, the out of town families are getting GC next year!) I also got some ribbon and a few wrapping papers. Then I went over to Hallmark to get a few things. Not much but I did get some boxed cards because I just can't resist them. I really didn't buy any gifts for next year like I usually do. I did get a recordable book to do for my future grandchildren and one for my dad to do so I will always have his voice for me, my children and future grandchildren.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas too!

I did have a very emotional time at church on Christmas Eve but I will save that story for another day. God really touched me, He is so awesome!

Now it's time to each some leftovers, watch a movie and most likely fall asleep because I am really tired.

P.S. I got a really nice check from my dad for Christmas and what do you think my children asked me? Can we go to Disneyland and I of course said yes!!!

OH WHAT A BUSY DAY I HAD

Besides reading blogs and doing several loads of laundry (which should be done during the week but our daughter really knows how to stretch out her laundry!) I did all of this too! I think this is how my friend Alexis lives every day of her life.

I finally tried my apple slicer from Pampered Chef and it is amazing! Actually I didn't even get to use it because my husband, daughter and son-in-law were having so much fun doing it. Fine by me.

I made Apple Harvest Cake that I saw on Sew On... And So Forth and saw it here too! I guess everyone is making it so now it's your turn. (cute little tidbit, my husband set up the apple coring shot) I made Kristin's apple sauce. It is super easy and very good. Look, I even made the apple dumplings from The Pioneer Woman again because it was a request from the kids and since we were slicing apples I thought why not. By the way that cake is delicious.

Then I went on to make Black Bean Lasagna from Southern Living which turned out great and was delicious. I did change things up a bit to use what I had at home. I forgot to take a picture of the garlic bread that my daughter makes which is very good.

Now here is something really cute to share with you. We are sitting down at dinner eating the lasagna and there was a leaf on the table. So my daughter begins to tell me that a leaf fell off the other day when she was crocheting at the table. She kept it on the table in the hopes that I could glue it back on. {{give me a minute, I am laughing again}} I looked at her and started laughing telling her it's a REAL plant!!! Needless to say we giggled about that one for a long time.

Here is my new toy!
I think I may need a class on this one.

Forgot to show you this giant giraffe the kids got me at the Fair.

Also, if you read my Random Dozen each week there was a question this week about a word you have trouble saying. I couldn't think of one at the time but I have it now. Potpourri! It took me years to say this, I always said pot -a-pourri.

There is also a new post up at Debby's Tree.

I DID IT ~ I MADE THE PERFECT SHEET CAKE !

Thanks to Ree Drummond at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and her cookbook ~The Pioneer Woman Cooks ~ I finally made a chocolate sheet cake that turned out perfect and was loved by all of us. OMG it is delicious! I am really loving her cookbook and if you don't have it I recommend you getting one.

Well here she is, my little girl Skye with her new haircut. She is not the poser she use to be, she turns her head away from the camera all the time now! Then Charlie wanted to get in on the fun. Doesn't she look so pretty with those bows in her hair. (Today I go for my haircut & color)

So this was Father's Day at our house. I didn't take many pictures. We had turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, parmesan rolls, gravy, corn and of course that chocolate sheet cake I am so proud of. I also made Snicker Apple Salad that I saw over at Sonya's blog A Day in the Life.... but forgot to put it out. So I am working on it myself and it's very good. Skye and Charlie had a pool party, we played sequence, watched some golf and had a wonderful day.

Thanks for stopping over. My father is still not doing well. He is still dizzy with high blood pressure and can't walk without help. Actually yesterday morning he passed out and fell in the hospital. I plan to be going there soon but was waiting to see if he was going to go home so I could help him for awhile. We are concerned about maybe having to place him in a nursing home. Doesn't make sense when he was driving around a week ago and walking fine yet they are not finding anything wrong other then the BP and low sodium. I have a post coming up on Friday that I wrote before he went into the hospital. I'm not going to change it. He turns 87 on Friday. Thank you for all the prayers, I appreciate them very much.