Merry Christmas

Christmas day was wonderful! We stayed home, all my kids were here, some family and friends joined us, and we had a great time eating, talking, laughing and just being together.  The Spirit of Christmas was with us all yesterday, and I hope it was the same for everyone out there reading this.

When I was a very little girl I used to carry around "George", a stuffed monkey that I loved dearly. Yesterday, one of the gifts that I recevied was a new "George", from my youngest son. I think he is cute, and I'm keeping him on my night stand. I do love all that I received from my family, and I apprecite the love and warmth that family is all about.

                                                                      George

sweet treat success!

I took off a few a days from my day job, using up my last vacation days to spend time with my kiddos and finish up my Christmas shopping.  I decided that the first batch of spiced roasted pecans were not going to get the better of me. So I tried again it was deliciously successful!

1 pound shelled pecans
1 egg white slightly beaten
2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoons cinnamon (you can add more or less (I love cinnamon!)
a pinch of clover

preheat oven at 250 degrees
moisten the pecans in the egg white
mix the brown sugar an spices
then toss the pecans into the sugar/spice mixture covering them well.
place on foiled cookie sheet
bake in oven for 30 minutes and your done!!!

In addition to the pecans, I roasted chestnuts, and made homemade toffee covered with chocolate and walnuts.  It was sweet treats all the way around!!!

The toffee came from a two minute video off of Facebook and I couldn't resist making it!

                                         The toffee tastes like a heath bar, but better!!!!!

I hope everyone has finished their Christmas shopping and will get to spend time with their loved one! Merry Christmas!

not so great sweet treat

I love roasted cinnamon sugar pecans this time of year, so I decided to look up a recipe on line (with good reviews) and make some myself. I bought a bag of shelled pecans, and had all the other ingrdeients in the house; brown sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of clover and an egg white.  I always wondered how the spiced sugar stuck to the pecan, egg white, of course!  The recipe I followed said to whip the egg white a bit, then add the pecans to moisten them throughly before tossing them in the spiced sugar. It also said to line a cookie sheet with foil for easy clean up. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Easy peasy..... Well, I thought the temperature was a bit high since other recipes had 250 degrees with the same cooking time, but I went with it since so many people had great comments.  While it was cooking, I didn't check them, so when the 40 minutes was up I took them out and they smelled great!  However, the pecans were overcooked and dried out, not tender at all.  I am so glad I used foil because lifting and folding the foil was the only way I could get them apart and get them out of the pan.  My husband said all he needed was milk because I just made dried, sweet pecan cereal, it tastes like cinnamon toast crunch,  but better.  Oh well, now I know how they're made, so the next time I cook them, I will set the temperature lower and check it occasionally .

Today, with the help of my husband, my "Ocean morning" stained glass panel has been hung in the studio window. It look pretty good there, but it doesn't make as bold of a statement as it did in the window it was originally made for.   With the panel hung, the studio is coming together nicely. I have been having so many thoughts and ideas that my mind is bouncing everywhere. I needed to get my ideas down on paper or I will forget them, and have a need to prioritize. The first thing on my list is mounting the finished pieces I already have, so I ordered silicone today and will be working on that once it arrives.

Almost there

In my mind I needed a creative space NOW, so I decided that the office can double as a drawing/painting art studio. Yesterday, I started moving things around making a space for myself. I brought up an industrial shelving unit that will also be used as my drawing station. I set up my easel in the corner by the octagon window (with an unfinished painting sitting on it). The window by the way, clearly needs a stained glass panel. I hope it doesn't take me anywhere near as long as the bathroom window I created in my old house did. Which by they way, when I moved out I took the stained glass panel with me since I had only installed it in front of the actual window. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I found a perfect window in the "studio/office" to hang it in. I still have things to arrange and rearrange, but at least now I have my corner in the house to create.

                                                          (my own creative corner)


On anther note, my younger kids are both home from school, and it was nice to see my oldest son come by with a pizza and fried jalapeno's to share with his siblings. It felt good to have all three of them home just hanging out together.

Christmas is almost here and I am trying to enjoy every minute with my family. This weekend will be filled with baking cookies and Christmas movies. We have the classic's first: "It's a wonderful life", "Scrooge",  "Miracle on the 34th Street", and of course  the animated classic's " It's a Charlie Brown Christmas",  "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer", "Frosty the Snowman" and whatever else pops up.

I hope everyone out there in the blogger sphere is enjoying their holidays with loved ones.
   

Tis the season

A few days ago I posted about being glued to my computer and ipad. I was able to shut down for a few hours, read a book, and came right back on without regret. I was e-invited to the San Antonio Glass art guild's Christmas party. Debating if I wanted to go or not, I sent in my rsvp, went out bought a (glass related) gift, went to the party and had the best time! The hostess and her husband have a beautiful home filled with artwork from all different types of artists. Her own glass art work was amazing. I spent the evening talking, laughing and eating all in the company of some the most creative artists around. I'm really glad that I went! I participated in the gift exchange game and brought home this upcycled bottle made into a cheese tray with knife, and the artist even included a cowboy boot pendant, I aboslutely love it! If you want to see women "steal" gifts from each other, just put a tool in a gift bag and the game is on!!! We all LOVE TOOLS!

Friday night afterwork work it was dinner and a movie with a bunch of girlfriends. I honestly don't remember doing anything like this in the past, but I had a great night, two nights in a row. Pinacolada for me with Nacho chips and I was pretty full by the time my dinner came to the table.  The restaurant was located in the same area where the movie theater was, so we walked over and we were a little early so I just HAD to have a scoop of the chocolate gelato..... I was really full after that! We watched the movie The Coopers. It was funny, and kinda sad, and then really funny! It was a perfect family Chrsitmas movie.

Today, I made my "list" of all the things I needed to do and did just that today! Feeling accomplished!

computers

When I am at work, I sit and work in front of the computer all day. When I come home from work, I sit in front of my computer..... or ipad......  all evening..... I must disconnect and stop wasting my time....... I need to get productive.......  clean house....  read an actual book..... paint a picture....... something other than SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!



Have a good night everyone!!!!

Questions????

I'm not affiliated with a specific political party. However, I lean towards the democratic party because of certain beliefs.

I am trying to understand the Republicans and NRA. The right to bear arms.  Ok. fine. but really? assault rifles??? Guns that are made for war, legal to buy and own.  I wonder if they are setting up the U.S.A for a civil war? Preparing the people that live here to "fight" for their country by having these guns legal to purchase. Why else does a civilian need to own guns that are made for the military? Are they preparing us blindly for something we don't want? A war on our homeland?

On January 1st, 2016 Texas law will take effect that allows people to walk around with their guns on holster NOT concealed.  What does this mean?  Is that person who walks around like they belong in the wild west on a power trip?  what if they get angry and lose it?  will they shoot first, then ask questions?  How will we know who has the permit and who doesn't??? When you go to gun shows, people don't have to go through a paper work process if you're buying directly form an individual, which doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies..I'm not sure but,  I don't think this is turning into a very pleasant society to live in.  Maybe the Mad Max movie is right on target for our future.


Just a bunch of questions today that are running through my head.....

It's December already?

I have been neglectful to my blog, unsure of what to write. The house is decorated and I have been to the mall, bought a few things, and it still doesn't feel like the Christmas season.  Maybe I need to get back to the religious aspect of Christmas and not so much of the overly marketed, shopping like crazy for gifts that may or may not be appreciated.  

On another note, Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful! All my kids were with me and we celebrated Thanksgiving together, and I was very thankful for that.  My mother in law cooked for Thanksgiving day, and I cooked Friday and Saturday before my younger two had to leave back to school.  It was really nice to have my oldest son spend Thanksgiving with us since he usually has to work.

Yesterday, my co-worker brought us each a cookie to work to bring December in, and I thought it was too cute to eat, until late afternoon when I couldn't help myself.

I don't like the icing on cookies, but the cookie was great! That's just how the cookie crumbles! :)