A Visit to Pops!

Eddie's dad had surgery on the 19th. He had skin cancer that was really deep on his right ear. They ended up finding a tumor and removing the whole ear. He will have to have radiation in the future. On Saturday, he was rushed to the hospital. They found him in a pool of blood. After a few transfusions they still couldn't find where he was bleeding from. Go figure! Eddie went to see him tonight!

He sneezed today and they discovered where the bleeding is coming from. DUH! His ear wound! Did that really take 3 days to discover? Yes! DUH! Does Kaiser not have anyone who will properly clean the floor? How sick is that?
Eddie took our Christmas present to Pops. Aren't they cute together? We figured Mr. Potato Head could share his ears if needed!

More Goodies!

Well, we've been cooking some more! These are Eddie's World Famous Deviled Eggs!Everybody loves them. He actually made some for Nini to take to her work party and then Parts requested her very own and Mo always wants them. He made these to take to the Armstrong's last night when we went over to help spread tamales! Delicious!
This year I wanted to attempt Peanut Brittle. I love peanut brittle. We were at See's Candies earlier today and Eddie said I should just buy them and then we wouldn't have to make them. I wanted to make them. I needed Eddie's help! Stirring for an hour is seriously a PAIN! When the goo gets to the hard crack stage it gets harder to stir and then when you take it off the heat to add the butter and then the salt and soda...forget it! I'm to weak to stir the candy. Eddie rescued me and finished off the peanut brittle.

Eddie is a good stirrer! We think this looks like beans instead of peanut brittle! That's my Grandma Wanlass' candy thermometer.

Here is the finished product. I didn't know what size pan to put it in...or how fast we needed to spread it out, so it's kinda not so evenly spread. I'm sure it will taste DE-LI-SCIOUS!

Cookie Makin'

Here is my little chef helping me make cookies today.He was helping me make my delicous white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.

I used the Nestle's swirl chips! They're festive!
The other night I made four cookie doughs. I baked two last night.

These are the Andes Mint chip chocolate cookies! Delicious!

These are the Andes Peppermint cookies! They are really good!

I still have peanut blossoms and oatmeal craisin cookies to make. I also want Eddie to help me make the dough for sugar cookies. They're just sugar drop cookies. I haven't made them in years, but they're delicious. It's Eulalia Robinson Vanick's recipe! I'll take pictures of those too!

More cookies!

So yesterday, I made two more batches of cookies.

Homemade Oreos and Oatmeal.

The oatmeal cookies are from a recipe that says...ward activity. I have no idea what ward or what ward activity. It's a different recipe. Very albino cookies. You're supposed to add chocolate chips to them. I hate oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips. So I added some finely diced walnuts and a couple handfuls of Craisins! They are delicious, if I do say so myself!!!! I have a whole list of goodies I want to make before Christmas. We'll see if I get them all made!!!!!

I Found My Reason to be Glad!

First, I found the TV station with the Christmas Music! Second, "da Mudder" came home from Dialysis heavily medicated. Thus, I didn't have to hear/watch Law & Order or CSI in their many varieties. Third, I decided to make cookies! I haven't baked cookies for Christmas in FOREVER!!! I love Christmas baking. Having Christmas music in the background helped get me back in the spirit. My feet and back hurt so bad by the time I went to bed. Mom came out of her drug induced state about 10:00 p.m. I didn't think I'd ever get to go to bed. I also didn't think I'd get to sleep through the night, but she was kind. I checked on her at 4:00 a.m. and she was okay. She's now starting to moan. Whether that means time for pain meds, I'm not sure. I must check on her though!

What's a girl to do?

I think I have lost the Christmas spirit! It's a good thing we already started decorating...I don't know if it would get done now.
So, my mom had another "procedure" yesterday. She got home from the hospital about 6:30p.m. last night and I made sure she was settled and then had to run to church for a baby shower. It's probably the first baby shower I've actually helped tie the quilt. No one else would, so I helped my friend Patricia. She had already said she wasn't going to, but got hood-winked into it. I felt bad for her so I helped! We left Eddie at home to watch "da mudder". He actually stayed out with her the whole time we were gone and made sure she was okay. He did end up giving her a pain pill before we got home and then we gave her another one. At about 12:40 a.m. she woke us up calling me. She wanted to hurl! So I got her a bucket to hurl in and then got to take care of everything. What fun! She woke me up again at 5:00 a.m. she was wide awake and didn't know what was wrong. So, we decided her arm was hurting again, so I gave her two more pills and we both went back to sleep. She's started her morning off by taking her normal pills and starting to eat breakfast....but then she hurled again! Now she says her face itches...no it's not an allergic reaction....she just says scratching her face feels good! I suppose it's time to pay some attention to her. I hope the Christmas spirit comes back. Or might have to sing with Faith Hill!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yes, Christmas has thrown up all over the house!

Actually, it's looked like this since Saturday...it wasn't even December!

The tree is up, but there's nothing on it yet.

I'm loving the mantle. I need one more thing to balance it out...but other than that, I really like it without all the pictures. I'll need to find a way to keep it looking good throughout the year. I don't know what I'll do with all the pictures that are usually on it. It's too cluttered though.

You can't tell that the stockings are being held up by the letters J O Y!

For Chanukkah we remove the J! Then we have OY! We actually did light a menorah last year for all 8 nights of Chanukkah and I read all the prayers in Hebrew. Probably really bad Hebrew! It was fun. We had dreidels to play with. We had a good time. Maybe this year I'll make some latkes too!

I'm just getting in the holiday spirit! We watched the Grinch last night. THE ORIGINAL! Not that dopey Jim Carey movie. Was Ron Howard on drugs for that one? The only good thing about that movie is the song Faith Hill sings!

I love Christmas! Our Thanksgiving fudge is almost gone...so I'll have to make some Christmas Fudge!!! We're going to make it with Almonds instead of Walnuts!!! MMMMmmmmm!

I'm in the mood for some Christmas music and maybe even a waltz! If only Fred, TJ and Tody were here....we could Sway and Lunge and all that cuz..."we sure know how to throw a party!"