Here comes the bride….

Don’t you just love wedding pictures?  This is Mandi and Nisha at Mandi’s wedding in October.  Nisha and I have been friends forever, I’ve known Mandi since she was a toddler.  The first time I ever met her she was 18 months old, and Ryan was 24 months.  Ry was a happy little guy whose vocabulary mostly consisted of “John do it.”  Meaning John, his three year older brother. 

Nisha brought Mandi to our house at Christmas time, I’ll never forget that little elf of a girl, running toward me in a pink coat with that sweet little face peeking out of a fur hoodie.  She was absolutely adorable.  Nish said to her, “Mandi, recite the Night Before Christmas for Jan.”  And that little baby opened her mouth and out came the entire story.  “Twas the night before Christmas and all thru the house…”

Well, you can imagine, I was totally blown away.  Ryan was sitting in the floor just looking at her, and I thought, OMG, this is a child prodigy.  We love that story, it was just unreal how precocious she was.  And just look at her now…

These are proofs, so quality is a bit fuzzy, but don’t they look amazing?  Beautiful bride, beautiful mother, wonderful friends, I’m blessed to have them in my life…. 

I was SO glad to come home and get my bra off....

Bet you're all smiling, you know exactly what I mean....  I've had the day from hell!!!

Sinus headache out the wazoo, meds not helping but I had to go to the grocery store.  Hooterville has had me on the hunt for Sierra Mist Diet Cranberry Splash.  She told me about it last week, and since I'm a cranberry freak, I can't wait to try it, but  I can't find it anywhere. She said Wally World had it, so I was off to the land of the rednecks in search of it.

O-M-G,  Wally World on a Friday afternoon in December.  What a nightmare!  But then it's a nightmare any time you go there. Oh, how I hate the place, but the prices are good, so I go...

Anyhoo, after circling for fifteen minutes, for real I did, there wasn't  parking spot to be had, so I finally said "screw it" and parked in a striped spot.  And did they have Diet Cranberry Blast.  Of course not...  All they had was the fully leaded, which I'm sure was lots better, but who wants to give up 160 calories for a can of soda?

So I'm back in the car, on my Blackberry, calling the other grocery stores on the west side of Heavensville, nobody has it, grrrrrrr, so I end up at Schnucks desperate for something different than Diet Coke. 

I spot Diet 7-up Pomegranate, and Diet Cherry 7-up, throw them in my cart, along with some Diet Sunkist for LC, come home, pulling that damned bra off as I walk thru the kitchen.  I unload all the stuff, fix myself a glass of the Pomegranate, with an Advil Cold and Sinus chaser, and ya know what, it's good, it's really good. After the day I've had, it would be even better with a healthy splash of vodka!

It's probably not as good as the elusive Cranberry Splash, but hey, tomorrow is another day.  I'll put my bra back on and go on the hunt again.  I'm a woman on a mission...

WOW!!!

Carlene sent me a link this morning to an awesome Christmas cooking site.  It's a must see!

Here's the CLICK!!

Thanks for the giggle, Carlene

Dear Santa,

Please send me a baby brother.

  Santa wrote back:
"Send me your mother..."

We've come a long way, baby...

What's not to love about this....

Miss Hilda's Popcorn Cake

2 teaspoons plus ¼ cup vegetable oil
12 cups popped popcorn (plain, unsalted and unbuttered)
2 cups M & M candies
1 cup lightly salted cocktail peanuts
1 stick unsalted butter
1 pound marshmallows

Grease a large tube or bundt cake pan with 2 teaspoons of the oil. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix the popped corn with the M & Ms and the peanuts.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, oil, and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When melted, pour over the popcorn mixture, and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared cake pan, pressing down to fit. Cover with aluminum foil to keep moist.

Let sit for 3 to 4 hours, or until firm and set.

To serve, invert the cake pan onto a large plate or platter. Shake gently to release.

Serve at room temperature.
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, originally appearing in Emeril's "There's a Chef in My Family," HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2004, courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

A couple of online shopping tips....

If you're like me, nothing beats sitting in your jammies, sipping a cup of coffee and ordering Christmas presents online.  It's so easy, and it's always a kick when the UPS man comes...

When you place an order, you're checking out, and there is usually a little box that says promotion code, or coupon - well, they didn't put that there for fun, girlfriends.  You can usually go to Google, put in the name of the website you're ordering from, with the word coupon after it or if that doesn't work try code, or promotion code and numbers to put in those little boxes and save you $$$$ will show up in your Google search.

Just yesterday I ordered a Peticure Petite for the M&M's.  And, I found this site, it's called, asseenontvguys.com,  they sell all those hokey infomercial items for less money than other websites.  I've read on the Yorkie forums that the Peticure doggie nail dremel is a good product, and since it's so hard for me to clip Yorkie nails, I'm always afraid I will clip too close, I ordered one.  And  I saved $10 by ordering it from the assseenontavguys, versus buying it elsewhere online, and I Googled for a coupon and got another 10% off...  I just Googled asseenontvguys coupon, and wahlaa, discount coupons appeared...

I know, you're all rolling your eyes at the thought of this informercial "junque," but hey, some of it works.  As a spoof last year, I bought my guys Ove Gloves, after Nisha clued me on to them, and guess what, huge hit, the things work great for grabbing hot things from the oven.

Just a little tip for you.  I'm doing some on-line ordering this morning,don't worry, no more infomercial items, I'm not usually into the cheesy stuff,  but just thought I would get the rest of you a heads-upon saving a few $$$$...

Sandwich Spread

Barb just emailed me the following recipe, it was a big hit at her house at Thanksgiving.  Everybody was loving it on their turkey and ham sandwiches.  Sounds great, doesn't it?

8 oz.mustard
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbs horseradish
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Knit and purl.....

My buddy V is a great knitter.  I've wanted to knit forever, tried it a couple of years ago, but the timing was off, decided to try it again, bought some soft, fuzzy yarn, fired up my computer, went to you tube, found a left handed knitting tutorial.  Well, it looks so easy, NOT!  Decided I had the wrong kind of yarn, so I was off to Wally World for some plain, generic non fuzzy yarn and bigger needles, by the time I got back I was too tired to knit.

I used to be a great crafter, and I crocheted afghans in my twenties, but duh, that was years and years ago...  Surely I can do this, surely I can..

Stella is trying to get her groove back here, after being gone, I have to get those Christmas recipes published - V gave me a new one today for an amazing sounding Snowy Trail Mix to add to the collection.  And Lindsay found a recipe for an Orange Cranberry Cheesecake, she wants me to try for Christmas.

Those Cranberry Bliss Bars were so good, it makes us want to try other orange-cranberry things as well.  Orange-cranberry scones and muffins sound good, too. 

If you want something special this Christmas make those cranberry bliss bars, ladies, I'm telling you they are amazing.  John (eldest son) loved them, he couldn't get enough of them.  I think he's going to make them and take to the office this month to share.

And speaking of food, do you know that I ate my entire birthday cake over the course of the week?  I did, except for one last piece!  And I wish I had ate that!  Dilly is a great little baker, and I hadn't had homemade German Chocolate Cake for years.  And what did the scales say when I got home?  Oh yeah, Miss Piggy here gained 3 lbs.  And let me tell you, it was worth every friggin' pound.  So now I'm back on that horrid Atkins program, which I detest with a purple passion.  Oh well, it was good while it lasted...

Rattlesnake Pasta

I posted it for you on Jan Can Cook.  Here's the click - This is so good, you have no idea how good!

Honey, I'm home.......

I'm back in Heavensville, playing catch-up right now, but posting a great recipe for Rattlesnake Pasta later today - it's great for dinner guests this holiday season.  In the meantime, here's a *giggle* for you...