Here it is, Monday, my last day off before we fly to Alaska, I am so excited to see my mom, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews and children! Today my goal . . . Christmas cards! I have to get them done, I really do have to get them done! Right now I am in the kitchen baking - yummy rum cakes - mmmmm delicious. These are from my sister's recipe and she has banned me from giving it out. Can I just say they are delicious? My brother in law Chad was here for our family Christmas dinner last weekend and had a slice of my rum cake along with a beer, and his comment was. . . mmmm WOW a Beer AND a shot! Anyone who says the rum burns off during cooking, bypass their rum cake and head right straight to my house, I'll fix you right up! Does that give you any idea?

This weekend I made Orange Slice Fudge (this candy is one of my mom's favorites) and my Father in law fell in love with it . . . thank you very much! I also took a tray to work and they too enjoyed it thoroughly, I even made a special tray for Pennie and Donavan who enjoyed as much as my father-in-law did. I will add the recipe here, just in case, anyone reading this would like to try . . . it really is delicious and very easy to make!

Orange Slice Fudge (recipe from a year of GIFTS of good taste)

1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 1/2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (otherwise known as powdered sugar)
1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk (do they really make a can that small?)
1/3 cup cocoa (Hershey's cocoa is the best!)
1 package (11 1/2 oz) milk chocolate chips
1 package (10 1/2 oz) mini marshmallows
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped orange slice candies

Line a 13x9 baking pan with aluminum foil; lightly grease the foil. Place butter in a large microwave safe bowl; microwave on high for 1 minute or until the butter melts.
Stir in the confectioner's sugar, evaporated milk, and the cocoa. Microwave on high 4 minutes or until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring it every 2 minutes. Continue to microwave 4 minutes longer, stirring every 2 minutes. Now add the chocolate chips, mini marshallows, vanilla and the salt. Put in microwave just for a minute or 2, taking out to continue stirring until marshmallows are melted; stir until well blended. Now stir in those chopped orange slice candies. Pour into your prepared pan and refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. Cut into 1 inch squares, cleaning your knife frequently. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Important tip: if you leave the lid ajar just slightly no one will hear you sneaking pieces from the bowl - LOL!

Hope you guys enjoy, see you later,

Another day in wintery paradise

Why is it always so long between my posts - even I am surprised by how long it has been! We celebrated our family Christmas with my hubby's family, any my friend Michele, her hubby Mike and there 2 children Colt and Avery (my honorary grand-babies who I love dearly!) last Saturday night here at hour home and it was wonderful! I baked and cooked for 2 days and it was worth every minute.

Just finished wrapping presents, my sister Nikki called me this evening and all the packages we mailed to Alaska arrived today - one less thing for me to have to stress about, which is really nice! Tomorrow I will mail my grand-daughter Shelby's gifts to her - can I just say I miss her desperately. It has been almost a year (December 26th) since her father came and said he was taking her sledding and "disappeared" with her! Because she is in Sault Ste Marie Michigan and the "custody" battle is far from over, we don't get to hear from her - very sad really. Breaks my heart on a daily basis . . . enough said.

Still trying to figure out what to buy my 15 year old sports son - - - any ideas, please ship them my way, I am struggling more and more as he outgrows being a boy and turns into a young man, but can I just say I love this boy so much!

Cody and I will leave for Alaska to spend Christmas with my family (the first time in 6 years - and I am soo o o o o o o o ready! John will join us on the 23rd, already miss him. I work this weekend and a couple of days this week and then officially off for 14 days beginning on Friday, and yes, I am ready for it . . . it is much needed.

Still have some rum cakes to get made and gift baskets made for my co-workers, but those will be fairly easy once I get my hiney in gear and get to working on them. I haven't made a Christmas card one, but hope to remedy that this week. . . I so have to make Christmas cards this year or I will be so mad at myself.

Well ladies, I do hope this is not my last post for this year . . . I keep saying I will do better and I fail to do so, I am thinking that will be one of my new year resolutions. I still don't have a fax machine - - - honestly that is not true, I do have one, however, because my computer is Vista and my fax works on something else (I can't even remember right now) I don't have a working fax. I am hoping to find a good sale during Christmas so that I can begin scanning my cards, and scrapbook pages, and altered items that I have both received and hope to get done.

Much love to all of you who wait around for me to get some blogging done!

TA DA - I am back!! I will be downloading pictures this week from my camera - and I found my scanner, but still haven't found that darn cord yet. I hope it shows up this weekend as I have tons of cards that I have received that I would love to share, some that I have made and yep, even some scrapbook pages. I am in the beginning stages of "gutting out" my room and making it feel like a room filled with love and creativity. These past few months I have kind of lost my mojo and I thinking by reorganizing and getting rid of some things that I will never use, I will be freed up to play more and will feel more creative.

I can't begin to tell you all how happy I am to be back. We still have no news on Shelby, via the court system, please continue to keep her in your prayers, we so want her home with her momma!

Love you guys!

Hi there

Wow, how bad is this - it has been a few days over 2 months since I have posted and was really hoping to make this a daily thing. Apparently, I haven't been to good at that. Things are going well here - we've still heard nothing about our grand-girl and don't know where in the process things are in happening like we would like them to.

I had my mid-term exam today, won't know until next Wednesday how I did. I'm hoping for a 75 t0 80% (although I would like better) and will feel comfortable with that. This one class has taken up so much of my time, it has made me rethink a bit signing up for more classes-not really sure it is the direction I need to be heading right now, but who knows. Could just be my frustration talking.

I'm actually in my craft room right now - decided i am not spending any time studying this evening or tomorrow - time for a break, not just for me but for the family also. . . I know they need it as much as I do, as they have all been extremely patient with me.

I will get some pictures loaded of the cards I make this evening - I am striving for 6 . . . Can i just say that never sounded like a lot before! Glad you all are sticking with me, and just so you know my final exam and last class will be 9/23/09 and then I am back here in a more committed fashion - yippee!!!

This is the card that I made for Joan F based on the Recipe Challenge Swap that we had recently. We were to use a number and patterned papers. I received these images from Jenn G and fell in love with them. Won't they make great children's cards and even better I think they would be great for magnetic dolls!! Stamps are Anja Stamps.

Added music

This evening Cody helped me get my playlist all set up - I copied the embedded information just the way I was supposed to and for some reason - an incomplete picture on the screen. What have I done wrong? Aye aye aye, just once I want to do something and know that I can do it! GRIN.

Its late, I'm heading upstairs to get another chapter of Medical Coding under my belt and then a few hours sleep before I am up and hitting the treadmill. Cody has a track meet, there last one for the year - love to watch this boy run!

Happy Cinco de Mayo to you all!

This will be my personal blog with a bit of crafting tossed in (like a salad) for good measure! Actually will probably be more crafting, my fave thing in the world to spend my "free" time on.. This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas 2008 of our youngest son and our grand-daughter.