Glitter glitter every where!

If you know me you know I am not a big fan of glitter. I loathe it. Working in a daycare/preschool I see my fair share of it and always seem to find something else to do when it comes out. Kinsey has been wanting to make some ornaments for our Christmas trees--the big one in the living room and the little one in her room. When I was getting the decorations out last week I came across a package of "stained glass" ornaments and told her she could do those. The first thing she did was say "Oh look there is glitter in here!!"....UGH...she saw it! I told her we could put some glitter on them but I would be holding the glitter at all times. The ornaments turned out really cute and will be for her little tree! Mine are the ones without glitter ;-)

Sunday Neal wanted to go gather wood for our fireplace. We went to one area and got some smaller logs and branches. I had planned to pick up pine cones but there weren't any where we were at so I convinced him to drive to a nearby lake where there are tons of pine trees. Kinsey and I picked up 4 grocery sacks full of pine cones! We are making ornaments out of some, taking some to the daycare to make ornaments there, and the rest will be used for fire starters. I took a few pictures of some we decorated.

These will be put on our bigger tree and shared with family. Now we can put the glitter up and be done with it for a very long time........

Christmas is coming faster and faster

Do you realize that there are only approximately 45 more days until Christmas?? Where did this year go? I'm not sure how I'm going to get my shopping done this year. Last year I found all kinds of great ideas online but am having no such luck this year (so far). I have no idea what to get a few people in my family (hint, hint loyal reader). I have a few things but man I'm a long way from being done. Hopefully I won't have to do an all day shopping spree like my sister and I did last year. It was a lot of fun but man I was tired when we got home. We brought home some major loot that day. I guess I'll start checking things out and see what I can find. Happy Shopping!

What I go for Christmas

Do you think my family and friends know I like to cook? Why yes they do. For Christmas this year I got 5 cookbooks, an electric skillet, silicone baking set, 2 sets of mixing bowls (metal and non-skid plastic), olive oil bottle, cooking utensils, Magic Bullet system, Texas glasses, and a fancy new digital timer (2 timers and a clock).
I also got pretty velvety pj's, earrings, perfume, and house shoes. It was a great Christmas!!

I am sooooooo tired....

The last few days have been a blur. Friday my sister Melissa and I went shopping for the day. We dropped the kids off at school and headed to the "big city" (roll eyes). It's a good thing we took my SUV because we ended up filling it up. It was a long day but we both got our shopping finished.

When I got home, Kinsey was running a fever and very sleepy. I gave her some ibuprofen and sent her to bed. Saturday she woke up feeling bad again. I ended up taking her to the ER because there are no doctors or clinics open on the weekends here. She tested positive for strep and was put on antibiotics. Neal and I were supposed to go to his work party last night but I ended up staying home with Kinsey and getting a start on my candy making. I made 2 pans of fudge (one with pecans and one without), a pan of peppermint bark, and hot chocolate mix.
This morning I got up and started baking. I made 8 mini loaves of banana bread, 4 loaves banana nut bread, and 4 loaves cranberry nut bread. Then I moved on to candy making. I made pralines and divinity. Neal helped me drop the divinity pieces on parchment because it was hardening so fast. Later when I thought it was hard I put them in a container....they all "melted" back into a big glob...lol! Oh well, I'll figure out how to serve it some how. I've got all the bread packaged and ready to hand out. I need to put the candy in containers but will do that tomorrow.

Tonight while I was watching the Survivor finale, I wrapped all the presents I bought Friday. I have the ones going to Pecos in a box ready to go. I feel like I got a lot accomplished the last few days. I'm ready for the holidays!