I’ve been wanting to make this for a while and I finally did! Toast, egg, bacon, and cheese – muffins? They were easy and tasted great. There are, of course, several variations possible here. Also, the only thing to clean up is the muffin pan. Set oven to 400, cut off the bread crusts, press in to the muffin pan, put in oven for five, add egg (salt and pepper), bake for ten or so. I added bacon bits and cheese at the end.

I have foodgawker on RSS. They picture some beautiful food. One day last week, they had home made pop tarts. It turned out, I had all of the ingredients on hand. Woohoo! So, for second use of the Christmas mixer from my parents – here is my first pop tart attempt. They are REALLY good. Too bad I’m not much of a sweets person.

FYI – these are on a smaller plate than the pretzels.

My parents got me a beautiful Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas and I’ve been dying to make something…but whatttt? I couldn’t even think of more sweets after December. I decided on pretzels. I was a little nervous. I’ve never made pretzels before. I found a recipe, got the couple of ingredients that I didn’t already have, and made pretzels. I didn’t expect fantastic, since this was my first attempt. I didn’t even expect them to look like pretzels when I was done. However, look at them! I think they turned out GREAT! They are pretty and so delicious. Ok, I only had one right out of the oven so far. Either way, I’m thrilled with my first pretzel attempt. Ash suggested bagels, so that may be next in the mixer.

Merry Christmas, Everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your friends and/or family.

My buddy Layla found me some Candy Cane socks! Aren’t they wonderful? I LOVE THEM!

I’m working on this Christmas spirit thing. Yesterday, Kelly took his youngest (6), Jake, to his first Brrrr-oncos game. Yep, it was like 6 degrees out. They bundled up pretty well. Zach (10) and I hung out, went to lunch, made Christmas cookies. He was sure to remind me that some need to be saved for Santa. He also tried very hard to find out what his dad got him for Christmas. Doesn’t he understand? I’m impatient. I have a hard time with fun secrets and gifts. Oh, yeah, maybe he does understand. As a matter of fact, I opened a gift from Kelly last week =). I didn’t tell Zach if I know or not…just like I haven’t told Stephanie what her husband and I discussed about her gift.
This.
is.
so.
hard.
for.
me.
Tomorrow, Reuben and I are taking our Grandmother her gift. I am so excited about it! No, it couldn’t wait until Christmas. I begged my mom to let us give it to her early. Really, I’m excited about most of the gifts I’m giving. I got my sister-in-law something that I have and love and I hope she loves it as much as I do. The things I got for Zach, Jake, and my mom are things I am also excited about…and I just should stop talking about this stuff. right. now.

Friday 5

1. What’s your favorite thing about the shoes you’re wearing (or the shoes you were most recently wearing)?
   Today, I wore my clear Converse, and, um, they are some of the coolest shoes ever. I wore socks with candy canes all over them. I know, it’s silly, but they make me smile.
2. What’s your favorite thing about the people you work with (or the people you go to school with)?
   First, I work with one of my favorite people in the whole entire world – my brother Reuben. Second, I work with a great, funny group of people (and dogs). We have a lot of fun there…and we get a lot of work done, too.
3. What’s your favorite thing about the climate where you live?
   It snows here, which is beautiful! There are seasons here! It’s just lovely here, all of the time. Yes, this likely comes from being in Florida for many years.
4. What’s your favorite thing about Friday?
   …knowing I can sleep in the following day =) I LOVE sleeping in.
5. What’s your favorite thing about the year coming to an end?
   Egg nog is available all over the place =) It’s cold outside. It’s the season for using the fireplace. It’s jeans weather. It’s snowboarding time. There is snow on Pikes Peak (right outside of my windows). I can wear all of my snow-related shirts and not get funny looks and grumbles from “Summer people”.

I want to thank you for starting your online shopping here by clicking on or searching through the Amazon box on the right there. I can see that people have been using it and I thank you very much. Happy Holidays!

This is what grown-ups do at work on slower days, such as today =) Ok, maybe I should say that this is what grown-ups are convinced to do by people, like, um, me on slower days, such as today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Friday 5 

Yes, I love/hate my HOA (Home Owners Association). Today, I got home after 6pm (it is dark outside), opened the back door to take Cupid out and the back deck is CLEARED OFF. Where is the ton of firewood Kelly and I just put there YESTERDAY? the grill? my chairs? my not-so-live plant? I was talking to Kelly on the phone and he was shocked, too. After the moment of panic, I saw everything off to the left. The HOA is restaining all of the decks and they cleared it off to do the work. Whew! and Whew! and Whew!