Baking, Goofing Around and Shopping

We had our annual Open House at the Shop this weekend. This is one of the goodies I picked up for my self. She sits next to my monitor.

I thought this was just beyond cute and, for $3.00, couldn't pass it up! Do you think she looks like me?

Cookie baking filled a good part of one day this past week. These are brickle cookies that I made for my neighbors but they seem to be disappearing before I finish the rest of my cookies for the neighbors' cookie tray that I give them every year.

And here are a few of the tags I made. Some will go on the cookie trays, along with a little handmade ornie. Others will hang on gifts under our tree. The reverse of the tags have a stamped "To" and "From" on them. The above tags and the ones directly below are one and the same but the one above shows a little more depth and detail.

I'm not even half way through my shopping! Why is it that, when I was younger, I was usually finished early - sometimes before November 1! How are your lists coming along?

Finally, I have to show you this next photo before I finish this post:

I took it coming back from shopping the other evening. It was about 5:00 PM and it had been raining - hard! The corner of the building in this shot belongs to the gas station that sits next to a parking lot that I pulled into to photograph the rainbow. The attendant outside stood and stared at me, as though he was wondering why in the world I would take such a photo.

As I recall, rainbows were in the skies after almost every rain when I was a child. They seem like such a rarity today. So, as the attendant was wondering why I would take the time to capture this image, I was wondering how he could turn his back on such a jewel. I'm sure there's a moral in this for all of us.

God bless you all, and may you enjoy your rainbows.

A Little of This plus a Little of That equals a LOT

      Have you been working on your "To Do" list?  It's a looong one at this time of year!  A little of this and a little of that makes for a lot of stuff to do!

     And that's what I've been doing - a little of this, a little of that and I am no longer wondering if it will all get done before Christmas because I know it won't.

      We're having Hubby's family here for a before-Christmas get-together Saturday night.  No gift exchange - we haven't done that for several years.  We now just buy for our individual families.  Sometimes, however, we do all put a nominal amount of cash into a pot - $5 or $10 each - and one of the children draws a name.  The winner gets the pot!

     I've been doing some baking, trying to work ahead a little for this Saturday night but mainly getting goody plates together for my neighbors before they all scatter off for their holiday travels.  Above is a peek at the corner of one I took to a neighbor yesterday:  Cupcake-sized cherry cheesecake, chocolate chip cookies, apricot cookies and the first kind of cookies I made in grade school home economics class.  I'm sure you've had them - oatmeal, peanut butter, baking chocolate - you mix 'em on the stove and let them dry on waxed paper.

     Anyway, all our neighbors get a plate of these goodies, plus a little stocking ornament made by yours truly.  The above picture is classic chocolate chip cookies and the apricot cookies.  Did I mention that the icing on the apricot cookies is made from powdered sugar and Amaretto?  Mmmm, soo good!

I've mentioned before that I always gave my kids a special ornament each year for the tree.  When grandkids started coming along, I continued the tradition.  This year, I opted for a simple touch - they'll each get a tiny stocking decorated for their individual personalities.

They look really cute on gifts and they are super simple to make.  If you make them from felt, you don't have to worry about edges raveling.  I just cut them in the shapes I wanted them (a pattern really isn't necessary) and sew a stitch around the edge.  Embellish them with lace, buttons, bells, whatever.  I did these while I was watching SURVIVOR last night.  (Congratulations to Bob - though I was kind of hoping that Sugar would get it.  She didn't get a single vote; I thought that surely Matty would have voted for her.)

     And now, I'm off to my Rheumatologist for my 3-month appointment.  Like I said, a little of this, a little of that...