A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

It's almost here . . . the celebration of Christmas! My cherubs are finally out of school and today is their first day to sleep in! Never mind that it's a Saturday! Sleeping in is sleeping in! With the festive lights, fun family activities, and the wrapping paper and ribbons that surround this season, I have decided to not make any recipe posts until after the Christmas celebration and the ringing in of the new year.  May you know the truth that is wrapped in the gift of Christmas; Jesus!   . . .until 2013!

    While looking through cookbooks, trying to make my grocery list, I saw this recipe.   I remember seeing it a few years ago and thinking, "that might be good."   But I never made them.   Until this year.   I thought, "this might make a great gift."   I bought the stuff and followed the recipe.   And had a small mess on my hands! The "new" crockpots must be hotter than the "old" crockpots.   Because in less time than the recipe called for, my chocolate was beginning to burn.   But I didn't know it until I went to stir my chocolate.   Then discovered that I may have ruined the whole thing.   But thankfully, I hadn't!   I just scooped out the good stuff; left the bad stuff and went on about my business!   The only down-side:  the recipe said it would yield 8 dozen.  I only got 5 dozen .  . . but I'm not complaining!   White Chocolate Peppermint Jumbles (one slight adaptat

Ever since my cherubs were little cherubs; since the time when we only had one cherub, Mimi has been doing the 12 days of Christmas. She stole   borrowed this idea from a friend at work. Each day, starting on December 13, the cherubs get to open one gift each. One little something. One little treasure. One little surprise that counts down to Christmas. When the cherubs where small the gifts were a little easier. Now the cherubs are bigger and the gifts are a little harder. But Mimi is Mimi and nothing is impossible for Mimi! Here's how it works: Mimi wraps 12 small gifts for the boy cherub and 12 small gifts for the girl cherub. Each gift is in its own gift sack Each cherub has their own sack color/design. Each day, each cherub can pick whatever sack they want to open. They call Mimi in the morning and, while on the phone with her, they tear open the sack and tell her what their surprise of the day is! It

It's a Paula Deen recipe. Enough said! I know -- with her it's either love or hate. Nothing really in between. Regardless, she does have some good recipes. Remember when my hair dresser gave me the lemon pie recipe? Well, he also said this was amazing . As in, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I'm going to trust him. Here's why. He said he doesn't really care for pumpkin pie. Me either! It's just not my thing. But my boy cherub loves it. As in, really loves it! But when Darren said he doesn't like pumpkin pie, but this was fantastic; I'm gonna say it's fantastic. So here you go. Give it a try and see! Pumpkin Cream Cheese pie 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed 1 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten 1 cup half-and-half 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional

I'm having sort of a small problem. I like to post with pictures. I think it makes a difference. Sometimes it's the picture that "sells" you! But, I must admit, there are times when I see a picture and think, "No way!"   . . .and maybe that's what happens when I post pictures on the blog! But back to my problem I've tried to post some recipes with pictures, but I keep getting  a message that I'm out of space. "Out of space?" I don't even have "space." So how am I out of it? I'm confused! No matter how many times I try, and keep clicking the button, hoping to fool the computer into thinking that something has changed, I keep losing the battle! Not only am I posting a little less these days because of my schedule, but as of right now, unless I can borrow use some pictures from the internet -- my posts will be naked! Bear with me (no pun intended!); I'll get it figured out. It may not be u

I'm working full-time now.  But it's not full-time forever; it's full-time for now! I have a long-term sub job while the teacher has her first baby. It's a great class of 4th grade kids!  Last week was our first full-week together. I think it went well!  But I have really big shoes to fill!  Even though I'm enjoying this new experience, I still adore my responsibilities at home and I don't want things to change. But I'm learning how to balance it all without losing my own "balance!" One of the quick dinners I created last week came out of the need for a one-skillet, easy cleanup kind of meal! I had a thought of what I wanted, so I began my search on the internet. You know my saying:  "If I can think of something "new," then I know it's already out there!  There is absolutely NO WAY that I'm smart enough to come up with something entirely unthought of!" Sure enough, there were several recipes, but