Christmas is in the air...

This past weekend I got all geared up. I put up the tree and decorated it. I did Christmas shopping and finished over half of my list. I baked gingerbread cookies and decorated them. I made meringue cookies with nuts and chocolate chips. Delicious. And sooo simple. I also got my glass ornaments made and started on some new "trees" for my ever growing forest. Christmas is in the air. I love it.

Ciao all.

Swiss Alps Cookies

3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 bars Toblerone fruit and nut, chopped
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp icing sugar

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl with mixer on high speed 3 to 5 minutes or until soft peaks form. Beat in granulated sugar 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. Mix chopped chocolate and flour and gently stir into egg white mixture.

Drop tablespoon full of mixture onto parchment paper covered sheets.

Bake in top and bottom thirds of oven 24 to 26 minutes, rotating sheets after 12 minutes of baking time.

Transfer to wire racks and cool.

Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Me and my boys....

Marc and Stephen - "Movember"- hate it. On both of them. These cousins in law are two peas in a pod...



Can you tell we are related?? These two are my original "babies". I was 12 when Anthony was born and 16 when Stephen came along. They are two (of the three) of my only first cousins in Canada and I love these boys (men!) to death!! Aren't they gorgeous?!! Ya, I know they are!



I love the boys in my life. And I am blessed to have many of them in my life. And they are all wonderful. Each and every one of them.

Ciao all.

Inspiration strikes again....

Blog surfing a few nights ago and came across this FABULOUS tree at Shanty2Chic. LOVE it. I am obsessed with trees. This will make a wonderful addition to my ever growing forest. Happy crafting all.

Ciao

My nerve racking night...

We had a snow storm last night. The weather "people" had been predicting it all week. But really, no one here listens to the weather people. They are wrong 90% of the time. But not last night... I was at a Relief Society function and it ended around 9:30 pm and when I got to the parking lot, the snow had just started. I thought to myself that I had been head out to the grocery store and pick up some basics just in case we get a bad dump of snow. Marc still had not put the snow tires on my car and I did not want to risk going out again. I had been in the grocery store for less than one hour, and in that time the snow fall turned into a snow storm! My car was buried. There was NO ONE in the parking lot, and I was all alone at 10:30 pm. I got the groceries in the car and then slowly started heading home. Now, the store is only 5 minutes from my house. No big deal, or so I thought. It took me 30 minutes to get home! And in the process I was nearly hit three times by cars literally travelling backwards and/or sideways... By the time I pulled into the garage, I was shaking all over. And when I awoke this morning, the sun was shining and the snow was already starting to melt. I was beyond angry. I literally risked my life for nothing. Nothing. But Marc got the snow tires on the car today and so now I am set for whatever comes our way. Crazy weather.

Ciao all.

To my sweet friend...

I miss you still so very much.
Please know that I love you.

Manjit's husband's trial for second degree murder began yesterday. It has been a hard few days and will only get worse as the "real" details come out now... So many years of not knowing exactly what happened and always fearing the worst. Now we will know. Please keep a prayer in your heart that our justice system will work and MP will get what he so rightly deserves.

Ciao all.

My head in the clouds...

Marc has been going on and on about this thing. I personally am not a gadget person = I don't pay attention to anything electronic. I have a Blackberry phone that does a million different things (so I am told) and I never turn it on. I hate it. We have the iPhone. We have iTouches (yes, plural). We have iPods (again, plural). I don't use any of them. So the iPad was just another gadget name to me. But Marc is really in love with this thing so I was thinking I would buy it for him for Christmas. Ummm, NO. I did research on the iPad and found out its price. Are you kidding me?? I can take a week's vacation to a tropical destination for what they want for the BASIC model!! Ridiculous. So Marc will have to come up with something else he would "like" for Christmas because this chickie is not going to buy the iPad any time soon.

Ciao all.

Annoyed...

I should have stayed in bed today. I am annoyed. At everything. And everyone. Not good. And I deleted all the Halloween photos off the camera because I thought I had downloaded them - but I hadn't... Nice. So now I have to make the kids dress up again and take photos. I am sure they will love that. And Ethan's birthday pics were on the camera. Gone. Can't "re-create" those. Annoyed. I am going to bed.

Ciao all.