I Survived 24 hours in a car, no computer, and a non-stop eating frenzy

I'm hungry all the time, my stomach is beginning to hang out my pants, and my clothes are fitting tight. 4 days of the family pumping sugar and all sorts of amazing foods full of saturated fat in my belly via my veins mouth, no wonder. My stomach has stretched so much that I get hungry 20 minutes after a large meal. Gotta love the holidays! 

Short aside... Is this what its like when you're preggers? Because I do not know how I will be able to control my eating if I can't even do it for a few days during the holidays. (P.S. I am not preggers)

Starting January 2nd, I will be back at Curves working off the 3 10 pounds I gained in one week. PLUS losing extra, I hope, to get in shape for the wedding celebration in May. My goals are to shed 15 pounds and tone my arms and belly although I refuse to call it a "New Years Resolution." Slap those 3 words in front of any sort of goal and I am bound to fail. 

I also survived my 4 days without a computer. I THOUGHT I would miss it, but quite honestly I didn't. In those 96 hours, the computer only crossed my mind twice. I even made my mom look something up for me to avoid breaching the commitment I made to myself. And so life does go on without a computer, believe it or not! (I was skeptical ;) )

Merry Christmas and Computerless

I work on my computer for a minimum of 8 hours a day. I play on my computer. I check my email on my computer. I blog on my computer. I put all my photos on my computer and crop them and print them and... and...

Okay, I think you get my drift. It's hard for me to even put my computer down anymore. SO I have decided to go computerless from Wednesday til Sunday. It's not very long and I think I can do it! I can't remember the last time I have gone a day, muchless four, without checking my email or facebook or blog or myspace or... 

It's Christmas and I am going to enjoy that time with my new and "old" fam. 

We're traveling 12 hours to my home and on the way seeing my hubby's family. I can not wait! Except that the weather is supposed to be BAD, really bad and although my hubby is not used to driving in the snow, he insists on driving. Sigh. Men. 

So anyway, Merry Christmas! Enjoy this time with your friends and family! And in all the hustle and bustle don't forget the reason we celebrate Christmas, Jesus' birth.

P.S. I stole this picture from a friend... THIS is where we're going!

Guess we get to see some real snow after all.

Fairy Tales and Reality IV

First Read...

Fairy Tales and Reality I

Fairy Tales and Reality II

Fairy Tales and Reality III

My eyes gazed at the list. I rubbed the sleepiness out of them with my fingers and searched frantically for my name. I flipped through the pages and just didn't see it. 

When we're nervous and frantic somehow we miss the obvious. 

Someone eventually pointed to their name which was right below... MINE... AT THE VERY TOP! In my second production with Mrs. Buford, I scored the lead! 

*********************************

I am not the most confident person in the world, and I was far from cool in High School. I was lucky to have a friend or two at a time at that school. Because of that and my perfectionist type A personality, I was super hard on myself all the time. 

For once in my life, I had the opportunity to not have all that pressure on myself. Yes, I wanted to do the best I possibly could as Rosalind, but I eventually sort of melded into her. So for those 2-3 6 hours of practice each night, I could be someone else. I didn't have all those extra pressures on me. It was wonderful. I could pretend to be in love and pretend to experience it like a little girl twirling in her dress up clothes or playing barbies. I was that little girl again, I was free. 

Until... the kiss... which I will explain at a later date. 

One of those mornings - my apartment smells like burnt cloth

I am sitting on the floor just minding my own business getting a shoulder rub from my hubby because when I'm sick, my shoulders hurt like the dickens. (Does anyone say that anymore?)

I had asked him if he minded starting the kettle for some tea but instructed him to add water and be sure to put it on the big burner. I was sitting in front of him working when I started to smell burning. Eventually I got up and walked to the kitchen. I saw red and orange and smoke. It was not good. 

The tea kettle was sitting on the small burner which was on high. When I picked it up there was no water in it. (Mind you the kettle had maybe been on 5 minutes!) Next to the kettle on the counter was the oven mit I used for the chili last night and in front of that was the spoon I used to serve the chili. The mit was singed and still singeing and the handle to the spoon had melted. These items weren't even that close to the burner. I didn't panic. I just called my hubby's name and told him he needed to see what happened. Then handed him the mit and told him to throw it in the fireplace. Sigh. I do things like this too... Can't be mad at him.

In fact, I was so distracted last night that I forgot to put away the yummy chili I made and the fresh homemade loaf of bread. I managed to save the bread but the chili? Meat sitting out all night in tomato sauce is just not salvageable. :( I hate to waste things! 

Oh well. Just one of those mornings I suppose. 

Fairy Tales and Reality III

First Read...

Fairy Tales and Reality I

Fairy Tales and Reality II

If you've never experienced that overwhelming feeling of having to wait 3 days to find out what part you got in the school play or if you even got a part, you're missing out. It's pretty nerve-racking. Forget sleeping... It just doesn't happen.

And of course, although 3 days is the promise, it really never works out that way. And sometimes the parts are posted at the beginning of the day and sometimes they're posted at the end of the day. And sometimes your friends get to it before you can and as much as you want to ditch class and go see the list, you are too much of a goody too shoes to do that. So you get the lav pass and shimmy down there instead or not... 

********************************

Practice was going to start that night for those that got parts. By this point in time I was so tired and shaken up that I just wanted to see the list and go to bed. Forget classes, forget practice, just tell me if I got the dang part or not. By the end of the day the list was up. 

Part of me wanted to run down the hall around the corner down the stairs and around the next corner as fast as I possibly could. The other part of me wanted to just procrastinate and eventually drag myself down. (I know, you'd think after 2 or 3 nights without sleep I wouldn't want to way any longer.) 

So I chose to take deep breaths and go at a decent pace. Thump. Thump. Thump. Stopped at my locker. Thump. Thump. Thump. Faster and faster. The wall was surrounded by those who had auditioned a few days prior. I managed to push my way through and let my eyes wander over the page. "Preston." "Teressa." "Ashley." "James." Where was my name?

to be continued...

Fairy Tales and Reality II

First Read....

Fairy Tales and Reality I

I am typically pretty good at hiding my nerves. Most people can not tell when I get nervous. But it was just all hanging out there at this point. 

As I stood up, my legs were shaking. I heard a crinkling noise and peered down at my hand which was also quivering. Taking a deep breath, I took a step. And then another. I tried telling myself that it wasn't really a big deal. "It wouldn't be the end of the world if I just didn't get a part at all." Life would go on. There was always the musical in a few months. "Breathe. Just breathe. It's going to be over soon." 

I walked up the steps and onto the stage. I saw Mrs. Buford staring at me over her glasses. Yes, over them. You know, when they tilt the glasses down and peer over the top. I took one more deep breath, looked at my auditioning partner and tried to keep my composure. 

"GULP"

First I had to read the part of Celia and then Rosalind and then Rosalind with Orlando and then Phoebe with someone else... 

And there were lots of "forths" and "thees" and "thousts" Good thing I was passionate about Shakespeare and "got" what he was saying.

ROSALIND

Dear Celia, I show more mirth than I am mistress of;
and would you yet I were merrier? Unless you could
teach me to forget a banished father, you must not
learn me how to remember any extraordinary pleasure.

CELIA

Herein I see thou lovest me not with the full weight
that I love thee. If my uncle, thy banished father,
had banished thy uncle, the duke my father, so thou
hadst been still with me, I could have taught my
love to take thy father for mine: so wouldst thou,
if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously
tempered as mine is to thee.

....... (I cut out about 5 more lines)

Exhale... First one done. My attitude changed. "Wow that wasn't so bad," I thought. I had only tripped up 5 or 10... okay maybe 15 words. 

By the next group of lines I was nervous again, but not quite so bad. 

As soon as it was over, I scurried out of the room. I was just too hyped up to stick around and make small talk. Time to go to my bedroom and wallow and maybe...throw up. 

Sigh... I'm already a Junior. "There is just no way I'm EVER going to get the lead in a show. I'm just not good enough. Everyone else is so talented... But gosh, I hope I got it."

Basically the entire night consisted of "Gasp, maybe I got the part. Sigh, there's no way I did. Maybe I got a part? Probably not. I should've done that differently. Boy I botched up that line." 

to be continued... 

Fairy Tales and Reality I

I was 16 years old and it was my first real opportunity to get a part in the school play. I received the script about a day before auditions and feverishly studied the lines. I read the entire Shakespearean play and did research on the characters. I was so excited about this opportunity but had no idea whether or not I was good enough to get the part. 

***************************************

Our director was different than most. The first underlying rule was that you had to be in a couple productions before you even had a shot at a major role. I had only been in one of her productions and it involved twirling a parasol in the chorus. I think I had one line that I struggled with wanting to do because it involved joking around about tarot cards. 

Anyway, the director was not just an english teacher that was just interested in directing plays. She went to school for theatre and lived and breathed it most of her life. This lady was very involved in theatre education and even pursued professional adjudication and competitions for her students and the musical productions. 

*************************************

I was pretty much in love with the character of Rosalind in the fall play we were about to do. She was this strong woman, who being banned from the court for her love of Orlando, decided to disguise herself as a man in order to stay safe on her journey. She runs into Orlando in the woods and he doesn't recognize her but he speaks of his love for Rosalind. She agrees to "teach him the lessons of love" if he promises to pretend he(she) is Rosalind and comes to woo him(her) every day. Okay so it sounds really confusing but it is fabulous. Read it or watch it...

***********************************

Where was I? Ah yes... Never in a MILLION years did I think I had a shot at the lead. I couldn't dance to save my life but boy did I love to act. There is just something about being someone else for those 3-4 months that was freeing.

I walked into my audition clasping my script with all my might. (At this point I had the lines memorized.) I sat shaking in my seat watching others recite their lines. "What if I mess up the lines? I am going to make such a fool of myself. What am I thinking? I should just walk out now. I'm not going to get a part." My heart was pounding out my chest. 

Then I heard my name called, "DANAE" With my heart now in my stomach and my stomach up in my throat, I stood up. It took everything within me just to swallow at this point. My hand was still grasping the script and I was shaking profusely. 

to be continued...

Tele-marketers, Do not Call

I have received an overwhelming amount of calls from tele-marketers lately. Let me just say that I have become less than civil with them. One company called National Readers Service has called at least two times a day and every time I have told them to take me off their list. I still get the calls. As days go on, I get more and more calls. I answer to get the name because 50% of them are "restricted" numbers. 

Now generally I like my cell phone carrier, Verizon, but they charge 5 bucks a month to use the "block this number" feature. I pay plenty every month to use my cell phone, if I want to block a number it shouldn't cost me extra! 

So anyway, the National DO NOT CALL list does exist and I got the phone number from the lovely Verizon lady who wanted to charge me $5 a month to individually block every number that keeps calling. I am sharing it with you because it takes 31 days to get the list out and affirm that these people are not going to call you and this is information you should be able to access freely. 

1-888-382-1222

It took me 3 minutes to get my number on the list, if that. 

3 minutes to prevent 20-30 random phone calls each week... Probably worth it. Just saying...

Baby on the Brain

For some reason no one my age really talks about this and thus I found myself hesitant to bring it up. I don't know why, it's not like some big secret or anything. 

I have "baby" on my brain. I feel like everywhere I go lately, I am surrounded by babies! 

My hubby and I met for lunch yesterday at Moes. We were sitting across from each other in a booth when I noticed there was a grandma and a baby at the table next to us. I watched another family with a baby walk by. There was a baby at the table behind me and one at the table behind my hubby. I was surrounded. They were all very quiet, but I noticed ALL of them. 

At least 10 friends/acquaintances are either pregnant, had a baby last month, or are due in about 4-5 months. No joke. They're in clusters within weeks of each other. It's crazy. 

I've been babysitting on the weekends again lately. Last weekend it was for a 9 month old and this weekend a 4 month and another 9 month. 

I am seriously having to fight myself right now. I want to take one day at a time and enjoy this time alone with my man. I want to enjoy the freedom and focus on the big wedding celebration. I have spent too much of my life wanting to be older or wanting the next thing. Setting goals and then achieving them, setting new goals and then achieving them,... I'm trying to stop the psychological circle here. 

But this motherly desire is busting at the seams. I want to experience a pregnancy and have a little one that is a combo of my hubby and I. Sigh. 

I hear its hard on the other end too... that even after you have all your children, that desire is still there. 

Superwoman Award #2

I am still undecided about the third award so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of AMAZING woman out there, it's just so hard to choose! 

Anyway... 

The second person awarded is really special. Not special "ed," duh, but one of those people and friends you are really blessed to have in your life. She has 3.5 kiddos (the .5 is the one in the womb) and a hubby that works his tail off and thus is home odd hours sometimes. Aside from keeping up with the laundry, running after children, growing her own garden, canning and freezing her garden, and feeding her family, she is very involved in her church and Habitat for Humanity. She is always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it, even if it means losing even more sleep. This superwoman somehow finds the time to write wonderful posts that include some of her very interesting and humorous life stories. 

As a crazy, perfectionist high schooler I'd walk to her house after school to either hang out or babysit. She would drop everything to share coffee and a conversation with me, thus helping me keep my sanity and put things in perspective. Plus I KNOW I'm not the only one she does this for... I'm really not sure how she finds enough time in the day.

So, this Superwoman goes to none other than... 

Starla Jones... JK (I don't know anyone named Starla)

Ahem...

Pamela over at The Dayton Time

Go leave her some comments and love please.

Opportunity versus Security

I may have a really cool opportunity of which I can not discuss in detail at this point in time. That opportunity may really stretch me and cause me to learn and grow. It would push me outside my limits and boundaries. This could result in something amazing where I would benefit financially and grow in my skills and experience. Or it could result in failure and not a lot of money.

What do I have to lose? Well, potentially my mind, money, time... 

What can I gain? Money, experience, skills, personal and professional growth...

Which would you chose and why? 

This could all unfold before Christmas... I feel like I'm on the Superman rollercoaster for the first time, climbing up, up, up, up that really high hill knowing that at some point I am going to reach the top. It's exhilarating and exciting but also twists my insides and makes me really nervous. Eventually I can put my hands up and let my stomach fly up into my chest and enjoy the ride, but for now that anticipation is getting the best of me. 

Superwoman Award #1

I did the military wife thing for a little while and it was not easy, but it was probably not nearly as difficult as being a military wife and having little ones. I can't begin to imagine... Needless to say the first "Superwoman Award" goes to a military wife and mother. She has 2 little ones and a newborn and managed to move in the same month she had the baby.

A superwoman doesn't have to be perfect, no one is perfect. But they're able to juggle a lot and still be there for anyone who needs it. They put their family and friends' needs above their own. 

The first Superwoman Award goes to...

Mrs. SSgt at Married To The Military

P.S. Can someone help me... I am trying to get Mister Linky attached to that award/photo. I can set up a Mister Linky but not sure how to attach it to the award.

100th Post - Superwoman Award

Woohoo! I have reached my 100th post!!! Technically it should have happened many moons ago but we're not going to dwell on that. In honor of my 100th post, I have an award for 3 wonderful women!

I call it the Superwoman Award. Okay so these ladies may not be perfect. In fact, they may really struggle from time to time. But overall they work really hard to do their absolute best for their families! I may not know them personally, but from what I can tell they really deserve this!

Here's the catch... I am not going to announce all 3 of them today. One will be announced later today, one tomorrow, and one on Friday. So... you may have to come back to see if you are one of them!

Here's a sneak peak at the award.

Wordless Wednesday

So I'm not perfect

Bear with me for a moment please... 

Do you ever have that little voice in your head that tells you you are going to mess something up? That the mistake may be minor but a minor mistake will still ruin your entire project? 

Going into the printing of the Save the Date Cards I had this overwhelming feeling I was going to mess something up. I checked the grammar and spelling, got outside input and advice, and played with the thing for hours. I perfected the font and the spacing and size of each line. I printed 20 or so practice pages just to try to get it right. 

Once everything was to my satisfaction and I checked it 10 more times, I clicked the print button. And clicked it and clicked it and clicked it. One or 2 at a time just to make sure they fed through the printer just right. Crooked Save the Date Cards would just not be acceptable. So here I am very satisfied with them. I loved the elegance and the cool idea I had for them. (Which maybe I'll share later.)

I go on to take care of the pups, get ready for bed, yada yada... An hour goes by. I climb into bed only to find that my hubby is across the entire bed and I had but a small corner. I pushed and pushed and eventually weaseled my way in enough where I might be able to sleep. 

Laying in bed about to fall asleep, my heart skipped a beat. OKAY it skipped several beats. Did I...? Did I...? I had to run and see. I knew it meant I may lose my spot on the bed but I just couldn't sleep without checking. 

1....2.....3....4....5.........20............30....................60.... 

Yep... I put the wrong year on 60 Save the Date Cards. I was too tired and upset with myself to cry. But oh did I want to cry. 

I got on twitter and asked the advice of my fellow twitterers. They all were very supportive and helpful! I really like the ideas I received and who knows? Maybe these cards needed a little creative touch. As much as I strive towards perfection (another blog for another time), I am not perfect. But I am creative. And as minute as a Save the Date Card is in the scheme of things, it'd still be kinda cool for it to reflect me a little more. 

And so people may look at it and go "I bet she messed up and that's why that looks that way" but I don't mind because like the rest of the world, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. 

Saying it out loud makes me feel so much better. I make mistakes. I'm not perfect.

***********************

Being a perfectionist is really overwhelming sometimes. I don't wish that on anyone.

Save the Date Cards - Need Advice!

Background story...

I always dreamed that my wedding would be fairly large, a huge celebration with all those I love and care about. I wanted to publicly express my love for my soul-mate. I wanted to share this time in our lives with people. It was and is really important to me. 

When the news came that his deployment was bumped 9 months earlier than I expected, I was devastated and confused. After much prayer, we decided to go ahead and have a small wedding and then have a big celebration when he returned from the 15 month deployment. 

Well, he is back from the deployment and the planning is on!

The Question...

Our situation is different, obviously. We're already married and we're doing the whole shabang publicly. We're having a wedding ceremony... (I am trying to convince hubby to write his own vows so that its a little more personalized/different but we'll see.)...and then of course the big reception party! 

So the Question??? 

How do I say the part about the "union," "wedding," "marriage"? 

Ours will be slightly different from this but most do something like...

Save the Date

Insert Date Here

Jack and Jill

are getting married/ tying the knot/are getting hitched 

Location

Formal invitation to follow

What do you think? 

The Save the Date card is fairly formal.

Cookie Time!

I still remember standing on a stool in the kitchen stirring the cookie dough and watching my mom. Cracking eggs was my favorite part and at the ripe age of 5 I wasn't too shabby at it. I guess I didn't think much about Christmas cookies back then, but this was a tradition I was going to keep and hopefully pass on to my children some day. 

Well, I sort of took the tradition to the max and I go all out these days! 15+ types of cookies, candies, fudge,... Mmmmm. I like to get started early and have all my ingredients by December 1st. Unfortunately that did not happen this year. I'm beginning the process today!

First things first!

Spend some time looking at your cookbooks and if you're not happy with the cookie recipes, get a new one. I really like "Grandma's Christmas Recipes." I don't think I have disliked any recipe I've tried. (I just tried to find it and I don't see it for sale anymore. It's a Publications International, Ltd. book in case you would like to research further.)

BRING STICKY NOTES WITH YOU! Use one color for those cookies you definitely want to make and another color for the ones you may like to make. I left my sticky notes on after last year and it makes it so much easier to find the cookies I want to make. Just make sure that you take the sticky off the page if you decide you don't like it or don't EVER want to make that particular cookie EVER again. 

I'm doing a cookie crash course this morning. Choosing most my recipes, straightening up the house, sanitizing the kitchen, and purchasing the ingredients I can afford. I have a friend coming over to join me in the insanity so I think I'll get some of my cut outs out of the way!

Check back for more tips and recipes!

Cold lonely nights

My hubby got promoted which is very exciting. But it also means new hours. And new hours stink especially when they involve him working 9-5. No not 9-5 like most people work, 9 pm - 5 am. I really wouldn't complain except one becomes accustomed to sleeping with another warm body and when that other body isn't there, it gets very lonely. 

I can't help it really... 15 months of no warm body sleeping next to me should have been more than enough for our entire marriage... But alas that is not the case. 

On the positive side, I'm SO proud of my man. He works way too hard and is amazing. Of course, I'm partial to him.

And because I needed to add a piece of randomness, here are our pups.

Rudi... a.k.a. Bear, Toots, Rudi Bear, Miss. Toots and every other combination you can imagine.

Jackson... a.k.a. Jack... We keep it simple with him.

Finding my place in blogger land

The land o' blogging is filled with mommy bloggers, military bloggers, coupon cutters, and tech gurus. 

Well...

I'm not yet a mommy, unless you count my 2 pups which don't really count. I'm not a tech guru. I don't feel that searching for all of the best deals is my calling. I lived the military life for 2 years but that is nothing compared to those who have done it for many more, some even life. There are people who do all of these things and do them very well, but they aren't me, not right now. 

I'm young and can still be considered a newlywed. I've been out of college but a year and am searching for the job that really fits, if one even exists. I want children but the timing is off right now. 

I have yet to find a solid market for 20 somethings who are knee deep in their in between phases. In one way, this is an exciting place to be because they must be out there. In another way, I can not always relate to my fellow bloggers who are wonderfully talented but in completely different places in life. 

So for now, I'm just going to keep embracing my differences and be me. And hopefully I'll come across some other bloggers who are in similar places.

Oh yes... And shameless plug. I LOVE the mommy bloggers, tech gurus, "coupon divas", and military bloggers. They inspire me, teach me, make me laugh, and give me really great deals!!!

Here are a few of my new favs...

Pro Blogger

CoffeeCupNews

The Wise Young Mommy

Hanging over my head

There are tasks on my list that I simply do not want to do, ever. If I could just pay someone to do these tasks for me, it would make me VERY happy and probably eliminate 20-50% of the stress in my life. (Not to say that I wouldn't find something else to stress about.)

These tasks include but are not limited to paying bills (except loans*), taxes (the word alone is enough to make my insides quiver), health insurance, returning purchased items, anything DMV or County Clerk related, and having to speak to customer service people because something went wrong. 

I like customer service people. I admire them because I could NEVER be one, but the thought of actually having to deal with an issue that was not the customer service person's fault is a problem. If the said customer service person can not help me, I'm likely to get mad and take it out on them even though I know its not their fault. This probably makes me a bad person, but it often works in getting me to a manager, or a manager's manager, or even higher. 

I avoid these tasks at all costs until it is either absolutely necessary or I realize they will only continue to linger if I don't fix them. It's really bad. Am I the only one that does this?

Christmas Season

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the music and decorations, the joy and laughter. It's a time where people give what they can to those they love and care about. 

What do you like about Christmas? 

I have a feeling this year will be a little more difficult for many in our country. With the unemployment rate slowly rising and the economy falling money is tight, but there are ways to get around it and still enjoy the season. I find that giving is a great way to enjoy yourself and what you have.

Some ideas...

1. Volunteer someplace. A soup kitchen, a nursing home, a pregnancy center, an orphanage. Pick something you might like. (Hospitals even need people to hold babies.)

2. Help a neighbor or friend. Someone you know have a new little one or just seem overwhelmed? Cook them a meal or offer to do dishes. Again, you can choose how you help and it's not bad if its something you enjoy.

3. Say something kind to someone. When things get really bad and a stranger takes the time to say hello and smile at me, it changes my entire mood, seriously.

4. Be Creative. Make something with your hands for someone else. Even if all you can do is a card, it will mean a lot to someone!

5. Enjoy yourself. Forget about the messy house or the drama at work for 10 minutes. Curl up under a blanket with a cup of tea or hot chocolate and sit in the quiet or with calming music.

I hope some of these ideas help! If you have any others, please share!

Wedding Drama - I know it will work out

My hubby and I are having our "big wedding" in May and the details were finally falling into place. I took a trip to NY and nailed down much of the celebration. Well,... the original reception location people were very rude and EVERYONE in western, NY has their reception there so I went to a small country resort that was affordable. The lady was super nice and promised if I booked the date within the month I would lock into my prices. I called her to tell her I was going to mail the deposit as long as they held up their end when she informed me that they no longer could. Their new menus and prices are coming out in a month. It's not a large venue and the guests would probably have to be squeezed in tight but I was willing to make that sacrifice for the location, nice lady who helped me, and the food. Now I can either A wait until January and check out their new menu and prices, B go with the original plan and deal with mean lady, or C start from scratch and be super stressed. Not to mention the fact that my Save the Date Cards are almost nearly ready to go out and I don't even know that we can have a reception... Advice? A, B, or C? Is there an alternative? I would prefer to not do it in the Firehall. I want something nice, beautiful, affordable, and fun. Is that possible?

HELP!!!

100th Post and Christmas Cookies

I know I should probably be way beyond 100 posts at this point, but I am not. The 100th post should come sometime next week and I've decided to do something special. I will be giving away at least 1 award to 2 or 3 deserving bloggers. We all love flare, right? Maybe? Okay, I may be the only one... but this award will be pretty special, in my humble opinion. 

Just what sort of award is it? You will have to check back to find out. 

And for Christmas Cookies...

I love baking cookies. It is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I tend to go all out and make a minimum of 15 kinds plus chocolate dipped pretzels, and other candy type treats. I keep some, put some in pretty baggies or plates for friends and family, and take some to work. I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes and tips throughout the next few weeks both here and on my kitchen blog. If I post a recipe over there, I will be sure to let you know!