That week between

 Life had settled down ... a nice Christmas was had and a chance to see my daughters ( separately) was great!  ... but then the weather people started talking about a storm coming to the KC area on New Year's Eve through NY Day.... with ice, rain and snow... and power outages.  Yuck!

We started planning. I set up a curbside food pickup from the grocery store for Thursday morning. Checked for candles and battery lamps. Promised myself that everything would get charged before the storm arrived. We are lucky in that our utility lines are underground. Our stove, furnace and hot water heater are all gas.... and even the fireplace is a gas insert one. So we can hunker down pretty comfortably...

We received a test from a friend who works dispatch for the electric company warning us of the storm and possible power outages...must be fairly serious if she texted her friends!!

A package arrived today containing a cutter quilt... a blogger had mentioned  she had one, did anyone want it? I thought a quilt bear would be fun to work on after New Years... so I am looking forward to opening the package!!

My husband has been enjoying hour after hour... day after day.. of Dr. Who on BBC ( I have been hand sewing bears nearby) which will have a big "finale" on Saturday.  We have been irregular followers since the first Doctor a million years ago!

Creeping closer

 

I think I have finished making cookies for the moment .. lol!!  And have started playing around on Photoshop instead...here's one result and it's not bear related!

Tomorrow Bob has a "daughter task" to complete... hanging a shelf in her bathroom.  I will be bringing cookies and dinner !!  Our daughter's non-profit/ employer is closed for the week  till after Christmas so I am sure that there will be some more tasks for Bob ! 

For those of you who worry... our daughter is very covid careful and so are we. Her house is the only other home we have been in since this all began.

Our other daughter has more people going in and out and though they are careful Santa will be leaving presents on the front lawn for them to take in.....  

Tonight I received an email saying that a company had delivered an order. I found it out in the mailbox! I forgotten about  this last part or an order... senior moment??

Speaking about senior moments... Bob and I are both over 75... supposedly on the next tier for the covid vaccine. Now we wait to see how this goes I guess....

 

cookies cookies and more cookies

 After the Christmas boxes were mailed to Bob's brothers my stash of Christmas cookies looked pretty small ! So I have been baking more... Scottish shortbread, Mexican Wedding Bells/Russian teacakes ( you choose which name you prefer!)  and so on. 

I found a recipe for Chai latte snickerdoodle cookies which I might try  and a  Canadian friend on Facebook made Nanaimo bars ( posted a picture and the link to the recipe) and we may try them if not before Christmas then afterwards!! These bars call for vanilla custard powder which I had never heard of but found that my Wal-Mart carries Birds Vanilla custard powder !

After waiting weeks, a physical gift card  I purchased finally arrived.  After waiting and waiting for this one we decided to print out other  gift cards instead... Amazon had a neat printable for their gifts cards with graphics and instructions for folding so that it doesn't look like just something from one's printer!!

Christmas break... or Winter break if you prefer ... started after school yesterday for my grandson, his teacher Mother and his Americorps tutoring sister!!  Off until after New Year !

 

 

 

 

 One of my quilting friends dropped off Christmas presents !! Love the blanket she made... it's two layers of fleece fabric tied together with square knots on all four sides!! Soft... luscious...

Christmas boxes to my two brothers-in-law were posted... 

Car full of things for Red Racks ( veterans version of Goodwill) dropped off... You don't even need to get out of the car. You  drive into their facility and men arrive with masks and remove whatever you have from your trunk or backseats !! Easy peasy..

Christmas buying at Michael's this time.... Getting close to done !!  Time to start wrapping !

Christmas things

 We always send a box of  "Christmas" to Bob's brothers.... so it was time to start baking!!  I made more homemade Chex mix ( people have been eating up the first batch) and cookies. 

I have been printing out new cookie recipes to try. One was very similar to our favorite Russian tea cakes/ Mexican Wedding Bells one but included chocolate chips....so baked a batch. Not sure whether this new recipe will replace the old ... too chocolatey for me.

Another (not new) recipe I baked was Bob's Mother's ... Wheaties cookies or "poor man's macaroons".... a family favorite.

Today I am making a chocolate cut-out cookie recipe... new to us. Can you tell that chocolate is definitely a favorite of Bob's brothers? I will make the dough and put it  "to rest' in the fridge ... tomorrow I will cut them out... stars , trees, holly leaves etc. All the old favorites.

I think I may make a batch of shortbread too! 

With all this baking... I think I may need to put the scale in a more noticeable spot !! 

Bob is my bowl and paddle "licker".... says the chocolate cut out cookie recipe dough is good!!

Christmas creeping closer??

Yesterday was another of those record breaking warm days -- over  64 degrees. So Bob got out the lights and stepladder and proceeded to "get it done!"  Nice to have them!!

Today it's cooler (44 degrees) ... rainy... foggy etc. but the lights do make things look more festive! So it was card writing... a trip to the Post Office to mail that last bear ... and stops for Christmas present buying and  a stop at the pharmacy to pick up prescription refills.

So... today was a busy one.

frozen fog

When I went out of the house to collect the newspapers from the end of the driveway I was surrounded by fog.... and it was cold enough for the fog's moisture to have frozen on the car... the railings and so on . 

 When inside my cellphone posted an all morning fog advisory!!  

Now it is gone and the sky is blue!!

greenery container

My daughter and I went to a local nursery for their workshop.... making a greenery container. All the participants wore a mask and stayed 6 feet apart. We were in a greenhouse with the doors open. At our stations a big bundle of mixed "greenery" , huge bag of potting soil , a scoop and pruning shears awaited us. Went and chose a huge pot and started to work.

DD and I finished our projects and bagged up the leftovers....  Today I made two small displays from the leftovers!!

On our way out of the nursery.... with everything on a huge cart... I noticed some Christmas cactus's.. I want one! So Bob and I are going back

Here are the two containers. The one without the bow but with berries was made from leftovers plus some berries I had saved from a wreath years ago.

We did go back to the nursery... picked up some bird food plus a small Christmas cactus with red flowers.

mistake

I needed to "get out of the house" so went with Bob on his trip to the Post Office. I sat outside in the car while he went inside to mail some packages....... all of a sudden I hear voices of a young girl and her grandmother. They open the car's back door and start to get it !!    I say, "I think you have the wrong car".

You should have seen the look on their faces.... but we all grinned at each other. They got into the car next to ours and drove off!!

Still makes me chuckle !!