Holiday Cheer

Thats it....christmas is finally over. Just have to wait out new years, and all this stress can go away. For the most part. At least i got some nice things to experiment with, thanks to the husband.♥♥♥

Look at that! We had a decent haul of gifts for each other, so we had fun christmas morning. I am still surprised the cats didnt eat any of the paperbor bows overnight. 

Its all shiny and glittery. It gives me the warm fuzzies. I wasnt even the one who chose the shiny glittery paper. You cant really see any(except kind of to the left behind the basket) but my paper totally had birds. I am a crazy bird lady. I saw it and needed it. It is black with neon birds and trees, and if it wasnt paper, it should have been a blanket. 

I got a whole bunch of new baking stuff, including a candy thermometer, oven mitts, new spatulas and wooden spoons (finally!), ramekins for the best nutella lava cakes ever, and a fucking panini press. I say that because i am super excited to finally have one. I have been scouring pinterest and the internet for the last few days looking up things to make with it. Did you know you can make quesadillas? Cookies?! BROWNIES?! Omg warm gooey brownies a la mode? Sign me thr f#ck up. We had grilled cheese with turkey and ham last night, and i made monte cristos this morning. Holy crap, i thought of them a few days ago, and thought it would be genious to make it in the panini maker. Best. Idea. Ever. 

I think next time i just need some thicker, crustier bread. For any sandwich in the panini press. I cant wait to try making cookies in it, though, and covering them in ice cream. The thought of it is making me all giggly. 

So yes, i am still happy for christmas. Its the only time of the year i get things, even if its from only like 3 people. I dont like to ask for much. I sometimes feel like i do so much and dont get any thanks. Idk. Im just happy for little things, although i wont lie, it would be nice to be a little spoiled sometimes. 

Look at this punk ass. I was cleaning up after we made waffles christmas morning, and he came flying over to me. They just have these days, each one of them, when they have to firmly attach themselves to me. Hes good about everything though, so i dont mind. We spent most of the day (ron and i, that is, the birds were present) being lazy, eating breakfast and watching netflix. We finally left around 2 to drop off a couple truffles and such and visit his dad. We were even home by 8 or so.

anyway, i hope things will calm down next week. tax season is right around the corner, i am looking forward to either pay off some credit cards, or maybe get a new mattress. i just spent the last day and a half refreshing my laptop as well. it basically factory reset it without deleting my files, so i had to update it 7 times. i think it is running properly again. why, though? my printer does not work. it still is not working now, after all of this. maybe i can get a cheap printer, too. who knows. i just looked up the drivers for it. i had to check dell for the refresh (since windows didnt update everything), so i wonder if epson's drivers will work. i'll know in about 10 minutes.

i know, i didnt really have any recipes this time either. i hope with all my new things and the new year coming, i will be able to do a little more. ron wants to start juicing again, and i do want to try and eat better (the holidays have been pretty unhelpful on both ends), but i am pretty confident i can bake up some good for you things. even if i make something delicious and not so good for you once in a while.

i need to start stretching and stuff again, too. i actually was doing it a few times a week during the summer, and then things went awry. but, new year, new everything. fuck 2014. a good portion of it, anyway.

have i mentioned my new found love of arm knitting scarves? i made a whole purple one for another friend. they are always doing so much for me every time i see them. its the least i could do. i also brought them hot cocoa. i gave the two red scarves to my mom and kris, and they all loved them, by the looks of it. this purple one, though? i totally made it in the car in the dark on my way to christmas eve dinner. i am mad with the power.

i still need to get a bobbin case for my sewing machine, too. (one of my shirts has that "mad with the power" phrase, hence the random jump of topics). maybe when i get paid this week, too, i can look into that. i really wanna make my t-shirt blanket.

well, i guess i am going to call it quits for tonight. maybe watch some more netflix until ron gets home. who knows. i've been sitting on my laptop half the day, maybe i should get up and do something....well, maybe i'll have something wednesday for you. in the mean time, thanks for reading! happy new year, and hope you will continue reading in 2015!

Holidays and Truffles

I feel like there are more people waiting until the last minute this year than the last few years. What would prompt you to do that? Every place is gonna be sold out of what youre looking for by this time. Not to mention youre just feeding the reason for retail to stay open later every year by going out. There is no such thing as holidays anymore. Blah. I am starving. So lets get to some treats. 

Alright, so theyre not the best looking truffles, but hey. Im working crippled, here. So i have oreo truffles and dark chocolate salted caramel truffles to go along with the homemade hot cocoa mix, and muddy buddies. Then a bottle of chocolate wine for dinner later to share with my family. After today, (or the last few days), i cant wait. I am ready for food, for bed, and for a day off. People make me crazy. 

So yeah. I am waiting to have a break from work. That will be the highlight of my week right now. I am going to make another last minute scarf later for a friend. Then i get to visit friends and family. Not really relaxing, but better than work. I can relax when im dead, right? Meh. 

Well, i shared my truffles, and the cocoa and muddy buddies were monday/tuesday's post (something like that) so i dont have much else. I did make some gluten free peanut butter cookies, and some sugar free cookies, but i did not take any pictures. They are also by any means not the fanciest cookies ever. Man, being crippled is no fun. My hand gets so tired so fast so it makes it hard to do anything right now. 

Anyway, have a nice holiday all, and with any luck i will have something to post on sunday. Thanks for reading!

Weekends Getting Busy...Scarves and Such

i just cant seem to get enough of work lately. i work every day. its almost like its fun or something. or not. more like i want to punch everyone in the face for being dumb, co workers and customers alike.

but lets talk about something else.

like my arm knit scarves. i finally actually made the other two, which i am going to give away as gifts. the other one is still only half of a purple scarf. i have to add the silver half.

I will get around to it eventually. Maybe if i ever have another day off. So never. 

Meh, i actually have monday off, but i will be spending the day finishing my truffles and making muddy buddies, thus completing my "baking" for this season. My hand is not making things easy. It gets tired fairly quick.

needless to say, i had to go to work after. work makes me tired in general. i was there really late on sunday. holiday hours are no fun. i am glad that its almost over. only another week left. more on that later, or something like that. check out my scarf! scarves? technically this is only the first one, i did not take a picture of the second one since it was the same color.

What fun is that? They took me maybe 30-40 minutes each. In the meantime, i baked some brownies for my christmas party on monday. I have to frost them yet. Dont worry, i will also post pictures. I guess this sundays blog is all about granny crafts. Its turning into a hobby. Making hair bows and now scarves is kind of fun and relaxing. 

Over the last couple weeks, i also made ron and i some christmas stockings. I had an abundance of the felt i used to make those pillows, so i got creative and put these together. 

we couldnt find our old stockings, so i made new ones with our cars on them. it is just fabric paint and acrylic paint on felt. i had some extra felt from the pillows so it seemed like a good idea at the time. ron seemed to like his mitsubishi stocking, so i made the matching one for my car.

aside from that, i am working on all of my christmas baking. i got my cocoa jars, and some brownies and things. the truffles are almost done, i will post pictures on wednesday.

hersheys special dark hot cocoa mix, and peppermint mocha brownies. yeah, still on that chocolate peppermint kick. why? because its awesome.

oh, and i almost forgot the muddy buddies.

oh, the wonderful magic that is chocolate, peanut butter and confectioner sugar. and i also learned in making them, that ron never had them before. crisis averted. magic. the end.

although i think because of this, i may have to make the all the time now. they were breakfast this morning.

its okay though, they aren't difficult to make, nor are there many ingredients.

aside from that, it was my delphias christmas party tonight. i actually took part in secret santa this time. luckily, i got someone i knew a little about, so i made these wine glasses for her. i looked around the internet and got the snowflake idea from pinterest.

she seemed to like them, and seemed more excited that they were not glass, but these heavy duty plastic "glasses" i found at wegmans. so win win i guess. i liked my snowflakes.

i have some backup ones, too. ron was worried that they would wash off, so i tried baking them to seal the sharpie like you would on a mug, at a really low temperature. that didn't really go to well, but luckily i didnt end up with melted plastic all over. it just warped a little. we are keeping those.

this is taking me too long to write. or at least to post. as much as i love the holidays, i am ready for them to be over. i mean, at least the workload. the hours suck. i don't like being at work super late.

i also cant wait to give out my gifts. i dont have many, but i am excited none the less. i dont really even mind if i get anything, just as long as everyone is happy. (dont get me wrong, it would be nice for a gift, but i dont mind.) i hope for a little more free time in the coming year. i want to get out and do things. i am still kind of hoping for a surprise date of some sort. maybe valentines day or something. i thought we had fun on my surprise date night a few weeks ago. it's a little early, but heres to a better 2015, with new things and lots of love. ♥

and this one. have i mentioned lately how much i love him? he gets so snuggly sometimes, and its so funny. i suppose i will leave it at this for now, as its officially tuesday, making me two days late. wednesday is christmas eve, so we'll see if i can get anything out. i have to close tomorrow, and then open wednesday, so it will be a long day. maybe thursday morning or something. might as well be late the whole week. have a great holiday, everyone! ♥

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes....Finally!

Oh goodness yes.

I  am so happy i finally got to make something. I was mad because they sank, (and i barely mixed the stupid batter), but theyre still delicious. Might just try altering that hersheys recipe i use for everything next time. It really makes the best cupcakes. 

Can i just say again how much i love peppermint mocha/chocolate peppermint? It is great. I found the recipe on sallys baking addiction, via pinterest, of course. Theyre pretty soft and fluffy. The coffee flavor is a little heavy for me, but the peppermint is nice. 

I actually made my own peppermint extract for them. 

I used my cake vodka, some peppermint pieces, and put it in this tiny bottle i had used previously for something. It worked out pretty well. Not as strong as real extract, (maybe the cake flavor cancelled it out?) but it worked!

It is getting really busy at work finally. Now its starting to feel like the holidays. black friday is one group of crazies. the week or so before christmas.....completely different story. from two different co workers- "i feel like i need a stiff drink," and "they make me want to go play in traffic." i personally, could not come up with enough internet memes to cover how i feel (ie the table flip, the double face palm, the genius, captain kirk, etc. i could name more.) i seriously want to punch everyone in the face because they are the most frustrating and confused people i have ever dealt with. argh!!

lets look at these cupcakes some more to bring back happy feelings. oh yes. best lunch ever. or breakfast. i bet they would go good with coffee if i liked coffee.

i will stick to tea, though. i will probably start my baking (kind of) tomorrow. i am hoping to get out a batch of truffles, the salted caramel ones. then probably the oreos friday, the cocoa and vodka saturday, and the brownies (unless i make a peppermint mocha roll) for my christmas party on sunday (for monday). i have to come up with a secret santa gift as well. im pretty sure this is my first time ever doing a secret santa. i have a couple ideas, so i just gotta make up my mind and get it done.

anyway, it is a short post today. more physical therapy tomorrow. cleaning, truffles, and whatever else i feel like doing. i should have some stuff for sunday. hopefully i can post, as i work 1-930. holiday hours are terrible. have a good weekend, all! thanks for reading!

12 Days Til Christmas

 

So at this point it only took us 5 days to put our tree and decor up. How does that even work? Usually we are right on this from when we get the tree in. Well, i blame the lights in most part. We turned them all on, and like 75% of them didnt work once they were on the tree. When we checked on the wall, they were fine. Go figure. but hey, christmas in my apartment! and it smells awesome!

it seems like i keep getting busier and busier. i can't find time to do anything, let alone internet and bake and stuff. this is getting to be too many posts in a row without baking something. i am going to try my hardest to make something this week. after all, there are only 12 days until christmas. 

oh my goodness. i am having so many issues with my internet right now. i didnt have internet for a whole day because my router decided to reset itself or something.  of course, blogger has to act up as well. so, today's post is going to be short.

 

why a picture of a starbucks giftcard? on wednesday, i think, i drove all the way out to carousel/destiny to get a skylander for a customer. they forgot to send it, because thats just how that store is. anyway, after all that, the customer came in to see me on friday morning to give me this as a thank you. i will not complain, as i will always enjoy a hot chocolate or tea. so that was kind of nice. not many people do nice things like that for me, which makes it all the more special when someone does.

anyway, in other news, i have changed my treat list, since i am somewhat crippled, and need to try to relax a little. work doesnt exactly make that easy, but i suppose trying to slow down a little bit might.

so the new list this year:

salted caramel truffles

peppermint oreo truffles

hot cocoa mix

candy cane vodka

muddy buddies

just some simple things i guess. maybe the truffles arent easy easy, but i bet they will go with the hot chocolate. so will the alcohol.

with any luck, i want to try and start them this week. i mean, there is a week and a half left. i can prepare this stuff in advance easily. we have a christmas party at the restaurant on the 22nd, i would like to make a little pan of brownies if i can, and i am still dying for those peppermint mocha cupcakes. i want them so bad. i love peppermint chocolate. i am super obsessed right now.

anyway, i have a short shift at work tomorrow, doctors in the am, and a physical therapy appointment at some point. maybe i can make something if i am home long enough.

so i am going to finish watching elf, because i have only been waiting like a month to watch it after all of the internet references. i like smiling. smiling's my favorite.

happy week, all!

Manic Monday....er, Week?

Alright, so this is just a quick little update. I did not bake anything or make any fun stuff over the last few days. I really dont remember much other than being at work. Today was a pretty busy day, too.

.....

And now this sat for 3 days, and here we are on thursday. Yep. I am a slacker. 

So monday, i had my hand looked at again. Ron and i got up early to head into syracuse. They ruled it as a nasty sprain, and recommended physical therapy. It was actually sore for a good part of the day because the doctor had to test my reflexes, and although she didnt hit it directly, it instantly went numb, and then hurt for real after that. How cool is that?

We also adventured to this new grocery store, shopright, or something like that, since it was right next to the doctor. It wasnt too bad. Reminded me of an aldis. We got some of those little debbie christmas tree cakes....and then ate the whole box. Breakfast of champions. I also needed to get bird seed, so we ventured out to cicero to acks exotic pets (favorite local pet store. He has so many things.) of course, since it was right around the corner, we had to visit kristen at work, and got some peppermint mochas/cocoas to warm up. 

We totally had a date night, but more on that in a minute. 

I ended up rescheduling my first physical therapy appointment to the following morning, which im glad i did. More hurt. Ron and i had been planning all weekend to go and get a tree, so that is what we did after.

It was freezing cold, windy....and cold. But, at least it was sunny. It was not muddy or wet, so we didnt get too dirty, aside from the sap. This is the first year we actually made it out to cut down a tree for real. We spent an hour in the cold looking for the right one, and then everyone at the barn where we paid for it, was totally jealous of our tree. Its like picking out a greeting card, except theres more weather, usually cold.

So we have our tree, it was all wrapped up overnight. We werent able to get it in the base til tuesday night, which, by the way, it is still just hanging out in the corner, undecorated. hopefully that will be done tonight, though. i did put up a couple other decorations though.

in honor of a month passing for kris's mom, we went out to red lobster with her, because i guess they went there a lot, and it was her favorite restaurant. i was thinking about those stupid cheddar biscuits all week, so we finally got them. yay!

it was nice to sit down and relax for a bit, and have someone bring you food. i dont mind cooking, but sometimes, especially lately because of my hand, pre made food is awesome.

and because only bad asses drink milk through a straw at a restaurant.

(yes, they both wanted milk to go with dessert. probably the only people in the restaurant drinking milk, but hey, it's all good.)

so aside from that, we ended up at trader joes and barnes and noble after for a bit. finally went home after and crashed, only to get up early tuesday for physical therapy and to see if we could find a steelbook case of guardians of the galaxy. stupid best buy was the only place that had it. it looked like a f*cking walkman. oh my god. but they were sold out at both stores (the guy at one store would not call the other, so we called, and by the time we drove all the way out there, were still on hold, only to find that the drive was pointless). regardless, we bought it anyway, because this is probably my new favorite movie ever. ohhh my goodness, it's like marvel, star wars, disney, and spaceballs all made a baby and it threw up rainbows and glitter. at least its something to try and keep me distracted from my hand.

my hand. wrist. thumb. that general area. oh, its actually been sore for the last few days since ive been told to stretch it and stuff. its understandable. but meh. i just want my hand to work again. i have been reconsidering my christmas treat list. i may accomodate less "hand involved" things to put a little less stress on myself. i will still make a few things, but not as much as i'd hoped for. putting in all the hours and stuff, and with pt, it is putting more stress on it, and it hurts, and gets tired more.

all the cold has not been the best, either. it just gets achy. we just got a ton of snow, and i had to shovel, scrape and move all of it away from/off of my car. bleh. i know i usually hate days off, but i could use one. not that i will be able to sit still, but i can probably rest it a little better, and not go outside at all, because that takes so much effort that i don't have.

it just makes me tired, too. i usually dont mind shoveling. maybe it will work out my left hand or something, so it can tolerate stuff more.

isnt snapchat great? haha. i only have a couple of friends that are on it, but it's entertaining to say the least. i also cant type/text to save my life because of my dysfunctional thumb. but this, i guess they forgot to plow half the road in front of my garage, so there was quite a bit for me to get through today. i also got stuck at kristens apartment because their landlords just don't plow. luckily, there were a few guys out shoveling someones car out of three feet of snow, so they helped push me out.

drove to liverpool, got some bagels and cocoa, then to dewitt to deliver a peppermint mocha to ron at work, stopped at work to fix something in the computer, and finally got home, put laundry away, and now im doing this, only to leave for work soon, and return some bottles before hand for gas money. yay busy!

holy crap. so about that day off, seriously, i would love to calm the f*ck down for a day or so. my next full day off is not until monday before christmas. yay. the money will be nice, especially after the last couple of weeks.

so, that being said, i am going to stop talking for now. im sorry i don't have any food or creations, so to speak this time, but i have definitely had my work cut out for me. hoping sunday i will have a revised list of christmas treats that will not kill my hand.

also, here is a picture of satch snuggled into my hair from....tuesday?

he is so silly. i love him. he gets all comfortable and doesnt want to move. it's like i radiate heat or something. (i've been told i do. like a personal space heater. but im always so cold...)

okay. for real now. i am not sure if i will have anything for sunday, but hopefully i'll have time for something. have a good rest of the week! thanks for reading!

And Now the Rest of the Week

Why are things always one extreme to the other? I will never understand. Ron said to me, "if it didnt happen this way, it wouldnt be our life."  True story, i suppose. Touche.

Yesterday ended up being a sad day. Fridge kitty, or keiko, as we officially named her, has not been in the best of spirits lately, she was very sick. I finally broke down to bring her to the vet to have her checked out (after the car, getting less hours strangely enough, and everything else, money has been tight.) they seemed to think everything was neurological.....and that there was nothing we could do. Long story shott, keiko has crossed the rainbow bridge, as the internet calls it, and does not have to hurt anymore. I wish there was something more i could do. I wish i could have done anything sooner. I am sad. Sure, she pretty much hated everyone. Sure, she peed on everything in the house. Regardless, it does not change the fact that it is painful to say goodbye to one of your children. 

Even the other assholes. Those little bitches torture me all day long, eating my sponges and spatulas, bothering my birds, brawling to the death at all hours of the night/morning....

I will still be sad for strokes mc buttrape and loafy assholeson. Regardless if i want to verbally punch them in the face, they are my kids, too, and that is never something you want to go through. 

And this one.....ohhhh this one. If anything were to happen, im pretty sure i wont be working for a week. I love him too much. We had snapchat selfie morning on monday? Something like that. He kept getting super close to the camera. Dats my son. 

And so is the special one that sits in the corner licking the gluestick. Or in this case under his newspaper throwing up on himself. His face was covered in bird puke when i found him early tuesdayy. He is dumb. But i love him anyway. I cant hate when i uncover him and he says i love you 8 times before i unlock his door. That dumb face.

I say that about all of my animals. Their faces are all dumb. I love them just the same though. 

So i did not do any baking the last two days. No surprise there. I did, however, make this nifty little throw pillow. 

  how neat is that? i think it took me about an hour or so, considering i sewed it by hand. turns out i need a bobbin case for my sewing machine to make it work. i have not had a chance to find one yet, although the internet tells me they are around $9.

maybe sometime i will be able to afford one. it will make things easier for when i make my t-shirt quilt. i bought materials for that, to start it at least. we'll see what happens.

i might go back to the doctor about my wrist/hand. it randomly went numb last night at work. it is still pretty swollen. i have the next couple mornings off. i have too many things i want to do. i found these epic cupcakes i want to make......peppermint mocha cupcakes....oh they sound awesome. i need to buy stuff for my baking i'll be starting soon, so i'll have to see if i have enough extra things to make them.

aside from that, i keep looking at christmas things all day, and driving by all the lights on people's houses, i want to put my christmas things up. i feel like everything being so blah......it might help to make up for it a little bit.

well, anyway, i have to work and take care of things here. maybe i'll have time to bake something up the next couple mornings or something. have a good weekend, all. thanks for reading!

Sunday Funday

i know, i said it. i might as well be on a roll with cheesy puns and things. at least i can say i had a little fun on sunday night after work.

(which is also why i didn't post sunday. at least i am today.)

so thanksgiving was nice and relaxing for once. can you believe i didnt work? neither can i. it was nice to sleep in, go wherever and not worry about being late or missing anything.

we even got to eat twice. TWICE. that is two servings of turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, etc. i am not one to complain. i love food so much.

aside from the pumpkin roll, i also made these pumpkin cupcakes. yes, i realize i went on about how much i don't care for pumpkin, but these are special.

i had a little extra pumpkin puree, so i decided to make a small batch of gluten free cupcakes for my aunt. she seemed pretty pleased with them, especially since every dessert on the table was non-gluten-free, so she couldn't have any.

how awesome am i, trying to think of others and their special circumstances. i did this before as well. i made gluten free biscuits. i'll have to think of something for christmas.

yay. we visited my grandma and uncle earlier in the day, and then came to my aunt and uncles (which is the picture above). like i said, i was glad to have a less stressful day than usual.

once we got home, we tried to go to sleep for a couple hours. i think i slept for like 3, but ron didnt sleep at all, i dont think. then we went to carousel mall (or destiny usa for you young'ns out there), and did a little black friday shopping before i had to go to work. it was surprisingly quiet early in the morning, but considering a lot of stores were open at like 4pm on thanksgiving day, a lot of the crazies were already gone. we didnt really see any super sales worthy of noting, either, but it was nice to be able to afford clothes and get some new shirts. that will last me a while.

(my aunt and uncle have a lot of cats. this is three of like nine or something.)

so, i got some new shirts, went off to work the slowest black friday ever, then worked some more at job 2, and got sent home early, thankfully, to get some much needed rest after a super long day.

went to work twice on saturday too, but it was also kind of slow all day long. i really hope any dumb rumors i've heard will not be true, and gamestop will not be opening on thanksgiving next year.

a couple days before thanksgiving, on like tuesday or something, i ordered a bunch of stuff online for chirstmas, too. kohls was having their black friday sale early, so i got some super cheap stuff, including my awesome waffle iron. best $8 ever. since in the middle of typing, i was busy burning bacon. i made waffles this morning. every place i cook bacon, i make smoke alarms go off. that's just how i roll.

so yeah. my shopping is like 95% done. just have to make a few things, and my treats, and i'll be good to go.

i love the internet. it makes everything so easy.

so sunday, of course i had to work again. another uneventful day, considering the weekend was over. mostly cleaning up at work, waiting for the day to end. my secret date was a success, i think. i had ron drive me to work, so he came to pick me up at 6:30. we went across the way to this local place called the limestone grille. it was really quiet there, but that's okay. it was pretty nice. a little expensive, but that's why i had a $25 coupon thing from restaurant.com, and that came from my rite aid rewards. look at me go.

 

dessert selfie! yeah. i don't really know, either.

so after that, i had gotten a pass for lights on the lake a few weeks ago, so we drove out to liverpool for that. for those of you who know it, sure, its kind of a kids thing, but it was kind of fun.

you can always find something to joke about, kind of like these trees that looked like they were raining blood.

 

yay!

yeah. i know. i'll give up. regardless, it was a nice end to the weekend after black friday, and all of the car troubles and whatnot. which will hopefully get cleared up on tuesday or wednesday. if not, i am going to freak out on someone.

so the weekend is over, i started making my throw pillows to replace the other ones that are all gross. i need a piece for my sewing machine so i can start my t-shirt blanket.  hopefully i can get one at the craft store, but we will see. i want to put up my christmas decorations, too. my friend keeps sending me snapchats of her cats eating christmas things. i guess i will end it here for now. we will see what i have on wednesday. i have to work both tomorrow and wednesday, so i am not sure what i will be able to get done. have a good week, and thanks for reading!