WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR

I hope you have had a wonderful

2019!

If, like some of us,

your 2019 

was less than perfect,

I hope that 

2020

brings us health and happiness.

See you on a more regular basis

SOON!

Love to all my blogging friends~

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I want to wish

each and every one of you

a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

You all are the reason

I continue to blog.

Thank you for your friendship.

Thank you for your visits.

Thank you for your comments.

But most of all-

Thank you for being YOU!

I will be taking a break over the holidays

to spend time with family.

I hope all of you have

SOMEONE WONDERFUL

in your life to spend the holidays with-

a family member (or several),

a sweetheart, a spouse,

or even a friend that you love.

God bless you & Merry Christmas.

I will see you all after the first

of the year.

I don't know where the tree image is from-

it is off of Pinterest.

If it is your image-

thank you so much!

SOCKS & MITTENS TO WRAP AT THE LAST MINUTE?

You know how there

are mundane things like

SOCKS 

that need to be wrapped?

And sometimes

you don't want to just

stick them in box

with a bow on it.

Right?
With a little extra work
you can make a really
CUTE SOCK PRESENTATION!

I shared this idea two or three years ago
but thought it is worth a repeat
with wrapping season upon us.

Look! Here's a peek!

Want to know how I did it?

Here we go~

First you must get a sock..

well, make it a pair because

one sock won't work for

MOST people.

How about something like

these-

Cute, huh?

Then you must find some of

those short peppermint sticks.

You can buy them
or just chew the hook off candy canes.

Then let the

peppermint stick

SNEAK UP ON

the SOCK!

Before you can say

Alla-ka-zam-whoheebobster-helloworld

that peppermint stick

has jumped into the sock

and worked its way down

into the toe.

Can you see it there?

I've pinched it to make it stay

and now I am gonna roll

that little sucker up

into what I like to call

THE SOCK ROLL.

Well, GREAT, we have a

SOCK ROLL.

Now~ what the heck do we do with that?

Welllllll....

There's another kinda roll

lying around my house

cuz I've been saving them.

Used toilet paper rolls.

No..No..Not used toilet paper..

Used up empty rolls.

They look like this when they are naked.

Don't worry about that little bit of

white tissue left-you won't see it soon.

Find some foil based wrapping paper.

Foil works best because you can

bend the edges down and you

don't have to glue/tape it

unless you want to go tape crazy.

Wrap the foil paper around

that roll leaving about 1/3"

extending over each end.

Simply bend the paper down

so that it overlaps the edge of the roll.

You will not see this when it is

done but you can glue/tape it 

if you like.

Then..

Sneak up on those socks and

stuff them in the roll.

A roll in a roll.

I'm just keeping myself rolling here!;>)

Remember you won't see this at the end.

Then, take some sweet tissue paper

and cut an 18" x 18" piece~

or thereabouts.

Starting at one end,

roll that baby up and then

twist the ends so that it

looks like a big old fat

piece of taffy.

Laffy Taffy!

Now is that cute, or what?

I only need to tie a bit of ribbon

around the twist and I'm done.

And, when it's unwrapped

they will see the shiny foil roll

and NOT this..

Cuz the only place we

REALLY want to see THAT

is in the bathroom....

And we don't even really want

to see it here because that

would mean that someone

like MyHero..

not pointing fingers here but it

has happened

has used the last piece on

the roll

 and neglected to replace

it and there is none to be found

making me want to scream

bad words...naughty words...

Right-

Now get rolling and wrapping

cuz it's DECEMBER and 

Christmas Is Coming!

And I'll just say a little prayer for you

to have to go to the bathroom

a whole lotta times

(if you need empty rolls

to wrap your socks)

cuz I am just nice like that!;>)

Have fun getting going--

You're welcome!

USE THOSE BEAUTIFUL CARD BOXES AS GIFTS (WITH A TWIST)

I have done a post about this before

but I wanted to do it again

just in case you need a

Little sumthin/sumthin to take along

to give as a little gift.

AND you can use those beautiful boxes

that Christmas cards come in---

you know the ones that are so pretty

you don't want to throw them out.

Here is a use for them.

It's the sweetest little gift ever!

This is 

THE EASIEST HOMEMADE

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

ever.

I wish I could tell you where

I got the recipe but I can't remember.

Here's how to take the box below
and turn it into a 

special gift.

Don't you hate to throw them away

because they have such pretty

"faces"?

They make wonderful little

Candy Boxes.

Open the box and line it with tin foil.

Butter the tin foil.

Then make this:

EASY PEASY PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

In pan over medium heat melt

2 sticks of butter

When melted stir in 

1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy.

Like this.

Stir in one teaspoon REAL vanilla.

Add 3 cups CONFECTIONERY SUGAR

(not granulated)

(That old tin scoop belonged to my Mom-Good Housekeeping 1954)

I beat it quickly with a hand mixer

(it sets up fast) 

and then pour it into the 

buttered foil lined box.

Put it in the fridge to harden

and as soon as it sets up

lift it out and wrap it in 

parchment paper,

then wrap it with a piece

of ribbon and place it

back in the box.

 I pick up odd knives all year here and there
and include one in each box.
Or you can buy real knives at
Wallyworld for about 59 cents each.

The fudge stays fresh
until they cut it.

Put the lid on and it presents

like this when opened.

 Recipe:

SMOOTH AND EASY

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

2 sticks butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups confectionery sugar

In saucepan:

Melt butter

Stir in peanut butter and vanilla.

Use hand mixer (or mix by hand)
and quickly

mix sugar in. It sets up fast.

Place in tinfoil lined box and

set in fridge until hard.

This is the smoothest peanut

butter candy I have ever made.

This recipe makes two card boxes 

full OR 1 8x8 buttered pan.

It's quick, easy and just
a sweet little surprise.

Save a few pieces for your friends.

 Let them eat this while you sip

black coffee or diet Coke.

Remember...

The fatter THEY get the 

THINNER YOU LOOK

next to them!

It's nice to have some

HEALTHY SNACKS 

this time of year, too.

Have a GREAT DAY...

I will be finishing up a couple of 

Christmas gifts tonight and then

I AM DONE!!!-
Well, except for cooking, baking, washing, ironing, cleaning, scrubbing,disinfecting,
need I go on?????

CALGON--TAKE ME AWAY...

for all of you youngsters...

that is an old ad for relaxing 

in a bathtub!

(which I used to do while floating a

plastic bowl of M&Ms in the tub

while four kids were screaming

outside the door)...

now THOSE were the days!!!!

Happy Tuesday!!!

PICK YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TABLE-RESULTS

WOW!

What the What?

I thought that I could

put together this post in a 

few minutes...lol..

WRONG-O

Seriously~

What is WRONG with you people?

You all leave me such fun comments

and I want to repost them all--

but I can't.

So, I will get right to it and only

make a few

snide complimentary weird comments

as I seat you at your table.

First, I want to tell you that I will be bringing

Laurie (Where The Spruce Trees Grow)

to each of your tables to visit.

She will be the one holding my arm,

because she has been very open about

being blind now and needing some help

finding her seat--er....chair.

Anyway, when you see her-

shove over and make room, m'kay?

Here were your choices~

Plus I had to Add #10

for all the whiners that insisted on plaid.

Seating is as such:

Table #1-Naturally Lovely

Tom!(yay-he picked a table this time), Vee, Tete, Patti, Dolly, Lorrie-(requested NO puddlegums-look it up-lol). Jane, Penny, Tessa, Melanie, Krishna, Mxdoxis,  Cecilia, Dewena & Carolyn.

Table#2-Jewels Galore

Ma, Linda/LaCarte, Rose, Carla, Lorraine(paid me a lovely compliment-I can see I have HER fooled), Pam & Linda/Fairy Blogmother

Table #3-Simply Red

Kathy (didn't like ANY of them but settled on this one) 

Sandi(but prefers plaid-as you will see-she moved), Debra, Jack & Sherry(our travelers), Happy, Sally, Jan/LowCarb, Terri D, Michelle, Saimi, Kim, LaTane, Jan Edmonds, DebbieDabble, and last, but not least,

Woody(Hey!  We suckered another guy in)!

#4-Perfect Pear Tree

A small, but wonderful group-

bobbi, Suz, Racheld, Cindy,

Marilyn, Ellen, Lisa K & Laura

#5-A Dearly Loved Table

Jenn(whined for plaid & moved when I posted it),

Theresa, Dawn, Carol (didn't like any of them-lol), Sandra(insists on an END seat-Liked 10 better but thought the chairs looked uncomfortable), Cindy/Creations, Keshakeke, Jo, Shelia, Julie,

Jenny-(the Pirate or Nomad-never know who she is going to show up as), Judy & Ellen(loves the vintage color)

#6-Grapefruits, Lemons & Oranges-Oh My!

Henny, Kay G, Nellie (is bringing a casserole)

and then we have THIS ONE:

Missy-Number one or is it number six? I really don’t want you to go to any trouble .. I can’t eat in the kitchen if I’m coming to your house.. I really appreciate the invite. I guess I better get serious about picking this table.. I have to take a second look. Hold on a minute.

I think I’m going to take number six. Number one looks like it has a lot of dirt on it. I’m sure you’ll have something to say about that. 

She also added that she COULD eat in the kitchen in a 2nd comment)  I don't need to say a thing-she did it for me.

#7-Starlight-Starbright

Vonda, Ann, Deserae, Sylvia,

Lisa M & this THIS ONE:

DJ-OK. This is so not easy. At first, I wanted #2 because you know...purple and teal. BUT then I saw #4. But then I realized that the cups and the tree decor didn't match. So that is totally out of the question. However, I did notice that at #7 the paper chain looked very much like dollar bills instead of just paper. So I am leaning toward that table. Because..money. If all this is too much trouble, just put me at the table with the guy that always brings the drinks. Maybe you could talk him into sitting at #7 and we can count the money while we eat.

So, Ron is sitting here-too-like it or lump it.

#8-Seeing Red & A Bit Of Blue

Jettie, LJK/Lauren, Sandi/DandelionTea,

Adam, Jeanie and

Louise(Insists on sitting by the fireplace)

#9-Sprigs & Bells

Kris, bj(and her date is Johnny Depp-don't ask-but apparently she has dumped Ron), 

Diane, Fran, Susan Kane, Bless,

Doris, Rita, Linda/ItsyBitsy, Akasha,

(Buildmeup/Buttercup-sorry can't resist)

#10-PLAID FOR THE WHINERS

LV (NOT one of the whiners), 

Mevely(moved from Table#3),

Sandi/RoseChintz(also moved from Table#3).

Connie, Debby Ray. Terri S(said the plates take her breath away-hoping it's not an asthma attack-not funny-I know- give it up-you came here looking for abuse and I give it-no whining),

Lisa, Jenn-(MOVING tables-will bring pies to make up), Phyllis, Sheri/RedRose

and CHERI-(this is PART of what she said-Well, this is certainly hard!!!!! I thought about #4 because I love the green glasses (which I have my husband's grandmother's antique ones like them)....but the Pear Tree really isn't my thing!!!! Then I thought about #8 because RED is my favorite color...but it's maybe a little TOO RED. So I went with #10 because I love the plaid and it's more "homey"...I'm not a formal type of person! 

So-there you have it!

Another successful seating arrangement.

Now, I KNOW I surely forgot someone

so PLEASE let me know if I forgot you.

Some of you email me or leave your choice on FB so I hope I got all of you.

If not-SPEAK UP!

Off to watch 

The Packers

play some football.

Making chicken and wild rice soup

and started Zicam for the first time.

I will let you know how THAT goes.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR PLAYING ALONG!

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon.

Back in a couple of days with

more nonsense!

SHAUGHNESSY

WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR FRIEND LAURIE-WHERE THE SPRUCE TREES GROW

I have followed

Laurie 

since she started blogging,

I think.
Her first blog, as many of you will remember,
was called
In My Dreams I See.

Laurie has had many 

ups & downs over the years.

Many of you know her story,

that she had an accident at

a home she where she was working-

a brain injury.

A brain injury that affected

her eyesight---that most

important sense for an artist.

Her sight has gradually worsened

over the years,
along with a host of other problems
caused by the brain injury.

Now, sadly, her sight has been taken

from her AND to add insult

to injury (literally),

her blog disappeared.

She is back up and running-

of a sort-but is unable

to SEE the pictures

we post.

She will follow along as best she can.

Please Please Please

pop by her blog and 

cover her with 

BLOGGER LOVE.

She will appreciate it

and you will be glad you did it.

The link is:

Where The Spruce Trees Grow

And, if you are so inclined,
say a little prayer that she
is able to deal with this
adjustment in her life.

Thank you all so much!

I will be back in a day or so 

with the results of

Pick Your Favorite Christmas Table.