I hope everyone who celebrates had a great Christmas, or just a great weekend.

We had a great time, except my youngest daughter in law got sick. I hate that for her. They had four parties back to back and ended up unable to go to any of them, and had to cancel another party at their house. I feel so bad for both of them.

Otherwise, we had a good holiday. We went to a big party at Wizard’s brother and sister-in-laws. We enjoyed that, but of course, it’s a bit hard with one brother so recently passed away. However his widow and daughter were there and that made everyone happier. I brought cookie plates as gifts. Here’s a picture of some of them, and a pic of most of the cookies and breads. Wizard posted this online BEFORE all the parties. I just shook my head when I realized what he’d done. So no one was surprised, LOL

2) The most fun for me was Christmas Eve when we went to Middle and his wife’s house. I finally saw their kitchen! I love it so much. I’m just so happy for them. It’s so perfect for their lifestyle, and they waited a long time to get it. As beautiful as it is, it’s also comfortable with a big center island and lots of barstools so people can gather without getting in the cook’s way. They really thought it out.

But the highlight of the night for Turbo was — seeing Santa Clause! So all credit goes to Turbo’s dad, CPA Boy, for arranging and buying everything, then springing it on Wizard so he couldn’t say no. So we got to Middle’s early, and once we knew Turbo and family had arrived, Wizard went into the other room to change into the Santa suit. He had garage access from that room, so he slipped out, came to the door and surprised the heck out of Turbo! Santa then asked everyone in the house what their name was and what they wanted for Christmas. When he asked Turbo, Santa announced that he had a gift for him in his bag, and pulled out a special surprise — a monster truck Turbo really wanted. (Again credit to Turbo’s dad for getting that too!)

Turbo carried that truck around the entire night. He told his dad he was so happy Santa came to see him! Turbo never recognized Grandpa, which did surprise us a little. We’d forgotten that when kids want to believe, they believe. And that’s the magic of childhood

Wizard was so thrilled, and he has a very special memory along with Turbo. It was awesome.

When we opened gifts, we facetimed youngest and his wife so they could see Turbo opening their gifts.

Christmas day we stayed home, both wiped out. We had a nice day together. We also bugged the crap out of youngest son by calling to check on our daughter in law Okay he didn’t really mind, he knows we care. He has a much milder cold-like version of the virus.

How was your holiday, or weekend?

WISHING ALL MY FRIENDS

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

TGIF! Let’s jump right into sharing five random things about our week:

1. It rained Wednesday night and it’s supposed tonight and through today. I also wanted to take Maggie to take cookies to her vet and one other person, but we’ll see. I’ll see how the day goes and adjust as needed. Look at me being an easygoing flexible adult!
2. I’m done with the general baking that I plan to give away. I have a few more things to do for parties, but that should all be manageable. In another episode of Baking Weirdness: I made thumbprint cookies and the ones I filled with raspberry jam came out as expected. The ones I filled with lemon curd — the curd was absorbed into the cookie. It’s the same curd I used for the same recipe last year, so who knows? It’s just been that kind of year   And two fun, new to me, things I made: A version of Thin Mint cookies — I tried one and loved it. And some pretty easy but fun Grinch Cookies that are green. I didn’t try one, but Wizard loved it so I’ll call it a win. I’ll try to get some pictures to post next week.
3. A few days ago,  I had two baking sheets of cookies in a 375 degree oven, and needed to rotate the pans. That went well…I’m fine, I’ve had a lot worse burns. This one isn’t too painful, and thankfully, it’s not really in my way. This was my fault, I was mad at myself for not measuring the butter correctly, and then I destroyed my shoulder trying to fix it, so I was in pain and not being careful. However the pan didn’t “stick” to my skin, more just brushed against it, so I got off easy with this burn!
4. I finally broke down and scheduled a follow-up with the ENT about my throat. The meds haven’t worked yet, but the appointment isn’t until February 5th, so maybe it’ll clear up. This ENT and I don’t mesh well with our communication styles, so I’m going to really attempt to adjust my own style and see how that goes. I’m trying to me a proactive adult
5. We have two family parties Saturday and Sunday. I’m looking forward to those!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend. And that all of you celebrate the holiday with those you love. Merry Christmas!

I’ve been really enjoying IRON WING, the second book in the The Empryean Series. However I’m almost finished and the third one isn’t out yet! I don’t even see it on preorder. I’m sad… and feeling bad for all the times I put readers through that wait, LOLOL.

I feel like I need to maybe read a non-fiction after this to clear my head. Especially with the complex worldbuilding the puts swirling questions in my head. A total change in reading often helps me to mentally file that book away until the third one comes out.

What are you all reading and liking? Do you sometimes find you have to change the type of book you’re reading to clear your head of the book you just finished?

Sorry for the short post, but I’ve mostly been baking and encountering more disappointing results than I’m used to. I’m trying to make too many things, with less than optimal energy and a finicky electric oven. It’s all kind of boring to continually hear about. But we are looking forward to seeing family.

And we’re looking forward to the new year. Last year had a lot of good in it, but a new year feels like clearing the decks a bit. The new year is full of possibilities and there’s a lot of things we’d like to do; some of it is work on the house, and other things are for fun.

So what are you reading? And how do you feel about closing out this year and beginning 2024?

One more week until Christmas! It’s crazy how fast this year is coming to a close. But let’s talk about this last weekend, which was pretty good.

Friday: We went to Turbo’s Christmas play and it was delightful! The kids were all so cute. Then we went to dinner and all had a wonderful time. We just talked, nothing special. The girls and I sat together, Wizard in the middle and and my two sons hogged Turbo sat with Turbo. But I got hugs from him, so I let it slide I so appreciate the lowkey, easy going family dinner in the middle of all the holiday prep!

Saturday: I made cookies and made a mistake of only adding half the butter I’d taken out to one complicated recipe. Long story short, I nearly destroyed my neck, shoulder and down my right side trying to mix the melted butter, chocolate and sugars with the dry ingredients, and that’s when I realized what I’d done. At that point all I could do was melt the rest of the butter and try to fix it. For any bakers out there cringing, I know!! It’s changes the texture of the cookie and it’s wrong! So the cookies are a bit denser and more chewy, more of a mocha brownie texture, than a cookie. Once I got over being mad at myself, I accepted that the cookies may not meet my expectations but they are “good enough.” I was doing other stuff too, but it’s mostly boring — probably as boring as that story

Sunday: I made two doughs and baked one of them. All good, but I got distracted in the middle of one of the doughs when I was measuring the dry ingredients and Wizard came in from an errand. “There are horseback riders behind our house!” I stopped what I was doing, and both of us climbed on chairs like the dorks we are, to look out the window at the riders. There was about six or seven that I could see, and one guy had a kid on the saddle in front of him with a helmet on (I approve!) We watched the horses for a while. We don’t know the riders, but we’re trying to guess if they live up the hill where some ranches are. Anyway, I finally went back to my baking, and could not remember if I’d added the salt I was just ready to add when Wizard came in. I think I did — I hope I did! Have you ever tried to taste flour and baking soda to see if you added the salt??????  I really don’t recommend it, but I decided I had added it and kept going. Fingers crossed I made the right call!

Last night we went to dinner, because I needed a break from anything resembling kitchen duty

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF! We all know what that means — it’s time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Under stupid stuff I do: Wizard was in what we laughingly call our media room (it’s such a joke, we have a small, 25 year old TV in there that we stream stuff on.) I went in to ask him a question, and I faked annoyance at his answer. I said, “This is me stomping out!” Wizard laughed and said, “Let’s see what you’ve got.” So I flung my hair dramatically, turned and stomped right into the doorjamb. Sigh… To his credit, Wizard didn’t laugh, but I did because how could I not?
2. So before we moved, I carefully packed my laptop. Then once we starting unpacking, I couldn’t find it. We were so busy, I didn’t worry about it, but I kept trying to remember if we’d discarded it or not. It bugged me, but weirdly, I don’t think I ever told Wizard I couldn’t find it. But yesterday, like 15 months after we moved in, I found it! I was in the hall closet, looked up and noticed all our computer bags lined up on the shelf. It hit me that I’d packed it safely in it’s travel bag. I think Wizard moved it over himself, and put it in the closet out of the way of the movers to keep it safe. It was so safe, I lost it for 15 months! But I found it eventually! Then once I charged it, I started it up and realized it was still password protected. Long story short, it took wizard and I all day to remember the password we were 100% sure we’d never forget!
3. Trying to bake zucchini bread in my oven is like trying to bake it in a Susie Bake Oven. It doesn’t matter what I did to adjust that recipe I used for decades, including squeezing every gram of water out of the zucchini I could. Also, why do I keep trying the same recipe I know has consistently failed in my oversized Susie Bake Oven? But whatever, the baking goes on, and so far, my oven is working well enough. So my guess is the oven has a grudge against zucchini bread. So far, I’ve made cranberry orange break (it is fine), a new to me recipe of gluten and dairy free red velvet cookies — they seem okay but I’m not a red velvet fan so we’ll see, and I made the dough for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and dairy and gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I’ll bake those two today. Still on my to do list is: Lemon cookies, pistachio nut cookies, chocolate mocha cookies, and thumbprint cookies. I also have an appetizer, roasted potatoes, Mexican rice and two desserts to make for various parties. I should probably make a nice Christmas dinner for Wizard and I too, but we’ll see.
4. One night this week, Wizard went to bed and Maggie thought she heard someone at our door. She quiet-barked the information to me, and then suggested I hurry up and check. To Maggie, this means I put her in a sit, open the door and check. But it was dark and I wasn’t expecting a delivery so I put her in a sit and checked through the peep hole. As I suspected, it was just a delivery truck stopped right in front of our house, but it wasn’t for us. I turned and told her no one was there. She tilted her head at me in the doggy version of: “You can’t see through doors human, you must open it.” Finally she just huffed and walked away, clearly concerned for my mental health. In her defense, she doesn’t know I have a peephole in the door since she’s too short to see it. It cracked me up that she was actually annoyed.
5. Tonight, we are going to see Turbo’s school Christmas play. All but middle son are going, which is awesome. The play is at 3:30 and middle son has a work obligation. After the play, we’re all going to dinner after too. It’s great that we all think the 5 year old child in the family matters enough to stop the stressful holiday prep and enjoy some family time. It’ll be good for us. Also today, I guess I have to finally send out the Christmas cards too since Wizard printed all the labels to help me. I appreciate it even if I didn’t want to send the cars, LOL!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone is able to find some time this weekend for some downtime or do something that helps you relax and regroup. Enjoy the weekend! And remember to stay safe, especially if you’re on the road as there will likely be holiday parties this weekend, some of which will serve alcohol.

Hi guys, it’s me, Maggie! My mom said I could show you what my friends gave me. Shh…my mom and Wizard think it’s for them, but just look at the very special present we found on our front porch!

It’s a rug with a picture of me!! It’s really me! I posed for a pic to show you how much I look like the dog on the rug! Even if Wizard was all hangry or something and said he needs to add gray to it to make it really look like me. He’s probably just jealous because our neighbors gave me a rug.

What do you think, does it look like me?

It sure is great to have nice neighbors (they are the ones who gave us lemons from their very first crop of their lemon tree), and they have two dogs, so obviously they are wonderful people!

Mom said to tell you all Happy Wednesday!