What Did You Get for Christmas?

So . . . what did y'all get for Christmas?

I've noticed that the older I get the less I want, or need, for Christmas. If I really need something, I just buy it. But then again, I'm fairly low maintenance and, now that I don't have an expensive hobby (owning a horse), I don't buy much of anything.

And I hate shopping, which means the hubs usually tells me to go buy some clothes when I need something for a special occasion, or because he was tired of seeing me wear the same thing over and over again.

So, what does a IT geek get his spouse?

A new computer, of course!

Here's my old one:

The actual computer is the black box on the left of the 24" monitor.

 

 

This computer is in the base of the 27" touchscreen monitor.

 

 

This computer also has Windows 8, so I'm experiencing a bit of a learning curve, along with figuring out the new low profile keyboard.

 

I like the look of the computer, very lean and sleek, but my fingers haven't figured out the keyboard yet. I have to stretch my right pinkie finger a little differently to hit the backspace key instead of the equals sign.

 

I also got a new pair of walking shoes . . . which have put holes on my heels. The blisters burst and started bleeding. Guess they won't accept bloody shoes at the return desk. I'll just have to break my feet in.

 

I also got a wicked looking knife from Williams-Sonoma. It looks like it will be a great chopping knife once I start cooking again. I haven't been cooking because I have a refrigerator full of food that needs to be eaten first!

 

This week I intend to do a little updating on my blog. I'll change a few things around and link the Weighty Wednesday and Foodie Friday blogs to the tabs.

 

I'll also be working on my goals for the year. Remember, goals not resolutions. Resolutions tend to get broken, while goals give you something to strive for!

 

Later, Peeps! 

Downloading the Camera

Last week sometime I downloaded the good camera, as opposed to the cell phone camera or the kidlet's Nikon "Snap-n-Go" Camera.

This is the camera that we usually forget to take with us because it's big, bulky, and it makes it hard to ride rides camera.

And I discovered some interesting pictures on it.

My kidlet's 12th Birthday--ready to eat out at Flemings Steakhouse.

Thanksgiving

Kidlet reading to her second cousin, Olivia

In my traditional location, making gravy

My nephew Matthieu who made the desserts under my watchful eye.



Christmas





 Just down the stairs

I had bought these fuzzy penguin jammies for the kidlet, unbeknownst to me, she also bought a set for me!

 

 

The kidlet in her favorite location!

 

 

And now we fast forward eight months . . . to CANADA

 

 Canada's highway from Calgary into Banff National Park

 

 Lake Louise.

Lake Louise, chilly mornings warm afternoons

 

Moraine Lake

The crowd level in Banff National Park was HUGE. Gorgeous weather plus a three-day Canadian weekend, plus the last weekend before school started equaled monstrous crowds. The previous day they had Moraine Lake road blocked off and people were parking on both sides of the little two-lane road that led from Canada's highway up to Chateau Lake Louise. 

 This picture doesn't do justice to the crowds. A very nice man took our picture.

 Because everyone should have a picture of a yellow mushroom

and moss growing on a tree stump.

 

A pretty little creek

 

 

Johnston Canyon

 I think this was the lower falls, though we hiked to the upper falls, their were a few inconsiderate people taking photo after photo after photo of the falls . . . while a HUGE line (20+ people) built up on the narrow catwalk

Walking down from the Upper Falls in Johnston Canyon

 

Banff

We stayed here. Not my picture, but the sun was better than the one I took. The angle of the sun washed everything out. 

 Waldhaus Restaurant and Pub. We ate our first poutine at this pub. Yummy! Poutine is French fries, cheese curds with gravy. We also had bratwurst on ours.

 Climbing Tunnel Mountain. This mountain is right in the middle of the town of Banff. It's a relatively quick climb with some amazing views.

Tunnel mountain view of Banff Springs Hotel

 

 See? I actually got the hubs to climb up to the top with me!

 

View of the golf course and I think this is Spray River.

 

Hoodoos--A side trip

 

 These next few pictures are from the marsh trail near the Cave and Basin National Park.

We took only a couple of pictures because every time you stopped mosquitos attacked . . . marsh, yanno.

 The 'basin' in the Cave and Basin Park. People used to come up here for the medicinal heated water.

 Let's just say that it's very aromatic, reminding you of what Hell would smell like, very sulfuric.

While hubs was at his meetings, I hiked a few places alone. I did hike the Spray River Trail, but it was very flat, very boring, and very secluded. I didn't have a bear bell or bear spray, so I cut my hike short when I started to feel a little too isolated. That day I only hiked six miles.

The day I hiked Sulfur Mountain, I managed 10 miles. My Weight Watchers ActivLink didn't award me very many points because I wasn't walking fast enough . . . stupid thing can't calculate VERTICAL miles. Yeah, I was walking slow because I was walking up 2300 feet!

 

Sulfur Mountain

 Info and warning about elk and bears

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proof that I actually WALKED up the mountain as opposed to riding the gondola

 Gondola coming up the mountain. Light tannish building is the gondola station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Pretty changing colors the higher I climbed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting gnarled tree roots, and deer chewed tree trunk. 

 

 

A typical cut-back in the trail. It doesn't show how loose and uneven the trail really is. Easy to climb, but I slipped about four times on the way down.  

 At the top. Bow River Valley

 Proof that I was there. To the left of Bow River is Tunnel Mountain with the Banff Springs Hotel near the base. That was the starting point of my walk up Sulfur Mountain. Tunnel Mountain seemed like a tough climb, but this vantage point makes it seem like a pimple of a hill!

Wildest animal in the wilderness . . . a chipmunk.

Gorgeous waterfall. I took a picture of a really nice couple at this point.

 

 

And that's about it for today!

 

Later, Peeps!  



Returning to Reality

Christmas is all wrapped up--literally. All my Christmas stuff is lovingly packed away and shoved into the tiny crawl space we call an attic. It took me longer to pack everything than it did to unpack. I dusted everything, mended broken items and shattered a couple more, and cleaned the seriously tarnished silver ornaments. No, I didn't think about cleaning them BEFORE I hung them up--remember, I have 'help' hanging the Christmas stuff and I didn't have a chance to even look at the ornaments before they were whisked away and hung on the tree.

Our household is reverting back to normal.

And today is the last day of vacation. Yes, I'm secretly doing the Snoopy dance at the thought of the big/little kid going back to work/school tomorrow. I can settle down in the quiet and start editing TROLL. My goal is to have it finished by the end of January.

Routine is my friend.

The fridge has enough food to last two weeks. I won't even need to cook!

I managed to finish off my Haribo gummi bears yesterday, so they won't tempt me while I try to get back on my weight loss track.

My goals are written and posted. And I even managed to start and finish one of my friend's books on my Kindle yesterday. It was a cozy mystery. It was okay. I figured it out from the get-go, but as a debut book it was a fun read.

I'll leave you with this picture of what has been the norm around my house this week. The children are playing Rayman on the Wii. They are really enjoying it. I think it ranks up there with Mario Galaxy 1 & 2.

Yes, the hubby has an animal pelt warming his legs . . . Her name is Maggie.  :-P

Later, Peeps!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2011

We decided Santa needed something a little stronger than milk to get him through his deliveries, so we gave him a shot of Bailey's Caramel . . . and it looks like it made him a little loopy.

--'cause I can see him stuck in the tree!!

. . . with the Abominable Snowman from Rudolph coming down to get him! Oh, no!

Er, yes, this is another I Spy exercise.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

WISHING YOU AND YOURS A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SAFE HOLIDAY SEASON!

LOVE AND PEACE,

MARGARET

From Reading to Candy Making

Sorry, I'm a little late today.  Originally I was going to compare two authors, but I started reading another book and my thoughts about those previous authors flew out of the sieve that is my brain in December. Though I might write about it later.  Okay, I'll be the first to admit that the 1992 Mary Balogh book, A CHRISTMAS PROMISE is supreme!!  I bawled my eyes out, clutched the book to my chest and sighed.  That's what romance writing is all about! 

I decided for the good of all to take off the month of December.  My poor little mind is chocked full so much extraneous information that it would be counter-productive to try to write--though I would if I had a contract deadline hanging over my head.

I don't.  So I won't write.

I don't know about y'all, but I have Christmas decorating, shopping, wrapping and making candy on my mind.

Speaking of making candy.  I decided what I was going to make this year--and yes, it will be less than I made the last few years.  I pulled out my order slips from the previous years and checked them to see how much chocolate I need to order.  I order Merkens chocolate from Country Kitchen SweetArt.  Merkens chocolate is already tempered and it has a good flavor and texture.  It's the best stuff out there if you ask me.  The problem is that the prices have seriously increased for a pound of chocolate.  In 2006, it was $2.95 per pound.  In 2007-2009, it was $3.25 per pound.  And this year, $3.60 per pound.  *ouch*

So this year, I'm making peanut brittle, turtles and an Old English Toffee made with pecans.  These I'll bag up separately and then put them in a clear Christmas bag.  I had bought these bags over the years and haven't used them, so this year is the year to use up the supplies I already have.

Then comes the filled candies.  Last year, I had bought the wrong sized boxes, 1/2 lb size instead of the 1 lb size.  We ended up buying tins at Hobby Lobby, since it was too late to order the boxes.  Oops.  Which means I have 30 1/2 lb boxes sitting in the box with my candy molds.  These boxes hold maybe 8 candies without crowding.  Which means, I'm only making 8 filled candies . . . from a list of 18 truffle and caramel fillings that I've invented.

I immediately scrubbed my caramels. Not that I don't like caramels--I do--and I'm the Queen of having the perfect color on my caramels, but because they are a little more temperamental when filling the candies.  They are a little more liquid and when I put the chocolate bottom on the candies--the chocolate is heavier and it sinks into the caramel.  Temperamental.

I think I have the list of truffles that I want to make.  The first four are made with white chocolate and the last four are with a milk chocolate base.

Lime Gimlet
Limoncello
Chambord
Peppermint Schnapps

Black Forest (w/kirshwasser)
Whiskey Toffee
Grand Marnier

Now, I'm having a problem figuring out my last flavor and need your help.  Should I make:

Rum Raisin
Frangelico
Amaretto

Please comment and let me know which one sounds the most interesting.

Thanks!