Picture-y Post

I have several things I want to share today.
I noticed I have quite the backlog of pictures and I figured they could do a good job of showing what we've been up to.

First off, we are all decorated for Christmas! Now as I have mentioned before, we might STILL be decorated for Christmas in July. But hey, that just means when Thanksgiving rolls around next year we will be done!

O' Christmas Tree...
Which I must admit, I had help with. My amazingly talented friend Heather assisted... She had me buy two dozen lights to add to the "pre-lit-ness"...if I had been calling the shots we woulda just gone with the half lit tree.


And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...not by momma...Heather did this too. See, on the talent front again, she can just look at a pile of tinsel and stuffed snowmen and make it into something pretty. Me? Not so much.


And the other mantle...I will save you the explanation. I had help. Again.


And here are a few other little decorative touches....




We hosted a little Christmas soiree the other night and I tried a few new recipes...thought I'd share the links in case you too had a soiree of your own that you might need a yummy appetizer for!


Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus These were a HUGE hit, I followed the recipe, but also wrapped a small piece of Havarti in there as well!

Mac And Cheese Cups...I wish I had taken a picture, I was quite proud of these...and they were YUMMY! The kids LOVED having them as leftovers the next day! (**I did 2 cups cheddar cheese and one cup mozerella)

I also made a little potato dish, that on paper sounded fabulous...however, it was not a hit, at least in my book. I'll spare you the details!

For dessert I made red velvet cheesecake brownies. Again, no picture.
I made two batches of the icing.
Because I ate the first.
My guests are lucky they got any at all! :)

Finally...I have been doing a little baking. Again, I have a few recipes and one dud.



Peanut Butter Fudge
I use the Jet Puffed marshmallow creme recipe. Substitute the chocolate chips for PB chips...and I never add nuts. Totally ruins it for me.



Hershey's Candy Cane Blossoms
Super easy! And I think you could even use the pre-made cookie dough to save yourself the time, measuring, flour mess, and sanity...

And now for the dud...again, on paper it sounded fabulous. In reality. Not so much.
Pre-baking they looked good...


After baking...


Fail.

And finally, I will leave you with this...
The kids were playing the other day and broke a vase sort of thing I had on an end table.
After resisting giving them a good 'ol fashioned beating I calmed myself and decided to try to salvage the vase.

I contemplated my options and settled on good 'ol super glue.

Luckily it was just in two pieces and so I figured I could totally handle the task.

I diligently applied the glue. And easily pressed the two pieces together.
I did not have a lot of time so I got two pieces of masking tape and put them on either side for a little reinforcement while it dried.
I then sat it on a table in our laundry room.
After an hour or so I figured the super glue had been super and done it's job.

Wellllll, it had been super all right.
Here is where I set it to dry:


And this is where it shall forever remain.

Yep.
It's stuck.
Like glue.

Well, I now must leave you to go check a mouse trap.
More on that later.
It's a post in itself.