Christmas Cookie Baking

This weekend I started baking cookies. Only two different kinds were completed. I will work on 2 other today or tomorrow after work. Every year this is a tradition for me...no matter how busy or how tired I am....or I'll tell myself, "I'm not doing it this year"...something happens and I end up doing them. Only because I LOVE my peanut blossoms. So does my family. Peanut Blossoms are peanut butter cookies with a Chocolate kiss stuck in the middle. My mom made these cookies as I grew up and they were my favorite then. It's definitely a Christmas tradition in our house to have these around during the holidays.

This year I documented preparing them. I couldn't help myself! Only because I love my camera and I wanted to share with all of you.

So....here we go.

First off I had to unwrap what felt like a Bi-jillion Chocolate kisses. This year I tripled the recipe and wanted to insure I had enough of these unwrapped. Turned out, I was only 4 unwrapped kisses short. Not bad for a guess.



Next putting all the ingredients together to mix up. This step included, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, milk, shortening, vanilla and of course PEANUT BUTTER!!!



Then add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix all together!



Once mixed and all of the ingredients are blended together, roll them up into balls, roll in sugar, place on baking sheet.



Bake for 8 minutes, pull out of oven and strategically place a single chocolate candy kiss in the middle. This part is fun as it defines the cookie!



Bake for an additional 6 - 7 minutes and WHA-LA....yummy cookies! And the house smelled great too!



HAVE A YUMMY CHRISTMAS!!!

FINALLY - the Tree is up!

For some reason, I was having a heck of a time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. It may have something to do with starting a new job on December 1, which involves developing a new company image, company mission, new pipeline.......or maybe I was in denial that it was already Christmas. But late yesterday afternoon it finally hit me. I was going to get my tree up no matter what. And guess what? Once I got that dang tree up, the Christmas spirit finally came to me. There is something to be said about twinkling lights and putting up ornaments that come out once a year that bring back some great memories. Over the years I've saved the ornaments that the kids have made throughout preschool and school. Other ornaments have special meaning too. Actually every single one of them do. And every year I make an effort to buy a new ornament with special meaning to develop new memories.

Here are a few of my favorites....although, it's hard to pick favorites, because as I am sitting here typing this, I am thinking of others tucked away that didn't make the tree. Believe me I have boxes of this stuff!

Kevin made this in elementary school. Unfortunately this does not have a year on it, but I'm guessing it's early elementary school. ;-)



I remember buying this one at the Robinson's Christmas store in the mall. It's a little known fact that my husband likes carousel horses and I put this on a present as decoration for him. I had the words, "I love you" put on the back side of the horse.



This ornament was given to my oldest Son Michael in 1994 from his Daycare providor "Weezie". "Weezie" who's real name is Louise took care of Michael full-time while I was off overseas in Desert Storm.



I remember picking this ornament up 5 years ago at the Hallmark shop in the mall when Roxy was a puppy. I love this little guy!



John's mom made this ornament along with 3 others. 1 for each member of our family. She made these even before she moved out here to California. In fact the one pictured below was for Kevin when he was a baby.

Quote of the Day - Dec 3, 2009

Action is the foundational key to all success.

- Pablo Picasso

Quote of the Day - Dec 2, 2009

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

- C. S. Lewis

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dude aka Deet da dee checking out the view from Phone Booth Hill


As is our annual tradition for close to the last 10 years, we are enjoying Thanksgiving out in the Desert. This year will be the biggest crowd yet. We are pot lucking with 28- 34 people from our Salton Sea Neighborhood. We've been emailing each other for the past 2 weeks on who is going to bring what. How many Turkey's we'll have here and I think we're going to have 28 pumpkin pies. ;) Everyone is bringing their favorite family dish or dishes. We'll be sharing Sweet potatoes, Stuffing, Scalloped Corn, Brussels sprouts and pearled onions with White Sauce. I will also be cooking a turkey. But mine will be for the sole purpose of Turkey sandwiches over the couple of days. That's the best part of Thanksgiving right? The leftovers!



The phone booth is on top of one of the highest "plateaus" in Truckhaven. The views from up here are AMAZING

We've been out here since last Sunday in the Desert. We went on a ride to the phone booth day before yesterday. We took Dude and Roxy with us. We let them off leash to run down the hill from the booth and Dude aka Deet da dee gave everyone a good laugh. He has NO experience with Sand and wasn't sure what to make of it. He was leaping, spinning, taking two paws at once to get the sand out of his eyes.....but then he would leap down a hill and just prance in pure joy. He absolutely LOVED it. Dogs are amazing how much they make you smile.



The gang all up on Phone Booth Hill.

Yesterday was a down day where we ran into Indio to the grocery store to get last minute items for the BIG dinner. Then baked pies, sat around and talked, watched a movie. I also went on a mini ride with the teenage boys. What a blast! The only part that bothered me was the dust. But I quickly got over that. Always a great feeling to be out!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!! I will post some pictures from our big dinner.



Roxy LOVES the desert!

Disneyland AND California Adventure

I have to admit, I am blessed that I live in Southern California. There is SO much to do here. We live an hour and a half south of Disneyland. I haven't been to Disneyland or California Adventure in close to 7 years. So when I found out that Veterans day is a holiday at my job and that Kevin had the day off from school and football practice, we took advantage of this and went north. Kevin also invited his girlfriend Cierra to join us.

I went to Vons the night before and picked up the 1 day park hopper passes for us. These allowed for us to go back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure as much as we wanted too. Plus having the passes in hand mean't that we didn't have to wait in line for tickets there. We started off at Disneyland, rode Space Mountain, Star Tours, Splash Mountain and Matterhorn (in that order). We then went over to California Adventure and had lunch, then went on California Screamin, Soaring over California, Tower of Terror, back to California Screamin, then back to Tower of Terror. Then we went back across the way to Disneyland. Boy did Disneyland pack up BIG time while we were at California Adventure. We were headed for the Castle when Kevin and Cierra found two fast passes for Indiana Jones on the Bridge and the window of time that was slotted on the fast passes was that very moment. So they went on the ride. I watched the parade in honor of the veterans.

To cap off our fun day, we stopped at Fuddruckers on the way home in Lake Forest and had some yummy burgers.

I did not carry the Nikon camera around with me, instead I brought the Canon Powershot. Which is small and compact. I am including a couple of my favorite photos.

Cierra and Kevin got a little wet on Splash Mountain.


So I took a picture of the picture that was posted after the ride.


This picture just cracks me up. And it was PURE luck that I was able to get such a good shot. This was on the Matterhorn and I was sitting in front of Kevin and Cierra and just happened to hold the camera behind me and click....of course check out the faces I got.


Another picture of a picture. This is Tower of Terror in California Adventure. Our 2nd time on the ride that day and Kevin and I decided to pose. Cierra decided to hold on for dear life. We're in the last row on the right. That ride is great! So much fun! The big guy sitting next to me, said that was the first ride that ever lifted him out of his seat...and he was a BIG guy!

Quote of the Day - Nov 5, 2009

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.

- Robert C. Gallagher

Halloween 2009

This year was a fun Halloween. There are quite a few of us that bought houses out by the Salton Sea and we are all neighbors out there. It's a lot of fun and an escape to go out there and be with your friends and just relax, ride, eat, watch movies, whatever your heart desires.

This past weekend, one of our Salton Sea Neighbors threw a Halloween party. My husband and I had a blast! The theme was 70's Halloween. Greg set up a dance floor on the lot next to his house. A few of his friends had the wagon train circle with their trailers around it. The disco light was strung up over the dance floor and Debbie and Marion brought some fantastic Halloween deco to finish off the look.

First, one of Greg's friends took the kids around the neighborhood for a hay ride to go trick or treating. They hauled in a pretty good load of candy.


Then we all returned to Greg's house for a potluck dinner. Very very yummy potluck dinner. Then, the dancing! At 11:30 Debbie duz Karaoke came over and we sang some tunes till about 1. What a GREAT time. Greg you can throw a party!!



Greg and JD



Paulette and JD (yup he shaved his beard off. I'm still getting used to it)



Check out Disco Granny! What a hottie! aka Debbie!



Paige and "Vietnam" vet Justin

Red neck hillbillies stopped by too!

Orange Glen High School Football

This is my 2nd attempt at creating a video with pictures. This time with the random pictures I took during the early part of the 2009 Orange Glen Patriot Football season.

Go down to my "pink" playlist on the right side, press the pause button so that you can enjoy the music associated with the video below.

Enjoy!

Our "roots"

As I sit on the couch here I can see out of our back slider window door down into the back yard and to John's shop. We have a back road that goes to his shop from the main road, and then a side driveway that goes through past the house to the street above, that takes you back out the main road.

This is looking down towards John's shop with is located in the right side.


So this past Saturday morning, I had an interesting experience. I was sitting here on the couch reading the paper, talking to Kevin (John had left earlier for the desert house that day) when Roxy and Dude aka Deet da dee starting barking at someone down on the back road. From time to time we will see folks down there, but mostly the neighbors walking their dog. This time is was a woman jogging (she was in her mid 30's) and I had never seen her before. She jogged down the back road and came up our driveway and stopped in front of John's shop. She starts walking around looking at the back yard.

Of course I get up and go out the deck and ask her if there was something I can help her with.

She responds, that her grandparents used to live here in the 70's and that she was in town for her High School Reunion from Arizona. Her parents lived over the hill and that she jogged over this way to check out the house.



Looking up at our house from John's shop

We talked for about 10 minutes. I think she felt a bit weird being approached...but of course I had to ask her the questions about what our house used to look like.

Back then, in place of John's shop, there were Avocado trees. There were also apricot, plum and fig trees. The deck was here, but the stairs went down on the other side. The back door to my office was there, but it was a dirt floor and just a storage area. She described to a 'T' the layout of the house upstairs. So nothing had changed inside.

Our house was built in 1968, we moved in during the late 90's. You always wonder about the history of your house, who lived here, what kind of people were they.

I'm sad she didn't stay long (she wasn't the talkative type of lady) Plus I wasn't prepared for all the questions I wanted to ask. Now of course, I can think of all sorts of questions.

I know a few years back when I went back to Canada to visit, I did the same thing. I stopped by a house I used to live in. It is an amazing experience.



One of the houses I grew up in, located in Canada. This house was built in the late 1800's. When I lived here the house was painted white and there were fields all around it. I almost didn't recognize the house because of all the trees that have grown around it

To see a house 20 years later and how much has changed. The ladies that lived there invited me to come in and see it. So I got to see my old bedroom, which seemed a lot smaller then I remember.



My old bedroom. My bed was in the exact same place

Our old Shed room was converted into a family room and in the living room they pulled up a big throw rug to show us the painted black wood floor. Which I was able to share that piece of history with them. My folks were hippies back then and they had some "interesting" parties. But I do remember them painting the wood floor back then. These women were able to strip the floor down on the outside but put a large throw rug down to cover the remainder of it.

It's interesting how we always will go back to our roots.

The boys and I with the family that lives at the house I grew up in now.

Last Home Football Game of the Season

So every chapter must come to an end and we turn the page to start the new chapter. Tonight is the end of the chapter for home football games at Orange Glen for 2009. Kevin is a Senior, so this will be our last home game as parents at Orange Glen.

I love home games. I love being up in the stands watching the boys warm up on the field, the music blaring from the speakers, watching everybody arrive for the big game, the national anthem and the student tunnel for the football team to run through. Just the excitement of it all is a blast.

As a parent, I will miss being able to watch my son as a participant in all of these festivities as a football player at Orange Glen. I will also mention that we have made some GREAT memories and the better part is that we have made some incredible lifelong friends as a result.



We have two more away games after the home game tonight for regular season. But I will say I can't wait for what the future holds for us and for Kevin. Let's live to enjoy every moment now and savor it all!






GO PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!

Quote of the Day - Oct 21, 2009

A mistake is simply another way of doing things.

- Katharine Graham

My weekend top 10 to do, REVIEWED

I made a list Saturday morning of things I wanted to do this weekend, but shouldn't have because I needed to clean the house. Well..........let's review

1. Take Roxy and Dude aka deet da dee for a nice walk. (this is already not sounding so good since it's supposed to get in the high 90's today) I can just see my little furry friends panting after the first 10 minutes.
Roxy and Dude aka Deet da dee did get to go out and take a walk this weekend. Took them on Sunday when it wasn't so hot.

2. Go Geocaching. I haven't done this in AGES. It's always so fun to discover new areas of San Diego via this hobby.
Wasn't in the cards for this weekend. :-(

3. Go to the movies. This one is pretty dangerous, only because it might just happen. I haven't been to the movies in what seems like forever. And that "Couples Retreat" looks like it might be fun to watch. And an afternoon movie is a nice break.
YUP! late afternoon on Saturday, went with a girlfriend. And I watched Couples Retreat. Pretty good movie!

4. Re-organize my bedroom closet. Yeah, yeah, this one kinda goes with cleaning the house. But, this is a whole separate project where I can go in, determine what I really don't wear anymore, get the old stuff into bags to drop off at Amvets...and then of course the closet seems empty and guess what?
NOPE! I wasn't 100% this weekend and I could totally see myself starting the project and halfway through taking a nap and not wanting to finish.

5. Go clothes shopping! Find fresh new stuff for work and play. My husband calls this sport shopping. But I do have to look good for my job right? Then I can stop at the MAC counter at Nordstrom and get more base that I am almost out of. And of course stop by Brighton and get that bracelet that I really really want.
NOPE, so proud of myself on this one. ;-)

6. My Son Kevin and I can have quality time and go into his room with a pick axe and chisel to find the floor again. The kid is 17 years old. So from what I understand, the state of his room is normal behavior. I'm just so afraid to go in there and find some critter family living in the corner or better yet maybe the floor has given way and there is some sort of new civilization living under the house that is living off of the leftover Gatorade, Pringles and Pizza Rolls.
NOPE. Although....Kev and I did have a bit of quality time. We both made a trip to Walgreens together. Since we were both feeling a little under the weather, we stocked up on Cough drops, medicene and various other "things"

7. Go to TARGET!!! I love love loooovvvvveeee Target! I go in there, grab a shopping cart and I can be in there for a couple of hours just going up and down every single solitary aisle in there. Finding the endcaps with all the bargain close out stuff is a bonus. Shouldn't everybody stock up on Evergreen scented Renuzit?
NOoooooooooooo.......Sadly Target will have to wait for another weekend.


8. My husband went away to desert house this weekend. I LOVE our desert house. SO tempting to pack up and go out there this afternoon and join him. But, with the lingering cold and the mere fact that it's just him and the "guys" out there this weekend, it's probably a good idea to hang back here and get my freaking house cleaned.
HECK NO! They would have sent me right back home!

9. Go Antique shopping. I really enjoy wandering around antique stores. Finding cool stuff for gifts or for decorating the house.
NO :-(

10. And finally, number 10......Get into my little red Convertible and go for a joy ride. Where to? I don't know. Maybe to Target? Naw.....remember it's a "little" red convertible. How about the mall? Possibly. Or...I could grab that 17 year old kid of mine and take him out for lunch or dinner. Force him to talk to me and watch him just be all out miserable. All because he would rather be home playing "Call of duty" with his online buddies or some other random thing that 17 year old boys do.
So I did take the little red convertible out this weekend. But I drove it to the movies and then back home. I love that car!

Absolutely nothing planned but to clean my house!

It's Saturday, I didn't sleep well last night, I'm still suffering from the after effects of a nasty cold and I'm craving Kraft Mac n Cheese in the worst way! (thanks to a facebook post by my friend Mike Garafola on the east coast!) Apparently Kraft Mac n Cheese is on sale in New Jersey. 5 boxes for 2 bux! I love just making a big bowl of that yumminess!

So, I have absolutely nothing planned today but to get off of my hiney and get my house back in order. To me, that is pure bliss. My only problem, is that I have to stay focused enough to get the major stuff done. You know, like laundry, picking up stuff, vacuuming and doing dishes. Cuz when I have a free day with nothing planned, I tend to stray from them every now and then.

Aside from cleaning my house, here is my top 10 list of things I would like to do today on my day with nothing planned:

1. Take Roxy and Dude aka deet da dee for a nice walk. (this is already not sounding so good since it's supposed to get in the high 90's today) I can just see my little furry friends panting after the first 10 minutes.

2. Go Geocaching. I haven't done this in AGES. It's always so fun to discover new areas of San Diego via this hobby.

3. Go to the movies. This one is pretty dangerous, only because it might just happen. I haven't been to the movies in what seems like forever. And that "Couples Retreat" looks like it might be fun to watch. And an afternoon movie is a nice break.

4. Re-organize my bedroom closet. Yeah, yeah, this one kinda goes with cleaning the house. But, this is a whole separate project where I can go in, determine what I really don't wear anymore, get the old stuff into bags to drop off at Amvets...and then of course the closet seems empty and guess what?



5. Go clothes shopping! Find fresh new stuff for work and play. My husband calls this sport shopping. But I do have to look good for my job right? Then I can stop at the MAC counter at Nordstrom and get more base that I am almost out of. And of course stop by Brighton and get that bracelet that I really really want.

6. My Son Kevin and I can have quality time and go into his room with a pick axe and chisel to find the floor again. The kid is 17 years old. So from what I understand, the state of his room is normal behavior. I'm just so afraid to go in there and find some critter family living in the corner or better yet maybe the floor has given way and there is some sort of new civilization living under the house that is living off of the leftover Gatorade, Pringles and Pizza Rolls.

7. Go to TARGET!!! I love love loooovvvvveeee Target! I go in there, grab a shopping cart and I can be in there for a couple of hours just going up and down every single solitary aisle in there. Finding the endcaps with all the bargain close out stuff is a bonus. Shouldn't everybody stock up on Evergreen scented Renuzit?



8. My husband went away to desert house this weekend. I LOVE our desert house. SO tempting to pack up and go out there this afternoon and join him. But, with the lingering cold and the mere fact that it's just him and the "guys" out there this weekend, it's probably a good idea to hang back here and get my freaking house cleaned.

9. Go Antique shopping. I really enjoy wandering around antique stores. Finding cool stuff for gifts or for decorating the house.



10. And finally, number 10......Get into my little red Convertible and go for a joy ride. Where to? I don't know. Maybe to Target? Naw.....remember it's a "little" red convertible. How about the mall? Possibly. Or...I could grab that 17 year old kid of mine and take him out for lunch or dinner. Force him to talk to me and watch him just be all out miserable. All because he would rather be home playing "Call of duty" with his online buddies or some other random thing that 17 year old boys do.

So with that, I am going to sign off, think about getting up and getting a load of laundry going. Blow my nose. Empty the dishwasher. Hack up a hairball. Pick up the junk in the living room. Blow my nose. Take a nap. Wake up from violent coughing attack. Do another load of laundry. I hate being sick.

Happy Weekend!

My Baby Blue Cruiser

This past September 28th I celebrated my birthday and 18th wedding anniversary. Yes, I got married on my birthday. The reason??? All because my brother was in town from England. He was in the Air Force and that was the only Saturday he would be in town. And in my mind, you had to get married on a Saturday. So, for my 18th Annibirthday as my husband calls it, he gave me an Electra Baby Blue Hawaiin themed bicycle. It's awesome, it's got white wall tires, it's a 3 speed and I went and got it even more "pimped" out this past Saturday. I bought Streamers for the handles...and of course I had to buy the handles to match the seat. I got a wicker basket and a ding-a-ling bell.



Roxy, my 12 lb Jack Russell LOVES riding in the basket of the bike while I am riding. Dude aka deet da dee...I tried putting him in, he freaked out and jumped out of the basket, with all of his legs going in different directions. That poor dog just doesn't have all his brain cells in place. But he's a lover.

I took the bike out the desert house this weekend and that will be it's new home. Our house is located in Salton City and it's pretty level out there. (at least I thought so) and it's a perfect cruiser bike riding area. Just riding to visit our friends out there is great. I can just hop on the bike and go.

So with it being the first weekend out there I discovered that it's not completely level and there is a bit of an incline as you head west. It's perfect and it's a good workout. (I'm really out of shape) My butt is sore....it's not used to the seat. I guess it's time to shrink my butt as well. ;-) The bike will help accomplish that.

Lovin' my bicycle...it reminds me of when I was a kid. I used the love the freedom that my bike brought me. I could go all sorts of places.

I've really got to name my bike. I've named all my cars. The Jeep is Nelly, red car is Wanda and Infiniti is Mable. I might just name the bike Lilo....since it's a Hawaiin theme....it seems appropriate.

We'll be headed back out to the desert house this weekend...and I'm looking forward to some more riding around the neighborhood!

Football Quote of the day - Oct 8, 2009

Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling.

- Vince Lombardi



Go Orange Glen Patriots!!!

Quote of the Day - Oct 8, 2009

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.

- A. A. Milne

Anybody Remember?

So I was driving up to Orange County today and before getting on the 73, I looked to the left and when I looked it triggered a memory. I remembered being a kid and see the sign for the Lion Country Safari. Did anybody ever go there when you were little? For those of you who don't know what Lion Country Safari was here is the description from Wikipedia ( LOVE Wikepedia!)

Lion Country Safari was founded in 1967 by a group of South African and British entrepreneurs who wished to provide a safari experience for families who would not normally be able to experience it. The park originally exhibited only lions.

Between 1967 and 1974, Lion Country Safari, Inc. opened 6 animal parks, one near each of the following American cities: West Palm Beach, Florida; Los Angeles, California; Dallas, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Richmond, Virginia.

The first park, in South Florida, is the only Lion Country Safari still in operation. At one time there were parks in Irvine, California (1970-1984); Grand Prairie, Texas (1971-1992); Stockbridge, Georgia; Mason, Ohio (1974-1993) and Doswell, Virginia (1974-1993).


The whole purpose of the park was that you could drive your personal vehicle right there among the animals. I remember visiting Lion Country Safari when I lived in Canada as I was growing up. Our school would do field trips there. See? I don't see why Wikipedia doesn't mention the one in Canada...hold up...gotta look....YUP....it was in Hamilton, Ontario! Anyways (I know, I know....no such word) We would do field trips there when I was in 1st grade, 2nd Grade and 3rd grade. Memories include a lion jumping up on the hood of the bus and all of us kids FREAKING out. But the best part was always the monkey's......they would look in the windows.....go up to the antenna and just shake the dickens out of it. Sadly I never got to visit the Safari in Irvine. I think my folks were to afraid of their car getting scratched, who knows? But everytime we would drive north to Los Angeles, I always saw the sign.

It's funny what you remember and how your memory is triggered by just looking at certain areas.....but that one came up and I just had to google it.

Again, just random thoughts from Paulette. ;-)

Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.

- Vince Lombardi

Com' on Orange Glen Patriots! Let's make it 5 and 0 tonight!