Very MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!

I sincerely hope that all of you out there in cyberland have a blessed holiday season. Today I leave you with a song that came to me at just the right time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_6JQDsbtlM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm not much of a celebrator of Valentine's Day. I don't exactly have anything against it, but it's not up on my list of favorite holidays. Nevertheless, I would like to take a moment to reflect...

I love my husband. 12 1/2 years together and 10 1/2 of those married has brought a lot of ups and downs. For better or worse, he is my other half. I love you, baby.

I love my kids. Most of the time I am figuratively drowning in complaining and messes to clean up. It doesn't matter though, not when I get those hugs and smiles and "I wuv you"'s. I L.O.V.E. my kiddos!

I love my family. I am so very fortunate to have many supportive family members. They say you can pick your nose and pick your friends but you can't pick your family. Even if I could, I wouldn't want anyone different.

I love my friends. My friends are some of the most amazing women and men that I could ever imagine sharing my life with.

Ok, I got my warm fuzzies out. Now...who do you love?

Valentine card giveaway!

I am not joking with you. I literally snorted my coffee in an attempt to not spit it out all over my computer screen this morning when I read this. I have to get my hands on this card! :o) This one is my favorite, but there are many more to choose from too. Check out Petit Elefant for the details. Minted is fast becoming my favorite card store.

Have a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

Today will be my last post until after Christmas. I wanted to leave you all with one more of my favorite Christmas songs. :)

Holiday siggies

I love Christmas. It is my favorite time of the year. I have had to restrain myself from making thousands of holiday siggies for myself. Some of my siggies are so much fun, whether I made them or they were made for me that I wanted to share them with all of you. First up is my pride and joy. This is my favorite Christmas siggy mostly because the animation was very difficult to do. Trying to make the same siggy snow and flame was a pain! But I think it turned out nicely and it remains my favorite. : )




Next one up is a great new one that was made for me recently. Graphics can be a blast, especially when you can get Anne to make one for you. Anne is the Community Leader over on Signature Making for Beginners, a great place to get hooked on a very addictive hobby!




For some reason I also love animation in a holiday siggy. It is a great time for falling snow or rotating pictures. Out of my vast collection of Christmas siggies (only a few made the cut for this post) there are just a few without animation.

The pointsetta siggy features one of our favorite picks from our most recent family photo shoot. The next blog post will be featuring all of our favorite shots. There wasn't much added to this siggy, the picture itself was perfection.




Finally we have another one of my siggies that makes me smile every time I see it. This cute girl, a Kate Hanover masterpiece, reminds me of me. If I could find that dress I would SO wear it! A lot...any time of the year. Aren't you glad I don't have a dress like that? Hahaha. So this lady is me in cartoon form. :o)





Which siggy is your favorite?

Celebrate the Day by Relient K, another favorite.

It is just a road map.........

I like to bake and cook but I rarely follow a recipe. I think one time I heard Paula Deen say that "a recipe is like a road map". You can take the interstate (and follow the recipe exactly), but if you take a few detours the trip may just be a lot more interesting and that makes the recipe fit your family.

So when I cook I make some detours here and there. Some of the detours are simple - for instance I do not like bell peppers, so I either leave them out or I substitute hot peppers. Sometimes I come up with something that my family thinks is a real winner. Only once or twice have a made something so inedible that they would not eat it and even them it was not wasted as we fed it to the pigs or the chickens.

A recent winner with my family and friends is Sweet Potato Cookies. They started out as an oatmeal spice cookie recipe from a friend but some additions and deletions they have been reinvented to be Sweet Potato Cookies.

Sweet Potato Cookies

¾ Cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup finely shredded sweet potato, uncooked
4 Tablespoons orange juice concentrate
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups oatmeal
1 cup flaked coconut (I make it a generous cup!)
1 cup chopped pecans

In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugars. Beat in the egg, sweet potato and orange juice concentrate. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Slowly add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Mix in the coconut and pecans until just combined.

Drop by the spoonful 2 inches apart onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until firm. Cool on racks.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we do. If you make some detours of your own I would love to hear about them.

Carol - Wyomingmom

A favorite holiday song, What Child Is This?