It's been years in the making.  Why I have so many unfinished projects I have no idea, but I really need to focus on finishing the projects I've started over the years and never finished.  I am always getting sidetracked - finding something else to do.  Maybe I have A-D-D  Which ADDs up to lots of unfinished projects stuffed in a drawer.  Well, today I made a choice to "try" (being the operative word here) to finish a quilt that I started years ago.  So many years ago, in fact, that I don't even know how many years that is.

Curling up with a good movie, a pillow, and a warm quilt - that is my idea of the perfect New Year's celebration with one exception - it would be perfectly perfect if, however, we had a fire roaring in our fireplace, but since we don't want to burn down our house, candles will have to do - temporarily.  I cannot wait to have our fireplace fixed.  This winter just hasn't been the same without the warmth of the fire and the crackling and the smell.  I love the smell.  I miss the smell.  I don't miss having the fire department show up in an attempt to put out 10 foot flames shooting from our chimney and raining sparks down on our roof.

By Beth Sollars - Singingirl Cooks!

Red and green spotted cookies. I was thinking Christmas, festive, attractive, soft, delish. I came up with this mix for oatmeal cookies, and guess what? You guessed. I snuck in the cardamom again. Oh, they ARE really good. Unfortunately I have posted this after the fact, that being in time to put these colorful cookies on a platter for the guests. But I recommend you try these anytime, right now, tomorrow maybe, and feel good knowing the oats are in there to help lower your cholesterol, and the pistachios are one of the fewest calorie nuts you can eat! 

It's been a rough week.  It started with a scratchy throat, then aches, chills, sweats, then my tonsils kicked in and have been giving me fits.  (Yep, I still have my tonsils).  Yesterday I thought I was starting to feel a bit better then not.  Last night I tossed and turned all night, got some hot tea and raisin toast at 3:30 in the morning, and watched the local news and weather forecast while blowing my nose and rapidly tossing tissues off the side of the bed.  I'm sure you can picture this miserable scenario in your head.  But rather than do that, why don't you just sit back and enjoy my beautiful holiday fireplace decorations.  Aren't they lovely?  Well, except that there is no real fire - yet - unless we want to burn down our house and I don't think we want to tempt fate again until our fireplace is fixed.  So, candles will have to do.  Pretty red ones at that!

We have our KitchenAid Winner! 

Congrats to Brielle #15:

email me at susan@raisin-toast.com to claim your gift.

What one gift are you giving that makes you feel all excited inside?

Brielle wrote:

"This year I am making gifts for my family. I love to quilt and I am making a special lap quilt for each of my 3 siblings and my mother. For the other members of my family I am having special pictures framed and matted for them to hang in their home. I think that handmade gifts and gifts that have thought and emotion behind them are more special than anything I could buy in a store. I want my family to know that I thought about each of them and what would make them happy with every gift I give."
 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday.  May the Lord bless everyone abundantly.

Sometimes you just have to embarrass your friends.  Well, maybe not, but there is one friend who laughs right along with me ... Beth.  Today is her birthday.  She is the only person I know who gets younger every year.  Can you believe she is 21,170 days old?!!!!  Or, somewhere there about.

To read the first part of this family saga - click HERE.

Just before Bob and I got married, he told his parents that he was going to make sure that every day of our life together would be an adventure.  His father waved his hand at us and said "Oh hell, you two haven't even had an argument yet, what do you know about adventure?"  I had been married before, so I knew that marriage wasn't always roses, nor would it be easy, but something inside my gut told me that he was the one.