Time is running out!
You may have a lot to get done before Christmas, but it is still not too late to put off things you ought to be doing right now and screw around some more.
Read a few blogs.
Check out a message board.
Turn all your family members or co-workers into a chorus line of elves.
Cruise over to YouTube and watch people training their cats to do inane things.
Check your email to see if anyone has sent you any stupid jokes.
Make a virtual version of yourself and try clothes on it at a website with really high prices that you know you can’t afford.
Read other people’s To Do lists and get nothing done from your own.
Bring up your Christmas card labels and take off all the people who didn’t send you a card last year.
Play the ever mind-expanding “Diner Dash” on Gamehouse.com.
Make an M&M of yourself.
Look for your house on Google Earth.
Forward a stupid joke to everyone in your address book.
Repeat.
Again.
While you are in your email program, why not forward the email about jumping toilet seat spiders without checking Snopes for veracity?
Look on Ebay for something you don’t even want and add 8 auctions to your watch list.
Put everybody back on your Christmas list because Christmas should be about giving.
Take the Taylors back off – they might even be dead for all you know, because you haven’t heard from them since 1993.
Peruse job listings for which you have zero qualifications on Monster.
Edit 10 photos of the same snowy hill, taken on 10 different snowy days.
Check your email again.
Spend 40 minutes looking for the lyrics to a song you can’t quite remember enough of to find the lyrics.
Upload a photo of yourself and try on different hairstyles, none of which you have any intention of ever trying on your own head.
Get to bed – it’s late and you have a lot of fooling around to do tomorrow!
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Some really yummy Christmas cookies
I wanted a sugar cookie recipe that used cream cheese and would be somewhat sturdy. I also wanted to create a glaze that would hold sprinkles, jimmies or colored sugar and not melt out in storage, making the cookies all stick together. This is a combination of a couple different ideas and they turned out really well.
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 8 ounce package of low fat cream cheese
1 & 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon peel, powdered or grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 cups unbleached white flour
In large mixing bowl, blend softened butter and cream cheese until combined. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until light in color. Add salt, baking powder and 2 cups of the flour – stir well. Add additional 3 cups flour, one at a time. Divide dough into 3 or 4 parts, form into flattened disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 3 to 4 hours, until very firm. Working with one disk at a time, roll out on floured surface, to about 1/4 inch thick and dipping cutters in flour to prevent dough from sticking, cut out shapes and place on baking sheets, covered with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for about 8 min, till just slightly brown on the bottom, being careful not to get too brown. Cool completely.
Glaze
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
pinch salt
1-2 Tablespoons milk or cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 t vanilla
In small bowl, combine sugar, salt and 1 Tablespoon of the milk. Stir very well and add additional milk a few drops at a time until the mixture does not quite hold a peak. Stir in corn syrup and vanilla.
Dip the surface of the cooled cookies into glaze and shake off excess. Immediately sprinkle tops with decorations. Allow to dry before storing in an airtight container.
Posted in christmas, recipes
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Spicy Chicken Vegetable Soup
This is a very satisfying winter time soup. You can vary the heat, the vegetables
and even the meat to suit your own tastes. Try it with ham sometime too!
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 minced cloves garlic
1 quart chicken stock
1 quart tomato juice
1 tablespoon salt
10 grinds black pepper
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 16 ounce package frozen mixed vegetables
1-2 stalks broccoli, chopped
8-10 cauliflower florets, chopped
3 cups chopped cabbage
1 16 oz can black beans, drained
1 16 oz can red kidney beans, drained
1 16 oz can pinto beans, drained
1/2 lb chicken breasts, cut in small cubes
1 pkg taco shells
In a 5 quart dutch oven, saute onion and celery in oil over medium heat for 5 min, add garlic and cook another minute. Add tomato juice and chicken broth and bring up to a simmer. Add all the seasonings and the mixed vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. [you may use what ever veg in the proportions you prefer] Simmer until vegetables are to your desired degree of doneness – I like them fairly soft, so I let them go about 90 minutes or so. Add beans and bring back up to simmer, Taste and adjust seasonings – I often add more chili powder and cumin at this point, as well as more garlic. Add chicken and simmer 10 min until cooked through. To serve, crumble 1 taco shell in each bowl and ladle in soup. Can be served with grated sharp cheese and sour cream.
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Hunting down the perfect Christmas tree in Virginia
Last week, we went and got our Christmas tree. This past weekend, the tree that will actually be a part of our Christmas day was obtained.
Christmas tree farms in Virginia are a bit tamer than those here in the land of ice and snow. The trees are all in nice neat rows. They are orderly. They are well-behaved. On flat ground. And they have no snow on them.
There are a quite a few of them, so you have to look carefully.
Very carefully
Oh look! A kitty!
A nice friendly kitty.
A kitty that may never have had social interaction with a two year old, like Tux the cat in this picture.
We pet Tux very nicely, but just in case, you want to keep a good hold on his tail, so that he doesn’t get away. It would take a lot of effort to get away though, so usually Tux just hangs out.
This kitty is happy to tag along and help choose the perfect tree.
Even little alien babies like to help find the perfect Christmas tree
You will notice that Jason is using a standard issue saw to get their tree. Not a double-bladed axe like some people we could mention. I’ll bet he would like a double bladed axe, but he is playing it safe and setting a good example, something his father in law no longer feels is necessary. 
Finally, Mark makes sure Jason can get the tree out of the woods. Those trees are pretty heavy, so you need someone to help you out. 
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