Things I love:

The obvious things I love are my husband and 3 grown kids.  And of course my little yorkies, Sofie and Dakota.  And my extended family and great friends that have come and even gone from my life...but other things I love are:
1.  My KitchenAid!  Love that piece of machinery!  It was a wonderful wedding gift that I have no idea why I waited so long to get.  It is vital to my cooking especially during the holidays when I'm doing so much baking.
2.  My Canon G-11 digital camera!  This is my 4th Canon.  The color and quality is something that I am never disappointed in. 
3.  My Mac!  Without my Mac, you wouldn't be reading this list!  I was no always sold on the way of the Mac but now I am a believer.  This computer is the most stable one I have ever had or worked with.  I have had it for 4 years now and don't even have to knock on wood when I say that it has never, ever, ever, locked up on me and required a hard boot or reset.  Apple has this thing figured out!  And I see more "normal" people using them now so I believe they are becoming more user friendly or people are just getting more savvy....
4.  My iPhone!  Love it!  Couldn't live without it!  Wouldn't want to  live without it!  It is like air to me....

I'm a million percent certain that I'm forgetting something!  I love a lot of things....but this is a start. 

Christmas-Already?

I really can't believe it's less than a week before Christmas!  But, I'll be happy when it's over!  Last night, well, all day yesterday, I baked cut out cookies for Joe to take to some of his vendors and share with other work related people.  Once the cookies were baked (186 of them!) and cooled, I started whipping up some icing and Joe, Gale and I decorated cookies!  I don't think I really want to see any more of these this year.  It was too many.  But, I have to say, after all my years at trying cut out cookies and failing miserably, these are really the best I've had.  The cookies are yummy and the icing is good, too.  And they aren't nearly as difficult as I always thought.  I think where I went wrong in the past was that I was rolling out the dough too thin.  They always fell apart before I could even get them to a cookie sheet.  These though are nice and think and really easy to transfer.  I got the recipe and directions from this link:

  http://www.bakeat350.blogspot.com                                                                                                                                                 Such a valuable source of information and wow!  Gorgeous cookies!  I dream of my cookies looking that good.  For now, as long as they taste good, them I'm ok. 
Well, happy Sunday!  If you still have more shopping to do-have fun! 

WOW! I never thought...

I really never imagined that I would be the creator of  a blog.  Until recently, I wasn't even sure what a blog was!  For a while I have noticed that my daughter's friends don't know a lot about cooking.  I thought that if I could pass on some of what I know and have learned over the years, that it might be helpful to others who really do want to know.  Originally I thought about a very relaxed cooking-type class at my home.  But, just the other day (I swear it was that recent!) it occurred to me that people just don't have time to commit to something like that.  And for my schedule, too---it just makes more sense to try to teach things that I think that people would like to know, here, in a blog.  Be patient with me as I try this out.  It may fail miserably but I am optimistic that I'll "get it" and be able to figure out the practical ways that this will work. 
I really want to focus on basic cooking or kitchen (and even home-type) tasks.  My grandmother taught me so much as a child.  And my mother taught me even more about cooking. But both of us have been guilty of not writing recipes and how-to's down.  This blog will force me to start measuring and making notes so I can pass information on to you!
I am always open to suggestions or ideas about things you'd like to know how to do.  If I don't know the answer, I will always try to find out. 
If you are someone that knows me and you'd like to know a recipe that you have had, please ask me so that I can post my instructions here.  I would love to share!  I have a huge amount of easy recipes.  Easy to make and a lot of times with ingredients that you already have, but recipes that are sure to impress your friends and family. 
I hope you will follow on this journey with me.....come on!  It'll be fun!