SATURDAY DECEMBER 13, 2014

Twelve drummers drumming ...

Good day! It's a chilly willy start to our day! Mark was awake early and put a log on last night's fire as the coals were still warm. Lovely!

We finished Christmas shopping today! Hooray. Then, regular chores around the house were completed, I wrote a few Christmas cards, (not many this year), and wrapped a couple of gifts. More wrapping in the coming week! 

Just after lunch Mark and I went to Bill Bryan Kia to look at the Sorento SUV. After much haggling, tearing up paperwork, walking out the door, and badgering, we made (what we think) was a good deal and drove home 7 hours later in our new Kia Sorento AWD.  Ho ho ho what did we just do?! (Our Buick was making scary front end noises ... too expensive for us to diagnose.)

So, this is our new ride! We're excited! It handles beautifully, has all the bells and whistles, and is quiet and comfortable. 

Randy and Dawn arrived about 7 o'clock over for pizza night. Poor Robbie was home all afternoon although uncle Lew came over to take him out! 

Sue held another garage sale today and raked in more than $350 for Shih Tzu rescue. Very nice! It was a job well done. 

Tomorrow, Mark and I must read our new owners manual! The Kia hooks up to our smart phones; diagnoses and sets appointments. Whatever. Haha. It smells NEW.  

How was your Saturday? 

FRIDAY DECEMBER 12 2014

13 days til Christmas!!!

Good morning! It's a fine day for baking Christmas cookies with Dawn. Plans were to make the muddle here except our propane tank was low and delivery delayed til next week ... so, we loaded up and went to Randy's. 

Before we began, Dawn opened the flour and dusted herself ... and the mess began. LOL

Randy had fun laughing at us ... and couldn't stay out of the kitchen. Haha. 

I made mince tarts and shortbread cookies ... 

Dawn made these beautiful Christmasy-looking treats. The entire house smelled like peppermint!

Randy felt the need to show us how to work the fire extinguisher. LOL. We sure had fun. 

After lunch of turkey sandwiches hot from the panini and homemade vegetable soup, we had a glass of wine. A big heron landed on the dock in our view and Randy said, "Hey, that bird has ricks hair do!" Well that got us all laughing, and then discussing that we should invite them to join us for Christmas dinner! So, we made a phone call and Randy offer that they could park their RV in his driveway! Perfect. It's all set!

Now, back at home, we have a lovely fire going and Mark cooked chicken and veggies for dinner. Life is good. 

Sue phone this evening to say they were getting ready for tomorrow's garage sale. This one will also benefit Shih Tzu rescue!

That's it for tonight. Ta ta. 

THURSDAY DECEMBER 11 2014

14 days til Christmas!!!

Good morning from sunny Central Florida. Mark went to the Ocala Forest early! I'm being lazy this morning, but will go and finish my Christmas shopping today. I hope!

This evening, is my Yaya's ugly Christmas sweater party. One lady in our group was upset as Christmas sweaters were meant to be beautiful. Well, some of them were ... but there were plenty of tacky ones too!  Haha. 

The party was a blast. There were 15 of us ... lots of Chili, cookies, wine and laughs. We had a Chinese auction gift exchange! I wound up with a super cute decorative stuffed moose!!! It was fun!

Mark's niece, Olivia, looks radiant with her boyfriend Derek Hobson, a Marine. 

Mark's sister Marcy would be proud of what a lovely girl Olivia is!

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10, 2014

15 days til Christmas!

Hahaha. (As you may know, I'm not an "Elf on the Shelf" fan. He's just creepy!)

Good (early) morning, again. 

LOL. This is how I felt, so I got up and watched "Castle", read Facebook updates, sent a funny email to two golfer friends and drank a Sunkist Diet Orange. Then, at 6 o'clock I went back to bed til 10. What a strange sleep habit I have right now. LOL

So, about 11 I rolled the dough and made some very good mince tarts! Finally. 

No, I wasn't drinking while baking ... those are the glasses I used to cut the tart bottom and the liquor flute for the tops. Cool eh? 

Randy stopped in for a visit and was warmly greeted by Robbie! He had a coffee and tested one of the tarts! (Good apparently!) I helped him order Dawn a Christmas present online. I can't say more than that as sometimes Dawn reads the blog. Haha. 

This evening we decided on Stavros for dinner. Shrimp Scampi for moi and Spaghetti/Meatballs for Mark. On our way home we got a call that our Maggie's ashes were in so we went straight away and picked her up. They're in a velvet bag and a lovely locking wooden box with name plate. We're glad to have her with us. (It's a little closure for us.)

Tonight warranted an extra glass of wine and some recorded TV shows. 

PERFECT PASTRY (I hope!)

Bake according to your pie or tart recipe. 

The clear glass I used for the tart bottoms and the red fluted glass for the tops. Voilà. 

TUESDAY DECEMBER 9, 2014

16 days til Christmas!!!

Good morning from sunny Central Florida! It was cool overnight ... but warmed up nicely; 57° now and 70 later. Paradise, again. LOL

I was up at 5:30 (old habit I guess) and coaxed Robbie to go for a little walk. It was perfectly quiet; he was about to do his business when Lew, across the street, opened his garage door. (That's not unusual for a Marine to be up early! LOL.) He stepped outside and hollered "Where are you going?"  Well, it was hilarious as Alice, two doors away, answered, before I could, "I think I'm going crazy!!! Want to come with me???" You never know who you're going to meet in the dark! Haha. 

Mark decided it was a wonderful morning for more tree butchering. When I went grocery shopping at 10:15, ours and our neighbor's driveway was littered with branches! If you want to keep a man busy all you have to do is buy him a chainsaw. LOL. We'll have plenty of firewood for years!

He's up there ... and the rope is attached to our truck; Lew was in the truck as ground crew. Nice to have help!

Sue sent me this cute picture of three adopted Shih Tzus belonging to the gal Who helped her with the garage sale. 

Last night, Sue and Wayne met Dawn and Randy, plus Sue and Greg for dinner at Umberto's. Randy ordered a bloody Caesar, extra spicy. The waiter must have had something on for Randy as he delivered the drink with a pink umbrella in it. Ha ha ha. 

Of course, everyone thought it hilarious. It's a good thing Randy has a good sense of humor!

A Facebook pal posted this beautiful picture of the beach today. I love the colors captured. 

I can't believe surfers aren't in the picture!

Speaking of Facebook ...

Oh boy! That's so true! Haha. 

This afternoon I made a pie crust dough for another round of mince tarts. Tomorrow I'll roll it and see if it's going to bake up nice and flakey. We'll see!

Hope your Tuesday was grand! 

MONDAY DECEMBER 8 2014

17 days til Christmas!!!

Good morning. It's a new day ... phone calls to make ... mince tarts to bake ... anything to keep us from moping about. 

Randy and Dawn enjoyed Dave Giannone's house party ... with 400 guests! Now THAT'S a party! They stayed with friends Greg and Sue in Pompano Beach and on Sunday attended the Toys for Tots Bike Run in Markham Park and had FUN!

Dawn and Randy at Mickey's in Pompano Beach ... a favorite with the biker crowd. 

Dawn, Sue & Greg B and Randy. Cheers! 

Sue K had Rose's help again for Sunday's garage sale. True to form, the second day didn't compare with sales from the first day; a measly $60. Blah. That's a lot of work for $60. Just saying.  Now comes the tidy-up chore. In all they raised over $550 for Shih Tzu Rescue! Well done!

Last night, Mark and I opened a fresh bottle of Crown Royal and toasted to our sweet girl Maggie ... "Our Princess". We appreciated the heartfelt messages from friends online and phone calls from family. It helps to know others care. We have nice people to surround us and share our lives. Thank you all. 

On a lighter note, this is proof I WAS in the kitchen today! Haha. 

That's me and my $20 rolling pin. (There's a great story about the rolling pin!)

The mince tarts are a bit heavy though! I may try again with a different flour; a pastry flour if I can find such a thing here in the "South"! Mom used to say baking didn't turn out well in Florida because of the darn flour. 

Late afternoon Mark and Robbie had a snooze; its that kind of day. LOL

Cute, huh?

Ta ta. Tomorrow is another chance to get it right. Hang in there (as we used to say)!  LOL