What a way to celebrate Christmas Eve..

I have done something to my back. Actually, it must’ve happened a couple of days ago because that’s when the trouble actually began. There was some improvement yesterday, so I’m not sure if I’ve done something else between then and now or perhaps the weather is playing a role in the pain right now. Either way, I’m sore. Sitting up is the only position (right now) that isn’t bothering me. I’m really hoping it starts to ease off soon. I have a lot chores to do today - cleaning our room from top to bottom, preparing cookie doughs and cooking my homemade macaroni and cheese, all of this for our Christmas dinner tomorrow. Colleen has offered to help me with all of this (gasp). I appreciate that a lot, though I was surprised she offered to help.

I really hope the weather improves soon. It’s really nasty looking outside right now. There’s still about a foot of snow on the ground, plus it’s been raining for a few hours. It looks like we’re going to get more snow tomorrow. It’s really nice getting that whole “white Christmas” thing for the second year in a row. I hate the slush it leaves behind but I love the “pretty” it creates when it’s falling and sticks!

It just hit me.. this time tomorrow I’ll be testing out my new camera! WOOOOOOOO! CAN.NOT.WAIT.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas!

It’s true that this is one of my favorite times of the year, like many people. I really enjoy catching up with relatives that I only see a few times a year (if that) and the whole “giving” thing. The only thing that frustrates me about this time of year is when I realize just how broke I’ve made myself after it’s all been said and done. Of course that would never make me wish to do things any differently, it just makes me want to be more creative when it comes to savings next time around.

Thankfully I’ve stumbled onto a great little internet find, My Savings, where you can find all sorts of things all year long like; Coupon Codes (printed or for online) to many of your favorite stores, Free Samples of your favorite products like food, makeup and baby products, and you will find even more deals in their blog - just click on the link “Articles” in the top tool tab. Heck, you can even find Grocery Coupons that will help save you money each time you do your grocery shopping. The best part (other than the great deals and savings provided) is that you can find all of these great deals, free samples and coupons all year long and not just around the holidays.

So you’ve just realized just how much money you’ve spent in the last couple of months or even weeks in preparation for the holidays. Isn’t it nice to know that you have just learned about a great site that offers so many ways for you to save in the future? I know I am!

To learn more about My Savings and all the savings-goodness, visit them at Mysavings.com. You can thank me later, go on and check it out.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so before I forget I wanted to wish all of you Happy Holidays. I hope the holidays are wonderful to each of you!

It’s so hard to believe it’s this time of year. It honestly feels like yesterday that Jo and I were on our way to Newfoundland for the first time since we married! That “time goes faster as you get older” really is true, isn’t it?

Anyway, this is a little something I did for all of you.

The NO-MIXER required sugar cookies; aka Sugar Rush - a family recipe.

1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of butter, softened - equivalent to 1 stick
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
2 and 3/4 cups of flour

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Preheat your oven to 325ºF.

It is important to have your butter at room temperature, so that it is soft enough to work with.

In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter and sugar until smooth. It took me approximately 7 minutes to reach a smooth texture. Once you’ve creamed your butter and sugar, beat in your egg and the vanilla extract. Gradually add the remaining dry ingredients. Once you’ve done this add in the tbsp of milk and continue folding / mixing your cookie dough. For me, I continue folding and molding my dough into a giant ball (which you will see in the photograph below).

Use a spoon or your hands to scoop balls of cookie dough into your hands. I dampen my hands with a little water to help roll them into perfect (or almost) balls before pushing them down slightly on my greased / buttered / baking sprayed cookie sheet. Separate each cookie by about an inch.

If you really want to spruce up these basic sugar cookies, add your favorite sprinkles or frosting. I added sprinkles to mine tonight, which you will see in the photographs below.

Bake for 8-12 minutes - may vary depending on your own ovens.

Yields: 2 dozen

Mmmm, so delicious. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I’ve decided to sell my cooking blog, Withsugarandspice.com. I recently purchased a new blog for this, along with other domestic-like things. I didn’t want to have to keep up with several niche blogs, so that’s what pushed me to sell the first. I haven’t used the old blog in months, though most of that was due to not having a camera. The blog has a Google PR of 2 and has great potential. I really loved the name (still do) when I bought it, so I’m hoping that someone will come along and see this entry and decide they want it.

If you are interested in purchasing this blog, it has about 5 months (maybe 6, I haven’t checked for exact dates) remaining on the domain name and the same for the hosting, which is through Cirtex.com. Just send over an email at helloreese [at] gmail.com and we’ll talk more about it.

Now I’m going to finish making my egg salad, have a sandwich and get back to working on two designs for two of my good friends!

The NO-MIXER required chocolate chip cookie recipe

1/2 cup of butter - equivalent to 1 stick
3/4 cups of regular sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of salt
2 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
1 bag of chocolate chip morsels

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Microwave your butter in a microwave-safe dish. Let cool before adding to your mixture. After all, you don’t want scrambled eggs in your cookie dough.

In a large mixing bowl; mix your dry ingredients (sugars, flour, salt, baking soda). I whisk mine a bit to make sure there aren’t any lumps. Add in your wet ingredients (vanilla extract, butter and eggs). Add in your bag of chocolate chips and start folding the mixture until it resembles cookie dough (photo provided lol). I originally started with my whisk before realizing the dough was going to be too think for it. Whatever works best for you.

I used a spoon to scoop out exact portions of cookie dough, which I then rolled in my [clean] palms. I got best results with damp hands. I used a baking spray to grease the foil on my cookie sheet. Place your balled cookie dough onto the cookie sheet, leaving about an inch in between (on each side) each one. Press slightly on the tops of each ball, just to push them down slightly (photo provided).

Bake at 325�F for 8-12 minutes. This will vary depending on your own oven.

Yields: Approximately 3 dozen cookies

MMMM… I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. I plan to make another batch of them on Christmas Eve day, along with homemade sugar cookies, shortbread cookies and tea filled cookies. We’re planning on having a lot of company beginning on Christmas Eve day, so I figured finger foods would be best and cookies will be fresh for a couple of days!

It’s that time again. The time where I announce the winner of my latest contest, which was just a mini-contest.

Entries came from;

Krississippi
Bloggingaddiction
Ottawagolfblog
Laurawilliamsmusings
Philaahzophy
Vintagegent
Catsandcoupons

Everyone got 2 entries. And the winner is… (more…)

First of all, I just wanted to remind you one last time about my contest, which you can read about here. There’s $20 up for grabs, which will be awarded tomorrow morning. Entering is easy, so be sure you get in before the deadline. No entries will be accepted after 11:59PM EST.

Can you believe this year is almost over? It seems like only yesterday Jo and I were gearing up for our move to Calgary, AB. Though that flame has long since flickered out, I’m really looking forward to the next chapter. Like I mentioned in an earlier entry, I feel like I’ve been moving all around for a long, long time. Though I do enjoy the traveling part and experiencing new places, a part of me is really looking forward to getting a chance to really unwind and settle into a place I can once again call home. Not temporarily. Not for 3 months or 6 months or a year. Something a little more permanent. I thought it would be hard to ever move away from Newfoundland once we got here because I just loved it so much but honestly, I think I’ll be happy to say goodbye - in the sense of living here full time of course. I don’t think I’ll miss it as much when we leave this time, like I did when we left this past January. I could be wrong but right now, I feel safe saying that.

By the way, I just realized that I never posted that chocolate chip cookie recipe here or on my recipe blog. Whoopsy. I’ll get that posted up for you tomorrow. Maybe you can try it out at your Christmas gatherings!

I must go now though. I’ve got a few things I should be working on. All work and no play.. well, not really.

With all the talk Jo and I have been doing about this future move of ours, it’s really put me into “decor” mode. I’ve found myself browsing through internet stores, shopping for little things that will help turn out apartment into our home. You know, just adding a few personal touches around the place so that it doesn’t look so default.

Well, it just so happens that we’ll be needing a lot of curtains in our apartment because the apartments we’ve narrowed it down to have a lot of windows. I remembered browsing around Terry’s fabrics a couple of months ago and loving it. Not only can I shop for curtains, I can also shop for curtain poles and let me tell you, they have a really nice selection of both! I’m actually finding it hard to decide on which poles I would rather have simply because I like so many of them. I really love Antique Brass Liberty. I would love to have this in my own place, especially since I recently created wall art using dried flowers and leaves. That particular pole sort of has the look of a whimsical leaf. Jo says that it’s; elegance with a modern twist.

If you’re looking for affordable, quality curtain poles, Terry’s Fabrics is definitely the place you’ll want to start with. They provide customers with quality that won’t put a dent in their wallets. When you’ve finished shopping for curtain poles, be sure you check out other areas like curtains, rugs, blinds, tiebacks and tassels (to name a few).

I’m really looking forwarded to the whole “decorating” thing, again!

This was a paid review.

Cancer is probably one of the scariest words (for me). Not long ago Jo lost his grandmother to Cancer, which she’d been battling for 10 years. She had actually been diagnosed with 3 different forms of it. Well everyone is just now starting to heal from the loss. A few days ago we found out that his grandfather (on his dad’s side) has just been diagnosed with Cancer again and will have to begin treatments to shrink the tumor down enough that it can be removed with surgery. He’s really not in the best of health so everyone is really concerned that he may not be up for the eventual surgery. I feel so awful for the family. It’s like my mother has always said; when it rains, it pours.

So many people have had loved ones diagnosed with Cancer. Many of those diagnosed lost their battles, such was the case with several of my relatives, Jo’s grandmother, Tammy’s sister Diane and my dear friend Stacey who lost her father earlier this year to Cancer. I honestly don’t think I know a single person who hasn’t had a loved one diagnosed. We just found out about another family friend who was diagnosed with Cancer recently (which has been attributed to years of working around asbestos and inhaling it), who will be undergoing mesothelioma treatment for his Cancer.

Thankfully not everyone that has been diagnosed with Cancer has lost their battles. My cousin Jeff was diagnosed with Leukemia as a child and has been in remission since the age of 8 or 9. My grandmother beat breast cancer. My mother was diagnosed with skin cancer (people wonder why I refuse to be outdoors anytime of year without good sunscreen) but had a minor surgery to remove it.

All of these people, those who are survivors and those who lost their battles, are the reason why our families donate to Cancer research and many of us walk in our local Relay’s For Life.

For Jo’s and Stacey’s family, Christmas is going to be tough this year. This will be their first year minus two very special, amazing people but in my heart, I know these people will always be “here” for all of us because as long as WE remember them.. they live on with us and through us. We’re going to burn a candle all day on December 25th in Jo’s grandmother’s memory.

My mom phoned this past Saturday while they were having their little Christmas shindig. I was so happy to hear her voice, especially since things have gotten so crazy with the holiday happenings for us both. We got to catch up for a bit before she handed the phone off to various relatives but it was only the last 3 that had me nearly to tears (happy, yet sad). The first of those 3 was Tyler. He sounds so grown up now and a piece of me is really sad that he (well, all of them) are growing up and I’m not getting the chance to see it anymore. Photos do not count. The second of those 3 was Landon. He was so excited to talk to me and just went on and on about the DVD he was watching, Goosebumps (I think?). His speech has gotten so much more clear. You can understand nearly every single word. He’s the one who’s partially deaf in both ears. After a few minutes with Landon, the phone was tossed over to the little one, WentWent (Trent). Trent kept saying something about not being able to see me and for the life of me, I couldn’t understand what he meant. After moving on to another topic for a bit, I was finally able to talk back to my mom for a bit. The ones that didn’t take the phone were all in the background sending hellos and I love you’s. It made me very homesick, not that I needed any help with that.

Later on that night Nikki called back. She wanted to tell me that Trent was saying he couldn’t see me in the phone (refer to paragraph above) and also that she’d forgot to tell me about some of the things the kids had been saying / doing. As you probably recall from other entries, my nephews like most kids, saying the silliest things sometimes. Anyway, she was telling me about Landon and Trent getting into an argument the other day and she said they went back and forth a few times before Landon finally told Trent “It’s none of your bibiness” (business). His speech is definitely better but he sometimes struggles with longer words, which was the case this time. Well Nikki said that Trent looked at Landon after he said that and said “Excusseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee me” (exaggerated for you lol). She said she had a horrible time not laughing at them. These are some of the things I hate missing. I love those boys to bits, as if they were my own and I really miss not getting to see them at the drop of a hat.

I have been extremely homesick for the last couple of weeks and at times even depressed. I love living here, don’t get me wrong but there’s honestly only so much drama a person can tolerate. I have tolerated enough, my belly is full. One of the people living in this house with us is driving me bananas. Her extreme highs and extreme lows, along with her horribly rotten attitude is getting the best of the rest of us. I mean, throwing a fit over a freaking belly button ring (her mother refuses to allow her to get one). Yeah, that’s just one of the many things she’s pitched a fit over today. It’s an everyday thing, sometimes multiple times a day. I’m reaching a breaking point, as is Jo (he’s already wishing to move back to Georgia lol).

Anyway. That’s enough of my babbling for today - please excuse my typos, I’m too exhausted to proof read right now. Be sure you check out the entry about my latest contest. You know you’d like an easy $20!

Here goes…

You may enter up to 2 times for this mini-contest. First, write an entry about the contest. The entry can be anywhere from 50 words or more. Your second submission will be through leaving a comment on this entry, leaving a link back to your entry about the contest. That’s it! Easy enough, huh?

The contest will run from today, December 18th until 11:59pm December 20th. I will select the winner Friday morning (December 21st) and make the announcement via a new entry shortly after.

Up for grabs, $20 via PayPal.

It really is that simple!

Are you up for another contest before Christmas? Well then you’ll want to check back here tomorrow. I plan to announce a mini-contest! The prize will be $20 and the task is pretty easy. I will post more about it later tonight or first thing tomorrow (Tuesday) morning!

In other news; the weather is nasty once again. The internet has been going up and down for the last couple of days and when it’s actually up it’s been running as slow as dial-up! We’re hoping that the forecast predicted for the next couple of days will hold up. They’re calling for sunny to partly cloudy skies and very little snow. Here’s hoping!

One of the things I miss about being younger was all the fun that my high school friends and I had on the weekends. I do not mean things like slumber parties. I mean going out to the bowling alley back home - midnight bowling, air hockey and of course, shooting a game of pool. It is funny when I think about those times because when I first started playing pool, I was notorious for knocking the pool balls off of the table. It was never unusual to see people jumping out of the way when it was my shot. LOL. Of course over the years I have gotten a lot better and in the last few years I haven’t sent balls flying off of the table but there have been times when people would clear out from around me because I would get a little too close with my pool stick!

Some of my friends joke and say it is part of my “game”. Sadly it is not, it is just me being silly and clumsy!

I really wish there were a place here in our area where we could go and shoot a game of pool but unfortunately the nearest place for us to do that is about 30 minutes away. Considering how awful the weather has been lately, it will probably be sometime near the end of Winter before we will get the chance to go there. I will try to be patient!

I feel so “blah” lately. I just feel like I have no energy for anything at all. The weather has been keeping us inside a lot lately, with snow, freezing rain, gusty winds and of course cold air. There’s not much room for exercising in this house so most of my working out is done by walking when the weather permits. I really wish we had more space in our bedroom (or anywhere in this house really) because I would really love to invest in some exercise equipment. I think if I could get really good work outs a few days each week I would have tons more energy than I have right now. I also think I would be getting better sleep too. When I was working out 5 days a week regularly, I felt so much better. I never really got tired during the day and slept the whole night through every night, even on the days I didn’t work out.

The only thing I can manage to do on bad weather days is go out to the shed and do weights but most days it’s too cold out there anyway, so I don’t get the chance to even do that as often as I’d like.