Worst Blogger Ever Returns

Hey there!  Yes, it has been 2 full weeks since I last posted anything.  Yes, I do realize I am in the Worst Blogger Ever category.  But, I have been really busy.  For reals.

My sweet little Rachel Pie is home and we have been busy staying up damn near all night long playing cards, drinking tea, drinking eggnog, crocheting, watching Christmas movies, you know, the usual.

Plus there have been many days of trudging through the grocery store to get everything we need to make:

A. Chex Party Mix.  It is not the holidays around here without tons and tons of Chex Party Mix. My s-i-l and I both make it and we go through that stuff like there's no tomorrow.

B. Tamales.  Tamales are a traditional thing to make for Christmas eve and we really try to make good ones and have enough to get through New Year's.

C. Christmas candy and treats to pass out to the neighbors.

D. Regular meals during all of this holiday shenanigans.

Now about the candy, let me tell you this, I got the recipe from the blog of someone else, and since I haven't asked her permission to send you over there, I won't do that just yet.  But if she tells me "yes, please send your 5 readers over here" I will do just that.  I got the recipe she calls Crock Pot Candy and thought it seemed like a really fun idea.  So I bought all the ingredients and did as it told me to layer them up in the crock pot and leave them for 3 hours.  DO NOT TOUCH OR STIR FOR THREE HOURS! And then you stir it all up and drop by spoonfulls into little miniature cupcake papers to set up.

I left it the requisite 3 hours and went in to find a 2 inch thick wall all the way around the inside of the crock pot of burnt all the way to charcoal mess.  It was horrendous.  You have never smelled anything so gross.  Not to mention it took days to soak, scrub and chisel that crap out of the crock pot and try to get rid of the burnt smell.

I got a few more ingredients and tried again.  I'm so brave, right?

This time I checked it after 1 hour and it was almost ready.  After 1 1/2 hours it was perfect.  My crock pot must run really hot in the low heat button.  I don't know what's up with it.  But half the time was just right for my crock pot.  I guess crock pots are like microwaves in that they are each a bit different and quirky.

So Rachel Pie and I got all the little shiny gold and silver papers ready and dropped all the ooey gooey goodness in to them and I added some crushed peppermint on top for festiveness.  We packaged these in little tins with gold tissue paper and passed them out to the neighbors.  And within an hour of returning home several of them had called to say how much they loved the candy.  Now I don't know about you, but when people come calling with treats I tend to put them on the holiday table to serve along with all my other goodies.  I don't generally open the package and scarf them down right there at the door.  But that is what they seemed to do, and they all loved them.  New recipe to add to the holiday repetoire.

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary.  Can you believe that?  Mr. Big Ed and I are officially old farts if we are that damn old.

Here's something else you aren't going to believe!  (Lisa Pie's blog, where you come to find the unbelieveable and be astounded)  Mr. Big Ed is known far and wide by his lack of the shopping and gifting gene.  The man just doesn't like to shop and is oblivious to gifts, getting or receiving.  It has taken a lot of years for him to get to the point where he is today.

In fairness, it has taken me a lot of years to learn to tone it down when gifting to him, because his not wanting a lot of stuff and a lot of fuss made over him is not a character flaw.

So when we exchanged our anniversary gifts, I almost fell out of my chair when I opened the box to find a 36 inch strand of Tahitian black pearls.

I'll just let that sentence stand alone and let that thought soak in.  Pearl is the traditional gift for 30 year anniversary.  Black pearls are one of the things that would be on my bucket list of things to acquire.

I may have toned down my gift giving just a tad too much, since all I got him was a cute little thing to heat up his towels for after the shower.  I am not saying it's a crap gift, but next to black pearls?  It didn't look all that awesome.  I hope he enjoys it as much as I will enjoy those pearls!

28 years and counting

28 years ago today Mr. Big Ed and I got hitched. We had dated for 2 years, been engaged for 1 year and now 31 years later here we are. Talk about staying power! He and I seem to be loaded with it. : )

I would love to share some photos with you of exciting times through the years, but since I got this new computer I have absolutely NO CLUE how to get photos or clip art or any other non-clipped art on here. And since it has been Christmas time and I have been swamped, and I mean swamped I have not sat down here and figured out how to do this on my lovely new 24 inch iMac that I really do love. If either of the two readers I have know how to do this and feel like sending me DETAILED step by step instructions, by all means, feel free to do so. I would greatly appreciate it.

Yesterday was Christmas day and we spent a wonderful day with just the 4 of us. I appreciated it all the more knowing we may not have any more of those. The kids are getting older and will soon acquire partners, kids, etc. They may even contemplate moving away from us and then we won't have them here for every single holiday celebration. So yeah, I am aware of this and I really did appreciate that they chose to spend the day with us. That was my best present.

Back to our anniversary: way back in 2001 (aught-one for you old-timers) we had a big really nice, swanky affair for our family to celebrate with us on our 20th. I know, 25th is more traditional. But it was 2001, and Sept. 11th had just happened, we were living in Mexico City, and had no idea when or if we would ever live close to family again to celebrate with them, so we chose to do it up right on our 20th instead. It was a good time. I did enjoy that shin-dig. And I have no desire to do another one of those. Maybe by the time we get to 40 or 50?

So, in case you have been keeping track; I have my birthday, Christmas and anniversary all in a 3 week period. If it weren't for Mother's Day in May, I would only be gifted in one month of each year!!