Scenes from the past two days....Merry Christmas!

I hate that it's been crazy busy so I've not posted. It's less than an hour until midnight - Christmas Day soon! Wanted to wish everyone a blessed, safe and memorable Christmas. Hoping all has been well, look forward to catching up very soon. The snowman was commissioned for a gift, picked up yesterday.

Celebrated my great nephew's 7th birthday last night before my side of the family's Christmas celebration. Yesterday was a poignant day - would have been my parent's 61st anniversary, would have been my mom's 81st birthday, Dudley came to our home 11 years ago on my parent's 50th anniversary. So blessed that Finn (Finnegan) was born on my mom's birthday....something to keep celebrating! He's into Mario Kart and I had never made a birthday cake for him cause it's so busy this time of year. I've always made his brother's cake in July and this year I was determined to make Finn's!

My niece had the little toy figures for the cake and Finn insisted they ALL were put on and luckily they fit! A joy to do!
We gave him the Mario cap and mustache!

A bit difficult to see but the cracklin' fire with Christmas music on Netflix is actually pretty awesome in our den! Occasionally when I am waiting for something in the oven I get to sit down for a minute and enjoy it!

One of my favorite traditions growing up - Russian tea, made with lemons, oranges, cloves, cinnamon, sugar and of course, tea! Wouldn't be Christmas without it.
Last thing I baked tonight....pecan pie, my favorite pie.

Found this chocolate macaroon recipe in a magazine last year!!!! If you love toasted coconut, you'll love this. Volleygirl has taken this task on....yes!
Been planning this cake to take to my in-laws since I first saw it on a friend's facebook post last summer. A Tuxedo Cake..........chocolate cake layers....very tall!
Icing is just heavy whipping cream with confectioner's sugar.
Just finished it!!!!!!!! Made the glaze after returning home tonight....was nervous it wouldn't turn out right.........love it! The glaze is yummy. Had to find Lyle's Golden Syrup....thankfully did...it's an English syrup. Hope the in-laws like it.

Now, for some more art - BigBoy drew this for his grandmother in color pencil. I had a great gold frame for it and he put it in before I got a photo. That's why you see the white reflections off the glass in the red suit.
Well, I am literally ho-hoed out...to bed, to bed said sleepy head. God bless you all!

Bountiful Blessings

Cooking away, no time to sketch, so posting a sketch from a few years ago. It really doesn't have to be a holiday for me to be thankful to all my friends in the blog world but you are most appreciated and enjoyed. Wishing each and everyone of you a very safe, blessed and Happy Thanksgiving! (even if your country doesn't celebrate it...have an awesome week!)

Weekend Collage and Finding Myself

The biscuits that were baked Saturday morning...part of the gift given to Mr. Unplugged in celebration of our 27th anniversary Saturday. The way to THAT man's heart is through his majesty! Mixing up that Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt cake Saturday afternoon. Dudley was all into helping me in the kitchen this weekend, into everything he could, caught him about to jump in the refrigerator!

The cake with the caramel sea salt glaze....didn't let the glaze cool enough...had to leave for the reunion!

The view of the creek at the reunion location Sunday. Not sure what that white "orb" is in the right of the photo.......perhaps a long gone relative checking in.

Was thrilled to be given information on my ancestry by a couple of my uncles Saturday. I devoured it later when I was home. It is the roots of my maternal grandfather dating back to 1585 in merry ole England, Yorkshire, to be exact. Next to Richmond County, Virginia, little stop in South Carolina then to the county I presently live in, 11 generations. A few tidbits I did not know were in there as well. My brother was given a copy of my paternal grandfather's family, which has a bit of a curve. We knew he was raised by his maternal grandparents because his mother died when he was very young and his dad wasn't around. He took his mother's maiden name at some point.....we should have had a different last name, we always knew that. Apparently, he still had his father's last name as old as 6 years old. I must get a copy of all of this family, love to read history, particularly my own personal one! You know by the time you trace back all the different branches in your family, wow, many different vines there. One uncle shared a list with me of some of the famous persons that could be found in history of just one of those families I am descended from. How about Laura Ingalls Wilder, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bette Davis, William Randolph Hearst, Mae West, John Steinbeck, Rosalyn Carter, William Faulkner, Pres. George Bush, Julia Child, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, John Browning, Woodrow Wilson, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Chester Alan Arthur, Frank James and Elvis Presley....thank you, thank you very much! Who knows.....I may be related to YOU!

Baking, Celebrating and Coughing

Yesterday morning, I made buttermilk biscuits for the family. Continued in the baking phase on to a cake for our big family reunion today.

Mixing up a new recipe...Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake with Caramel Sea Salt Glaze. Yesterday was our 27th anniversary so last night Mr. Unplugged and I went to dinner and a movie and did not arrive home until 11:00 p.m. The Mr. has had some type of respiratory, sinus thing all this past week and he so kindly shared it with me. It has really kicked in yesterday and this morning. Right now I will be preparing a pineapple/cheese casserole and the glaze before getting ready to leave for the reunion. Hope all is well on this Memorial Day weekend. I will get around to everyone later.

Wednesday Treats With An Animal....

Yes, succeeded in getting the cupcakes made. The photo to the top left is obviously before they were iced, so you could see the filling. It is a cream cheese, chocolate chip mixture that is spooned in the middle of the batter before baking. The white ones are staying here and I must find them a home in order to avoid their consumption. The pink ones are for the VolleyGirl to take to school

This was my helper yesterday, sitting on the cupboard....guess he smelled the buttercream icing, or simply curious, as usual.

Easter Review

We hurried so after church that the usual photos in our Easter frocks were not made.......take my word for it, we cleaned up pretty good, she says, with an overzealous wink. Easter afternoon in my in-laws backyard, the three nephews had just completed a successful egg hunt, complete with crying and parent discipline! BigBoy is the oldest grandchild on my husband's side of the family, VolleyGirl, the lone granddaughter.

Easter sibling love........... I baked one of the favorites around here Saturday morning: Cinnamon Pull-Apart Cake Seems in recent years it has become a new tradition that I bring a cake to all my in-laws family dinners. I always try to come up with something different. This time it was something fresh, light and pretty that was the search in my recipes. My favorite and most used new recipes always end up being from Paula Deen's magazine. She did not disappoint me this time either! Why I am stupid enough to try a brand new, untested (by myself, that is) recipe on my in-laws is a mystery to me..............or not, heh, heh.

This Raspberry Limeade Cake turned out fine. My son and husband love Key Lime pie and this cake and cream cheese frosting with the limeaid and lime zest tasted a bit like the pie. The filling is raspberry...not my favorite flavor at all, well, really, don't like it. But it was so pretty and such a small part of it, oh well. Should this cake be requested again...believe I will attempt to use strawberries instead of raspberries. Hopefully, I can post again soon, busy week (broken record) but I have not touched on a very poignant part of our week here at our household full of mixed nuts!

SkyWatch Friday

Took this photo late this afternoon as we traveled for over an hour for my best friend's mother-in-law's visitation. That has had me occupied yesterday and today with visiting her and baking for them. Hope to catch up with everyone's site over the weekend. For more great sky photos visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

Award Winning Weekend.........

He seemed to look at me as if I was a foreign object.

He was beginning to relax and accept my prescence.

It was a fairly busy weekend around the house for me this past weekend. I kept thinking that I would get a little art accomplished, if I did, it was in the form of cooking and baking. I baked cookies, banana bread, made pizzas, homemade buttermilk biscuits and a wonderful pasta. Yeah, must have used up all the 'conversational veggies' last week! BigBoy was home from school and that usually keeps me hopping in the food department! I had wash to do and also took VolleyGirl to practice.

Last night I watched the Academy Awards, I like to see the fashion, the hair, the characters......I've only seen one of the nominated movies but have heard much about most of them. Being a bit of a newshound, whether it be politics, entertainment, music, world news.....or just call it nosey, I like to be up on it somewhat. I went to the recreation room where VolleyGirl was doing homework. She had the big screen tv on the awards. Dudley was a bit relunctant to share 'his' couch with me. Obviously, he managed to let go and relax a bit!

I do have an image in my head that hopefully will appear on paper before the day is over today. My thoughts drifted to Mim a couple of times yesterday and a softer, more peaceful image has come to mind.