Worry Beads

I'm one of those fidgety people. I'm a nail biter, and a finger popper. By the end of church services, the bulletin will be rolled and my Bible pages will be curled. 

While I'm at home, I have to be doing something with my hands. I guess that's why I take so much pleasure in painting or crocheting.

I'm not really that big of a worry wart but I do worry about the safety of my daughter out on her own in this mad mad world. But that's not constant. I'd be sick if I let that bother me so much.

I'm just fidgety. That's when I discovered worry beads. It only took me one look at these in shops around the internet world to realize I can just make my own. So that's exactly what I did. I also made a couple more sets for my own shop.



Let me just say, I am not one of those people that believe in special powers of meditation, stars, minerals or rocks. My power and relaxation comes from God and prayer.

Worry beads are also called Begleri.
Begleri is a Greek name for a beaded toy you twirl between your fingers with a technique you have to learn. Its brings relaxation and stress relief.


Worry beads also have another name called Komboloi. 
Komboloi is also a Greek name for a strand of beads used to pass time. This is more of what I have made. The toy "Begleri" is longer and usually has less beads so they are easily flipped around and over the fingers at fast speed.

These are not prayer beads. Prayer beads are used in religious traditions. Worry beads have no religious or ceremonial purpose. These are just something I can fidget with instead of continuing to destroy pen clips, paper clips, earrings and the charm on my necklace. 

Speaking of beads on a string? Who remembers these old toys? 


My Grandmother had a couple sets of these glass Klackers. I loved playing with them when she'd let me. They were later outlawed. Ok they have no relation to the beads I'm talking about in my post but I had to mention them. They wouldn't relieve worry, they caused it. ha!

Do you worry? Are you fidgety? What are ways you relieve your nervousness or anxiety?

Last Walk of The Year

With all the Christmas decorations taken down and put away, Me and Nick venture out for my last walk of the year. I work until dark all week so the weekends are all I get right now but that will soon change once the days start getting longer.
 

As we stepped out for a three mile walk, the weather was wet, muggy and 70 degrees. With a mist in the air, we could hear the birds singing and bullfrogs chirping as if they were confused by the weather. This is not the normal temperature for the end of December here in North Carolina but I'll take it. Just like the birds, I pretended it was spring too as I wore my shorts and t-shirt. I was not a bit bothered by the rainy mist. I still thought it was a beautiful day.

Mother nature seemed a little confused by the unusual warm weather too. While we were walking, I could not help but snap a few pictures of signs of spring in December.

Dandelions along with many spring onions are filling the yards that need mowing.
 
Bright green moss was growing on the sidewalks

The rain drops on these leaves look refreshing.
 
The Daffodils think its April

and this rose bud is hanging on as if its doesn't want to let go of summer.

Now this tree shows that Mother nature has a since of humor. Do you see what I see?
 
Its back to work tomorrow after four straight days off. I'm going to miss the time I got to spend with my Daughter and Husband during the long weekend. Time to get back to reality as the cold weather suppose to creep in by New Years morning but still giving unseasonal warm afternoons. 


The Good ole Days of Christmas

Its early and Im already up. I get just as excited about Christmas morning as any kid. I cant sleep, and then Im up early with anticipation. Ok, maybe that's due to all the sweets I ate last night at Mom and Dads but still.


As I sit here having my coffee and breakfast, old time memories flash through my mind. I remember how me and my siblings would open a few gifts on Christmas eve from friends and family and on Christmas morning we would jump out of bed before the sun came up. We would run down stairs to see what Santa brought us. It was always a surprise to know Santa actually thought I was good and left me toys. I never took for granted he would come anyway like kids do today. I really thought if I was bad, I wouldn't get anything.

As we would get to the den, there would be piles of gifts! Santa didn't wrap presents, he would just lay toys and bikes in separate areas for each of us. We always knew which pile was ours. It didn't really matter because we would end up playing with each others toys anyway. It was always so fun.
Then we would all pile in the station wagon and head to our Grandmothers house for dinner. I sure miss those days.

I have always tried to carry on that tradition with my daughter. The only difference is , Santa would wrap most of her presents with his own pretty (usually tacky) paper and leave only a couple bigger things unwrapped.

Things change when they get older. Once Santa was caught using OUR wrapping paper, the Santa situation begun to get harder to play off. Ashley must have been about 12 when she learned that we were actually Santa's. She looked up at me with a sweet little voice and said "well, can we still pretend there is a Santa?"

She is now 24 and Santa still leaves her surprises under the tree on Christmas morning. She lives out on her own but comes to stay with us a few days. She still has her old room and bed. She will be up in a few minutes and the fun will start. She will march down the hallway in her tacky pajamas and have that child like excitement when she enters the room. Later, we will head over to Nicks family for Christmas dinner. His parents passed away a few years ago and the boys still plan a big dinner just like their mom used to do. Its always delicious as we set around the table a talk more...About the good ole days.
 
"Go tell it on a mountain that Jesus Christ was born!"
Merry Christmas Every one!!

Cookie Baking and Delivery

Winter is here and Christmas is just two days away. I have been working in the kitchen making goodies to pass out to my wonderful neighbors. This is one of my favorite things to do.


I will find a recipe to experiment with but I usually stick to basically my favorite cookies to make.
Italian Almond cookies (AKA snowball cookies), Fudge and Biscotti are my in my safe zone. Well, except I did burn the Biscotti this time. Not good.

This year I experimented with making another Italian cookie called Crostoli , also known as Chiacchiere or Galani.
My husband is always talking about a lightly sweet cookie that his Italian grandmother used to make every Christmas. The story of how good they are is always brought up this time of year. I set out to find the recipe to this cookie since obviously his grandmother kept it in her head and to her grave.


He doesn't know what they were called but I searched until I found what seemed to be pretty close to what he has explained. I'm sure mine will not be as good as hers but it was worth a shot and it gave me an excuse to try something new. They turned out delicious but he said " These are close, but still not the cookie Grandmother made." It was hard to get them rolled out thin enough to turn crispy. That was the texture he was looking for. Ill give it another shot another day.


While I was baking, Nick was laughing from across the room. I kept asking "what is so funny?"
It was the chef hat on my head. Yes I felt like wearing a chef hat. I meant business! As I was mixing and patting, he sent this text picture to my phone.


Now I know why he was laughing. Yes, I love Lucy. This went on the whole time I was in the kitchen. I don't know who had more fun, me or Nick.

I gently packed each tin with cookies and ventured out into the freezing cold and snow to deliver the cookies.


Just kidding!!!! Its in the 70's today here in North Carolina. With thunder storms. Doesn't feel like Christmas weather at all!
I will not complain. I love the warmth.

My Daughter will be coming home again soon to spend Christmas with us. She usually helps me bake but she has to work. Even though she's only 30 minutes away, its always exciting to me when she's home. She still has her room and loves sleeping in her old bed. She will be working on Christmas Eve but lucky for her, she can remotely work from home in her Pajamas on that day.

Now that all the goodies are delivered and the shopping is complete, I can set back with a cocoa and cookie of my own and relax.
I think me and Ashley will be going to the nail salon for a quick manicure too.

This will be my last post before Christmas. With that being said, I wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas!

German Pancake

When Sunday morning rolled around I decided to try a new recipe. "German Pancakes". These are also called baked pancakes or bubbly pancakes. Did you know my maiden last name is German? Of course not, you don't even know my Maiden name. But yes, its was originated in Germany, but I'm not German.


My daughter came home so she could go to church. We listened to the Christmas cantata with a following covered dish dinner. I think I ate a little dab of everything. Its always so good. There are a lot of good cooks in my church family.

Every morning that my daughter is here, I always make her breakfast. I do not think she has ever waken up at home without a breakfast from the day she was born. Usually its a cooked breakfast because Its my favorite meal to fix and its also the most important meal of the day.

This recipe was really delicious and easy. While cooking, it begins to look weird and then started to bubble in the middle and the sides start to come over the edge of the dish as they stop just in time with a golden brown trim.  


Ok, when I just said that it bubbled in the middle, I could not help but think about Stymies surprise cake from the little rascals.


Once the pancake is finished, you cut and dish it out like pie and add your favorite toppings. I used powdered sugar. I tried it with syrup also and it was still a win.

 
Today I am going to share this recipe with you. It will be perfect to fix on Christmas morning for the family. I may make this again along with my sausage balls.

German Pound Cake
  • 6 Eggs
  • 1 Cup Milk
  • 1 Cup all purpose Flour
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
  • 2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
Mix well in blender and pour into a buttered 9x13 pan.
Bake 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
Cut and serve warm with powder sugar, syrup, cinnamon your other favorite topping. 



Enjoy



 

Shopping Complete

Finally. I think I have my all my Christmas shopping finished. "I think", "No, really I'm done". "Pretty much".

Me and my husband would venture out to the shops. Then we would separate. I'd go my way and he'd get his exercise in by walking laps around the mall while I shopped. Walking into the mall one day I noticed a little old man sleeping in the car next to us. I knew he was just waiting on his wife while she shopped. I nudge my husband, did a little giggle and said, "That's going to be you one of these days. needless to say, he agreed then jokingly said "no, that will probably be you."

I like to start my shopping early. The last family birthday of the year is my husbands which is the middle of October. After that date, Its time for me to start thinking about Christmas shopping. Yea, just thinking about it ,not actually doing it. But then by the first of November I'm ready to hit the stores. I have my daughter send me her Christmas wish list and I begin looking. Without a lot of success in getting all the things she mentions on her list, I think I do pretty good to accomplish a couple of them. There are things I cant find or afford and have to put them off. But she has always been a grateful person and accepts what she gets without complaining.


Our family, between my brothers, sisters, in-laws, aunts and uncles, we have decided to skip gift giving to each other for the simple fact that everyone has everything they need and it ends up just being a big money swap. We made an agreement to just buy for our parents and the smaller kids in the family and enjoy Christmas without the hassle of adult gift buying.


Me and My Husband have even agreed not to buy for each other. Instead, we do something special together or buy something for our home to enjoy together. ...Ok honestly, we just want it to hurry up and get by so we can move on to summer! We like to save our money to enjoy on our beach trips during the spring and summer. I'm ok with that!


So yes, my shopping is now complete. There is always that one more thing I would like to get my daughter but I have to throw in the towel some time or ill over do it. I have to finally hault.


Now I can just tidy up the house, relax and enjoy the sweet things in life such as Christmas baking and sharing my goodies with friends and neighbors. This year, I plan to make Crostoli, Italian Wedding cookies, and biscotti.

Do you procrastinate? Do your shopping last minute? or do you get ahead of the game and knock it out early?



Nutrisystem Cookie Sandwich

If you have been following me, you know I have been on Nutrisystem. Its been almost a year now and I still receive food shipments. Why? Because I like it. I lost below my goal weight and lost a total of 47 lbs. Im trying to loose three more just to claim a 50lbs loss but either way, Im at a size I like of 121 lbs. Nutrisystem helps me stay on track. While I eat a lot of regular foods now, I like to have the Nutrisystem meals to fall back on or for the simple fact of convenience.

Anyway, I do get bored of the foods at times and always looking for new ways to eat them. I discovered a delicious way to revive the Nutrisystem White Chocolate Chuck Cookies.
Here goes.

First I crushed the cookies as fine as I could get them without using a food processor. You can do this with a nut chopper or rolling pin, your choice. I just think its a waste of mess to pull out the food processors for a cup of cookies.

Spray the crushed cookies with spray butter. Zero Fat, Zero Calories. This is so they will stick together to form a crust.


Put half of the crushed cookies in a small ramekin, mug or shallow cup. A measuring cup would even work just fine. Press the buttered crumbs to the bottom.

Add a layer of sugar free cool whip, Reddi Wip or other whip cream.


Add the remaining other half of cookie crumbs to the top and lightly press, then place in the freezer for about 45 minutes.


Pop it out, and there you have it. A delicious cookie sandwich.



You can use ice cream if you wish but I love love love whip cream of any kind.

This counts as a Nutrisystem dessert plus one extra.
If your not on Nutrisystem, you can do the same thing with any of your favorite cookies.

Enjoy.