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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY NUTTY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Atlanta Wildlife Services came out to the homestead to check out our critter problem...4 guys showed up and began working on the roof........I was impressed that it was a team of four. We explained the situation to them and they got to work......To our surprise this is what they discovered living up in our attic................ I knew it....I told the husband it sounded like a band of terrorists were trying to take over the house.. They discovered this was the ring leader and general "squirrel troublemaker"........ The "Boss" was no match for this guy......He laughed telling the story of how the Boss got his shotgun the other night in case they broke through the ceiling.....Overheard by the wildlife guys was this hot shot saying...."Was that big guy kidding....I bet he didn't even have Ammo in that thing"..... And then they found the Red Cross had set up shop just in case there were any fatalities when the extraction took place....You know ...

We have "flying squirrels" in the house.....now, I know what your thinking...cute little squirrels, kinda like Rocky.........No, these things look like a cross between a squirrel and a bat....I guess he thought he could keep our Moose company...........Wednesday the guy comes back out to extract them from the attic where it seems they have set up shop......the house will also be sealed up from the outside so hopefully they won't be able to get back in......Can you say....."Creepy".....

Never a dull moment in this household.....As I was getting ready to go to bed last night the "Boss" decided it was time for a snack...he knows this drives me crazy but being the good wife that I am I complied and went into the kitchen to get him some soup and biscuits...As I was leaving the kitchen to walk into the family room I hear what sounded like the Radio City Rockettes dancing on the ceiling directly above my head....directly above my head would be the location of our hallway outside the bathroom on the second floor of the house....This was loud folks and scared the hell out of me....I stopped in my tracks and start yelling at the husband..."There's an animal in the house, there's an animal in the house"....I knew for sure a herd of "something wild" would soon be running down the staircase to attack us...I immediately got the Boo dog up and into the safeness of our bedroom...I had to do this by luring him with a trail of cookies as he heard ...

YES.....THESE ARE GOING TO THE VET'S OFFICE TOMORROW.....YOU GOTTA TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE THAT TAKE CARE OF THE BOO..... Today was the final day of my candy making........on today's schedule was peppermint bark, with both white and dark chocolate...a la' Williams Sonoma....and my famous coconut haystacks.....actually they are only famous among the family members....They are both super simple to make and it takes very little of your time. I spent a about an hour and a half between making it, cooling and packaging it..... Peppermint Bark.....black and white. Take 2 boxes of candy canes, break them up inside a zip-lock bag then crush using a heavy rolling pin.... I used on bag of white chocolate disks by Wilton.....you can find this at Michael's.... 1 bag of Nestle's dark chocolate chips... put a sheet of parchment paper on a large cookie sheet. Start with the white chocolate, melt half of the bag in a small bowl in the microwave for 2 minutes....At the 1 min. 30 sec...

I've been enjoying everyone's blog with all their Christmas decorations but noticed that there are no nutcrackers.....So in the spirit of the Holidays I bring you my guys...... Collecting for 38 years these are a few of many..... Hope you enjoy!!!!

HEY YOU GORDON.....OUTTA MY KITCHEN.....

Everynight the Boss asks the question..."Sue, what's for dessert"....after 38 years you run out of ideas....Plus this is just an aperitif before our midnight snack....But an all time favorite is Tapioca pudding with warm blueberry sauce.....So easy, so fast, so fattening! If you have ever made Jello brand Tapioca right out of the box, following their instructions you probably weren't too impressed. This is how I get one box of powder to look like the above picture....and yes, it tastes as good as it looks.... 1 box of Jello Tapioca 2 cups of whole milk 1 egg white sprinkle of nutmeg 1/2 pint of blueberries 2 tablespoons of sugar a splash of lemon juice Beat one egg white until it forms a meringue cook the pudding according to the directions... Fold the hot pudding into the egg white keeping the egg white in big "puffs" Sprinkle with a little nutmeg and cool.....this can be served warm (really good) or cold from the fridge. put the blueberries in a shallow sa...

I have been making candy since daughter was in college and her crazy friend Dave got us hooked....Dave started out making chocolate lolly pops and over the years we have taken it one step further.....Candy making is easy, it's fun and you can really impress people who think it's some sort of mystery treat....We started with the basic melt and pour system and I have more molds for every occasion then you can count....I expanded my repertoire years ago when I added coconut haystacks, chocolate covered cherries, lemon white chocolate bark and the Boss's favorite....Butter Nut Toffee....Today I made the toffee....A bit harder then the others but with a little patience (think stirring pudding only a little bit longer) you can make a very impressive gift for someone.....The secret to your success is once again in the packaging......I have seen for sale many a "pop" wrapped up in their little cellophane bags only to be tied shut with curly ribbon....you know that stuff y...

Don't buy stock in this company........I enjoy shopping online and I adore free shipping and Zappos offers free shipping coming and going.....Oh, you do pay a little more so they actually are adding some shipping costs into the item cost but all and all they have a year return policy and that can't be beat......But.....there is always a but....Last night I ordered the daughter an extra Christmas gift....Excited to find it and excited that it was on sale I was surprised to get back an e-mail saying it would coming "next day air"...for no charge.. Sure enough today at 5:00 up pulls the U.P.S. guy and out flew a very large box. The U.P.S. guy, unlike the Fedex guy, comes up the driveway and with a flick of the wrist flings our packages out the door of the truck landing the box infront of our garage....God forbid he should get out of the truck and bring it up to the front door....Anyhoo, I brought it inside and opened up the box to find...........a pair of leopard skin ea...

I was blessed in life with two talents.....Worthless talents, but talents none the less....I can match colors expertly and I can re-produce anything I taste.....I could have been the person that came up with that cookbook that copies all restaurant food and been a Millionaire right now but I missed the boat. This comes in handy when dealing with the Boss because he loves to eat and is usually impressed with my food and he dabbles in Military Miniatures (WWII crap) and every now and then he needs to do touch up work and he's always amazed that I can match the paint color perfectly.....Anyhoo, back to the soup of the day..... Growing up in Jersey I was a huge fan of Campbell's Scotch Broth soup...It was so thick and hearty, you had to spoon it out of the can because it was so thick and the Mom never added a whole can of water.....maybe 1/4 can...And I got the whole can!! As I've said in a previous post I would eat this with a cream cheese and jelly sandwich....Great taste com...