Ho Hum With No Bottle Of Rum

"Last night, after their big afternoon snooze, the two boys men in my life decided they would get up to take in a bit of TV from their recliners..  My big boy man just could not leave the other one alone ... always having to tease or torment somebody.  The tussle began.  Who won? probably Bandit as he was left alone once something on TV had diverted the big guys attention.  *Smile*"

I am certain it had been around 4 am this morning I had woken.  I finally dragged myself up around 5 am or so.  I had a load of laundry in, a load folded off the clothes horse, Checkerboard Aussies all fed, in, out and about, the bed made and the dishes in the dishwasher all put away by 6:15 am..

I then sat myself down to have a second cup of coffee to catch up on reading my blogger friend's posts.  I also found out I had won yet another Give Away I had participated in.  This one was for a Christmas Cookie Exchange being put on by Author, Steena Holmes over at her website that you can find by *clicking* HERE.  

Steena also has Give Aways posted periodically on her Facebook page, that you might want to go "LIKE" by clicking HERE... a lovely upcoming Author in her own right, who would welcome you with open arms should you drop by.   Oh yes, what had I won? well it just happened to be a Christmas Cookie Recipe Book !  Imagine that ... I will be having some new ones to post all about next Christmas Season ... *smile*.

Afterwards I had to head downtown to do some banking and post a parcel.  Once the stores opened I headed out.

"The door was warm, but still a bit damp ... Violas still up and showing off their stuff, can you imagine on the 17th of December?"

"There has been lots of moisture and wet the past couple days, and not in the form of snow.  I do love driving much better in this weather though then on snow covered icy roads.  No fear of there not being enough water on our Garden now, although our back fields are rather on the brown looking side."

Once I got home, I need to put together the Gift Jar I had messed up on yesterday, as well as putting two Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow containers together.

"I absolutely loved the Country Christmas Milk jug I had came across not too long ago.  Perfect for Gift Giving with the layers of the Cowgirl/boy Cookie Recipe all fitting in except for the nuts which I put in a Santa bag and tied to the side.  I had picked up the Bear and Reindeer and put 2 packets each of Hot Chocolate Mix, along with a baggie of mini marshmallows in them.  Another neat little gift giving idea."

"I loved this little printed bag I had picked up to wrap the parcel up in I sent of in the mail today. I also received a very thoughtful little package from my Cousin Paula, along with a sweet card today.  Thanks Paula ! xo "

"Look at all these amazing Christmas Cards from friends and family I found in our Mailbox today.  One had been an unexpected surprise, with a Recipe tucked inside it.   Thanks Nancy ! "

When I had been downtown I had dropped off a container of Homemade Beef Soup and a couple of Cowgirl Cookies to my friend, Koreen.  When checking my email later today there had been an email with the Subject Line "Will You Marry Me" and the body of the email saying, "the Soup was awesome".  Isn't great having "real" friends in your life who are genuine and caring?  I am very blessed to have the friends and family I have in my Life, and count my blessing every day for that.

"Ho Hum with no bottle of Rum" (yech why use that saying, I HATE Rum.  Ha!), I crashed the rest of the day.  I am totally drained, wiped and exhausted.  I need a couple of days to refuel again, so hopefully this afternoon was a start to just doing that, as I still have  two more Christmas Goodie items needing made, and a whole house needing cleaned top to bottom.  *Sigh* I am tired thinking about it ... *smile*.

This is one of my most favourite Christmas songs since as long as I can remember.  Lovely how it is performed by Lindsey Stirling.



With so much hustle and bustle of everyone trying to get ready for Christmas on top of all their other usual daily chores and activities, it can be rather stressful at times.

Just a little doggie advice to maybe assist in a bit of the stress some of us might be feeling at these or other times in our lives ....

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On that note, I am off to have myself a relaxing and hopefully uneventful stress free evening, "Just North of Wiarton & North of the Checkerboard."

Proceed With Caution !

I didn't feel like I had a single wink of sleep last night, even though I am certain I might have had at least one or two winks.  

My "Crabby Cabby" came home I believe around 4:30 am., read my blog post and hit the sack himself about 5:00 am.  He came to bed and I got up ... we are a revolving door us two are.

Once I got my usual morning routine done, I thought I should be productive by getting a load of laundry done and hung on the clothes horse, then make some more Christmas Goodies.  I was to wake Rob up at 9:00 am, as he had an appointment to drop off his "Crabby Cabbie" vehicle to our mechanics this morning.

"A Year after Year favourite of mine is Rocky Roads.  Simple and as Easy Peasy as 1-2-3 to make. Peanut Butter, Margarine, Butterscotch Chipits, Marshmallows and Walnuts.  Melt all together, let cool a bit, add Marshmallows to mix, spread in 9 x 12" waxed paper lined dish, top with walnut pieces, then place in fridge until set.  Does something this "yummy" get much easier then that?"

Recipe please?  PRINTABLE RECIPE *CLICK* HERE.

Oops, before I forget, apparently the link for the Marshmallow Rolls posted in yesterday's post was not working.  Just to let everyone know who might have wanted the recipe that they can go back for it, as it is now working.  *Smile*

Once I had cleaned up from making the Rocky Roads I woke my poor tired Rob.  A quick coffee into us before we headed out to drop off the "Crabby Cabbie" vehicle then head on over to Owen Sound as I needed a few items at the Bulk Barn.  Since we were going to be in Owen Sound, I contacted the Winner of my most recent Give Away to see if she could meet up with us while we were there.

It all worked out well, with us even having time to have a coffee along with a bit of a visit together.

"I am pretty sure Toni with an "i" was pleased with her new Christmas Runner.  I was happy I had gotten it to her so she might be able to enjoy it a bit before Christmas actually arrives."

Toni with an "i" headed out, while Rob and I continued over to the Bulk Barn to pickup the items I wanted, then headed on home ourselves.  I was looking forward to an afternoon of spending some "quality" time with my Rob since we seldom see each other any more.  

Once home I made us a coffee and before I knew it ....

".... two of the Men in my Life were with me at least in body, not too sure where their minds were at ?  At least we were all together."

*Sigh* I decided now I had everything needed to put something together I had my mind set on for the past few days I might as well get to it.

"When I unpacked the Bulk Barn Bag I had found they had put in this little grater for me.  Cute, isn't it?  I suppose I could use it to "zest" citrus fruit.  It was a nice "little" free surprise."

"This is what I made this afternoon.  I had my mind on making some layered jars for gift giving, having just recently coming across a recipe that was to my liking.  I had found the Snowman and Santa jars last month, so they were perfect for this.  I had been a bit disappointed Bulk Barn was out of the Christmas M&M's so the regular ones had to do.  They are so terribly cute though, are they not?"

I came across this layered jar recipe from Irma over at Craftmates.  You may check out how lovely Irma's Gift Jars are by *clicking* HERE, as well finding the link there where she found them over at bakerella.com, where there also is a downloadable PDF file for the tags.  I had halved the recipe for the size of the jars I had used, as the original recipe is based on the use of 1 Quart Jars.

I had been really really tired this afternoon when I had made up these gift jars.  When going to do a third one I messed up the layers so badly.  They could not be fixed, so I left the third jar to be done another day while I continued to mix and bake the mess I had messed mixed up.

"I ended up making the "Cowboy (or girl) Cookie" recipe.  Just as well I got to "try, test and true" them myself before gifting them."

Recipe please?  PRINTABLE RECIPE *CLICK* HERE.

WARNING !!!  When so tired your eyeballs feel they are going to "pop" from your head, "Proceed With Caution" !  Ha ... after my mess up on the third jar attempt, I took my time putting the recipe together for baking.  My cookies were not as flat as the ones from where the recipe originated, however they are really "yummy".

By the time I was done in the Kitchen for the second time this day, it was 4:30 pm, time for us to go collect Rob's "Crabby Cabbie" vehicle.

"Rob is very good at keeping on top of the mechanics of his "Crabby Cabbie" vehicle, as not only his safety is foremost that of his customers is priority.  Also with putting so many miles on the vehicle he makes sure the Oil gets changed every 5,000 km, which works out to be approximately every two weeks.  That is a lot of miles my man puts on himself and his vehicle !"

Back home again, Rob got some wood brought in from the wood shed, and I tidied up the kitchen some more.  Christmas Baking feels like when Preserving Season is happening ... things get left out on the counter until I am completely done, so I don't have to bring them out and put them away every day until I am finally finished with them all.  I just have Shortbread Cookies and another pan of Lemon Bars to do then I am finished !

It is amazing how many Christmas Goodies recipes have been posted by Members over at Cindy's Recipe Exchange .... every day I am sure I put on another "pound" by drooling over a new post.  There are so many excellent groups and sources on Facebook and Google, one could never NOT find something good to make at any given time.

Speaking of recipes, I am very pleased to welcome Molly as the newest follower of my daily journal and ramblings here, Just North of Wiarton.  Molly too has her own blog over at When the Dinner Bell Rings.  Totally amazing things can be found over there, this I know, as I am a frequent visitor.  Thanks Molly for being here with me !

Did I mention how tired I am? oh so tired, I am, I am ... I am calling it a wrap and very shortly a night here, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".