Weekending 12/22/25

 Hello and Happy Winter!

Now our daylight hours will gradually begin to lengthen.  This morning though it's a tad dark (cloudy too).  And...our 8" of snow disappeared last Friday.  It was still on the ground Thursday night when I went to yoga but heavy rains and winds made it all disappear on Friday.  Now, of course, more snow is in our forecast for tonight into tomorrow.  It is proving to already be a snowier Winter than last year.

The kids - Colin, Mailing and Iris arrived home safely from Aruba prior to the rains and winds.  They had a great time and Iris did well on the plane flights.  She went to the mall to see Santa over the weekend...but that didn't go so well.  LOL. Lots of tears - she did not like some strange man holding her on his lap.

I hope everyone is doing well and had a good weekend.  Mine was filled with cooking and baking.  Dinner one night was home made pizza.  Another night we had mussels, salad and garlic bread.  Last night I made spicy Cuban beef.  And cookie baking was done.  This year I did cut back on the number of cookies - I made peanut butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and walnut crescents (like snowball cookies, but rolled into a log and then cut and shaped like crescents).  I also made a couple loaves of cranberry pumpkin pecan bread.  One of those went to our neighbors Rob & Eva and the other one Fletch will take (along with a lot of cookies) to one of his former clients.  Another two loaves of the bread will be made (one for us!! and one for C&M).

This is the only picture from the weekend!  Mushrooms sautéing for the pizza I made on Friday.  It was yummy (and there are leftovers in the fridge).

Today is my last day of watching Iris until January 5th!!  Tomorrow I have errands to run (CVS of course for prescriptions), gifts to wrap and assorted domestic chores I'd like to get done.  We are headed to C&M's on Christmas Eve for dinner and stocking stuffers.  Christmas Day will find us at Bonnie & Zhongren's for brunch and gifts.  After that:  RELAXATION!!!!

I'm not sure whether I will post again this week.  There has been no stitching for TNT and no knitting for Unraveled Wednesday though there has been reading, so I may post on Wednesday.

Hoping that today finds everyone resting and enjoying the final days leading up to Christmas.  Let there be no frantic running around!

Tiny Needle Tuesday December 21, 2021

 Hello My Friends!

Happy Winter Solstice!  Happy Birthday to my brother Chris!  It is another chilly morning here - everything is frosted over and sparkly.  So pretty.

My pedicure yesterday was lovely.  While I was there a gentleman came in - he must have been in his 70's (I can say that because he had white hair and mentioned that he had one child who is 55 and another who is in their late 40's).  He got a pedicure right next to me and then moved over for a manicure.  It was nice to see (I have seen other men getting "treatments" at this salon, but it has been a long time!).

I did end up making two more kinds of cookies yesterday.  Cut-Outs (sand tarts) and a new one I saw - Finnish Cardamom Cookies.  

Both are delicious!!  I think I'm finished baking, but realized I have not made any peanut butter cookies.  I know I said I wasn't going to make as many as I usually do...but...we do give quite a few away.  I'll see how my time goes.

Fletch and I managed to get gifts for Colin & Mailing wrapped before dinner.  Today he is heading over to Colin's for lunch and a movie.  While he is out I will wrap his gifts (and some others).  I also have domestic chores that I should get done (i.e., bathroom cleaning, kitchen floor mopping).  Luckily work has been mostly quiet.  Late this afternoon I will head over for dinner at Colin & Mailing's.  So, my day is pretty well mapped out.

On this Winter Solstice Day we are also celebrating TNT or Tiny Needle Tuesday.  I'm happy to say that I was able to re-start my small winter piece and the border met up!

I even managed to stitch one of the reindeer.  I doubt I will finish this by Christmas, but it should be finished by sometime next week so that I can start something new for the New Year!

I do hope everyone is relaxed and enjoying this week.