Two More days...

It is only two more days till Christmas..We have a lot of gifts under the tree but these are Missy's and Bills plus ours. I have finished all of the cooking and Missy and Mike carted it off to give to people and I hope they all enjoy it all....I have been cleaning.

Last weekend Missy had new french doors installed on her back room. She gave me her old blinds that are covered with fabric. They look so much better than the ones I had up. Mine were so old.I just love these new ones..

Here is a nice picture of our tree...It looks mis matched just like every year...next year I am going to have a theme...But then again I say that every year...

These were stockings I bought for the Grand kids a few years ago. I usedto have 4' knitted ones but I gave them to the parents a few years ago. I thought it was time for them to fill them. I did not have one for Lexi or Seth...this was before they came along...

Have Quit....

I made banana Bread and carrot cake in the jars today...they all popped sealed....then I made the cinnamon rings and now I have made all of the chocolate truffles and have all of the vanilla ones rolled into balls but not all dipped....But I have to quit...I am wrapping up the rolls and cleaning the kitchen spic and span...the dipping stuff can just sit in the bowl and I will re heat it later when I am up to finishing them...For now it is good.. They all look great...A job well done!

Baking....

Today is the day to bake....I am making 3 cinnamon rings...Mike will take one to work and one to his good friend Matt and his family...I am not sure who I will give the other one to but I am sure Missy will have a recipient,,,

Then I am making white and chocolate truffles..
Recipe...
Cook 4 cake chocolate mixes
After they have cooked and cooled crumble into a BIG bowl.
Add 1 package mini chocolate chips and 1 can of canned frosting.

Smash all of this together
form into balls...smaller than a golf ball. Maybe half that size...
lay them all out on cookie sheets and let them dry overnight..

I can never plan that far ahead so I throw mine in the freezer for about an hour.

Then melt almond bark with about an inch piece of paraffin mixed in...
note you will have to melt the paraffin before adding to the almond bark because it has to get hotter to melt. The paraffin makes the chocolate get harder when cooled.
Then take a plastic fork and remove the middle 2 prongs and use that to dip each cake roll in the chocolate. swipe off the excess chocolate off the bottom so they will be pretty and not puddled on the bottom...Let set up on wax paper...
warning this makes A LOT!!!

Then I make white ones using white cake mixes, white mini chocolate chips, white frosting and dip in white almond bark...

I always save just a little white and dark almond bark and drizzle it over the top...the chocolate on the white ones and the white on the chocolate ones..
These taste like the real truffles which takes hours to make the real ones...

I also have made a batch of banana bread and carrot pineapple cake like Thelma used to make..and I am cooking them in the jars and I am going to Can them...They are in the oven with the 2 chocolate cakes...I have many more to bake before I am done...

I will give most of these away to friends for a little Christmas something...I know you all are saying Helen, you don't have that many friends but Mike has relatives and Missy has co workers...All I have is Doctors...

Look What I woke up to..

The Health Care Bill passed the Senate last night...Edward Kennedy's Widow was standing by to hear the news...Maybe it will go all of the way now...MSNBC listed a lot of Pluses on the bill. Many things helping Middle and lower income Americans...This is who they listed as the losers on the bill...Since I do not make 200K a year I am not too tore up about this...


LOSERS
Tanning salons, which are getting hit with a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services, replacing the cosmetic surgery tax.
Progressives. They had to give up on their long-held dream of a new government-run insurance plan so that Democratic leaders could lock down the necessary votes from moderates.
People making over $200,000 a year. A proposed 0.5 percent increase in the Medicare payroll tax was bumped up to 0.9 percent in the latest version, putting the tax at 2.35 percent on income over $200,000 a year for individuals, $250,000 for couples.
Generic drug makers. They fought unsuccessfully to block 12 years of protection that makers of brand-name biotech drugs — expensive pharmaceuticals made from living cells — will get against generic would-be competitors.

Tell me what I am talking about.....

Sisters, Betty posted a picture of a dog on her dog blog called Repeat.....It brought to my mind Daddy calling something or telling a story about 'Pete and Repeat....' I have tried all day to think of what it was maybe a pair of dogs or a pair of mules...Or maybe it was some Brothers with that name???? You all probably have no clue what I am talking about but Brother Richard would have known....