Ride 'em Cowelf!

Jessie's coming sometime today so I'm posting now so I can visit with her tonight.  Oh, that, and get my hair done. ;o)

My Big Girl has been staying up late the past few nights.  The night before it was to watch "I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown".  Last night it was to help make fondant.  Now then, that's not to say it's late late, just late for her.  When your bedtime is typically 7:00, 9:00 is late.  (The child will wake up between 6:30 and 7:00 no matter what time we put her to bed, and since I like a nice, well-rested child, 7:00 bedtime and 7:30 lights out is what works in our house.)

Bitty has helped make Christmas candy for two years now, and knows the drill.  This year I let her run the microwave.  :o)  She melted the butter and the chocolate chips and did a might fine job of it.  

I also let her mix the powdered sugar/powdered milk mixture into the melted butter mixture until it got too hard to stir at which point I took over.  I have to say I'm much happier this year.  I found my usual Carnation powdered milk and Cut-Rite wax paper and things were SOOOO much better.  The milk didn't leave unsightly lumps and the paper rolled like a dream with no fondant sticking to it.  Whew! 

I'll make another double batch this evening and the fondant is done.  Woo hoo!  I also want to try to get to the java shortbread, but can do that next week, especially since I'm supposed to be helping Jess make 4 dozen cookies.  Eek!  Okay, tell me this, why does saying "four dozen" sound so much worse than "48"? 

Like her Christmas bracelet?  When we picked up the fleece for Ellie's blanket, we got floss for a bracelet--she insisted.  :o)

Anyhow, the two of us made an excellent team,

and Bear supervised.  It was a bit discombobulating at first, as Bear has quite the stare, but soon I forgot he was even there. :o)

Meanwhile, things have been non-stop this morning.  I cleaned the downstairs bathroom and vacuumed before getting Lil on the bus.  Ellie and I made a quick trip to the 'Jay to get her medicine, and then home again home again where I thoroughly cleaned the guest room (Jess had a bit of a cat allergy), vacuuming the bed, changing all bed linens, etc.  I move a nightstand from Lil's room to the guest room, rearranged Lil's room and steam cleaned the carpets in the guest room, the bridge, our room and the high traffic areas downstairs.  Whew!  Then, I went back through and cleaned up all the messes Beanie made while I was busy cleaning.  ;o)

It's amazing what I can accomplish if I want to.  :oP

I found a pin on Pinterest the other day that I thought was interesting--how to clean your house in just 15 minutes a day.  Um...okay.  So, I checked it out, and the woman does what I do.  I have a couple specific chores for each day of the week and do them thoroughly and the house stays clean (not neat, mind you, but clean at any rate).  I also don't have to do anything on the weekends, which is just lovely! :o)  However, it takes me about 30 minutes to an hour, NOT 15 minutes.  But, it's not all day on the weekend, right?  Maybe I should write about that someday...

For now, though, I have a bunch of cards calling to me from the offudio, desperate to be put together. :o)

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Fisbee Watch

We almost died this morning when Lil came upstairs and informed us our elf was riding Brien's piggy bank like a cowboy, complete with chaps, lasso and boots!  He even carried his snowman with him and pilfered the cow from the "activity" (alas, Lil has taken to actually calling it a "nativity" this year). 

Oh, he also had a big old belt buckle and was using his blanket as a saddle blanket.  Oh my.

I know it's a bit fuzzy, but can you see the tiny jingle bells he used to accessorize his chaps?

And, his boots. 

He picked one wild pig to ride, that's for sure.  B and I still aren't sure how he managed to get into our room and ride the pig out of there without us hearing him.  Man, he's good. 

So much for three consecutive nights of no naughtiness. 

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Today's Sparklies:

It's early yet, but so far:
1.  Getting ALL that work done.  Whew!
2.  Fisbee--he makes me laugh!
3.  Jessie and the kids are coming. :o)
4.  Watching Fred knead and knead and knead the blanket he was lying on in a rather hypnotic stupor.  He almost fell over three times--I was waiting for it to happen. ;o)

No milestones.