Blankets. Not just for bed anymore.

Greetings from the frozen tundra of Florida! Yeah, I hate to complain about that when most of the country is in the teens or negative numbers this morning, but trust me when I say that Floridians, for the most part, are completely unprepared for more than 1 day of this kind of weather. We don't own that kind of clothing. I had to haul out my old wool coat back from when I was working - it looks kind of funky over my mom jeans, multiple sweatshirt layers and new Uggs, but I'm warm. The kids have ski jackets, but not really any suitable outdoor play clothes. Not that we're playing outdoors.

But let's take a moment of appreciation for our ancient boiler, the sole source of heat for our house:

It spends it's days in a dark utility closet. For 9 months out of the year we barely think of it, other than in an abstract, "gee, I hope THAT never breaks" kind of way. But on these cold days it's all we've got. Thankfully, it was converted from coal to oil to gas before we bought the house. It may not be quite as efficient as forced heat, but it does a fairly good job most winters. I say most because it's NOT so awesome during really cold weather.

Our lovely 85+ year old house was totally built for Florida. The downstairs retains cold pretty well. Which is great in August. Notsomuch when you're on your 4th day of not breaking out of the 50s. The master "sun"room and downstairs artroom both clocked in at 51 this morning. Which makes the 62 in the house feel pretty cozy. But what it really means is that we've taken to wearing our blankets around the house, since short of wearing outdoor gear, our clothes just aren't warm enough. Anders has a lime green down blanket; Dagny is the one in red plaid fleece. Very festive. I myself am sporting a eggplant-colored chenille throw and Mr. J is wearing an on-trend aqua blue and chocolate brown plaid wool blanket. It is especially convenient in the evening since, if you're wearing your blanket over your jammies, you really can just fall right into bed.

Cold snap

Brrrr. I love winter!

Starting fresh

The first thing I do every new year is purchase a year's worth of the following products:

- fridge water filters

- vacuum bags

- trash can liners

- white vinegar

- baking powder

- Kosher salt

- ground black pepper

- Jet Dry

- notepads - I'm leaning toward these this year, I think, probably

- tape: regular, mailing and masking (on a side note, does anyone know where the kids put my heavy-duty tape dispenser? How can that be lost?!)

Fairly random list, no? However, those are the common, non-perishable household items that I'm most likely to run out of during the year and then repeatedly forget to buy. It is so much easier to remember to buy trash bags when you only have to remember ONCE a year, right?

I'm also totally lucky to have the storage space to indulge this little habit. And I usually get coupons or really good deals on all of these things (notsomuch the fridge filters) so it tends to be a pretty cost effective strategy too.

It's also fun to know that at least one chore is off the list for the year.

Poor Cinci

That loss to 'Bama? Looks like the Gators took it out on Cincinnati.

Go Gators!

Rain

Looks like we're rained out. Oh well. Fondue will go on!

Happy 2010!!

Good morning! Happy New Year! Happy Twenty-ten? Or are you going with Twothousandandten? Whichever, I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season and that your Christmas was as merry, bright and filled with fun & family as ours was. And I've got pictures to prove it!

A lot of our traditions revolve around the kids, especially New Year's Day. We spend the morning at Lowry Park Zoo (the animals are usually playing with Christmas presents; fun for all) then we come home to a special dinner of hot dogs (actually beer bratwursts this year) with all the fixins, roast potatoes & the first of the Florida sweet corn on the cob. I'm also making Hoppin' John this year because we could all use a little luck. Our dessert is Chocolate Fondue with bananas, angel food cake and Plant City strawberries. Yum!

And although we don't do anything special for New Year's Eve, I did find this intriguing recipe to try at home:

Scotch Fizz

serves 4

2 oz single malt Scotch
3/4 oz Cointreau
12 oz Champagne or sparkling wine

4 large lemon peels

Shake Scotch and Cointreau with ice cubes until shaker is frosted. Divide into 4 chilled champagne flutes. Top with the Champagne or sparkling wine. Garnish with the lemon peel and serve.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to all....

and to all a good night!

See you next year!

p/s - don't forget to track Santa: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

I multitask, therefore I am

In this month's issue of Publix's Greenwise magazine was an unintentionally hilarious article on reducing stress and saving time. One of their insights was to "rethink multi-tasking". I giggled when I read it. Really. Without multitasking how the heck would you ever get anything done?! I'm not talking about bad multitasking like driving and reading your mail. I'm talking about the 100,000 things I do - simultaneously - on a daily basis.

I can only assume the article was written by a man because most men, and by "men" I mean "my husband", are pretty bad at multitasking. Mr. J can't coordinate going to lunch and getting a haircut at the same time, never mind the totally efficient multitasking that I, and most women/moms I know, engage in on a daily basis. He also tends to get very aggravated when he sees me multitasking - he says it makes him feel like he's in the middle of a tornado. I say he's just jealous that I can get so much done in the same time it takes him to do just one thing. After which he'll claim exhaustion and need to go sit on the porch for 2 hours.

Even as I write this, I'm doing laundry, making a batch of cookies, finishing a round of emergency vacuuming since Anders decided it would be a good idea to pull the cover off the a/c return vent (with an air filter that hasn't been changed in a year - yeccch), and getting lunch/snacks ready for Dagny's afternoon playdate. Top that!

Now Greenwise did have a decent point - you must try to coordinate your multitasking so that you are doing tasks with similar concentration points at the same time, e.g., folding laundry and watching DVR'd episodes of "Good Eats". As opposed to trying to do your taxes and clean out a closet at the same time. It's probably not a good idea to try to multitask any financial-type activity. No one is getting hurt if your cookies don't turn out right, but you don't want to mess with your money, right?

At that's the thing about women/moms - we've got a LOCK on this multitasking business. I may look like chaos as I whirl through the house cleaning, straightening, piling, moving, cooking, squirting (Slatkin's Winter scent - awesome!) and fluffing, but I know exactly what I'm doing. And I'm getting it all done TODAY.

Well, since you asked

I am a little concerned that Mr. J has not begun inquiring what I'd like for Christmas. Usually he has asked for a few recommendations by now. So either he's come up with something on his own, forgot entirely or is waiting until 10:59 p.m. on December 24 to figure it out (hello Walgreens!)

So just in case he asks YOU, here are some goodies I wouldn't mind finding in my stocking:
Slatkin's candle in Winter from Bath & Body Works. It even gets rid of wet dog smell.

"Artisan Breads Every Day" - to help fuel my 2010 homemade-only bread policy.

"Blackberry Farm Cookbook" - I've never been, but both the farm and the recipes make me drool.

"Bon Apetit, Y'all" - 'Cause Southern cooking is one of our favorites around here!

Pastry scraper - essential for making bread, scones, biscuits, etc.Pastry blender - so I don't have to haul out the Cuisinart every time I want to make pastry
Ugg short boots in Chocolate (couldn't find an exact picture)

And finally, if we win the lottery this weekend, I'll be asking for sterling silver flatware, specifically Reed & Barton's Burgundy.

But mostly I would like a healthy and happy year for my whole family. And maybe some willpower to stick to my diet/exercise plan in 2010!

It's not me, it's you

All that fuss about my candy? Turns out it's my wretched old candy thermometer -- totally out of calibration by about 10 degrees! Well no WONDER nothing was setting up!

I'll be looking for one of these in my stocking:

But for now, my candy-making days are DONE. I have one more wretched, gooey pan of peppermint marshmallows (really, peppermint marshmallow fluff) to clean and then I'm sticking with some ez bar cookies. Maybe some biscotti if I find the time.

Ho ho ho.

Got candy?

As stated in an earlier post, I was planning on making candy for my Christmas goody boxes this year. Because candy stores better without going stale. Because candy ships better. Because candy can be made in large batches. But I forgot one important thing - candy is very weather-dependent. Humidity and heat do terrible, terrible things to candy.

And of course this has been the most humid miserable rainy December ever. It's rained so much they even lifted our watering restrictions! It's rained so much our lawn/weeds are as green as they are in July! It's rained so much I've ruined 1 batch of caramels (wouldn't set) and 2 batches of peppermint bark (chocolate wouldn't temper, candies clumped into a giant Starlight Mint ball).

I did manage to get one batch of marshmallows done last weekend, but the humidity came right back up again.

I'm rethinking the cookie thing.

Ugh.

Two to go

This has been a busy, busy crazy hectic week month year. But I only have two events to go and THEN I can relax and enjoy Christmas. Do you feel that way too?

Tomorrow is Mr. J's work Holiday party. I want to wear something OVER THE TOP sparkly but am afraid of looking like Tinkerbell. What to do?

Hungry

I've been pretty good about my diet this past month, in preparation for all the Christmas goodies I'll be eating next week. But today. Oh today. The weather is cool (and getting colder), gray and windy. I'm in a nesting mood. I've got the munchies. I want to watch a football game. I want:

- Crispy potato skins loaded with pimento cheese and bacon

- Hot wings w/ blue cheese and celery

- Spicy hot jalapeno poppers

- Creamy 4-cheese mac n' cheese

- Crab cake w/ remoulade

- A cold Sam Adams

- A dish of peppermint ice cream

Maybe not in that order.

What I'll have: a tuna melt, green salad and a gingerbread cookie. Sigh.

Photophobic

My kids are gorgeous. Really! But our Christmas pictures? They always look deranged.

Are your lights up?

Here's where we went last night:

http://www.christmasdisplay.org/

Wow.

Under the weather

Haven't seen the sun in about a week now. So humid that our porch has standing water on it (DISGUSTING). Had to turn on the a/c yesterday so we could dry out a bit. Everything feels moist.

Help! Send sun!

Did you know we have a solar water heater? It makes this quiet humming noise as the water cycles through the heater thingamajig. I haven't heard it in Idontknowhowlong so I assume we're on the electrical back-up heater. The downside of going green -- only works when Nature cooperates. Well, I guess we could take cold showers (NOT!)

Going to crank up the oven, make some toasty granola, some pumpkin spice muffins and a yummy hashbrown casserole for dinner.

Rethink

Anders is sick AGAIN. Is it him? Is it us? Is it school? We're considering moving him to the Tues-Thurs schedule after the holidays. Three days a week may be too much and he's having some behavior problems that concern us. I need to spend more time with him.... or wait? Maybe I spend too much? Anyway, he gets sick every month and he is hitting and he is yelling (at home not at school) and we are thinking it's because of school. He is on the young side -- late July bday -- he is a boy and parents are the best pre-school there is. And if you want to be brutally honest about it, the best thing about pre-school is the time it gives ME. I mean, sure, there are some educational aspects to it and certainly if you are a working parent then it's probably essential, but I guarantee there is absolutely nothing that is taught in pre-school that I don't know. (This is probably true up until 9th grade where I will hit the Geometry Wall of Pain. I had no problem with Algebra or Calculus, but I just don't "get" Geometry.)

But above everything, we have to think about what is best for this individual kid. And maybe I have to be unselfish enough to think that pre-school, even part time, isn't the best option for him.

Best laid plans

So much for my morning of cleaning, baking and candy-making. Anders woke up sick and Dagny was home by 10:00 not feeling well. Soooo... a nice leisurely day instead enjoying our Christmas decorations.

'Tis the season

Can your husband put up the Christmas lights without a single cuss word? Mine can't.

Somehow, during their 11 months in storage, we had three whole strands of tree lights completely burnout. After Mr. J tried for almost 2 hours to find the bad bulb, complete with language that made me hide the Baby Jesus from the nativity scene, I finally sent him out to the Home Depot with instructions to buy five brand new sets. Three for this year and two for back-up. And yes, I agree it's frustrating and silly, but nothing is built to last these days anyway. So just go buy those new ones and THROW OUT the old ones and move on already!

And we haven't even started hanging the wreaths yet.

Resolution time

Have you started thinking about your New Year's resolutions yet (if you make them at all)?

One of the ones I've been toying with is only eating homemade bread at home next year. Except for maybe the random burger or hot dog bun and even those are relatively easy to make, for the few times a year we'd need them. There's some logistical issues like should I make it every day or make a bunch of loaves at one time and then freeze them? Should I do no-knead breads, which are "easier" in terms of prep than traditional loaves, but require much more planning. How do I work in familial preferences since Dags only eats sourdough and Anders only eats whole wheat or honey wheat?

On the plus side, we really don't eat that much bread mainly because we're not big sandwich eaters (esp. Dags & I) so we're not talking about huge quantities of bread. Maybe 2 homemade size loaves a week will be fine. We do eat a lot of rolls and bagels, but those are easier to make in large quantity -- at least I think so. Plus they freeze nicely.

Lots to consider, but since I've gone homemade with ice creams, candies, yogurt, sour cream and almost all other baked goods why not bread?

Someone talk me out of it before I decide it's a good idea.