It looks a lot like Christmas!

Hello my friends. We awoke this morning to a fairy tale snowfall with the forest looking like diamonds had fallen overnight. It was quite romantic from the warmth of my home, not so much for my son who had to make the commute to the community college.

He called once on the way there to tell me he had to detour through country roads due to a wreck on the narrow road we normally take into town. The next call came when he finally arrived in the town nearest us, saying the roads were treacherous even on the By Pass. Thankfully he called to say he had arrived safely, losing control of the car a couple of times but nothing serious since he was driving so slow. Of course, I was praying for him all the way!

As for me, I'm staying inside today. I already know I'll be working next week as it is time for the students to sell their textbooks (can you believe it?). It is almost as busy as when they are purchasing them at the beginning of each semester. So... I'll make certain all my housework is caught up and laundry has been washed and dried, folded and hung up. I'm hoping to make a few dishes ahead of time for the freezer so we don't spend too much money eating fast food because I'm too exhausted to cook. :)

I am hoping to have my computer back by the end of the week. I'm hoping it works! There are so many things I'd love to share by showing pictures, not only Christmas decorations but new recipes I've tried for baked goods. I made an amazing cream cheese pound cake as part of the baked goodies given to my husband's siblings. It called for vanilla but instead I used lemon extract and then melted white chocolate (actually, the cheaper white almond bark used for dipping chocolate) and added a touch of lemon extract to that... drizzling it over the top of the bundt cake.

I sliced half of the cake for them the day after baking, wrapping each large slice in Saran Wrap as I did all the baked goods... then placing all of the goodies into Holiday gallon size freezer bags. Before going out to dinner on Sunday, I wrapped each of the freezer bags in aluminum foil before placing them in gift bags. I'm sure they stayed frozen until they could be placed into my brother-in-law's freezer. My sister-in-law could take hers out of the freezer and back into the gift bag before returning to her home. I do this so they can have a home baked goody a little at a time, as opposed to bringing on a sugar high when they have to eat everything before they go stale.

If I'm serving a bundt cake buffet style (or taking it to a pot luck already sliced), I line a flat wicker basket with pretty cloth napkins and then place Saran Wrap over the napkins to protect them (if I'm not placing them directly on a pretty, washable tray). I slice the bundt cake and arrange it on the plastic wrap and then melt either white chocolate, regular chocolate, melted chocolate chips, etc. and drizzle it over each slice giving it plenty of time to harden (it doesn't take very long). This makes it look pretty and gives an extra dimension of flavor to each slice. Hopefully I'll be able to show you a picture!

My husband helped me with our big stock-up grocery day yesterday. I'd stopped by the Super Target near the community college on Monday but there was still a lot to do. I also had a fever and chills so I didn't look forward to it at all (normally I love to shop for groceries). He put everything away in the refrigerator and I took care of most of the frozen groceries. I left the canned goods, baking supplies, etc. to put away today. (Going to bed at 8:30 helped me feel better today.)

I liked to be well stocked, especially in the winter. I always make certain I have extra cartons of eggs and milk this time of year. I still remember standing next to a man in front of the eggs at a grocery store (hmmm... around 1999) as I was adding many cartons of eggs to my grocery cart. We were under s Winter Storm Warning and the last time we'd had such a storm, fresh eggs were hard to find for weeks. This man told me his wife wanted him to pick up a dozen eggs on the way home from work. I hoped they don't have children or do any baking. :)

I have clothes in the washer and dryer, dishes soaking in hot and sudsy water in the sink, cookie ingredients trying to come to room temperature in my kitchen, and a chuck roast ready to be slow cooked in the oven... along with some root vegetables. My vintage recipe card holder is also on the counter, ready for me to pick a few favorite casserole dishes to be made over the next couple of days. I plan to work slowly but getting the to do list accomplished bit by bit with some reading and a couple of DVDs watched along the way. I have a British comedy (Last of the Summer Wine), a couple of Christy DVDs, and perhaps a second watching of Persuasion... all before returning to the library.

So... just in case Mari Nanci thinks I am overdoing it a bit (which I may be doing next week), I'm planning on hibernating... baking... housekeeping... reading... and pondering over the next few days... along with some serious DVD watching and Christmas music listening. :)