Sharon's Christmas Present!

For Christmas this year, I received a gift certificate from Steve for a hair cut at Gene Juaraz, but it could be for either of us. I chose him. And I cried! It was the best present ever!

I found the handsome man under all the hair! Jerry, the hairdresser, did a wonderful job of explaining all the pros and cons of various styles and you can see by this photo story the results.

I LOVE my husband! Thank you!

The children at this point thought that Steve looked like Obie-one-Knobie from Star Wars.

The salon is donating the ponytail to Locks of Love for us!

Already I am loving the feel of his hair through my fingers! :)

A White Christmas

We had a very simple Christmas this year and I will let the pictures tell the story.

It is true! We had a White Christmas! This is so rare for us that I had to document it for posterity. Even now, New Year's Eve, the back yard is still covered in snow...but it is melting...yeah! The sad part of being snowed in for Christmas is that all the plates of cookies I was going to deliver didn't happen and by the time I could get out, I wouldn't give them away as many had gone stale...but we are eating them anyway!

The guitar was from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen as it used to be Grandma's guitar. My parents had flown to Salt Lake City to see the Temple lights and so it was arranged that they would bring the guitar back with them from Utah. That sure saved a lot of postage! And was Scott ever so pleased with it! He was hugging it when we came down the stairs. Now we just need to get some new strings and lesson materials and we are set!

Every year for Christmas I give Scott a stuffed cat. This year it was a bandit cat!

Stephanie in her new hat...wore it all day for two days!

Santa brought a Bryer horse...

...and a Bella Sara game.

I picked up this pillow for Steve to further document our "White Christmas". It was also marked down quite a bit!

A cat toy in his stocking...since Isabella has adopted Steve as her favorite person. :)

Here is Isabel admid all the gift wrapping...she only stayed long enough for this picture...

Merry Christmas!

Our Favorite Christmas Cookie

A couple of years ago we found this recipe and it quickly became a family favorite. It really takes all of us to make them!

Scott and I stirred up the dough on Tuesday and it sat in the fridge until this afternoon. The dough is so solid that I am not strong enough to dig into it, and that is where Steve is involved. He digs into the dough and breaks it up, I then roll it into the balls; bake them up and the children are in charge of the frosting...which is just an Andes mint melted on top and swirled.

Chocolate Mint Crisps

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
2 Tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 packages Andes Mints

In a heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter and water. Cook over low heat until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat; stir in chocolate chips until melted. (I just turned off the stove and kept stirring while the pan was on the element until the chocolate was completely melted...otherwise it sometimes takes a while). Transfer to a mixing bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes. With mixer on high speed, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to chocolate mixture, beating on low speed until blended. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.


Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 3 inches apart on light greased baking sheets. (I use parchment paper and it really helps!) Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes or until edges are set and tops are puffed and cracked (cookies will become crisp after cooling). Immediately top each cookie with a mint. Let stand for 1 - 2 minutes for the mint to melt; spread over cookies. Remove to wire racks; let stand until chocolate is set and cookies are cooled.

Yield: 5 - 6 dozen

Our Winter Wonderland!

The snow just doesn't seem to want to stop. We even received a few more inches today! And according to the weather report, more is on the way. We truly are having a "White Christmas" this year!

This is the blue spruce in front of the house and it truly is beautiful. I told Steve not to knock off the snow from the bottom branches as they are scheduled to be trimmed anyway...in case the weight of the snow is too much for them. We do have a few trees in the yard that are having some problems from the snow, so that will have to be taken care of.

When the snow first came, it was only an inch or so, and we didn't bother shoveling it. Then on Thursday last week, we got 12.5 inches, so we borrowed a shovel from our back yard neighbor and Steve worked hard at getting a path to the sidewalk and did the full length of the sidewalk. He even started another path from his garage to the sidewalk, when he came in and needed a rest...and sugar. That is when I went out and finished shoveling the path for his car to get out of the garage. My van was not shoveled out at this time.

Then...we got another foot of snow. This time both of us were out there...and the snow was heaver as it had started melting a bit. I used our small pointed shovel while Steve used the borrowed one again. It still took us a long time to get things cleaned up. These pictures show how much snow we piled up on the sides of our driveways...but this time both vehicles can get out of the garage!

Here is Scott helping to clear the sidewalk! We found that he really doesn't like getting cold and would much rather spend his snow days inside playing on his electronics. The boots we got him come off just as soon as he comes in the house!

This is just a pretty picture I took at the back door of our neighbors cedar tree.

Here are some more back yard pictures. One of them I tried to take a close up of the ice on some limbs from the water that dripped off the house.

Tart Christmas Party

On Saturday, December 20th, early in the morning (for us) we left our warm home and headed to Gig Harbor for the Tart family Christmas party. The roads here in Monroe are snow covered, but the highways and freeways were just fine. I knitted a scarf on our way there...finished it just as we got into Gig Harbor!

The party itself was really nice. The food was wonderful! The cookies I brought didn't last long...need to make a note to self to take more cookies next time. The homemade theme went over really well and the bags I made for the children were well received. I gave Julie my best bags and a couple of dishcloths of the finest cotton thread I had.

We left Gig Harbor around 1:30 and it had already started to snow there when we left. We got home around 3:30 or so and spent the rest of the day waiting for a big storm to arrive.

Oh...I gave the scarf I knitted to Mom to give to someone...I just like knitting them...they are fast and easy...especially when you use those huge knitting needles. :)

Snow Days

Winter has come early for us here in Monroe. It's a good thing that we took the time yesterday to go into Bellevue to get our cat as today the roads are not something I want to venture on. Stephanie measured the snow on our back step at 7.5 inches, which is totally unusal for us here. Usually that amount is reserved for the mountains.

So what am I doing today...baking cookies! I have already stirred up two batches of the pumpkin snickerdoodles, they need time in the fridge...and I'm ready to start the lemon ones. I also plan on knitting and if I can kick some people out of the house for a bit, I might get some packages wrapped. I really don't want to wait until Christmas Eve to do my wrapping...I will leave that up to Steve. :)

Update...the news just verified what I had been thinking...we here in Monroe received 12.5 inches of snow...and it's only 5 pm! Why did I think we had that much snow? I had to help Steve shovel the snow from the driveway...and we only cleared enough for one vehicle to get out...his! Oh...and school has already been closed for tomorrow...so no school now until after the winter break is over in January!

Meet our newest family member - Isabel

What was supposed to be a Christmas surprise, turned out to be a family affair going to the Humane Society in Bellevue to adopt a cat. The children ended up not going to school due to some snow falling down...not that any of it really stuck around...just that the school really wanted to have a longer school year. Therefore, I had to take them with us to pick out our cat.

The Humane Society had advertized on TV and their web site that all adult cats, 1 year old or more, were having their adoption fee waived. Free. We could handle that! Right now we are letting her get used to us and the house and we find that she likes to be in tight places...behind my mixer on the counter...up on the piano bench...who knows where she will go next. We are being extra cautious in keeping all doors closed so that she is only allowed in the normal living areas. I'm sooooooo glad that I insisted on doors to my studio!

Also, when you come to visit, and she wants to be petted, just be aware, she doesn't like her tail touched...that's what was on the information sheet we received. Just haven't tested it yet. :)

Mom decided to not change her name: Isabel

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us borrow the pet carrier! It really made a difference in getting her home!

Christmas bag I made

Good Morning! I stayed up late last night making a Christmas bag. I made it with pockets on all sides, both in and out...so it is reversable. What do you think? I used 5 different coordinating fabrics, one of which was just for the strap. As for the strap, I had to cut two strips and sew them together before it was long enough for me. I had fun putting it together and I was amazed at how quickly it went too. Of course, I was listening to one of the Harry Potter books on CD, so that helped the time go quicker too. :)