Merry Christmas to all my Worldly friends!
Mel - Glad the medical alarm was nothing serious and the tenants are in a good mood.
How was the dinner prepared by Richie? Or is that today?? Enjoy Ozzie & Harriet.
Ceejay - I'm sorry your Christmas Eve at work was so horrible. I can't imagine being on the other end of the phone calls from those without power trying to cook their holiday meals!!! I think we'd have been okay because we have a gas stove...but some of it runs on electricity because it plugs in - and I'm sure it's not just for the oven light, LOL. It might have electric pilot lighters. I hope today is quieter for you, and I'll have to check the weather to see what's in store for you. Thank goodness you helped out your bff with directions - the long trip would have been even longer no thanks to the GPS!
Happy - Well, you're all set with good vittles for some special meals, and so are your backyard friends too!
Brrrr, oh so cold! It hasn't been horribly cold here (yet, knock wood), but yesterday it felt so damp, and that's chilling too of course. Our bedroom is furthest from the furnace, so it gets chilly - oh how we need to get online and order a new heated mattress pad!! I miss it so much. Tomorrow for sure.
So sorry, no pics of the luminaria when they were lit up along the block, but it was very pretty. Prettier when there's snow, but we can't have everything. Hope you're enjoying you're quiet time w/ DH. Today's our quiet day too.
Shad - Hope your Christmas was enjoyable and that you enjoyed a couple glasses of vino for me. Is it Boxing Day now?
Annie - Wow, a table full of noodles!! I bet the turkey & noodles was delish! How was Christmas Eve w/ the family? Glad to hear Sassy is feeling better - is she still wearing the cone???
Ellen - Hope you're enjoying you're quiet holiday with just the family. Definitely nice to just have time with the immediate family. Clothing is practical, and they'd have needed it anyway, don't worry about overspending on that type of thing.
Patty - Hope you're having a good Christmas and you're giving your feet a nice rest! I hope the tendonitis eases up you can get out of the boots (and into supportive shoes!). To me the hardest thing about making cheesecake is remembering to get the ingredients to room temp before starting to make it, LOL! Will the travel ease up a bit for you in 2013?
Hellos to Michelle & Java!
==
It's been a whirlwind since Friday, but today is finally a calm, relaxing one.
Friday night was the party, very nice. Saturday was circuit class, hair appointment and grocery shopping. In the PM, bf, his friend & I watched "The Artist". I'd already seen it, but it was good, so I watched it again. I kept dozing off. Not a good thing during a silent movie where you have to read the dialog, haha. But I'd seen it before , so no biggie.
Sunday I made two pies to bring to my sis's place for dinner. The apple pie was made with fresh apples, the cherry with canned filling. Both had the prepared crusts. They turned out pretty good, but the apple, which I mounded very high with apples still cooked down quite a bit and so the crust had a good bit of hollow directly under it. But it was good because it wasn't so darn sweet like the canned filling can be.
The time at my sis & BIL's place was nice, and dinner was good, but very similar to our planned Christmas Eve dinner. They served stuffed shells with cheese along with Italian sausage. Our dinner was lasagne served with Italian sausage. Oh well, I still enjoyed both meals very much.
Yesterday morning I baked the cheesecake. I lined the sides of the springform pan w/ parchment paper and so the surface didn't crack as it cooled - yay. But I failed to take a picture of my pretty cheesecake.
The lasagne turned out good too - it had a lot of spinach mixed in the ricotta, so it was healthy, right???
The no-boil noodles are easy, but they were thin and I missed the heavier traditional lasagna noodles.
We had a nice time yesterday. I had my fireplace dvd going on the telly with the music option turned on for background music. I was glad my friend D and her sis were there. I felt bad that bf's mom wasn't feeling too great - she's still recovering from an upper respiratory infection so she left shortly after dessert and before we opened gifts. She says she's feeling better today, so we may pop over there today to give her her gifts, and some leftover lasagna, sausage, and cheesecake.
Otherwise, we're just relaxing. I will have to do a load of laundry, however, or I will be forced to go commando or dig into the "emergency undie" stash, which contains the hole-y ones that mom tells you not to get caught dead in, teehee.
Enjoy the rest of your holidays ladies!
It's cold here - temps in the teens for High temperatures. I think tonight it's going to dip below zero. Santa better bundle up. No wonder all the animals are loving the woodpecker food DH sets out for a treat - gives them a bit more fat on their bones to keep them warm. We have at least 2 bunnies out there too - I think one or both live under the deck here. 
but I had the Christmas tree on, the fireplace, a lighted centerpiece on the dining room table and I turned on the lighted garland on the staircase leading to the loft area. If I must say so myself, it was very festive and pretty. I'm glad I listened to you girls and did some decorating. 
Hope you got all your cleaning done. I'm guessing that Christmas is at your house this year? 
Have a glass or two of the good stuff for us. I might chill up a bottle myself. 
Been busy yesterday & today. Bf is in Home Depot - we needed more sand for our luminarias. I'm in the car. One more stop & we'll head back home. Cheesecake is made, lasagne prep has begun. More tomorrow.
Ceejay....good morning you early bird.
