Dissertations can be scary

I was working on my dissertation today, working on some plots. Although I expected the general shape you see below, I did not expect that these four plots, arranged in this particular order, would be so diabolic.

Merry Christmas!!

Wow! What a morning! I am so blessed to have such wonderful kids. We decided to keep Christmas pretty small this year, and I am so glad we did. The kids each got a pined for activity/toy and something from the name drawing we did with the extended Tueller family. It kept them busy all day, and they got along so well. (I just realized this statement will probably give away that we did Christmas a little earlier than the 25th, but we had many good reasons!)

Staying warm while the kids open presents.

I have to explain that Stephen had the camera on automatic here, and Payge thought he was taping, so she started dancing...there's another one of these on here somewhere...

Chayce in her fun outfit from Aunt Renee!

Zach's very cool Cabella's shirt from Aunt Julie!

More dancing!

Posing with the stocking.

Payge got a Waterbaby from Mom&Dad (Santa) and her Grandma Tueller made tiny cloth diapers, a little diaper bag with bottles in it, a baby afghan, and receiving blankets for the doll. So cute!

She loved on her dolly all day!

Fudge

Oh, we made fudge last weekend, and it is finally "aged" enough to enjoy and cut. This year it was a white fudge, with dried tart cherries and pecans. Sigh. We liked it, and hope that any other lips it graced would like it, too.

You have to understand, making candy is a family old tradition, but my fudge-making techniques were changed, trained by a neighbor known for his fudge. His chocolate fudge recipe is to die for, and if I make it, I don't stop eating it, sooo, I haven't made it in awhile. He taught me how to make fudge the long, old-fashioned way, starting with sugar and cream and butter, cooking it until it is just right, and after it cools whipping it til the gloss is gone and it melts when it goes into your mouth.

I learned of his talent in a funny way. He'd been borrowing our neighbor's mixer for awhile every few months in order to make fudge. He said he longed for a Bosch (which our neighbor had) because his fudge recipe had killed about 7 Kitchen Aids' motors. Then, one day, after agonizing over which mixer I would buy with my wheat grinder, I realized I would not be home when it arrived. I walked next door to ask our kind neighbor if he would watch out for my valuable package, to which he replied he would, but only if he could use it. Ha! He was teasing me of course, but as we lived there longer the stories about his chocolate fudge kept floating my way. People asking if I'd tried it, since he did live next door.

His wife was wonderful and said that I should come over and learn to make the fudge itself. I was very excited, as was my husband and son (my son continues to love them as another set of grandparents, and we miss them more than ever!).

I didn't have to make fudge much while living there, though, because each time I let them use the mixer for something, I would get fudge back. Their family also made some wonderful bread.

This year, I finally made the white fudge on my own, and had to tell him all about it. Of course, I was then one-upped as I was told he'd perfected a carrot-cake fudge, which now Stephen is begging me to make. I'm sorry I'm not at liberty to share the recipe, and I'm even sorrier that my fudge doesn't turn out quite as wonderful as his...maybe it just tastes better when someone else makes it, or maybe there is a secret that I didn't really catch. But I'm going to try to make this carrot cake fudge for Stephen's birthday, and if you live close by, you might get some...if Stephen doesn't eat it all.

Christmas Crazies

We must be delusional with holiday cheer. As we snuggled on the couch getting ready to watch a movie, we decided that Zach looked like a very large hot dog, with Mom, Chayce & Payge being the relish, mustard, and ketchup, respectively.

Earlier in the day we learned what it meant to let Zach do the girls' makeup. I won't say never again, but at least not before going out in public!


I think he really likes blue...

Ice Box Dessert

We have to admit, this is probably the LEAST healthy thing we make at Christmas (well, along with the fudge, gingerbread, and sugar cookies...), but we're going to share the recipe anyway, because we love it. Oh, and Aunt Teythem, we made this video just for you, in honor of last Christmas's cookie dough stealing extravaganza. ;)

Ice Box Dessert
1 lb of walnuts, chopped
1 lb of dates, chopped
8 oz of maraschino cherries drain, but keep the juice!, chopped into halves (we double this)
1 pint of heavy cream
1 large bag of mini marshmallows.
2 pounds of graham crackers crushed fine. (The big box used to be 2 pounds, now it's 1 pound 12 oz, but it still works.)

Mix nuts, dates, cherries and marshmallows together. Pour cream over the top with a little of the cherry juice for flavor. Start adding graham cracker crumbs, stirring as you go, until it forms a dough. You should have crumbs left over.

In aluminum foil (you'll need three long pieces) lay down some graham crumbs the long way. Put 1/3 of the dough in a log shape on the crumbs. Add more crumbs. Roll up sides and the ends. You should have three logs to chill. Refrigerate for a few days, then slice. OR eat it out of the bowl right away, as we did above.

The Paper Caper

It started out all rolled up...

But a little curiosity goes a loooong way.

Bam, bam!

Ohhh, caught ya! Such an innocent smile, isn't it?

I won!!

I'm so excited! I've been following a lovely blog named A Godly Homemaker for a bit now. She just offered a drawing for five pounds of Tropical Traditions all natural powdered laundry soap. Now, ya'll know that I usually make my own, but I entered because who can pass up five pounds of free soap? Especially soap that you use a tablespoon at a time? Aaack! Anyhow, I won!! YAY!
In honor of winning, I want to share my 2 favorite laundry soap recipes AND a homemade spray and wash recipe that we use that came from my mother-in-law (she uses it to get farm goo out of clothes, I promise it works!). Here ya go!

Recipe #1
1/3 bar FelsNaptha Soap, grated
1 C borax
1 C washing soda (NOT baking soda!)

You can choose to leave it as a powder, and use a tablespoon per load OR if you like liquid detergents, mix the above with six cups of water & simmer on the stove til dissolved. Add more water, til you have about 2 quarts. This will set to a thick gel. Use 1/4 C per load.

Recipe #2
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Washing Soda
1/4 cup liquid castile soap

It's easiest to put liquid soap in bowl first, then washing soda, mix well, then baking soda. Will be a powdered soap. Use 1/2 C per large load.

Spray-n-Wash
1/3 C non-suds ammonia
1/3 C Wisk soap (liquid)
Put in spray bottle, fill the rest of the way with water.