CARRYING ON

There are so many pretty Christmas pictures online.  I am having fun showing them all to you.  This seaside scene reminds me of the Jacquie Lawson Advent calendar I am doing this year.  It too is set in the seaside.

Hope you are all enjoying the Advent Season.  I am cleaning and decorating on.  Yesterday I had one of my exhausted days so didn't get as much done as I would have liked.  But something is better than nothing, right?  I did a little more in the kitchen.  Here are some Christmas towels I hung up.

I just saw the rack is off center.  Oops!  Joe bought me this towel rack which I put on the cabinet door under the sink.  It makes a great place to hang my dish towels.  I got the Santa one for my bridal shower and you can see that it has gone through some tough times.  I am going to bleach it again.  I am cautious about putting too much bleach on it because I don't want to lose the stripes or Santa.  Any of you have any ideas how to get the stains out?  I've tried a lot of things.  It is clean, just out of the wash, although it doesn't look it.  The rest of the house may be a mess, but I keep my kitchen and bathroom clean.

In the afternoon a few of us went to church to help put together a mailing.  It was fun to do something like that.  I really miss working (never thought I would say that) so doing something like this was good for me.

When I got back Joe and I went food shopping.  I spent a lot more than I expected to, but got enough for a couple of weeks so I guess it all evens out.

I made Conchitas con Carne for dinner.  It is one of Joe's favorites.  Here is the link for the recipe from my recipe blog: http://cookingfmf.blogspot.com/2014/10/conchitas-con-carne.html
I use that blog as an online recipe book.  I don't lose things there.  😃  I also made some cornbread with honey and chipolte peppers.  I don't usually like cornbread, but this turned out really good.

Speaking of links, several of you asked for the link to Ree Drummond's macaroni and cheese that I made the other night.  As I said in one of the comments I got it from her cookbook.  But I did find the link for you.  Here it is:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/macaroni-and-cheese-recipe.html

I wanted to show you the necklaces I was wearing yesterday.  They are special to me.  The 93 year old lady I drive to church gave them to me last Christmas as a thank you for all the rides I give her.  So sweet, but totally unnecessary.  Still I like them a lot.  The top one is three birds sitting on a branch and the bottom one is a butterfly.

I thought this picture of Snowy was cute.  I had a stuffed reindeer on the back of the sofa.  She laid on the sofa and I gave her the reindeer.  She started sniffing it and when I put it next to her, she just let it sit there while she went to sleep.  She really is a sweet cat.

Here's some more of the Hallmark Christmas movies I've been watching:

A Royal Christmas (2014). 
Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of Cordinia, has no ambitions of marrying into royalty after falling in love with Emily Taylor, a humble seamstress from Philadelphia. But the young prince’s wishes are challenged by Queen Isadora, Leopold’s mother, who has other plans for her son. Stars Lacey Chabert, Stephen Hagan and Jane Seymour.

Merry Matrimony (2015).
Brie, an advertising executive, lands her dream assignment organizing the perfect Christmas wedding for a fashion magazine. If she succeeds, she will make partner at her firm. The only catch is that she unknowingly has been paired up with a certain high powered fashion photographer who just happens to be her estranged ex-boyfriend. Stars Jessica Lowndes and Christopher Russell.

Crown for Christmas (2015).
After getting fired from a ritzy NYC hotel, Allie accepts a job as governess to a young girl that is part of a powerful family in Europe. Upon arriving, Allie learns the girl is Princess Theodora and her father is Maximillion, the King of Winshire. Princess Theodora terrorizes authority figures, yet the two wind up hitting it off and at the same time a spark forms between Allie and Max. Stars Danica McKellar and Rupert Penry Jones.


And that's all I have for you today.  More cleaning and decorating going on and a run to Target to get a couple of Christmas gifts.  Then I am done!  (I hope.)  See you all tomorrow.

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:05 a.m.

Sunset:  4:35 p.m.

9 hours and 30 minutes of daylight

Morning clouds/Afternoon sun

Temperature:  49*/35*

It's cold outside!