Happy birthday little Lochlan--son to Erin from The Mom Buzz!  Celebrated with pictures of our little ones at their 1st birthdays... 

Looking back is bittersweet!  I want all those "firsts" back...  But I also love looking forward to all that are to come... 

These lovely old fashioned suckers are so easy to make!  Just a few ingredients...Here is the recipe:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 tsp pure peppermint extract (or another flavor of choice)
gel-paste food coloring of your choice

In preparation grease both a baking sheet (rimmed) and a metal spatula. In a sauce pan bring sugar, corn syrup, and water to a boil over medium-high heat--stirring till you reach a boil.  Allow the mixture boil now without stirring...  You will need to bring the mixture to 304 degrees on your candy thermometer--about 10 minutes.  

Remove from heat and add lemon and your flavoring extract... Stir and then pour onto prepared pan.  Fold mixture into itself from all sides using spatula until the mixture starts to turn a little opaque...

Wearing rubber gloves, you will need to pull candy--as soon as it's cools enough to handle--although it will remain hot.  Pull to about 8-10 inches, twist and fold back into itself.  Take a small ball and drop food coloring in--you will need to continue to fold and twist both pieces until the candy mixture begins to whiten.  Just a minute or two. 

Lengthen both pieces about a foot and twist into each other.  Twist from one end and use scissor to cut the length you desire.  I wrapped mine around candy sticks--but you could easily cut into bite sized peppermints!  You will have to work quickly--but worth the effort.  So yummy--hard to resist!  A great treat to add to a Christmas gift. 

REALLY!?! (in honor of SNL)  Is that little piece of paper left on the roll supposed to be enough for me?  Was it reason enough not to change the roll this morning when you used it all up?  Too much trouble, I guess, to reach over to the cabinet and pull out another roll...

Is this a trait known only to man that has been passed down generation to generation? 

Behold, an image of old Kris Kringle—a  beloved white haired, white bearded, rotund, jolly old fellow… An image that our culture knows well and adores...

So what’s up with the mall Santas?  Do they do a bar sweep looking for all the out-of-work, red-nosed, stale men they can find? 

Look, I understand that "Mall Santa" is not a highly coveted career… I get it, really--it’s a tough job.  1000s of stinky, snotty, crying babies and toddlers (not mine, of course) sneeze out their Christmas desires. I’d probably drink, too.  And clearly, the men beneath the red hat are trying, but are ya kiddin’ me?

This year’s Santa at the local mall had his long gray, wiry hair in a pig tail. A pig tail?  My daughter looked at him strange at first… I didn’t say anything, and  I didn’t look closely enough to see if the glitter near his ear was an earring either.  I did notice he was in full gear down to the white gloves—Could his jumpsuit and jacket be concealing hoards of recklessly scattered tattoos?  Maybe Santa rides a Harley? Hmmm... (Images of old, perverted men danced in my head...)

And this hasn’t been a one time mall mishap for me.  I’ve had the fake-beard Santa and one I think they actually reincarnated from antiquity.   

I know you’ve seen 'em… the classic sweaty Santa? How about the too-skinny-to-be Santa?  Aren’t there minimum requirements when they sign their Santa’s Association card?

It doesn’t really matter, I guess.  I’m still gonna bring Kate back to sit on his lap next year and cross my fingers and toes that it's not the overly-touchy-huggy-feely Santa…


(He was actually a very jolly Saint Nicolas)  Happy holidays!

Did you know that it was Edward Murphy who coined “Murphy’s Law.”  (Not familiar with Murphy’s Law?  It’s the law that suggests that if anything can go wrong, it does, and often at the most inopportune time.)  I feel a certain kinship with Mr. Murphy—like he must have had me in mind when he first tested his law.  Now, I know that this can’t be true because the phrase appeared long before I was born, but geesh—sometimes I wonder…

Alanis Morsette kinda piggbacked off of Murphy with her song “Isn’t it Ironic?” But Murphy’s Law is not irony—it is more than something occurring as an incongruity to what is expected —Murphy’s Law suggests an expected result, unlike the one you desire…  Like today, for instance…  Several things brought “Murphy’s Law” to mind.  I won’t go into great detail, but let’s just say it takes me twice as long as most people to accomplish simple tasks. 

Why am I blogging about Murphy’s Law?  I was struck by the hilarity of a post I read on Frogmama’s blog, and although I couldn’t help but giggle—A LOT—it seemed like Murphy’s Law was at it again. If you need a good laugh--you might want to hop on over to "Frogs in my Formula."

Her post inspired this special award.  I’m calling it The Edward Murphey Award; it's for any blogger who frequently finds that if anything can go wrong, it will…It might be important to note that Murphy apparently was an optimist, and understanding how Murphy’s law works implies that you will take precautions to make sure to avoid disasters, but I haven’t found this to be true in my life.

This awards for you Frogmama! If you decide to share the award, it must be a deserving recipient.  I don't like rules, so I'm not going to attach any... 

DISCLAIMER:  If you do not know about it, Murphy's Law does not apply. For instance, if a plan is formulated by perfect idiots, Murphy's Law is invalid, and the situation will go according to plan even if the plan is severely flawed.

And for the curious, it is also possible to manifest a “Murphy’s Field."  It is suggested that certain persons appear to cause systems to suddenly fail or operate erratically…

This does happen to me as well, but with a twist...  If something is operating erratically and I seek external help, the problem will not manifest when the person I’ve beckoned shows up…

Watching Scott in the kitchen is painful… Not painful like getting a tooth pulled, painful like watching Britney-shave-her-head painful or President Bush-doing-the-Macarena painful.  So when Scott commented that he had signed up for the Christmas “sharing of treats” at work (or whatever it’s called), I said I would be more than glad to concoct something. 

I’m not saying that I’m an expert in the kitchen or anything:  I just wanted him to preserve his reputation *grin*   I sent some peppermint bark to the office today—but the real deal is tomorrow. With cake mix on hand, I put together some cupcakes—cinch!   I shaved up some peppermint chocolate kisses and dabbed them on the top—yummy delicious…

I can relax now.  Right?  Nope.  I just heard from me mate, and it looks like I need to make some type of a meal—like in the crock pot meal—(ehem…for thirty). Super.  Any ideas out there for a scrumptious crock pot recipe?  It has to be quick, as I will be making it later tonight!

Delicious and simple.  Peppermint bark.  It requires only two ingredients--candy canes and candy melts.  You can buy candy melts at Michael's or candy coating from your local grocer.  I like the generic candy coating--it's cheap and tastes good.

What do you do?  Put about 10 candy canes in a heavy zip lock bag and smash with a rolling pin.  Sift out some big pieces and separate.  Melt the candy coating either on a melt setting on your stove or in the microwave at the 50 percent setting.  (Microwave for a few minutes and then in 20 second intervals till melted.  Do not overheat).

Once you've melted the candy coating, add the smashed candy canes, reserving larger chunks.  Stir.  Spread over parchment covered baking sheet.  Sprinkle remaining chunks over the top and press lightly.  You can also add some red or pink candy melts lightly decorated in striped sweeps across the top (as shown in my picture).  After the candy hardens, break into pieces and serve.

Katie pretty much did everything except smash the candy canes and put the melted chocolate into the baking sheet. It's an easy recipe to do with the kids, and it's a yummy present for teachers or neighbors... 

Awww... Shucks!

Dad to Two has bestowed this awesome award upon the Juicy Alligator Blog!  BIG thanks go out to him...  What a fun award!  To win this award you must:

1) Display a cheerful attitude...

2) Love one another...

3) Make mistakes...

4) Learn from others...

5) Be a positive contributor to the blog world...

6) Love life...

7) Love kids.

I'm not positive that I qualify, but I'm not tellin' anybody otherwise! 

The rules for the Smile Award are:

1) Please link back, 2) Post the rules, 3) Choose 5 people to give it to , 4) Recipients must fill the characteristics above, 5) Create a post to share this, 6) Thank the winners.

There are many blogs that I read every day that I'd like to recognize!  I know some of them already have this award, so...  I am going to share this award with blogs that I love that I don't believe have this award already...  And if you're one of those blogs that doesn't post awards--well, just want you to know that your blog makes me smile :)  Happy Sunday!

The Mom Buzz
Small Town Mommy
Mommy's Gibble Gabbles
Running Over 50
Glue 4 Families

Hanging celebratory lights is much different here in the desert than it was back home.  We noticed it right away on Halloween—almost every house on our block had orange and black lights strung from cactus to bush to house—it’s an electric company dream-come-true!  I imagine because there are not the same issues of frostbite here as there were back home; regardless, the trend holds true for Christmas decorations…  It seemed as soon as the orange and black came down, a myriad of red, green, blue and hot pink went up.  I’m excited to meet more of our neighbors—clearly they drink… 

I think that all of this decorating has triggered  some Christmas lights anxiety that I’ve not seen in my husband before.  He has been pacing the lighting aisle looking for, I suspect, just the right lights to string—he doesn’t want to “bring down the neighborhood.” 

Lest he forget his M.O.  Buy 30 strings of lights, install one, proceed to string all curse words together known to man, and then…give up.  Hanging Christmas lights definitely requires a skill-set that he doesn’t possess.  We must resign to the hum-bug status reserved only for such lame-o parents…

Adding to the guilt trip--our  neighbor seems to go just a tad overboard.  You can drive by his house and tune your car radio to 96.5, or whatever, and listen to Christmas tunes while 1000s of bulbs pulse synchronized incredibly accurate to the music.  I’m pretty sure they have some arrangement on the low-down with Home Depot—HD’s advertisement looks suspiciously familiar…

Whatever, I’m off to the store to find a flashing arrow to and a sign that says “Merry Christmas”—and point it next door…

Outwit, outplay,  outlast! Are you a Survivor fan, like me?  Everyone has some vice—mine is Survivor.  I’ve literally watched every episode except one—I missed it because I was giving birth to Katie—but my dad taped it for me—thanks dad!

How much do you know about Survivor? Check your Survivor IQ  here.


Who are your favorites this season?  Mine are Sugar, Matty, and Bob—I also really liked cutie patootie Marcus--At least he's on the jury :)

You can also read Jeff Probst as he blogs about Survivor here... 

"Oh, for the record, they don't have toilets or toilet paper, showers or soap, or make-up, or beds, or secret food stashes, or anything else that would make it more tolerable. The game is real. The game is hard." 

I believe it is--I don't think I could do it--as my husband so frequently points out...  But I know I could outlast him :)