Happy New Year!

Oh, how I wish I had a graphic of a noise-maker! Oh, well, until I can link audio to this, you wouldn't hear it anyway.

One more year for the record books, and it's resolution time. Well, we've gone over this before - if I was really going to make changes, would I wait until the beginning of the year? No - I'd simply make the change when I decided on it. I do have one complaint (well, I'll keep it to one...): newbies at the gym! Some decided last week they should get a jump on their resolutions, and I got the very last treadmill (the ellipticals were all full!) in the gym. And I was there at 7:30 am! Oh, well, two weeks and we'll be back to just the regulars.

Happy New Year to you and yours, and I'll see you next year! (Don't you just hate it when people say that in the last days of the year?!?)

A very Merry Christmas...

Let's see....the weather outside is....wet (and, that can be frightful), and the fire is so delightful (well, the fireplace flue is plugged, so there won't be a fire, but maybe we'll bump the thermostat a notch or two), and since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.... OK, that's out of the way. We had our dusting of snow last week and I'm now over it, so let's get to spring.

Wow... that sounded a little Scrooge-like, didn't it?!? Really, I'm looking forward to the holidays because the Mr. will have two four-day weekends in a row and nothing pressing is going on. I like that! The eldest Hinkelgruber boy turns 27 on New Year's Eve (how did that happen???) Anyone reading this who has not received the invitation to the annual Hinkelgruber Christmas Eve gathering, consider this your invite - no need to bring anything, but if you feel so inclined/compelled to, finger food is perfect. Oh, not before 4:00 pm, please...

Merry Christmas!

Chewing gum head...

There are few things that make one feel worse than a head cold...you're not really sick, you just feel like crap and if you could put your head on the mantle for about three days, all would be good. For me, the worst part is wanting to sit and do nothing and have no one bother me. Boy, I'm going to make a great old person!

Mr. Hinkelgruber took care of me last evening by going and getting hot and sour soup from a local restaurant for dinner. I truly believe that the cure for the common cold is in hot and sour - as hot as you can stand it, oh, and lots of water. I also believe that a cold runs the following course: 2-days to get it; 2-days to have it; 2-days to get over it. This means that by Wednesday, I'll be completely cured.

I did something this year I've planned to do for the past ten - I wrapped Christmas gifts as I bought them! It's funny how much pressure and stress is gone when the thought of wrapping a full holiday's worth of gifts isn't looming over you. I really should do this every year!

Everything on this week's menu is from a new cookbook we received this week. Instead of subscribing to a certain cooking magazine this year, we decided to see if they'd simply send us the annual compilation of each issue. And, they did! So, every recipe is new and they all come from the 2012 Cook's Country. Mr. Hinkelgruber won't be searching for the recipes in innumerable volumes!

Whoopie!

How many Whoopie Pies are enough? Hopefully, 5-1/2 dozen Whoopies are enough for Mrs. Hinkelgruber's BFF's work bake sale. Four kinds: Classic Chocolate with marshmallow filling, Chocolate with peppermint-marshmallow filling, Pumpkin with caramel cream cheese filling (my personal favorite) and a favorite of her workmates: Coconut with coconut cream cheese filling.

Well, another wine fridge was needed by the Hinkelgruber clan. No, we don't drink so much that we need two, but the older one became so noisy I thought Mr. Hinkelgruber would go crazy(er). It's now in the basement where we can't hear it and there's a new, quiet one in the kitchen. Just in time for Christmas Eve!

And, speaking of Christmas Eve...You're all invited to join us for the evening of December 24 to eat and drink - bring an hors d'oeuvre and an appetite.