One of my favorite holiday cookies

Enjoy!
Christmas Wreath Cookies

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 3 dozen

1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4  cups miniature marshmallows
4 cups cornflakes cereal
1 teaspoon green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 (2.25 ounce) package cinnamon red hot candies

Directions

1. Microwave marshmallows and butter on High for 2 minutes. Stir, then microwave on High for 2 minutes more. Stir. (This can be done in a double boiler if one doesn’t have a microwave.)
2. Add and mix quickly the coloring, extracts, then cornflakes. Drop by spoonfuls in clumps on greased wax paper and decorate with 3 red hots each.
3. Once cool, transfer to lightly greased serving/storage tray with lightly greased fingers.

sighs

I am an Earth sign, which means I’m stable, reliable, practical and realistic.

Earth signs are the builders of long-lasting structures.

Sounds awesome right?

I tend to think about some things symbolically, if I’m an Earth sign, that means I have fire within me, air surrounding me and water on my surface. Well not to mention, that I do have water in me too,  about 60%. Hmmm. Yep, that fits better. Air is a sign of communication, and I love communications. Water flows, water is slow and steady strength, that works too. I might take my time, but I am pretty determined when I set my mind to something. Fire… yes. I have a fire within. It’s not always good, it’s not always bad. It’s simmering just below my surface, I like to think of a caldera from a volcano. They can be very beautiful and very deadly if you don’t watch your step, hmmm. Sounds familiar. I do have a lot of things within me that I never let go. I meditate an awful lot to maintain balance.  I’m not a violent person. But I won’t be pushed around either. I’m at a point that it’s taken a lot to keep the fire down, to vent out the stressors in creative ways. Writing, artwork, meditation, and yoga.

I am a stable, reliable, structured individual (type A hello), so for me to get to this point, it is taking a considerable toll on me. I can feel it physically, I’m starting to have major physical pains, my fibro is out of control right now. I’ve taken ibuprofen every four to six hours faithfully, and I’m still feeling the shakes and quakes within my bones and nerve endings! on a scale of one to ten, I’m at an eight point five. I’ve taken my preventative meds for my migraines, and yeah… I’m getting a category one I can feel that pressure building up currently. 😦

The photo below is a pretty good representation of how I feel right now. You can see the heat and if you look closely you can see the steam. I don’t want to blow. I need to go write, walk, meditate, watch a movie at lunch, or listen to some TSO. 😀

Send happy thoughts, good positive vibes! Chocolate, Pepsi max and hugs work too! 😀

oooh how about some Kav or Hello Kitty! 😉

sorry I had to get this off my chest! 😉 helps with that venting I do.

 

DIY presents

25 ideas: Handmade gifts inexpensive

50 ideas: 50 Inexpensive gifts

how about, 101 ideas:  100 homemade gifts

I’m always looking for cute inexpensive, preferably homemade presents to give.  I think it shows more TLC when you make it yourself. However I’m also good with making a little homemade gift card envelope, and inserting a gift card! 😀

because no matter how cute, when you put time and energy into it, and they go, “Oh gee. Thanks…” yeah! Sometimes a gift card is the best way to go! but go check out the ideas on the three sites above. You might find something you can’t live without.  😉

xoxo

***UPDATED***
I found another 100 presents

 

THE TWELVE DAYS OF YULE from the Witches of the Craft

THE TWELVE DAYS OF YULE

On the first day of Yuletide, my true
love sent to me
Mistletoe upon an oak tree
On the second day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Two robins red,
On the third day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Three ivy boughs,
On the fourth day of Yuletide,
my true love sent to me
Four calling wrens,
On the fifth day of Yuletide,
my true love sent to me
Five wassail bowls,
On the sixth day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Six wrens a-singing,
On the seventh day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Seven stars a-turning,
On the eighth day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Eight stags a-leaping,
On the ninth day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Nine stones a-dancing,
On the tenth day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Ten fools a-prancing,
On the eleventh day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Eleven boys a-chanting,
On the twelfth day of
Yuletide, my true love sent to me
Twelve beasts a-leaping

—Yule (The Eight Sabbats)
Anna Franklin

There was no re-blog button! Credit for this post is to Witches of the Craft

IOTD

Calendar day; December 9, 2014

Tuesday, the 9th of December, 2014 is the 343th day in 2014 and in the 50th calendar week.

General Events:

International Anti-Corruption Day
December 9, 2014 in the World

International Anti-Corruption Day takes place on December 09, 2014. International Anti-Corruption Day has been observed annually since the passage of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on 31 October 2003.

The Convention states, in part, that the UN is “concerned about the seriousness of problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardizing sustainable development and the rule of law”.

It delegates to the Convention the power to “promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively… promote, facilitate and support international cooperation and technical assistance in the prevention of and fight against corruption… [and] promote integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and public property…”

Where is Anti-Corruption Day?
Worldwide

Christmas Card Day
December 9, 2014 in the World

Christmas Card Day is celebrated on December 09, 2014. It honors Sir Henry Cole (1818 – 1874) of England, who created the first commercial Christmas Card in 1843. A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to the Christmas and holiday season.

Christmas cards are usually exchanged during the weeks preceding Christmas Day by many people in Western society and in Asia. The traditional greeting reads “wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”. There are innumerable variations on this greeting, many cards expressing more religious sentiment, or containing a poem, prayer or Biblical verse; others stay away from religion with an all-inclusive “Season’s greetings”.

A Christmas card is generally commercially designed and purchased for the occasion. The content of the design might relate directly to the Christmas narrative with depictions of the Nativity of Jesus, or have Christian symbols such as the Star of Bethlehem or a white dove representing both the Holy Spirit and Peace. Many Christmas cards show Christmas traditions, such as seasonal figures, objects associated with Christmas

Where is Christmas Card Day?
Worldwide

National  Weary Willie Day
December 9, 2014 in the USA

This holiday was named for a clown character made famous by Emmett Kelly, who was born on this day in 1898. Weary Willie was a sad-face clown who carried around a sack-on-a-stick. (The character was inspired by hobos of the Depression era.) This clown would come out to sweep up the three rings after other circus acts, and he would try unsuccessfully to sweep up the pool of light of a spotlight.

To celebrate Weary Willie Day, we are urged to appreciate the art of clowning, paint our faces, learn to juggle, and wear big shoes or really big pants.

Famous Clowns: http://www.gumdroptheclown.com/index_files/page0004.htm

Where is National  Weary Willie Day?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 9th December:

536 – Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire.

1570 – The Geuzen (a confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles) under Herman de Ruyter occupies Loevestein

1762 – British parliament accepts Treaty of Paris

1824 – Battle of Ayacucho (Candorcangui), Peru defeats Spain

1884 – Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate

1897 – Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde in Paris.

1903 – Norwegian parliament votes unanimiously for female suffrage

1906 – NY American reports Belgian King Leopold II bribed US Senate commission on the Congo

1931 – Spain becomes a republic

1935 – Walter Liggett American newspaper editor and muckraker killed in gangland murder.

1948 – UN General Assembly unanimously approves Convention on Genocide

1951 – Voters approve merger of 3 states to form Baden-Wurttemberg, W Germany

1958 – Robert H W Welch Jr & 11 other men meet in Indianapolis to form anti-Communist John Birch Society

1961 – Tanganyika gains independence from Britain, takes name Tanzania

1965 – “A Charlie Brown Christmas” premieres

1968 – NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.

1975 – Iraq completes nationalization by taking over the BP, CFP, and Shell shares of the Basrah Petroleum Company

1983 – Att Gen Edwin Meese says people go to soup kitchens “…because food is free & that’s easier than paying for it”

1987 – Palestine uprising begin in Israeli-occupied West Bank

1990 – Lech Walesa wins presidental election in Poland

1992 – Operation Restore Hope – US Marines land in Somalia

1994 – 5m meteor 1994 XM1 passes within 100,000 km of Earth