Well I could show you the card I made

for Chelsey's family, but then she'd see it if she still reads this rubbish-filled blog =)
I like to think I'm bringing 'rubbish' to the forefront again. It's such a great word.

It's the Friday before Christmas and we're going shopping for clothes tonight. Yes, we must be officially crazy. We're even venturing over to West Edmonton Mall to use my coupon for a fave clothing store. We're pretty much done with gifts (other than the ones to our home) but we need new clothes in a bad way. I've always bought MrP blue shirts, but with so many, I'd been buying him everything but blue the last couple of years. Now he's got none left. So tonight, our goal is to get him some new shirts.

The problem is I despise shopping. After winning the lottery, the first thing I'd do is hire a personal shopper. And what the heck is with people who like bathing suit shopping? I'd rather gouge my fingers into my eyeballs. Nevertheless, I've had to do a little shopping lately and in spite of my dislike of shopping, it hasn't been truly awful. Expect the worst, hope for the best and don't be disappointed?! =)

Tomorrow, I'm off to deliver presents to less fortunate kids for the third year. Shelly & I always have a great time and really get into the Christmas spirit when delivering for Santa's Anonymous. After deliveries are all attempted (sometimes, we aren't able to deliver the first time around), we go for some lunch (and the non-drivers have a little extra cheer thanks to hot chocolate & Bailey's Irish Cream) and then retry deliveries. Any that can't be made at that time are returned to the warehouse for attempt at a later date or by arranged pickup.

The last two years, it's been the last (or close to) deliveries that really make the day. Seeing the little kids yelling "Is that for me?!!" with a huge smile really brings a tear to my eye. (Yep, I'm a sap - I don't care what you say....today!)

Sunday, MrP & I will resume another four hour shift at the Christmas Bureau donation desk in hopes of raising a few more funds for a nice Christmas meal for those struggling in this economy.

I have every intention of getting some Christmas cards done this weekend in hopes of handing them out next week...and if not, no worries! It's the thought that counts, right?!

If you really want a laugh, head over to my friend Lisa's for her Grinch story! I almost died laughing yesterday at her story, so I told her she HAD to post it on her blog.

PTI! Oh I see stamps in my future... (and some Christmas giftage)

Those enablers, also known as Maureen and Laural, allowed me to place an order along with them when they did their latest Papertrey Ink order and I see a problem. I love their darn stamps! Maureen has really inspired me with all of her fabulous buttons and bling (ironic, I know, since her blog is called BUTTONS & BLING) and I'm now looking for any excuse I can to use them. Welcome Holiday Button Bits! I used Jen's Sketch for You to Try from Dec. 12th and whipped up a quick & easy card that's on it's way to my half sister with a cineplex night out pass.

The next "must have" on my wishlist?! Everyday Button Bits, baby! But wait....what's this?! Blooming Button Bits?! Oh c'mon PTI - have a little pity on my pocketbook. LOL

Speaking of wishlists.....sometimes it really stinks living in Canada when you can't find an item here and the only online stores that have it ship only to the US. Kinda ruins the fun of my awesome gift ideas.

Speaking of gifts....since I can't reach out and gift all of you a little something, I'm doing something in honour of all of you. In your honour, I've donated 50 trees to be planted by the folks over at Oxfam Unwrapped. (image from Oxfam Unwrapped website)

Branch out and plant 50 trees. Trees not only produce life-sustaining crops like avocados and bananas, but they also prevent erosion and provide much-needed shade for other crops. Even better, reforestation and the training women and men receive on forest management provide long-lasting benefits from your gift. These trees help seed income and a greener world.

More information on tree planting:

Planting trees is part of the work of many Oxfam partners in Ethiopia and Cuba – particularly as part of efforts to rehabilitate land and livelihoods in the aftermath of natural disasters like drought and hurricanes. Trees help prevent soil erosion, provide shade and shelter and can be a source of food and income.

For example, in the aftermath of multiple hurricanes that struck Cuba , Oxfam’s partner organizations planted trees to replace valued forest lost in the storms. When you buy trees you are supporting Oxfam's livelihoods programs, helping create a sustainable environment and helping women and men earn a living too.

Merry (early) Christmas

A Non-Traditional Christmas

I'm so far behind when it comes to Christmas cards that I'm starting to think I might be in the lead. If only it wasn't just over a week until Christmas! LOL
At any rate, I just got some new stamps and I've been (I can't believe this) too busy to even play. Seriously!

These new Little Loud Christmas Freckle collection stamps from Paperworks Co are fabulous - so cute and colorable (now if only I had time to get my watercoloring skills up...)

I used Mercy's Sketch #51 for a fairly quick & easy, non-traditional winter card. The matching sentiment inside says "Sending you Christmas Wishes".

I'm so sorry I haven't been around the blogs much either - I really will catch up one of these days. Can you believe my work actually expects me to work while I'm there?! HAHA
Hope you're staying warm in these frosty temperatures we've been having.

This is it

The "too sweet to contain all the goodness" post =)

First off, my friend's son

Then we've got a pile 'o ready to exchange treats

Pizza Topping Leftovers

Leftovers from another direction (Chelsey's punch was a hit, too!!)

Let's get to the good stuff...

First up, Chelsey's Saskatoon Berry Mini Tarts

(all treat names made up by yours truly!)

Next we've got

Donna's Divine Cranberry & Pistachio White Chocolate Bark

and Jordana's Chewy Chocolate & Coconut Crave-worthy Cookies

Dori's Delectable Fudge

(the saddest part, to me anyways, was that Dori's diabetic,
so she's not used to a lot of sweets and she couldn't even
stand to eat her fudge as it was too sweet for her!
Thankfully, her husband and I will take care of that for her.
That's what we're here for. We're good that way.)

Palmer's PB Cup Cookies
(in my oh so original ziplocs since I refused to leave my house on the weekend)

Shelly's Rolls o' Love Rolo Cookies

(Shelly & I had the same brilliant storage idea, I see!)

Lisa's Lucious Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brennsi Brittle

(Brenna named it herself - this is the only title I can't claim credit for)

Also, at the top left, Grace's Goodness Gracious Goodies

(amazing what a pretzel, rolo and pecan can do for the tastebuds)

and in the top right, Jocelyn's Leftover Candy Cookies

(which freaking rock - what a wonderful idea to use those mini toblerones, hershey kisses, etc)

Bonnie's Tantalizing Tarts (butter & mincemeat)

Scrumptious Skor Bars by Jennifer

(that's what they tast like to me, anyways....yummerific!)

Gingeroos by Querida

(They're the chewiest, softest ginger cookies,
so MrP was more than happy to eat a hefty serving)

And in this box....

(which wouldn't stay shut - all the goodness popping out,
but making me much less grumpy than my dough follies)

all the deliciousness of...

Mint Nanaimo Bars!

(they even kinda match my teapot!)

What a wonderful bunch of treats. Too much deliciousness for one post....I know!!

Imagine how my thighs feel, being forced to endure all this for breakfast =)

Finally, my humble opinion on Invictus. We got a screening pass for this movie from one of MrP's coworkers who has an 'in' somewhere and since I'm always up for a free movie (and had seen the preview and wanted to see it regardless), we went last night.It's phenomenal. This true story is one that I hope everyone has a chance to see. Based on the book "Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation" by John Carlin, it's about the newly elected Mandela in his racially and economically divided South Africa post apartheid. Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were incredible. Go check it out. Do it Friday! =) 
Photo from Tribute.ca

Another Smashing Success?

I think so =)

But can I just say one thing before I get into the nitty gritty? My best friend really is the BEST!

Without her, I'm pretty sure my Type A, mild to moderate OCD self would've been a fine mess.

I left work and headed for the gym for a bum-friendly workout, then off to pick up the last of the groceries. I got home, hauled everything in and when I went to put veggies in the fridge, I realized the error of our non-baker ways. Here's a clue for anyone thawing bread dough. Don't tightly wrap your personal sized blobs of dough in plastic wrap and put them into a big Tupperware-like container. Because they will expand. And expand mine did, popping the top off the container and basically mini-exploding throughout it. Some of the dough had to be thrown out from it's exposure to the air, which made it a little crusty. Then I went through and separated. I really should have taken pictures, but my hands were covered in dough from trying to figure out which chubby blob belonged with which bit of dough still in the plastic wrap. If you will, picture this: plastic wrapped cute round of yeast-filled dough meets warmth, pressure builds and all the yeasty goodness is too much to bear for that little plastic wrap, so it pops it's chubby self out the side of the wrap after tearing it's way through with a vengeance. I'm not even doing it justice. I'm telling you, there was dough filling every orifice of that container and I had to scrape it off and try reassembling reasonable sized dough balls.

Anyways, I finally got them rewrapped and had a shower, then started on the other details. Chelsey arrived and she stirred some Epicure Nacho Cheese Dip together and then I really put her to work, cutting mushrooms, green peppers, etc. Thanks to her, I had time to put a face on so I didn't immediately have people running out the door, and we got everything all into serving dishes and ready for action. Everyone was prompt and we had three stations for the pizza prep. Everyone did wonderfully with their dough and thanks to a convection oven, parchment and stoneware, I was able to bake four pizzas at a time. Chelsey made the best punch and once everyone had eaten, we dispersed the goodies onto the table for pick ups. My fave helper even started packing up people's bags for them. Talk about service! Grace won the door prize of a Mary Kay Lotus & Green Tea Gift Set (at least that's what I think it was....I'll have to ask my mom) and everyone had a good time, I think. Nobody complained about the food, but if they had I'd have punched 'em anyways, so it's all good =) People actually ate some of the 'nastys' I'd picked up (baby shrimp, onions, olives), so that made me happy! I took pics but didn't have time to edit (I had to pick up my Scotch drinkers last night & make their late night donair run. It was a late night for me) so I'll try getting those up tonight before we head out to see a screening of Invictus. 

But there is goodies...and the rolo cookies & mint nanaimos made it into my breakfast this morning. LOL!

Hope your Wednesday is going better than mine - I'm bushed and trying to figure out how to sleep at my desk without anyone noticing.

I wait for this night every year!

Tonight's the night of the Third Annual Christmas Treat Exchange. I can't wait! Chelsey & I attended our first treat exchange four years ago and it was a bust, but it gave us an idea....why not host our own?! You see, we'd learned some things at our first exchange. We took these lessons and created our own rules, with the primary one being it must be home made. Yes, I'm totally serious. While we'd tediously whipped up our goods and then baked and wrapped them, other in the group had used imposter store bought cookies. But at least those were baked. The real deal breaker was the 'truffles' (no lie, I swear!) that were nothing more than balls of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough placed into mini cupcake wrappers...and 'served' as  rum ball-like treats. Now, some might think "hey, Tanis...I thought you said you loved cookie dough...whatchu complainin' about, foo'?" and to you I say this: Pillsbury has a funny flavor. I don't know if it's something to do with the preservatives or what, but their dough has a tang that is distinguishable from a homemade dough...and it's not the same.

So now, I look forward to our exchange with glee. I've invited 14 wonderful women over for supper (individual pizzas this time around), visiting and of course, an exchange of baked goods. Well, that's not even true, really. There's nothing truly baked about the Cranberry Pistachio White Chocolate Bark that I know is coming, but I will not be denying anyone of it's deliciousness. I know there's shortbread and Rolo cookies on their way. There's Mint Nanaimo bars, pecan tarts, mincemeat tarts and fudge. I'm also praying for a repeat of last year's Mint Thin cookies that are the most gloriously minty bites of heaven. Goodness...I can feel my hips calling for a visit to the gym now. Good thing I can help 'em out - I'll be hitting the gym around noon and taking the afternoon off from work so I can get all the pizza fixings ready, make sure the house is presentable and maybe even relax a little.

MrP has a scotch tasting tonight at Aligra and I'm so happy this is finally happening - I bought it for him about a year ago and after five postponement/cancellations, it's actually happening. So after I do a little tidying up from the treat exchange, I'll be heading to West Edmonton Mall to drive him and two friends home after an evening of drinking. I hope they have fun!

Yesterday was my amazing friend Rose's birthday and I hope it was great (I know she was going for a pedicure at some point and I called in and paid for half of it so I hope they applied that!) I had a wonderful night - miserable horse, but it ended well - we were jumping about 3 feet! That's about the height you actually feel the real wonder of flight on a horse and I just love it!

Anyways, have a wonderful day - I hope to have some pics to share tomorrow, as well as maybe have some crafting time soon...because your winter creations have me INSPIRED!

Oh - and if you want to whip up some really fabulous cookies (now known as Palmer's PB Cup Cookies in our home after four years of glorious baking - just don't really look at the ingredient list for nutritional info), give these a try!

(photo credit: SPAZZ41 on Allrecipes.com)

What a weekend!

I had hoped I'd get a chance to play with my new PTI goodies that arrived on Friday (Thanks Moe & Laural!!) but instead managed to get a whole lot of housework done and a TON of baking done. I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies for my treat exchange on Tuesday, Rum Balls, Pecan Goody Cups and Ginger Snaps as most of my holiday baking. One more recipe and I'm done. Last year I sent a tin of baking to my aunt and she said my uncle really enjoyed it (she doesn't cook or bake without the help of Betty or Duncan), so I'm hoping to get them a package shipped off shortly. I should have taken some pictures, but I didn't manage to sneak them in.

Only time I went out this weekend was for once for an appointment and I managed to get stuck leaving the driveway, so I'm quite anxious to drive to work this morning. Fingers crossed there's no getting stuck anywhere and that the highway is decent driving.

With my lack of mojo of late, I don't even have enough Christmas cards to send this year, so I guess I better get on that!!

Off to work...fingers crossed!