Confessions of a Grandma

Maybe it is because we have had an unusually mild autumn that lasted right through November.  No snow yet to remind us of the time of year.  Maybe it is because we bought a winter home in Florida, thereby insuring a lack of a large amount of discretionary cash to spend on the holidays.  Maybe it is just that we have reached that stage in life.  We are not so much slowing down as spending more time examining our intentions.  In any case, less is appealing this year.  The frenzy of the holiday season...I am just not going there. This is not to say that I am ignoring the season.  I put together two advent boxes for my grand kids.  I wrap up little gifts...candy, coins, crayons and colored pencils, stickers, an ornament or two...twenty-four of them for both kids.  I get a real sense of joy in doing this because it makes them happy to pull out a little surprise each day while waiting for Santa. I made most of my Christmas c...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Mike's sister's house in Connecticut for a most pleasant time with family and an excellent meal.  The damage from the Halloween weekend Nor'easter is still very evident.  I am quite certain that in some areas, residents surely must have thought the end of the world was upon them. We managed to avoid any Black Friday shopping crowds on our forays into Hartford and we had an easy return trip. I'm ready now to sift through e-mail and Blogger Reader while sipping a cup of tea and munching a couple of Italian cookies (The ones you just can't get anywhere but Hartford).

This recipe came with my KitchenAid stand mixer.  It's easy as can be...if you have a powerful stand mixer.  Otherwise, I think you would need a really, really strong mixing arm and I'm pretty sure I would not attempt it. Creamy Mints: 1    3-ounce package of light cream cheese 1/4 tsp.  peppermint extract 2 drops food coloring  (as you can see, I used red and green) 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar Superfine sugar Mix cream cheese, extract and food color is mixer bowl just til smooth (30 seconds or so). Keeping mixer on low speed, gradually add the confectioner's sugar and mix until very thick (at least 90 seconds). Shape teaspoonfuls of the mixture into small balls and roll in the superfine sugar.  (It's like playing with play dough.  My grand son would love it.)  Press flat with fingers or a fork to form patties. Refrigerate, tightly covered.

Our Vermont property abuts a town-owned tract that is used for both the town highway business and recreational purposes. A parking lot was built by the Town of Jericho in the fall of 2005.  Then they found out they needed a permit to do so...a small whoops.  The Developmental Review Board issued approval for general  outdoor recreation use on the town owned Mobbs Farm property. The DRB  also approved the site plan for  the two parking lots already in place--one on the Fitzsimonds Road and one on  Brown’s Trace-- with conditions in July, 2007. One condition was that the Brown’s Trace parking lot be adequately screened from the view of abutting property owners.  That project finally got a bit of a boost the weekend of October 28 and 29, a few weeks ago. Gulf View Farm is a  family run operation out of Williamstown, Vermont.  They supplied a number of blue spruce trees.  Owner Jason Cone was assisted in the planting  by his wife, ...

The news left us all wondering today about the future of a fine University of Vermont tradition. It seems that since 1996 (long after I graduated) it has been the practice of students to celebrate the last day of classes with naked bike riding at midnitght and a 45 minute PARTY(!) in a sectioned off portion of the campus. Of course!  What more fitting way is there to celebrate than drinking and getting naked?  These are college students we are talking about here.  It was forty degrees at the last naked bike ride in May and it is bound to be colder in December, but they are young and carefree and happy that another semester is over and done. The thing is, though, that now the University says they are not going to send the $17,000 dollars to provide lighting and security because bad things happen.  Besides the nasty and embarrassing bike accidents, there are those who need to be taken to the hospital for alcolhol detoxification.  There are physical assaults ...

As you know by now, Mike is kind of a picky eater  He  is definitely not fond of many vegetables, but he has a particular aversion to orange vegetables.  It might be somewhat of a family thing because it has never been a given that one would see squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, or even pumpkin at his family's Thanksgiving dinner.  They have a joke about the sweet potato being saved from year to year in the freezer. I, on the other hand, could quite contentedly eat all orange vegetables with maybe a spoon of cranberry sauce on the side. We will drive to Mike's sister's in Connecticut for the big meal this year.  We went to Costo's today and bought wine and Cabot cheddar for our contribution.  This year, I am also going to take a dish of the glazed carrots I mentioned a while ago. I am tempted to also prepare this squash dish, reducing all the measurements so it only serves one or two: Baked Squash with Apples 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup VT Maple Syrup...

My grand children spent the weekend. Dane completed this six foot long puzzle--with only a tiny bit of help from his Uncle Kevin. We had popcorn and watched movies from the library.  We went to the playground--a couple of times.  We went out for pizza and played in the arcade for a while.  We did some drawing and card making and story reading. Kristen did some shopping at Plato's Closet.  Dane kept saying he wanted to go too.  He doesn't like shopping so I was a bit confused, but I took him, too.  He was very disappointed when he realized we were not actually in a closet full of play-dough (one of his favorite things).  We didn't have his pajamas, but tee shirt from Mike's old Motor Cycle business made a good enough night shirt.  He liked it enough to put on his boots and go out to do a happy dance on Saturday morning. Kristen is modeling a felted hat I made for her.  She doesn't like to have her picture tak...