The Circle of Life, With Fudge

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My daughter learned how to make my late mother's fudge. I just polished off 4 pieces. The circle of life [of fudge] has been completed. I thought I would share the recipe with you all, because, well, nothing beats perfect timing like a fudge recipe after Christmas.

Becky's Mom's "Award-Winning* " Fudge Recipe

4 C Sugar
1 C Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 C Butter
1-6 1/4 bag mini marshmallows
EXACTLY
   13 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
   13 oz milk chocolate chocolate chips
2 oz Bakers unsweetened chocolate
1 C chopped nuts (optional)

Mix sugar, milk, vanilla and butter in saucepan. Bring to a boil for exactly 2 minutes. Turn off heat. Add marshmallows. Stir or beat until completely melted. Add chocolates, one at a time until melted (can use electric mixer). Spread into buttered 12x10x1 pan, or use several smaller pans, and chill.


  * it didn't technically win any awards, but it's different than any fudge you've ever tasted. Everyone says it. For real.





The Time I Caused Stress.. With Socks

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I bought my husband socks for Christmas.  Yes, I know, I am a giver like that.  I was pretty proud of myself, since I splurged and got him actual Nike brand socks.  He's usually happy with any kind of socks, as long as they fit (he has a size 14 foot!).  It gave me a little thrill to think that he, who can never find socks that fit well, would enjoy the name-brand socks (with built-in extra support, even!).

from Nike.com
Christmas morning, he opens his gift.  He sees the socks.  I watch his face to see the gratefulness I expect for the NAME BRAND socks.  To my dismay, he says thank you, but not in a way that seemed impressed.  "Huh," I thought.  I reminded him that they were NIKE socks.  He was less than impressed.  I assumed he didn't realize the greatness of NIKE socks!

The next day, we were sitting on our bed, and I said "Aren't you going to wear your new socks?" He looked at me and said "You DO realize, don't you, that these have RIGHT and LEFT on them?" I said "Yeah, that's kind of cool."  He just rolled his eyes.

I started giggling as I realized that I had just cause my dear sweet husband extra stress when he said, "Now I have to worry about what freakin' foot I put my socks on! Oh, thanks Nike, for deciding that my life isn't complicated enough, that I had to make sure my SOCKS are on the right foot! Can't you imagine me going through my day with the left on the right foot?  Heavens no!  Or what about two left socks?! My OCD would drive me insane."

I couldn't stop laughing, as he informed me that generic socks would be ok in the future.

So much for name-brand socks! 

Happy New Year

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Image from Anthony Melchiorre's FB



Happy New Year's Eve, and a wonderful 2015 to you all.  I have some really lofty goals for my blog in the new year, and I'm hoping I can learn enough to make them a reality.


I recently purchased the book Blog Beautiful - 50 Tips and Tricks to Make Your Blog Glow, by Marianne Manthey, and she has inspired me SO much.  I'm already designing my own blog template
on Wordpress, and will be rolling that out soon.  I highly suggest the book if you are a new blogger, or even a seasoned blogger who needs a little design help in order to create more revenue through your blog.  One of my biggest ambitions is to make money for my family through my blog. I hope to use Marianne's suggestions to help enhance my blogging experience.

Meanwhile, my family and I are eating hors d'oeuvres and watching Netflix on this cold New Year's Eve in Texas.

Here's wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas To All

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The stockings are hung, the presents are wrapped, milk and cookies are out for Santa.  Yes, we still have one who believes, and probably always will.  
Merry Christmas to you all, and thank you for reading.  



How To Change the Username Of Your Facebook Page

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I was noticing the other day, that my Facebook Page for my blog was not just "Facebook.com/myblogname."  I also noticed that other people's pages didn't have all the extra letters after their blog name that mine did.  I did a little research, and thought I'd pass it on:

How to Change the URL of your Facebook Page for Your Blog

1.  Go to "Facebook.com/yourusername" You should see this:


The top box is for my personal Facebook page.  You will need to look at the second box, and select your Blog page from the drop down menu.

2. A box will pop up, asking if you want to rename your blog page.  Change the address to : "Facebook.com/yourblogname"


Remember that you can only change the Facebook blog address once. 

3. You will get a confirmation box similar to this:


You have now changed the URL of your Facebook page to directly reflect your blog name.  

Easy peasy! Hope this helps!





Why I Hate December 16th | Missing My Dad

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December 16th is my second least favorite day.  Thirteen years ago today, I lost my dad to a sudden heart attack.  He was only 60 years old, and had no major heart problems.  Ten years later (my least favorite day), I lost my mom, so I am truly a middle-age orphan.  Being only 47 and having both parents gone is something I never imagined.  I also never imagined that my kids would not have
Dad with all three of my bio kids
grandparents alive as long as I did (mine all lived into their 80's).

1981. I'm in the back
My dad, I've come to realize since his passing, was my hero, and my greatest protector. Sure, he was my biggest nemesis when I was a teenager, but after I became an adult, he and I had a lot in common, and most of all, he protected me. He always protected me.

My parents divorced when I was 11, and my dad had custody of my sister and me.  He moved us from Illinois to Texas smack dab in the middle of fifth grade, for me.  It was tough. My dad had an agenda, though, about moving us.  He wanted us away from my mom, mostly out of anger and spite toward her.  Eventually, she ended up moving to Texas, too, so it all worked out in the end, but I spent most of my adolescence and teen years with my dad (and step-mom, who was and still in a huge influence in who I am). My dad was really strict, growing up.  He was always on top of our school-work, and would give his last breath to keep mine and my sister's reputations intact (and, as far as he knew, he succeeded!) ;) .  He was hard on our boyfriends, yet to this day, each one of them, now fathers themselves, tells me how much they admired him.  You definitely couldn't have convince me of that in high school!

Dad was always there with advice though.  He was quirky guy, having strong opinions on things that didn't bother most people, but he backed up his reasons thoroughly, most of the time, and he was pretty smart.  As a teen, I resented him a lot, but as a young adult, I realized that the things he did for us, and the reasons behind it all made a lot of sense.

I am truly envious of my friends who still spend time with their daddies.  Not being able to share the ups and downs with either one of my parents is hard on the heart.  Luckily for me, I have a large family of my own, so being lonely is never an option.

I still will never like December 16th.  I love you, Dad.





1995

Circa 1972























My Own, Personal, Jesus Santa !

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Santa and all of the kids, Christmas 2014



I have always loved Santa.  For the last ten years, this has a double meaning for me. You see, Santa, at least in our family, is my husband.  He has been playing Santa at my mother-in-law's Christmas every year.  He is a natural, as he, ahem, fits perfectly into the suit! ;)  He is also very jolly, and is awesome with the kids.  He also happens to be my favorite husband. ;)

What's fun for us is that as the kids are getting older, one by one, they are "figuring it out." All of our teens have, but they love to surprise the littler ones.  This year, the little girl in front (with the Santa hat and blue shirt) came up to me and said "I know the secret!" Of course, I asked her what it would be, and she said "I know who is dressed like Santa." She's almost 10, so I said to her "Well, now you know the grown-up's secret. What's fun is NOT to tell the other little kids. It makes us grown-ups happy to surprise the little kids. Now, you're like a grown-up." She just smiled, and ran away.  I didn't confirm or deny her suspicions, as I remember how devastated I was at about her age, when my whole class knew the "secret," and spoiled it for me.

What are your family holiday traditions?  Does anyone in your family dress as Santa?  Please share.


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