These ladies....

I realize I haven't posted Christmas Eve or Christmas Day yet, but I wanted to post about some of the entertaining I did the month of December.  And about some of the ladies in my life. 

Here's the deal peeps....I had my mind made up that I was going to have a great Christmas this year.  And I was going to do everything I could to make it so.  I am no longer living in one room in a basement and I was going to make up for lost time.

At the top of my calendar page I wrote MAKE MEMORIES!

If someone asked me to do something, I tried.

And I planned.

And I entertained.

One of my original plans was to have a cookie exchange with family and friends, but that just kind of seemed a bit overwhelming.  Maybe next year.  So I asked my crochet friends, if they would do one.  We meet on Thursday mornings at our local coffee shop every week.  We had the cookie exchange at one of our regular meetings.  I enjoyed it and the cookies were delicious.  My plan was to give them to neighbors and such, but that never happened! 

This is Debbie.....We tend to call her "Dammit Debbie!"  You can see why in this picture!

She made blankets this year for friends for Christmas presents. 

(heart of gold I tell ya)

 This is Kay's work of art.

Kay works circles around us....

Yep...fastest crocheter ever...and good teacher. 

And this is Cheryl.  She joined the group a year or two ago, after her youngest daughter went off to college. She needed something to occupy some of that free time.  This blanket seems to be doing the job!

And this is the daughter that went off to college.  She joins us now and then.   

You would think Annie was an intermediate crocheter, making a Christmas tree and all....but the tree was supposed to be a square (teehee) and Kay whipped up the star for her.  We turned a mistake into a work of art.  We're nice like that! 

I worked on a school colors scarf for my sister and some Christmas dishcloths.

Oh...and this peppermint White Mocha drink - aka - Winter Wonderland!

Our locally owned coffee shop, Big Ben, has the best drinks with whipped topping!

Then there are the Purdue ladies I worked with for almost 15 years.  When you spend eight hours a day for 15 years with someone, you become close.  None of us actually work at Purdue anymore, for one reason or another, and we call ourselves the Quitters!  I decided I was going to shine the silver this year.  Most of these pieces came from rummage sales.

And I got the house all dressed up for Christmas... 

and they came over for Brunch,

We also celebrated Marcia's 70th birthday!

 Group photo.  We do this every year.  It's tradition.

See Cheryl, holding Dixie.  Yep, she is the same Cheryl in the crochet group!  She joined the Purdue girls first, even though she worked for IU!  She liked us better!!!

We had a little gift exchange, as did the crochet girls.

And let's see if I can remember the menu that day. 

Ham slider sandwiches

tossed veggie salad

fruit tray

rumake'

cheesecake

few other odds and ends.

The week of Christmas, I changed the table cloths....the silver was still shiny, and had the Chata Chicks over....Yep, Chata Chicks.  That's going to take some explaining.

You would think I was a bit proud of this room!

Here's the CHATA CHICKS story in a nutshell.

When I moved out here, I didn't know the neighbors.  I met one neighbor, Treva.  She liked wine and so did I. So, we'd sit and chat and drink a glass of wine.

Then, I invited Kim, and Treva invited her neighbor, Jane, to join us.  After we met a few times, I got tired of calling them my "wine" friends.  We have much more in common than drinking wine!

So one time when we all go together in Treva's camper, which is nothing like my Coral Belle I must say,

I brought an agenda.  And the first item on that agenda was Name.  We needed a name.  I kept coming up with Cassville Ladies Auxillary, and stuff like that.  Treva wanted something more sassy, saying my name sounded like we bake casseroles!   

So, I wrote down all the names of the bottles of wine and such that we had. including the extra shot someone wanted to try which was equal parts of Fireball and RumChata. 

(I don't care for fireball so....) 

We all live in Cassville, so we came up with Cassville Chata Chicks.  It's Sassy.

So I had the Chata Chicks over for Christmas, actually a couple of days before Christmas.  I made a special Sangria drink that involved heating cranberries until they popped open, in a mix of sugar, Pinot Grigio, and white grape juice.  I got the recipe from jerryjamesstone.com and the recipe is called Cranberry Rosemary Sangria.  Click here for the recipe.  Even if you don't make the recipe, buy some cranberries just to hear them pop!  It's kinda fun.
Oh and a sidenote...if you live in a climate that freezes, like I do, you won't be able to find Rosemary for this drink in the winter.  Kind of a faux' paux' (did I spell that right?  It's French for mistake) on his part, I think.

The Chata Chicks all brought food over and it was delish.  I made rumake' again, and little sausages, and some other odds and ends.   The made cheese ball and chex mix, and these yummy cookies, and grape salad. 

We never opened the wine because we had the sangria and eggnog.  It's the first time I've ever liked egg nog.

It was all so good.

 After having the Chata Chicks over on Thursday, and still needing to prepare for Christmas Eve on Saturday, well....I got all dressed up to go to a friends open house on Friday,  and did...not...go.  It was a very wet, rainy Friday evening, that turned to sleet. And it was out of town.

 But it was the first time I got to wear this outfit anywhere, so by golly I'm taking a pic!  I still haven't worn it and you can't even see it in the pic.

oh well....

So, that's some of the ladies I have in my life.  It all sounds very busy, but this was over a month's time.  One thing I wanted to tell you about is these delicious treats. 

My Purdue friend, Cecilia (CC) used to always make them.  She couldn't be with us this year.  So I made them.  The best part is you can assemble them the night before and keep them covered in the fridge.  They are good hot or cold.

Rumake'

You need bacon, almonds, and pitted dates.  Don't get the huge medjool ones though.  They are too big.  You stuff the dates with an almond, then wrap it with bacon, and insert a round toothpick through it to hold it all together.  That part takes a little while so have a seat and watch some telly, or do what I did and talk on the phone, while you are making them.

Then, put them on a broiler pan on 325 degrees.  They take about an hour and you do need to turn them. Watch them so they don't burn.  It helps to line the broiler pan (the bottom part-not the slotted part) with foil to catch some of the grease. 

 
Pop these in your mouth for yummy goodness!

Cindy Bee

Lunch in New Orleans (sort of)

 No, I didn't go to New Orleans on a much needed vacation!  This is a restaurant in the town I live in.  I've been to it many times, when it was other restaurants.  But it changed hands a few months ago and they added some decor to go with the already very cool old building.

 It made me wish I was on a vacation!  

I meet with some ladies I used to work with at Purdue, once a month for lunch.  We used to always meet at Panera, then we started going to McAllisters.  Now we've decided we need to spice it up a bit, so we've started meeting at different places each month.   And, we are trying out all of our downtown restaurants at the moment. 

 I know...who does this....takes pictures of ceilings everywhere she goes.  We are putting up a tin ceiling in our "great banquet hall" or living room (whatever you want to call it) and I look at them every time I go somewhere that has one.    I never realized how many places I go to that has old, tin ceilings.  I love old architecture.

 Or new architecture made to look old.  I love this desk/table too?  Someone in our group said it was a bankers desk.  I don't get it.  What was put in those slots?  Anyone know?  (sorry about the reflection of the light.  It kind of messed up the picture.  They put a glass top on this desk and a base to boost up the height so it could be used as a table)

 I also love bringing the outside in, and the inside out.  This is a door that is INSIDE.  I've had my share of bringing the inside out, by living in one room in the basement.  I would do as much entertaining as possible in the better weather, using our patio as part of our room.  Well, guess what.  We are NOW LIVING ON THE MAIN LEVEL OF OUR HOUSE!  WOOHOO!!!

A couple of weeks ago, I told my Shug, "Next weekend I am moving upstairs."  He said he wasn't, and I told him I'd miss him!  We both moved upstairs two weekends ago.  I knew he'd go where the cook went!  Upstairs, as in, on the main level and not in the basement.  So I have been trying to find things like these chair pad thingys....

 
 in a room FULL of boxes.  The room used to be organized and I knew where everything was, but no more.  So, not only have I been going through boxes, I've been doing stair laps.  In every spare moment I have, I've been bringing stuff to the main level and putting it away.  Now, don't get too excited, the house is not finished.  Nor is the main level.  But the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, and den is finished.  So, I have everything I need thus far to live on this level. 
Check out the kitchen here!

Cindy Bee

PS.  I'm going to be posting every day this week, to get caught up for the month of March!  I am I tell ya!

Bye CC

There is a group of ladies I meet with once a month.  We all worked at Purdue Statewide Technology (a division of Purdue University) and we have all either retired, or quit for other reasons.  Either way, we quit working there so I dubbed us the "Quitters, and it stuck!" 

A couple of weeks ago we all got together to say Good-Bye.  CC was moving to Southern Indiana.  It's only a couple of hours away, but it's not going to be a trip across town to see her.  I was driving. We were going to surprise her and not tell her where we were going, but before we even got down the street and I went to turn, I had some backseat drivers!  And I was trying to listen to the travel app on my phone, who was telling me a different direction.  So said I, "Cecilia, we are taking you to the casino.  Since you know how to get there, I will listen to you and no one else.  If anyone else tries to backseat drive I am going to pull this bus over and let you drive!"  It got quiet!!!!! I have turned into my father.  (Sigh)  Only I think he was going to "pull over and spank our butts" or "turn this bus around!" 

She was ready!  (we all pitched in some ones for her - big gamblers we are huh?)

We told her she was Queen for the day!

 

I was trying to take a selfie with everyone by this jeep....

It was not working out!

Lawsy People!  I was trying to hurry because I was afraid we were going to get in trouble for taking a picture inside a casino!  I don't think it's allowed.

Ta Dah!  Thank you Mr. Stranger for asking us if we needed help.  We sure do!

Cindy Bee

PS  I'm finally finishing up some summer pictures.  If you want to see our "sunset cruise", click here!