Boy, sometimes having dogs can be ANNOYING!

I wonder who the varmit could be?!

Perhaps this suspicious character who has entered the house with a very dirty nose several times in the past week?!

For more Show & Tell, go to Mary's blog!

Today I have more of a TELL than a show.  Actually, I have a confession to make.  There is a gadget in my kitchen that I am AFRAID of.  This is just the silliest thing, but....

I've been trying to incorporate more beans into our diet and one day I noticed that dried beans were MUCH cheaper than the canned ones I purchased--even at Aldi!  I researched online and discovered that beans cooked in a pressure cooker were a snap and so I bid on a few and finally won this beauty.  When it arrived I ripped it out of its packaging and set it on the stove where is shone and gleamed and glistened, beckoning me into a whole other cooking realm.

Well, it sat there.......and sat there........and sat there.  You see, I have a distinct memory of my mother's pressure cooker.  The little doodle bobber thing on top whistling merrily quite frequently....until one day, BOOM!  Something yellow dripping from the ceiling, the cupboards, the counters, and pooling on the floor.  I don't even remember what it was.

I buried the little pressure cooker at the back of the furthest, highest cupboard in my kitchen and there it has rested, dustily.  Until today.  Now it is back on my stove.  I really, really want to use it.  Perhaps this weekend I will shine the little beast up and overcome my pressure cooker phobia.

For more Show & Tell, see Mary's blog!

I received a gift of Godiva Hot Chocolate for Christmas and it's been sitting on the pantry shelf ever since.  I didn't want it to go to waste, so the girls and I decided to open it up and give them a try. 

Since we are an alcohol-free family, we decided we would have a Hot Chocolate and Cake Tasting instead of the usual wine and cheese thing.   Actually, the cake was tacked on at the very last moment because Rebecca noted that there was just a smidgeon of cake left and that we had better polish it off before the boys arrived home.  I thought it was an excellent plan.

Since I'm by nature somewhat lazy, instead of three mugs of each of the three flavors (NINE mugs to wash), we opted to have three small mugs and just stick straws in for a sip. 

We sampled the Milk Chocolate, the Caramel Chocolate, and the Dark Chocolate varieties.  And no, Rebecca is not spitting her chocolate into the sink.  The little twerp is trying to avoid being photographed. 

Milk chocolate won hands down.  The dark variety was a bit bitter and the caramel too sweet, but the milk chocolate was juuuust right.   We then each took one of the already used mugs and proceeded to mix up the "perfect" concoction by adding all of the different flavors in varying amounts to our own mug.  In this way we still wound up washing only three mugs!  Oh, and the cake was delish as well. 

I'm sure you are wondering what was Tonks doing while all of these shenanigans were occurring in the kitchen.  Why she was curled up in a warm sunny spot in front of the fire!

For more Show & Tell, go to Mary's blog!

I just love the Joyful Noise Homeschool Band.  They do a wonderful job teaching music, but they also provide added perks, like class and individual pictures.  I only have one child taking classes this year; Elizabeth is taking Advanced Guitar.  This is her class picture. 

And here are her individual pictures.  She is a beautiful young woman, if I do say so myself!

If you live in the Atlanta area and are interested in a good, Christian homeschool band (or orchestra or chorus or jazz band or...), you should check out Joyful Noise!

And for more Show & Tell, go to Mary's blog.

I got the MOST EXCELLENT Christmas present from my sister-in-law--AGAIN!  I am still in shock at its wonderfulness.  I've been saving up this blog for today, but it's been hard because I've wanted to write about it since we received it!  Here it is:

The box alone is extremely cool, but what was inside--wow!

Twelve blank, sealed envelopes!  What are they? 

Twelve DATE NIGHTS!  We're to open one a month and each is something special for Dan and I to do!  WOW!

Well, last week we opened the first one:

We had a great time (of course I forgot the camera) and now we can't wait for February to choose again!  

Do I not have the best SISTER-in-law EVER!?  Thanks, Shell!

Follow this to Mary's blog for more Show & Tell!

I have been trying to get a lot of things organized and straightened out as the end of December/beginning of January is typically a slow period for transcription and I  actually have time on my hands.  Here is the latest project!

I am working on getting rid some of the stuff that accumulates from decades of living in one place.  I have FOUR boxes of cook books that I'm going to list on Ebay among other things. 

For more Show & Tell, check out Mary's blog!

Rebecca LOVES to decorate for Christmas.  She started her winter village several years ago and has added to it every year. 

Whatever happens to be lying on the table on the day after Thanksgiving (that's when we do our Christmas decorating) is stuck until New Year's Day when all of the decorations are taken down.

This year's addition included a very cool bare-branch tree that has fiber optic lighting like it's decorated for the holidays and a Cobbler's Shop.  Papa bought her these for her birthday.  The two of them went to a hardware store where there was a LARGE selection of village bits and after a couple of hours of anguished debate she brought home her treasures. 

She even throws in bits of whimsy like this airplane wreck on the ski slope. 

Next year she would like to add a train encircling the village (preferably one that actually moves and smokes and all that) and she would also like a larger table!

Mary's blog! Go here to participate in Show & Tell!