How Many Days Until Thanksgiving Break????

What a nice weekend I had! Thanksgiving Break will soon be upon us... and we can't wait! Tommorow, we start having 1 o'clock closings (until Friday); next week, we do have workdays, but no students!!!!! Do you even have to ask if we're more excited than the kids? I personally can't wait for some time off.


I sort of had some time off today. This morning I had a super-fun Dr. visit-- my first visit to the Dermatologist to be exact. And I'm very fair-skinned so I got a lot of lecturing.... I even had to get a shot (EEEK!) and have surgery... ok, a mini one, which I won't describe in any detail, but I survived. The Dr. gave me all kinds of scary stuff about skin cancer, and I have to go back in a few months... I hate going to any doctor. I always have. They really know how to scare me. Have YOU been to the Dermatologist yet? You should really go and get checked out, especially if you've got fair skin and had bad sunburns.

I left feeling a little sorry for myself. (Cue to the violin music) Hey, I just had to spend 2 hours in the waiting room. I just got lectured for half an hour and THEN had to get a shot and THEN she made an incinsion and THEN (well, NOW) it hurts really bad. If you think I'm bad, wait until Jeremy goes! He's a really whiny patient, but it's cute!

So, since it was mid-day and I was AT LEAST an hour from home, I thought I'd cheer myself up if I did a little Christmas shopping... ok, I'm not really ONE OF THOSE people who gets all their gifts before Dec. 1. What I am in one of those people who buys lots of stuff to make other people's gifts... this year, my addiction of choice happens to be yards of fabric... anyway, I buy all kinds of stuff but never really finish all those projects so around Dec. 22, I scramble to find cool stuff that somebody else made.

Here's some of the stuff I've been working on. They still need their tops and some other fun details. Some of these I'll sell at our school's bazaar, but some will be little package toppers for gifts..... can you guess what they are?


Yup! Strawberry Pincusions. Some of them are gingham, some are polka dot, and the solid colored ones all have beaded seeds (red has black seeds, green has green seeds-- like unripe berries).

I have been working on lots and lots of little Christmas projects. Some I can show, but most will have to stay secret until after the holidays. I do want to bake a few gifts, so...


Ashley, Hillary and I decided to go to a Holiday Baking class out at Wade's Mill. What a fabulous way to spend a Saturday! Don't think you'll go to the class and just sit and watch her do all the work! Georgie (one of the owners) explains the recipes the class will make, giving you a few tidbits from the beginning. She assigns a recipe to each team, and then sets us loose! It's a little crazy because only a few people know where everything is, and you have to work in a small space you've claimed for your team (think Survivor :) )!


So, the three of us teamed up to make a Christmas Tree Cake. It was hard work, but totally worth it! It was sort of like a Stollen, and some mentioned that it reminded them of a Fruitcake (but I dont' know what that tastes like). Basically, you're making a simply spiced cake stuff with dried fruits, topping it with a simple orange sweet glaze and candied oranges (I think I'll share that step with you!).


It really was yummy! The picture does it no justice.


While our cake was baking, we got to see all the other recipes in progress. There were lots of old recipes-- one was over 150 years old- Mary Moore's Cheddar Walnut Wafers. Here's a little blurp about her that accompanied this picture at this website:

In 1784 Mary Moore, aged eight, was captured by Shawnee Indians and sold into slavery in Canada. When she was 15, she was rescued and returned to Virginia. Years later she suffered insomnia from the memories of her experiences, and this adult-sized rocking cradle was made to help her sleep. The cradle is one of the prized items in the Rockbridge Historical Society’s collection, and may be seen at the Society’s Campbell House headquarters.

Here and here are some websites I found that describe her story, if you're interested.

Anyway, after all the baking was done, we prepared simple salads and tea to go along with a Roasted Tomato Soup that one of the teams made. We sat down to a lovely lunch that we all made a part of... really a cool experience. We met lots of cool people; some came from Richmond or Charlottesville.


It was good for me to practice teamwork in the kitchen. I generally prefer to do it on my own, but I had a really good time working with my buddies! Let's do it again girls!



Oh, one last thing. Ashley's housesitting and showed me the coolest old home renovation-discovery I've seen in a while. They took down layers of old wallpaper and discovered that the room was once a nursery. Someone had handrawn and watercolored circus characters--- a seal, elephant, lion tamer, clown, giraffe. The homeowners left that portion of the wall just the way they found it. I want an old house!