COLORED LEAVES, COOKING, COOKIES, COMPUTERS, CHRISTMAS ... CHRISTMAS??? ... AND A COMPILATION OF CUCKOO COMMENTS!

Boy, did I ever let a lot of time pass before this post! But I will be making up for that here, so BEWARE THE  DREADED LONGWINDED KAI! BWAHAHAHAHA! Let's see ... where to begin? I guess in the order of my post's title so there will be at least a BIT of sanity! Colored leaves: We have some! ALL GREEN! Doesn't that just suck? I know lots of you already have vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows adorning YOUR trees! Houston? Not THIS October. I'm hard pressed to find a LIGHTER green leaf much LESS a red or even a yellow one. So I decided to just put some Autumny things INSIDE my house  and pretend! (That'll fix YOU, you old hateful Mother Nature! Deprive ME of my pretty leaves, will you?) Below are just a FEW of the things I've put out for the season. I didn't 'do' Halloween this year. Only a kind of generic Autumn theme. Lazy hag, aren't I? Under the photos you will see what they are.

Livingroom/diningroom divider shelf

                                                                      My favorite centerpiece

                                 Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!" Okay! So it's NOT a raven. LOL!

                                                Little bitty pumpkins, leaves, and acorns!

                                                         LOVE these teeny 'punkies'!

                                                       Had to have some leaves, of course!


On to the cooking part! I am finally THINKING about Autumn foods. You know - soups, stews, and chili. I made Cheeseburger Soup for today. My housemate ate it. A LOT of it. I didn't because who wants hot soup when it's nearly 90 degrees? Arrrrggghhhh! I froze some tho' to pull out when it really IS soup weather. I also made THE easiest cookies EVER! When I saw this recipe, I thought, "WHAT????? That's it? No flour?" I had to test them because I figured if they DO turn out well, they will be a super food gift for neighbors or people I see each week when I'm out and about! Here is the recipe:
                                   PEANUT BUTTER KISSES COOKIES
Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter (either smooth OR crunchy)
1 cup sugar, plus a bit extra for rolling cookies in. (Note: If YOU want to roll in the sugar, add more! Heehee!)
1 egg
bag of Hershey's kisses (You will need 24 kisses per recipe.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together 1st three ingredients.
Make balls from the cookie dough - approximately 1" each and roll them in extra sugar.
On a cookie sheet sprayed LIGHTLY with veggy spray, place the cookies with just a small space between them. I had 6 rows of 4 cookies.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Bottoms will brown nicely but tops will still be soft. While you are baking the cookies, remove the wrappers from your kisses. You NEED to have them ready! As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press one kiss into the center of each. They WILL firm up when they cool. These cookies are crisp and soft at the same time, and yummy! I can't eat chocolate (and usually HATE peanut butter) but I nibbled a teeny bite of one cookie sans the kiss. So goooood! Do NOT store in a container where they are on top of each other. Make SURE you store them side-by-side on a plate, covered, but TENTED to avoid smushing your kisses. (That sounded weird, but you know I mean the chocolate kisses!) Here is a photo of the remaining 22 cookies only minutes after I baked them. (My housemate promptly helped himself to two, fresh out of the oven!) I promise you - if you want a REALLY quick and REALLY impressive lil' cookie - this is IT!

THESE ARE SUPER EASY!!!!

As for the reference to computers, that is because yesterday my monitor acted a bit crazy (to say the least) and tho' it seems to be fine NOW, I am keeping close watch. If you recall, this computer I'm using is less - WAY less - than a year old, and I've ALREADY had to get the hard drive replaced for a cost that totalled the ORIGINAL price! Yes, I DO have a warranty AND a two year EXTENDED warranty. But the store said it was 'too soon to honor it', and the company that MAKES this brand was not willing to replace the computer, or even FIX it. It didn't come with a monitor - I already HAD this one - also relatively new, tho' not AS new as the computer. I am NOT rough with my things! In fact, I'm very careful. So I'm not going to be particularly thrilled if I have to shell out yet MORE cash anytime soon. You know what I think? I think things are just not MADE well anymore! Grrrrr! Things used to be constructed to LAST. I mean, look at me! I've had ME for 60 years and I still work!
   Now for CHRISTMAS! You all KNOW I love Christmas! Just the THOUGHT of my favorite holiday makes me smile till my round CHEEKS ache! HOWEVER, I've been doing some thinking lately. (Doesn't sound like a good mix, huh? KAI and THINKING? Be afraid. Be veeeeery afraid!) No, seriously, I have decided to try something new. I've always done my best not to forget anyone for the holiday season. But this year, instead of giving lots of little gifties, I am going to donate what I WOULD have spent mailing things to the American Cancer Society. Oh, I will OF COURSE get a gift for my great, great grandson. He wouldn't understand if GG (as in Great Grandma) didn't send him something. Okay, okay! He's only ONE year old! He wouldn't know the difference! LOL! But the truth is, I would feel bad if I didn't. I'm not being a cheapskate, and I WILL probably give or send a handmade thing or two to my closest friends. All this ties in to another thing I've decided to try, not right this minute, but in 2011. First of all, I watch too much tv AND I stay on the computer too much. I can remember when I didn't HAVE a computer. That was pre-March of 2004. As far as technology goes, I'm a LATE bloomer! I did my editing work on an old Brother word processor! And I had only basic cable until '99! So I wasn't tempted to see as much tv 'cause there weren't so many choices or temptations. I LIKE tv. I like the computer! But the truth is, I MISS some things. I've been thinking of my dear friend, Anita Edmonds. She and her hubby do not have a tv! That's a CHOICE! She is, of course, on the computer, but not for ridiculous time periods. And she gets SO MUCH DONE. I used to read at LEAST a book a day unless the book was HUGE. I can recall the first dolls I made - from STICKS I picked up after a walk. I spent hours listening to Gypsy, Stomp, and African music while I gessoed and painted cheap white fabric and stamped designs on it, then used it for clothing to make my stick dolls. It was SO MUCH FUN! I was lots more relaxed then. I solcialized more because I wasn't always parked in front of - as my great, great aunt calls them - 'gadgets'. I want that again. I DO! So, I am going to SEE if I can find a happy medium between my former almost gadgetless lifestyle and my ATT-UVerse I-CAN-RECORD-4-SHOWS-AT-ONCE-AND OVERDOSE ON TV current lifestyle. I want to lose myself in a book all afternoon sometimes. Put on my music and just play with no thoughts of technolgy. My friend, Judi Wellnitz, recently said that I periodically have to back off from the world. Yes, Jude! You hit the nail on the head. I do NOT wish to retreat from tv or from all of you! EVER! I DO crave balance. I sort of want to go back to some simpler times and see if they are as good as I remember, or if I just THOUGHT they were. That will be my 2011 goal. Being the regimented creature I am, I will BEGIN with a written schedule because if I just SAY I'll do it, I'll slip. But I know myself & I WILL keep to a schedule. Once I've seen what really works for me in the quest for balance, I will begin to do it naturally. The truth IS, I believe it will change my life for the better! One of my specific goals is to be true to myself and do VERY few of the things I truly don't WANT to do. So my schedule will, I think, allow me maybe an hour of computer time daily (not counting editing) and an hour of tv. Will I be able to do it? Don't know. It will be an ongoing test for awhile! Well, what do you think? Did I overstay my Blogland welcome this time? Hope not, 'cause once I start my new 2011 plan, I will blog only once a week at the MOST, and the posts I DO make will be long like this! For the moment tho' I am headed to the living room where I will watch The Amazing Race. See what I mean? Sigh!