Busy in the Kitchen

Oh I have been cooking some fudge and candies for gifts.  I made  some wonderful glazed nuts to scatter in my packages. of cookies and candies
....
Plus some sugar scrubs.... for the ladies on my list..... Some have part brown sugar and part white sugar with oatmeal cinnamon and  pumpkin spice for a wonderful  oatmeal cookie scrub.
The recipe is kinda easy...

1 cup Brown or white sugar or a combination of each
1/2 cup of ground fine oatmeal
1/2 cup of oil (sunflower, safflower, peanut, almond or grapeseed)


the sugars equal 2 parts while the oil equals 1part and then add a sprinkle of the spices. 
The oil  that you use in everyday cooking isn't the best to make a scrub with but can work in a pinch (if you need to use right away...) but they don't keep and are not the greatest for leaving your skin soft.  Watch out for nut allergies if you or anyone one in your family (or the person you are gifting this to ...) have allergies to nuts use the safflower or grapeseed oils. 
Safflower oil is great for anyone with very dry skin.a heavier oil
Grapeseed for those of us that have very sensitive skin.  very light oil that quickly absorbs.
Plus add a little grapeseed oil to help keep the scrub longer or Vitamin E oil.  I know vitamin E oil or jojoba can be very expensive so when I saw vitamin E oil for cheap I had to get a couple bottles!! So my beautiful ladies with get a  few drops of this wonderful oil added. 

The Reason For the Season

Wow have you seen Yahoo! Ripples Of Kindness ?  It's a site where people can post their acts of kindness, causing a ripple effect.... one act of kindness can cause someone else to do something nice for someone then it just ripples out from there, kinda like that insurance commercial.

Kinda reminding people that the true reason for the season isn't the money we spend.... which most of the time is too much, or if we have little of it, we worry about how we are going to have a holiday.  With unemployment at 9.5 % (or is that just my area??) You have to wonder how many people are finding themselves in the holiday spirit.   

We have always had the random acts of kindness attitude in this house. Yea most of us work with the public...  we know how people can get! But then people can be having a bad day for whatever reason. You  never know what they are going threw.  Like the fact I said earlier, they could be losing their home, a loved one or job! So yea they can be kinda cranky.... Oh ok the restaurant manger in me is out today... So how about trying not to take it personally and do something nice for someone.  It can be a easy as opening that door or holding that door.  Saying I'm sorry if you are in someones way...... You know how that feels when you are in a rush and someone is taking up half the lane with a cart and looking at something... LOL so if the person says "OMG I'm sorry!"  and moves the cart, we say "oh that's ok" ....... Right? Cause that is all we want is some respect and kindness.... So why not ask "Need some help?" if they are looking at the top shelf or if it is something heavy.... You know that the favorite thing for our cart guys is? They love to help our customers load their cars!  Not too many places do that anymore.... and they are told thank-you! Yep 95% of the time they hear a heart felt thank-you so it is their favorite part of their job! So remember that if you are a object of a random act of kindness. LOL cause your thank-you it self is a act of kindness.... funny thing I think we forgot that in this season of rushing here and there trying to find the perfect gift............ You can hear some nasty stuff when it get really busy and people have to wait... So try to cut that cashier some slack, she/he  has been cussed at and yelled at for things they can't control.... A smile is free.....


Have a beautiful day my beautiful readers!! 

Lake Effect Snow

the patio table

If you live by the Great Lakes you know lake effect snow.  It's been snowing for about 3 days now.... Saturday Night I had a drive home.  It normally takes me around 15 minutes at night to get home.  Saturday night  it was about 45 minutes.  I was going around 40 MPH on the expressway.  I really am glad many people in this area have 4 wheel drive but really if it so GREAT why does one feel the need to ride the "slower person back end?" Go around people... Yea you have those types and then you have the very slow types that for all we know might have bad tires, fussy kid or new driver... whatever reason they are going slow they don't need the ride their back-ends and honk at them drivers!! I felt sorry for one driver she looked so young and freaked out.... I slowed down and let her "follow me" because the highway was a blanket of white... geesh there where a few times I wondered was I still in the middle lane??? Oh well it was just us and we had a person at a nice distance behind her!! So today I had off I stayed in the house, well, I had to retrieve  my trash container and that all..

trees in my backyard

The mailman brought me some of my Cyber Monday deals today... I got some reusable grocery bags from the Breast Cancer Awareness Site Store!! I am using them for wrapping!!

  I started my candy cooking for gifts- forgetting that the humidity can effect that... I have some too soft hard candy... humm maybe I can have a taffy pull later???  But the brittle turned out great.... Ok so I cheated I used a microwave recipe....

I know that many people in upstate New York have over a foot of snow and many people in the South are  experiencing wind chill factors of 8 degrees when they are used to 50 to 60 degree weather right now.  The nay sayers the people that like to tease me that Global warming is hoax love to say hwat do I say to that? That Georgia is having a wind chill factors... I say that Global warming is the wrong term that it should be Global weather mess, cause that what is happening.... They tell me that weather goes in cycles... I say OK then why are we breaking weather records for both warm and cold and most are record breaking from the 70's nothing before that??? If it is in cycles should the cycle be bigger than 30 years??
Ahhh they still don't get it, but I know that the biggest factor for me is the pollution