oooh, yeah!

First of all, I'd like to say this:  Whoever said money can't buy happiness has never had a brand new Kitchen Aid.  I gush, I know, but darn it, it's nice.  So smooth!  I guess I didn't know how wonky our old one had become, so jiggly and rough.  This batch of dough was six cups of flour, and this thing didn't hesitate.  I didn't have to scrape the bowl one single time!  
 

The oven worked wonderfully well.  I baked on both racks at the same time, I did swap the trays half way through, but they came out very nice.  The new little beeping sound will take some getting used to.  But, this oven just gives the one little warning when the timer goes off, then shuts up instead of hounding me every ten seconds like the old one did.

These are my favorite cookie cutters, got them last year from Target, three sizes nested together.  Of course I got them rather cheap, but I love them.  

This was taken just a few minutes ago, from my chair.  My usual chair location is in that corner where the tree is, so this is a whole different view.  

And that's the exciting news from here in the snow globe.  I didn't go to the pool today because the school where the pool is had a two hour delay, and we don't have class when that happens.  So I'm trying to do some moving around on land, ha, getting the blood flowing to the joints.  

I do have to go to the auto parts store to pick up some new brakes for the red car, that's exciting.  Since I'll be in the small city, I might just go to Marshall's too, finish up my Christmas shopping.  ha.  finish.  

Tonight is our annual sibling gathering, I'm very excited to say.  I grew up in a nice little house in a nice little neighborhood, I am the sixth of seven children.  My little brother Casey was always my absolute favorite person in the world.  We shared a room when we were small, we went on all sorts of adventures.  Mud pies, sand box, jump rope, bike rides.  He was the one who first thought of taking the spigot handle off of our hose connection at home, and bringing it to the elementary school so we could screw it on there and turn on the water, so we could get a cold drink while playing on the playground during the summer days.  

Now he's married and has two grown kids, and we don't see each other very often.  But, it's always so wonderful when we get together.   The oldest sibling is Cheryl, my bestie and only sister, then Bob, who is married to Mary, they have ten grown kids, and are super special people, Bob was always a good older brother to me.  Then Tom, who is married to Kim, they have 12 grown kids, and are very fun to be with.  Then there's Joey, one of my favorite brothers, who has grown away from the family, although we don't give up on trying to get him to join us.  Next, sadly, was Billy, there was no one like him. He's my brother who let me hang out with him when he was a teenager, and introduced to me to his friends, and I got to be cool.  He was actually the first one in our family to get converted, and was such a good example as a brother and as a Christian.  His life turned sort of sideways, at the end, although the coroner's report said there were no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death, which you remember was by his own hand, with a shotgun.  (There were high levels of carbon monoxide in his system, caused by the way he heated his little home).    Then there's me, then Casey.  So now Cheryl, Bobby, (and Mary) Tommy (and Kim), me, and Casey get together each year before Christmas and have a good old time.  

Cheryl has 7 girls, Bob has 10 kids, Tom 12, Joey 1, me 16, Casey 2...48 grandchildren for my late parents.  We never run out of things to talk about, ha.  It's interesting though, because one has to work on being a good listener, not a conversation hog.  We're all pretty good at this, so it's a nice time.

Then tomorrow there's a Christmas concert at church, Abigail will be coming for it, so I get to see her again.  Camille will be playing her violin, and Emily will be singing.  

All right, time to get ready to go to pick up those exciting brake pads and rotors...have a really good day!