Hey Everyone...!!! This is the first time in a week and a half I've had my home to myself for a few minutes!!! I don't like to blog when there is to much going on.. Just wanted to let you know that I'll probably blog more after the New Year...!! I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Christmas and will have the HAPPIEST New Year!!!!

Dear Ms. Flipflopmom,
We wish to make you aware of a recent mailing error involving a reminder postcard that was mailed to you on or about December 3,2007. An error occurred when the address file was created for this postcard, ad as a result a string of numbers that reflected some or all of the digits of your Social Security Number may have been included in the mailing address.

STINKING GREAT!!! Not only do I have the worlds MOST COMMON last name.. now some STUPID company that I do NO business with has sent my SS to the world of the United States Post Office... GRRR.. BUT to be safe.. I can call this number..and HECK.. it's even toll free... 1-877-478-7625 to place a FRAUD ALERT on my Equifax credit file.

Anyway... on a different note... snow.. snow... and more snow is falling everywhere... Here are my two squirrels from this morning....

And Here is Nellie WANTING those Squirrels.. LOL LOL I have to remind her she's a BIRD dog!!


I have to tell you.. that I seriously am NOT fond of my son's school teachers.. he has one pretty decent teacher but the other three really could care less if my son falls through the cracks of education... At first I was NOT going to do gifts... didn't want to.. I was down right being a BRAT.. however... I found something small to do... and I went with it.. ( I got this idea off of Two Peas about a year ago.. and don't remember who it was.. sorry.. ) But this is what I made...


Up close tag....

And for my daughters High School Teachers... We made Oreo Balls!!!!



Oreo Balls are SUPER DE DUPER EASY to make... here are my directions

1 package of oreos ( NOT double stuffed)
1 package of cream cheese... at room temp.
1 package of Chocolate Almond Bark
1 package of White Almond Bark

Crush oreos in a food processor doing about 10-12 at a time...
Once they are all crushed... add the block of cream cheese and combine well
I use a small cookie scoop to scoop out the dough and form round balls....
FREEZE dough for about 30 minutes...
While dough is in freezer, with a double boiler.. melt about 3/4 of the package of chocolate almond bark...
Once melted.. dip ONE oreo ball at a time in the chocolate til completely covered and place on waxed paper...
These will dry in about 10 minutes...
While drying melt about two blocks of the white almond bark... once melted put in a plastic baggy and cut a tiny hole in the corner.... pipe over the balls... Voila... ENJOY!!
**** What EVER you do though.. DO NOT get any water in the chocolate .. otherwise it will clump up and NOT stay smooth and will not work...

I got a package today.. and I was pleasantly surprised... and I giggled so hard when I saw my gift...... I LOVE YOU JAYEDEE!! YOU ROCK!!! who else but a Florida Girl could get a New Hampshire girl this kind of tree ornament!!!!


Oh and here is the GORGEOUS Candle that LISA gave me!!!!! READ her blog... you WILL LOVE IT!!!Tomorrow my neighbor is babysitting TWO PUGS.. oh I can't WAIT to see them!!!!

I've also been boogying around and BAKING like a MAD woman.. Gosh I have made Banana Bread, Cookie Dough Brownies, Chex Mix, Buddy Buddy's, Mini Spice Bundt cakes, Chocolate Chip Cookies and MORE!!! But my gifts are almost done and ready to be delivered!! WOO HOO!!
So I decided at 11pm on SATURDAY night I was going to march my butt to Wal*Mart and GET all the BAKING supplies I needed.. and the store would be dead..!! Well............ I was RIGHT the store WAS DEAD.. but the shelves were BARE!!! YIKES!!!! Fortunately enough this sweet older gentleman found me a box of Corn Chex to make my MIX.. but not another kind.. so I surrendered to the shelf and bought HONEY NUT CHEX.... and made the Chex Mix...Ok.. I am in NO WAY a fan of the Chex Mix.... however.. with this HONEY NUT CHEX ... it was OUTSTANDING!!!!!!! It gives enough sweetness with the salt to give it a POP!!!!! So... next time you make the Chex Mix... PASS on the WHEAT.. and PASS on the RICE.. mix it up with Corn and HONEY!! YUM!!!! and I have to admit.. I alter the recipe as well... I use a WHOLE stick of butter and about 4 TBSP of Worcestershire sauce.... YUM!!!

And along with all that... I made PIONEER WOMAN'S Lasagna.... yum.. that's all I have to say!! I had dinner guests Saturday night and they agreed!!!

Well my friends and family think I have started a new threat to the animal kingdom... Obesity in Squirrels.... YUP... they think that I'm causing their lives to be shortened posing a real threat to our back yard trees. Ok.. I'll admit.. I LOVE watching what was ONE squirrel eat the corn on the cobs I bought for them... then when the deck was built.. I bought a BETTER feeder... How strange... before I knew it .. the ONE squirrel has turned into about FIVE and they all weigh at least 20lbs each... ok.. well maybe not that much.. but I think they might seriously outweigh my cat!!! The picture below was taken about two months ago...so maybe add 5lbs ... lol lol


Well... I wanted to get into the whole nature thing.. so I decided that I would make popcorn, cranberry and cereal garland for a fake tree on the back deck!! The Garland took me about a week to make but it came out really cute.. and then to add more.. I made pinecone bird feeders. Do you remember making those as a kid... oh it was fun and STICKY!!! but I have to tell you a secret... I put the peanut butter BACK into the cupboard.. wasn't thinking.. and then next day.. the teens came home for lunch.... ummmm guess what they had... PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICHES... ah oh.... GASP!!! What they don't know won't hurt them.. right.. it's all natural????? Ü

Ok... now for something cool.. here is what I got in my package from DONNA!!! I loved EVERYTHING in there!!! I even got homemade goodies in there that didn't last long around here!!!

Oh and see the "grubby" candle behind there.. I got that from PUGPOSSE .. I have YET to burn it.. it smells soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good unburned... ( I'll show a close up tomorrow)
Earlier this week I had a dear friend come over... she had her doggie in the truck.. I said... "oh girl get him out of there and bring him in".. and she did.. he's very very active.. but so handsomely cute.. and my Nellie girl loved him... I think she like the part where MAX had to wear the Santa Suit and NOT her!!!!

WE have a WINNER.. I had to go back through my e-mails and see who responded FIRST... and even though it's really NOT the technical name.. LOL LOL.. the WINNER IS ERIN... I give her this WIN because in all truth I don't even call this movie by it's given name... The MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL in my house is known as THE FOZZYWIGS!! But here's another secret.. I can't stand any other muppets movie.. LOL LOL

I'm sorry for my lack of blogging... For all you New Englanders out there... you'll know that the pressure in our air seems to be "heavy" right now.. and for the past three days my head has been POUNDING.. and dizziness has set in.. UGH... ( I also suffer migraines) . So looking at a computer screen for to long does NOT help!! If I'm not feeling better by tomorrow.. I'm giving the good ole DR a call!!

OTHER NEWS... I got my great shipment that I WON from DONNA!!! I took pictures.. but I will post all that tomorrow!! As for now.. I'm off to get a good nights sleep!!

Come in and know me better Man....

Here it is Sunday night... and I finally can get a few moments to really blog the past few days without running out the door...
I met up with a BLOGGER friend here .. right in my own home town.. Pug Posse
She has the CUTEST and I mean CUTEST Pugs.. and HOME!! I LOVE how her home is dressed up Country and especially around Christmas time... She also gave me the sweetest gift... ( I don't want to blog it yet.. just incase she is giving it to others and they happen to end up here)... OH MY the gift was HEAVENLY.. and super cute!! I will share at a later time!!! PROMISE!!
Anyway.. meeting Lisa was FUN... and it felt like I already knew her.. I had my son with me who, after waiting in the car for an hour, came in and FELL in LOVE with her pugs... He just thought they were the GREATEST and the next day asked me 4 times if we could go see them again.. LOL LOL...
Her photos of her kitchen cabinets and table.. don't even do justice to how beautiful they really are!!! I'm JEALOUS.. !! and Sooooooooooo Seriously now want to do that to my kitchen that sooooo needs some life put into it!!!

I did get the kids Christmas picture done today.. however due to the friends "well" issues we got a late start on pictures.. so I wasn't quite so happy with her kids pictures.. they were acting goofy and just didn't want to co-operate.. I think my kiddos did good though.. I can't post those til tomorrow!!

Anyway... another hint... I might have said this.. MY FAVORITE MOVIE IS IN THAT snippet of movies...and it's NOT the PowerPuff Girls if that helps!! LOL LOL... My son and I actually don't call it by it's right name.. we call it "The Fozzywigs"... Ü Does that help?? Keep guessing!!!

What I'm listening to as I type.... LOVE IT!!!!!

I'm waiting to head out really soon to do my kiddos Christmas picture and some friends...!! Then we're gonna make YUMMY grilled cheese and soup.. mmmmmm... I'll post later with pictures...
But for now.. I wanted to let you all know..

THAT NO ONE HAS SAID MY FAVORITE MOVIE YET!!! ..

So if you have guessed.. guess again.. if you said you have no clue... guess anyway.. you NEVER know!!!

This is a movie that my son and I watched night after night after night...when he was about 3... ahhh Memories.. and then we moved on to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.... I love musicals!!!!

Enjoy your Sunday!! Keep Warm.. inside and out!!! Ü

I'll be back later on!!

This is a very cute video I wanted to share... There are many movies in here that you will recognize.. that you loved as a child.. if not still as an adult... My favorite movie is in this... To make it more cheery.. and to spread some love.. the FIRST person to respond and tell me what my favorite all time Christmas movie is.. will get a special something from me.!!! Happy guessing!!

This is my 150th Post.. I can't believe I've had 150 plus things to talk about... !! Kind of makes me crack up!!

Last night I stayed up til about 2:30 in the morning crafting a gift for my Mother in love that I want her to have BEFORE Christmas.. since the gift pertains to Christmas... I have no pattern.. no rhyme or reason.. it's something that I came up with... the "pouch" for the CD is the same McDonald's fry pattern that I cut the bottom off on.. and then sewed it shut... She loves my Christmas CD's.. so I thought I would burn some of them and share!! I will probably add more embellishments.. but for now I had to walk away from it... Ü

Ok.. Now before you peek at my sewing project.. PLEASE keep in mind I am not a huge sewer.. I'm pretty much self taught... and I'm NOT perfect.. but I thought of this idea and I wanted to go with it.. I had this bunch of fabric that I was just going to toss because I thought.. "Where or how would I use this????".... and the light bulb went off.... Again.. I Have no pattern...no rhyme or reason.. this is just it... and you experienced sewers.. HOLD your chuckles please!!!! Ü While I was sewing this I had to battle my cat too.. she ran off with the needles.. and string.. ahhhhhhhhh she was like watching a little child!!!

Its a toothbrush holder and a tube of toothpaste for travel.. I want to put floss and a cheap timer in their for my friends daughters... you know the rule 2 minutes for brushing!!! No EXCUSES!!! Ha Ha Ha Ha....

And this is Emma Lou Who ( her name for two years now.. LOL LOL) She was quite tired after all the sewing!!

Your Christmas Budget: The 1900's

Representative prices for items popular at various times during the decade, culled from newspaper and magazine ads of the period:

Men's smoking jacket: $5.00

Women's corset ( "all popular sizes:): $1.59

Sheet-music cabinet: $6.25

Phonograph: $150.00

China candle stick. 50 cents

boy's worsted sweater: $2.00

Toy sewing machine: $1.00

Toy automobile"with rubber tire wheels": $2.50

Elevated railroad set: $5.00

Clothbound copy of Peck's Bad Boy: 39 cents

The only blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.

----Helen Keller

I have to giggle today cause I got a few e-mails this morning requesting that I put the Whoopie Pie recipe up on the blog... soon!!!! So here I am little earlier than normal.. blogging and reading!!!

I have used this recipe for the past 10 plus years... I have used different cocoas to make the "shell" of the Pie... and I have come to the realization that there is NO BETTER cocoa than King Arthurs. Unfortunately I have not made a road trip up that way so I had to settle for Hershey's.. which taste's just fine too...

So here are a picture of my pies!!

The batter is not super stiff... but should be thicker than cake batter....

The final product.. I have to QUICKLY FREEZE the ones that I want to mail or save for Christmas Gifts or they are GONE!!

FlipFlopMom's Whoopie Pies

1 cup shortening

2 cups milk

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 cups of flour

3/4 cup cocoa

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

Normally I dump this all together and mix from there.. but you can do it this way as well..

Cream together shortening, sugar. Add eggs in one at a time. Add vanilla. In another bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. Slowly rotate combining dry ingredients with the milk... mix well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees... I lightly spray my cookie sheets with pam so the "cake" doesn't stick to the pan... I use two small spoons as my drop size on the cookie sheets.. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes... check your oven during your first batch so you can get to "know" how they cook.. each spooful can vary in size... Let the "cake's " cool and then remove them from the pan.. ( cooling takes about 5 minutes).... Once the "cake's" are cool frost oneside with a good amount of cream filling and and "cookie" it together with another "cake"...

*** Now here's a few pointers.. depending on the % of milk you have ... you might not need the whole amount of milk.. I used skim yesterday.. so I ended up only using 1 1/2 cups of milk.. so just watch for the look of the batter.. if you use whole you can use the whole two cups...

FILLING.... This is NOT a Marshmallow filling.. this is a creamy frosting filling... I prefer it OVER the Marshmallow any day.

3 cups of confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla....

*** Again.. my tips for this.. I DOUBLE this amount... I blend the shortening together with the sugar.. and then add vanilla... SLOWLY add your milk in... it's better to NOT Have enough than to have to much... beat the mixture together and add your milk in a little at a time till you get the desired creamy texture you want... ( I tend to make it stiffer than store bought)...

It's a LOT easier to make it than it sounds.. but if you have ANY questions.. you can always ask me... and if this wasn't the internet.. I'd post my # so you could call me if you needed... Ü I'm horrible with directions.. and this just happens to be one of those recipes that I have altered so much.. EAT and ENJOY!!!

Miserlygrinch Jerkyton here!! Or that's what the GRINCH NAME GENERATOR call me... Find out your name and let me know!!

It was a NO SCHOOL DAY HERE IN NH!!!!!!!

How was your weekend... was it as crazy as mine...?? I hope so...!! We finally headed out to Vermont to get our Christmas tree. It was bitter.. bitter cold... but I was all happy and raring to go to get my Living tree in! We packed up with friends and headed out... We went to the same place that we have gone for about 5 years and this year I was sad by the display of Christmas trees that you could cut down. I'm INFAMOUS for my BIG FAT CHUBBY TREES!! This year we walked.. and walked.. and walked.. and I couldn't find the right one... after much walking, and cold children.. I picked the best tree I could find... I was happy with it until I realized my husband could throw it over his shoulder... I was devastated... I wanted to cry.. I know it sounds selfish.... and there are many people out there without trees... but it came down to it.. I was heartbroken.... I had to take my tree and put it on a truck with a quilt to hide the trunk... sighhhhh....

This Weekend I started my baking too!! Oh it's so hard to bake and eat right... so hard....I first made these cookies...

Ginger Cookies

4 1/2 cups Flour

4 tsp Ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

** Mix all these ingredients together and set aside

Cream together

1 1/2 cup shortening

2 Cup sugar

Then add to creamed mixture

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

Slowly add dry ingredients with the creamed ...This will form a stiff dough

Scoop up into small balls and roll in 3/4 cup of granulated sugar....

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degree for 12 minutes

This made about 60 cookies for me using a small cookie scoop

********** these cookies will come out of the oven and melt in your mouth.... The BEST way to store these cookies are in an air tight container with a piece of bread.

**** STAY TUNED.. tomorrow is WHOOPIE PIE DAY!!!!!