Too many things, too little time

That seems to be the story of my life lately --too many things to do and too little time to do it in.  My job interferes  with so much of my life!  I'm not sure what to do about that, as I have to work to pay the bills.  I'm getting ready to redo my kitchen after the first of the year....new tile in kitchen and dining room.  New oven, new counter, new sink.  I will keep you updated as we go along.  But these things need funds, so... off to work I will go, even if it cuts into my blogging time!

I am getting ahead of myself.  I was saying....I'm busy. So are you.  So I will get on with what I have to say.

It looks like this outside my kitchen window:

(it was 4 degrees outside when I took this!  Brrrr!!)

It's a good thing I have these:

Do you want to know why a rural Nevada girl is sporting new Canadian mittens?  Because  my  new friend Brenda, (a fellow blogger)  gave them to me!  And they are really, really warm.    I voiced the questions to my Friday Friend Forum this morning:  Are you a glove kinda girl or a mitten kinda girl?  I am awaiting their answers.  These mittens are warm tho.  I love them.  Thanks Brenda!
Brenda and I met up and had lunch in Las Vegas on Wednesday.  We became friends thru our blogs.   It was so much fun to get together for lunch.....it was just much too short.
We really had a nice time getting to know a bit about each other in that short hour.  Here is one thing I do know:   she has a sense of humor.
We met at Toby Keith's "I love this bar and grill" in Harrah's. 

As we were sitting there eating, I noticed that their were bras hanging around the bar.  All kinds, all shapes, all sizes.  (it was a mild lunch, mind you, but we decided that it becomes a different place at night)  Well, I don't know if you remember, but about a month ago I wrote this blog  and Brenda has been giving me a bad time every since.  She has been teasing me about my bra!  (read the post) So I am sure she picked this place on purpose.  (she says no, that she had no idea ~smiles~)
It was so funny to see those things hanging around. 

Thanks again Brenda for such a nice time.

Brenda and Toby and me

Brenda, me and the Handyman.

I wanted to mention that I did participate in the  "Thankfully Reading Challenge".  I just didn't have the time to post about it.  I was in Phoenix and I read books for 13 hours on the drive down there and for 13 hours on the drive back to Nevada.

And here I can segue into   "It's Monday,  What are you reading" because I am reading:

Home by Bill Bryson.  My book club is going to kill me.  Not that it's not a great book. IT IS...it's just not a novel, and I think they are expecting a novel.  And it's a big, thick book.  December is a cruel month for a big, thick book, that is 'required' for book club.  (But I love him!!)

The Christmas Chronicles by Jeff Guinn.  Which is going to fulfill part of 'The  Christmas Spirit of Reading Challenge"  (doesn't officially begin until Wed), but I am really enjoying it.  The first book  in the chronicles is  "The Autobiography of Santa Claus" which incorporates history and holiday into one.  I really am liking it.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for the  Read-a-Long at Sheery's Place.
What do I think of it?  I love the story.  I love the language.  I love that it takes Dickens 3 pages to describe one thing.  I am happy to be reading it.   Although, you have to pay attention, because it doesn't flow easy--the words and description are not what I am used to, but it's okay, it's a classic.
This week, we have only read Stave 1.  We will read a stave a week and end right before Christmas.



I will end with dessert  (don't we always? )

I had a Pumpkin Pie challenge!
We spent Thanksgiving at my son's in Phoenix, AZ.  I made the pies.  My son and his wife made everything else.  
I made three different pies.  (my pictures don't do justice to the pies... my picture taking confused the in-laws, so I hurried)

One from Brenda's Canadian Kitchen. 

One from Bobby Flay's Throwdown.    (good whipped cream!  It had bourbon in it)

One from Recipe Girl. 

I kept saying,  "We're having a contest!"  Until my son informed me that I was  the only one in the contest and I was going to be the winner, because I was making them all.  (They weren't quite  as excited as I was)

3 pies.  All very good.   All a bit different, so I can't say that I loved one above another, they were all really good, they were like my kids!  I can't choose just one.    But if  actions speak louder than words,  The Double Layer Pumpkin Pie from Brenda's Canadian Kitchen went home with the in-laws!  (They left us only one piece for later)  They took HALF A PIE!!

oh....and this:

wasn't scary at all.  It looked like this when you were actually on it (you couldn't even see the dam):

You couldn't tell you were going over a bridge at all. 
Now it's late--the Handyman is in bed, I can hear him snoring.  He is upstairs, I am downstairs and the TV is on, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives"....and still I hear the rumble from the bedroom upstairs.  Heaven help me!

Night!