I know I promised you another post about the bakery and is quirky cast of characters, but I worked from 9-4 today and I am dead tired. We sold 18 dozen sugar cookies by 10 AM... (We open at 9!) We kinda stopped counting after that. They (my cousin, my aunt, Cate before she had work at noon, Sparky as soon as school was over, my uncle, two close friends of the family and even Paul for awhile) spent the whole day baking and decorating cookies as fast as humanly possible while I ran the front of the bakery... It was close to non-stop and I am done... I'd love to write a fun post but instead I think I'll examine the inside of my eyelids for awhile...

Thanks for listening,

Because Mandi Asked...

I will tell you all about the bakery where I have been spending most of my time...

Here it is...

The Pastry Garden!

While we are out here lets take a look at all the sugar cookies that the decorating of has completely taken over our lives...

I have seen small children lick this window... Yes, they look that good!

Here is the view from the door...

And here is Carol, my cousin and classically trained pastry chef extraordinaire...

She also does competitive ballroom dance... and has since before it was cool.

Just a little factoid about this amazing person who makes me laugh daily, loves my girlies, puts up with my sometimes surly husband and does all of this with the handicap of being directly related to me...

Let's look at what she has baked up today...

Yes... other then the sugar cookies which keep several days everything else is baked fresh daily!

Let's see we have...

breads

(three kinds... plus baguettes)

shortbread

Florentines

Cappuccino Brownies

(These will change your life!)

More sugar cookies

Raspberry & Lemon Scones

(and yes, more sugar cookies!)

And finally for today we have...

Apple Strudel

Pecan Tarts

Russian Tea Cakes

& Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, there you have it...

Tomorrow I will start filling you in on it's colorful cast of characters!

Thanks for listening,

What's Goin' On...

So it's been about a month since I was able to talk to y'all and I've missed you guys tons! What did I learn from my little experience you ask? The single most important thing is this... back EVERYTHING up... I mean it... Stop reading and go do it now... You will thank me as you aren't panicking later... Okay, actually the most important lesson was that my mother was right when I was seven... I can do anything I set my mind to, including but not limited to computer repair. But trust me on the backup thing!

What has been going on in our neck of the woods you ask? Well, it seems like I am always busy but I am not sure I actually have much to report... I'll just fill you in on my boring life just to make y'all question once again why it is we are friends...

I got a job... well, kinda. I have been helping out at my cousin's bakery in Rockland for sometime and when I told her I needed to get a part time job she offered me one. I have to admit I love hanging at the bakery and chatting with the colorful cast of characters that frequent the place. I could fill a entire post telling you about some of them and am thinking that I might do that... Trust me, it is a "colorful" town.

Thanksgiving was great... it was just us and my parents and I spent all day making first brunch then dinner, but I love it. It was nice to spend the time all together. My mom is really trying to be less demanding. I think me taking a part time job woke her up a little, so the end result was a nice day for all of us.

The big event for me actually happened a few days before Thanksgiving. Paul turned an underused hall closet that is right next to the kitchen into a much needed pantry!!! It was the best gift ever... I mean EVER!! There is a serious shortage of cabinet space in the kitchen and no pantry so my answer to this was I put some industrial kitchen style shelves in one corner and tried to stack things neatly on it... The "neatly" part only worked if nobody else in the house was allowed withing 2 feet of the shelves. Since people like having access to the food this didn't go over too well. Unfortunately due to the "open floor plan" those shelves were in your direct line of vision when you came through the front door... Their continually messy state was a constant source of stress for me. Paul kept telling me to let it go, but apparently I couldn't. He had suggested converting this closet back in the summer and told me all I needed to do for this to happen was empty it out for him. Sound easy enough right? Well... not so fast... this particular closet was where everything my parents didn't know what to do with went to slowly rot... Three vacuums (only one that worked), coats they used to wear back in the day (and by "the day" I mean when I was a kid), and every other little thing they didn't know where else to put it... It was a huge junk drawer... I knew cleaning it out would be a huge, messy project. Far messier then the shelves, and I was right. The contents of this closet literally filled the living room, but with the pressure of a holiday a few days away I pushed hard to get it all sorted and cleaned up in record time. I will post before and after pictures soon. I just need to take the "afters"...

I have also been busy at work decorating for Christmas... I just need to decide what Christmas quote I want to put on the wall in the living room... I don't know if I want to use a Bible verse or quote or even a line from a song/carol... Help guys... I want to finish today... I have the cheery red vinyl and the cricut is all set up, but I am at a total loss... I want something fun and up-beat but also meaningful... Aghhhh... I am thinking "Joy to the World..." but I am not sold... Suggestions please...

Well, that's it for today...
Thanks for listening,
 

Where I've Been...

I am fine... Thank you all for your concern...

 A few days after my last post the laptop my husband and I share had an oops...

Well, I'll just show you...

Can you see it?

Here, I'll get closer...

Ouch...

I didn't panic though... This computer is only five months old... Not only is it under warranty but we purchased the extended warranty... We packed it up and sent it off with the necessary forms filled out and mailed my happy place computer off to the mid-west...

Alas the warranties are not worth the paper they are printed on... Not only did they not fix it, but if we wanted it back we had to pony up return shipping!

When we got it back we were discouraged further when we took it to a local repair shop and were quoted between $400 & $450 to fix it! It was only $600 new and was currently on sale for $475!!

We thought it was a total loss... For an afternoon that totally bummed me out...

Then it made me angry...

I mean it made me really ANGRY!!! 

I don't have an extra $475 lying around any time but definitely not a Christmas time... 

So in an anger fueled web search (On Cate's computer)  I looked up replacement screens online and found one for only $65 + s&h... Before we hit order Paul and I watched a YouTube video showing how to replace our particular models screen...

It didn't look easy per se...  

but it didn't look hard either, so we went for it...

Our new screen arrived yesterday... Paul ended up doing all the work, but he did let me snap one more picture of it all opened up...

Cool huh? I thought so...

 The hardest part was keeping track of about a dozen of the tiniest screws ever...

 After we (he) dropped the second one we ( I ) smartened up and grabbed a magnet.

The total repair took about 45 minutes... It was pretty strait forward, but delicate work.

That's it... less then $100 and less then an hours work!!

Sorry I disappeared again... Hopefully it will be the last time for awhile!

I missed you guys tons and now that I am back online I will be dropping by to say hello and catch up!

Thanks for listening,