Christmas tree snow

This year I experimented with snow on my tree.  I have a couple of places that have garland and I put snow on the garland and loved the way it turned out so I thought I would put it on the tree.

At first I just used batting, but that looked flat and no matter how I fluffed it, it still looked dumb.  A co-worker told me about "Buffalo Snow", so I hunted and hunted to find this product at the local craft stores and could not find it.  So my friend at work gave me the stuff she had left over.  Buffalo snow puffs up much better than other pillow stuffing stuff.

I like it, I think I will do it again next year, a little bit of snow goes a LONG way.  I think I will add more next year.  Laura doesn't like it, so the "jury is still out".  At the conference center for the Christmas concerts they did snow trees that were awesome, I just want mine to look like theirs!

Merry Christmas!

Krumkake - our Norwegian tradition

One of the Norwegian traditions passed on to me by my Grandma Johnson was a taste for Krumkake. They are thin cookies rolled into a cone shape.  To me they are the taste of Christmas.  You could eat an entire container of them and never get full.  When I got married some ladies in the ward gave me a krumkake iron for my bridal shower, I don't think I thought much of it at the time, but it was a great gift.  I use it every year, and my own tradition is that I watch/listen to "It's a Wonderful Life" while making them.

These cookies take a Tablespoon of batter at a time, so it takes a while to make and roll each one.

This is the part that takes asbestos fingers...Hot, Hot.....Katie Jo had this job this year.
You can't eat them with one hand, you have to hold a hand under your mouth because they crumble all over.  However if you squirt whipped cream into the center they don't fall apart, they stick to the cream.

Yes, now it tastes like Christmas.  Thanks grandma.

Bathroom fixes

Finally, we replaced the kitchen floor with hardwood in February.  The floor removal crew tried to stop at the laundry room door but left cuts in the old linoleum... for the eventual removal of all the floor so we could tile the floors in the small bath and laundry room.

We finally tore up the floor, which required pulling out the bathroom vanity, sink and toilet and of course moving the washer/dryer.   Nothing EVER goes as planned, however.  What was supposed to be a long weekend, turned into 2 weeks with no washer or dryer.  Can I just mention we have great neighbors!  The tile we ordered came in wrong and had to be REORDERED, so we could do nothing but wait.  I did put up a couple of new coats of paint.

This sad old sink/vanity - has been crippled it's whole life.  The drain stopper never worked, the sink cracked just after the warranty went out...maybe 19 years ago.  (It's funny what you stop noticing when you see it everyday). So hooray to new a new granite vanity!

And as and added bonus, we did the upstairs bathroom (vanity only) at the same time!

Happy Birthday to me.