Sandra Cox's Blog, page 300

Special Thanks To

good mate, Amarinda Jones. What a special surprise. Thank you.
I met Amarinda in 2007 when we were first published by Elloras Cave. She offered me words of advice then, bosses me now when she feels its appropriate:), has guided me through the intricacies of the publishing world and even gave my blogs face lifts when they needed it. Thanks, Amarinda, for the surprise. Loved it.

And to Hywela Lyn. We met while I was virtual touring and found out we share a love of horses.
How thoughtful of you, Hywela. Thanks so much.

It's always special to get something from across the water.

Merry Christmas Oh Oh Oh

Christmas this year started with a bang and ended on the same note.
The 23rd I wrapped gifts, the 24th we put up the tree. My son arrived the 22nd and had no idea where to leave his gifts since there was no tree to put them under.
After posting recipes for a month, I decided to make some of the recipes for brunch Christmas morning. I planned on serving scrambled eggs with cheese, French waffles with peach topping, chocolate iced cinnabuns and cheesy potato casserole.
Brunch was scheduled for 10:00. At 8:45 I took leisurely stock of my ingredients. It was at this point, I realized I didn't have any celery soup for the casserole. Did I stay calm, cool and collected? Of c ourse, not. I immediately went into panic mode. I raced into the bathroom where my husband was just stepping into the shower and yelled, "You've got to go get some celery soup."
"Can I take my shower first?" he asks. Silly man.
"No!" I yelled even louder, then decided it would be quicker if I went myself, so I jumped in my Pony and like Santa's reindeer flew from store to store. At last, I find a can at a convenience store, only to discover it was outdated. By now its 9:15. The casserole takes 45 minutes to heat in the oven. I admit defeat and race home. I throw the casserole together, minus the soup. The hubby calls my son and bro and tells them not to come till 10:30. After baking the casserole for 20 minutes I decided to fry it like hash browns. At this point, I'm figuring out brunch isn't going to be a disaster and start relaxing.
The fam arrives, we eat and get down to the business of opening gifts.
Many years ago, my husband started the tradition of making everyone wear elf hats while we open our gifts. My son complains they're starting to smell like mildew. He has a point. I wore mine one year and after seeing what it did to my hair refused to wear it again. So to offset my refusal to wear the Christmas cap, he got me a necklace that lights up. That I found acceptable.
We had a lovely morning and afternoon. Opened gifts, then played board games.
By late afternoo n, I began to notice a twinge in my shoulder blade, but just thought it was my bra rubbing. By bedtime, I had a sinking feeling I was having muscle spasms. By the middle of the night there was no doubt. Have you ever had them? They remind me of water torture and /or child birth contractions, though not as intense. You just tense up waiting for the next one. After eighteen hours of spasms, I had the hubby take me to urgent care, where I got a shot (which didn't do any good) and scripts. I went home, too k my meds and fell into a drug induced sleep. I lost two days, but returned to the living, minus spasms, just in time to discover the washing machine stuck on the fill cycle and flooded the basement.
Thank goodness Christmas is over. Can't wait for 2012.

Christmas Road Trip

Greetings, how is everyone? Did you have a wondrous Christmas?
The week before Christmas we headed for southern Illinois and stayed in Metropolis, Superman's home town. Unfortunately, other than statues there were no Superman sitings.
We stayed at Harrah's, where I lost ten dollars to the slot machines and ate at the buffet, courtesy of my aunt and uncle. Have you ever ate at Harrah's? OMG. They have huge buffets. All the meats and fish carnivores could want and plenty of veggies and salads for vegetarians. And all kinds of of desserts for those of us cursed with a sweet tooth. For some reason, this past summer I d eveloped a craving for ice cream, which I indulged while we were there. The waiters scoop your ice cream and you do your own toppings. I swear they used eight oz ladles for the toppings. So I had some creamy vanilla ice cream with my hot fudge, which I managed to get halfway through before getting slightly sick.
This was the first time all the sibs have been together for a number of years. My bro from central IL told me he couldn't take off work to hook up with us, but called several times 'from work' while we were traveling. So imagine my surprise when I arrived at my aunt and uncle's to s ee him and his significant ot her setting on their couch. He'd been calling from his car:)
I've attached some pics that include some of the fam, Sandy my aunt and uncle's wonderful rescue dog, and a pic of the Smokies, and of course, that man of steel--Superman. I can't help wondering what he'd think of America today with his motto of 'Truth, Justice, and the American Way.'

Merry Christmas

www.myfreewallpapers.net

Merry Christmas and the Very Best of Holidays.

Holiday Recipe #18 Cream Cheese Ball

1 large package cream cheese
Roll into ball, place on platter
Top with Hot Pepper Jelly
Circle with Crackers

Holiday Recipe #17 Holiday Punch

1/2 gallon raspberry sherbert
1 2 litter of 7 up
Place scoops of ice cream into bowl and pour 7 up over it.

Holiday Recipe #16 French Waffles and Birthday Wishes

Ingredients:
Eggs
Frozen Waffles
Can of peaches
Cornstarch
Cinnamon
Vanilla

Beat your french toast mix as usual (2 eggs and 2/3 c milk should make approximately six servings)
Add a touch of cinnamon
Add tsp vanilla.
Dip frozen waffles in the mix and fry as you would french toast.
Pour can of peaches into saucepan and heat.
Add approx a Tbsp and a half of cornstarch
Add a dash of cinnamon
Stir about a minute
Serve waffles topped with peaches.

*~*

Happy Birthday, Wilma.

Out of Time

graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

We're headed for Southern Illinois for a few days. Have I cleaned my house? Heck no. Am I writing? Uh, no. Have I wrapped gifts? Nope. Am I Packed? No. Have we put up the tree? No. Though, here I claim extenuating circumstances. I don't want to leave the cats unsupervised with the tree. A friend of mine will come in twice a day to check on them and feed them, but you pet owners out there know the kind of trouble they can get into meantime. So we'll be decorating the tree the 23rd. We have NEVER waited this long to put one up. I am so behind.(wringing hands and moaning). But we'll survive. In the meantime, y'all enjoy the festivities and the season. And for those of you traveling, be safe.
Anybody else in the same leaky boat I am?

~*~
Blogs of interest:
Amarinda Jones
Anny Cook
Julia Barrett
Shelley Munro

Imajin Books Giveaway

From IMAJIN BOOKS comes...

25 Days of Christmas Giveaways

December 1-25, 2011

This Christmas, great things come in fours at Imajin Books! So we have four ways for booklovers to celebrate the Christmas season: an eBook Sale, eBook Giveaways, Basket o' Books Draw, and a Grand Prize Draw for the all-new Kindle Fire ereader.

1. eBook Sale - all our ebooks will be priced between $0.99 and $2.99.

The sale is on from December 1st to January 7th. To purchase ebooks from Smashwords (multiple file formats including ePub, PDF & more), visit our Winter Events page to view the special coupon codes to buy ebooks at our sale prices. Or buy from Amazon.com where the list prices have been changed to sale prices.

2. eBook Giveaways - 4 ebooks (winners' choice from our titles ) will be given away daily.

Rules: To enter, leave a comment and your email address on our Winter Events post in our Contests & Events section. Comments without email addresses will not qualify. You can enter every day; 1 ebook per winner per day. You may format your email address like: myemailaddress (at) emailprovider.com (or similar) if you'd like to; as long as we can read it, you'll be entered. No exchanges, no cash value. Ebook prizes will be awarded daily.

3. Basket o' Books Draw - paperback collection of winner's choice of 4 books

Rules: To enter, leave a comment and your email address on our Winter Events post in our Contests & Events section. Comments without email addresses will not qualify. You may format your email address like: myemailaddress (at) emailprovider.com (or similar) if you'd like to; as long as we can read it, you'll be entered. No exchanges, no cash value. 1 entry per person. This draw will take place between December 25 and December 31. Winner will be announced on our website.

4. Grand Prize Draw for a Kindle Fire ereader - 1 winner

Rules: You will get one entry for any of the following:

1. Review any of our books from December 1-December 24th, 2011 on Amazon.com or Smashwords.com and email us a link to your review. 1 entry per book title reviewed.

2. Tweet any of the following messages (1 entry per post per day; max. 3 entries/day):

Check out @imajinbooks 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways for prizes & win a #Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

eBooks $2.99 or less - @imajinbooks 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways - prizes & win a Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

25 Days of Christmas Giveaways @imajinbooks - eBook SALE, prizes & win a Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

3. Post an announcement on your Facebook page to help us spread the news and email us with the link to your FB page (1 entry per post per day; max. 3 entries per day):

Enter the 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways for prizes & chance to win a #Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

Ebooks $2.99 or less - 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways - prizes & chance to win a Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

Want to win a Kindle Fire ereader? Check out the 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways at http://www.imajinbooks.com

4. Buy any of our ebooks or paperbacks between December 1-25th and forward us your receipt by email; receive 10 entries per title purchased.

When emailing us during this contest, please put "25 DAYS" in the subject line. Include your name and pertinent contest info.

Entries must be received by December 25th, midnight MT. Open to anyone 18+, anywhere. Void where prohibited. No cash value, no substitutions, no exchanges.

Basket o' Books and Kindle prize will be awarded by January 7, 2012. All prizes must be claimed by January 30, 2012 or they will be void.

Holiday Recipe #15: Turtle Brownies

Turtle Brownies

1/4 c melted margarine
1/3 c evaporated milk
1 bx German chocolate cake mix
14 oz package caramels
1/3 c evaporated milk
3/4 c chopped pecans
3/4 c semisweet chocolate chips
Melt margarine and allow to cool before combining with the first 1/3 cup of evaporated milk and cake mix. Mix well. Place 1/2 the batter in an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake 5 to 7 minutes at 350.
Melt caramels and second 1/3 cup of milk in sauce pan. Blend well. Set aside. Sprinkle pecans and chocolate chips over cake batter.
Drizzle caramel mixture over top
Spread remaining cake batter over top
Bake 15 - 20 minutes at 350