Shake it off, shake it off

Yesterday I spent a lot of time, effort, and money making a batch of caramel covered Lorna Doones and pretzels, then dipping them in chocolate, just as I did last year. I used my Chocolate- Dipped Caramels recipe that I've made since 2006 but I was lazy and didn't use my candy thermometer. The caramel got too hard. I had to throw it all in the trash. Ouch. I don't have the time or money to do it over so I won't (although, it's likely I might - I'm sick that way).

It really put a damper on my baking spirit. I took a break, went to the gym, and came home and made a new cookie recipe that was pretty delicious but I'm still not over it.

It's weird but I really want to bake and I have a long list of things I want to make this year but I often find myself wondering why I am doing this. It's always hard when Christmas falls at the end of the week since I don't like to bake too far ahead and I have to work all week. At least I have Christmas Eve off this year and I can relax a little that day, I hope.

I have mixed feeling about the holiday. I am really looking forward to Christmas morning. I love shopping for my boys and I think they will be thrilled.

I'm not sure how the rest of the holiday will be though. Between the divorce, losing my mother two weeks ago, and now the threat of snow on Christmas (snow ruined my Thanksgiving - please don't let it ruin my Christmas!), I'm not sure what Christmas Eve and the rest of Christmas Day will hold but at least there will be Christmas morning to enjoy.

I lost my momentum

You thought I might be making a full-fledged blogging comeback? It doesn't look like it, not right now. My Thanksgiving holiday didn't quite turn out like I had planned (first year I didn't get even a taste of turkey or stuffing). I had high hopes for cooking something over my 4 days off but it never happened. This past week felt like a recovery operation. I can tell you that this December is probably not going to be a good month for blogging.