2010 Wrap Up

The month of December was insane.  First my mom visiting, then my mother in law.  After I was done with house guests it was a mad rush to finish Christmas shopping, mail off gifts that were getting shipped, and prepare for the big day.  On December 23rd, it occurred to me that the family might want something fancier than Hamburger Helper for dinner on Christmas day.
I called Honeybaked and was still able to procure a ham, and on Christmas Eve I set out to grocery shop for all the dinner accompaniments.  

Christmas itself was great.  The hubby had been hinting around at the fact that he had broken our tradition of just buying for the kids and had actually got me something, so I purchased a couple of gifts for him.  I got him some new cologne and DJ Hero2.  He liked them a lot.  

All month long I had been fishing for hints since I'm not good at suspense or waiting for things.  While his mom was here visiting I made her a cheesecake.  As I was getting out my hand mixer
to make it, I asked him "OOooh, Is my present a stand mixer?".  He said "No".  I made a sad face.  My mother in law says "You mean one of those Kitchen Aid things?  You need one of those.
I'll buy you one for Christmas."  Now this ends up being a gift for her too, since she is moving here, and I know is hoping there are a lot more cakes and cheesecakes in her future,
not that I'm going to complain though.  

So it turns out that this WAS what he was planning on getting me, but had not actually gone shopping for.  Now that his mom said she was going to buy me one, he had to come up with something else to get me since there were two presents from me under the tree.
SEE why we usually don't do buy for each other.  It gets so damn complicated.
 On Christmas Eve, while I was wrapping gifts and grocery shopping,

 the hubby took the 3 girls to the mall to shop for a present for me. 

 Before they left I dropped a couple of hints as to what I might like.  

I mentioned that I always liked Willow Tree figurines.

Hubby said "What in the heck is that???"

My oldest said "I know dad, don't worry."

I ended up with a Willow Tree figurine from my hubby and each of my girls.

Perfect!

The hubby also was responsible for picking up the stand mixer from his mom.  

She and I had gone shopping for it before she left, but the store was out of them, 

so she had left the money so we could get it when they got more in.

Hubby went to Kohl's though, and ended up getting me a MUCH better one 

for the same amount of money as the regular one she and I were looking at.  

It isn't pretty red, but it has all metal parts so it will hopefully last forever and ever, 

plus it has a larger capacity and stronger motor too.

Even though I knew I was getting it.  Even though he didn't wrap it.  

He wouldn't let me open the box until Christmas day.

So after presents were opened, I broke this puppy out and set out to make a Red Velvet cake for 

Christmas dessert.  To say it was a miserable failure would be an understatement.  

It's been a long time since I've made a cake from scratch, and I learned that Red Velvet is tricky.  I ended up throwing the first one out and making a second one the day after Christmas. 

It was edible, but still not what I'd call good.  I guess I'll just have to do a lot more practicing.  

Darn.

The last two weeks of December were consumed with house hunting for my mother in law.  

We looked at the good, the bad, the ugly, the smelly, the quirky, the lost in the 70's, 

and the ones that only a match could improve.  

We ended up finding a little cottage on a creek built in 1905 that spoke to her.  It's kitchen consists of one wall of rotting cabinets and a sink.  The single bathroom is the size of most half baths in houses nowadays, and has a shower so narrow that I really have to wonder if super models lived here.  I can't imagine any normal sized person being able to turn around and soap their butt in this thing.  In addition to that, there are parts of the roof that leak and parts of the floor that have rotted away.  It's a really good thing that her sons and I are slightly handy.  It is going to be a LOT of work, but I think it will be super cute once it's done.  You can expect a lot of home remodel blogging starting around the beginning of February.