Santa Was at the Dollar Store!

I grocery shop at Dollar General. Maybe two times a week, sometimes more. Every third week or so I stock up on basics, maybe dog food, paper towels or whatever and usually my cart is heaping.




On these trips I usually fill a cart up to the point where stuff is falling out, like my dog biscuits and bread last week and it costs less than $100.00. A heaping cart for less than $100.00! The total for these same items at a normal store would be at least $200.00. And believe me the items are EXACTLY the same, just in different boxes. Sometimes the items are name brand like the tea that I buy. Dollar store price is like $2.00, grocery store price $4.00. I love, love the Dollar General!



Anyway, An advertisement for the dollar store is not what this is all about. Santa is what this is about.



Thursday when I had this heaping cart and I was about to checkout I remembered that I needed cereal so I pushed my cart near the register and hurriedly went back to grab it. I popped around the corner and there was a man standing in the middle of the cereal aisle looking for something that he was having trouble finding.



I was kind of peering over his shoulder because he was, of course, standing right in front of the Cheerios (which by the way are much cheaper at DG than at the grocery store). I noticed that he was quietly singing the Christmas song that was playing on the overhead speakers. He found what he was looking for and when he turned to go to he noticed that I must have heard him singing. He looked a little embarrassed and smiled so I smiled back and grabbed my Cheerios.

When I got back to my cart at the checkout line he was waiting behind it. I had parked it about 10 feet back so people could easily get around it but he had decided to wait behind it thinking that I was already in line.



Now, one thing you must know is that I'm always in turmoil with a full cart at the checkout line at this store. Most people go in there to grab a few things quickly and don't expect to wait in a long line. So of course, me being the middle child or whatever the reason, I always tell them to go ahead of me. -Always.- Sometimes I'll let three people go in front of me and then I'm in agony, watching the other shoppers, hoping no one else comes up behind me.

If they have a cart then I don't feel so bad but if they don't and if they have so few items that they are carrying them in their hands then I have to let them go ahead of me or else I feel terrible. Even though I am always in a hurry to get home, I still let them go ahead.



Now, back to the the man that was waiting behind my cart... So when I see him standing there I (of course) tell him to please go ahead of me. He looked surprised, actually very surprised and said "Are you sure?" and I said "Of course!" and then I thought nothing more about, because I'm on the lookout for shoppers possibly getting in line behind me with few items.



As he was paying the cashier he seemed kind of nervous. First he gave the lady too much money and she got confused and that made him kinda confused and then when she gave him his change he dropped a couple of pennies but didn't pick them up and kind of turned and sheepishly smiled at me again.

I smiled back but believe me I was eyeing those pennies on the floor cause I would never leave pennies on the floor and I was busy thinking about trying to pick them up for him but my bulging cart was between me and them (the pennies) and I was starting to put my items on the counter. For me, if I see pennies on the ground, face up or down , I'm picking them up. (Ha, I didn't mean for that to rhyme.)



The man then turned towards me and laid a 20 dollar bill on top of my groceries that I was in the process of stacking up on the counter. Then he said "Thank you for letting me go ahead of you and I want you to put this towards your grocery bill."


I opened my mouth to say something but no words would come out because I immediately started to tear up. I absolutely couldn't believe it. He quickly turned and walked out of the store before I could protest. Which I would have done if I could without blubbering and possibly scaring the man and embarrassing myself to the point of never being able to return to that store ever again.



I finally got control of myself and was able to pay the cashier. I have no idea why that made me react the way I did. My husband thinks I'm nuts.

So this year for me, Santa was at the dollar store, no red suit, no jingle bells but he was there.

Oh and by the way... we have two Sheltie puppies for sale. I think they would make a really great Christmas present for you to give to someone special...

Don't ya think?

And if I don't post again for a while...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

And oh by the way, I did pick up the pennies. I put them on the counter for the cashier but then changed my mind and picked one back up and put it in my pocket. When I got back into my car I set it on the dash so that every time I get into my car to go somewhere I will see it and remember...

Christmas Traditions

We do not have very many traditions in our family but we do have one that has to be done every year, no matter what.

COOKIES!

As always you have your snowball things (Russian Tea Cakes...don't like em) but my mom's favorite. Then we have the peanut butter what ever you call them. Can't remember but they are pretty good if that is all there is left. Then on the back of the cooling rack (I really hope Amy is making sure that I get a couple cooling racks like this for Christmas) is the all time favorite!

Cut Outs! Ya Hoo!

Or sugar cookies as some people call them. We have a extra special cut out cookie that we make. This cookie has been made in our family since the forty's or maybe even longer. It was whenever they started making these cookie cutters. We had only two of these cutters in our family and they were treasured and protected like they were gold. They stopped making these a while ago but my sister looked and looked and finally found an old set on Ebay. In the last 10 years or so they have started making them again though so if any one wants to try to make these you can get them. Just do a search for "Aunt Chicks" and they should show up.

Here is a picture of the box and an address. Not sure if this address is for the new company though.

Here is the cutter, doesn't look like much. The recipe is different from most other sugar cookie recipes in that it calls for no leavening at all. They would lose their features if you added any. The cookies end up being kinda hard after a few days but they are still delicious.



This is what they look like out of the oven and after they cool. Before they bake I (actually my sister Amy) put currants in for the eyes. It calls for raisins but my mom and grandmother always used currants. They had a box that they used for years. I remember them being kinda dried up and hard but there was still a really good curranty taste when you ate the eye part.

The first step in the decorating was painting the lips and tongue with red food coloring right out of the bottle. I think my mom would pour a little in the cap and use a little paint brush. Now, the food coloring has those pointy lids so can't do that anymore.

You have to be very careful cause it's very easy to make an evil looking Santa or a crazy looking Santa. We had to wait til we were older to help with the decorating. I hated that but now if a kid tries to get within 10 feet of the decorating of these it's lockdown.

My brother-in-law picked up one of the undecorated ones and we all looked at him like he was a freak that just escapes from a mental institution. In unison my sister and I said STOP!! PUT THAT DOWN!! What are you doing!!!!! It's not decorated yet!!!

He thought we were nuts. He obviously has not been in the room during the cookie decorating in years past. He said "I don't want a decorated one, I just want a plain one". Well, we said, again in unison, "Take a tree or a star but STEP AWAY FROM THE SANTAS!

We then proceeded to calm down and continue with the next step.

After all the lips are done then it's on to the cheeks and the hat.

For this step we mixed an egg white and some red food coloring and brushed these areas with the wash and then sprinkled with red sugar. I don't want anyone to even think of mentioning anything about eating raw egg white. It's a tradition, some risks are worth taking besides, they were my fresh eggs and could not possibly be bad. I actually had someone not eat these because of the egg white, she was a nut.

Here is the sprinkling taking place. I remember my mom would take a dry brush and painstakingly brush any sugar crystals that would get in around the eyes.

Next comes frosting the beard. The beard and the tassle of the hat are frosted and then fresh coconut is dabbed on. (I am not a big fan of coconut so Mom would always leave a few plain for me.)

Then one more step. The mustache, eyebrows and the curl of hair on his forehead have to be done. This is the most tedious. It is done with a brush with the frosting thinned a little. I have tried using a frosting dispenser (my brain cannot remember what it is called, it is late 9:45 pm, my bedtime is usually 9:00 pm) but Santa looks ridiculous with a spaghetti shaped mustache.


All done!

You have to be a little careful when thinning the frosting for the eyebrows or Santa will look like he had a stroke.

Here's the whole tray and some yummy candy canes too.

I am dying to eat one of these but I left them all at my moms house. I'm hoping there are some left for me. (Amy, are you reading this? I want some candy cane cutouts too and maybe a star. Please save me some.)

Diane, my other sister said we had to have some colored frosting or it's not Christmas. We used to make all kinds of crazy colors too, usually some awful shade of purple and brown (brown cause we had a horse cookie cutter and a Mickie Mouse too).

I think I like them best with white frosting and colored sugar. Ooooo, see the Santa at the bottom with no coconut, it's calling me. YUMMY!

Til next time,

Beth

Busy, Busy Christmas! (glad it's over)

Finally I had everything done and was ready for Christmas. Unfortunately for me but fortunately for everybody else I had planned too many things to do and and too mant gifts to make. It was all worth it in the end cause everyone loved the calendars and movies that I made, plus we had jerky to take to all the parties.

I made both venison and turkey jerky. It was a first for the turkey jerky. We made the venison jerky fresh from Kevin's button buck that we butchered ourselves and then I thawed a big broad-breasted bronze turkey, de-boned it and had about six or seven pounds of meat for the turkey jerky. It's even kind of fun saying "turkey jerky", most people smiled when they heard it was turkey jerky, it was funny.

Here is a picture from the box of the meat grinder that we used, it was around the $100 price and it works great. Really easy to use and clean-up. Really fast and efficient too.

We bought this Nesco brand dehydrator at Walmart and it was great too. It came with some seasonings but we bought some other flavers too. Most deer hunters I talk to really like the Nesco brand seasonings the best. I tasted the Cracked Pepper and Garlic flavor that somebody at work made and it was awesome.

Like I said above, the calendars were a big hit. I used pictures that I took around the farm. I had to use one indoor picture though, I had no winter pictures so I took one of my Christmas tree, cropped it around an ornament and it looked kinda cool. I obviously used that one for December. We finally got some snow before Christmas so I decided to go out and take some snowy shots but it was freezing so I just took a couple. I used one for January of the pond but I was not happy with it. Kevin liked it though so I just let it go. Here it is below. It just looks blah to me.

Like he kept telling me, "Let it go, it's fine", as I was freaking out the weekend before Christmas. That Sunday night I was crying my eyes out because I had ordered a really cool present for my Dad and of course I found out at the last minute (Saturday) that it was back ordered (even though the email that I got said it had shipped) so I got him a nice digital picture frame, hoping he would love it (Ha! that's another whole crap story!) so...I had to run to Radio Shack the day before Christmas for more photo paper and a flash drive for the digital photo frame.

You see, there was no way to get all the cool photos, that I had spent HOURS scanning, downloaded to the frame from my computer. There was no USB cord with the frame, only a spot for a memory card. You see, I was trying to make him a DVD of all our old pictures to the present time with music attached. But, and it is a HUGE "but", I could not get the awesome (or so I thought) movie to burn on a DVD. I had made one previously on Windows Movie Maker but it would run only on a computer or we could watch it through our X-Box 360 on our TV. I made a new one with NERO that was supposed to be able to be burned onto a DVD and be played in a regular DVD player but NO SUCH LUCK!!!!

So I sat sobbing at my computer with a very frustrated Kevin trying to help me. He made me promise not to wait til the last minute next year. I did promise but the only problem is that I don't get excited til the middle of December and think of all the things that I want to do then.

Here's the one of my tree that I had to settle for although my sister Diane loves the picture and wants one framed so she can get it out every year for a Christmas decoration, kinda cool.

Here is my funny turkey picture and I added "Happy Thanksgiving" in my beginner (read free) Photoshop program. Kind of crude and I really thought Kevin was going to get me the good Photoshop for Christmas but nada. I better shut up cause I got a awesome diamond necklace from him, three stones, he said it's for our past, present and future. He had the necklace hanging around the doll ornament's neck that is pictured in the December calendar photo and gave me the picture as a hint and made me search for it. He said it had been hanging around the dolls neck for a week and I had not noticed it. He pulled a fast one, a surprise for me and no one has ever been able to surprise me in the past, it seems like I can always figure it out, I don't want to, but people just seem to say things that give it away. Someone once told me that I was very perceptive, not good for trying to surprise me. Below is the original picture with the doll. He gave me this picture, written on the back was "seek and ye shall find". It was awesome. I had no idea.

Here is the comb machine that I used to put the calendars together, worked GREAT and will be very handy for the kids homework reports.

I may have talked about the comb machine in a previous post, I forget, if I did, sorry to be repetitive.

WOW, look at the yummy corn dogs below!

I had to include this cause this was the kind of dinners we had during the Christmas rush. The thought practically gags me but the kids loved it, at the table it was YAYYYYY!!! corn dogs!!!!

(Speaking of dinner, I have a brisket in the fridge, marinading that I have to get in the oven soon. We are having sweet potatoes too, the kids will hate it but I'll make some brown rice and some salad.)

I just had to include this picture, (sorry it's blurry). This is what you can find me and Kevin doing in our spare time. He is playing an online video game. It's called HALO 3 and we are addicted. We play with my brother-in-law from Parma Heights near Cleveland. They live an hour from us so we get to play and talk to them everyday via Halo 3 and the x-box. My sister Amy watches, she doesn't like to play but she is her husbands helper. I can hear her talking in the background, giving him game advice. (Ha ha, she'll love that.) My husband and I each have our own 360 and we play on separate TVs in separate rooms. We play regularly with someone from Florida (Hi Brian!) and a couple others from ...uh, I forget... Tennessee or somewhere, South Carolina maybe, (Hi Shap!), Colorado too. We played people from England and all over. It's really fun!

And here is my brother-in-law Tom...He says I do not have him in my blog enough so every blog will include a Tom shot. Here he is with his rescued Jack Russell Terrier, Sebastian. My sister has been training him (Sebastian, not Tom) using the Dog Whisperer training technique. Tom helps too but he is the softy with the dogs. My sister used to get really upset cause her female Jack Russell named Sobie, could care less if she is home, instead, ignoring her, watching from the back of the couch, staring out the window, waiting for her daddy to get home. Here is both of them with Sobie, their first Jack Russell. (By the way, they are nuts to have such crazy little dogs that want to chase squirrels all day, mine just lay around sleeping all the time or eating or pooping! Now that the snow has melted I think they did more pooping than anything else! Yuck, I have to clean that up today too.)

Here is Tom's pride and joy, his dirt bike. He loves it. .

Here he is flying through the air!

I like 4 wheelers better and they finally got one. He used to absolutely refuse saying they were motorized wheelchairs. But after we got one and he and my sister rode it a little they got a really awesome one, a Polaris. Here is me, Kevin and Amy with their new Polaris and the picture below is me and Kevin on ours. We are planning a 4 wheeler trip down in southern Ohio in the late spring sometime. Can't wait!



PS..thank you very much whom ever invented spellcheck!