Full of Gratitude

An article by Rachel    3 Comments

On Saturday, I took a testthat I’ve been studying for over the last 6 months. It’s been a long road for me. After I registered for the test, we decide to sell our condo. The process of selling the condo, finding a house, moving our belongings, and setting up house really cramped my studying time. Over the last two months, I’ve really stepped up the studying time to 1-2 hours a night and of course weekends. While I really needed to give the test more, I gave it all I had. It was enough. I passed.

I’m so relived. My employer paid for the test. I would have felt awkward if I didn’t pass the test. Now, I feel little bit of euphoria, and I’m free to enjoy the holidays. Yea!

Act #1

We put lights on the house. This process was initiated by Ross. He order 200 ft. of lights, which sounds like a lot. I was surprised at how quickly we found a place for all the lights.

Next year we’ll order more lights for the tree. For some reason Ross thought one string (25 ft.) would be enough. Next year, we’ll order at least 3 more string of lights for the tree.

Act #2

Baking cookies. Now this is a big move for me. I’m not much of a cookie maker. My sister got that gene. Now last year, my sister gave me a cookie press for Christmas. I tried to use it once. It was a horrible experience. I couldn’t figure out how to use the press. The dough was too dry. So today, I decided to but this experience behind me.

I found a different recipe for cookie press cookies. This recipe had a lot of butter. I think butter is essential in pressing the dough out of the cookie press. However, I’m not sure that 1.5 cups of butter is necessary. So while the recipe was successful, I’m on the look out for a recipe that uses less butter.

As for the cookie press, I figured it out. Some of my cookies look OK. Others are kind of squished. Overall, the experience was positive enough to encourage me to use the press again. However, I don’t think it will be really soon. I pretty much satisfied my need to make cookies. Like I said, I don’t have the cookie gene. I guess my neighbors/friends will never get a plate of cookies for Christmas.

Act #3

I moved on to something that didn’t require my presence in the kitchen. I did a little embroidery, and I started to make some elf clogs. If my clogs are cute, I plan on making more for either ornaments or to use them as part of garland.

My Christmas fun is just beginning. Give me a couple more days, and I’ll have a ton of projects under way.