My friend, who left me alone in cold, dark Alaska, used to come to my house on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and visit with me while I made pies.  We visited, laughed and drank this delicious hot beverage of coffee, Kahlua and pumpkin spice creamer.  It was a holiday tradition I loved, and made making 6 or 7 pies so much happier. She lives in the real world now and we text or FaceTime, but it just isn't the same and I miss her.  Well, she just send me this text and picture.  Looks like she had her pre-Thanksgiving game on and is already drinking our Wednesday-be ..read more

  I've been practicing all kinds of bread for when Gman, EZ and their people come for the week of Thanksgiving.  This one is a keeper.  The DIL loves Hawaiian sweet rolls and I get them every year for Thanksgiving for her.  Well, this bread tastes just like that bread, according to Dave.  Cooking some milk and flour before adding to the dough gives sit a different texture, and it is delicious!   EZ loves bread and I'm looking forward to his reaction to this.  I'll also make a loaf and make  about 12 slices and use it for french toast.  Gman i ..read more

                                         The winter turned cold.  It was -25°F here last week and the old dog had a hard time getting back into the house after his morning run to the dog yard.  I'm so glad we have indoor plumbing. Then it warmed up by 40 degrees and dumped snow.  We spent the whole weekend moving snow.  I didn't get the bathroom painted like I wanted and I didn't get all the Christmas decorations up like I pla ..read more

My husband has a funny way of giving compliments, well at least to me.  The other day We were talking to my mom and we said something about how important it was to keep a schedule, even when working from home.  How you have to get up, get dressed, get to work on time and make life as normal as possible in these abnormal times.  He then said, "Yes, Toni even has a schedule for cleaning; Monday she cleans the floors, Tuesday the bathrooms...I never knew she was such a good cleaner." So, does that mean he thinks I never cleaned before or that I just didn't do a good job in the p ..read more

  Tomorrow is the big dress up day!  I love seeing all the kids dressed up.  Here are my paint your own cookies I made for some treat bags I put together.  Each cookie set has two cookies, an edible paint pallet and a paint brush.  It is a fun little activity and then you get to eat the results! I sent a dozen or so down to Gman and his cousins so they could paint their own cookies.  I made chocolate cookies, vanilla royal icing and used some templates I got from The Cookie Countess. So, have a happy Halloween, don't eat too much candy.  Don't forget to set ..read more

Strawberry Hot Chocolate Bombs   I don't know where this week has gone, I woke up Monday morning and now it is Wednesday!  Work has been unusually busy this week and I've had all kinds of things to do in order to get ready for Halloween.  I've made hot chocolate bombs, paint your own cookies and now I'm working on some truffle stuffed chocolate frogs all for our little trick or treaters.   Chocolate hot chocolate bombs ready for bagging. I love seeing all the kids in their costumes, of course in Alaska it is hard to see the costumes under their coats ..read more

  I was talking to my niece the other day and she asked how I was doing, really she asked what I was doing and that she had read my latest blog.  I told her absolutely. nothing.  There might have been another work between absolutely and nothing, but I'm trying to keep it clean. So, I am working from home, I do my grocery shopping online, I visit with friends through texts or Facetime and my poor husband is my only real company, unless you count the dogs but they are not good at two way conversations.   And so I reward myself for getting out of bed everyday and ge ..read more

  Fall calls for warm drinks. Mulled wine, hot apple cider, hot buttered rum, mmmm.  Well, I wanted something warm after we worked in the yard over the weekend.  I was chilled, it was getting dark and Dave built a fire in the wood stove so we could warm up.  I made up a cup of this spiced apple cider type drink, with a little somethin'-somthin'.  We drank our tea, played cribbage and enjoyed the fire.   I do love early winter evenings. Spiced Apple Tea 2 bags apple spice tea 1-2 Tbsp. Pumpkin Spice Latte Mix 1 shot spiced rum, optional Steep two tea ..read more

  I've been in a cleaning mood lately.  Mooree is not impressed because I spend too much time cleaning and his afternoon walk turns into a hurried couple of blocks instead of the 30 minutes we were walking, it doesn't help his walk time that it is about 28°F outside.   Well, one of the things I uncovered is a laundry basket full of old papers, tax returns, expired warranties and old checks from 2015 that I cleaned out of my files during spring cleaning.  I told Dave we had to have a fire and burn that stuff, I was ready for it to go, and I wasn't going to shred all th ..read more

  In the afternoons I need a bit of a pick-me-up.  I used to drink massive amounts of Diet Coke, but I've been trying to stay away from that stuff.  I like coffee and often have a 3:00 pm cup to keep me going through the afternoon but I was looking for something a little different. I came across a recipe for this blended drink that uses whey protein powder and glucomannan (aka Konjak Root powder).  It mixes with the ice and makes this smooth, frothy drink.  I've made this with water, coffee, coconut milk, almond milk and coconut water.  All are really good. I ..read more