Of course, I know me. I can’t remember to put on an apron. What is the likelihood that I am actually going to change into a scrub top before I start cooking? Slim to none, until I run out of unstained shirts. Which, at the current rate, may be way sooner than I’d like to think!

Every holiday season my family and I watch Annabelle’s Wish on our direct tv special packages. It usually airs mid to late December. The story is about a boy who has gone mute and his favorite cow, who makes the ultimate sacrafice to help the boy.

The reason it is my favorite animated Christmas special is simple, I love the message. The movie teaches about unconditional love and how one persons unselfishness changes the lives of many people. So often in life we forget about unconditional love and how if we just gave up one thing the impact that it could have on another human life.

I am trying to instill good values in my children and they watch this with me every year and we eat cookies and have hot cocoa. I also use this movie to help guide us in giving to those less fortunate to us during the holiday season.

The movie has a great ending and it shows that when you help others without selfish motives that you will receive a blessing yourself.

Here’s what else has happened in my kitchen lately: the oven has quit. I didn’t need fire damage assessment austin, because it didn’t go out with a bang or anything, it just gradually quit heating, pretty much at all. It does still function as a magazine dryer, though, since I used it in that capacity just this weekend. BTW, in case anyone ever leaves your favorite magazine out in the rain, it takes about 200 hours at 150 or so to dry out a couple hundred pages. They are crispy but readable. Just so you know.

The one thing I don’t meed for the kitchen: rug cleaning tips. I don’t want anything resembling a rug in that high traffic room. I do, however, want new cabinets, countertops, sinks, pot and pans. Also, wooden cooking utensils. Anybody feeling Santa-ish today?

During the holiday season, nothing is better than treating my family to a delicious, homemade fruit cake! While we were watching a program on our satellite television last night, we even saw an ad for an upcoming show detailing how to make a fruitcake! I could not believe my ears! Although the fruitcake I have made for years has always been well enjoyed by everyone in the family, I am estatic to view this show to see just how they make a fruitcake. It comes on next week, and you can believe my eyes will be glued to the television set that my husband got because of the “great Direct TV Sports Packages“!

A lot of people do not like fruitcake, and I do not know why. Maybe they have never had a homemade fruitcake to tempt their tastebuds! So many juicy flavors combine and come to life inside of a fruitcake. Each bite sends my tastebuds into overdrive, and I can never seem to get enough fruitcake! It is so good to eat! I get my fill of it and then some. As hard to believe as it may sound, getting to make my famous fruitcake is one of my favorite things about the holiday season!

I am a gastronome, and there is nothing I love more than fine food. However, I also feel that as important as it is to stuff one’s stomach with fresh turkey, yams, and delicious mashed potatoes covered in thick and wonderful gravy, it is far more important to share the meal with the less fortunate. This is why rather than concoct my own feast of food on the Thanksgiving holiday, I go out to the inner city where I live and volunteer to help those less fortunate than I. I go into the kitchen and help prepare meals, wash dishes, and wait on the homeless fellows that come to eat.

I feel as if I am doing something good for the world, and I try my best to converse with the homeless fellows and learn of their plight. I feel as if this is not only good for me personally, but also for learning how best not to fall into the same predicament, because the Lord knows that I would not like to be poor, homeless, and begging people for loose change. As a neat freak I deplore the smells that come from these sad, pitiful individuals. Since I live in the inner city, I dare not leave the home without setting the home security alarm from www.HomeAlarmExpert.com. To do so would invite robbers to steal everything I own, turning me into the charity case I so fear.

One of my favorite shows is available on the Food Network; Chopped. Chopped is a show that challenges four chefs to a cooking challenege involving three courses of food; appetizer, main course and desert. After each round the chef who did not perform up to expectations is eliminated or ‘chopped’ from the contest. The element that makes this show so entertaining is that for each course the contestants are given a “mystery’ basket of ingredients. The basket contains elements that you might not consider going together in a course such as watermelon and trout, for example. The goal is for each chef to come up with a dish which must contain each of the ingredients in the basket, at the end of the allotted time given each dish is judged for originality, flavor and presentation by a panel of celebrity judges.

The show becomes something to behold when you watch it in HD because of the artistry the chefs demonstrate in their presentation of each dish. You become truly amazed at the skill these people possess when you see how quickly they prepare these culinary masterpieces. The sharpness of the HD picture I got after researching direct tv pricing in Florida only adds to that amazement, the colors used in each dish is something of a wonder to behold, not to mention the dexterity you notice in actions such as chopping and dicing.

Nothing compares to the day trip for relaxing and having fun. Next to the yearly vacation, the day trip is a series of mini-vacations taken during the summer months. The day trip does not drain your wallet and can be a very simple drive and activity.

Living in Colorado and growing up in California enabled me to take numerous trips with my parents to natural wonders and exciting parks. In Colorado, my family enjoys these same things and we take advantage of the good weather to cram as much fun as we can into the summer months.

One of our favorite is the family picnic. We love the outdoors and Colorado offers an abundance of excellent picnic destinations not very far from where we live. Going up in the mountains and laying out blankets, smelling the food cooking in the barbecue, and eating a great meal is really living for my family.

Before we start on our picnic there are some things we must do before heading out. We pack the car with: food and drinks, a portable stove in case there is not one at the picnic grounds, bug spray, sunscreen, extra clothes for changing weather conditions, first-aid kit, and cell phone. The last thing we do is to set the home alarm system that we got from www.allhomesecurity.com before leaving the house.

A picnic is a great way to spend time with the family, have a great meal, and enjoy the outdoors.

Learning about food on cable tv is one of my greatest passions. Getting recipes from a book is great, but they do not compare to the recipes that are shared on TV. Television shows based on food give viewers a chance to visually witness the total preparation of a meal. A book does not afford the same opportunity. Yes, it is easy to read a book and look at pictures. Unfortunately, a book does not go into fine detail when it comes to each step that is required for each recipe.

I have been able to expand my horizons when it comes to preparing a top notch dinner for myself or my family. It is incredible how one can sit down throughout the day and learn about various styles of cooking. I have also learned how to mix different styles of cooking in order to come up with an authentic dish that will taste delicious. New techniques and recipes are always being shared with each episode. I also get a golden opportunity to see how dishes in other countries are prepared.

I made a cup of hot coffee, just the way I like it. And then I filled a cup as full as I could get it with ice. And then I poured the hot coffee over the ice. And I declared it good.

Not a heat beater, but also very good: strong coffee, with cram and sugar to your taste, topped with spray on whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. Taste like a ten dollar coffee and costs about twenty-five cents!

When I had moved into our house, I saw that the kitchen was seriously out of date. The cabinets had the dark 1970′s wood. The walls had gold, green and avocado yellow wall paper. Flooring was cracking and coming up as well. Upon looking at the counter tops, I saw that there were knife marks all across. As I started calling contractors for quotes, I discovered this was going to be very expensive if we hired someone. Some of the contractors had slipped a few secrets out to me. I was told that there was paint specifically for cabinets. My first project became the cabinets. I went to the local hardware store and purchased the materials. The cabinet paint, brushes and the plastic flooring came out to about $50. The cabinet project took a total of 6 hours between painting drying and the second coat.

Next we decided to do the walls. When I consulted a contractor company about removing the wallpaper and painting the walls, they quoted me $350. Buying paint and new brushes, I spent $45 and 8 hours painting the kitchen walls. The walls were the simplest. The only heavy duty part about painting the walls was moving the appliances to paint behind them.

The counter tops were the next to tackle. All we had to do was take the measurements for each separate partition of the counter tops. We picked out the design and had the pieces cut at the hardware store. We also bought a book on do-it-yourself remodeling HERE. The book showed us which different types of counter tops had to be uninstalled and installed in a certain way.

Deciding to do the floors last was the best decision. We didn’t want to ruin the new floor with paint, nicks and scuff marks. Knowing that the ground moves a lot in this area, we had to consult quite a few contractors. Some contractors said they could do the kitchen floor for about $2500. They had also let it slip that they would need to use a special tile grout that would expand and contract and let the floor move with the ground and concrete that moves so much. We made yet another trip to the local hardware store, bought the tile, special grout and the trough. The floor took a few days, but our kitchen is now updated and welcoming.