Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I Got Up . . .

That's how my day started. No, now that I think about it, I'm wrong. I think what happened is that after my alarm went off for about five minutes--long enough for Hubby to stick his head out of the bathroom door--while I dreamed something where the sound of an alarm made perfect sense, I finally woke up enough to slap the snooze alarm. Then I turned off the alarm. THEN I got up. And really, the day didn't get much more exciting.

My allergies and sinuses have been acting up lately and I've had a sinus headache on and off for a couple days now. Today my teeth even hurt. Nothing, really, that popping a few Advil couldn't help, but annoying nevertheless.

Back to work today. Then to the grocery store on the way home to pick up whatever else I thought I might need for Christmas.

Are you excited about my day yet? No? Okay, how about this: I'm planning to make tamales this weekend. YAY! Shall we have a virtual tamale making get together? I'll bring the tequila! Seriously, though, I posted my tamale recipe last year--the filling is HERE and the recipe and instructions for the masa dough, wrapping, and steaming are HERE. Just in case you want to make some too. Because if you don't--if you only get to LOOK at mine--you're going to be jealous!

Now, I bet you're dying to know about the rest of my day, right? So besides getting some Christmas groceries, I got some tamale groceries. Then I came home and made sandwiches for me and Hubby for dinner (because I can't cook stuff like applesauce cakes and tamales ALL THE TIME!) and then I went into the Sweat Shop and made more Pennie Pockets. The count is up to seven now. Wanna see? I got a few more boring and dark photos before I found a camera setting that gave me this result:


And while I was on a roll, I decided to try a photo of our main, living-room Christmas tree, which never photographs well because the big red balls (stop snickering over there!) always seem to glow (stop it, I said!).


Doesn't it kind of look like one of those Hallmark cards where they blur and sort of fuzz out the sharpness of the photo to make it look more homey and romantic? Or does it just look like a photo taken by your drunk Uncle Al? Whichever, at least there are no glowing red balls in the photo! Time to go to bed, because tomorrow I have to do most of this all over again. Goodnight Blogland!

11 comments:

Julie in the Barn said...

Hubby did the whole tamale making thing last Christmas. It's waaayy too much work for one person. You need a kitchen full of aunties and grandma's to help. So this year we bought them from a family owned Mexican restaurant while we were in Palm Desert and stuck them in the freezer to enjoy on Christmas.

antique quilter said...

oh Kim I hope you have a better day today!
I love those ornaments on your tree in the sewing room
ARe they from a pattern?
if so can you tell me where ?
I love the beads on the end of them too
would be great for when I give gift certificates or money as a present or filled with candy and hang on the door knobs

Kathie

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

So cute! And I love the beads off the ends. You need to tell me the secret on how to attach them. PLEASE?? I can't figure it out. I'm bead-challenged. LOL.

Jen :)

SuBee said...

LOL - I always worry about those glowing red balls......
The pennies are too adorable - I have to try those!

Judy said...

Okay, so as someone from the HAM capitol of the world what exactly are tamales and I think I read about them last year but how do you eat them? Like do you eat the straw?? thing on the outside? You have to understand we are very far from anything Mexican here, so I'd never heard of tamales until your post last year!

Now...love the little Pennie Pockets, will have to make a few of those for next year.. I'll save the how-to's. Thanks for the link! Hope today is better!

Penni Domikis said...

Personally I am a big fan of Uncle Al. Yes he takes drunk looking photos but he always provides so much holiday entertainment. And he always makes Mom so uncomfortable waiting for the next inappropriate thing he will say. It is nearly impossible to take a great photo at Christmas because of all the glowing. So I look forward to seeing your tamales. At least someone is cooking on vacation.

QuiltNut Creations said...

love your pennies and your tree is beautiful!

Candace said...

No wonder you're not slapping off that alarm first thing, Kim - you are just one busy gal! I've always wanted to try tamales - think I'll do it for New Years! And don't you just love Monica's Pennie pockets! I can't get enough of them! The tree is absolutely gorgeous!
Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Gosh... I don't know where to begin! You have me craving for Christmas tamales. My family always has tamales on Christmas Eve. Maybe it's a CA thing? Because of our snow situation here, we can't make it down to Walnut Creek this Christmas - nor my aunt's house in Tracy... so no tamales. I really should learn how to make them - and I'm going to click on your links and save your files (and I'm so going to give it a try). Maybe next year, but this year we're going to our fave Mexican restaurant here in Astoria and pretend we're at my aunt's house... and eat tamales!

Your trees are beautiful, and I 'bout fell out of my chair when I saw all your pennies. I'm dying over them! Even though you say your photos are a little dark (that happens to me too, wish I knew how not to)... it gives it a warm glow that I'm sure your home is filled with!

Happy Tamaledays, Kim!
xoxoxoxo,
m

Unknown said...

Just stopping by to wish you a Merry Christmas Kim!

Shirley--Knot-y Embroidery Lady said...

That Uncle Al - what a guy.

Love your blog and all the wonder.

Goodnight sweet lady - I am just scratching out some menus so that I can run out tomorrow and fill in the "holes" we have a french canadian dinner on christmas eve. Maybe we will have to do what the romans do since we are in rome... next year. The tamales look yummy - enjoy.