Painful Peppermint Bark

I've had it in my head to make peppermint bark now for weeks. Went to Walmart of all places (no, that wasn't the most painful part, but close) and picked up two bags of white chocolate chips and two packages of candy canes. After a short discussion with a friend on how she made hers last year, I thought I knew what I was doing and decided to make it today after work. Although this is the same friend I referred to in my Potty Suicide entry, and hers ended up on the kitchen floor. That should have been my first clue to step away from the stove, but I digress ... I was making it, and that was that!

Step 1: Melt chips over a double boiler, so as to not burn the chips. No double boiler here, so I used a bowl over a pot of boiling water. Step 2: Crush 12 candy canes. First, unwrapping them was a chore which rivaled openning up a new CD for the first time. Get out the wooden rolling pin and go into the living room as to not wake up your napping child. Start beating the crap out of the 12 candy canes in a plastic bag. Then beat them some more. I never knew beating candy canes with a wooden rolling pin could be so loud! And therapeutic! Step 3: Check on melting chips, stir well. No burning, good job. Step 4: Pour half of the crushed candy canes into the melted chocolate, stir well. Hey, this is getting easier. Step 5: Pour mixture onto baking sheet lined with wax paper. This is where it all went down hill once again. The TUPPERWARE bowl that I used over the BOILING water was now stuck in the pot! I pulled. I yanked. I tried twisting the plastic bowl out of the HOT pot of water(thank heavens for Tupperware because it didn't melt at all!). I moved it to the sink because, thanks to Debbie, I had visions of the melted chocolate going everywhere once the bowl came loose, but I was mistaken. The HOT water went everwhere, including on my hand!

The Painful Part. Ouch.

I did manage to finally complete Step 5 and then proceed to sprinkle the remaining crushed candy canes on top. It's all cooling nicely in my fridge right now. I can't wait until tomorrow to taste it. That should be rather quick and painless, dontcha think?

Looks Like Rain on Sunday

Unless you're the mailman ~ er, postal carrier~, what does it really matter? The weather, that is.

It seems that once you get to be a certain age (not mentioning any names, but the person responsible for bringing me into the world and btw, she'll tell you it was a blizzard that day, a thunderstorm when my sister was born and a bright and sunshiney day the day my brother came into the world, lol) you begin to talk about the weather. A lot. Even when you don't do anything outside. Ever.

It's only Monday, for instance, and tonight she told me, "It looks like it's going to rain on Sunday." After my initial thought (What day is today? Is tomorrow Sunday?), I wanted to blurt out, "Who cares, it's almost seven days away, anything could happen between now and then", but nope, I didn't. I'm not starting any controversy or getting sucked in to any negative conversations whatsoever this holiday season, even if it's *just* about the weather. That's my goal and I'm sticking to it (another whole post in itself). I just sighed and said, "Oh really. That stinks."

We then spent the next five or ten minutes discussing how unseasonably warm it has been for New England and how it's SO NICE to be able to hang clothes on the line in December and maybe, just maybe, our heating bills won't hit the roof this year.... Instead of going into a tirade about global warming, I decided to end the conversation politely, "Talk to you tomorrow; it's supposed to be chilly."

The First Snow Fall or If I had a Nickel for Every Time She Said Momma It's Snowing

"Momma, It's snowing outside!"

That was pretty much our conversation on the way to school today.

After fighting with the shiney-clean, fresh-smelling and air-dried carseat cover AGAIN (see a previous post) this morning, we pull out of the garage to find the first snow of the season falling lightly on our car. Beautiful. I just love the first snow. And I love that we were in the car together, my daughter and I, to witness this first snow fall.

A: "It's snowing. It's REALLY snowing outside!"

Me: "Isn't it beautiful?"

A: "It's snowing!!"

"Yay!! It's really snowing on your car, Momma, LOOK!"

Me: "I know honey, isn't it pretty."

A: "I LOVE SNOW!"

"It's snowing alot. Open my window!"

Me: "We can't open the window now, it's really cold out."

A: "It's REALLY snowing alot Momma! Pleeeaaase open it?"

Me: "Sorry honey."

A: "Pleeeeeaaaase?! I wanna see the snow."

"It's REALLY snowing!"

Me: "Yes, it's snowing harder now.... Let's GO people (under my breath)."

A: "Go faster Momma."

Me: "I can't honey.... there's an accident up ahead."

*sigh*

There's a reason the first snow is so beautiful; there's not a speck of sand in sight!

So much for the beauty and wonder of the first snow.

The List

Just for the sake of listing (and Kristen will love this post, but I'm sure she's been to way more shows than me!) I'm going to try to list all of the bands I've seen in concert..... I must add that this spans about 23 years.

1. Genesis
2. The Police (These were the first two; the rest are out of order)
3. Aerosmith
4. Yes
5. The Grateful Dead (a few times)
6. Jerry Garcia Band
7. Billy Idol (and again, recently)
8. Eric Clapton (a few times)
9. Elton John
10. Rod Stewart
11. Bruce Hornsby
12. Fleetwood Mac (twice)
13. Winger
14. Scorpions
15. Janet Jackson (twice)
16. Metallica
17. The Ramones (my first mosh pit)
18. Allman Brothers (a few times ~ way fun!)
19. Stevie Wonder
20. Alanis Morrissette (twice)
21. Blind Melon (twice)
22. Lenny Kravitz (twice)
23. Pat Benetar
24. U-2 (a few times)
25. Michael Bolton (admitting this)
26. Van Halen
27. Kansas
28. David Bowie
29. My Sister's Machine
30. Ray Charles
31. Cheap Trick
32. George Clinton
33. Phil Collins
34. Robert Plant
35. Counting Crows
36. Neil Young
37. Crosby Stills & Nash (without Young)
38. Sheryl Crow (twice)
39. Def Leppard
40. The Cure
41. Jesus Jones
42. Dinosaur Jr.
43. Seal
44. The Doobie Brothers
45. INXS (the new INXS)
46. Derek Trucks Band
47. John Mayer
48. Melissa Etheridge (twice)
49. The Fabulous Thunderbirds
50. Faith No More
51. The Rolling Stones
52. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
53. Gin Blossoms
54. Guns n Roses
55. ZZ Top
56. The Wallflowers
57. Godsmack
58. Whitesnake
59. Heart (twice)
60. Daryl Hall & John Oates
61. Smithereens
62. Stevie Ray Vaughn
63. Indigo Girls
64. Etta James
65. Jane's Addiction
66. Chrissy Hynde
67. The Jesus and Mary Chain
68. Billy Joel (finally this year!)
69. 10,000 Maniacs (Earth Day Show?)
70. Maroon 5 (Awesome!)
71. Tool (dark and depressing)
72. Shania Twain (twice)
73. Cyndi Lauper
74. Hewey Lewis & The News
75. Tower of Power
76. Living Colour
77. The Stray Cats (awesome Halloween show!)
78. Soundgarden
79. Rage Against the Machine
80. Steely Dan
81. Spin Doctors
82. John Mellancamp
83. Sarah McLachlan
84. Night Ranger
85. Jimmy Buffet (duh!)
86. Pearl Jam
87. Ted Nugent
88. Tom Petty (twice?)
89. Red Hot Chili Peppers
90. Primus
91. Earth Wind & Fire
92. Prince
93. Alabama
94. John Fogarty
95. Belly
96. Beastie Boys
97. Alice in Chains
98. Cypress Hill
99. Ice Cube
100. Fishbone
101. Ziggy Marley
102. Trans Siberian Orchestra (added this one on December 26th ~ wonderful surprise from my hubby, and a wonderful show!!)


I'll stop here; I've been working on this for two hours! I may think of more later.......