What to look forward to this month

December is upon us. This time of year is always busy for people, with all the parties, family gatherings, and last minute shopping. I don't buy into too much of the holiday hype, but this is still my favorite time of year. I absolutely love the cooler weather, and being in Texas, it is rare. So between Halloween and the Winter Solstice, I thrive. The cold may last until about Valentines, but by then the charm is often overshadowed by the idiots who do not know how to drive safely in winter conditions. I still enjoy it, but it gets worn out a little.

I have a very busy schedule this month. On top of the several books I am reading to review and another giveaway over at the Tome, I have a holiday gathering coming up on the 17th that I must prepare the house for. At the gathering, I will be doing some sampling of Kroger's Private Selection line of frozen pizzas, appetizers, and desserts, as well as some Smirnoff mixed drinks - so watch out for those reviews in the week following.

I will also post up some of my favorite holiday recipes that I plan to be serving this month. I really feel in my element when I am cooking, and I plan to do a lot of that this month to share. I hope to get to try out a new stuffing recipe I found, as well as post a few of my favorite breads and dinners. And since I finally found my good camera, the photos will be much more clear than the last ones.

There is a winter Lolita fashion meet on the 18th, so if I find time to sew, I will be making a new dress for that as well, and will share photos of the progress and when it is finished. I had a lot of crafting to do this month, between that and my etsy store, but everyone in the house getting sick put a major dampener on my work. Hopefully I will get new items up for the store in time for holiday shopping. If not, I will still post them here to look at. :)

On a completely non-holiday related note, I did get in this one product to try that may interest some of you. It is an alleged "fat melting" cream made with herbs. I do not know how it will work, but since I have tried just about everything else on the leftover baby paunch, I figured I may as well give it a shot. Starting today, I will use the product as directed every day for thirty days (or until it runs out, whichever comes first) and will report on it's effectiveness. I will be taking pictures and measurements at set intervals and will let you all know how it works.

That is my major plans as far as I know. There may be other assorted reviews here and there. If you are interested in doing a guest post on my blog, this would be the month to start! With all the cooking, cleaning, and sewing, there will be a lot of non-computer time for me. Let the fun begin!

Things don't always work out as planned

I think for me, this week has been the ultimate proof of that.

I had a really great blog idea for Monday, but my computer refused to start. I did not get it working until yesterday, and by then it was kind of pointless. My nice camera got up and walked away too, leaving me to deal with fuzzy cellphone pictures until I find where it went off to, so there weren't even comprehensible Halloween photos to share. I had also planned to open my first giveaway Monday, but I didn't get a chance to pick up the prizes, so it will have to wait for next week. Time for a new plan.

So yesterday, I was really in the mood to cook. I love cooking, I just don't love doing it in the tiny kitchen I am stuck with right now. So anyways, I start to whip up a really great smelling pot of homemade chicken and dumplings. That was a bit of a challenge. I can't say that I have never made chicken and dumplings before, but I can say that the last time was well over ten years ago and I was technically helping my mother make them. I vaguely remember how, and I am not one to go hunting a recipe every time I want to make something. It couldn't be that hard, right?

I got my chicken thighs, covered them with water and set them to boil with some seasoning. About 2 hours later, the house smelled really yummy. I pulled the chicken, peeled it off the bone, and threw it back in the pot. I chopped up some carrots and celery, added a few more spices, and set it to simmer. It was doing great.

Yummy simmering chicken and veggies in broth

But wait, the theme of today is how things don't work out as planned, wasn't it? Right as I get the pot simmering, the DH calls. He really wants lasagna for dinner, so "surprise!" we are having Italian. I couldn't be mad at him for it. He knows I don't really like to cook in that kitchen and wasn't expecting to hear that I had been working on dinner for over 2 hours already. I turned off the stove and threw the pot in an ice bath, grateful that I had not made the dumplings yet.

Today I pulled out the pot to finish it up. As a bonus, the cold made it easier to skim off any greasy fat that I missed last night. The hard part was done, so dinner should be ready in a flash... yeah.

I didn't exactly know how to make dumplings from scratch, and since I have a ton of banana bread to make tomorrow and Friday, I decided to save the flour and go the lazy route by using Bisquick. It even had "how to cook me" directions right on the side of the box. Note: Do NOT use the directions on the side of the box!

The dumpling is a lie.

I put the dumplings into the pot and watch them turn into cute little fluffy balls of goo, like a pan full of little sheep. After ten minutes, it said to cover the pot and let them cook ten minutes more. I stepped away for a moment, and by the time I got back, the chicken had burned to the bottom of the pot, aided by the starchy paste that had thickened the broth into gravy. Dumplings? Three or four survived, while the rest seem to have faded away into the milky white goop of doom.

It looks like it is going to jump out and attack someone, seriously

My nature was screaming at me that I did not want to serve this abomination to the family, but what other choice was there? On the plus side, the DH said it was good and the daughter thought it was "yummy". That is a win, right?