could I restart December now...

...because I am seriously behind in everything! 

Word of warning to those who receive my cookie packages: they might be late this year! It's the 6th and i have not started baking yet. Heck, I haven't even finished buying all my supplies yet. ACK! By now, I should have a freezer full of fruitcakes, pumpkin breads and gingerbread loaves!

Instead, I have a basketful of some baking supplies and a box of cookie containers. I also have Christmas tree that is sitting in a bucket of water in the side yard and a living room that is nowhere ready to have the tree in it.

In the continuing saga of "what now?" (you know, the one that included the flat tire...), our washer was in a head-on collision with the laundry cabinet that used be above it. "Used to" being the operative phrase. Last weekend, when I was helping the Daughter rearrange stuff, we discovered that the cabinet had fallen off the wall and onto the washer and dryer. It's a really heavy cabinet and it took all 3 of us to get it off of the washer and dryer. The dryer is dented, but functional. The washer, not so much. The Daughter did a little research and determined that it might be an inexpensive part that needed replacing. Since the part was not available locally, we had to wait for it to be shipped to us.

The part arrived on Friday and the Husband installed it. Voila! The washer was working...it cranked out 3 loads and croaked on the 4th (the one with all of my clothes, of course). We figured that some of the switches may have been damaged in the collision because pretty much all of the controllers are on the top panel and it took the brunt of the crash. The washer was cheap and old...we decided it was time to replace it. On Sunday, we bought a new HE washer (uses less water, yay!), which was delivered today.

Ahem! To the rest of my appliances, now hear this: There will be no more of this breaking-down stuff during the holidays. Last year, it was the refrigerator; this year the washer. That's quite enough now!

Anyway, the family party on Saturday was fun and it was good spending time with people we don't get to see very often. We kept the food low-key, which meant that no one was stuck in the kitchen cooking. People could just enjoy themselves.

Sunday in addition to washer shopping, we bought our Christmas tree. I made a Smart & Final run for some baking supplies. And then I spent the rest of the afternoon rearranging my sewing room to make room for the "extra" bookcase and its contents.  And I thought it was crowded in there before...  I have a couple of things I still need to get in there, but at least they're fiber-y and can be squished!

That's it for now...sorry there are no pictures. Maybe Wednesday...