Wellness Protein Bars!

Greetings to all.  It's me, Maggie.  Guess what time it is?!?!  Well, yes.  It's Christmas time.  But it's also time for ...

Me and Cam - and the package we LOVE to see!

... a product review for the good people at Chewy.com!

We couldn't wait to see what our friend Sydney at Chewy.com had sent for us to try this month! Mom finally opened the package and this is what we had:

"Check these out!  Protein bars!"
"From the good people at Wellness!"

Wellness CORE Grain-Free Protein Bars -- the Chicken and Turkey with Sweet Potatoes kind.  Three things we LOVE!!!  We checked the package first and were pleased to see they are made in the US from 100% natural ingredients!  Outstanding!

Mom got one out for each of us. Here's Cammie, sizing them up:

"One square inch by about one quarter of an inch of incredible-smelling goodness!"

Here's a great feature - they're so hard and crunchy Mom can't break them into smaller pieces! I guess we'll just have to have whole ones! At 16 calories per treat, I don't really think it's a problem, do you?

Here I am, getting mine:

"Yummerz!!!"

Here's the strange part that just thrilled Mom -- we actually took our time and chewed them.

Me, actually chewing my Wellness CORE Protein Bar

That really doesn't happen very often. We wanted to take our time and savor them!

Mom wanted one more shot of us with the Wellness CORE Protein Bars bag. The big finish, you know? I decided, what with it being Christmas and all, to take it up to the next level. Umm... literally.

Cam, me, and the Wellness CORE Protein Bars

Tell me that doesn't make for a great shot! Seriously. How boring would it be if we were both on the bed in front of the ottoman?  And I don't think Santa minds me being up there. Not. One. Bit.  (Side note:  I'll bet my mentor, Teddy Westlife will LOVE this!)

Anyway - we give the Wellness CORE Protein Bars 5 out of 5 stars! That hard crunch is a great teeth-cleaner, we LOVE the chicken, turkey, and sweet potato combo, and we love the 100% natural, made in the USA!!! Thank you, Sydney at Chewy.com for letting us try another great product!

AND ... we also got a surprise package in the mail from Sydney!

Me and Cam with lots of treats from Sydney at Chewy.com!!!

Thank you, Sydney, for the thoughtful note and gift! We are so happy to be a part of the Chewy.com family!!!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

DISCLAIMER: We received no payment for this post, but did receive the Wellness CORE Protein Bars free of charge from Chewy.com - in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own. And mom's.  Her only concern was not being able to break the treats up into smaller pieces (what a crying shame!) but since we actually chew these, she's thrilled!

The Last Tree!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  If you've been reading our blog since Thanksgiving, you'll know that we have three major Christmas trees in the house - plus a tiny one on the mantle.  There is the Patriotic Tree, the tree full of angels and Christmas Nativity carvings, and last, but not least, the ... other tree.  The one ... whispering ... with Sock Monkey on it.  Right.  That one. We need to come up with names for the trees.  Anyway, we thought we'd show you a few special things on that tree today!

"Let's take a look at this tree today!"
"Yeah.  Careful, though.  It's got a Maggie Motion Monitor that goes off if you get too close!"

Right.  At the top of the tree is the Chrismon Crown we showed you last week.  There are all kinds of ornaments on the tree - from Germany, Belgium, and all over the States.  They range from store-bought to hand-made, and each one has a special memory behind it.  See the pretty poinsettia cloth around the base?  Mom's grandmother embroidered that!

Look at these beautiful mittens!

Our great brothers, Zim and Dave won the blue one from Mitch and his angel sister Maggie in 2011 and the red one from Mitch and Mollie in 2012! Their mom made them - aren't they gorgeous!?!  They are very special to us!

Here's another one of our favorites - a very fun-looking husky holding a snowman down:

I'm fairly certain the husky found the snowman like that and had nothing to do with him being flat on the ground, contrary to some assertions I've heard.  Ahem.

We love this ornament:

What it's all about!

We keep it front and center, to help us remember what Christmas is all about!

There are a bunch of other ornaments on there, each one very special.  Oh.  Right.  And, as I mentioned, this is the tree Sock Monkey is on.

"That Me Motion Monitor needs new batteries or something, Mom.  It keeps going off."
"Don't worry, Mom.  I'm watching her."

At least we didn't have to wear the Santa hats today - right?  We hope you enjoyed seeing our Christmas tree!

Cammie!

Saint Nicolas Day!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  As I mentioned the other day, today is Saint Nicolas Day!  Mags and I left some carrots and apples in the sabots by the fireplace last night - a nice treat for St. Nicolas' horse!  And look at what we found this morning!

Me and Mags by our sabots!

Treats for us!!! Thank you, St. Nicolas! Oh, sure, we'd have been happy with the carrots and apples, but those were for the horse! Anyway - happy feast of Saint Nicolas to everyone -- or, as they say in Belgium where Mom got our sabots: Bonne fête de Saint Nicolas!

Should we also get back to the trees?  How about the one right behind us, the religious Christmas tree? We'll move out of the way so you can see the whole set up:

The tree is flanked by small wall-hanging quilts Mom made - they are of Santa Claus and Saint Nicolas! (And a couple snowman quilts, too, that really don't fit the theme, but Mom had no other place to put them.)  Let's zoom in:

The tree is covered with different wooden angel ornaments - mostly from Germany, a few from Belgium - plus a couple of Nativity scenes carved from Olive Wood. Those are from Jerusalem.

Oh. Right. A shot of Maggie and me in front of the tree? OK.  With the Santa hats?  Hmm.  How's this?

"Check it out.  I'm doing the jaunty Santa hat look."
"Good one, Mags!"

Mom wanted another shot of us and said we could strike any pose we wanted, as long as we wore the hats.  I did my serious look while Maggie ...

"This one's for you, Saint Nic!"
"We're hoping you'll have a Yule that's cool!"

I really wish I'd have thought of turning the hat into a bandana like Mags did!

Happy Saint Nicolas Day to all - and to our Jewish friends, Happy Hanukkah tonight!

Cammie!

The Patriotic Tree

Greetings to all.  It's me, Maggie.  Today, Cam and I thought we'd start showing you more about the trees -- first up, the Patriotic Tree!  I love this one!  All the ornaments have to do with the US of A, our soldiers, or units Dad served in.  Let's take a look!

Here's what it looks like all lit up!

On the door right there (it's another door to the deck; we never open it) is a small snowman wall-hanging Mom made:

The snowman is wearing a DCU (desert camouflage uniform) scarf and part of the border is also made from a uniform Mom cut up. I'm sure she waited until Dad was done with it. Really.

This is the tree that has the uniform buttons tied to it for ornaments - we showed you those a few days ago.

What else can I ... what?  Oh.  You want to see a picture of me in front of it?  Well ... I'm kind of busy at the ...  Santa's watching?  Oh, FINE!

"Happy now, readers?"

Do you SEE what I have to put up with around here?!? Yes! Exactly. Cam should be in the shot, too. WEARING A SANTA HAT!!!

"I don't really think the hats are so bad, Mags."
"This is so wrong.  This is so very, very wrong!"

OK. So. This is a BDU (battle dress uniform) angel some of the 2nd Infantry Division wives made as gifts for some of the other wives who were there -- in Korea:

Her dress is made from someone's cut up BDUs.  See?  Mom's not the only one who does that.

Here's a sled with the Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) patch on it:

That was a Christmas gift Mom received from some of the other 1st ID wives while Dad was deployed on Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

Here's an ornament Mom made:

When she and Dad were in Korea, they had some of the "geographical bachelors" who were serving "up north" with Dad over for dinner at Mom's house on Yongson Army Garrison in Seoul.  She made those for everyone to take back up with them.  The tree is cut up BDUs ...

... as is this one:

She made a mess of those one year and gave them away.

We love this next ornament:

Our dear friend Goose sent that to Zimmie two years ago.

In front of the tree, this Santa sort of watches over the whole thing:

Me and Santa. See how his eyes follow you EVERYWHERE?!?!

Right.  One last shot.  Since he's watching.

Me.  Being REALLY, REALLY good.

I hope you enjoyed seeing our Patriotic Christmas Tree!  Please keep our troops in mind this season, as many of them are serving far from home!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

The Fireplace and Mantle

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie!  We have a lot of very special Christmas items surrounding our fireplace; I thought I'd share a little bit about those with you today.

The first thing you might notice is the perfect angels sitting on the hearth.

Maggie and me - being very, very good!

Right next to Maggie are Mom's Belgian sabots - wooden shoes left out for Saint Nicolas to fill on December 6th, Saint Nicolas Day!  We are supposed to put carrots or hay or other treats in there the night of the 5th for St. Nicolas' horse - and then he might give us special toys or small treats!  We haven't put anything in there yet - you know -- it could be too much temptation for someone.

Anyway, hanging under the mantle is a Nativity quilt that Mom made:

She couldn't find a pattern she really liked, so she winged that one.  That's how Mom does things.

Let's have a look at the mantle itself!  It's full of angels and Nativity type items!

On the far left is a shepherd with his flock.  That and the music box of carolers you can just see on the far right Mom and Dad bought in Germany.  The music box plays "Stille Nacht". I'm told that if it was from here in the States, it would play "Silent Night" instead. (Ha roo woo roo!)

The Shepherd spinny-thing turns when you light the candles. Or at least it's supposed to, but there's a chance it got a bit "stuck" once upon a time and the blades caught on fire ... so the candles are mostly for show now. Enough said about that!

Here is the small crèche:

Mom and Dad bought that in the Belgian town they lived in, Soignies, in their favorite shop - La Parapette.  There is a good chance Mom dropped a lot of francs there.  A real good chance!

The pottery angels are from right here in the Flint Hills of Kansas!  Other angels up there were all made by friends of Mom's and given to her!  The small Christmas tree has a star at the top that was also given to Mom - it is a small Nativity scene carved from Olive Wood; it is from Jerusalem!

"I think that's a wrap, isn't it, Cam?  Let's grab some carrots for St. Nicolas' horse!"
"Yummm... carrots!  I mean ... let's wait until tomorrow night!"

Yeah.  Best to wait.  We have to keep that "perfect angels" thing going!

I hope you're all enjoying the Christmas holidays as much as we are!

Cammie!

All Set!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  I think I'm finally finished decking the halls.  The inside, anyway.  Let's look at the over all set up!

Here's the dining room:

"Don't think for a minute I don't know those reindeers are on the table, Mom."

Seriously.  Like I wouldn't know the reindeers are there.  Fortunately for them, I'm not a table or counter-surfer, so they're safe.  For now.  Besides, Santa could be reading this, and I want him to see how GOOD I am!  And Cam, too!

Right behind me is the Patriotic Christmas tree, and in the back, by the Santa and St. Nick wall-hangings, is the more religious Christmas tree.  Let's strike a pose by the Patriotic Christmas tree!

Cam and me - perfect angels!

Excellent! We'll show you more detailed shots of the tree later! How about that one in the corner of the living room?

Cam and me again - being EVER so good!!!

Those puppies deserve treats, don't they?!?! YES!!!  We'll also share close-ups of some of the ornaments on that tree later.

Let's pan WAY out!

"Nice, Mom!  You didn't get the Christmas tree with Sock Monkey on it!"

Not that I'm still fixating on Sock Monkey or anything.  (Whistles nonchalantly.)

"Guess you can't get the three big trees in one shot?"

She could have hit the "panorama" choice on the iPhone.  Clearly, she needed closer supervision.

Isn't something missing here?  Right!  ME!

I went up to take matters into my own paws.

"Mom?  Give me the iPhone.  And access to the upstairs."

That gate is usually up on a stair, making it higher.  And it's braced in snug against the wall, so it can't be knocked out and climbed over, giving someone access to the guest bedrooms.  Not that I've ever ... well, OK, I have.  But not in a long time, SANTA (if you're reading this).  Sigh.  The other gate we have is so much easier to deal with - I can blast through that thing like a hot knife through butter.  Mmm... butter.  Oh.  Sorry.  I got sidetracked.  And Mom wouldn't let me up there.  Something about Christmas storage containers all over the guest room floor.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed having a look around.  Close-ups coming - to include the mantle area (there's actually a fourth tree up there) and miscellaneous other stuff.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Speculaas Spiced Springerle

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Yesterday, Mom took a break from decking the halls and began to bake!  She's trying to decide what special goodies to make for neighbors and friends and tried out a new recipe this year - it's called Speculaas Spiced Springerle.  Basically, it's Speculoos (or Speculaas, whatever) only made using Springerle molds.

To avoid confusion:  Mom and Dad lived in Belgium for three years - in the French-speaking part.  There, they call the cookies Speculoos.  In the Flemish-speaking part, they are called Speculaas.  This recipe uses the Flemish spelling, but Mom uses the French spelling.  It's driving auto-correct (and me) a bit crazy.  I hope that clears things up!

Mom thought the new recipe was worth a try - and gave it a dry run before making any for anyone other than Dad and herself. The recipe is at the link above; here's how her process went!  Gather supplies and make the dough! In order to get the nice, crispy Speculoos Mom fell in love with when she and Dad lived in Belgium, she has to roll the dough really thin - to 1/8". Here's her secret to getting even, thin dough, for evenly baked cookies:

Springerle molds, rolling pin, and dowels!

See those dowels? They are 1/8" in diameter. She puts the dough between them and rolls until the rolling pin is totally on the dowels. Lots of rolling.  The dowels make it easier - and even!  That's Mom's secret weapon!

Anyway, before you get to the rolling part, you have to chill the dough. That's really important, so after Mom made the dough and stuck it in the fridge, we did this to help:

Me and Mags, walking in a winter wonderland

Fortunately, our ice has begun the big melt-down, and the sidewalks and Hudson Trail were clear enough for us to get a decent walk in. We just had to be careful of falling ice chunks!

Anyway, after the walk and lunch, the dough was ready!  Aren't we helpful?  Let's get rolling!

After Mom rolls the dough out, she cuts around each mold with a "pastry cutter":

Is it just me, or does that "pastry cutter" look an awful lot like her "pizza cutter"?  Anyway - it works!

Cut, cut, cut, then get ready to stamp!  The recipe says to "lightly" flour the mold:

Mom remembered quickly that you need to flour the mold before EACH cookie -- or else:

Mom may have uttered an HBO word or two

Oops.  Mom also remembered that it works best for her not to just "lightly" dust the mold, but to tamp flour into it mighty good with her pastry brush:

Mom recommends flouring the living daylights out of the mold

Even though this was the first time Mom made this recipe, she is no stranger to making Speculoos; it all came back to her - eventually!  (Mom's recipe is at this link!)

Anyway, she also recommends putting the square of dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet, THEN stamping it so it doesn't get stuck to your counter.

Ready for the deep freeze!

Don't worry about the flour; what doesn't bake in can be brushed off after you bake it!

Before baking, at a minimum you need to freeze the cookies for half an hour.  Minimum!  Or let them sit in a cool, dry place for 24 hours.  This helps the Speculoos hold their shape during the bake!  We don't have room in our freezer for the cookie sheets, but we do have a screened-in deck right off the kitchen and cold temps, so Mom covered them in a light towel and stuck them on the deck for a while.

FINALLY, it's bake time!  Here's how they came out:

Speculoos with Nativity scene!

Mom decided that yes, this is a very nice recipe and she will do this to give as gifts.  She'll use a round cutter after she stamps, to make them a bit prettier.  For the test batch, this was fine.  She and Dad LOVE them with a hot cup of coffee.

Now, other than us taking Mom for a walk while the dough got cold, you might be wondering what this has to do with me and Mags, right?  Other than the cool tradition and all.  Here's what I did that Mom said was a HUGE help:

"I'm just SITTING by it, I'm not DOING anything."
"Yep, Mom!  No problem.  I'm watching her!"

You could say there's more than one Maggie Monitor in the house!

Does your Mom bake special cookies at Christmas?  Do you help?  We'd love to hear about them!

Cammie!