Successful Saturday

Wow, today turned out to be quite good! I don't like going anywhere at this time of year. There are way too many people in too much of a hurry, and I try to avoid that whenever possible. To make matters worse here, stores were basically shut down for Wednesday and Thursday. This morning, I dragged the kids out early. "Early" for us is 10:30. I had no trouble backing my car out over the snow in front of my garage door. :) Our first stop was the library. When I turned into the parking lot, I did a complete 360 on the ice. Holly thought it was rather fun. It was in sloooow motion. Since I was turned around already, I left and came in another entrance! The library was empty, and we were in and out within minutes.

As we drove down the main street here, it seemed that everyone was trying to go to Barnes & Noble and Wild Oats. Even the mall had plenty of parking. We stopped at Family Christian Bookstore, which was a zoo, and lucky for us, they didn't have what we wanted, so we didn't have to wait in line. Our next stop was Home Depot. WOW, they were dead, not even lines at the registers. We were in and out of there quickly, and there was also no one in line at Einstein's Bagels. The grocery store, not surprisingly, was pretty crowded, and we had to wait for a shopping cart. I'm soooo glad I did my big shopping the other night. The trucks have still not come through for the stores to be restocked--the grocery store was completely out of all lettuces, short on many fruits/vegetables, and there was no bread. The meat cases were just about empty, with the exception of ground beef. There were no "regular" eggs left, only organic/$$$, and there was no milk at all.

When we left the grocery store, we drove through one of the busiest intersections in the city. It was an absolute mess--the snow had not yet all been plowed away and was instead piled up between the two left turn lanes. Cars were literally getting stuck in the traffic lanes before the light. The car in front of me got stuck big time, and I was only lucky to be able to get out after my tires started spinning. We ran by Focus on the Family Bookstore, which wasn't busy at all, and by 12:30 we made the McDonald's drive thru to grab lunch.

The kids helped unload everything when we got home, and I shoveled the rest of the snow away from the garage. I'd been planning to bake this afternoon, and I made Rum Cake. I haven't made this in years, it looks great and smells even better!!

RUM CAKE

1 c. chopped walnuts
1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 c. cold water
1/3 c. oil
1/2 c. dark rum

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a Bundt or tube pan (this needs to be done really well). Sprinkle the nuts on the bottom of the pan. Mix all cake ingredients together and pour batter over nuts. Bake for 1 hour and cool. Invert onto serving platter and prick top and sides with a fork to make holes all over. Spoon or brush glaze over top and sides of cake. Allow to soak into cake before serving.

Cake Glaze:
1/4 lb. butter
1/4 c. water
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. dark rum
Melt butter in saucepan on the stove. Stir in water and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 mins., stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in rum.

Friends invited us over for dinner tomorrow night after church, and I'm bringing dessert. My cake didn't come out of the pan easily at all. But with the glaze poured over all, the cake is very forgiving (and all that rum won't hurt either!). The recipe makes a lot of glaze, and oh did it smell (and taste!) wonderful! I found a great holiday ceramic plate today at the grocery store for $1. It's perfect to take over with the cake and no need to worry about getting it back.

I also made Rachael Ray's Five Minute Fudge to take along too. Instead of raisins or currants, I mixed craisins into the fudge. They work well, Holly thought they were dried cherries. I was worried about burning it, so it took longer than five minutes. I lined the pan with waxed paper because I couldn't find any directions on how to remove it from the pan and keep it looking nice. The waxed paper worked great. The fudge is pretty good, although my favorite is still the stuff with the marshmallow cream (which I never make, so I guess that doesn't count). I should have made two small wreaths, since one recipe makes a LOT. Doesn't it look pretty?!



I got several other things done today too: the kids and I wrapped all of Robert's stuff (mostly small things); I made French onion soup for dinner; I highlighted my hair tonight. I think I got everything done today that I'd hoped, and for me, that's quite a feat!