I'm exhausted

What a busy day!!

I spent most of the day in the kitchen baking.

Being an avid baker, you'd think I would have made pastry before...nope! I found out my sweetie likes butter tarts, so that gave me an opportunity to test my skills. AJ & I got talking about baking last weekend when he was down, and he told me about an amazing pastry recipe that he had gotten from Billie-Joe. He gave it to me, and it turned out wonderfully. I was somewhat surprised, as most people I talk to say pastry can be difficult, and it can be somewhat of an art to get it perfect. I've been baking for a lot of years, I am fairly confident in my abilities, and I can whip up lefse no problem, so I wasn't really worried. Plus, when it comes to baking and cooking, I have a trial and error attitude. If it doesn't work out, I will just try again, and modify things and hope for the best. I am sure it helps that I like to bake and cook so much. They don't look perfect...I sure wouldn't be winning any baking contest awards for presentation, but they taste delicious.

I also managed to whip up some Chocolate Chip cookies for Christmas, and for the boys at work. I am sure they will appreciate it.

While my pastry dough was chilling, I spent most of the afternoon wrapping presents. I am almost completely done shopping; I only have one gift left to buy.

My Christmas tree is up with lights and garland on it. The ornaments are the last to go on. I'll put the presents under the tree, put some more garland and lights up around the house and then the house will be decorated for Christmas.

It feels like my day will never end. Just as I was cleaning up the kitchen from my day of baking, and finishing up supper I realized that I needed to do some laundry. Blah....I am sure I could crash right now.