Caramel Bars And Cookies

1 stick margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup self-rising flour
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar (yes, really this much)
1 cup chopped pecans

Melt margarine in an 8" x10" pan.
Mix all other ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Add melted butter from pan.
Stir and pour back into pan.
Bake 30 minutes at 350.
Cool and cut into squares.
Dust with powdered sugar.

*Fairlight's Notes*
I don't have an 8x10 pan so I used a disposable 8x8 and it worked just fine.
I melted my margarine in a glass mearuring cup in the microwave.
I have only made these once and we loved them!
The next time I make them, I am going to add one teaspoon of cinnamon and I am going to wait overnight before I try to cut them into squares. They were still kind of gooey when I tried to cut them after 2 hours. They set completely overnight.

These are so rich, but they are light like lemon squares. I also like them because I have most of the ingredients on hand all the time.


Christmas Cookies
I picked up a copy of Ladies' Home Journal yesterday to read about the McCaughey Septuplets turning 10 and I found some really clever Christmas cookies. My favorites are the Peanut Butter Rudolph Reindeers and the Dulce de Leche Chocolate Bars. You can make two variations of the chocolate bars. My favorite is this beautiful red, white, and green swirl pattern using melted white chocolate and red and green food coloring. Very beautiful and unusual. I could not find a link to the recipe or pix, but be sure to check out the Rudolph cookies. They are adorable.
Merry Christmas!

Random Ramblings

Snow Birds and Snow
Wednesday night we had a thunderstorm with lightning and strong winds. It was very warm and we even ran our ceiling fans. I heard the heat kick on around 7:30 that morning and by noon it was snowing!

The Friday before, I had watched a Dark-eyed Junco on the pump house roof. The minute I saw the bird, I knew we would be getting snow. We have been bird watching for years, and I have never seen a Junco without seeing snow. I know that sounds hard to believe, but it is true. They always bring snow. We only see them in winter. I think this one paid us an early visit.

Putting The Books Away

Today is our last day of school until January. We have already finished our first semester and it feels good to have it behind us. When we first started homeschooling, we followed the county school's schedule. Then, after a couple of years I decided to make out a schedule that would fit our needs better and prevent burnout. It is the single greatest decision I have made in making our homeschool experience a success.

Now, we start the week after the Fourth. It is so hot and buggy here that we are inside during the hottest part of the day anyway. We take a week long fall break. We go nine more weeks and then put the books away for Thanksgiving and don't start back until after the first of the year. This gives me the whole month of December to shop, decorate, bake, wrap gifts and really enjoy it. I am not in a rush because we have set aside this time to be with family and friends. Any school we would do during this time would just be rushed and half-done. We still get out around the second week of May. We also take off all days that dear husband is off from work. Below is a sample of our schedule. I color code each quarter and leave blank all days off. This is the easiest way I have found to keep up with my schedule with just a glance. Here's a sample of my School Calendar:

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Brownies From A Box

I have never been able to make brownies from a box. They always end up hard as a brick on the edges and soft or even raw in the middle. I was looking for a little something sweet to put in dear husband's dinner bucket this week and picked up a box of brownies. Guess how they turned out?.........Perfect! They are delicious and the texture is perfect. Fudgy from one end of the pan to the other. They were Duncan Hines brand and I think they were called Chocolate Chunk. I followed the directions for "cake-like" brownies, but they are very fudgy and "brownie-like". I baked them in an 8x8 disposable pan. Just had to share this in case there is another person out there who is brownie challenged like me. :-)

I guess that's it for now. Toodles.