The Best Crazy of 2012

Before we start, let's have the Last English Class Pop Quiz of 2012:
Use the words there, they're or their to fill in the blanks in the following sentences:
1. Put the gifts of chocolate right over _____.
2. The students aren't annoying me today because _____ all at home, and I'm not _____ with them.
3. _____ all sitting over _____ eating _____ candy and plotting _____ annoying moves for when school starts again.
4. Santa's elves are all resting _____ weary heads after a busy toy-making season.
5. _____ are only 358 more shopping days until Christmas.
Answers are at the bottom of the page.

I first started blogging in October, 2011, so 2012 was my first full year of blogging. It's been such a fun year, and you all made it that way. My cozy little kitchen has been a warm and wonderful place to visit with you and enjoy your comments.

It's New Year's Eve, so I want to share with you my favorite posts from 2012. They're not necessarily anyone else's favorite, but I enjoyed writing them, and I feel that they represent my very best.

See which of my favorites are also your favorites. If you missed any of them that sound interesting, then by all means go back and check them out. Or re-read the ones you liked.

January

I started the year with a grammar lesson in which I discussed the difference between Sit and Set.  We also discovered that The Princess has a very unusual allergy.

Next, I introduced My Wonderful Boy in a post that many people took as a personal ad in which I'm looking for a daughter-in-law. I'm really not, but he is pretty awesome, ladies.

Another grammar lesson dealt with the difference between May and Might.

One of my more serious and important posts dealt with isolation and social networking. If you haven't read it, find out how social networks such as Facebook and Twitter can be so important to people suffering from social anxiety.

February

Let's get this straight. This is not now, nor will it ever be, a cooking blog. However, by popular demand, I've shared THE WORLD'S GREATEST PIE CRUST recipe...in my own way.

In February I also shared A Valentine for My Hillbilly. Here are 10 reasons why I am hopelessly in love with this Missouri Ozarkian Redneck Hillbilly.

March

In March I shared a writing assignment from my students featuring The Zombie Apocalypse.

March also saw the first blog post written by my husband, The Hillbilly. In this episode of The Hillbilly's Corner, we find out about outhouses and snakes and what happens when the two go together!

Of course there was an English lesson in March: Affect or Effect: The Big Showdown.

April

In April The Hillbilly discussed some of the more interesting pets his family had when he was growing up on the farm.

April's English class lesson dealt with using quotation marks properly.

Finally, The Hillbilly gives you his version of our first date. Don't believe all of it.

May

To get to know me a little better, and for a couple good laughs, read 5 Things That Drive Me Crazy--About Myself! 

My mother is the greatest woman in the world, and in May I wrote her A Mother's Day Card.

Just for you I willingly embarrassed myself by sharing pictures from my high school yearbook.

May's grammar lesson addressed 3 commonly used words that aren't words at all. Stop using them!

June

In June I explained why my sister hates me. All because I'm so thoughtful!

We also finally addressed the dreaded apostrophe question! Now you have no excuse for messing this up!

I also shared my very favorite lesson of all time: Who or Whom with Gilligan's Island! Now there's one you don't want to miss!

July

In July I shared a list of the things I would and would not miss if I were to retire from teaching.

I took a funny look at the news. What could be funnier than a dead body on an airplane?

In "Let Their Confidence Shine" I shared tips from moms who have successfully brought up children to be self-confident adults.

The Hillbilly told a hilarious and terrifying tale of coming face to face with a bear.

Once more I humiliated myself for your entertainment by sharing the contents of my overloaded purse.

August

In August The Hillbilly and I took a cross-country driving trip, and I was driven to cartooning.

This led The Hillbilly to tell his side of the story.

On that same trip, The Hillbilly and I almost did hard time in the Deep South. If you missed it, you've got to find out how we're just like Bonnie and Clyde!

September

With school getting started, September was a light blogging month. I did discuss texting and driving and took a break from all the political news with something to make you smile.

October

October, my first "blogoversary" was pretty rough, and I shared two posts that explained why:

Unfortunately..Fortunately

Why I'm Tired All the Time

It's a good thing I have a sense of humor!

November

In November we flew to Florida and discovered the Northwest Florida Regional Airport of Doom!
First we flew into the airport, and then we flew out of the airport. Doom Doom Doom!

On the other hand, I explained why being a Grandma is better than being a mom. Hint: Just think about sleeping all night.

In "How Much Do You Think a 12-inch Centipede Weighs?" I shared some of the crazy questions my students ask me.

Here's a quickie with an example of why I love my daughter-in-law. She cracks me up.

December

In answer to a reader's question I explained the difference between Accept and Except, which prompted The Hillbilly to give an English lesson of his own. Sigh.

Well, it's been a busy year. Thank you to all of you have stuck with me. And of course welcome and thank you to those of you who've jumped on for the ride somewhere in the middle.

As always, your comments are what makes my little kitchen chat worthwhile. Which posts were your favorites? Did you discover any new ones or rediscover a favorite that you'd forgotten?

English Class Pop Quiz  Answers:

1. Put the gifts of chocolate right over there.
2. The students aren't annoying me today because they're all at home, and I'm not there with them.
3. They're all sitting over there eating their candy and plotting their annoying moves for when school starts again.
4. Santa's elves are all resting their weary heads after a busy toy-making season.
5. There are only 358 more shopping days until Christmas.

How did you do? I'm sure you all got 100% because my readers are all brilliant! 

Happy New Year!

Wishing You and Your Family Peace at Christmas

From Our Home to Yours!

The Hillbilly's Sweet Tooth

I don't know why my Hillbilly thinks he needs sweets at every meal, but you'd think he'd have the common decency to at least get a little fat! No, he stays slim while eating cookies, and I gain a pound for every chocolate chip. So unfair! But I'll let him tell you about it.

Since my recent blog about river hillbillies seemed to have frightened everyone away to where they wouldn’t even comment, (wimps), I decided to talk about sweets.  Yes, sweets!  You know!  Those things we cannot leave alone such as cookies, candies, cakes, pies, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, and ice cream!  Yum!  Yeah!  

Cake by Alyssa

Just with me mentioning them, I bet you are already thinking, yeah I would like to have some of that!  It’s all good.  It is just diet food ---- eat it today, diet tomorrow --- or at some distant time in the future.

I will admit --- I am a sugarholic!  I was raised on a farm where we ate well!  We raised cattle, chickens, and sometimes hogs!  We had large gardens with such things as potatoes, corn, lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers, radishes, beets, turnips, okra, and rhubarb.  We had an orchard with apples and peaches.  We had a strawberry patch.  Black berries, goose berries, elder berries, pokeweed, and also walnut trees grew wild on the farm.  With all that available to eat fresh and to can and/or freeze, we ate very well.  And every meal had a desert or at least jams, jellies, or apple butter to put on toast.  I was one well fed hillbilly!

Pie by Cynthia

Unfortunately, I learned to eat very well but not to cook well or at all.  That wasn’t my job on the farm. Unfortunately, after things went bad in my life, I was forced to learn to cook.  I could already grill, but the weather is not always great for that.  Being hillbilly tough, bad weather didn’t always stop me.  At various times, I have grilled hamburgers for my kids when it was nighttime, about 15 degrees outside, windy, snowing, and with 10 inches of snow already on the ground.  The burgers were great but I wouldn’t suggest doing that on an ongoing basis.

  At any rate, I learned to cook a few things such as a spicy spaghetti, tacos, roasts, etc.  But ---- my real talent came in what I love ---- desserts!  Being a sugarholic/dessertaholic, leaning more towards being a cookie monster, I became a cookie aficionado.  I stretched on into other things for which I would get hungry, such as cakes, pies, breads, and so on, but cookies were and are still my passion.

Okay, I don't know who made the cookies. I found the picture on wikimedia.

In a normal month, for potlucks, family events, etc., I probably bake twelve dozen cookies a month.  Being in that holiday stretch from Thanksgiving through the end of the year, I am into cookie marathon time.  For Thanksgiving, I baked about 5 ½ dozen Chewy Chocolate cookies and Cynthia baked 2 pumpkin pies.  

The next day, for a 2^nd Thanksgiving celebration, I baked about 5 ½ dozen Reese's peanut butter cup cookies and Cynthia baked what I consider to be the world’s best pecan pie. 

 For my son and daughter-in-law’s early holiday season get together, I baked 5 ½ dozen Chewy Chocolate cookies and Cynthia and I made 3 gallons of Milky Way ice cream.  

Then the next day for a potluck, I baked 6 dozen of the Reese's peanut butter cup cookies.  

Then for my customer appreciation, I baked 9-10 dozen Almond Roca bars, 5 ½ dozen Chewy Chocolate cookies, 6 dozen Reese's peanut butter cup cookies, and 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies.  

If my math is right, I think that is about 44 dozen cookies or bars I have baked, (a gazillion calories), in about three weeks.  

Seriously! Does this look like a man who eats sweets at EVERY meal? It's so unfair!

And I have been good!  I have only eaten ------ a few ---- samples---- here and there.  You know, the broken ones where the calories have bled out, (oops broke another one), the ugly ones that no one else would (ahem), want.  Besides, you have to check them out to make sure they are good you know!  Hmm!  I wonder if there are might be a few left on which I can go and run another taste inspection?  It’s a tough job but I am hillbilly tough and up for the task.  Gotta go to work!

Hope you have a great and full-of-dessert holiday season! 

From the sugared up Hillbilly’s Corner!