STILL NO SNOW!

If this is winter, who needs summer?? We have no

snow and tiny spurts of rain here and there. For

the most part it is blue skies and sunny days that

sometimes reach into 50 degrees. My husband

took this picture yesterday from the boat as he

was leaving the harbor to deliver supplies to

one of the islands:

Me? I stayed home because I have been sicker than I have

been for a long, long time. It all started a couple of weeks

ago when I placed an ad in the paper for cookie bouquets

for Valentine's Day. Little did I know how many people

would actually order them, in addition to my usual orders

for cakes, cookies and pastries.

I just kept saying yes, yes, yes when people would call

and then like a complete airhead I scheduled a dessert

buffet and movie night for our church on Valentine's

night and guess who is supplying ALL of the desserts?

Yep, Grandma Tillie's Bakery.

In a futile attempt to keep up with everything I was

working in the kitchen literally day and night. Which

probably would have been O.K., except I kind of

forgot to eat or drink anything for about 3 days.

Not smart.

Long story short, I ended up in bed on Monday

and I really didn't care if the world ended or if

the house burned down. Today is Friday and I

am just now feeling like I am going to live.

So. Here are just a FEW of the Valentine's items

that flew out of the kitchen this holiday. I lost count

of the actual number of just cookies I made, but I

know I made 12 batches of cookie dough and each

one makes approx. 40 cookies...

I didn't take pictures of half the items and in between

there were coconut pies, cherries, pastries and cakes.

At one point we had both long tables and the

counter filled with cookie bouquets and my

husband and daughter were delivering while

my younger daughter and I were assembling

so they could come back for more.

I am going to have to come up with a better

plan for Mother's Day and Easter.

Any great ideas???

Giant chocolate chip cookie heart with chocolate deer

for a hunter.

Red Velvet Cake truffles with white chocolate.

My Polish red glass collection from my mother in law

with roses from my older daughter--gorgeous!