Gingerbread House

Ooo- dahl lolly Golly what a day!  

Here's a little fun fact for you.  The whole time I was off for Christmas break, and I mean the whole two weeks, I didn't have insomnia once.  Not one single time.  Then we get to last night.  The last night before I had to go back to work...I did not sleep, not one single wink.  Oh, I dozed off an on, but real sleep...nope.

To make matters worse, the cat yowled all night long.  I don't know if she sensed my restlessness, heard me tossing and turning, or if it was the impending storms that set her off, but she was definitely off.  I finally got up and let her into the bedroom with me -- which she's not supposed to sleep with me on my allergist's recommendation.  Then, of course, the minute she jumped onto the bed, she made a beeline to my night stand so she could knock everything off.  Which wouldn't have been too much of a problem, if only she'd leave my phone on the charger.  Sigh...

It made for a long, and tiring, first day back at work. 

 But for a bit of good news, they replaced the sinks at work while we were off!

We had motion sensing sinks before, but they never worked right.  You had to flap like a hummingbird just to get the water to turn on, and if you moved your hands just a fraction of a millimeter out of the beam, it would turn off.  And during the three seconds you did have water running, it was cold.  I never felt like I got my hands clean.  I guess enough people complained that they rectified the situation.  

It was so nice to have running, hot water to wash with after ...you know.  

More good news, I have now joined the ranks of those who have built gingerbread houses. 

Yep, that's right.  For the first time in my life, I sat down and made me a gingerbread house while I was watching football yesterday.  And yes, I did have a supervisor...at first.  About halfway through, she got bored and went outside. 

I'm thinking if we do this again next year, I might buy the kind that have the houses pre-assembled, because putting it together was a bit of a pain.  On the other hand, now that I have one under my belt -- so to speak-- it should be a bit easier.  Let me tell you, though, this roof holder thing they put into the box was crap.  It was supposed to hold the roof pieces in place while the icing set, but as you can see, it didn't even fit the house, so I had to stand there and hold them into place while the icing set. 

Nevertheless, we persevered and got 'er all put together. 

One of the sides kind of fell in a bit while I was fussing with the roof, but by that point, the icing was set and I didn't want to pull it all apart to fix it, so I just left it.  

Once I'd gotten it all decorated, it isn't all that obvious anyway.  

Here is the other side. 

I didn't get all the little snowflakes on the roof piped, because I popped my frosting bag and ran out, so I improvised. 

And finally, here is the front.

According to the box, I was supposed to cut all those gumdrops in half and use them to make a little sidewalk, but I wasn't having it.  I just took the leftovers and made a pile of firewood with them.

Here is the finished product, including the woodpile. 

They even included a couple of gingerbread men to decorate. 

The only thing I didn't even open were these little snowflake sprinkles.  

I put them up into my cabinet with the rest of my sprinkles, so I can use them at a later date. 

Now the only question remains, do you actually eat them when you're done, or do you just let them sit around until they turn all manky and moldy, then throw them away?

Gingerbread virgins want to know...