….but no….here I am surfing music blogs, listening for that next big hit. I don’t think I found any tonight, but I now know what everyone’s top CDs of 2008 are. Haha! It’s like some unwritten music blogger rule: Thou shalt devote December to Christmas songs (the more obscure, the better)….AND to listing your favorite CDs of the year. BTW, everyone seems to be picking TV On The Radio’s new CD as top of the heap for ‘08, which I think you can download for 5 bucks at Amazon.com right now…..anyway, coming soon: Sheryl’s Fave CDs By People You’ve Actually Heard Of for 2008. Here’s a starter:

Every song on this one was love at first listen….and I can’t say that for every Beck CD….or many CDs at all for that matter. The whole CD is great, but my faves are the first 3 tracks.

More to come later….I’m actually getting sleepy….

….is driving me crazy! I have stuff to do and I keep getting stuck in the house, when I really want to be out doing Christmas-y things! Oh well, there IS something to be said for staying in with your sweetie, opening a nice bottle of wine, and enjoying a nice crackling fire.

I created this playlist this week on one of those nights when I was snowbound, instead of at a Christmas party I really wanted to go to. It’s a variation on the Christmas mix I made for my brothers and sister. A couple of the songs that ended up on their mix, but weren’t on Playlist.com are songs you should seek out and enjoy thoroughly this season! They are: KT Tunstall “2000 Miles”; Ingrid Michaelson “When The Leaves”; and Zee Avi “No Christmas For Me”.

Patrick thinks my list is a little heavy on “the granola factor”….but whatever!! I hope you like it!

Merry Christmas!

I found this online today…eeeeeek!!!

Will Burger King stop at nothing in their quest to creep us out? Haha!

Seriously though, this is a promo shot for their new men’s cologne, “Flame”. It smells like….you guessed it, flame-broiled burgers. Yes, you can actually buy it…for about $3.99, which is slightly less expensive than buying a Whopper and actually smearing yourself with it. It’s just less messy. Need a white elephant gift? Want to attract a man like Joey Chestnut? Here’s where to go for ordering info. Beware of the last scene in the video on the site, though, you may never look at a crackling fire the same way ever again. Ha!

If you haven’t “Elfed” yourself yet…..you HAVE to! The website is www.elfyourself.com

Admit it…..you are WOWED by my disco skills ….haha!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I talked about this a little on the air yesterday. The snow this weekend launched me headfirst into the Christmas spirit! One minute the flakes are falling….the next minute, I’m in the kitchen singing “Winter Wonderland” while making fudge. A few of you emailed me and asked for the recipe. I SWEAR this is the easiest fudge you will ever make:

2 bags of chocolate chips (I used the milk chocolate kind because Patrick & Aimee don’t like dark chocolate) 

1 can of sweetened condensed milk 

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

2 teaspoons of vanilla (or to taste) 

Melt the chocolate chips together with the sweetened condensed milk over medium heat. Stir frequently. When the mixture is nice and smooth with no lumps, stir in the salt. Stir for about 60 seconds. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla (you can even mix in some almond flavoring or peppermint, if you like that). Put the mixture in an 8×8 pan, lined with wax paper. When cool, cut into squares.

Let me know how you like it!

LOVED the snow day yesterday! The slippery roads gave me a perfect excuse to sit at home all day yesterday, only leaving my couch to: get snacks, make fudge, and take some pics of the snow. Otherwise, I did everything from the comfort of my couch. I caught up on all the tv shows I missed on Thursday because of our Adele event. I finished my Christmas shopping (gotta love that free shipping) ! I even finished the Christmas mix CD I am giving my brothers and sister for Christmas this year. I’ll post the playlist in another blog entry. I’m trying to choose which pic from yesterday I want to use as my CD cover, so if you get a minute, email me and tell me what your fave is.

I first found this video last year on the website of one of my favorite bands on the planet, Relient K. It’s a bit painful to listen to, but SO funny to watch! The way the creatures (and even trees) react to the reindeer’s horrible singing never fails to make me laugh out loud! Another fave part is when he struggles for the high note about 3 minutes in! I guess the song is an actual demo tape that someone sent to a record label, trying to get signed. Somehow, another band I love, Emery, got ahold of it and gave it to Relient K, who then animated this video.

Seriously, don’t turn it up too loud if you’re at work right now or your co-workers will hate you. However, if you are home alone…..crank it up and enjoy every last horrific note!

My Mom & Dad sent out their “here’s what we’re doing for Christmas” email about a month ago. Like a lot of people, they are cutting back on presents this year and they didn’t want any of us to buy them anything this year, since money is tight for everyone. They said that if we really wanted to give them a gift, it should be something we made, not something we bought. So, for the last month, I’ve been trying to figure out what crafty thing I could make for them….hopefully, something I didn’t already make for them when I was in grade school. That rules out knitted potholders, a pumpkin seed growing in a milk carton, or a lovely plaster rendering of my handprint. I toyed with the idea of making them a mix CD, but since my parents aren’t the biggest Killers, Coldplay, or Kanye West fans…and I don’t exactly have a lot of Burt Bacharach in my collection (although the stuff he did with Elvis Costello is pretty sweet)….I quickly tossed that idea….finally, when showing off some of the photos I took with my trusty toy camera this year, I got the idea to make them a book of some of my fave photos. Patrick calls it “Sheryl’s Picture Book”, but that can NOT be the name….that is just way too cheesy. If you think of a cool name, let me know. That’s all I need to finish this little project.

Here’s the cover….ironically, it’s the one picture in the book I did not take….

I spent the entire weekend on my couch, with a big stack of cold medicine on one table….and a big stack of dvds on the floor. When I ran out of dvds to watch, I had to resort to watching made-for-tv Christmas movies on Lifetime, TBS, etc. About halfway through “A Smoky Mountain Christmas”, I realized that there was something oddly comforting about old, cheesy Christmas specials…..and that Dolly Parton kind of looks like the angel that used to sit on my Mom & Dad’s Christmas tree…..or maybe that was just a Nyquil-induced hallucination…..anyway….for your viewing pleasure: