After the Holidays

As much as I love Christmas, I'm so glad that it's over! Lots of cleanup, packaging that needs to be stored away, J's birthday is TODAY, a cake to bake, a few gifts to wrap.. mother-in-law coming to visit next weekend.. much to do!

Christmas flowers from my parents, Candle holder from a dear penpal

I've enjoyed my vacation for the last week. Working only half days has been good for me, spending time at home, snuggling with my cats, working on projects, relaxing. Tomorrow is another half day, Tuesday work is closed, and then back at it on Wednesday.

Merry Christmas

Stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Recipe for Christmas...

All Year Long

Take a heap of child-like wonder

that opens up our eyes

To the unexpected gifts in life

Each day a sweet surprise.

Mix in fond appreciation

for the people whom we know,

Like festive Christmas candles

each one has a special glow.

Add some giggles and some laughter,

a dash of Christmas food,

(amazing how a piece of pie

improves our attitude!)

Stir it all with human kindness

Wrap it up in love and peace,

decorate with optimism, and

Our joy will never cease.

If we use this healthy recipe

we know we will remember,

to be in the Christmas spirit

even when it's not December.

Merry Christmas!

it is snowing!

Holiday Cheer

Sometimes it's easy to feel under-appreciated when working with children and their families. We're all rushed, can't bother to chat, or just too tired to talk so when I'm trying to tell how a child's day went I can feel ignored. The past three days have been so cheerful at work. Everyone is wishing Happy Holidays and smiling and looking forward to vacation. It makes me happy. I received some lovely little gifts this week. 

Makeup remover & mascara, 2 DD cards, a Christmas letter, snack mix (garlicky and delicious! I've received this snack mix as a gift every Christmas for the past 6 years from her and her older sister. I LOVE IT)

Candies, 2 Target gift cards, nail polish (wrapped with "you sparkle!", popcorn ("you make my mind pop!", Burt's Bees lotion ("Happy New Year! Hope it's a smooth start!")

Chocolate covered pretzels, gingerbread man soap, mug with Kisses, pinot noir, etched glass votive candle

Carter's Christmas Letter (without misspellings)

Darlene,

Merry Christmas Darlene! I hope you get some good presents

 (arrow points to a guitar) and a good family.

From Carter

PS Merry Christmas!!

A cheap meal

Sometimes I get excited when I can put something inexpensive together. This recipe has no name, other than "food" but J. loved this when I made it a couple of weeks ago so I made it again for him yesterday. 

1 box Ziti (with lines!)

1 large tomato sauce

1 large diced tomatoes

1 bag Banquet sausage crumbles (found at the Dollar Tree for $1)

Handful of shredded mozzarella

I cooked the ziti and heated the sausage in a pan and then added the sauce and tomatoes to heat through.

In my dish, I layered sauce, ziti, sauce, salt & pepper, ziti, and the remaining sauce. Top with cheese. 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Nothing fancy but it makes a lot!

Saying Goodbye..

Not a lot to say, but J and I just returned from Rhode Island. His grandfather passed last Friday, so we had three days of services to attend. I'm not experienced in viewings, funerals and services so it was very hard for me to be a part of.. it was also J's first funeral so it was an emotional and exhausting three day for the both of us.  He was a kind, sweet man and I will very much miss him. 

A few things..

I've been a busy bee lately. With summer camp over (sigh of relief) and the kids back in school, I have a little more time to breathe and work on some things. Christmas is coming up, and with my wrist still sore I'll be doing less knitting and more projects. Anywhoo, here's a few things I've done recently.

 Grapefruit and vinegar cleaner. 

I've got 5 more grapefruits and a big bottle of vinegar to add before this sits and I bottle it into spray bottles!

 Banana bread. 

Honestly I've never made a banana bread I didn't like!

Creamed corn casserole. 

Eh.

It wasn't bad at all, but it's not something we'll eat on a regular basis. 

Good recipe for cleaning out canned corn I guess.

Progress

Thanks to this:

I was able to make this:

!

It really felt so nice to have knitting needles in my hands again! The IcyHot really helps. There is still a dull ache while I'm working, but I'm able to work through it. With Christmas coming up in less than 4 months, I've got a lot of work to do. These round cloths are my favorite!

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. DH is away for an extra long weekend and took the camera with him :)

So Fresh, So Clean!

Can you tell what I made today?
 

Laundry soap! It cost me $14.21 at Hannaford for everything but the crystals, which I already had.

If this works, I will never buy liquid detergent again :)

I made a couple small changes, but the original "recipe" is from being creative! She used 2 tubs of Oxi Clean and I only used one. I added the fabric crystals which she did not. I'm excited to try this. I've had it pinned on Pinterest for quite some time now!

It smells WONDERFUL!

Happy Birthday

I turned 31 on Thursday! 

Pretty flowers sent from my parents.

And a sweet teaspoon from my friend Karin.

New Orleans

I still haven't knit anything new since the last time I posted anything. I've been having a weird pain in my right wrist as well, which bothers me when I'm not even using it for anything (lovely). ANYWAY! I went to visit my parents in Florida. I left 4/13 and returned 4/20. I had the best time. We went on a 3-day trip to New Orleans!

Crawfish salad. Mom's is shrimp!

These funny little bubble dogs are all over the place. They are made to look like Mardi Gras beads. I should have stopped to read the little sign, but I didn't, so I had to Google what they were all about. "Last year, LA/SPCA took in more than 7,000 unwanted, abused, or neglected animals, and found homes for over 1,600 of them. So when you see one of the bright Paws on Parade bead dog sculptures around town, the organization hopes that maybe you’ll smile, and think about ways you could help." from Mardi Gras Bead Dogs.

I had the best time in New Orleans! I'm still totally exhausted (not looking forward to work tomorrow), but it was well worth it :)

So much for knitting..

I still haven't been able to knit. I don't know what's wrong with me, but that craft fair is getting closer and I still don't have enough to participate. Instead of forcing myself to knit, I pulled out the Crock Pot last night and finished up this morning.

Made a whole box of linguine. Divided it up in 2 dishes.. 3/4 in a big one, 1/4 in a small one.

"Cream Cheese Chicken" from my favorite slow cooker cookbook. Looks disgusting, but is super tangy and delicious!

I found this stir-fry recipe on the back of a Kikkoman seasoning mix. I used stew beef instead of chicken.

Nom!

Mystery meal

I know you all know how much I love to knit/craft, but my heart is often in the kitchen. I love to bake, especially. Although I had Thursday off from work due to the snow we received, DH unfortunately had to brave the elements and go to work (3-11pm). Because most of his work is done outside I thought it would be nice of me to make sure he had something yummy when he came home.

Our cupboards (and fridge) were pretty bare, but I managed to whip up a little something delicious. I call it Mystery Meal because I really didn't know how well it would turn out.

I'm happy to say that we both really liked it! Here's what I did:

• preheat oven to 375
• boiled 3/4 package of Wacky Mac (cooked, drained, set aside)
• buttered a dish
• whisked 3 eggs in a bowl, mixed in Italian seasoning and s&p
• added it to the Mac, pour into dish
• cover pasta with a large can of tomato/pasta sauce.. any kind will do.. I used a 4 cheese one I think
• top with cheese (the more the better, IMO)
• 20 minutes until cheese melts a bit and sauce bubbles

I'm sure it would taste just fine without the eggs, but I wanted to give it a little more density. I'm sure DH would have liked some meat or something in there. Or a sauce with meat?

And then, because I'm that nice and had just one egg left, I made him some chocolate chip cookies :)

Hello March!

Here in Maine we are welcoming winter (finally) and March with a bang! We're supposed to get a pretty good storm.. the Elementary school that I work at in the afternoon is closed, as well as the YMCA so I don't have to work at all. As you can tell by the photo below, I didn't even bother opening up the door. This photo is just the beginning! I'm a little excited, as this has been a very, very mild winter for us and our first snow day!

My front porch.

"Mommy & Me" cable and lace hats

I was recently asked to take part in a craft fair. I said I would and then couldn't bring myself to knit anything! These hats are all I have been able to make. I start something and then rip it out and start again or start over. The fair is in July so I might be able to still do it if I can get my butt in gear!

Baby, baby..

I love making baby items because 1) they're so stinking cute and 2) they knit up rather quickly. Last Friday, I was commissioned by my friend Gwen to make something that she could give to her cousin who is due in 2 weeks. She told me she'd like a hat and to use my judgement on what I thought would be cute.

I made the hat Saturday-Sunday and since she's not meeting me until tomorrow to pick it up, I made leg-warmers yesterday. I hope the new mother-to-be will love them!

I know, I know..

I know I said I'd be a better blogger for 2012.. sorry! Honestly, I've cast on about 15 times but can't bring myself to do anything more than a few rows. I've been very tired lately.

I did manage to go out and do all of the kid shopping for work! Here's what I came home with:

(2) 3 packs of Clorox Wipes

(3) cans of Disinfecting spray

(1) 3 pack of Kleenex

(3) 24 piece Disney puzzles

(1) Dora the Explorer stickers

(2) Kid Connection cell phones

(1) 90 piece toy food bucket

(4) 10 pack Crayola markers

(5) watercolor sets

(2) 6pack glue sticks

(1) pack of jumbo popsicle sticks

(1) bucket of alphabet beads

That's Imogen taking inventory.

Ok, so I guess it doesn't look like much.. but you try carrying it home on the bus, in the snow!

Happy New Year!

I am so happy to put 2011 behind me. I'm looking forward to 2012 and hope that it will be everything that this past year wasn't. Honestly, I wasn't "feeling" the holidays this year and I've been a little blue. It's time to get out of this funk.

We had a busy, but nice Christmas in Rhode Island. It's the first time I spent Christmas away from my family and I missed them very much. We were so busy visiting everyone and driving all over that it was hard to just relax and enjoy. We did get to see everyone though, so that was nice.

So anyway. I make a point not to make resolutions for the New Year simply because I don't like to fail, but I'm going to try to be a better blogger for 2012. Maybe do a giveaway. :)

Happy New Year everyone! Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2012.