It's a new day

(My kids are already groaning about that title if they're reading my blog... I can't tell you how many times they heard my favorite quote when they were growing up!) It's a new day... a new beginning... you can't change what happened yesterday, but you can learn from it and move forward. One of my all time favorite sayings. Paraphrased from M. Scott Peck's A ROAD LESS TRAVELLED. So today is a brand new day and I am determined to be productive today. Here is my To Do List for the day:

• Box up all packages that need to be mailed - order up a mail carrier to pick them up. (Got to love that feature of the USPS web site! Now THAT is a good use of our tax/stamp money!)
• Finish Christmas cards and get them out to the mailbox.
• Finish gift tags
• Decorate the tree on and off throughout the day. Get into the ZEN of decorating the tree!

That's it! If When I get these done, I'll be in good shape! Moving forward...

What I needed was Christmas Music

I'm done with my pity party of earlier today. (If I could erase the post, I would -- but that would erase people's comments, and those, to me, are treasures.) As soon as I finished writing my post, I gave myself a serious talking-to. LOL Someone had to do it, might as well be me. I'm a believer that sometimes you have to act "as if". So, I put on some Christmas music (loud!) and spent the day acting "as if" I was excited about Christmas -- and sure enough, by this evening, I am! All is not without hope. I got a lot done. Although the tree still isn't decorated (tomorrow we have snow forecast -- you can't ask for better tree-decorating ambiance than that!), the quilted wreath is over the fireplace, the mantel cloth is up, the Christmas area rugs are out, there's a decoration on my front door (though not a wreath -- I need to go buy a new one), and I actually unpacked the box of candles from the kitchen. So, thanks to Lisa and Deb for your comments and the sympathy pats. Music was the key, so here's some Christmas music to share with you. Go to the right hand column and turn off my Christmas music first! Enjoy!

It's a Wonderful Life

Last night I watched the last few minutes of a news show (60 minutes maybe? whatever was on while I was waiting for Survivor to start) and some college football coach was on whose mantra is "I keep thinking that day to day, something good is just about to happen." I thought I was going to blog today about that train of thought and what a great way to live your that is. Idealism at it's finest. But after a night of literally tossing and turning, not falling asleep until almost 3am, instead I'm going to make a confession. I'm a holiday slacker. Oh sure, I've made some ornaments with my grandson, and fabric Christmas cards. My gift buying is done (well, except for my daughter who just cannot make up her mind about what she wants for Christmas. She will get the modern day version of coal in her stocking -- a gift card -- if she doesn't hurry up and give me some ideas). But.... The Christmas tree stands in my family room, lit up soooo pretty. Lights make a tree, don't you think? I hope so, because my tree has NO decorations on it. Oh, wait, my grandson hung ONE of our ornaments on it. There is no wreath on my door. I have not journeyed down the 14 steps to my basement to fish it out of it's box. There are lit candles in all the front windows -- my husband put them there. There are no cookies baked. I've yet to plan my Christmas Eve dinner menu or our Christmas buffet menu, to say nothing about doing the actual grocery shopping or preparation work. There are no stockings hung, no presents wrapped (or mailed), no lovely initialed gift tags made. There is no homemade tree skirt, no Christmas wreath quilt hanging over the fireplace, and no lovely Christmas quilt on the back of the family room couch, no mantel decorated. Oh, and I didn't make the embroidered Christmas sofa pillows I was sure I was going to. There are no garlands, no poinsettias, no snowflakes. There is a package of candy canes on the kitchen table. Does that count? I have a 30 year collection of more than 500 Christmas candles. The closest they have come to making an appearance this year is the cardboard box of 10 or 15 of them that my husband accidentally brought up from the basement, thinking they were something else and leaving them on the highchair in the kitchen because he thought I might want to unpack them and put them up. I haven't. I have no idea what this is all about. I used to have my shopping done in October. I stayed up nights when my kids were little, baking cookies and making homemade decorations. One year I gave all my neighbors salt dough replicas of their homes, painted in itty bitty detail! This year -- nada. I think I need to change the name of my blog... perhaps "Lazy Housewife" or "How to Disguise Yourself as a Housewife" or "Scroogey-Housewife". I like "Desperate Housewife" but that one's already taken. This is all a bit tongue-in-cheek because the one thing I do have (as of this morning) are LISTS of all the things I need to get done between now and Christmas. I'll get it done, not to worry. Gifts get wrapped today and off to the post office tomorrow. Menu plans will be done tonight. Grocery shopping on Thursday. Tree decorated on Wednesday. Shopping on Tuesday. As of Thursday my husband will be on vacation until after Christmas, so he can hang the wreath and the garlands. God bless lists. So maybe what's bothering me is the coach's mantra just doesn't fit around the holidays. Something good MAY happen today, indeed... but only if I get up off my butt and get it done!

Trying new crafts

I tried my hand at some Christmas postcards. I've not done postcards before, and enjoyed the process, but found it a little more time consuming than I thought it would be! Brayden and I worked together on the "fancy stitches" Christmas ornaments, and came out nicer than anticipated (don't you love when that happens?). I'm using them for name tags (below) as well as Christmas ornaments for the tree. In both projects I used a product called "Stiffy" that I found at the Long Creek Mills web site. It's far less expensive than TimTex or Fast2Fuse, at $1.79 a yard vs $15 and $5 a yard (on sale it's $1.29 a yard! even better!) It has a nice firmness to it that was perfect for both projects, yet it's thin and lightweight so it doesn't add bulk to the postcards. Sorry about the dates on the photos -- I changed my camera battery last night!!

Who's that shady character?

I mentioned in a previous post that I won a blog giveaway a few weeks ago, and the "My First Shades" sunglasses for Brayden arrived in the mail. My daughter took one look at them and said, "You are never going to get him to wear those." Oh contraire. A grandmother's powers are magical. My conversation with Brayden went like this. Me: I have a present for you. B: What is it (pronounced Whad eez it?) Me: Well, you know how we got you a helmet to wear when you ride your bike (aka tricycle) because you ride so fast? B: Uh-huh. Me: Well look at this. A friend of mine sent you some very special sunglasses -- just like the race car drivers wear! I bet Kevin Harvick has a pair just like this. B: (Face lighting up.) (Interested look.) Me: Would you like to try them on? B: Yes. Me: OK, but you know my job is to keep you safe, so when you put them on and ride your bike, you have to promise not to go TOO fast, OK? B: Can I go fast as a race car? Me: Yes, but no faster -- deal? B: Can I go fast as Kevin Harvick? Me: Yes, but no faster -- deal? B: Deal! Result? He wore them for about two hours -- IN the house because it was too cold to go out and ride his bike. (By the way, if you want to see how fast he rides his tricycle, you can see a quick little video on Brayden's blog). Besides the fact that Brayden will actually WEAR these sunglasses, there are several things that I really like about them. First, is the soft adjustable strap. Once you adjust that strap, the glasses fit perfectly. Tight enough to stay on, not so tight they pinch or press on the eye area. Secondly, again because of the strap, they don't fall off -- not even with jumps, twirls, or spinning like a whirling dervish. Trust me on that one. Of course, I like the fact they offer those precious little eyes 100% UVB and UVA protection. You can certainly buy less expensive sunglasses, but having cheap dark glasses on the child doesn't mean their eyes are getting the protection they need. The frames and the lenses are shatterproof and impact resistant. That, combined with that great flexible strap, means these glasses are going to last far longer than the standard sunglasses. How many times have you seen a child pull off sunglasses by the frame stem or grab the glasses by the ear stems and bend them as wide as they will go -- only to have them snap where the ear stem meets the eye frame? That's not going to happen with these glasses! I'm loving them! Honestly, I normally would not have considered paying this much for sunglasses, because I know from past experiences how quickly children break sunglasses. But when I think of how many $3 sunglasses my children went through in less than a day, these sunglasses are actually a real bargain! Although you can be sure I'll report back if anything different happens, I believe these sunglasses will last as long as they fit Mr. Brayden's head! Oh, and the glasses come in a great range of "cool" colors for boys and girls. Now the second best thing about these sunglasses... was the package they came in. Brayden loved the little vinyl bag with a neck drawstring. He immediately asked for money (amazing how early they learn that!), and put change in the little pouch. How much money is in there? "Sixty dollars!" is always his answer! Big thanks to My First Shades (the manufacturer of the glasses) and My Precious Peas blog for offering this great giveaway!

Two good hearty winter recipes

I'm a "little of this, little of that" kind of cook, and the joke around our house is "Wow, I really liked that dinner -- too bad we'll never have it again!" because I never seem to make the same thing the same way twice. Lately I've been trying to write down recipes when we have a meal that gets raves -- just to show them we actually CAN have the same meal twice! So here are two recipes I came up with this week that got raves. HEARTY CROCKPOT LENTIL SOUP 1 ham hock 1 lb bag dried lentils 1 cup chopped onions 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped carrots 6 cups beef broth (can make it with beef bouillion) 1 can 14 oz tomato sauce 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste) 1 tsp black pepper ( or to taste -- I like black pepper!) 1 tsp oregano 1 can creamed corn Wash and sort dried lentils according to package. Put all ingredients except creamed corn in crockpot, stir slightly, cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours. Add water if lentils absorb too much liquid. Remove ham hock. Use potato masher to mash up some of the lentils (not all, because you still want some texture, but some as it will thicken the soup). Remove bits of ham meat from cooled ham hock and return to soup. Add creamed corn, stir and reheat on high for 15 minutes. (If you happen to have any ham diced up in your freezer like I often do, throw in a cup of diced ham about half way through the cooking time, or at the end when you add the corn.) I had accidently opened the can of creamed corn the night before, so threw it into the pot at the last minute just to use it up -- and it added a great flavor and a bit of creamy texture to the soup. Really was good! Serve with buttered corn bread or hearty pumpernickle bread. Leftover Turkey Faux Pot Pie 2-3 cups leftover cooked turkey 1 cup frozen peas 1 cup boiled onions (OR 1 cup frozen pearl onions OR 1 half cup chopped onions) 1 can whole potatoes, cut into bite size pieces 3-4 cups turkey broth 1 can cream of onion soup 1 tsp Poultry Seasoning (or Sage) Salt, pepper to taste 1 tube of Pillsbury Biscuits 2 tablespoons corn starch 1/2 cup cold water Place turkey broth in pan and bring to an almost-boil, add Cream of Onion soup and stir until sauce is smooth. Mix corn starch and cold water thoroughly, then pour into sauce mixture. Stir on medium high heat until thickened to good gravy consistency. Add salt, pepper and Poultry Seasoning. Add boiled onions (or frozen pearl onions) Remove from heat. In Pam-sprayed casserole dish, place turkey, frozen peas and sliced potatoes. Gently pour gravy / onion mixture over. Open tube of biscuits and split each biscuit in half (side to side) so you get two biscuit circles from each biscuit. Place biscuits around the top of the gravy mixture, overlapping biscuits slightly. Bake in 375 oven until biscuits are nicely browned -- about 15 to 20 minutes.