Baby, It's Cold Outside

The title not only happens to be my most favorite Christmas song, but also the reality of today's weather. We didn't have any reason to draw us from the house today anyways, but temperature at 18* feeling like 5*, it pretty much sealed the deal that inside the house needs our attention, more than anything outside of it...

Calvin's got a bit of a cough coming on, and he's lost his high pitch scream… I can't say that I mind the lose of the scream bit, in the least… I've unexpectedly found myself in a house full of nappers with an hour to spare before Wesley gets home from school… So it's only natural for me to take advantage of this situations by eating my weight in chocolate peanut butter roll, sorting through this weekend's pictures, and hopefully composing an afternoon post, from start to finishes…. in the afternoon..

Allow yourself to categorize this as a Christmas Miracle! (Speaking of Christmas, it just dawned on me I should probably be wrapping presents or hot glue gunning something, during this little gift of Me time… meh)

This past weekend we hit the road North to my Aunt & Uncle's house, that we so look forward to doing every year… This year, there was only one thing that really stuck out about being odd, compared to any other year…

This year, Wesley and Calvin were both old enough to venture off with their equally aged cousins, only to be seen when the necessities like, food, drinks, or gift opening were inquired about. Josephine being the youngest, busied herself with following the older kids around, visiting the crated puppy, or jumping from lap to lap for cuddles.

For the first time, in along time, I didn't leave feeling like I hadn't spent any time filling myself in on the standard catch ups of everyone, let alone the smaller details of the everyday lives of those I see too infrequently.

It was really nice.

I feel very much in a 'hurry up and wait' state of mind… It can't really feel like the Holiday flood gates have opened until Wesley is on vacation from school, which doesn't come for another day and a half… in between, I've got groceries to get, beds to make up, furniture to rearrange, and any other work I can busy my days with until the stress of last minute grocery store runs, almost forgotten traditions, needless fretting of misplaced presents, and stress on blowing Santa's cover is upon us.

I just heard boots clomping on the porch, Bean is starting her pre wake up stretches, and I think Calvin is still down for a while… but the blog is ready for publish, and I can parade through the rest of the day feeling as if I used my alone time wisely… except the gluttony of eating of the peanut butter roll part… that was just plan stupid.



Christmas miracle, over.
Happy 'til next time!

Last Minute Done's

I'm just jumping on really quick… I've got kids to put to bed…a glass of wine calling my name… and presents to start wrapping while a very chick flick movie is watched…

Because I'm a big believer in the philosophy, if you know something good, share it, I wanted to break down some of my most favorite gifts to give during the holiday season…. one, because they are as equally amazing as they are easy, and two, they have that personal touch of being homemade that I hope loosely translates to say something like, "you're kinda a big deal" or "you're worth my effort" or "here's your salt scrub so quit bugging me for more…" (I'll let a certain someone read between the lines on that last one and follow up by saying, I've got plenty in stock for your less then sparing usage) 

Moving on….

Another philosophy of mine…Home made is the best made.. so lip balm was on the 'try-it' list this year and I don't mean to toot my own horn, but …. A-BEEP, A-BEEP… this stuff is amazing…

And although these gifts are easy, you're going to have to bare with me, because I'm not one who goes by measurement per say… I'm kind of a do a little of it all, until you get the result you want.. but I think I've broken down my explanations enough so it shouldn't be too complicating to follow (but please e-mail, Facebook, comment with any question you might have)

LIP BALM

I melted equal parts beeswax and sweet almond oil (which was about 2 cups of each) threw in three spoons full of shea butter (which I figure to be about 5 oz)… this is where my measurements start to go by the wayside… after I melted it all together I took a spoon, dipped it in the pan and pulled it out to harden… once it was hard, I would test it with my fingers to see if it was at a consistency to be able to spread on your lips… it wasn't… so I poured in some more almond oil (probably 1/4 cup at a time) until I had the constancy that I liked… Then I took it off of the heat, dumped in about a tablespoon of mandarin essence oil (next time I will put in more) and poured it into little pill containers that I got at the Christmas Tree Shop. Done.




SALT SCRUB

This is by far the best any day indulgent ever..

In a large bowl I poured in equal parts course salt and fine salt, then with one in each hand, I poured equal parts of sweet almond oil and grape seed oil… stirring between each big squeeze until all the salt was coated, not too dry, not too wet… a consistency that when added with a bit of water from your shower or bath, it could easily be used to exfoliate your skin… Then I poured in the amount of essence oil (this year I used mandarin, last year was a batch of lemon, a batch of petiole oil.. I'm sure lavender would be nice too… if you like that kind of smell)  I found appealing to smell. Bottled it up in jam mason jars, threw some spare fabric on top. Done. 




WHITE TRASH

My friend Rachel calls this, kitchen sink chex mix… which makes me laugh every year she reminds me this is what she calls it and I don't know why I can't remember this name myself, because I'm sure that would be a better name for it… but for now… we will go with the politically incorrect white trash route…

I used, a bag of pretzels, a bag of M&M's (this year I used peanut M&M's), equal parts honey nut cheerios, captain crunch, corn chex cereal, wheat chex cereal, after you've melted a bag of white chocolate chips stir in enough veggie oil until it's not as shiny as before, but has a more dull look to it (how is that for technical talk) pour over cereal mix and coat it all well, spread over wax paper. After it's dry, break it all up, put into zip lock bags, christmas boxes, or directly into your mouth. Done.



Our friend Clay, told me that it taste just like our home… which, hands down, was the most flattering and heart warming complement ever.


CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER ROLL

This is a recipe that came about after I tried to duplicate a friends chocolate roll recipe and failed at mimicking her delicious creation, but ended up with one of my own…

In a pan, I melt a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips… then add enough oil, until it has that 'shine less look to it' spread the melted chocolate onto wax paper, let it harden a bit… this is where living in Norther Maine, mid December pays off, because you can throw it outside long enough for the chocolate to set.. but keep an eye on your neighbor's dogs, who always find their way on to your porch at the precise moment you've forgotten the chocolate is out there… 


While the chocolate is setting, pour 1/4 cup of melted butter over about 2 cups of peanut butter, us your electric mixer to blend it all, then pour in powdered sugar until you've got a peanut butter mixture worth sending a cell phone picture of to your husband at work about… sometimes I find myself adding more butter to the mix as well, there is a lot of tasting going on at the point… you're welcome…

Spread PB over chocolate, use wax paper to roll it over on itself and then cut into little slices. Done and done.


{Our 'happy it's time to taste test' face}

{A snuck in finger swipe, when I was momentarily distracted by Words With Friends}

{Sister's 'back off my chocolate' look… she gets that from her grandmothers}

Honestly, these couldn't be any simpler, yet more overly rewarding… I love making them all, but love giving them away even more…



Back tomorrow, with our weekend round up...