Christmas Part One

On Saturday we went to our first Christmas party of the season. Every year my Grandma hosts a party at her house for the entire family, and this year it was a little earlier than usual since some of the family had traveled in from Wyoming. It was great to see everyone again, eat (a lot) of delicious food, and also celebrate my cousin's graduation from college. Yep, my little cousin graduated college. How did that happen? Wasn't it just last week that I was eight years old and holding him in the hospital shortly after he was born? That's what I thought...

She's at a point where she gets excited when she sees presents but she's just as happy to give them to someone else as she is to open them. I like that :)

This week is full of more baking, cooking, eating, and getting together with friends and family. I always enjoy this time of year but the events of last Friday have definitely cast a shadow over everything. If you're reading this, you're having a good day. I don't care if your boss is a jerk, or you have the flu, or your co-worker is nasty, or if your credit card debt is high. Maybe your kids are acting out or you have to deal with airports during Christmas or you got a really crappy haircut or you had to sit in traffic for a long time on your way home from work. Whatever it is, it really doesn't matter. Take a second and be thankful that you are lucky enough that whatever is going on in your life is not so bad as what those parents and families are going through in Newtown. For at least one day, I call a moratorium on complaining. Because really, we have it pretty darn good.


~Stacy

Gingerbread Lane

If you live in the Northeast Ohio area and are looking for something Christmas-y to do before the day is here, you should check out Gingerbread Lane at Great Northern Mall! Gingerbread Lane is an annual event hosted by a wonderful organization called Welcome House. Welcome House is a non-profit agency that operates group homes for adults with developmental disabilities. They have been serving Cuyahoga County for the past 40 years, and every year a bunch of local bakeries donate a fabulous gingerbread creation to display on behalf of Welcome House for an entire month before Christmas.

These can hardly be called simply "gingerbread houses." To me, a gingerbread house is four walls and a roof with some gumdrops and frosting, something you can buy in a kit at a craft store. Cute and festive, but not really display-in-public worthy. These houses (and villages, movie replicas, ice skating rinks, etc.) are elaborately decorated down to the finest detail, large in scale and quite impressive.

Let's take a tour:

This house was created by The Grateful Dog Bakery, located in North Ridgeville, OH. This bakery is the most unique of the list because all of their baked goods are for cats and dogs! They specialize in all-natural, homemade treats for the furry friends in your life.

This next gingerbread village was actually made and decorated by some of the clients who attend the Welcome House Community Center. The WHCC is a day program for adults with developmental disabilities.

Next up is a scene from one of my favorite holiday movies, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  This was made by Great Scott's Bakery & Deli in Rocky River, OH. Great Scott's makes some of the most delicious cupcakes you can find: my mom gave us a box of them right after I had Charlotte and it was definitely one of the finest gifts a person can give to a new mom. Also, the cupcakes are huge and they have really unique flavors (like chocolate with maple bacon frosting).

This one comes from Gingerbread Homes by Jon Thibo and Nick Fumic. You can check out their Facebook page here! These skilled gingerbread men (har har) also have an award-winning house on display at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens for their grand gingerbread display that is part of a huge holiday event called "Glow."

The guys at Gingerbread Homes were very busy this season, since they also made this next A Christmas Story inspired house (they even included the leg lamp!):

Fligner's Market in Lorain, OH is behind this next creation. Fligner's is one of the largest locations on this list, with a full-service deli and bakery (along with any catering option you could wish for!):

And last but certainly not least, here's one from Colozza's Bakery in Parma, OH. Specializing in cakes and cannolis, you can't go wrong at Colozza's!

To check out all of these displays, along with several others that aren't included here, visit Great Northern Mall  now thru December 24th. Hours are Monday-Saturday 10AM to 9PM and Sundays from 11AM to 6PM.

~Stacy

Play Kitchen

Shh, don't tell Charlotte but part of her Christmas loot this year includes a play kitchen. It's a small, simple little kitchen that I found on sale last summer when she was just a few weeks old. I've been keeping it hidden, in the box, in her closet ever since.

The box is fairly big and the kitchen is not, so I assumed that it was either completely put together or in two (maybe three?) pieces.

I was incorrect.

I'm glad I checked because I was going to just leave it in the box until Christmas Eve and take it out before bed, stick a bow on it, and set it by the tree for Charlotte to find in the morning. I was more than a little surprised to find 14,756 pieces (approximately) that were all attached to one another in sheets of conjoined parts, along with two bags of different sized screws.

This was just the first page.

Fantastic.

I started assembling the kitchen at about 7:45 that evening and was finished around 9:30. Not too bad, and for the most part without frustration, but still. It wasn't necessarily how I'd choose to spend my Friday evening, but then again, had I gone with my original plan that's how I would've spent Christmas Eve.

The kitchen is pretty basic, which is perfect for her age. It takes up a small amount of space and doesn't light up or make any sounds--both pluses in my book. But on the downside it's kind of...boring. It's just a lot of beige, and some blue. Blah. Not that she cares, but still. So I decided to jazz it up with a little bit  of color and make some Charlotte-sized pot holders. This was a perfect use for some of my fabric scraps and only took about fifteen minutes.

The pot holders are made from two charm packs each, plus a small scrap of ribbon for the hook. I also used a piece of 5"x5" cotton batting in each of them.

And last but not least, we bought her a set of "food" for her play kitchen:

Click here for image source (we'd already wrapped her set, otherwise I would've taken my own photo!)

I had to hurry up and hide the kitchen back in the attic before she comes home, otherwise her little eyes would light up and there'd be no way we could take her present back for another two weeks. 

So I guess this means we now have two kitchens in our house. And only one of them is clean...

~Stacy

Tea for Two

Charlotte loves to share her pretend food/drinks with, well, everyone. Howard was the most recent recipient of her generosity.

Offering Howard some grape soda:

She disappeared to find something more suitable.

 She poured some milk into her teacup...

...and taste tested to ensure quality as Howard salivated in the background.

Howard isn't so sure about this beverage.

She decided to skip the formalities and just let him drink straight from her sippy cup.

Goofball.

Don't worry, Howard did NOT actually drink from her sippy cup or lick it. That would be gross.

Side note: Can you believe Christmas is almost two weeks away?? That's nuts. Thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, my shopping is done. The presents are wrapped and hidden in various places throughout the house, which may or may not have been a good idea. I'm worried that I ended up hiding a few from myself...I like the feeling of being done and having some time to do a little more of this before big day is here:

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

~Stacy

Book List: Childhood & Young Adult Classics

Yeah yeah, this is another post on books. I can't help myself, plus I'm stuck in the middle of a new project that isn't blog ready yet and the ones I've just finished are all Christmas presents for people who read this blog, so can't post those either. I don't have any fun pictures to share since I haven't charged my camera battery in almost a week. Even if I had it wouldn't be put to great use since Charlotte is teething and unless you want pictures of a baby who's ticked off and tired, no photos today.

Howard, on the other hand? Always photo ready:

In this particular shot, he was both tired and ashamed. The tiredness was from his new favorite activity: football. He has a semi-deflated football (from somewhere, as I do not recall purchasing a football ever in my life) that he plays fetch with and loves almost as much as Frisbee. The shame came from the scolding he'd just gotten for barking his head off at the neighbors who were hanging their Christmas lights. I don't know what it was about the sight of a lit wreath and some twinkly garland that upset him so intensely (and loudly), but it did. He has since calmed down and decided that Christmas decor is not, after all, the root of all evil.

Anyhow, books. I haven't gone to the library recently and was on a bit of a book drought. Now that we have the built-ins I am constantly looking at all of the books I own and haven't read in a long time, so I thought it might be a good idea to reread some old favorites. I narrowed it down to books I liked when I was younger and haven't read in forever, ones that I kept because they're great (classics, in my mind) but also because I want Charlotte to have them when she's older. Here's my list:

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (the whole series)

My mom gave me the first few books in this series when I was younger, around 8 or 9 years old. I read them all and enjoyed them but wanted to revisit the series as an adult since I know I didn't appreciate learning about the history and pioneer way of life at that age. The books are fascinating, especially given that they are a real account of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life from the time she was five years old until she was a grown woman, married with a family of her own. 

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (whole series)

I finally joined the modern world and read this series for the first time last winter. I loved them. Every single one of the 4,224 pages (no, I didn't count. Google it.) was fantastic. This type of story is normally not my thing, so I was surprised that I enjoyed these books as much as I did. There are so many characters and all of them are so richly developed that I think I'll get even more from the books by reading them again. And this time around I'll know what happens to Voldemort so I won't be as anxious to fly through them :)

Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards

I don't remember how old I was when I got this book, but I loved it and read it at least once a year until I was a teenager. It's about a 10-year old girl named Mandy, who lives in an orphanage and dreams of finding a family. Near the orphanage, she finds an abandoned cottage that she begins visiting everyday, turning it into her very own "home." It's a wonderful story with a happy ending that I never get tired of reading.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I think everyone has read Little Women or at least has a general idea of the story. This is one that I read when I was about 10 or 11 and was, by far, the longest book I had read to that point. It seemed like it took forever, and I know I missed out on a lot of the history and details in the story. It's also one that I've never reread, so I would like to revisit it soon. Hopefully it won't take so long to read this time around :)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I first read this in 11th grade as part of an assignment for my English Lit class. I liked it so much that I ended up doing my final report on the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald and ended up reading a few of his other  books. This Side of Paradise comes in at a close second, but Gatsby is the best. I want to reread this one before the movie comes out this summer (which I hope Hollywood doesn't screw up...).


Now, off to get some other things accomplished before my tiny teething monster wakes up.

Happy December!

~Stacy

Project Pinterest: You Win Some, You Lose Some

If you have spent any time on Pinterest, you know that not all pins are created equal. I spend a lot of my Pinterest time in the "DIY & Crafts" section, searching for new ideas on sewing or crafting projects that are useful, cute/colorful/pretty/some other adjective that means visually appealing, and at least relatively simple and inexpensive to make. Some DIY/crafty ideas can go a little overboard, in my opinion. How many hand-knitted wrist warmers does one need, exactly? Correct answer = none. But sometimes a pin can seem like a good idea and when you try to replicate it you end up making something of a mess.

Enter my latest effort--homemade lip gloss.

This idea didn't come from any specific pin. I searched for "homemade lip gloss" and a bunch of results came up, many of which had this basic recipe:

1/2 cup Vaseline
1-2 packets of Crystal Light (or Kool-Aid mix, whatever)
A container to put it in

Directions: mix it all together and put it in the container.

That sounds incredibly simple, yes? Why yes, I thought, it does! Even better, I already had a small container of Vaseline that I could scoop out, mix with some Crystal Light I had, and put back in the same container. Free, woohoo!

I especially liked this idea because it used plain and simple Vaseline. I carry a little container of this around with me at all times and use it as lip gloss, constantly. I have really sensitive skin and for some reason I get chapped lips or even cracks if I wear any other kind of chapstick, lipstick, lip gloss, you name it. If I do wear some sort of colored lipstick I have to apply Vaseline first as a base. I like having a little color so the idea of having a light tint of pink/red mixed in with the stuff I already wear was appealing.

So I grabbed my ingredients and got to work.

My first sign that this was not going to end well was the difficulty I had stirring. The glob of Vaseline just wanted to hang out on the spoon the whole time, so I kept having to use my fingers to push it off but then it would get stuck to my fingers. So then when I tried cleaning it off my fingers I made a mess and ended up just cleaning it off with dry paper towels, leaving a slick residue on my hands that made stirring a slippery and frustrating task.

I emptied one packet of drink mix into the bowl and stirred. Hmm. It colored it, but it was kind of a really pale mauve color. Not the look I was going for. One more packet. Now it was still mauve, just more richly hued. It was also gritty, so I pressed the spoon into the mixture to dry to mix it better and get a smoother texture. It stuck to the spoon in between each press and what didn't stick to the spoon stuck to the side of the bowl. Now I had a mess of a bowl plus cherry stained, Vaseline covered hands.

After some more mixing I decided to try it out and see how the color looked once applied.

It felt like I was smearing sand onto my mouth. The texture was still really gritty, plus the tang of the flavor made my lips tingle. I could taste the drink mix, which wasn't bad, but definitely intense.

I checked the color out in the mirror. It wasn't awful, but then I realized that it had stained my tongue as well. I'd had to lick the colored sugar mix off my lips or I would've looked like the top of a salted margarita glass. Added bonus: my teeth were also tinged a slight red color.

I scooped the batch back into the Vaseline jar, though I'd lost a good portion of it in the stirring/cleaning debacle. Once it was back in the container, I wiped the bowl out with a dry paper towel and promptly dropped it on the floor, leaving a glob of pink Vaseline behind and rendering that tile stained and incredibly slippery. I then threw away the container of lip gloss in a fit of frustration and disgust.

Moral of this story: buy some damn lip gloss. It costs about a dollar, seriously. The money you save in drink mix, paper towels, and cleaner for your hands and kitchen can be saved and put toward another DIY project. You know, like yard for those wrist warmers.

Can't win 'em all :)



~Stacy