A Change

I know I haven't blogged for a while. Sorry--I'll get to that later. In the meantime, here's a bit of news. I'm a redhead!

Day of...??

Okay, I missed a day. Really I'm impressed that I lasted this long. My whole family is sick. Well, except for me. Cassidy's been hacking up a lung lately, Cam is sick but still going to work, Nate's coughing and seems to have a little stomach bug, and Grant has a serious runny nose. Fun stuff. Luckily (haha) for me, last year's tonsillectomy has been keeping me healthier than those other sickos.

So I missed a day. And I'm not sure if I have the energy for the rest of the days either. :( These sickos are putting a damper on my Christmas spirit.

Day Of December #20

I love holiday yummies. Chocolate oranges, candy cane Kisses, white chocolate covered Oreos, and of course--pumpkin rolls. I love pumpkin, and since I met Cam, these goodies have permanently been part of my holidays!

Pumpkin Roll

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 tsp lemon juice

Beat eggs at high speed for 5 min. Gradually add sugar & pumpkin. Stir in lemon juice.

3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Fold dry ingredients into pumpkin mix. Spread on well greased jelly roll pan. Top with 1 c chopped nuts (if desired). Bake at 375 for 13-15 min. While baking, dust clean dish cloth with powdered sugar. When done, gently loosen cake & flip onto dish cloth. Immediately roll into cloth jelly roll fashion & leave until cool. When room temperature, unroll, frost, reroll, & refrigerate.

Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz. softened cream cheese
4 Tbsp softened butter
1 tsp vanilla

Slice to serve. Freezes well.

Day Of December #19

Whew! Barely made it in time for today! Today's project: a wire star. This star shape always reminds of the star in the sky that led the shepherds and wise men to the manger Christ was born in. Not that I know what it looked like personally, but you know what icons can do for you. Anywho, I really like it wrapped in twine. I was going to do fabric, but this feels more manger-y. Rustic.

It's already reminding me of the reason for the season. Yeah, this one I like.

The Duoing Princess Party

Cassidy has a friend with a birthday in December too. Last year, trying to plan days for the two parties was NUTS (we have a lot of the same friends). This year, we got smart and combined the two parties. Less work for both of us and less events for our friends. The theme was, of course, princesses. We had a lot of royalty show up for the party--2 Cinderellas, a Snow White, a Sleeping Beauty, and a Belle! We played "Pass the Poison Apple" and "Pin the Kiss on the Frog."

Here's my frog. Isn't he cute?

And some of the food from the party. Not great pics though. I got some awesome cookie cutters--a crown, a frog, and a slipper. The other birthday girl's mom made colored rice krispie treats with them and I made "Princess bread." Basically I used the cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the bread, buttered it, and then sprinkled on sanding sugar. I thought it was cute, but NOT food that lasts a long time. I LOVED the castle cake the other mom (Cathi) made. She put their names and the right number of candles on each side. They blew them out at the same time. Everything worked out great and was super easy. (We didn't have it at my house! I didn't have to clean!)

Side note: You know those peg boards that men put in their garages to hang up tools on? And the really organized ones draw outlines of the tools on the board so everything stays where it should be? My dream is to have one of those peg boards some day. But mine will be filled with obscure cookie cutters. I LOVE having random ones no one else does. And they will all be metal. I have a healthy collection of plastic ones, and I like them, but metal is just better. What a weirdo I am!

Cassidy's Birthday Present or The Best Freaking Homemade Gift I've Ever Made

Remember a long time ago when I told you I was making felt food to go with a big present I was making for Cassidy? I decided since we're going out of town for Christmas to give her the big present for her birthday. That way we don't have to lug it back and forth. Can you guess what I made from this?

This is the before. An old, discarded, dirty (and UGLY) nightstand with hardware missing that I bought through Craigslist for $5.

Are you ready for the after? Here it comes....

A play kitchen! I got the idea and the how-to from here from Out of the Crayon Box. I had plenty of help (and tool usage) from my friend Ashley. Even her dad and Cam got in on helping a bit. I'm still learning how to use some power tools!

My mom found the bowl at a yard sale. Ashley and I cut a hole in the top of the nightstand and the lip of the bowl is glued on there. The burners are painted black with a cut up square dowel on top. The knobs are just wooden circles. The faucet is a wooden "J" from Hobby Lobby, and the handles are wooden ...thingies from Hobby Lobby too. I used scrap wood from my friend Ashley for the back (to make a backsplash) and the bottoms of the shelves. Even the paint was free (thanks to Ashley's stash).


We cut the front off of one of the drawers, changed the hardware, and added hinges to make it more oven-like. (Pardon the lovely background. I was just too excited!)

The fabric was from my stash and I just used a suspension rod to hang the curtains I sewed myself. I added one of those removable hooks and an oven mitt. Eventually I want to get a tray and paint the inside with chalkboard paint for the other side. I think a tray would hold a piece of chalk well. (Who am I kidding? Her brother would eat or lose chalk in a heartbeat!)

I'm so freaking pleased with how this came out. And I've managed to keep it a secret from her so far! I can't wait to see her face when she opens it tomorrow at her birthday party!

What do you think?

Day Of December #18

I'm just getting more and more lame. Anywho, I bought those paper doily things that you put under cakes thinking they would make good and easy snowflakes.

I was never good at folding the paper and cutting them out, so I don't know what I was thinking when I bought these doilies. I thought I'd cut a bit out of them--each one unique and all that. Yeah, not so much.

So I just put them up as is. And guess what. They look just like doilies on my curtains. I'm hoping at least the kids will think they are snowflakes when they see them in the morning.

Well, you win some, you lose some.