We Need A Little (Smaller) Christmas

right this very minute...

My poor husband. After years of careful training on my part, he has finally learned to fully embrace that Clark Griswald Christmas spirit while his wife is beginning to recite 'edit, edit, edit' in her head.

What does this mean? While Tim is wandering around the attic and trying to hand me every single Christmas thing we own (and it's a lot), I'm yelling up "Not this year." Hence the grumbling and muttering from up above as he tells the rejected items they are going to the cast-off corner.

I'm not getting rid of anything, but I have been trying to pull back, refocus and refresh our decorations for the season...without buying anything new unless it's living like wreaths or swags. My BFFs might faint dead away when they read this that has been typed by my own two hands: There can be too much of a good thing. (Thud heard in MA, I know)

Instead of putting out every single snowman I own, just a few came out to play this year. Instead of spreading out our Christmas trees into several areas, I grouped them in a miniature forest.

I like it. It's not the heavenly displays from Anthropologie or Kate's Paperie, but it seems...new...even though it's all old stuff.

I did give in to dressing up the chandeliers a bit.

And Sozo kitty was overjoyed to see her annual December napping spot return again. The minute that tree skirt went down, I swear she was sprawled out on it in less than a minute.

Tim will thank me for all that editing later when he's not carrying all that stuff back up to the attic. ;)

Opus Gluei Challenge

Yeah, I managed to squeak in another Opus Gluei challenge this weekend! I probably went off the color palette a bit by throwing a blue in there, but when it feels so right, how can it be wrong? :) I pulled from MME, Heidi Swapp, 7 Gypsies, Ranger, Basic Grey and Target $ Spot for this one. It's not too complicated, but it is cute (I hope).

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Wonderful I hope! Now on to....

Christmas Crazy!

Ok, if you've been here before you know I get totally geeked out over Christmas. I'm insufferable really. To that end, I have put the Christmas playlist back up on the bottom of the blog. If you don't like it, mute it. If you do, turn up the dial and sing along!

And, I'm losing sleep in the name of merriment. As in Making Merry! A couple of friends and I are getting together for a little holiday experiment. If it works out, we may expand it to other holidays as well. As it is, I'm can't wait to share my project with them; a little vintage chic with a bit of a nod towards Steampunk style (Loved that Steampunk storyline on Castle a couple of months ago!)

Time to get back to decking some halls...

Merry Inspiration

I think it's fairly evident by now that Christmas is upon the horizon. I knew it was here the moment I polished off my first bag of Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses (drat you Hershey!). When the Cadbury Mini Balls showed up at Target, I nearly had a happy seizure (Did you know in Canada, they have these all year round? Dude, no fair!)

Just a few links to get you in a merry mood...

Inspired Ideas, The Christmas Issue OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS, this online issue is full of Christmas love. I know at least one idea that I'm tweaking from this and about 10 more ideas that are on my 'must-do' list!

Holiday...with Matthew Mead Seriously, I danced a jig when I opened my mailbox to find this gift in it this evening. A flippin' full on jig, I tell ya! (while holding eggs in one hand too) I haven't even gotten past the first few pages and I'm already salivating at the joy contained in the pages of this lush magazine. Only 'magazine' isn't the right word for it. It's a revelation of Christmas pleasures supported online by links to patterns, recipes and more. You can only get it by ordering online or from a store that specially ordered a box of this goodness.

I have followed Matthew Mead's creative trail for years and he's assembled a fabulous team that has put together "Holiday" so thoughtfully that you won't regret getting a copy of your own.

Joli Paquet Back for another Christmas with free tutorials (and these are GOOD tutorials too) and teasers about their famous kit sales from a group of talented artists, make sure you don't forget to check Joli Paquet often.

One Pretty Thing Here you will find ideas, inspiration and free downloads on a daily basis. If you can't get excited about something on this site, the Whos from Whoville need to grow your Grinchy heart a size or two.

Opus Gluei, the Gratitude Edition

I hope Rosemary and Jana haven't kicked me off the rolls for Opus Gluei. I know I've been a bad artist. Having my entire studio flooded and torn apart for months really threw me into an art funk (in a bad way). It's still not completely put together, but I had to get in there and do what I could to pull a Tim Gunn (make it work). (And I will digress here and say this about Project Runway: Mondo got robbed. Humph.)

Then, to just totally throw me for a loop, my trusty camera went kaput. It began putting out images that looked like negatives from the film reel for the original Excorcist. I don't care what Tim Gunn says, I could not make that work at all. I frittered away for months using only my camera phone to capture shaky images.

When dear hubby and I were about to leave for vacation, I stomped my little feet (or long, wide, plantar fascitis plagued feet) and announced via text message whilst at Costco, that I WAS getting a camera before the trip. Remind me of my behavior next time one of my teens gives me attitude. Who was going to believe I was viewing lava if I didn't have the proof? (Uh and I still don't have proof. They wouldn't let us that close to the lava. But I do have a 'Beach closed. Shark sighting.' photo!)

So folks, I hope this means I'm back in the business of creating and occasionally participating in some Opus Gluei fun!

Their latest challenge was Attitude of Gratitude. Someone recently went above and beyond for me, so I wanted to give her a little somethin' somethin'. She loves herself some good chocolate. That can be had from the store, but it needed some presentation, some panache, a little something extra. I pulled from the gorgeous fall palette for color inspiration and glued a lush Prima flower that I'd been waiting for the perfect project to use it because it was THAT special to a golden organza bag.

For a card, I did several scalloped circles held together by ball chain embellished with a glass leaf charm, a silver letter charm and some vintage seam binding. Then those teensie circle letters from Jenni Bowlin nestled into the little scalloped to spell 'Grateful'. I wrote her a note of thanks upon the circles and will be giving it to her this weekend. Since she never reads blogs, I think I'm safe in showing it here in advance. I hope!

Egg-citement!

So, no comment on the long, uncomfortable silences on this blog. Same story women have told for ages...

Last weekend, the hubby and I were running around doing errands and it occured to me that Maryland at this time of year is wildly beautiful. The colleges deftly schedule their tours to coincide with the perfect scenery. Numerous fall festivals and craft shows abound. Most importantly, our chickens have started laying!

Yes, the previous freeloaders are slowly beginning to come off scholarship and earn their keep. Surprisingly, the first little layer was Peanut, our black silkie and the tiniest of the flock. Peanut is our youngest daughter's personal chicken, so young daughter is especially proud that her chickie is the chickie who could. (We all need to start refering to Peanut as a she since we've previously called Peanut a he. Our apologies Peanut!)
Peanut lays the cutest, half-size bantam pullet eggs.

The next little chickie on the production line is Duckie, our Buff Orpington and acknowledged chicken public relations ambassador. Duckie is the calmest, most inquisitive little lady who enjoys attention, so she is the one to comfort and reaasure those who view chickens negatively.

And most recently, Patches, our pretty Easter Egger with a funny, floppy comb has begun laying a lovely blue-green egg. She sings her quirky egg song beforehand, arranges the nest box just so and then puffs up before dropping off her contribution to the egg carton.

We do have a mystery layer who hasn't figured out that dropping your eggs willy-nilly in the chicken run isn't so wise. We are hopeful she will watch her chickie sisters and follow their lead.

Most of the others show signs of joining the production line soon including one little white silkie who I was quite sure was a rooster and it now most assuredly a little lady with a really odd comb.

So, soon quiche, omelets and angel food cakes will abound! If it begins to get too crazy, we'll resort to tossing eggs in unlocked cars and leaving them anonymously on neighbors porches (must like our practice with zucchini and tomatoes in the summer).

Don't even ask hubby how much that first egg cost!

A Product of Their Times

Yes, yes, yes, this blog has been collecting dust for months. Sorry if you sneeze! No promises that it'll get any better, but who knows?

I was on a forum the other day and there was a discussion of products our mothers bought (or prepared) when we were children that we now despise. I remember my mom used to buy imitation chocolate chips for her cookies. Not only that, but she would double the cookie recipe without doubling the chips! Not just one crime, but two; especially to unwavering chocolate lovers like me. I don't know that they even make those chips anymore or perhaps that my eyes refuse to register them on the shelf.

That wasn't the only bizarre food choice in our household when I was growing up. When my mom was expecting my little sister, she craved sardine sandwiches with mustard. Guess what we had for lunch a lot? A whole lot.

Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s (I think) was when generic foods came into existence. There was a warehouse store that was totally foreign to me. You bought these enormous boxes of food, but all the packaging looked the same; either white or yellow with a checkmark and plain black font. Duh, all the food tasted the same too; like crusty sock fungus or remarkably like the cardboard boxes they were packaged in. I know several store brand foods are quite alright now, but back then, it was social death to have a friend glimpse into your cabinets to see a flash of plain boxed puffed rice insta-dinner.

Now, if I go further back a generation as it related to me, I remember the meals my grandparents made and their attitudes towards food. My maternal grandparents had a large garden each year (and still do though they are both well seasoned in years) and canned many, many vegetables, fruits, jams & jellies. Prize winning cans in fact. My mom has groused on more than one occasion that Nana cooked the vegetables to mush (true a lot of times), but at least Nana knew where they were grown, what they were grown with and what they were grown without. Though her cinnamon squash will go down in infamy (because it most certainly did not go down my gullet), Nana and Papa approached food in the same way they were raised with food.

Surely they've all grown. Nana now buys store bought pies and several convenience foods. My parents are once again growing much of their own food and have farm fresh eggs from their motley crew of chickens.

What am I a product of? Pretty much an unhealthy amalgam of what was first taught to me in school as the 4 food groups. Now it's the food pyramid. And a lot of the food on the shelves in the grocery come with ingredients lists that are longer than the ingredients list on my eye shadow. Now that's freaky. And I can't pronounce the ingredients either.

We've swung back and forth between low-fat/no-fat, sugar free, high fiber, no carbs, good carbs, omega-3s, whatchapeas, etc to the point where frankly I think most of us are more confused than not about healthy eating.

The author Michael Pollan tells us it might help if we shop the aisles of our local grocery and only buy things our great-grandmother would recognize. That would pretty much cut out all the interior aisles. Not to go label crazy, but if my Great Grandma Rae wouldn't buy it, then I should think about leaving it on the shelf myself.

As Richard Dreyfuss tells Bill Murray in "What About Bob", baby steps. What are my baby steps right now?

Today I picked fresh peppers, cherry tomatoes, my first 'big' tomato (a Cherokee Purple), burgundy okra, basil and Italian flatleaf parsley. I also dug up all the sweet onions.

Oh, and I fed these little girls watermelon rinds which they gobbled right up. Should be weeks though before they are off 'scholarship' and start earning their keep by laying eggs.

The first girl is LaVerne (we have a Shirley too). She's a Silkie bantam which means she's like a miniature poodle prissy poodle chicken. The second girl is Cream Puff who has a lovely feather pattern of a red head cascading into silvery blue tail feathers. She's an Araucana (or Easter Egger), so she'll lay blue or green eggs.

Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming: Summer!