Get This.

I found this cool CD Packaging Kit at Winners today for $5.99 and had to share. I'm not giving it as a gift, but using it to make gifts for some of my looooved ones. For my parents I am going to burn CDs and for some of my besties I am going to make "mixed tapes". Sometimes it's hard to be thrifty at Christmas (because it's fun to spend and because I don't want to give crappy gifts) but I am confident these CDs & DVDs are going to be big hits if I pick the right songs... and they are so dang cute!

There were still lots left (by the till) at the Winners at 130th Ave (In case you were looking).

I am going to make one tonight for my Mother In Law who is in the hospital recovering from a recent surgery. She'll love it (as long as there is some Josh Groban on it! Heehee!).

So excited to give the gift of music!

mmm Christmas.

Christmas is great on the senses. I love the taste, smell, sights & sounds. I got into the spirit early this year & it hasn't subsided, yet. Today, while the wind tore off our shingles & took down our neighbors tree, we cozied up for some Candy Cane Hot Chocolate & North Poles (below).

I bought these mugs (I have 12, all different) at Value Village when I was in college. I remember hating them, but I needed mugs & they were 10cents each. Now I love them and the fact that each one is different.

10 Things I love Doing Before Christmas (whew!)

1. Baking. Obviously.

2. Decorating the house.

3. Putting up outdoor lights. But only if it's warmer than zero degrees outside.

4. Wrapping. This year each kid is getting their own pattern. I thought that'd be cute.

5. Reading Christmas magazines. It's like Pinterest.. I'll never do even 10% of what's in those magazines, but it sure is fun to look.

6. Taking the kids to see Santa at the mall. Even if they cry, it's still fun.

7. Getting the kids all dressed up... they sure do clean up nice!

8. Shopping. Even on a budget, it's fun. And I am so happy with the couple of gifts I have picked up for people thus far. I know my parents are going to love theirs... and they are so hard to buy for.

9. Cleaning. My house is always so clean at Christmas, it's nice to spend time in a clean house.

10. Singing. We've been listening to Christmas CD's since the beginning of November. Miles is really getting to know some of the songs. The other day he was in his room singing "Old McJinglebells" - Nice try sweetie!

My Over-Zealous Christmas Baking List Update

1. Banana Loaves

2. Molasses Spice Cookies

3. White-Chocolate Peppermint Brownies (New this year!)

4. Sugar Cookies (For the kids to Decorate)

5. Peanut Butter Toffee Pretzel Cookies (From Real Simple)

6. Shortbread Cookies (I've already made these, they didn't make it to the freezer! Oops!)

7. Chocolate Chip Cookies

8. Nuts & Bolts (New this year!)

9. Fiddle Diddles (A tradition. No Bake = Easy to Make)

10. Peanut Butter Balls (Also No Bakes but a little more work)

11. Martha Klassens Saltine Cookies

12. June Bars

13. Cinnamon Pull Aparts (For Christmas morning)

14. Lemon Jelly Squares

15. Granny Ruths Butter Tarts

16. Chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks

 

Molly enjoying a present-shaped Sugar Cookie. I have hardly let them taste my wares... I'm saving it all for Christmas but she gave me such a look, I just couldn't say No.

Santas Little Helper

 I had already made my Fiddle Diddles and cleaned them up (and even blogged!) when Miles called me out on a promise I made to him. I had told him we would make cookies today. But then he napped & I seized the moment and made Fiddle Diddles without him. So I hauled back out my mixer and we got to work.

Miles is a great little helper. He can crack eggs, he loves to dump in all the ingredients & he especially loved that this recipe called for crushed pretzels. His favourite part was smushing the cookies with the fork before they hit the oven. Even Molly helped, well, tried to.

We made 2 dozen (and burnt one dozen!) Peanut Butter Toffee Pretzel Cookies. Sounds good right? They are. I got the recipe from this months Real Simple. It's a gooder! They have 30 different cookie recipes in this months issue.

I got a scoop of broken pretzel sticks (I am still on the hunt for full ones, if you know of a source please let me know.) at Bulk Barn for less than $1 & I had Skor bits already in the freezer!

Our finished cookies were divine! I thought the pretzels might be too hard but they actually seemed to get softer baking them. Here is our finished product...cooling off before they hit the freezer. Shhhh. No one tell Brian they are down there!



My Over-Zealous Christmas Baking List Update

1. Banana Loaves

2. Molasses Spice Cookies

3. White-Chocolate Peppermint Brownies (New this year!)

4. Sugar Cookies (For the kids to Decorate)

5. Peanut Butter Toffee Pretzel Cookies (From Real Simple)

6. Shortbread Cookies (I've already made these, they didn't make it to the freezer! Oops!)

7. Chocolate Chip Cookies

8. Nuts & Bolts (New this year!)

9. Fiddle Diddles (A tradition. No Bake = Easy to Make)

10. Peanut Butter Balls (Also No Bakes but a little more work)

11. Martha Stewarts Klassens Saltine Cookies

12. June Bars

13. Cinnamon Pull Aparts (For Christmas morning)

14. Lemon Jelly Squares

15. Granny Ruths Butter Tarts

16. Chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks

Fill 'em up!

Fill 'em up!

I've got 6 large containers waiting to be filled with Christmas goodies. Today I made 3 dozen Fiddle Diddles (you might know them as Haystacks). They're no-bake treats so they came together so well. I'm saving the baked treats for cold days when I need to warm the house up! Ha!

It's as easy as putting all the ingredients in a bowl (Cocoa, Coconut, Walnuts & Oats) and then pouring over the melted butter, milk & sugar. Mix, spoon & freeze. And I'm done! Another Christmas treat crossed off my list. I suppose Brian will come home one day soon & tell me it's Fat Friday (when everyone in his office bring home-made treats), this time, I'm ready!

I had to run out to Bulk Barn this morning where I spent a whopping $2.21 on walnuts (best deal in town!) and $1.28 on colored sugars for making Sugar Cookies later this week. I sound like a broken record, but I just love being able to buy only what I need. I rarely use walnuts so rather than buy a $10 bag, I got 1/2cup, just enough for my recipe.

My Over-Zealous Christmas Baking List Update

1. Banana Loaves

2. Molasses Spice Cookies

3. White-Chocolate Peppermint Brownies (New this year!)

4. Sugar Cookies (For the kids to Decorate)

5. Peanut Butter Toffee Pretzel Cookies (From Real Simple)

6. Shortbread Cookies (I've already made these, they didn't make it to the freezer! Oops!)

7. Chocolate Chip Cookies

8. Nuts & Bolts (New this year!)

9. Fiddle Diddles (A tradition. No Bake = Easy to Make)

10. Peanut Butter Balls (Also No Bakes)

11. Martha Stewarts Klassens Saltine Cookies

12. June Bars

13. Cinnamon Pull Aparts (For Christmas morning)

14. Lemon Jelly Squares

15. Granny Ruths Butter Tarts

16. Chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks

Ready, Set, Christmas!

I had a fabulous weekend...

 Each year for my birthday my Sister-In-Law gets me a subscription to Real Simple magazine, it's the only magazine I read consistently. Anyway, it came in the mail on Friday & I have been devouring it all weekend. In fact, I revised my baking list to include some of the treats in this months issue.

Our lights are up! Brian had a bit of a Griswold moment (below) when he got all the strings out of the garage, but we finished them last weekend & turned them on this weekend. Is it too early for lights? Our neighbors have theirs on, so we're taking their cue. It was so nice to have the fireplace going & the lights on.

I checked a couple baking items off my over-zealous Christmas baking list this weekend. I made 5 dozen Molasses Spice Cookies & 2 dozen Banana Loaves. They turned out great & are in the freezer, ready for Christmas company to stop by. I know that I set my goal of 16 items (I've added one more since I last blogged) a little high, but we've been home-bodies for the past couple weekends to try & save money for Christmas, so baking has been the perfect way to keep busy.



My Over-Zealous Christmas Baking List

1. Banana Loaves

2. Molasses Spice Cookies

3. White-Chocolate Peppermint Brownies (New this year!)

4. Sugar Cookies (For the kids to Decorate)

5. Peanut Butter Toffee Pretzel Cookies (From Real Simple)

6. Shortbread Cookies (I've already made these, they didn't make it to the freezer! Oops!)

7. Chocolate Chip Cookies

8. Nuts & Bolts (New this year!)

9. Fiddle Diddles (A tradition. No Bake = Easy to Make)

10. Peanut Butter Balls (Also No Bakes)

11. Martha Stewarts Klassens Saltine Cookies

12. June Bars

13. Cinnamon Pull Aparts (For Christmas morning)

14. Lemon Jelly Squares

15. Granny Ruths Butter Tarts

16. Chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks

So. There it is. A little daunting. We'll see how it goes. Now I am off to finish decorating the rest of the house and have a warm molasses cookie. I am feeling so Christmas-y this weekend & am pretty excited for Brian's Christmas party this coming weekend.

AOHT & 'Quite the Doll'

Photo of Molly by Michelle Gier

I can always count on two things to trigger Acute Onset Happy Tears (AOHT) (Yeah, I totally just made that up.). When I was pregnant that list was much longer, once a Telus commercial featuring a hippopotamus had me in tears for hours...and I hate Telus. But in my less hormonal state, only two things can really cause a bout of AOHT so terrific that I need to let it play out or it will just start up again in 10 minutes. Christmas & Vinyl Cafe. And yesterday I had a healthy dose of both which lead to the present Kleenex shortage in our home.

If you're not familiar with the Vinyl Cafe radio programme on CBC radio then you won't understand the mistake I made. If you are, then when you read this you'll be asking yourself "What did she expect?". Good question. As I put Molly down for her afternoon nap I had to acknowledge that I could hardly keep my eyes open. I was exhausted and not in the typical Mom way...more so. And I don't nap, I've never been able to, so as I climbed into bed I knew sleeping wasn't an option. I took off my glasses and scrolled through my iPod eventually selecting a (free!) podcast from Vinyl Cafe entitled ' Springhill'. Within minutes of hearing Stuart Mcleans voice I was sobbing. Not crying, sobbing. And rather uncontrollably. I find AOHT is like that. Its not as easy to stop as tears of sadness or frustration. You can't reason with it. Once the floodgates are open...watchout. So there I am, listening to the story of Dave, stuck in the laundry chute listening to his sister sing (Splish Splash was also a favourite of mine), thinking of all the trouble my sisters & I got into and sobbing. Thinking of my children and overwhelmed with hopes that they too have childhood memories similar to that of the character Dave's or mine.

If you have iTunes (if you don't what decade are you living in???) go & download a free Podcast of the Vinyl Cafe today. Or pick up the 'Family Pack' at Costco right now for $19.99. You will love it. Nothing makes me feel more Canadian, makes me more nostalgic or gets my priorities and values in check than listening to it. And I look forward to the concert every Christmas season when they finally come out west (December 1st!).

In case that wasn't enough for the day, at the prompting of a message from my cousin Leya, I decide to watch the Polar Express with Miles before bedtime. Short story short: I was bawling for the same reasons I was just hours earlier. I close my eyes and prayed that my children will be blessed with those same experiences I had that made my childhood so fantastic. I prayed that they will believe in Santa, or the spirit of him, when they are 30 like their mom. I prayed that they will be lifelong friends like Dave & his sister or myself  & mine. It was clearly a cry-fest. And I was clearly out of control.

Maybe some days you just need to cry. Maybe it's all inside you & needs to get let out at regular intervals. And maybe it reminds you that you are human and capable of feeling these awesome things. And maybe it's all part of staying sane & being reminded of the reasons you chose to endure.

And it seems there is always balance. Had I not been overwhelmed with positive emotion I might not have handled the days events with as much Calm, Cool & Collect as I did.

Molly has this doll. She was actually mine, my dad bought her for me on a trip to Hong Kong. I always liked her (she has a baby wearing the same uniform that straps to her back) so I kept her around. I guess because she's been around for 18 years I forgot that she doesn't look like most of the other dolls around here. Molly has really taken to her and I let her take her with us while running errands yesterday. At the grocery store the cashier, a woman in her 60's, looked at the doll, looked at me and commented "Well, that's quite the doll!". It wasn't what she said, it was how she said it. Like the doll was made of razor blades or crack-cocaine. It was the tone of her voice that lead me to believe it was a criticism and not just a comment. I'm packing my groceries, growing increasingly offended. So what if I let my daughter take her doll out in public? I can wash her! I use to take my Cabbage Patch everywhere and I turned out just fine! It is a bit germ-y but I don't let Molly drag her on the floor and ------------------------------ it hits me! My first reaction is that the comment is a criticism on my parenting but I think it was actually a racist comment! It SO was! The lady didn't approve of my daughters military-clad Asian doll. I must have looked like an idiot standing there with a dumbfounded grin on my face. I was shocked by her ignorance. Shocked. But I didn't flip out. I didn't lose my cool. I didn't dive into a lecture on Acceptance or Diversity because it would have been wasted energy. Instead, when I was buckling Molly into her car seat I told her to give her baby lots of kisses because someone had just hurt her feelings.... Maybe a bit dramatic but there's a part of me, still 8 years old, that secretly thinks my dolls might be alive & have feelings.

Meal Planning & Pizza Soup

I spent the better part of the day meal planning. I think most people do this, some do it daily, I do it weekly (usually on Sunday night), and we all regret when we don't do it at all (but that's what Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is for!).  Meal planning has been a great way for us to keep on budget & to cut down on the number of trips I make to Sobeys & Costco during the week. It also stops me from having to throw out expired food. Before I started meal planning (when Molly arrived) I threw out at least $30 in food each week. Usually fresh vegetables & condiments. I also didn't mind making several trips to the store each week. Now I grocery shop weekly and today I came in $20 (and an extra jar of pickles) under on our weekly grocery budget which I state loudly (and repeatedly) to Brian until he pays me compliment.

Seven meals ready to go. They can be shuffled around, if I don't feel like roasted chicken tomorrow I can switch to pulled pork, but I know that I have the ingredients to make seven different meals in my fridge & pantry. If you don't meal plan I would suggest considering it as a New Years Resolution. Just try it.. honestly, when I do it I feel so much better about cooking & being organized in the upcoming week.

One thing I love is hunkering down with a stack of cookbooks to help me pick my meals. I am a bit of a cookbook addict but I use them all religiously. I bought the new Donna Hay at Costco last month ($20!) and hadn't cracked it open until today (I love that sound). I found loads of meals I would like to try but put just two (That's restraint!) into my weeks plan.

This weeks lucky seven

 1. Pizza Soup

 2. Garlic Roasted Chicken & Quinoa salad

3. Pulled Pork, Glazed Carrots & Mozzarella-baked Tomatoes

4. Cottage Pie

5. Turkey Chili & Spinach Salad

6. Orecchetti with Brussels sprouts and pancetta

(From my new Donna Hay cookbook...I'm so excited to try this!)

7. Potato & Bleu Cheese Frittata

(Also from the Donna Hay cookbook!)

If you noticed a trend, you are right. We will eat spinach twice, potatoes twice, mozzarella twice & carrots four times. If I repeat the ingredients I can still buy in bigger portions (saving money) but I have to work hard to make sure it doesn't feel like we're eating the same thing each night. I try not to double up on the meats we eat, and go meatless at least one day (Day 7 in this case).

If you have a meal plan that you love to follow, or tips, I would love to see it (post a link). I am a sucker for buying magzines that already have built-in meal plans (Real Simple has fabulous ones.).

Tonight we had pizza soup for dinner (above). I had been waiting all week to make it (I guess that's the downfall to meal planning). It was divine...as good as it looks. And it does look good doesn't it??? The main ingredients were vegetable broth (although the recipe called for chicken), mozzarella, carrots and crushed tomatoes so it was right up my alley. Super easy to make (about 25 minutes total) and an excellent way to break in my new stonewear! The recipe can be found in the Chef At Home cookbook.

Tomorrow Miss Molly & I are headed to the Children's Hospital for a procedure (she's fine everyone!). I just need to keep my emotions in-check so I am off to bed (with a full tummy) to get a good nights sleep... and to spend a couple minutes perusing the Sears Wish Book ( I can't help it!).

Remember.

 This is a picture of my Grandpa, Paul Hopaluk. He fought in Italy in WWII. And I think of him often, but even more so on November 11th. When we were little my parents would take us to Wainwright to honor the veterans on November 11th. Because of Camp Wainwright this town (where my grandparents lived & my dad grew up) has a beautiful ceremony to honor the vets. They marched down main street and placed poppy wreaths by the town clock. I remember looking for my grandpa in a sea of silver-haired military men. When I saw him I felt so lucky and so proud of him as he marched in unison. He seemed bigger and stronger than the Grandpa who sat in his recliner at home. It was usually cold out & I am sure I complained about that but my parents made sure we were well behaved and we paid our respects in a moment of silence. As a child, it seemed to be an eternity with my head lowered watching each cold breath leave my mouth. I looked forward to the end when we would head to Legion to play under the tables while our parents visited but I knew why we were there.

There were approximately 45,000 Canadian Soldiers killed in WWII and another 54,000 wounded (my Grandpa was one of them). A good number of these men are now gone. They were sons, brother, dads, grandpas and freedom fighters (imagine being able to add that to your curriculum vitae!). I only hope that as they leave this earth that there is a lasting impression of the sacrifices they made. I will be sure to teach Miles & Molly of them (as my parents did). I hope my friends will do the same.

Tonight before bed Miles & I made some cookies. As we made them I told him about my Grandpa & showed him his picture. I know he's too little to understand & remember but I want to get into the habit of telling him. I told him my favourite things about my Grandpa & that he must have loved him family very much to be willing to go away from them for a long time ("A long long time. Far far away." Said Miles.) I told him that because my Grandpa did that today we were able to go to school, go to the park & make cookies. It sounds like an even bigger accomplishment when you break it down for a three year-old. I told him that I loved my Grandpa like he loves his Papa ("So so much.") and that is why we have poppies on our jackets. So that when we see those poppies we think of our Papa's that we love. He liked that.



Layout 271

I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.

- Pablo Picasso

It was beginning to look like The Molly Show yesterday for a while... little girls are so easy to scrapbook. But these pictures from Miles' first day of school were so full of color I couldn't wait to have a go at them. And when he gets home from school today he's going to be so excited to see this page (he loooves when he is on a layout).

Also, can't help but note I am at layout 271 as of today. I remember thinking it was impossible that I would reach 300 layouts by the end of the year but now I think it might just be attainable. The last half of the year is always so much more productive... We'll see...

Layout 270

If you could only see how this layout looked the first time I did it... I wish I had taken a picture. You know when you're trying to do something different for a change? But in the end you are left with something that is SO not you? Thats what happened. And I love these photos (they are blurry) of our stop at the Enchanted Forrest this pas summer. Molly had an amazing time & the original layout just wasn't getting that point through. So I redid it, in about 20 minutes. And I am so happy... LOVE this layout, just need to add my journaling (in the top of the circle).

Layout 269

I love love love this layout. It is linear, simple and so me. I love it. And once I figure out what to write in my journaling space (Me, at a loss for words? Never!) it will be all done. These are more pictures done by my wonderful SIL. If you need a great photographer (there are a million bad ones out there) then she is your gal. 'LIKE' her Facebook Page which is Picture A Memory Photography and she is giving away a free Christmas Time-Saver Session at the end of the month! You will love her work. I do.

Layout 268

Delightful by Haley Ross

This layout will forever make me smile. Firstly, the beautiful pictures of Molly that my Sister-in-law took and secondly because of the scenario I was in while scrapbooking these pictures. Generally I have committed to never fussy cutting anything... but I found myself to be alone with some time on my hands and this is what happened. Without making a peep I cut out all of these little outfits! So cute! And I went undetected through it all ;)