Getting my "Girl" Fix

It's probably a good thing that I don't have a daughter of my own because it would be hard for me to refrain from buying all the pretty "girly" fabrics. I am, however, very blessed with many little girls in my life -- one who will be receiving this skirt and purse ensemble for Christmas.

I take pleasure in sewing for little girls and this season has given me my "girl fix" for sure. I always welcome the opportunity to create something feminine because it doesn't happen very often in my wild and crazy boy-filled house.

Beanbag Frogs

I've made a dozen (and counting) of these bean bag frogs as Christmas gifts this year. It started out as a gift idea for one of my nephews. I decided I would make all my gifts this year and was puzzled about what I could make for the boys. Girls are always easy to make things for, boys are a little trickier. When I found this pattern on a website called The Purl Bee, I absolutely fell in love with it!

After I made the first frog, I was hooked and decided I knew several people who would be getting one of these charming little frogs from me. I even made a couple of these for my nieces, that are beyond the toy and doll age, and added lavender in with the beans so that it could be used a drawer sachet.

My favorite thing about making these is that I can use up all my scrap pieces of fabric that I've been accumulating over the years.

Gingerbread Reindeer

Every year I find a reason to make these gingerbread reindeers. Usually it's for the kids' holiday parties. I think I've made them for Ethan's class for the last 3 years now. I found the recipe several years ago in a magazine called Martha Stewart "Kids." That magazine is no longer published but you can find the recipe here.

The reindeer is an upside-down gingerbread man. I use melted bittersweet chocolate for the face and antlers, a red hot for the nose, and white chocolate chips for the eyes. The antlers are also sprinkled with sugar just before the chocolate starts to set. The combination of the chocolate and gingerbread is delicious!

Santa Claus is Coming to Tea!

I put these boxes together for the first-grade teachers that I work with. Inside the box are Madeleine cookies frosted to look like Santa along with some loose-leaf teas. I thought up this cookie project in collaboration with my friend and fellow baker, Eileen. They took a lot of patience and time but were a lot of fun to make. I tied the box together with honey sticks and a card that says, "Santa Claus is coming to tea."

Santa Baby

Being the proud auntie that I am, I couldn't resist posting this adorable picture of my niece, Madelyn. She just turned 10 months and is almost walking. My mom said shes walks along the cupboards and has figured out how to open the cupboard doors but doesn't take anything out -- just looks to see what's inside.

I'm looking forward to kissing those sweet little cheeks in a couple of weeks when we meet up with my sister and her family in Wisconsin for New Years.

November - Home Improvement Month

November has turned out to be home improvement month for us. Some planned improvements and others not so planned. It started earlier this month when we had a shed built in our backyard. The shed which is actually a mini barn was built in one day, by one person. It was impressive to see how quickly it went up.

While the kids and I were in Arizona visiting family, Keith painted the shed. He wanted to surprise us so he didn't tell us the color he was painting it. When we returned home, we were delighted to see it painted to look like an actual barn. Little did Keith know that he was painting our shed to look almost identical to a shed that I grew up with. When I was around the age that my boys are now, my dad had built and painted a backyard shed that also looked like a mini barn. I wish I had a picture of my childhood shed to show the comparison.

Also planned for this month was a new Lopi wood-burning stove, fireplace insert. Keith installed this himself, with a little help from me. It weighs almost 500 pounds and took a little creative maneuvering to get it in place. Keith made a wood plank to fit on our car jack in order to raise it up to the height of the hearth, and we pushed it into place. He had to order special stainless steel pipes to fit into the chimney which then had to be fitted into the stove. It was a lot of work but well worth the effort.

The stove makes our house very cozy and warm. In fact as long as the fire is burning hot enough, the blower stays on, and it heats our house to the point where our gas furnace doesn't even kick in. The stove is also EPA certified. It recirculates the combustion gases and doesn't let them escape like a typical fireplace or stove. When the gases are recirculated they get burned a second time. Not only does this make it a "greener" burn it also creates more heat.

The fireplace insert can actually be used as a stove top. Keith really likes this function. He's heated soup, tea, and cider on top of the stove.

The new fireplace insert also brought a few more unexpected expenses such as a new fireplace mantel. We had a limestone mantel cut to replace the wood one which would have been a fire hazard above the stove. Also during the process of the stove installation, the picture hanging above the fireplace was broken, along with a lamp shade.

We have one more, less exciting home improvement still to come this week - replacing our broken garage door. This will require some not so fun, labor intensive, garage cleaning! Everything needs to be moved out of the way, including emptying shelves, so that the door can be installed. Yuck!

A Bountiful Thanksgiving

Place cards made with clove initials in tangerines

Yesterday we spent a lovely Thanksgiving with friends. And after spending two entire days in the kitchen, there was no shortage of food. Again, we tried to make this year's menu as local as possible and most ingredients came from our garden and CSA basket.

The fresh, free-range turkey came from our local co-op, and I prepared it with an herb butter made with rosemary, oregano and thyme that all came from our garden. Surprisingly enough, our herbs have survived the below freezing, nighttime temperatures.

I made squash (from our CSA basket) stuffed with sauteed mushrooms and onions, rice and cheese. We received an abundance of potatoes from the CSA, and also a big bucket of sweet potatoes from our garden so I decided to make gratin potatoes in order to incorporate all the different types of potatoes. I used about five different types, yellow, red, purple, baking and sweet potatoes all went in the gratin casserole.

I also made my usual sides Tuscan-style stuffing made with pine nuts and red peppers, and green beans with caramelized shallots. For the salad, I used local apple-pears and goat cheese, with sugared walnuts and red onions.


One friend brought home-made dinner rolls, a Thanksgiving tradition in her family and a recipe that's been passed down from her grandmother. The rolls were a delicious attribute to the menu and huge hit with the kids. And considering that's about all the kids ate, I'm glad there were plenty.


Another friend brought this beautiful array of cheeses and breads.


Before dinner the men, boys and dogs went for a long hike in Brown County. Shhh.....don't tell anyone, but they got a little lost. They went off the trails and ended up calling us to say they'd be a little late. Thankfully they found their way back out of the woods and to the car, and made it home just in time for the turkey to come out of the oven.

Thanks to my friend, the dogs also ate a special thanksgiving dinner.....yes, that's right, Thanksgiving dinner for the dogs. What did they eat, you ask? Well she prepared a casserole of sweet potatoes, pork and rice.

And lastly, for dessert I made a pumpkin cheesecake with a praline topping of home-made caramel, drizzled chocolate and toasted pecans.