This year has not been my favorite. 2011…blech. Actually, it’s only one of two years which I can distinctly remember not liking (2000 being the other). A lot of bad things happened this year. What, you say? You had no idea? I don’t tend to talk about negative stuff just as a personal habit to not keep icky things in my thoughts whenever possible. I have definitely learned, this year, that I need to be more real and try to show weakness to you, friends. I’m not trying to pretend my life is perfect on paper, I just am not a “dweller”. In fact, I started this blog, in part, as a distraction from negative things. When I’m frustrated, I clean…or sew…or bake…or organize my closets. It’s not the best way to deal with problems but at least it’s productive, right?
This year I have been hurt by friends, been upset by horrible things that happen in this world EVERY DAY, been disappointed in people and myself, felt emotionally and physically weak, watch marriages fall apart around me, said goodbye to friends, thought a lot about my Grandma who isn’t here with us anymore, counseled a lot of people close to me who are have a difficult time, and then cried over everything I just mentioned along the way.
But, this year I am MOST thankful for our new church. I finally feel like we have a community of people that we love being with and that share a unique bond. I am ecstatic about the new buddies Ed and I have both made there. Mostly, I am excited about the cool things that we can all do together for Jesus. I finally feel like we are where we are meant to be as a family.
So, 2012. I am excited for everything awesome you will bring. I don’t know what kind of year you will be, but I know that God has brought us across some difficult roads to a really cool place that seems way more peaceful. I can think of 3567 things that were awesome about this last year, even with 3568 things that were bad.
You are faithful, God, and I’m thrilled to see how you use me for your good this year.
p.s. I couldn’t leave the year without one last craft to share. If you have any boxwood around your neighborhood or any other long greenery, grab that, some green florist’s wire, and some ribbon. Wrap the wire around the greenery and bend/snap to make your numbers or even letters. I had planned to make a “J O Y” for Christmas but I got sick so I converted it to “2012”. Hang each letter with some ribbon or set them on a shelf. It just took a few minutes!
I kinda like them.
Some people couldn’t help but have a little fun with them, too.
Cheers to you are yours! Happy Awesome New Year!
2011: The End
You’ve probably seen that one super-cute peppermint wreath floating around Pinterest. I love the simplicity of it and that you only need glue, peppermints, and a wreath form. I had planned to make one, from this pin, but then I watch “Elf”. I’ve said before that if you haven’t seen that movie, you most definitely should. It’s one of my favorites. So, I was listening to the description in the movie about the candy-cane forests and I thought to myself…I think I need one of those. I need a candy-cane forest.
Right away, I put my little elves to work on the unwrapping of the peppermints. It’s a GREAT job for kids, it only costs you a few peppermints in the process (snitchers). We kind-of made it a race where I glued them while they unwrapped them. You add some Christmas music and it was pretty fun. You just buy a foam tree from a floral supply place or a craft store (San Diego, you can find these at Michael’s), you glue them on with a hot glue gun, and wait for it to dry. The only tricks I learned were to start at the bottom and always keep a portion in the back that is your “sloppy” side. The shapes just can’t meet up every time so I think it’s a good idea to leave yourself some room to mess up on that back portion so you aren’t using a pill divider to slice your peppermints to fit. I’m sure there are people who do that, but I’m not that crazy. I’m sure you could paint the tree the correct color so it doesn’t look “off” but this is only 1/12 Pinterest projects.
Peppermints are special in my family because they are the heart and soul of the best Christmas cookie on the planet, The Pink Cloud. We have been making this cookie for as long as I can remember. Apparently my Grandma found it in a magazine a long time ago and we’ve been making it ever since. I can’t remember it not being here. In fact, it is a requirement for tree decorating. My mom always made decorating the tree into a little party. There was always Babybel cheese with crackers, salami, eggnog (which I found out as an adult my mom never liked), and definitely Pink Cloud cookies. I faintly remember that ball of cheese that’s rolled in nuts, but I could be wrong. There has been stress, time crunches, a lack of ingredients, sickness, and tears, but nothing has kept us from our Pink Clouds for the process of decorating. There would be an empty tree all year if there were no Pink Clouds. I may or may not be leaving the recipe below, you’ll have to keep reading to see if it’s there at the end!
Here is our tree hunting for 2011. We never leave our personalities behind in this family:
We all agreed on the one to the right of us. It’s nice when it works out that way. I feel terrible, though, that for the first time ever in his life, our dog was forgotten. Poor guy has been in every Christmas tree photo for his 8 Christmases. Sorry, Leonard. We still love you.
Back to those cookies…I’ll give you the original recipe, but my sister and I don’t actually use the cookie dough part anymore. I gave up shortening and try to stick with butter, but it does make THE best pink cloud cookie :). You can basically use any sugar cookie recipe to suit your tastes. This year, I tried Alton Brown’s recipe and didn’t really love how it worked out. His cookies are really great, just not paired with the meringue in this recipe. They were a little too crispy. I must admit I really miss the old cookie dough/meringue combo. Maybe my Mom will make them. Are you listening to me, Mom?
Pink Cloud Cookies
cookie dough:
3/4 c. sugar
2/3 c. shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. milk
2 eggs yolks
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
peppermint merinque:
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips ( I usually sub 60% cocoa here)
1 c. coarsely crushed peppermints (not candy canes!)**
In a large bowl, combine the cookie dough ingredients. Blend well with a mixer. Chill while making the meringue.
Beat egg whites in a bowl with salt till soft mounds form. Gradually add sugar. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold in the remaining ingredients. Shape dough into balls (small walnut size-this is no joke!). Place on a ungreased sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a glass, dipped in water and sugar (alternating water then sugar between cookie squashing to help the dough not to stick to the glass). Top each cookie with a rounded T. of meringue. Bake for 20 minutes at 325 or until the sugar cookie is just barely golden.
**To crush the peppermints, I put mine in an old but sturdy pillowcase and hammer away. I put my crushed pile through my colander to make sure I don’t have huge pieces. If I had a sturdy canvas bag that didn’t “leak” fabric, I would use a canvas bag like my mom has.
This weekend I am with family, enjoying the privilege we have to relax and take a few days off. Everyone is in a good mood for the most part as you spend time with people you sometimes only get to see once, maybe twice, a year. I can’t help but notice older people these days; both the cute couples holding hands, who you imagine have been together for 50 years, and the man with his cane sitting on a park bench alone. I think about my grandparents and the stories that come with their age. My grandparents are quiet and yet I know there is a tale in there somewhere, waiting to be told. I was sitting next to an older man tonight from my Aunt’s family and couldn’t help but think of everything this one person has been through that has brought him to this day in 2011. He is so dependent on people now and what they offer him physically and emotionally, but at some point he made his own decisions and thought clearly for himself. Aging is a difficult thing for everyone involved. Some people age and become “difficult” to deal with while some mentally leave our world, never to return as we have known them. Then there is the sadness for the people who have parents changing right before their eyes and a swap of the role of caretaker. In any case, it makes you thankful for the people God has allowed you to have, even if they are changed. One day you might not have them at all.
I am thankful for the times I had with my other Grandma before she passed away. I miss her. I was purposefully thankful for her when she was alive, and am thankful for her now. I also remember that God is faithful to her. So comforting to know that my love could never be enough, but His is enough.
Julian is a place San Diegans’ go to make us feel like it’s fall even though often it’s almost 80 degrees. It just so happened that the day we went to Julian it was actually cold. Like really cold. I went with a group of friends from church to pick apples and none of us thought we might actually have to bring gloves or hats. My 3 kids didn’t pick much because they could only think of how cold their hands were, but it was so much fun. I got to chat for a few minutes with the owner and she said many of the trees are heirloom trees and they don’t even know how old they actually are. Pretty cool. You might be thinking that I don’t have a picture of apples above and you would be correct. The apple place was closed so we picked pears instead. No biggie. I also learned on my visit that the apple pies in Julian are no longer made with local apples and sometimes even canned ones which is so so soooo very sad. Apparently they are pretty much all from Washington unless you request one from a local orchard that makes them from fresh picked apples. Oh bother. What is the world coming to. So, we didn’t stop for pie but we did get cider :).
I had plans for these but alas we were leaving just a few days later for PA. I had a pile of bags to sew for a non-profit I help out with and a birthday party for a sweet 3-year-old. So, we basically ate them raw mostly. I also made a tart and put some in a panini with prosciutto and goat cheese brie. Pears make all things yummy.
One thing I made were these pear muffins. I had just read flipped through Martha’s kids magazine and saw different fruit muffins at the end. The recipe for apple muffins didn’t look mind-blowing, but it was perfect timing for me.You can find it here. My pears were ripe so mine turned out a little sunken.
Here are some shots of our day:
Fun day.
The second muffin is the pumpkin spice latte muffin. I saw this recipe and knew I had to make it. I just so happened to have that birthday party to bake for so it was a done deal. I don’t like the pumpkin spice latte (gasp! I know. How could I?) or pumpkin pie. I thought maybe I would like the flavors in a cupcake and, oh man, I do.
I would like to dedicate this cupcake to Jeff Rush who thinks the Pumpkin Spice Latte is the most awesome of all coffee drinks. I’m glad I was finally able to post this recipe so that he might enjoy baking this whenever he pleases. That good, Jeff?
The recipe was from Annie’s Eats. I HIGHLY recommend it and didn’t change a thing (gasp again!).
The little guy celebrating year 3 at his soldier birthday. Birthday parties are a necessity if you ask me. It’s a single day a year to celebrate one person’s amazing life.
It was sweet of my sister to take a picture of me with my buddy.
So, I returned the favor.
The week before Halloween, Miss F would have told you she was going to be a beautiful monarch butterfly. Then I made the mistake of saying under my breath that a “Mighty Macs” costume would have been cute. Note that I said “would have been”. However, I looked into the eyes of the girl who thoroughly enjoyed going to Philadelphia for the premier of “The Mighty Macs” (read about it here), copied movie advertisements to hand out to strangers (was upset we didn’t walk her to the grocery to hand them out), asked to call all of her friends to come see the movie, was doing basketball drills in the front yard, and now wants to be a basketball coach just like her Gram.
So, I said yes.
Thank goodness for the world series. I made it on a night when my husband had a buddy over and I just went for it for a few hours. I just traced a pattern from an old jumper. I couldn’t see a great picture of what these uniforms looked like in the 70’s, so matching the pleats was tough. I only see the hemline I didn’t bother ironing out of haste and also laziness. She doesn’t notice it though and I need to remember that.
Future basketball coach.
He was pretending to be in a bad mood but I only saw cuteness.
Protector or villain?
Little D pretty much wears this every day so this day wasn’t too different for him.
The bunch.
My annual picture with the kiddos for my birthday….with a China man’s hat. It’s very necessary. They kinda look confused, though.
|
|
