A Great Gift Idea

I was given this just yesterday for a Christmas gift and I HAD to put it on the blog because I thought it was such a darling idea! The friend who gave me this is a wonderful gardener. Every year she has a HUGE garden with wonderful flowers and veggies. She saved some of the seeds from her harvest this year. For gift giving, she potted them in a little clay pot, added some greenery, wrapped it cellophane and added a cute tag. Now I have this cute little clay pot that will sit on my kitchen windowsill where it will get light. All I have to do is keep it lightly watered and transplant to bigger size pots as the flowers grow. I will have beautiful flowers in my house until spring, then I'll transplant them into our garden. What fun.

Bathroom Make-over

I'll spare you the disgusting details as to why we had a bathroom make-over. My sweet husband, who shall be named, Mr. Fix-it, removed the toilet, old vanity, molding, doors, vinyl flooring and sub-flooring, in order to thoroughly clean and be sure the concrete floor was completely dry. Once it was totally clean and dry in there Mr. Fix-it painted. Not that it needed it, but we figured why not freshen it up while the whole thing is gutted. He then installed new sub-floor, new vinyl (I'm amazed at the quality of vinyl these days - ours looks exactly like large travertine tiles - so cool.) potty, and a new, bigger vanity, molding and doors. Our friend, who has a granite business (shameless plug here - Old World Granite does a FABULOUS job - he does impeccable work, quickly and with little mess - thank you, Jesse!) installed a beautiful piece of granite and an under-mount Kohler sink. Mr. Fix-it installed new lighting that was proportional to the new size vanity, hung the mirror and.....voila!

Sweet Snowballs

This time last year we had over 4' of snow! This year - not a bit. The next best thing to real snow balls are these beauties. They are so yummy and EASY!

2 batches of popcorn

1 bag mini marshmallows

1 stick butter

Pop the popcorn and discard unpopped kernels. Melt the butter in a glass bowl. Add the bag of marshmallows. Microwave 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until all the marshmallows have melted.

Pour over the popcorn. Mix with your hands (that are coated with butter or shortening) and form balls. Let them sit to set, then wrap in cellophane and tie with a pretty ribbon.

Makes 10-12

A Special Birthday Girl

Happy 11th Birthday to our special, tender-hearted girly girl. We love you!

Christmas in the Northwest

Getting a Christmas tree is one of our fun family traditions. I remember when I was a kid living in southern California and our family went to a tree lot to pick out our tree. The lot smelled so good - all that pine! It was a treasure hunt to find the perfect tree - full and symmetrical. You had to run your hand down the branch to see if all the pine needles would come off. If they did, the tree was too dry - and you had to keep looking! Of course, all the trees were pre-cut and had wooden Xs on the bottom for a stand. It's so different in the Northwest. There are a few tree stands where the trees are pre-cut, but more popular are Christmas tree farms. These are fun and festive. That's how we got our trees for years. You can go out on the farm which usually has different sections for the different types - Nobles, Douglas, etc. The farm provides a hand saw for you. You fell your tree and drag it over to your car. Then you usually enjoy a complimentary hot drink of coffee or cocoa and maybe a tractor pulled trolley all dressed up Christmasy. Now, we just go out our front door and choose a tree. That's how it goes when you live in the forest. (Really, our property is designated forest by the state of Washington) You might think it would be so easy to find a tree in the forest. Well, I suppose it is IF you have a ceiling that accommodates 80' trees! Even when you think you've chosen a small one - because it looks small compared to all the others around it. This year the older children went with Dad to find and cut a tree. I usually stay home with the little ones. (they nap while I clear a space) The best part is hearing all of them laughing and yelling as the return with the perfect tree. (By the way - it's usually a tree that has been topped - and is still monstrous in size!)

That's what Christmas is all about!