Valentine Giveaway!

I wanted to spread the word about my dear sister's fabulous new soap-making biz - Soap Sudsations - plus show my readers how much I love them, so I'm combining the two into a Valentine Giveaway! :) 

Here are the hand-made, emollient glycerin soaps that the winner will get - a gorgeous frond soap:

One of these adorable Peace soaps - who couldn't use some peace, love, and clean underarms?

 And a sweet little leaf soap:

These soaps are not only works of art, but they lather beautifully and have great scents. To see more of Monica's super cute soaps, check out her website at SoapSudsations! (Pssst, her husband makes amazing boxes for the gift sets that are a lovely keepsake after you've used up the soaps...so I recommend buying the gift sets.)

To quality for this giveaway, just leave a comment.

For extra entries, do any or all of the following:

~follow @SoapSudsations on Twitter, and let me know your Twitter handle in your comment here if I don't know you already

~re-tweet this giveaway to your followers on Twitter; again, let me know your Twitter handle in your comment here if I don't know you already

~blog about this giveaway – this will net 2 extra entries - give me the link to the post in your comment here

~LIKE the Soap Sudsations on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Soap-Sudsations/255967871101924 - and comment on her Wall that you’re entering this giveaway

I’ll put all the entries into a random drawing on Monday, February 6^th. If I have a way to contact the winner – through Twitter handle, or on SoapSudsation's Facebook page, or if you left a contact in your comments - I will get in touch with you. If I have no means of contacting the winner, you will have one week (Feb. 13th) to get in touch with me to let me know your mailing info.

*Giveaway is open to those living in the U.S. and Canada

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Happy Chinese New Year!

Or Happy Lunar New Year, whatever you prefer.

It's the year of the Dragon - oh yay, that means I turn 48 this year. I am, of course, thrilled. This puts me that much closer to that coveted AARP membership.

I have to apologize for not visiting some of your blogs recently. Our wonderful satellite internet provider has determined that we're overusing bandwidth and has downgraded our internet speed to that comparable to dial-up. And by "wonderful" I mean some choice four-letter words that I can't write here since this blog is rated G.

In order to get our speed back, we have to cut our bandwidth use down for a month. Even if we didn't have to cut our bandwidth use down, it is next to impossible to load pretty much any blog using dial-up speed...especially the blogs that have BIG gorgeous photos (you know who you are). I'm only keeping up with my blog posts mostly by doing them whenever I get to go somewhere (like our public library) where I can get free Wi-Fi and scheduling them to post for future dates.

Some happy new year indeed.

On the bright side, hubby roasted a 5-spice duck for dinner and it was most excellent!

Will you do anything fun for the Lunar New Year? Did you even know it was the Lunar New Year?  ;)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Obsessed with birds

Robin's posts about the books she's reading inspired me to post about all the bird books we have in the house.

Because we're a family of birders, we have, um, just a few books on the topic, as you can see - click on the image to pull it up larger if you're curious about all the titles:

The only guide that's missing in this pile is the Kaufman Guide which is ds1's favorite and we keep it in the car so that we can reference it anytime we're out and about.

And because I won another haiku contest from WildBird magazine on Twitter, we will have a Peterson's guide to add to our stash soon!

Right now, we also have 2 bird books that we borrowed from the library. As if books weren't enough, we also have a bunch of birding magazines:

So, what do you think? Just a little obsessed? Maybe for some future posts, I'll compile my art books, knitting/crocheting books, the craft of writing books and science fiction books.  :)

What about you? Do you have a hobby that you love and have too many books and magazines of?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Monday mish-mash

Just a few random thoughts...because I can.

I tried making yogurt for the first time with store-bought yogurt as starter instead of the powder starter that I normally use.  And, it worked! It's good to know it really could be done (by me).

And you wanna know the potent potable equivalent of heaven? Alcoholic Creamsicle! Take my word on this. I accept thanks in the form of checks (or cheques in case of my fellow Canadians).

Totally unrelated, but it would appear that the renters across the road are determined to keep their backdoor light on 24/7. The light was off for a couple of nights - oh bliss! - but now it's back with a vengeance. I suspect that because they left the light on all the time, the bulb finally burned out and they replaced it with one of higher wattage. Great.

As my neighbor to the east once lamented (about the even worse light emanating from their neighbors on the other side), why do people move out to the country and light their property up like football fields?

But in the good news department, my good friend Michelle has re-started her blog! Go check out "Within The Hive"...and her new blog, "Pages from My Mind". Michelle writes thoughtful and well-researched posts that you won't want to miss!

Want to share a random thought or two with me?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

The food...oh, the food

What better way to start the year than with a post about food?

Hubby made a nice batch of sauerkraut with our cabbages this winter - about 4 gallons' worth. Our cabbage crop doesn't always cooperate, so we're thrilled when it works out.

And I discovered the best banana cream pie recipe in the King Arthur Flour cookbook. I went for a graham cracker pie crust this time and it was perfection in a pan.

How did you start your year?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Looking forward

Today is Boxing Day in Canada and also the day of my last post for the year 2011. This year, I won't bemoan the speed at which the year passed by (because I think I'd already done it enough during the year, and in most of my emails to friends).

Instead, I'll leap right to the part where I publicly humiliate myself again by telling you what I intend to accomplish for 2012.

I'd already mentioned one of my plans on my other blog (which is not as scary as Coraline's Other Mother) - to take the entries in the book "The Skeptic's Dictionary" and write a speculative-fiction (the genre formerly known as science fiction in my world) short story inspired by each entry.

Another plan I have for the year is to do a bird drawing each day. A colleague of hubby's gave our boys an old page-a-day calendar a couple of years ago thinking that the boys would like to check out those birds. We have about 6 bird identification guides (and many more encyclopedic bird books that weigh enough to kill small animals) that Son1 studies religiously, so the loose pages of an old calendar doesn't do much for him. Therefore, I'm going to use those pages to sketch a bird a day from, like artists go to the Louvre to copy the works of old masters to hone their own skills by. The art in this calendar is by David Sibley, and he's considered a master in the bird art world. I'm really bad about knowing what to draw and being inspired enough to do it, so this should work out well for me...provided I actually keep up with it.

As for knitting, sewing and crocheting, I'll go easier on myself this year: if I finish 4 projects total, depending on the size of the project, I'll call it a good year.

Hubby has grand plans for 2012 too, not the least of which is eating Vegemite every single day. It's good to dream big.

How about you? Any major goal(s) you want to accomplish for the next year?

Have a safe and fun New Year's...and see you on the flip side!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Looking back

At the beginning of the year, which feels like yesterday but is actually about 352 days ago, I had publicly declared that I'd complete 6 sewing projects and 6 knitting projects this year. Was I too ambitious? I may never know because true to form, I stopped keeping track half way through the year and don't remember what I completed. Why is it that I can never keep good records? For some reason, people think I'm organized. I don't know why because I certainly never try to give that impression of me.

Of the things I do remember, here's a run-down of the sewing projects. I started off with the fleece jacket with the Darth Vader pattern fabric. Turns out it's a tad too small for either of my boys and they've not worn it even once. So, I'll be giving that away. I sewed 2 gift bags for my sister to use with her soaps, started sewing a laundry bag that I never finished, and hemmed several pairs of pants for hubby and my FIL.

For knitting, I made a pair of socks for me, a pair of baby socks for hubby's cousin's baby, am almost finished with another pair of socks for me, and am almost done with the third panel of a rug that I'm knitting with yarn I won from Robin's Rurification blog. Here are 2 of the panels, done (each panel measures about 1' x 3.5').

So, not exactly 12 projects total completed for the year (unless I completed other things that I can't remember...which is very possible), and I know I could do better, but why beat myself up for not doing it all?

Besides, what's more important is that I baked a lot too. Lots of loaves of bread

and cookies and kuchens

 and stollen

and more!

Also important was that I home-schooled the rugrats. Here is Son2 in his science group (I've blurred the faces of the other people in the photo for privacy reasons). I'm very grateful to my friend THS (to the left) who lead this co-op. I merely had to clean up our house before and after. :)

The chemistry lab I have to run by myself (materials courtesy of Meg who kept everything so well organized!). Son2 is doing it with Son1 so I won't have to repeat it again in a couple of years. I already have to redo the biology and physics labs with Son2 when the time comes. Sooo looking forward to that. ;P

In between the above listed things, I did some writing too, mostly thanks to the whip-cracking efforts of my critique group gang leader, Russell James (who has a terrific novel out that you can win on Goodreads.com).

Did you have resolutions this year? Did you keep up with them?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Virtual Cookie Swap

My Kids Eat Squid is doing a Virtual Cookie Swap this year for the holidays, and I've been invited to the party! I'm so excited...what shall I wear? Judging from my recipe, I guess I'll be wearing butter. And I'll probably be wearing it - right around my waist - until I start working out daily.

I got this recipe probably close to 30 years ago from a friend of my sister's. I only make it once a year because it is the epitome of decadence (by which I mean "fat").  Here's the recipe, with a few more notes underneath:

Whipped Shortbread

2 C unsalted butter, softened
1 C icing sugar
3 C all-purpose flour

1) Beat butter until creamy
2) Blend in icing sugar
3) Add flour and beat for 10 minutes
4) Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
5) Bake at 325 F for 20 minutes
6) Cool cookies on rack

Makes about 72 cookies

Beating the batter for 10 minutes is only necessary for an old clunker like the Sunbeam mixer with the dual metal beaters. In a work-horse like the KitchenAid mixer, 5 minutes of beating is more than enough.

Be sure you remove the cookies from the baking sheet and onto the a cooling rack within 5 minutes of taking them out of the oven. Once the cookies cool completely on the sheet itself, you won't be able to remove them without breaking them.

(cookies, pre-baking)
Use a thin spatula to remove the cookies from the baking sheet. These cookies are ultra delicate (wouldn't you be if you were 30% air and 70% butter?). Even after they've hardened a bit after cooling off completely, you'll still need to handle them with care.

Crumbly goodness!

Here are the other folks doing the Virtual Cookie Swap - go visit them!

Blog: My Kids Eat Squid

Cookie: Nutella

Blog: GarlicGirl

Cookie: Peanuty Peanut Butter Cookies

  

Blog: Laura's Delicious Food

Cookie: Raspberry thumbprint cookies

Blog: Boston Food Swap

Cookie: Old-fashioned molasses cookies

Blog: Frugal Kiwi

Cookie: Chocolate Marshmallow Raspberry Cookie Delight 

Blog: MarthaandMe 

Cookie: TBD

What about you? What's your favorite holiday or general cookie to bake or to eat? Hope you find a fun new recipe at this swap to try!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

And the award goes to....

Since the Academy won't let us say "And the winner is..." anymore.  Oh, but this isn't the Oscars.

Sooo, today's The Day. I was supposed to spend the morning baking cookies, but instead worked on how to do the drawing for The Clean Giveaway.

I counted up all the entries: one for a comment, one for following Carrie on Twitter, one for Liking the Under The Willow Facebook page, one for each re-tweet of the giveaway. So here they are, the entries (and yes, I did get some butter on the paper...oops) - Jaime, Stace, Janet G, Michelle, Kathy x 6, Squid (for My Kids Eat Squid) x 3, KP x 4:

All cut up and ready to go in the bag:

Son2 helping me pull out a name:

And the winner is.....

Stace!! (I know you're all in awe of my fabulous iPhone photography.)

Since I know how to get a hold of Stace - I am a regular stalker of her blog - I'll go notify her now. It'll make her day; my presence has that effect on people. Hah.

Thank you to everyone who entered and played along, particularly Kathy who helped re-tweet this several times to her many followers. I urge you all to go try Carrie's products even if you didn't win!

And for those of you who are looking for a seriously hefty giveaway, check out:
http://www.theculinarylife.com/2011/win-a-le-creuset-deep-covered-saute-pan/

Have a great week!

BREAKING NEWS this just in: Stace has generously donated her prize to Kathy in the spirit of the season and because she was seriously impressed by the number of entries Kathy had. Thank you, Stace!!!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

A clean giveaway*!

(Please tell me you got the pun!) Anyone who knows me in person knows that I'm obsessively clean about certain things: floors, sinks, toilets, and bathtubs. I could let windows go until it appears to be perpetually foggy outside and it wouldn't bother me much. The things I obsess about are things that we're in constant contact with the most. Window?! Pu-lease.

So, you can imagine my giddiness when my order of Laundry Soap from Under the Willow came with a  sample of Carrie’s newest creation: Cottage & Castle, an all-purpose cleanser.

Regular readers may remember – if you’re not forgetful like I am – that I’ve raved about Under the Willow’s products, in particular her Laundry Soap, which come in a range of scents.

Anyway, I’m always game for trying new cleansers, especially earth-friendly ones. So I used Cottage & Castle on my bathroom sinks, bathtub, and Corian kitchen sink.

Cottage & Castle comes in a powder form. The directions are simple: sprinkle, then scrub with a wet washing cloth, rinse. Carrie also sells microfiber cloth; I used a sponge and that worked great too.

I don’t have granite bathroom sinks and my tub is just fiberglass, but Castle & Cottage did a fantastic job on all those surfaces. It also made the tap and spigot shine, shine, shine! And a little bit went a long way.

The ultimate test was on my Corian sink. The instructions that came with the Corian countertops said to use only non-abrasive scrubbers and Bon-Ami cleanser. Well, guess what? Cottage & Castle worked at least as well as Bon-Ami, plus, it has an incredible scent!

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m a scent gal. Scents calm me, make me smile, or transport me to a far-away time or place. So having that lovely, but not overpowering, scent in Cottage & Castle definitely did it for me. I don't normally smile while I'm cleaning, but Cottage & Castle put a smile on my face.

In honor of Small Business Saturday, I’m offering one of my readers a chance to win a package of Cottage & Castle. You can see for yourself what a great product this is!

If Laundry Soap is more your style, you may choose to get a package of that instead, if you win.

To quality for this giveaway, just leave a comment as to whether you’d like the Laundry Soap or Cottage & Castle.

For an extra entries into the drawing, do any or all of the following:

~follow @CarrieGarvin on Twitter, and let us know your Twitter handle in your comment here

~re-tweet this giveaway to your followers on Twitter; again, let me know your Twitter handle in your comment here

~blog about this giveaway – this will net 2 extra entries - give me the link to the post in your comment here

~LIKE the Under The Willow Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Under-the-Willow/201527673599 - and comment on her Wall that you’re entering this giveaway

I’ll put all the entries into a random drawing on Tuesday, December 6^th. If I have a way to contact the winner – through Twitter handle, or on the Under The Willow Facebook page, or if you left a contact in your comments - I will get in touch with you. If I have no means of contacting the winner, you will have one week (Dec. 13) to get in touch with me to let me know your mailing info.

*Giveaway is only open to those living in the U.S.

Good luck!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

I won!

My Kids Eat Squid (I know, what a great blog name, right? And, it's always fun to read...great recipes too!) had a giveaway for a gorgeous handmade cutting board a couple of weeks ago - you can read the post here. Anyway, lucky me, I won!!

The board arrived today. The wonderful folks at Cutting Board Art sent it to me via FedEx.  You should have seen hubby's eyes light up when I opened the box. :)

It is a solid, well-contructed work of functional art. I think the kids will be fighting over who gets to inherit this. If you're in need of a great cutting board, pop over to Cutting Board Art and check out their products.

So, thank you again, My Kids Eat Squid and Cutting Board Art!

Speaking of giveaways, don't forget to come back on Saturday. I have one of my own to do. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Creamy Apple Kuchen

In honor of apple season (even though our apple harvest this year is non-existent), I'm sharing this Apple Kuchen recipe that I originally got from Family Fun Magazine.

I'm having a total senior moment, and can't remember if this is the recipe I brought to a neighbor's Oktoberfest party. The apple dessert that I baked for the party got rave reviews, so I hope it's this one. :}

But before I give you the recipe, I just want to announce that since I now have over 100 followers, and also because November 26th is Small Business Saturday, I'm going to have a Giveaway on that day that will let you have a chance to win a terrific product from one of my favorite small biz! Be sure to come back and enter. :)

Creamy Apple Kuchen

3 C apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 T lemon juice
1 1/4 C sugar, divided
1 t cinnamon
1 C butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t baking powder
2 C all-purpose flour
1 C light sour cream
1 egg

Heat oven to 350F and coat a 9x13" pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine apple slices, lemon juice, 1/4 C sugar, and cinnamon, stirring to mix. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter and remaining cup of sugar. Add the 2 beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir in the salt and baking powder, then add the flour. Spread the better into the pan (it will be thick), then top it with the apples/lemon juice mixture.

Combine the sour cream and remaining egg in a small bowl, then pour the mixture over the apples (won't fully cover them).

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake is lightly browned around the edges and the topping is set. If you like, you can sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar on top.

Store leftovers covered in fridge. Serves 12.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Linzer Thumbprint Snowballs - a recipe

I realize I've been sporadic with my posts. As all of you busy folks know, that's what happens when life gets in the way. I will try my darndest to post once a week on a set date...haven't decided what the best day of the week is yet. Any suggestions?

My friend Michelle requested the following recipe from me. She thought they were really tasty. :)  I'm just thrilled when people enjoy my baking!

Linzer Thumbprint Snowballs

2 1/4 C flour
3/4 C walnuts, finely ground
1 t ground cinnamon
2 t grated lemon peel
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C (1.5 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1/2 C raspberry jam [I had no raspberry jam in the house so I used Trader Joe Organic Strawberry Jam]
powdered sugar

Lightly grease cookie sheet. Stir together flour, walnuts, cinnamon, and lemon peel. Beat granulated sugar and butter in large bowl on medium speed until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Press thumb in center of each to make indentation. Fill each indentation with 1/2 t jam.

Bake at 350F for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Immediately remove from cookie sheet; cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 4 dozen.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Chemistry - it's what life is about

Chemistry is on my mind a lot lately since I'm running a high school chem lab course for my kids (using the Prentice Hall text by Wilbraham, Staley, Matta, and Waterman and the accompanying Small Scale Chemistry Labs manual that I bought from my friend Meg (Get In, Hang On), to whom I'm forever grateful for her guidance).

To go with the course, we're also watching the excellent High School Chemistry series with Frank Cardulla as the instructor from The Great Courses.

I actually meant to post this during National Chemistry Week, which I thought was in November. I totally missed it because, this year, NCW was back in October. Go figure.

I never liked chemistry much when I took it in high school and university, but now, re-learning it with my kids, I discovered that I love it!  Homschooling is so cool that way. On my own, I never would have re-learned chemistry and found out just how much I enjoy it.

And in case you think chemistry is dry and dull, here are a couple of really funny chemistry jokes:

Water versus....

and a version of the sulfuric acid joke from a commenter on this site: http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1663/07/05/

Sir John Minnes was a chemist…Sir John is no more.

For what he thought was H20…
Was H2SO4…

Heh heh...morbid but funny.

So if you hated chemistry when you were growing up, I highly recommend you re-learn it! You may be pleasantly surprised.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams