Happy New Year...and all that!

Yikes, it's nearly the end of 2008; how did that happen?

I've been thinking for a while now about resolutions. No, not that kind of resolution. You know, the kind that are more often broken than kept?

Similar to the idea of National Novel Writing Month, and other such publicly announced projects, you tell the whole world about your resolutions because embarrassment of not upholding them is the carrot that will lead you to your goals.

I'm not so sure that embarrassment is a motivating factor for me. Really. I find that the older I get, the less easily embarrassed I get.

Still, I have a few (and getting fewer every year) goals I'd like to achieve in 2009, and I'll share a small percentage of that few with you (like holiday newsletters, the longer the post, the more audience you lose).

1) In my continuing quest for happiness, I'll attempt to continue my gratitude journal (which I had let drop a while back). The difference this year is that rather than trying to write 5 things every night, I will comment on one to three items every Thursday - my Thankful Thursday, if you will. I enjoyed playing Thursday Thirteen for a while, but I had to face the fact that my little brain isn't capable of conceiving 13 things for any given topic, let alone every week...for an entire year.

2) I will resume my exercise routine alternating yoga with walking/running. I actually got a head start on this and have been doing it for almost a week now, trying to pick up where I left off half a year ago.

3) I will devote a half hour (or more) to a creative pursuit every day. This can be writing, painting/drawing, or knitting, or whatever.

4) I will try my darndest to speak civilly and kindly to my family all the time (I'll go to Lisa's Perpetual Joy blog for inspiration).

5) This is not a true resolution, but an experiment. In the grand tradition of Buy Nothing Day/Year, I am going to attempt this for three months, assessing the situation month by month. I'm allowing for staples and supplies for the biz, but aside from that, nothing.

OK, my eyes are glazing over, so I know yours must be too, and I'll take a hint to stop here. I had thought about "spending less time on the computer" as a resolution, but I'd said that before in years past, and you probably know by my presence online how well that one took. Not.

I wish you all a very happy, healthy, and fulfilling 2009! I intend to follow the examples of all your wonderful blogs that I read and carpe annum!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Twitter Moms: The Influential Moms Network

Wii Fit Workout Kit Giveaway from Wii Fit Mommies

I'm not officially posting today...am officially lounging around in my PJs all day, thank you very much. ;)

But, if anyone is interested in another nice giveaway, you can enter to win a Wii Fit Workout Kit at The Good Enough Witch's blog!

Good luck, and a joyous Christmas Day to all those who celebrate Christmas!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Sometimes you can't shut me up

Ok, so I said I was going to take a blogging break...I guess I meant a 20 hour break.

Anyway, in case you didn't know, I didn't win the Night Vision Goggles, but I found something equally cool!

In the November issue of Scientific American, there's an article, Jacking into the Brain, which is about brain-machine interface technology (a la cyberpunk sci fi). It mentions that research is currently being done on using arrays of electrodes as artificial retinas, and that if it works, it could be tweaked to give humans night vision.

So, who needs those old clunky goggles when you can sign up for a little surgery and have bionic night-vision without the external bulk. Hahahahaha! "The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Holiday reflections

The holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas, revolve around the idea of family. Having dh's brother's family in town yesterday (they were here to visit dh's dad, not us specifically) reminded me of what my dear friend, D, always said: friends are sometimes tons better than family. D has horrific stories to prove it in her case.

Family, both blood and by marriage, has people that you love as much as you love yourself, but it can also have people that you'd never go out of your way to be friends with if you met them in some other situation in life.

Anyway, that is my round-about way of saying to the friends I've made online through blogging, as well as my good friends in real life, that I adore and cherish all of you, as much as, and in some cases, more so than, some of my family members! :)

I'll be posting again before January 1st, but would like to take a break for a bit, so in the meantime, I want to wish all of you a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Islamic New Year - whichever holiday you celebrate!

I don't have cute videos for all the holidays, but wanted to leave you with a clever one I saw at The Artist's Magazine blog:



"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

One day funky give-away from Frugal Upstate

Looong day today for me (more later), so won't write anything of substance, but here's a contest for a funky prize:

Eyeclops Night Vision Goggles!

Enter quickly because it's just for today - Saturday, December 20th.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Glow Mama - wow...what a nice surprise!

I had entered a contest at Mom-E-Centric and was notified a few days ago that I had won the Glow Mama gift!

So, I'm thinking, wonderful, I'll get to try one of those cool sounding drinks. Well, what should arrive in the mail yesterday but this ginormous box full of Glow Mama drinks...almost too heavy for me to carry!I guess I will get to try more than one bottle, no?

Packed with real fruit juice (kiwi and grape) and vitamins, with only a hint of cane sugar, it is a refreshing drink that is soooo good for you. On its own, it is subtle and pleasingly grown-up. You know you're not drinking Cool-Aid...phew! They also suggest recipes for you to try such as the Mom-osa where you mix Glow Mama and sparkling apple cider. I'm having one straight right now, but I can't wait to try their other suggestions to make it more festive!

And if my real-life mom friends are really nice to me, I'll share with them. ;)

Thank you so much, Jerri Ann of Mom-E-Centric and Amy of Glow Mama!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

More on giving

So the boys finally chose the charities they want to donate to this year. As I mentioned previously, we had received mailings from tons of charities asking for donations, and I spread them all out, described each one and what it does, and stood back and let them choose.

Ds#2 chose Monroe County Humane Association, and Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County.
Ds#1 choose American Humanist Association and American Bird Conservancy.

Since neither of them chose the ones I wanted, I've also picked some for my own extra gifting for the holidays:
The Shalom Community Center
America's Second Harvest
Southern Poverty Law Center
Heifer International

And speaking of giving, now that we sort of have our business up and going, we will be writing into the business plan (make that: ds#1 will be learning how to write a biz plan with me) to donate a portion of our profits to charities. First we have to figure out whether we're actually making a profit, and then figure out how much to give. *grin* Any advice from seasoned business folks out there would be greatly appreciated!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Be it ever so humble...

...there really is no place like home.

Home is even more wonderful when there's sunshine coming in through our huge, south-facing windows of the living room. When we had a cute little north-facing 1950s bungalow in town, dh would get SAD every winter, so when we got ready to build our house, it was imperative to have big windows put in. This was taken early in the morning before the sun had a chance to come in, on a day that was actually sunny.What inspired this house photos post is looking at Sherrie's (Frenchy's Finds) incredible photos of her home, incredible being a good word for both her photography and her house, which is like Martha Stewart meets Architectural Digest. I'm positively envious, as you can tell. My home will never even remotely resemble hers, but I'll keep trying. :) This pic of our dining table, just off the kitchen area, is the closest thing to Sherrie's that I could find: The rest of the place doesn't come close. The kitchen, in its slightly less messy than usual state (but still bad...I won't point out all the clutter for you). The rec room (or Wreck Room) is for Amy's (BlogSchmog) benefit - how could you possibly think we are neat?! Lastly, our bedroom, which I try to keep somewhat neat so that it's peaceful for sleeping in (according to all the articles I've read on how to overcome insomnia):Did you notice we have a mattress on the floor? We've slept on a mattress on the floor for as long as we've been married (Aug. 1989). Someday, we may get a "real" bed, but in the meantime, we've saved a lot of money over the years from not having to buy a bed frame or box springs.

For a holiday house tour, which this wasn't, head over to Meg's (Get In, Hang On) or Carrie's over at Oikology 101. :)

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Oh, that Jo - she loves me so!

I've been putting on an excess of Product Body's Whipped Shea Butter on my heels at night before bed (as well as on my back and heels after my shower), and you know what? It is working! My heels are not yet cracked...a miracle indeed if you knew the heels I inherited from my mother!

So when Joanna had a sale on this miraculous Whipped Shea Butter last week, you betcha I went for it! Sweetheart that she is, she sent along a gift with my Butters, see?Guess what was the gift?! Her brand spankin' new line, Creme Fresh. Ooooh aaaaaah! It's in Sweet Lemon Pie scent, and I will have to remind myself not to eat it.If you want to be notified of Joanna's sales, go sign up for the Product Body newsletters!

Thank you, Joanna!!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Coconut Cranberry Chews

Courtesy of Abby - thank you so much, Abby!!

Makes about 6 dozen cookies
These are great to make and then freeze!

1 1/2 cups (3/4 lb.) butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked dried coconut

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat 1 1/2 cups butter, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, then beat on low speed until dough comes together, about 5 minutes*. Mix in cranberries and coconut.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on buttered 12 by 15 inch baking sheets.
4. Bake at 350 degrees until cookie edges just begin to brown, 8-11 minutes. If baking 2 sheets at once switch their positions halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

* note from Teresa: it took me only about 1 minute on my KitchenAid mixer.

second note from Teresa: I overbaked mine by accident, but they were still incredible

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

The "what have I done" meme

No, it's not as dire as it sounds. ;)

Pica (Feathers of Hope) posted a meme that I thought was pretty fun:

Things I’ve done are in bold.

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (not proud of it though)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables, mostly in conjuction with dh
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (to castrate it)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (only in passing)
36. Taught myself a new language (am teaching myself and the kids Spanish)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
39. Gone rock climbing The Chief in Squamish, BC
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted I'm assuming painting my own portrait counts
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (sort of...2/3 to the top)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (well, sort of...my dad taught us at home)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (the only times I weighed enough to give blood were when I was pregnant, and I wasn't allowed to give blood then)
65. Gone sky diving (I so wanted to in university)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar (at least I think I have...I've eaten roe tons of times at sushi places)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades (um, went through the Everglades...that's a tour, isn't it?)
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (and the changing of the guards in Athens too)
77. Broken a bone (no, but I snapped a tendon)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (don't know if we were speeding, but we were going fast)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (no, just short stories and poetry)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper (hm, maybe my wedding photo? can't remember)
85. Read the entire Bible (most of it, having taken many bible study classes, but not all)
86. Visited the White House (drove by it; does that count?)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (rabbit, chickens)
88. Had chickenpox (can't remember, but I think I did)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (define "famous"; have seen Kevin Bacon at the Chicago airport, and sat in on talks by Noam Chomsky and David Hubel)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one (my favorite grandmother)
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (and yellow jackets)
100. Ridden an elephant

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Darn my middle-aged brain

I totally forgot that Meg (Get In, Hang On) gave me the above award. Thank you, Meg!!

I'm supposed to pick 10 others to pass it along to...me, Little Ms. Indecisive?? I wouldn't be visiting the blogs I do if I didn't think they were special. (Phew, squeaked out of that one.)

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Incredible cookies, more ceramic art, etc.

Well, I'm back...didja miss me? Right, in my dreams. ;)

Yesterday, after doing ceramics in the morning, I made the Coconut-Cranberry Chews that Abby posted a recipe for (sorry, her blog is private, so I can't link you there). They turned out every bit as amazing as she said they were.

I made a few adjustments to suit what I had on hand. Instead of flaked coconut, I only had shredded, so I used that. I didn't have the kind of dried cranberries that I'm sure the recipe's originator was thinking of, but I had to use up some Just Fruits dried cranberries. They come as whole berries, so I had to chop them up: First I creamed the butter, sugar, vanilla, etc:Speaking of vanilla, I thought of my friend, S, as I put in one or two more teaspoons of vanilla than the recipe asks for. I never measure out vanilla. I free-hand it generously because I love vanilla so much.Here's the dough, all ready to go, creeping up the sides of my trusty, much-loved, KitchenAid mixer:The recipe says to butter the cookie sheet, but you know what? If you have one of these babies, you'll never need to butter another cookie sheet again:The brand is:and I got mine courtesy of dh's wonderful, wonderful Aunt Lee! She gave me one, and then when her sister moved into a retirement home, her oven was too small for those, and Aunt Rosemary gave me a couple more. Score!!

Here are the cookies, all done. I am not kidding you when I say that these are some of the best cookies I've ever had.So, back to ceramics. We got some more stuff done - some stunning leaf plates and a few ceramic beads.

Here is ds#1's hickory leaf plate:And ds#2's poke leaf plate:And finally, my sycamore leaf plate:They turned out really beautifully, and I think that over the holidays when I have some free time (yeah, I'm an optimist), I should set up an Etsy shop.

Our ceramic beads, our first tries, turned out pretty well too. I'll have to decide which to make into jewelry and which to sell as plain beads.And speaking of Etsy, here are some goodies I got from some of my blogging/Etsy friends: Gassner Custom Soaps, Spotted Cow Soaps, Twin Birch Bath & Body/One Bubble at a Time blog, and Ladybug Soapworks. Not everything I bought, nor the extra goodies these lovely ladies have thrown in, are shown because I've already started using some of the stuff. :}As for my own gifting, I've made some stuff to give away...hope none of my neighbors are reading this blog. Well, this has been a long enough post to make you go cross-eyed, so I will bid you all a fond Thursday farewell.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Some day I will do a real post again...with photos!

In the meantime, here are more crafts, more giveaways:

Win a Frais Hand Sanitizer at Bearable Deals

Or how about a Fisher Price Kid Tough DVD Player over at Frugal Upstate

Sangeeth (Let's All Cook) posted a very helpful tutorial on copyrighting your photos for your blog.

Learn how to make Cafe Almond Sugar Scrub over The Natural Beauty Workshop.

I can't believe it took me whole day to get this little non-post up. Phew!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

More crafts, more contests

Urban Debris has a Tree Garland project up. She also has many other cool templates and projects so make sure to look around.

Free Printable Boxes for mini gifts from About.com.

Crafting a Green World has...well, craft projects, natch! LOL! And they are green and funky crafts too.

Firefly Mom has a giveaway...a lovely Amazon.com giveway! But, please don't enter, as I'd like to win this one. Okay?

And if you want to enter E Gassner Custom Soaps' Big Box O' Soapy Goodness, you'd better go enter pronto because she's doing the drawing tomorrow!

Also ending soon (Wednesday!) is the Samsung Kajeet cell phone contest over at Twofer the Price of One. Kajeet is a neat cell phone plan designed for kids. You can check out the features at www.kajeet.com/JANINE

Happy Monday, everyone!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

DIY projects for the holidays, Spotted Cow's Giveaway

Moth Chaser Sachets from Garden Fresh Living

Various fun projects from SoapyLove

Babylegs Tutorial from Heidi (Soapaholics Anonymous)

The next two projects are courtesy of The Soap Queen Blog. Be sure to peruse Anne-Marie's whole blog, going back a few pages or more because she has tons of good and fun ideas!
Painted Ornament Project
Christmas Tree Soap Centerpiece

Spotted Cow Soaps has another Giveaway - hurry and enter!

p.s. the artisan bread I made actually didn't turn out doughy and soggy. It was just like the baguettes we buy at the local bakery (or used to buy; I've been making my own for a couple of years now)! We had it with lasagne last night, and made French toast with it this morning. It was really tasty.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Wii Fit Mommies fitness challenge

Julie (Cool Mom Guide) and several other moms have a great Giveaway and challenge going on. You can win a Wii Fit...no kidding!! Go check it out. In addition, each of the Wii Fit Challenge ladies are having their own giveaway. Julie's is sterling silver charm necklace from Pickled Tink.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Tis the season of giving + Giveaway winners

You know it's getting close to the holidays because all of a sudden, every charity you've ever donated to, and a ton of the ones you've never even heard of, let alone donate to, sends you mailings. Yes, mailings. Not one, but maybe about 3 a week. Can you imagine how many trees died in vain to solicit a few dollars?

We set a certain amount of our budget to go toward charitable gifting to our favorite groups, although there's a bit of room for adding one or two more donations when we come across another organization whose cause capture our hearts. It gets very hard when you get bombarded by requests to donate to this, that, and the other thing. You just have to say 'no' at some point, and I do feel bad about saying 'no' but we're not the Rockefellers; our funds are finite.

Now, if you think I'm a mean-hearted woman, I'm not (well, my kids think I am, but don't listen to them, OK?). We donate to a ton of charities. In fact, a few years ago, in one homeschool co-op we belonged to, we were doing some project for Earth Day and my kids and I counted up how many charities we donated to, and we discovered it was a lot. I'm talking about 15 or so. Our top three favorite groups to donate to are: Southern Poverty Law Center (helps fight hate crimes), Co-op American (fights social and environmental injustices), and The Land Institute (researches sustainable crops, such as perennial wheats).

The kids get Christmas money every year from dh's parents, and sometimes from my parents (they are more forgetful than dh's parents). We stipulate that they donate 10% of that money - they can spend 10% and the rest must go into their savings account.

So, every year, we talk about the types of charities out there, and they get to choose one or two of them that catch their fancy to donate to. There are humanitarian ones, like Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corp, and Heifer International; environmental ones, like Environmental Defense, Sierra Club; animal causes, like World Wildlife Fund, and National Audubon Society; and local charities such as Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (local food bank), and the Monroe County Humane Association. It's fun to watch the kids decide whom to donate to.

For anyone interested, there's a good article on donation at Care2.com: Giving Green.

So, in the spirit of giving, today is the day to choose my "green giveaway" recipients.

Random.org chose #5, which is Stace!

Feeling generous, I decided to ask ds#1 to pick a number between 1 and 9 at breakfast, and he chose "7", which is Marr!

So, ladies, I'll be hopping over to notify you about your free one year Co-op American (soon to be called Green America, apparently) subscription. :)

Hope the weekend is a good one for all!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

The Bread Challenge

Sangeeth (Let's All Cook) tagged me for the Worldwide Blogger Baker Bake-Off Challenge started by Breadline Africa.

The Blogger Bake Off is an online campaign that challenges bloggers to get involved by baking bread, and then acting by donating to end poverty. And then, challenge their readers and five other bloggers to do the same.

With the money raised, we will be supporting grass roots community projects aimed at ending poverty and hunger in Africa. We’ll be placing container kitchens, vegetable gardens and more in poor communities, sending emergency food relief where needed and helping these poor communities to help themselves.

The rules are:

If you are tagged, bake bread, do something you wouldn’t normally do, and blog about it. Upload your picture and recipe.

Give dough, donate to Breadline Africa and help us end poverty.

I decided to try the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day recipe. Starting with water, sea salt (Fleur de Sel, courtesy of my lovely sister) and yeast:Then I threw in the flour:My flour resides in a 5 gallon bucket - inside the bucket:And the series of buckets (2 are for dog food, and 2 are for flour):Here's the dough, after mixing up the flour, salt, and water mixture:All that was done on Monday. Well, I was busy from Tuesday through Thursday, so didn't get around to making bread out of the dough until Friday. I looked inside the container and the dough isn't looking so hot:But, I followed the directions and tried my best to fold it into a boule. Here's the somewhat square boule on my peel (Alton Brown named his 'Emma'; I'm not quite as clever):I let it rest a good long time, but it never did rise. I finally decided to bake it anyway. Even though I kept shaking it on the peel to make sure it didn't stick, it was apparently stuck anyway and it pulled into a rectangle as I was trying to place it on the baking stone. Ugh. Here's how it looked as it came out.I haven't cut it yet to look inside, but I get the feeling it's a bit too doughy, as one reviewer said on Amazon.com about the recipe in this book. However, I have to say that the bits I pulled off the ends to try did taste remarkably like sourdough. Guess we'll toast the heck out of it before we eat it.

My other baking ventures worked a lot better than the bread. Here are my sweet potato pieand pecan pieGuess I need to go donate some "dough" now.

Speaking of donations; that'll be my topic for tomorrow's post.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Things that make one cry

Things that depress me:

1) Where did the week go? And how can I find it again?

2) Store bought eggs. Three guesses as to which of these are the store bought (organic, no less) eggs, and which one is our homegrown one?It already pains me enough to have to shell out money to buy eggs, and then you crack them open and they are so pale yellow, you wonder where the yolk is. Oy.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Mom-E-Centric Giveaway

Yup, tis that time of the year. :)

Mom-E-Centric is having a 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway, and Day 1 features pretty earrings from Tina of Adorn Me Jewelry! Ok, I want those, so the rest of you can enter on some other day. LOL!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Happy December!

We actually have snow flurries (or flow snurries, as we like to call it) today...yikes, it really is December! We're happy to say good-bye to November, though; it was crazy busy. We finished processing our chickens...yay! And dh packaged up his sauerkraut for the season. Dh's family has made 'kraut for probably a century. It's a grand tradition. This year's batch was especially tasty as the cabbages turned out nice and sweet.

We got our tree and decorations up yesterday. It may seem early, but given how much work goes into it, I want to have it up for the entire month. And, of course, the beginning of December means National Novel Writing Month is over. I'm still working on the novel itself, but I broke 50K words (as I mentioned earlier), and here's proof: I'm currently at 53,531 words and counting.

This month, I plan to blog about holiday related themes, e.g. giving, both charitable and for family and friends, spending, and continuing to showcase craft ideas from other bloggers.

As well, I'll be posting about making bread - no, I haven't forgotten my promise to you, Sangeeth (Let Us All Cook)! :) Dh wanted me to hold off making naan until he cooks an Indian meal, so I'm going to, instead, blog about making a very easy bread starter from the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim