Embroidery and Rice Custard

A Christmas project for a special four-year-old niece of ours, whom I'm assuming isn't old enough to be reading my blog.  ;-)

Comfort food.  :-)

Little Encouragements and Little Pests

No, these aren't from John.  And, no, they're not from anyone else!  Just listen to the story!

While I was getting ready to leave one of the self-checkout lines at Kroger yesterday, the girl behind the desks asks, "Ma'am, would you like some flowers?"

"Um, excuse me?"

"Would you like some flowers?"

"Would I like some flowers?!" 

"We ordered too many this week and we're giving them away!" 

Wow, that never happens.  Of course I would like flowers, and of course I chose roses.  :-D

The next encouraging thing happened at JC Penney.  Weeks ago I went online and signed up for their mailing list.  Yeah, I do get e-mail ads regularly now, but I was hoping I would also get coupons in the mail like my mom does.  And last week I did, the best being a "$10 off a purchase of $10 or more" coupon.  Nice.

I needed to buy black tights for our CSD concert on Saturday, so I headed to Penney's with my coupon.  Wouldn't you know, there was a "buy one, get one for $1" sale on all hoisery!  Nice.  I found some nice, $10 tights and picked out the most durable pair of regular beige stockings I could find, which happened to be marked $9.  With the sale, the two rang up at a total of $11.  I handed the cashier my coupon, paid my $1.08 and left encouraged. 

God is kind.

Jenni, if you're reading this now, just be glad that you're on the other side of the Atlantic. 

You see, we have a mouse problem.  I've been finding mouse droppings in the kitchen towel drawer and in the napkin basket since we returned from Thanksgiving.  John found a half eaten peanut butter cup in his bag of Reeses.  But, being the laid-back couple that we often are, we dealt with the symptoms and hoped the problem would go away.  Still, I kept finding droppings.  I'd heard that Bounce will keep mice away, so yesterday I also bought some store-brand dryer sheets and tucked one into the towel drawer and one at the bottom of the napkin basket.  Yay, no more droppings!

And yet . . .

And yet, now the little beasts are digging holes into my precious growing herbs!  I'm angry with them now and John agrees that it seems to be trap-time . . . updates to come, with no pictures for the sake of the squeamish.  ;-)

Our Gingerbread Cottage

O Christmas Tree!

Today we got our first Christmas tree!  Now, some people buy a potted Christmas tree and plant it after Christmas, but we did things kind of backwards. 

Here's John wielding the "big toe cutters."  :-)

Yeah, John decided he didn't care for a tree planted amid bushes in one of the flower beds, so we chopped it.  My only desire was for a tree and a real tree, and getting to chop it ourselves makes it even better.  :-)

I wore my boots, even though it's 70F outside. 

 

 

All ready to go!  I potted him in dirt in the large pot which held the artificial plant in the dining room which I brought to Good Will this week.  And now he is in the living room, awaiting white lights, a cranberry string and gingerbread.  :-)

O Christmas Cookies!

Saturday was the day, finally, for some Christmas baking.  I had the motivation of an assignment to make cookies for the monthly luncheon that a group from our church hosts for the international students at our local university.  But I already knew what kinds I wanted to make!  I've had Grandma Reid's gingersnaps on the brain for probably over a week, when I realized I'd have to get some molasses before trying them.  Somehow hers always seemed rounder and puffier, even though I followed her recipe exactly.  Maybe I'll try my own mother's trick of the trade next time and cut the butter in half.  (And maybe I'll actually use butter . . . I did use shortning this time, against my better instincts, but wishing to produce a genuine Grandma Reid gingersnap!) 

We received a pizzelle maker as a wedding gift from a wonderful pizzelle baker at our old home church and this seemed like a great chance to try it!  I could hardly believe that the recipe called for 3 teaspoons of vanilla!  My mother doesn't have a pizzelle maker, so this was a true experiment, but thankfully our instructions were very detailed - just a teaspoon of batter on each half of the iron, clamped shut for 30 seconds, and then gently lifted off and left to harden.  They came out well and tasted yummy. 

John even had rose-tinted plastic wrap in the drawer!  I think it's more likely that it was in the house when we moved here than that he bought it himself.  :-)

And ALL my cookies got eaten at the luncheon, which is a dream come true for every potluck-contributor.  :-)