celebrations

Special friends and a special day

Books, celebrations, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), parties, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper, We're having a party, yorkies

Kecia 014
Before I left for my North Carolina adventure, I had a little party for some special friends.  Kecia, who I met at Tiffanys in CA is on quite an adventure herself.  A two month plus trek across the country, hop scotching from one friend, family member, junk shop, to another. She stopped to see me here at the cottage on her way across I70.

Kecia 017
And my beautiful friend, Angie, was having a birthday.  Two reasons to celebrate!

Kecia 013
You know me, it doesn't take much to convince me its time for a party.  I love any excuse to set the table and invite friends over.

And with two special occasions, I was raring to go. 

I stole my buddy, Carol's tip about using vintage wallpaper as a table runner. And I just happened to have a few rolls to choose from…

Kecias visit 004
Angie had another very important celebration, she is a first time grammie as of a few days ago! So, I broke out the extra special, hoarded, fairytale  wall paper from the 20s and made a frame for her to put a baby picture in.

Kecia 015

Instead of just having a dinner party, I invited everyone to come for the afternoon and have craft day too, and friends dropped by here and there for whatever time they could make it.  Some just for craft day, some just for dinner. 

Kecia 023
My favorite way to spend a day. Good friends, good conversation and stuff to make!!

Kecia 026
I'm still hooked on slopping modelling paste on my collages. So, I made some books with covers all textured up. (this one is in the Boutique)

Kecia 025
On this one, I collaged the back too, but instead of texture, I dry brushed paint over the collage, then inked it a bit.

Kecia 027
This book needs a slight re-do. I've filled it with pages and pages of old papers, and they are too delicate to turn with ribbon ties. I have to add some rings instead.

Kecia 030
Here is the back of this one.

Kecia 028
IIt will be a while before I burn out on this technique, I'm super into smooshing the modelling paste around over pretty papers!

Kecia 029

Dew Drop's mommy, our Gypsy, made a journal this way too, Beth worked on some stiitching, the other Karla was doing needlepoint, Shanna had some painting to do in an enamelling project, and Angie was foofing up vintage bottles with messages and trinkets. 

The great thing about craft day, is that everyone works at their own pace on whatever they feel like, and the conversation flows here, there, and everywhere.

Kecias visit 033
Kecia arrived later in the day, and said she had not had a chance to create while on her trip, so I set her up with supplies to make a book too.  I love the layers she put on her cover.

After dinner, when the other guests had gone, she and I went back out to the studio and worked till after midnight finishing our books.

Kecia 010
Twinkle bonded with her, and we will both miss her, the visit was much too short!

Kecia 018

A little late update

celebrations, holiday decor, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage

IMG_7033

Three days before Valentines Day, I finally updated my shop with a few heart, pink, and red themed items.  I took the photos a while back and had them all ready to add, and then… well, I guess I just got too busy with other things.

IMG_7027

Poor little Sugarwings had a rough week and needed some Grammy time.  Not to mention, we threw a Valentine Bash this week too.

IMG_7020

The poor kid had a UTI with high fever, got on antibiotics just in time to feel better for getting her cast off. All is well with the arm, but its delicate and she needed some babying afterwards. And I'm always looking for an excuse for a Movie and Cuddling Day.

IMG_7044
Then, as she was ready to go back to school, another high fever came on. She'd gotten an ear infection while still on antibiotics for the UTI.

Back home at Daddy's house, Little Dew Drop came down with a double ear infection along with buckets of snot that could be flung much further in one tiny little sneeze than you could ever imagine.

Its been a rough week for those girls, so Sugarwings has spent some time over here with me and of course that means my heart wasn't into working on the Boutique and adding inventory.

IMG_7039
Today I finally had some time to work but almost ditched adding these things because they are not very timely for a holiday that is coming in a couple of days.

IMG_7021
Still, not all of the things were purely Valentine.  Yes, there are lots of hearts, and most of the items are pink or red, but they are still lovely for use anytime. Even the 1961 Valentine Ideals book is full of images that would be pretty to use year round.

IMG_7046
Any way, its not like they will be dated after February 2012. I don't exactly order things from a wholesale company just for the upcoming holidays. 

Its all vintage, and just gets older for each holiday that passes it by!

IMG_7055-1IMG_7057-1 IMG_7018-1

Plus, I have categories in the shop for different holidays and my plan has always been to keep them stocked year round, and just haven't quite got around to keeping them all full yet.  This is a start!

IMG_7061
So, I'm choosing to not look at this as a failure to get my work completed on time. I'm looking at it as one thing crossed off the list, no matter when it got done, hey, its DONE.

And the way things have been going around here lately, that is impressive. I'm still lagging in everything. 

IMG_7038

Now, both little girls are on antibiotics for their little ears and I hope are feeling better by now. We are having our family Valentine celebration on Sunday, and it would be nice to see them back to their old, bouncy, happy selves by then.

IMG_7094
Valentine's Day is the anniversary of my husband adopting our boys, so we always have a family party for it.  This year its also my 5 year blog anniversary, so I am having a giveaway to celebrate that too.

This box is covered in ephemera and topped with chalk board paint.  If you'd like a chance to win it, please leave a comment on my previous post.

Valentine celebrations and a giveaway

celebrations, free images, give away, holiday decor

IMG_7095

This week Sugarwings and I threw a little Valentine making party for our friends. I set out lots of supplies for card making and for decorating gift boxes, plus had a few examples for ideas. The treat cabinet was filled up, and we made sure to have some healthy after school snacks out too, to make the parents happy as well as the kids.

IMG_7096

One of my examples was a pop up card, with instructions next to a couple of finished ones. Its a very simple version, that even the kids could do.  Here are the instructions, if you want to whip one up. The part you can't read, behind the pop up just says to make sure not to glue the paper you cover the outside of the card with to the part that folds up.

IMG_7085

The kids all seemed to get into the projects and worked away on them for a couple of hours. Its good to see little ones be creative and stick to something like that, to not have to get up and run around or go play with toys. It was refreshing to see them all involved with making their boxes and exploring all the different supplies there was to dig into.

IMG_7094
They all kept me pretty busy, I didn't really get to sit down to make something myself. But before the group arrived, I had made up these.  Isn't the chalk board top perfect for writing a sweet note to your Valentine to read before opening it up to see the treats inside?

Its been a while since I've done a giveaway.  And I was reminded while reading Beth's blog that our 5 year anniversary is here!  Hers was the 9th, mine is actually on Valentine's Day itself.

Thanks again, Beth, for getting me started!!!

So it seems appropriate for me to offer a Valentine to you as a giveaway prize to celebrate!

Just leave a comment on this post, and I'll draw a name Monday, for this sweet little giveaway.

IMG_7093

And if you are still cutting, pasting, and creating your own valentines, here is the back cover of that candy box I have on my dining table.  A friend asked to see a close up of it, to see if the music was acutally playable.  So, I'm posting it here for her. Its a cool graphic, and if you wanted to use it in your art, you can click on this to open in a larger window, save it to your computer, print it and cut out the heart. 

That music note, heart shaped border is a pretty one to use.  I might try to make something out if it myself.

IMG_7087
Only 4 more days till Valentine's Day!  I hope you have some sweetness planned for your holiday too.

The craftless craft day

celebrations, flowers, Food and Drink

IMG_6900

Some friends came over for lunch Tuesday, and we almost had a craft day along with it. I'd planned an all day crafting day with lunch in the  middle, but plans changed, so we enjoyed what time we had.

IMG_6901
And I'll take any excuse to buy some fresh flowers for my kitchen. My local grocery store offers mark down floral bundles on Mondays, but I don't always treat myself to them. Or if I do, I'll buy one or two bundles. But for this special occasion, I splurged and got 7!

Did I mention they were only $1.99 each?  And some of the ones available were pink roses, which are favorites of mine. I rarely buy the roses though, because I am a cheapskate, even at two bucks, I figure that the carnations will last 4 times as long, so I go for those.

Plus I feel kind of sorry for carnations, they are often unappreciated.

Sometimes I wonder about myself.  Really?  Too cheap to buy $2 worth of roses because they will only look good for a few days?? 

I was thrilled to have a reason to buy enough flowers to put all around the cottage. 

IMG_6916
Including the treat cabinet in the studio.

IMG_6914
And the coffee cart next to it.

We didn't even end up making anything that day, but we did "retire to the studio" after lunch to have treats and spend an hour or so being creative.

IMG_6935
We were so busy talking and laughing we never got around to crafting on craft day.  I see Carol so rarely, and this was the first time Lesa has been out to visit, so we had a lot of catching up to do.  My buddy, Angie was able to come by just for lunch, she had a client to meet with afterward. 

I know that everyone is busy, so it means a lot to me when friends can make time to come and hang out for all day or for a short visit, whatever they can squeeze in.

IMG_6923
One of the things we talked about was how nice it is to have other women to discuss business or family issues with.  Its a topic that Carol has insight with, she has even started a blog that addresses that subject, called  Good Stella where she offers encouragement and advice to help women on the road to achieving their dreams.

Carol is always generous with her time and experience.  And has good advice to offer.

IMG_6896
This bird topped tree is one that I made in another friend's class a few years back. Sheila makes the coolest stuff, and is such a nice person. I always set it out for Valentine's decorating.

This year, I've added an ephemera heart from Ginger Shrader, and liked her sweet idea so much, that I hung a few more similar hearts on the tree too.  Its sitting on a vintage candy box, that I picked up cheap because the top wasn't very pretty and I thought I'd foof it up. But when I flipped it over, I saw that the back was much more attractive and I display it as is- upside down.

Hmmm, what was I talking about? Oh yes, friends. And how lucky I am to have time with them. 

IMG_6903
Working as an artist can be a lonely job.  Which is why I love craft days, and classes, and other gatherings of creative pals.  Now, I am not knocking being an artist.  I can't imagine having to put on real clothes and leave the house to go to a real job every day. Well, sometimes I do day dream about those real pay checks… but heck, anyone who'd hire an uneducated, no skills person like me probably wouldn't pay much anyhow.

Working from home is great. And I have the Dorkies to keep me company, as well as visits online from blog friends.

IMG_6902
But there is something extra nice about actually having people come to the house, sit down, and chat.

IMG_6909
 

 

Wigged out for the holidays

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings

IMG_6688
This is my favorite holiday photo from our weekend. Little Dewdrop snuck up onto the table while her elfish father was fixing dinner.  He wore the hat and cape for most of Christmas and I thought it added a festive touch.

We spent a lot of our time in the kitchen, and having it be one, big open space was just great.  Now, why didn't we think of this years ago? Its made our house such a cozier place.

IMG_6626

We had one wonderful meal after another, and since the kids were staying with us instead of driving back to the woods and going to their yurt each night, we even went all out for breakfast in the mornings. On Christmas Day, our Gypsy made this fluffy, puff of deliciousness for us from a recipe we saw in the Sunday paper that morning.

IMG_6473
Poor Sugarwings had been pretty sick all week leading up to the big day, and stayed here with us for most of the time, with her parents having sleepovers with her at our cottage.  She rallied by the time Christmas Eve came around, but was still not quite herself.

We were sad to see her so weak and tired, but It was nice to have a houseful for the whole week, instead of just seeing them for the dinner and present times.

IMG_6572
This year, between Sugarwings being sick, and me travelling, I was behind on gift buying.  I did a whirlwind shopping trip, throwing things into the cart as I buzzed down the aisles.  By the time I got home, I wasn't even sure what I had for who, I just hoped it was done.  And for some reason, I bought wrapping paper, not bags…. silly mistake!  If you wait till the last minute to buy gifts, there is no time for wrapping, those late gifts need to be slipped into bags.

That was NOT the highlight of my week.

IMG_6587

But watching these little fairies tear through that paper was.

IMG_6649
Dewdrop was very fond of her new toys.  She was busy giving all the dollies lots of kisses and hugs.

IMG_6598
She wasn't quite sure what to think  about the dress up wig that her big sister got though.

IMG_6586
I think it added a lot to the festivities, as she wore it to pass out the gifts.

IMG_6640
We had two celebrations, all gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, and Santa's presents on Christmas Day.  My husband's family has always done it that way, and it has become our tradition too.

  I grew up with being able to open one gift the night before, saving the rest for the main event. I was always disappointed that the one preview gift was PJs every single time. I thought it was just plain old bad luck that I always picked the one gift that was not fun at all, when there was a sparkling pile of things waiting under the tree for me. 

Of course, now I know that Mom planned it that way, so that I'd have new jammies on for Christmas morning when I woke her up at the crack of dawn.  But at the time, I was crushed that once again, I got pajamas,  not a Barbie on Christmas Eve.

IMG_6582
Now, I am pulling my own version of the jammie trick, and let the girls each have one gift to open after dinner, before bath time and the rest of the gifts.  Yep, they each had a new pair of matching PJ's as their sneak peek gift just like I did when I was a kid.

IMG_6691
We had a third holiday bash on the day after Christmas, with the rest of the family (at least the ones in this part of the world) over for dinner, and all 26 of us fit into the new kitchen. 

The house seems really quiet now with everyone gone.  I've kind of gone into hibernation, with a good book and a box of kleenex (I caught Sugarwing's cold). I've not even checked out the post holiday sales yet, and don't know if I will.  Although I keep thinking about all that clearance price Russell Stover chocolate…. out there, just waiting for me, all marshmallowey on the inside and shaped like chocolate Christmas trees. 

But I'm kind of enjoying being snuggled up with a book and staying home in my jammies.  I think I'll pass on the sales and go have another slice of that white chocolate peppermint cheesecake that I made instead. By the time I leave the house, the only thing that will fit me will be my elastic waist jammies.

IMG_6628
If you are into holiday sale prices and don't want to leave your comfy home either, I have a sale in my Boutique and now on Etsy too.  And yes, it covers tutorials, millinery, charlottes, and all of the other vintage goodness in my shops.

 Everything is 30% off in the Boutique if you use  THIS LINK.

And the small print says: The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days.  You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words-  happyholidays   – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

For Etsy, use the same code word- happyholidays  -to get 30% off there too.

And by the way, a Very Happy Holidays to you all!

A new holiday tradition?

celebrations, Dew Drop, fairies, family, holiday decor

IMG_6555

We had a Fairy Merry Christmas, and I hope that you did too.  On the Day Before the Night Before Christmas (the title of one of our favorite songs around here), we had the girls here for a sleep over.

IMG_6510
They decorated bottle brush trees in the studio, then decided to fix up the Gingerbread house for the fairies that live on our Fairy Berry Trail through the woods.  

IMG_6511
It got a whole new set of furniture, made of graham crackers.

IMG_6569
After the painting/gluing in the studio and the icing/sprinkle excitement in the kitchen, we decided a bubble bath was in order. I poured them all (plastic) flutes of sparkling juice and filled the tub with Sugar Plum Fairy bath salts.

Calliope said that she felt like a princess.  That gave us the idea to surprise them all with a princess party after their soak. The Hippy Chick ran upstairs and found some dress up clothes that were appropriately royal and had them laid out for the girls to slip into when they were done bubbling.

IMG_6523
Of course, our girls lean toward the fairy side of "fairy princess".

IMG_6490

Our tiniest sprite got to play a little dress up, but fell asleep before the other festivities began.

IMG_6526
It was girl's night at the hot chocolate party. 

IMG_6527
One of the fun parts of the party is mixing your cocoa just the way you like it. We serve warm milk in teapots, and pass around Giradelli chocolate, mini marshmallows, shaved white chocolate with peppermint, candy canes, and for the moms, some Kaluha.  

IMG_6549
It was special. I'm lucky to have all these little girls to play dress up with.  They are pretty sweet.

IMG_6451

and now for the winner of my Christmas Secret Surprise Giveaway!  Its a hand painted and decorated box with a nesting, ephemera covered bird on it.  Pretty for the holidays, but not so Christmassy that you can't leave it out all winter.   I'll fill it with some home made bath salts and send it to…..

Deborah Woodrow

And remember, if you have Christmas gift cash to buy yourself a gift, come on by the Boutique. Everything is 30% off if you use  THIS LINK.

And the small print says: The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days.  You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words-  happyholidays   – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

celebrations, fairies, family

IMG_6548
Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday is filled with lots of singing, dancing, and joy!

IMG_6502
And big hugs from someone you love.

(Info about the secret Santa gift drawing and the 30% off sale in the Boutique can be found in the previous post, if you scroll down, but that is enough "business" for now. I'm off to get in on some of those hugs!)

Book club holiday party gifts and decor and treats

Books, celebrations, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Kitchen remodel

IMG_6394

Last Monday, I hosted our annual book club holiday gathering.

IMG_6390

All of the dining table chairs were moved into the living room for the guests to gather in a circle and the dining room table was covered in a vintage velvet quilt and filled with goodies.

IMG_6388
If I didn't have old lady eyes and needed the over head lights on, I'd keep my house lit with ambient lighting instead! I love the glow of all the small lamps tucked around the room.  And of course the Christmas trees add a beautiful glow to it all too.

IMG_6357
December is the perfect time to add lots of little mini lights.  I love to use them under old lace curtains on the buffet.

IMG_6407
The fairy lights add a nice twinkle to everything sitting near them.

This little paper weight was a gift from my sisters.  Bobbie Sue added a photo of the three of us to an old paper weight that Sissy had. She made 3, so we each got one.

IMG_6356
For book club, we all wrapped up a book we'd enjoyed that year for a trade.  I got extremely lucky! There was a book I'd read in my 20s that I LOVED and wanted to re-read. I've looked for it for 30 years, but didn't remember the author's name or title.  And it showed up that night at the swap!!! Its from 1978 and is called "The Mirror". 

The book I gave away that night was "Room" and its very disturbing, so I wrapped it extra nice and added a brooch to the package.

IMG_6384
The night before guests came, my son's Gypsy Beloved helped me make some gifts. We whipped up goats milk bath salts with a vanilla rose oil scent, and some brown sugar scrub too. 

Sorry, no real recipe, I kind of made it up as I went along. But each are sooooo easy to make, I'll give you the ingredients if you want to wing it:

Bath salts:

Box of powdered milk (goat or otherwise)

epsom salts (whole bag)

cup or so of sea salt

scented oil to your own taste

 

Sugar scrub:

Half pound of brown sugar

Full bag of epsom salts

cup of sea salt

about 2 cups of coconut oil

about a half cup of glycerin

scented oil to your own tasteIMG_6378
The scrub is great for rough, dry, winter skin.  And the milk bath is really relaxing. I use both regularly.

I wrapped them all in small plastic bags sold at Michaels in the cake decorating aisle, and tied up the bath salts with white lace and a mini bleached tree or wreath. The sugar scrub got wrapped the same way, but tied with rick rack and a tag made from an old Shiny Brite box.

IMG_6400
 

It was wonderful to have my new, big kitchen to host a party in.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love that room. 

The treats that night were pumpkin cheesecake, fudge, german chocolate brownies, pumpkin muffins, a veggie tray, pita chips, flax seed chips and salsa.

IMG_6403
And of course wine!

I hope that your holiday has been filled with special occasions and more to come.  Its a festive season, and I can't get enough of it.

IMG_6733
And please don't forget, I'm picking a winner of a Holiday Surprise gift. 

Just leave a comment between now and Christmas to enter.

Fumpity Fump Fump

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, flowers, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings, videos

 We were out shopping the other day and Sugarwings saw this sign on a stand and in her mind, it was the perfect microphone, so she started to serenade all the shoppers.  The kid seems to have inherited my singing voice.  And also the joy of singing out, loudly. 

Its a short video if you want to watch it, and my favorite part is where she is distracted by something shiny and walks away just as she sings "look at Frosty go". 

IMG_6343

This year, the holiday month seems to be racing by faster than I can keep up.

IMG_6317

Its happening too fast and will be over before I know it! So, I'm slowing down and making myself take in every minute of it.  Sugarwings has been spending a lot of time with me and she agrees that we need to make the most of our days. We've had a hot cocoa party every night that she sleeps over, lit only by the lights of the tree.

We make an event of it, setting the table with our best china, filling our favorite tea pot with hot milk, and passing around tiny bowls of shaved chocolate, mini marshmallows, and peppermint sticks.  Not only are we getting a delicious bedtime snack, we are learning about manners, polite conversation, and building memories to treasure.

IMG_6321

We are watching all the holiday specials that we can cram into our time together, without losing out on time to create and cook too.  As much as I love holiday baking, its even better with her. 

There has been a ton of cookies and fudge being whipped up, as well as a  gingerbread house we had to put together with hot glue before we could decorate it.

I'm trying to show Dewdrop about the joys of baking too, she held the mixer for us last week. Its a start!  Soon, I'll have two little helpers.

IMG_6337
With her Daddy being so busy getting the Yurt weather proof and ready to live in for the long, cold winter, and her Hippy Chick Mommy studying hard for her first semester of nursing school finals (I'm proud to say that she is an A student!), I've been lucky enough to have lots of holiday play time with my fairy girl.

IMG_6352
Sometimes, we invite guests to the parties too, like Luna Moona, her Raggedy Ann doll.

IMG_3036
Last week, Dewdrop came to her first bedtime cocoa party and I have a feeling, she will be a regular at them with us next year. She adores anything that has to do with food.

IMG_6344

And for some odd reason, Sugarwings has been setting an extra place at the table for my sisters. She is fascinated by them and talks about them a lot. I guess she knows how much I love and miss them, even though she has only met them a handful of times in her short life and they live far away.


Yes, its been a sweet December!


 

A Happy and Organic Thanksgiving

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor

IMG_6106
Was your holiday nice? I hope so!  Ours was pretty wonderful.  I think we had the best turkey dinner ever. My son helped me cook, and it was a lot of work, we went all organic, local,  and from scratch. We tried to avoid convenience foods or short cuts.   Man, it was tasty!  But it did seem like we were in the kitchen non-stop for about 24 hours… Roasting a pumpkin before you can bake the pie isn't the quickest way to fix dinner. And about midnight on Wednesday, I was wondering if if was the dumbest. But those pies and pumpkin cheesecakes were really, really good on Thursday and we were glad we'd stayed up to do it.

IMG_6045
Quality ingredients do make a big difference in the end result of the meal though, and cooking side by side with a grown up son is pretty cool too.  The whole family pitched in to help, but Sugarwing's Daddy and I were in it for the long haul.

Our fresh,  free range turkey was the best ever. I don't know if it was how he cooked it, or if it was the bird itself.  We soaked it overnight in a brown sugar/sea salt brine, then he tossed an orange, onion and celery inside the cavity before rubbing it down with a blended slurry of fresh herbs, garlic,olive oil, honey, and S&P, then slow roasting it  till it was tender and juicy.

IMG_6046

Our local grocery store was selling these herb planters, brimmed with just what a holiday dinner called for.  I made good use of them too, stuffing with fresh sage is sooooo good.  We used a toasted  loaf of whole wheat bread, and added rosemary, thyme, sage, and garlic to the onions and celery that I'd chopped and cooked in veggie broth the night before.  We also through in a little olive oil and a cup of chopped kale. 

IMG_6064

In the past, I don't think I've given kale a chance.  But now its a fave.  We used dark green, purple, and the pink and white kind in our tossed salad too.  Sugarwings and Mr. Finn both helped me with the greens. We tore a head of Romaine up with the kale, and added chopped radishes, pears soaked in lime juice, dried cranberries,  sugared pecans, roasted pumpkin seeds, and goat cheese.  Letting the kids make the salad themselves and filling the bowl with such pretty colors encouraged them to eat lots of greens (and purples).

The dressing was a half cup of cranberry pomegranite juice, a 1/4 cup of white balsemic vinegar, 1/2 cup of olive oil, S&P, and a tsp of chopped garlic.  Fast, simple, and a good compliment to the kale.

IMG_6047
To go with all that, we had sauteed fresh green beans with red peppers. And to make sure the meal wasn't too heart healthy, we had a good, gooey, sweet potato and butternut squash casserole that our Gypsy girl made with lots of butter, blueberries, and brown sugar, then topped with marshmallows.  I baked the potatoes and squash the night before while the pumpkins were roasting so she just had to work her flavor magic and pop it in the oven to heat up while the turkey was being sliced.

Oh, and of course, there were mashed potatoes too.  I try to keep those healthy by using golden potatoes so they look buttery without actually adding any butter. It seems to trick my family.   To make them creamy, I use a cup of fat free cottage cheese instead of sour cream.

IMG_6060
Dew Drop discovered that she could pull up a chair to the kitchen island and sneak some appetisers while we waited for that turkey to bake.  I'd never cooked a fresh, free ranger before and discovered that they seem to take another hour longer than a Butterball turkey does. They also cost about 3 times more.

That part was painful.  But I'd already committed to the whole fresh/local food idea before I saw the price tag  and it was too late to back out. I'm still cringing at what fresh/local/organic costs for the whole meal compared to canned goods and a frozen bird.

IMG_6073
But I'm thankful that I have a houseful of grand kids that think purple kale is an exciting thing to see on their plate.  I spend a lot of my life in the kitchen, cooking healthy foods for my family and sometimes I complain about how much time it takes to chop and prepare the meals.  But I love it that they care about eating well and appreciate the good food. 

Its not cheap, its not fast, but maybe we'll end up with longer lives because of it, and that will make up for all the time I've spent in front of the stove?(of course, I will probably also die poor from paying three times as much for food to get it organic)

IMG_6068

And with this great newly remodelled kitchen, how can I complain about spending time in it??? Its a joy to have and to work in!

IMG_5514
Don't forget, I'm celebrating the holiday weekend by giving away a couple of my online cuff bracelet tutorials.  If you are interesting in winning one, please mention that in a comment to enter. I'll draw winners on Monday.

Scroll to Top