And The Smells of Christmas All Through The House

Remember those days when you looked forward to Christmas break?  When you new you could plow through those last weeks of torture because there would be a couple weeks off to look forward to?  *Sigh* I miss those days.  Munchkie's Daddy has made it to that point in time and now gets to sit back and relax for a few weeks (ha ha ha) after working for over thirty hours straight on his last paper of the semester.  I however, on the other hand, get to cram and work and pull everything together only to get to fit full work weeks into all of the holiday craziness.  The last few days I have been completely stressed out over getting those last few packages sent out and mailing out our Christmas cards.  Do you know how difficult it is to get a family picture when you don't really know anyone? Our first attempt in the dark, using the self timer was a complete disaster and it took a while before we could make another attempt.

The last couple days our couch has been my station for cards and packages.  I have been putting together, folding, stuffing, addressing and stamping all of the cards.  Unfortunately, all of this does not put me in the Christmas spirit, but instead just makes me frustrated.  So I needed to find something that would help me relax while I was getting all of this together.  Something that would really make my house feel like Christmas.

In comes my stove top potpourri.  We have been eating oranges like crazy now that they are in season so I put the rinds of the oranges we have eaten in a pot with a few cranberries (I have a bag of them in the freezer and I add a few to drinks instead of ice cubes) and some spices and soon my house smelled like Christmas.  I highly recommend trying this for a wonderfully smelling house without any effort at all.

Stove Top Potpourri

• The peels of a few oranges/clementines
• A handful of cranberries
• A cinnamon stick broken into pieces
• A small handful of whole cloves
• A few whole allspices
• A whole nutmeg (I put it in a plastic bag, pounded it with something and tossed the pieces into the pot)
• Water to fill the pot at least halfway

Bring everything to a boil and then immediately turn down to low to simmer. Add water as needed to keep the scent going.
If only you could smell how amazing it is.  Just imagine that steam is Christmas filling your house (or small apartment).

The wonderful smell in my apartment was just the motivation I needed to finish everything up and make it to the post office in plenty of time.  Now, I just have to finish up the last few batches of homemade presents and I'm all set and ready for the holiday rush of working, family and food.

Sleep Laughing

Everyone deals with stress in their own way.  I know when Munchkie's Daddy is stressed because he talks in his sleep.  When we first got married and he was having difficulty finding a job he would yell out in what I can only assume to be Albanian (his college roomate would say the same thing in college).  I've been working nights for a few weeks now so we are very rarely sleeping at the same time.  I hadn't noticed him sleep talking until the other night.  He started laughing and laughing.  I wish that I could have known what was so funny.  Last night he started talking nonsense again- his usual stress trend.  The problem is that my stress trend is that I have a difficult time shutting my brain down.  Once I am wakened for whatever reason, I cannot fall back asleep because my brain goes on turbo mode.  I cannot shut it off no matter how hard I try.  This is not a good combination with a  sleep laugher or sleep talker.  Oh and I tend to eat everything in site and then this lovely array of zits graces my face.  So obviously I don't handle stress very well.

I really appreciate my marriage and the equality we have.  I rely very heavily on Munchkie's Daddy to do a lot of the "women's jobs" in our family.  We don't have a very conventional life and so we can't have conventional roles.  So it shouldn't be a huge surprise to me that at the end of each semester things kind of start to fall apart in our home.  Munchkie's Daddy's stress rubs off on all of us.  Then my few weeks of nights doesn't help the matter, weird sleep patterns only cause more problems.  Needless to say, we have a lot of dirty dishes, a counter full of half made Christmas presents and I really can't tell you the last time a homemade meal was made in our house (we barely got a Christmas tree up, and couldn't do the rest of the decorations).  We have been grocery shopping for essentials and food to help us get by.  This means a lot of yogurt and fruit because when I'm at work, mac and cheese is a staple and take out gets us by the few nights I'm home.  I really appreciate all Munchkie's Daddy does and realize how much he does to hold our family together.  I seriously could not do it without him and don't really like when he can hardly do more than write papers. 

Stress is the only excuse that I have for not having posted for a ridiculous amount of time.  There were so many things going on in our lives that I had to cut something out.  I think because I wasn't feeling very creative or like a very good mom I couldn't think of anything to blog about.  It was almost to much to just do day to day functions, anything above and beyond was just too much.  So now I'm back (and yes, the last paper is due on Tuesday, so that helps). And I'm going to try to be more regular. 

A "New" Shirt And A Ghetto Latte

 This weekend while I was at work a girl sat down next to me and was wearing this really cute shirt.  I looked at the shirt and thought, oh man I could make that so easily!  I have no idea where her shirt was from, but it inspired me.  So I took a couple shirts that I bought for a few dollars from Goodwill and created some inspired shirts.  This one is like the one the girl was wearing, but I thought that it was so easy, I could put the ribbon anywhere on the shirt.  So I combined this with my love of leggings.  Here's my how to.  You can have a brand new shirt in literally two minutes with nothing more than a shirt, a pair of scissors and a ribbon.

 First, find a shirt you want to use.  This one I got at Goodwill but hadn't worn yet, I felt it just needed something.

 I put it on, found where I wanted the ribbon to go and cut a little hole so I would know where to fold the shirt.  Then I folded the shirt and made little cuts all the way around.  The cuts don't have to be very big at all, like half the width of the ribbon you're going to use.

 Then cut the shirt all the way around, each hole about an inch apart.

 Then take your ribbon and start to weave it through the holes.

 When the ribbon is woven all the way through, tie it into a bow.

 Then you're all set to go!  I wore this with leggings, boots and a long sleeve shirt underneath.  It was surprisingly warm for a mid November day

 Now you say, oh wait!  Is that a Starbucks latte in your hand?  I would say, well, let me tell you how to be cheap.  On a budget a latte blows through a good portion of my weekly fun money.  So I get a coffee with sugar free peppermint mocha syrup, then I add one packet of sweetener and cream, then, hoila! A ghetto latte that tastes just like the one that costs $4 more.  You can do it with any kind of flavoring, and when it's sugar free the only calories are in the cream.  So my ghetto latte cuts out a a couple hundred calories and $4.

 When I got home tonight, I made the shirt in the above picture.  First I put the purple shirt inside of another shirt that had a neckline that I really liked.  Then I traced the neckline with a pen.

 And cut it down so that it wasn't so high and tight.

 Because I was doing the neckline I couldn't get it to just fold over nicely for me to cut.  I had to pin it so that I could cut the holes.

Then I again cut slits about every inch or inch and a half.  I then unpinned and wove the ribbon through.  The result was the shirt in the first picture.  Sooooo easy!

In The Spirit

It's really quite crazy how before Halloween was even over Christmas was being forced into our faces.  Not to mention completely confusing small children who can hardly keep straight what tomorrow means, let alone "after Thanksgiving."  Now that Halloween is past it's ridiculous how much Christmas stuff is out there.  Tonight we were driving home from my work and the lamp posts surrounding our little town green had Christmas lights, red bows and greenery on every lamp post.  Munchkie exclaimed as she looked out the window "look Mom (this is cool now, just to say Mom) it's Christmas all over!"

Besides the fact that I really feel like we need to be thankful for all of the blessings in our lives before we start demanding of people all of the things we just "have to have," I think that Christmas being vomited all over me just makes me anxious.  It makes me realize that my time to decide upon presents, create and distribute is very rapidly dwindling.  I really enjoy creating homemade presents and I feel so much better giving someone something that I have created in love, rather than running into a store and picking up a completely impersonal gift card.  Not that there's anything wrong with gift cards, because I do appreciate them in my own life, I just feel that I get more out of giving a homemade present.  I am getting slightly stressed because I know that I need to get a move on, start creating.  My ideas just aren't panning out like I would like for them to and it's making me nervous.

This post I read tonight reminded me that the holidays are not about me.  They are about others.  It's about giving and helping those in need.  Especially as we are trying to teach our daughter the positive meaning of Christmas and encourage the giving rather than the receiving.  This post really hit me. We so often give our leftovers.  The toys we don't want anymore because they're worn or broken.  The clothes that are stretched out and fit oddly.  The random things around the house that you just don't want anymore.  Really should we be giving people our broken, misshapen, or even diseased extras?  Do people who live without really need 57 cans of potentially diseased cranberries?  How about giving something that I would feed my own family?  It really made me think, this week at Whole Foods (my fav store) whole chickens were on sale and I bought three for my family.  Maybe this is my reminder that a family in need could use an antibiotic and hormone free, vegetarian fed roasting chicken.  Maybe instead of worrying so much about more "stuff" that I can get people who have everything they need, I should worry about how much I can help meet the needs of those do don't have any "stuff"  Instead of how much can we spend per person, how much can we bless others.

This year, I won't give any BAD CRANBERRIES.  This year, we're going to do things a little differently.

Thank You Pinterest for a Sweet Ending

Let me just start by saying that first I am an emotional eater, I know this and I am working on it.  Secondly, my day prior to noon was great.  We met some friends at the children's museum and had a lot of fun running around and exploring.  Then we left the museum and it was all downhill.

It was supposed to rain today, but I still thought that it was a good time to go out and do things.  Since it was my day off, I needed to get things done.  And it really wasn't raining that hard when we got onto the subway.  So I took Munchkie in her stroller onto the subway, and emerged only to find out that it was pouring out.  We got to Munchkie's Daddy's school in the hopes to surprise him at the library his Spanish test was in.  The police were covering the perimeter, requiring a school photo id to get onto school property due to whole Occupy(my city).  As I turned away, tears welling in my eyes and searched for the best place to run to get out of the rain I could hear several people giving the policemen a difficult time saying "seriously man, it's a woman with a child and it's raining out!"  We met Munchkie's Daddy for a quick cup of a coffee and lunch then headed into our mission of the day.  A new stroller.

The last several weeks we have noticed a drastic decline in the state of our stroller.  We bought our stroller on Craigslist for a significant discount just over a month ago.  We loved it compared to our clearance umbrella stroller, but it's starting to wobble, shake, and we have to fight with it maneuver.  Let me explain my day's travels so you can understand how important a highly functioning stroller is.  Thankfully, Munchkie's Daddy drove us to the subway station this morning, cutting out a half mile walk and bus ride, so we got to the subway station doors without a problem and started our travels.  We had to switch lines which meant that I carried Munchkie in her stroller down three flights of stairs- not one person stopped, not one person offered to assist me, I just heard grumbling behind me because I wasn't going fast enough (this was a common theme throughout my day).  We got onto the other line, hopped off, climbed another flight of stairs (we being me carrying the stroller with the child in it) before realizing there was an elevator, then an escalator to get to the street.  We should have walked half a mile to our meeting place bakery, but accidentally went down a wrong street and backed tracked almost the whole way, taking two more flights of stairs down onto the correct street level.  Again, with the grumbling business men and women behind us trying to get a coffee and pack of cigarettes in on their morning breaks.  Then after the museum walked back to the subway, off the subway, up an escalator, then a flight of stairs only to be turned away by police officers.  Ran to lunch across brick sidewalks and then back to the subway station to catch a bus.  Down two flights of stairs to a bus, off the bus and walked three blocks on brick sidewalks to a resale children's store.  Couple more brick sidewalks back to the bus, riding it to the subway.  Rode the subway to where we switch lines, heading up three flights of stairs there.  Onto the last subway of the day until our bus ride home.  Hopped the escalator to the bus, and then walked the half a mile home in the pouring rain.  Needless to say, our stroller gets a work out on my days off.  On my days of work, it's just a half mile walk to the bus, short bus ride, quarter of a mile to the babysitter's and then back again at the end of the day.

We were going to the children's resale shop to see a stroller that had been on Craigslist and hoping that there were other strollers available to look at.  When we got there the stroller was dirty, big and had a fixed front wheel which isn't that convenient for maneuvering around a city.  So all that traveling for nothing.  I had to make the trip worthwhile so I got Munchkie a couple nice second hand items of clothing that I had been keeping my eye out for.  After arriving to the store in the rain, we had to head home in the pouring rain.  We went to the bus stop, where we almost got hit by a car crossing the street, I stepped in several puddles soaking both my socks and my pants (since in the morning sunlight I had forgotten to wear my rainboots that came in the mail yesterday).  By the time we finally arrived home I was literally soaked to the bone and Munchkie was napless.  Apparently today a new bus announcement started, something along the lines of "Courtesy Counts, before riding with a stroller or baby carriage think of those around you" and so in between each stop it played, and everyone on the bus looked to me and my stroller. Sweet.  No wonder not one person offered to assist me as I lugged a child in a stroller up and down stairs, escalators and on and off buses.  In fact, at one stop, I couldn't move to the front of the bus fast enough for my stop (I was trying to struggle against the wobbly wheels and not bump into people's outstretched feet and umbrellas in the aisles) so the bus driver just moved on to the next stop.  Thanks dude.

Needless to say, I was in a HORRIBLE mood by the time we got home.  Add to that four accidents in a two legged mammal's pants, a four legged mammal's accident on a rug, a broken glass and overtired toddler and I was ready to loose it by the time Munchkie's Daddy walked in the door. I needed something sweet and chocolate and I needed it NOW.

In comes Pinterest, my go to site for all things creative.  I remembered that I had pinned a microwave cake recipe I had found. The wonderful thing about Pinterest is that there is no searching around for that recipe.  I go to my Pinterest boards, click on the right one and there it is.  Let me tell you, it hit the spot.  Deliciousness to a poor weary mother's tongue.  I sat watching Hulu shows in my pajamas enjoying a piece of Nutella heaven.

I took this 90 Second Nutella Cake and made it grain free.  Obviously it is excellent the way she makes it as well and it is way healthier than any other microwave cake recipe I've seen.

Grain Free Nutella Microwave Cake

1 heaping tablespoon Nutella
1 heaping tablespoon coconut flour
1 teaspoon cocoa
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon truvia

Add the coconut flour to a microwave safe bowl or mug.  Lightly spray the tablespoon with cooking spray and scoop out the Nutella.  Add remaining ingredients and mix together thoroughly. Microwave 30 seconds to a minute.  Check for doneness and then savor each bite as you think of better things.

Another Way to Curl Your Hair

A friend of mine sent me a link to this YouTube video recently and I decided to try out her method of curling her hair. Let me tell you that I love it. I wear my hair in a sock bun almost every single night because it takes close to two seconds and almost always looks great. If it doesn't look great, I just pull it back into a pony tail and no one knows the difference. A picture is worth a thousand words right? So I'll just post pictures and let you watch the video.

She does her hair with plain water, but I mix water, hair gel and leave in conditioner in a spray bottle and use that on my hair to help it hold.  When I take it out, I spray some curl spray on it, which I think is just hair spray marketed for curly hair.  The picture below is what happened after a few hours when I only used water.

This was my first attempt, it turned out pretty good for a first attempt.

And then this is today, I haven't washed my hair for a few days and it was the third day in a row that I had done the sock bun.

If you try this, how did it work for you?

Crackers Straight From My Oven

 Tonight we went to some friends' house down for dinner and I was to bring an appetizer.  I had been wanting to try making my own crackers for a while, but for some reason I was a little intimidated.  Obviously taking food to someone else's house is the most appropriate time to try something that's intimidating.  It was ridiculously easy though!  Well,  I have to admit that my fourth batch was the best.  I don't know if it was the best combination or the best because I had gotten better by the fourth try.

Thank you Google and Pinterest for assisting with almost all of my kitchen endeavors.  Between the two I found some options.  The first one I tried were these Grain Free Almond Crackers and they were definitely good, but I should have added more seasoning and salt for flavoring.  The second batch I made of them had more salt and were better.  Then I decided to try a different kind.  I made this Sesame Sunflower Seed Grain Free Crackers recipe, but I thought it odd that there was no binding agent, only water.  So I altered it a little bit.  The first batch I added an egg white and water to mix them together.  Then the fourth batch I made, I decided it was time to go all out and combine to create my own recipe.  They were everyone's favorite.

Pumpkin Flax Crackers

1 cup pumpkin seeds, hulled
1 cup ground flax 
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. Combine pumpkin seeds, salt and garlic powder in a food processor and puree until ground.
2. Add flax and food process until well mixed.
3. Mix together dry mix with egg whites in a mixing bowl until a paste.
4. Roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper until thing, to the thickness you prefer a cracker to be.
5. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into squares.
6. Place dough, on parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 10-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your cracker.
7. Once slightly golden (if it gets too dark it tastes like burnt nuts) remove, let cool and break apart into crackers.

 

 I took a wheel of brie, added this Honey Spiced Peach Spread on top and piled the crackers around it.  I thought it was quite good and it was super easy!  This might be my new staple to bring places.