Gingerbread Student

(Edited to Add: Scroll Down to see the completed project! )

That's me! Thanks to Suzanne of At Home With the Farmer's Wife who's been doing a great tutorial all week. So in spite of not having one gift wrapped, shopping finished, house cleaned, sewing done, nor visiting a soul, I've been making a gingerbread house. :D









Okay, if you find yourself snowbound, give this a whirl. It's been a lot of fun and the house smells soooooo goooood.

A wonderful Friday to you all!

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Adding more photos of the progress made. You'll be able to watch this thing go up through the day. But I am waiting until the carpenter comes home for lunch before I carry on any further. LOL!












I'm just trying to scare Suzanne with this one...


Saturday Morning Update! (It is still morning isn't it?)

You are all soooo patient. Thanks for visiting. Please note how restrained Suzanne is in her use of photographs. I, on the other hand, am just being boastful. This is my first Gingerbread House and, by golly, you're gonna see it in all of its leaning, Alpine glory.

First test of the marriage...can it stand the strain of creating a Gingerbread House? Oh yes! With flying colors. First of all, The Carpenter didn't care for the dimensions of that chimney elves or no elves! That meant some serious whittling.





The Gingerbread House had to have a window box reminiscent of my Haven's.



Suzanne, thank you so much! This has been a life long dream of mine. No kidding. You're an excellent teacher and I hope that lots of folks will join you in Gingerbread Land.

Have a great weekend, Dear Ones. I'm going to go find a place to collapse. :D

Christmas Playlists

Image: My Christmas window box with tips and winterberries
Yes, we received our promised snow and so spent the day deep in projects...journals, aprons, and gingerbread houses. (Maybe I'll show you or maybe I'll just allow you to exercise your imagination. ;>) A playlist was on throughout the day so allow me to share those that I've been especially enjoying.

Let's start with these four and in no particular order:

Restyled Home Playlist

*Catherine Holman Folk Art Playlist
Coffee Tea Books and Me Playlist
Edie Marie's Attic Playlist


(Now that Playlist is no more, these links no longer work.)

*Catherine's may require a visit directly to her blog (never a bad thing) where you can pop out the player from her sidebar. It's a lovely list! Sometimes the link works; other times not. All other links will take you to the player where all you have to do is click the play arrow in the center of the newly opened screen. Then minimize and off you go!

This should keep you in Christmas music through the day. Tomorrow, we may discuss the playlist to listen to when a break from Christmas music would be nice. (I just rarely need a break from Christmas music.)

A joyous Thursday to you!

All is Calm; All is Bright; Not!

One might get the idea from taking the Holiday Tours in Blogland that all is calm, all is bright, all the time. Not so! Oh so definitely not so!

Take, for example, my moment with the oil lamp, which you can plainly see glowing all pretty above in my header. (Thanks, by the way, to those who've commented on it. Just one of those chance shots that looked so good that I couldn't resist.) Anyway, I was home alone wanting to take a cozy shot of the lamp for my holiday home tour when, all of a sudden, it flared up and the fire went straight down into the bowl of the lamp and lit all the oil on fire. Very pretty. Very scary. Only my quick wit prevented me from pitching it through the bay window. Instead, I rushed it out the door.

Later that same afternoon, John came home and I told him about it. He gave me that little hmmmm that he does and I asked him to light it. (No, you're right, no one has ever accused me of being exceptionally brilliant.) So he did and sure enough! The fire went right down the wick and started the whole bowl ablaze again. Wow! Can John ever move fast when he must! After a bit, he suggested that I take this picture of the bowl filled with smoke; wish it could've been a few moments earlier.



Then, if such a thing even be possible, this happened.


You've heard of time standing still? Well what can one say about time crashing? (Actually, if it would crash for just about two more weeks I might get everything done.)

And take yesterday afternoon when I decided to make Brenda's M&M Pretzel Candies. She clearly states in the recipe that peanut M&Ms won't work. What do I have? You guessed it. She clearly says to place the pretzel on waxed or parchment paper. What do I do? You guessed it.



Still tasty, though! I also made the Mini-Turtles that Angie suggested in the comments on this recipe post. Oh boy howdy are they ever yummy little things! Don't worry about the "mini" bit and Rolos. Regular-sized ones work.

Today is supposed to be snowy. (I wrote this last night. Gotta be careful of saying things like this lately. I get so confused.) Leaving you with some Christmasy shots I took of John plowing the yard.










Now I'm just wondering if I have the courage to attempt making a gingerbread house for the very first time from scratch. I've made the dough and I'm ready to go. Check out the button on my sidebar to visit Suzanne's third tutorial.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Dear Ones, and remember to follow directions!

I've Lost My Mommy

It was one of those days.

A day when we both had a lot to get accomplished, but more importantly, a day to spend together...sort of.

It began with my mother's doctor's appointment. All things these days begin with an appointment it seems.

Then we made a bee line for breakfast as my mom had been fasting in order to have bloodwork done. We had the big ol' Sizzlin' Skillet breakfast at Denny's, which took us sailing right through the day until the mandatory stop at Tim Horton's on the way home.

Other than that, it was a shop until you drop kind of day. We were lugging such a large number of heavy bags by the time we arrived at Bath and Body Works that I offered to take it all back to the car, repark the car, and meet Mother at the far end of the mall in the toddler department at J.C. Penney. Sigh. One might think that that would have been an easy assignment.

Half an hour of shopping for the grands later and with purchases piling high, still no mother. So I checked out and went looking.

I followed every white-haired lady I saw; I followed every lady wearing a fleecy jacket; I followed every lady with that certain limp. I grew more and more anxious.
Perhaps I've been reading too much Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman...

My internal dialog cranked up and I imagined myself before a mall security officer requesting an all points bulletin. I retraced my many steps thinking "what would Mother do?" I knew what I would've done...taken a nap on one of the many benches strategically placed at exits. One poor fellow seated on one of said benches asked if I'd lost anyone — wonder what gave it away. I tried to grin, "Yes, I've lost my mommy." At least, he got a chuckle out of it.

After an additional 45 minutes, I found her. Right there rummaging through men's gloves in the men's department. Does that sound anything like the toddler department? Hmmmmm?

Quickly, I assessed my emotional meter and decided to clarify rather than confront. "Mother," says I, "How was I supposed to know to find you here?"

She looked up at me with a warm smile, her glasses perched precariously on the tip of her nose and said, "Hello, Dear, I've been shopping in women's lingerie."

Sunday Post

(Imagine mist wrapped mountains covered with snow.)

I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. ~Isaiah 44:22