Taking a Bite out of this Birthday

Oh, this birthday week has been fun!  
Friends and family have really come through in spite of the frigid weather and snowy days. Some plans needed to be altered. Some plans needed to be tweaked. Some surprises came along the way as well.
But all the celebrations had food involved. Talk about full platters!

Celebration #1 started out with Lindt chocolate sampling and ended up with burgers and fries and a bit of shopping in between.  Thanks, NB!

                                                                            

Celebration #2 involved a stop at a local hospital (not related to any medical procedures, thank goodness) and ended with a great lunch at Walker Brothers Pancake House. There was a movie in the midst of that celebration which is currently an Oscar nomination.

Oh, baby for this Dutch Baby!  Powdered sugar and squeezed lemon juice top this puffy, eggy pancake  perfection. This treat may have the appearance of snow sprinkled on a mountain range, but it is anything but cold and unwieldy! Thanks for this treat, MJ!!

Celebration #3 was an omlette whipped up by this dynamic duo, Miss E and Wes.

I promise she was heavily supervised with this far-too-long serrated knife.  The omelette was great and loaded with fresh veggies and cheese.

Celebration #4  followed naptime on this same day with a surprise (for her) tea party for three with hot cocoa and muffins- and candles on top of those muffins. 
Sorry, these Three Bears left none for Goldilocks this time!

Celebration #5 happened not long after the tea party with our whole family arriving for dinner made by Wes.  This wasn't our original plan but we just didn't feel right about the little ones out in the extreme cold.  On - hand supplies in freezer, fridge and cupboards would have to do!

(FYI: Swedish meatballs work out just fine in a spaghetti sauce.)

Side note: how could we subject these two Grands to shivering in the cold if we went out to dinner as  planned?  No way!! 
Miss M and K-man are getting to be such buddies these days.  Though 10 months apart they weigh the same.

And now for the cake!  Cheesecake!

You can see I ate very very well during my birthday week and this isn't even the whole week.
 
Celebration #6: work break with a homemade cobbler, cookies and chocolates!

Holy tight pants, Batman! 

 Good thing birthdays only come around once a year.

Coming next:  the final birthday celebration (and the theme reveal) with my Sis because you asked for it.  Yes, the food in this one is pretty impressive as well!

Bye Bye Kitty

It has been about of month of prepping time for the BIG day of Miss E's fourth birthday celebration.

She is simply gaga over a certain white cat with two black eyes, a yellow nose, six whiskers and a bow on the right ear.  You know that kitty, don't you?

Prepping started with going to the fabric store to find just the right fleece print to make a robe and pajamas pants for our kitty lover.

   Then, the remaining kitties were "fussy cut" to fuse to the party favor bags.

Yes, the zebra print is my ironing board cover.

This was a rather tedious task, but I was entertained by Juan Pablo during the tediousness, so it wasn't all that bad.  Wink wink!

With the remaining scraps, I made a sleeping outfit for Bella who resides at our home and with whom Miss E. has as a snuggle partner...every girl should have a woolly green elephant companion with pink ears, don't you think?

Finally it was time to wrap all these gifts and head to the city to have a date with our birthday girl.  An early present was some pretty fancy jewelry to wear on said date.

The sunglasses were a gift from another special admirer, Carolyn.

We were just getting started with the whole Kitty thing!  This was followed by a fun family get together with pizza and both grandmas in attendance!  As well as aunt, uncle, cousin, Papa, sister and parents.

Can I hear a Meeeeeooooow here?

The big hit of the party was a new kitty keyboard that meows out the notes and tunes.  I am definitely coming over to play with this new toy!!!!  Do note the look of sheer joy on the face of her Daddy!

Here's the finished robe!  Bedtime beckons.

The following day brought still more celebrating.

I celebrate her Mom's talents in cake construction, decorating and frosting prowess!

cupcakes

The bigger cake will have candles to be added later.

What a fun time was had by this little Miss!
The question now is:

Has she had enough of the Kitty?
I think so! I think so?
Hello, Four and Bye Bye Kitty!

Resolution Word 2014

Each year, instead of making a list of New Year's resolutions, I choose one word as an inspiration.

It's a word to encourage growth in this human journey.

Past inspiration words include savor, turnover, mindful, zip and trim.

This year a word came to me quite easily!

At a recent family gathering, I mentioned that I had found the word and it started with the letter "e."

My sister, her husband, my husband and a niece started guessing and these are some of their guesses:

*energetic

*enthusiastic

*eager

*elephant (??)

*eggs (???)

This group needed obvious help!  So I then told them the word ended in a "k."  

We all had a good laugh when one came up with the word "electric-shock."  And another (the mis-speller of the group) came up with "electrolux."  With a few prompts as to what some of my plans were, the word was actually deciphered and it is

This may seem like an odd word to you. But not to me.  You see, this is going to be a big year in terms of my career.  I have been at the library for 23 years (8 years first round and 15 second round), and a teacher for stints totaling 15 years and I am about to retire!  I am embarking on the journey of chosen unemployment --- and it is both scary and exciting at the same time.  I hope to embark upon a new venture of doing what I love as an artist/crafter and hoping to join the etsy world.  This will allow me the freedom of time with those I love as well as travel opportunities and exploration of things I have dreamed of in the past years.  As in any journey, there are sure to be bumps and detours along the way.  Embarking on a new venture is certain to be a challenge, but I think I am ready!

Are you embarking on a journey this year, too?  Bon Voyage!

And, Happy New Year!!

Sisters Christmas

It may come as a bit of a surprise to find out my sister and I never celebrate holidays together anymore!  With our growing families it just became too difficult ---- and too "peopled."

This year my husband's side of the family will spend Christmas with us in our home and we will number about twenty folks from age 4 months through (shh!) 87 years of age.  She will have close to that number in her home.

So what do we do?  We celebrate BIG TIME on another date: just the two of us.
We give each other themed gifts --- a lot of gifts from silly to serious, small to big and with our usual ornament exchange.  It is one of our favorite holiday traditions!

Her theme to me this year was SISTERS.
Each gift was accompanied by a little card tag with a picture of the two of us somewhere or doing something together and a related gift.  For example: on one of gifts the little card opened up with a picture of us downtown wearing aqua and blue clothes (unplanned) and the same exact shoes (purchased independently).
The words inside the card were  
As sisters we....

sometimes wear the same clothes.

The gift was a sweater just like the one she had on in a different color.  Maybe you will see us out and about one day looking similar and you will wonder why we are dressing like twins.  We don't do this  on purpose, it's just a freaky sister kind-of-thing!

My theme gift to her this year was Glamour. 
She used to love that magazine in her college days and, as younger sister, I "borrowed" her magazines to find the page with black rectangles covering the faces of fashion violators.  When I grew up I would strive to be a fashion "do."  Ha!

The lightbulb moment for her theme, though, was when we attended the Swedish Covenant Hospital Gala Benefit Dinner earlier this fall at the Field Museum.  The theme there was Glamour Gala and the event certainly was glamorous.  I made a photo book for her with the pictures from this event all done up in black and white.

The gifts given were all meant to give her glamour within the confines of her own home...a plush horseshoe-shaped travel pillow, a box of paperwhite flower bulbs, a monogrammed accessories tote, etc.  When she left home, there was a blingy pair of sunglasses to disguise herself from paparazzi!

See?  Doesn't she look like the epitome of glamour already?

Merry Christmas to all you sisters out there!

(Note the hair colors of
the cover girls...I tried 
to match them to the
real-life colors
we sport.)

How to Recover from a Gingerbread House Mishap

Last year Miss E and I started a new tradition of making a gingerbread train from a kit.  This year I thought we would graduate to making a gingerbread house.  The cute little kit was purchased from IKEA and we needed to supply the candies for the house and the frosting to hold it all together.

No problem.

The candies were saved from Halloween: JellyBellies, Smarties, gummy shapes and colorful gumballs.  ABC cookies were purchased recently.

The problem was how to make the Royal Icing to "glue" all the pieces together and hold the candies in place.  I found a recipe online that didn't call for egg white powder; egg whites would work just fine.  We donned our aprons and got to work.  Miss E wanted to crack the egg and whip the rest of the ingredients together.  All seemed to be going according to the recipe but the mixture never got stiff!  What was the problem???

Think.  Think.  Think.

MISTAKE #1:

We forgot to separate the egg white from the yolk!  Maybe it would work as frosting, but the house would never hold together with this goop mess.  Glue gun to the rescue.

MISTAKE #2:

Using a glue gun is not appropriate for a three year old.  She handed me the pieces of the house and the hot glue hardened in front of our eyes leaving gaps galore in this gingerbread house construction.

CORRECTION #1:

Go back and make the Royal Icing the right way and glop it all over the gingerbread house.

The Recipe

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1/8 t. cream of tartar

1 egg white BEATEN

In bowl, sift together sugar and cream of tartar.  Beat in the pre-beaten egg white.

It will take about 5 minutes to reach the desired thickness to work on the gingerbread house as glue.

CORRECTION #2:

No need to use a glue gun  when you make the Icing as directed --- this stuff is great!

Ready to see the finished product?  It was quite a success!

Wishing you success in your holiday food preps!  

(Remember to follow instructions the first time.)

The "Vera" Christmas Tree

December 19 would mark my Mom's 92nd birthday...it's hard to believe she has been gone from this earth for over five years now.  Mom liked to accessorize back in the day with larger-than-you'd expect earrings.  It was a BIG deal for her to get her ears pierced once all the kids left home!

(You might like to know that my sister sneakily pierced my ears when I was an 8th grader and she was home on college break...and the holes are a bit off-kilter to this day.  What can you expect from a black marker dot on the earlobes with a hat pin acting as piercing device and ice cubes numbing my ears before the procedure?)

Here's Mom on her 85th birthday.  Do note her festive crown and costume jewelry gold earrings.  We also decked her out with a hot pink birthday ribbon which she has attached to her necklace.

Sadly, most of her earrings were not exactly my style and taste.  They sat in a box and waited for my inspiration on how to use them.  And, this Christmas season I figured it out.

While out shopping, I stumbled upon a green fuzzy-coated Styrofoam cone shape.
Hmmm...

I think I can poke Mom's earrings into that.  The earrings won't be destroyed as they have the posts still attached to the earring fronts.  Maybe my tastes will change after a few more years of life and

eccentricity?  No worries!

So, I started with pinning on a necklace of Mom's to act as tree garland on the cone shape.  No harm came to the necklace, either.  A long, gold (fake) chain was looped around the tree next.  It was in Mom's collection, too. Now came the time to just poke the earrings into the tree.

See what I mean about the style and sizes of the earrings?

 

 

 

 Here's how the whole tree looks:

 It won't win any awards for beauty or design, but my "Vera" Christmas Tree is certainly special to me.  Each time I see it, it makes me smile to think of my Mom and her collection of accessories.

She would really really not like to see all the fuss over her pierced ears.   

Sorry, Mom!  I always was a bit of a stinker.

Love you and miss you.

 

The Lucia Trifecta

December 13 is the real deal day to celebrate the Swedish tradition of Santa Lucia. However, this year we celebrated not once, not twice, but three times!

 

#1: Friday, December 6

We were invited (thanks, Charlie and NPU!) to attend the very festive celebration at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago.  This was lovely in every sense of the word.

 

 

 

 

#2:  Saturday, December 7

This time we brought along our own little Swedish flicka, Miss E. to the pageant at North Park University in Chicago - the place where her parents and grandparents met their spouses and where her Papa currently is employed.

She was pretty excited to meet Lucia at the end of the program!

 

 

 

#3: Saturday, December 14

 

No real pageant this time, but a home experience in which the little girls got on their costumes and passed our pepparkaka cookies after the adults made korv - a Swedish potato sausage delicacy.

 

 

This time the action took place at the home of my sister and her husband.

And, this time, all THREE of our Grands were in attendance!

 

Our youngest little pojke who has just turned 4 months old:

 

 

Our little 1 year- old busy, busy, busy flicka:

 

 

And our nearly four year-old Lucia-in-training:

 

 

Care to take a guess as to which Lucia gathering was my personal favorite??