Fall...

     Fall has been so very wonderful here so far.  Gorgeous weather.  Bright beautiful days.  Temps have been just right.  I've been secretly wishing the temps could be like this all year long.  Windows have been open 24 hours a day for well over a month now.  Early morning wake ups have been greeted with spectacular morning skies.  Such a pretty sight first thing in the morning.

     The leaves are starting to turn and fall, scattering here and there all over the yard.  One little person has been eagerly awaiting this time just so she can rake a new bunch of leaves every day.

     I'm trying to hold out on ripping out all the flowers around the yard just so I can save seeds from the most colorful blooms.  I'm not going to be able to put it off much longer being I know the rain will be coming soon and I don't want to be messing with wet, mushy plants.

     A few little hats have been made for the wee ones of the family that didn't get particular ones last year.  I'm brainstorming now as to which new ones need to be made for this year.  I have to start them soon.  Very soon.

     Cooler temps means there is more interest in cooking again.  Summer just drains you with the heat and I certainly do not like being in the kitchen cooking hot, stuffy meals on hot days.  My little Chef has been cooking a lot lately.  Fried Chicken, soups, roasts and stuffed shells have been on our menu lately.  She has done a fabulous job.  I love how eager she has been to tackle recipes I would have never suggested for her.  I have happily been her sous chef answering all her questions as she goes along from start to finish.  If she isn't "in charge" of a particular meal then she has been right beside me watching everything going on.  Who knows what this may lead to.  She is eagerly awaiting Christmas and all its goodies.

     Cooler nights have forced me to break out the flannel sheets and put on and extra quilt on the bed at night.  It had to be done being that I refuse to close the windows at this point.  48 degrees in the early morning is not enough to push me towards closing windows at night just yet.  I'm hoping for a few more weeks till then.

     I for one am loving all that Fall is bringing so far.  Crossing fingers that it will bring along many more wonderful days.

~*~

Kar

Valentine Sweet Chex...

     The girls have been invited over to their friends house for a get together right before Valentines.  Nothing stirs up an idea for treats like a get together that can brought along to share with everyone.  And the girls will use any excuse to get in the kitchen and make yummy, simple things to eat, especially sweet treats.

So let's get all the ingredients needed and get started to show how easy this is to make.

We doubled everything you see here (plus a box of powdered sugar)  for the number of people we have on our list. (about 12 people if doubled)

1 box of Rice Chex mix

1/2 box of powdered sugar

1 bag of white chocolate chips

1 bag of Wilton Red Candy melts

1 or 2 containers of decorative Valentine themed sprinkles

1 box Strawberry flavored cake mix

treat bags 

First you want to find a microwave safe bowl to melt the chocolate in.

Pour the entire bag of white chocolate chips into the bowl and microwave for 1 minute at a time until all is melted.  We did 1 1/2 minutes total.  Remove bowl from the microwave, get a good metal spoon to stir the Chex (about half the box) into the white chocolate.  (We have found that spatulas just don't get under the Chex well enough to coat with the chocolate without having a lot of broken bits of the cereal in the bowl from using the spatulas).  Pour the desired amount of sprinkles into the mixture and stir again to make sure they are distributed well.

Then start sprinkling the mixture with the powdered sugar and stir to make sure that all the pieces are coated as well as possible.  If done right there shouldn't be big clumps of chocolate covered Chex.  You should start to see individuals pieces being coated.  Add more powdered sugar as needed until you feel there is good coverage over all the pieces.

I transferred this mixture to another bowl and used the plastic bowl for the next batch and melted the Red Candy Melts just as the white chocolate chips were melted.  Toss in the remaining Chex mix as you did with the first batch.  We did not put sprinkles in with the second batch just because you can't see them as well with the red melted candy.  Toss this batch with the Strawberry Cake Mix just as you did with the powdered sugar in the first batch, until all the pieces are coated well.  When finished coating both batches, add 1/2 bag of M&M's to each batch, toss well and places equal amounts into each of treat bags.

Since we have an abundance of yarn around our house, each bag was tied off with Red, White and Pink yarn to keep all the yummy treats safe and sound until they reach their recipients.  Plus it keeps me from eating it all.

This whole project is super simple to make and takes no time at all.  It's fun for the kids to help with.  And it's pretty great to look at with all the holiday colors mingling around in each bag.  It won't disappoint.  

Enjoy!!!

~*~

Kar

Let the relaxing begin...

     And with that we are finished with all the holiday baking.  There are Jam Stars, Vanille Kipferl and Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal cookies sitting around in tins just waiting for a nibble here and there.  And yummy Apple Strudel just patiently waiting for Christmas morning.

     The only thing on the "list to do" is to kick back, relax and soak up as much family time as we can within the next few days.  I'm game.

Merry Christmas!!!

~*~

Kar

Best intentions...

     Such well made plans were made months ago on the premise that I would be finished with handmade gifts very early on this year for Christmas.  I would have everything wrapped, packed and shipped out the first week of December and it would be smooth sailing for the rest of the month.  Then life happened, as it always does.

     Quilts were not finished in November.  I just didn't feel like working on them for some reason.  I didn't buy enough buttons for the knitted sweaters.  Apparently I can not count when it really matters.  Thanksgiving came along and some how I thought for sure I would have enough time to have some kind of sewing marathon that week in order to get the quilts completed.  Yeah, delusional at its best.  The only happenings that week were cooking, eating and putting up Christmas decorations.  No creating.  New Winter hats were on the list to be made.  Lots of hats were started the week after Thanksgiving.  Good thing they are quick to make.  The sweaters were finished after a quick button shopping trip was made.  There was only one pack of matching buttons left when I got to the store.   The pack had just the right amount on it that was needed.  I nearly pee'd my pants.  I just hope no one besides the girls so me snatch those buttons off the rack like they were some big "Black Friday" item everyone was after, well after the sale.  While at the store, a smallish person spotted the most perfect green colored curtains ever for her room.  They were bought and again the finishing of presents were put on hold just so those most perfect curtains could be hemmed and put up.  The smile on her face was well worth the delay with the creating mojo.  Apparently a vintage flowery flat sheet that was put up after the window installation just wasn't cutting it any longer.  Even homemade noodles had to be tackled later that day because they looked so easy.  They are pretty tasty also.  I have been told that store bought noodles are not allowed in the house any longer.  The quilts were started up again with a bit of help from the other quilter in the house.  She totally saved my tail.  Then after I had really got into a rhythm with them, it came to a screeching halt again.  Sure, why not.  Apparently I had totally forgotten about a certain teenager volunteering the whole day at the blood drive at the library and there was the yearly, most important, gingerbread house building event right after the blood drive that the smallish one just had to go to.  Who knew that the best built gingerbread house has to have a front porch and a side patio for one to enjoy.  Nothing really got done that day around here except for dinner.  The day after is when the sewing gods shined their light down upon me and allowed a near perfect day of sewing for me, with the help of some soda.  Dang near killed me later.  I apparently had forgotten how that stuff reeks havoc with me afterwards.  Fab.  I heard one of my crew mention how awesome it was that there were left overs from the night before and I didn't have to cook and I could just work on quilts as much as I wanted.  Little do they know it was a well laid out plan in hopes that the sewing gods would smile down on me.  One plan that worked out.  Quilt parts were pinned, sewn together and binded during the next week.  There may have even been Math assignments worked on with the smallish one while sprawled out on the floor pinning quilts together.  Then yesterday the sewing gods looked down upon me again and allowed me to complete everything that was left to do.  Yes, there were leftovers.  I just about cried during my realization that the last of the packages were packed, sealed, addressed and ready to go to the post office the next day.  It was a fine moment indeed.  Then I realized this morning that I have five more gifts to make.  Then only thing that made that moment bearable was that I don't have to mail them off.  They are staying here for my well deserved crew that I live with.  Thank goodness.

     Maybe next year will be the year that I actually get things finished early.  Yeah, and pigs fly you know.  I won't tell you what I really say around here.

~*~

Kar

Beautiful snow...

     The first snow of the season came to us on Thursday morning.  It continued to come down all day, through the night and again on Friday.  There were numerous trips outside for two people just so they could get in the right amount of play time out in it.  By the time Friday afternoon arrived we had at least 11" of snow on the ground.  Perfect for snow angels, shoveling snow and building snow walls that could be walked on and just for looking at.  Friday afternoon there was a break in the clouds and the sun tried to peek through for just a bit.  It made the snow all sparkly and bright.  So pretty to look at.  Saturday the colder temps came and we stayed in, only to enjoy the snow from the windows.  But all was good because so many indoor things got done and it ended up being an excellent day.  Even colder temps settled in this morning.  A very chilly 2 degrees F.  There are icicles every where, hanging off the roof, the trees and anything else that the sun touches.  All of this keeping us indoors again enjoying pool games, bowling on the Wii, warm delicious Egg Drop Soup for lunch, yarn time for me to create new hats for the girls and time for naps under warm blankets and quilts.  It's been an absolutely wonderful weekend.  There's no complaining here from me.

~*~

Kar