just helen

If At First You Don't Succeed...

I seem to be in a bit of a funk this passed week.  I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I have started several  posts about my flavorite 2011 Christmas experiences and can't seem to get it write.  Butt I can't proceed into the new year without sharring.

It all started with mie not so enthusiastick Black Fryday shoping.  All I could seem to fined was moveys and sweet pants...knot somethin to loose sleep over.  But the seasoning picked up wiht a grate Relief Society partie, soon followd by a wunderfull UC 1st Ward Christmas dinnir.  Shortlly aftor, the 12 daze of Christmas startid showing up on at mie porchfront...twice a daze!  Won was done by one family (I know whose you are:) and the udder as a joint "communidy" effurt.  Each daze we waited with anticipation to see what surprize wood shew up, fightin the urge to unviel the culprits.  The energies warmd our harts and delited our daze.  I...no, WE...thank u frum the bottum of are harts.  We relly njoyed yur efferts.

Jake came into towne for a few daze to goe too the dentizt and help an "old" frend git decurated; he evun went out and bot knew lites for our houze!  We were afrade to putt up the 25-year old onez: only Dad wuz brave enuf too doo that.  Wee were afrade they mite set the ruff on fired, knot to menshun how expinsive the olde onez were to have on.  The house lookd quiet festiv!

It wuz a wunderfull thin to half all the kidz hear this Christmas.  Wee had many tendur momants and hartfelled memories sheared.  Wee all misse haveing "the Dad" in the home.  But thanks to the miricul of tecknologie, he still red us "the Night Before Christmas" and we felt his presents once more.

There wuz loots of after-Christmas shopping...knot by me;I'm in the "gett stuf out of the houze" mode.  But re-turns four difernt sizes and colrs allwayz kneads too bee donne.  I thinc that nexxt year we shuld awl give giftt certificuts four are favoright storez so wee can gett moore bang for are buckz and skipp the hole pre-Christmas shoppin experience...not relly, but it sounded goode whenn i said it. 

Last knight culminated with a vigorous descusson of the appropriate use of the colonand semi-colon; along with ware u shuld and shuld knot use the comma.  Witch brings mee to this pointe in my post...

Sometimes I make life harder than it needs to be. 

I was so worried that Christmas was not going to be the same as it has been for the past thirty four years that I failed to remember that Christmas hasn't been the same from one year to the next anyway.  Our family traditions have changed; they have evolved over time.  The important part of the memories are not the "things" that were involved; it's the people and the relationships that are entwined in our hearts.  It's the kindnesses we give and those that come back our way.  Laughter and tears are both a way of cleansing our souls and lifting our spirits.

We have a small, battery-operated, mummy-wrapped wiener dog that barks and has red-glowing eyes when you press a small button on his foot.  There is a long and somewhat involved history that is tied to Scott and his "funny" sense of humor.  For some reason, it didn't fit into the Halloween decoration boxes this year, so it was left out.  As we started decorating for Christmas, I had an empty box that he could go into, but an idea came into my mind:  the ghost of Christmas past...Scott's past.  I love the Dickens story, " A Christmas Carol".  I don't need this little dog to remind me of Scott, but it will be a fun, tangible memory of him that I can have an excuse to keep out from Halloween to Christmas.

As for the misspelling that occured (intentionally, I might add) during the first portion of this post?  That is what spell check is for.  It won't catch all the boo-boos, but it's a help along the way.  My children and my friends are, in a way, my "spell check" in life.  They keep me grounded, offer moral support and help me to remember what's important in life.  My message, though you might have to look a little harder for it, can be understood by anyone that is willing to take the time to read carefully.  It was my way of focusing on the message more than the presentation.

I am looking forward to a bright and wonderful new year!  I wish you all the same! 

Almost To The Finish Line

Last week, we (and I use that term VERY loosely since Megan did 99% of the baking and creating) got a majority of our Christmas goodies out to friends and neighbors.  It was so crazy that I didn't even take pictures of most of it.  Let me say, my Megan is amazing!  Just look at these:

 

Yes...they are right next to our Christmas Story lamp! 

We did a lot of the same treats we did last year - chocolate marshmallow, oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar, pumpkin chocolate chip spice and peanut butter cookies; peanut butter krispie treats; dipped Oreos with Peppermint Kisses crumbs; gingerbread Mickey cookies; blondie brownies; dipped pretzels and snowmen.  People have come to expect and anticipate their favorites.  Last year we did the three-marshmallow snowmen.  This year, we discovered the joy of the smaller bites - and an ingredient that is well worth the extra bucks it costs..Guittard A'Peels.  They made the job of dipping easier, they dried/set up more quickly and they taste way better than others we had tried before.  The colors are intense and dry shiny.  Love these!  I know that you have nothing to do between now and Christmas, so you are going to want to make some of these...right?

First, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stick a toothpick into the flat part of a large marshmallow.

Melt white A'Peels in a microwave safe container.  Start off with 60 seconds on high, then go for 20 - 30 seconds at a time until smooth when stirred.  Next, dip the marshmallow; set on the parchment paper and let set.

Once the white is totally set, you are ready to work on the top hat.  Load a small marshmallow on the other end of the tooth pick.  Melt some black A'Peels.  You will only need a little black.  Dip in the black and return the white dipped marshmallow to the parchment paper.

Once the tops are set, pull the toothpicks out of the heads and the black marshmallows off the other end.  The next step is separating the mini Oreos.

Use a little of the melted black to adhere the Oreo (inside side down) to the marshmallow.  Then put a dab of the black on top of the Oreo to adhere the black-dipped small marshmallows.  Let set.

You're almost done!  Now use tubed frosting for the band around the hat.  Before it dries, tuck the holly leaves and berry into the wet frosting.

Some of our small marshmallows were a little wonky.  It was late and we didn't want to go out again - they were fine!

The final step is the faces.  We used black confetti from a Halloween mix for the eyes, glued on with the white icing writer.  Use an orange fondant writer to do the carrot noses.

We made these for the whole Primary, to hand out after my Sister Friendly sharing time.

Super cute, down to the very last detail!  I know...you must think we're crazy!  But who could resist these little cuties!

Simple Stories Christmas Flowers

There is something wonderful about simplicity.  Easy to remember, easy to produce...just plain old easy.  What determines the energies you will put into a project?  A combination of time available and quantity you need to make.  But just because I might want to limit the time spent on each project, it doesn't mean that you can't make it look time intensive.

A few weeks ago I made some cards with the Simple Stories "25 Days of Christmas" line.  I made a "Thank You" card that has an easy to make ribbon flower, held together with a favorite adhesive of mine...Glubers.  Love them!  Glubers come in 2", 2 1/2" and 3" sizes.  I used a 2" Gluber and the flower ends up being about 2 1/2" in diameter.   I've had requests on how to make them, so here goes...but first, a warning:  PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE CONDITION OF MY NAILS AND CUTICLES!  It is the nature of working with paper extensively and not wanting to put lotion on because it leaves marks on the paper.  Getting my artificial tree "fluffed" didn't help, and I also worked outside a little, PLUS I wash my hands a LOT!!!  So don't be shocked or bothered.  I do not have beautiful hands and nails to demo with...just my pudgy, short digits.  (I would have Photoshopped the hands, but it's late and life is too short to worry about perfect hands and nails:)  Even though they aren't pretty, I love my chubby little hands and I'm grateful that they work so well for me!

You will need:  1 - 2" Gluber; about 1 1/2 yards of rayon seam binding - you can use another ribbon, but it needs to be super lightweight to get the ruffle look; 1 coordinating button; baker's twine or floss.

The ribbon length for this flower was about 1 1/2 yards, but sometimes it only takes 1 1/4 yards.  I buy the rayon seam binding by the 100 yd. roll, so I don't cut a length...I just work from the spool.  If you want to use the exact amount of ribbon needed, don't cut the ribbon until you are almost done.

Glubers come sandwiched between two pieces of some sort of plastic.  One of the sides is flimsier than the other.  You will want to remove the flimsy side.

Next, you will loop up a little extra ribbon, but touch down onto the Gluber right next to the turned under edge.  I turn under the edge so that the edge looks more finished.

Continue looping and then attaching.  You can adjust the height of your loop depending on how full you want your flower to be.  Watch to make sure that the ribbon continues to attach about the same amount all the way around.

When you get all the way around, begin your second row just above the beginning of the first row.  You want to keep overlapping about half the width of the ribbon so that the flower gets full and you won't see the adhesive underneath.

Keep going...

When you get almost to the center, you can cut the ribbon, leaving about an inch of ribbon and a little exposed bit of Gluber.

Almost done!  Now you need to choose a button.  Place it in the center of your flower.  Thread a length of baker's twine; knot one end.  Coming from the back side of the Gluber - plastic still attached - stitch right through the the plastic.

Tie it off on the back...and yes, the plastic is still on.

Here's the finished flower!

With the plastic still on the back, you can make a bunch of these and they are ready to attach to a card, layout, tag or even a package.  I have a pile of these flowers (all sizes) ready made...all I need to do is choose a button and stitch it on.

Here's the card:

And a link to download the "thank you" PDF.

Have fun making your own little bunch of posies!

 

 

December Daily...Distractions

I have got to say that this list of things to do daily in December has become more like a list of distractions.  Once again, I got waylaid by a friend who needed company while printing something at the library at church...which next moved to the everything99cents store, then to McDonald's for a Diet Coke, then back to the everything99cents store to check and see if Umberto put anything else out when he got back from lunch...yes, I know the stocker's first name and yes, I know when he goes to lunch...but only so I know when to take a Diet Coke break and come back when he's stocking again.  Alas, today I didn't find anything...not one single thing!  Maybe Thursday... 

I asked a friend if she wanted to join me tonight for our Relief Society activity down at the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center.  I have a big car and am always ready to drive when a group is going together.  However, when I went out to my car, I realized just how dirty it really was - inside and out!  And it was layers deep of dirty.  It's symptomatic of a much deeper issue, I'm sure.  Sharing a car with others also adds to the depth one must go to clean it out.  Mostly it was bringing in the shopping, grocery and Christmas, that had been done over last weekend.  But honestly, there were things that were put in the car sometime around Halloween.  That is scary!  Not to mention that I haven't washed the poor thing since the summer.  I know...shape up, Helen!  Take some pride in your vehicle and give the beast a bath!

Fine!  Not really what I intended to work on today, but that's why it hasn't been done for months.  Other things always seemed to come first.  I enlisted the help of my boys and we got it into reasonable condition although we totally ignored the top of the Expedition...we were too busy worrying about flooding the gopher holes in the grass and the disturbed ants crawling up the legs.

When I finally came inside to get back to the decorating, all I really had time to do was put away all the things I had emptied out of the car and get the laundry started.

The evening was very nice.  I had a good talk with my friend during the travel time.  I went on the tour, watched some sweet Christmas stories, had lovely refreshment and a nice visit with the ladies.  After I dropped my friend off, I drove by the San Diego California Temple and the lights were on.  It was beautiful.  I didn't stay for long, but I lingered a few minutes and looked at the lights.  Even though I have been easily distracted the past few days from the preparations that need to be done, as I looked at the lights I remembered that it was okay to step back from the craziness and just enjoy the moment, even if I was all by my lonesome.

Maybe tomorrow SOMETHING on my list will get done!

Done For The Day

The day has a way of getting away from me.  I start the morning with good intentions and a plan.  Somehow, the plan changes, as does the list that needs to get done.  Then something good comes into the mix and I am more than willing to let that "shiny thing" distract me from my goal.  What I have to do is constantly re-evaluate my goals...maybe I need to develop a more successful method of formulating my plans in the first place!  But I have the feeling that this time of flexibility in my life is short-lived, so perhaps I should enjoy it while it lasts.

After a morning and afternoon of distractions (thank you, Seija), I took to "fluffing" the tree...that tedious process of taking the branches of an artificial Christmas tree that has been crammed into a box for 11 months and making it not look so artificial.  I think the older the tree gets, the harder it is to make that happen.  But I still love the fact that I can put ornaments, no matter how heavy, on any branch of the tree.

And so we are getting there.  It should be done by tomorrow...just in time for another distraction.  But this year I will allow myself to be distracted.  When I first started unpacking the ornaments, sudden waves of tears would appear and then just as quickly subside.  I'm not sure why, but seeing my collection helped to keep me from being so sad.  Instead, I am trying to remember when these little "friends" came into the family; what year, which came first and the story behind each.  I've known some of these longer than some of my children!  Bringing them out brings back many happy memories.  Scott always tried to please me and he was on the hunt for another unique Santa to add to my collection.  I will always remember the time spent and the love with which they were gifted to me.