Bringing out the Holiday Yard Bling

Remember that LoveLy unexpected stash of yard bling my mother in law sent us?

Its time to show it off! ")

So We mixed it up with Our stuff, gave a lot of it away to the older kids, and STILL didn't put everything out....but I bet We make Griswold Gold Status next year.

Ours: Although these are not the actual vintage pieces I had as a Child,

They are great replicas. I was bonkers when I first saw them years ago.

These are must haves every year at our homestead.

 New pieces but quickly favorites. I'm really digging that White Tree, the bulbs are those big fat round bulbs and they look like ripe pieces of candy hanging there. SugarPlum Girl instantly befriended the Snowman; not surprising since She's in Love with Frosty and has already watched the show a multitude of times.

 Old and new again.





 There was supposed to be this HUGE 6 foot holographic light ups Reindeer~Santa-in-his-sleigh~thing that was going to go up on the roof, but it won't quit raining. Maybe some time before Yulemas..

Decorating the Tree.....Part 2

Today we Decked the Tree,

The Halls,

The kids..

And for the first time Ever! 

The Sugar Plums did it themselves...

sniFFLe, I've waited a long time for that.

It's always exciting to open up the Holiday Tree Glam

oohing and aahing,

remembering,

looking for those damn hooks!

 

Oh but the eFFort is Worth it. 

 The Sugar Plums having Fun.

Naturally, the Vintage pieces make it feel like LoVe.
This is a crocheted Tree skirt that My grandmother made for Me, I believe in the late 80s? Yep, that long ago. I treat it like a delicate piece of Lace. 








This exquisite, yuMMy piece is from My childhood.
Santa.
Its so beautiful hanging by the PoPcornCranbeRRy Garland. 
All I need is a little Dean Martin crooning in the background and I've got a serious Yulemas Trio to put ANYone in the Holiday mOOd.
Handle with care!

 Here are some more Vintage pieces from My childhood. And in case you've forgotten, I was born in 1967! greatest year there ever was....
{just my humble onion}
Notice the fantastic GLiTTeR designs?? 
That is my favorite part about these Vintage pieces,
{gold ball, green ball}
That ceramic rocking horse behind the green ball was a present from a middle school best friend. I recently connected with Her again, and She was thrilled that I still not only have it, but use it.

Say what you will, but a Tree just doesn't Rock until is flittering with Silver Tinsel.


Here it is, all put together.
An attractive, charming blend of LoVe.

{this is just a picture of what my tree looks like from underneath}

Don't ask, lol

BLu and CupCake's MiniaTure ViLLaGe

The Miniature ViLLaGe of The Miniature Me's!

I started with a starter set from abc catalog, when We bought Our house in 2000, and I was pregnant with The BLu~man. Then CupCake came along. Over the years, its become a Tradition to let the Miniature Me's add a new piece every year. There's two pieces that were painted by My oldest, mOOndoGGie and BLu~man. There is a Fountain that glows, a Treehouse, a Town Square complete with Cafe and Police Station {in honor of BaBa, otherwise known as The Man}

My favorite is the Vintage Travel Trailer with The Christmas Tree Lot.

I want to own a trailer like that one day.

The kids get totally over the mOOn when its time to set up Town.

And I had beTTer make sure We have fresh baTTeries.

We put down Our fluffly fabric with the GLiTTeR!! specks in them,

set up the ViLLage, and then They get to do some Landscaping.

Next year, it looks like We will be moving to a bigger lot.

This is yet another opportunity for spending time with the kids, family bonding, fun, and paSSing on the Traditions.The Blu~man Loves sitting on the couch by the ViLLage, doing His homework, and The CupCake delights in animating the PeoPLe in Their town.

Decorating the Tree, Grinches, and Shreking the Halls

The tree is up, 
Lights are hung and glowing,
It's time for some tree fashion.

When my oldest one was little, 
I was drawn to some decorative plastic popcorn and cranberry garland. 
Kind of pricey, and, of course, plastic.
Being a single mom, money was verra tight.

Fresh PoPcorn and CranbeRRies go a Long way for a LiTTLe bit...

and there is where Our tradition of PoPcornCranberry Garlands began.

After The Man set the Tree, Mamma Me strung the Lights.

The the Sugar Plums and I sat down to start stringing. 

If You've never strung a garland before, it can seem tedious. 

Once You get the hang of it, and yes, 
there is some hang to get! 

Its amazing how long of garland You can make in no time. 

Especially if You have company

Especially if You have Holiday Music or Shows playing.

And You don't have to overload Your tree for the Garland to have impact. We don't even circle around the tree. 

we drape it in the front.

Time for showers, and pjs.

Then the Gatherment of Snuggle

for viewing of much loved Vintage Tv.

As in The Grinch.

and some viewing of new Tv

As in Shrek the Halls

{which was actually quite fuNNy}

 

A mix of the Old and the New.

Isn't that what passing on Traditions are for?

And aren't Traditions for making?

They have to start somewhere.

The Tree looks LoVeLy as it is.....but there is more to come!

Today was TREE Day!!

 

and I totally forgot to bring the camera!

but alas, not to worry, our cat Mischief, is pleased with the selection.

We brought the whole clan, 

all 5 kids, one grandchild, and two partners. 

It was a beautiful day.

I'm double aggravated about leaving the camera, 

because the oldest one got his first Charlie Brown tree....

{you smiled, didn't you?}

In total, we purchased a small forest, ok, maybe a corner backyard, 

but if I squint my eyes just a little, i can pretend it's a Forest.

I can't see the trees for the forest! ahahahaaa.

{yes, i mixed it up on purpose}

Apple Cake

This is the recipe for the Apple Cake that I cooked Thanksgiving.
It is from the Essentials of Baking from Williams~Sonoma, a gift from The Turkish Mother.
I am being Extremely Lazy here, and scanning the recipe. Click on it and it will open into a screen size page.
And on top of that, I missed a lot of step~shots.
Including, as per the Standard Clause of Hecticness, the Finished~shot. {sigh}
But~ not to despair! It got Raves.



This bOOk has loads of great looking recipes. 
Considering how well this Apple Cake ended up, first try at that, I'd say its a go~go for future recipes.









{best Price is Right model arm sweep}
And here,
We have the recipe for that Apple Cake.
What is your bid?
$1 DOLLAR BOB!!!




I did get Starter~shots...








and I got a SemiFinished~shot....







I did not use the optional Maple frosting. 
With the extra diced Apples I had, I baked an Apple Crisp.
 

It really is a Delightful cake, ....try to sneak a piece when its still slightly warm! 
 

Happy Day of Thanks, and I have conquered the gravy.....

 

 Happy Thanksgiving, pEEps.

Yes yes, it has been quiet exhilirating....

I conquered the Gravy.

After many years,

and 

many attempts

I did it!

It wasn't burnt!

It didn't taste like flour!

IT WASN'T ENOUGH!

But now that I can make it..

I am also responsible for the bigg~ass Turkey {so bigg it deserves two G's}

That roasting pan is the one My MoM has used 
for as long as I can remember.
Now it's Mine.






Even though I never actually had My grandmother's recipe for it,
I know She always used the giblets in Her Cornbread dressing.
Lucky for Me, years ago I found a recipe on~line, and I would
swear that it was Hers. The aroma that fills the house just putting
the Ingredients together is worth the gazillion ingredients that go in it!

In addition to the tradition of Lemon Meringue Pies

{another passed on by MoM}

I was in an AppLe mOOd.
AppLe Cake was in order.

The recipe I used is from this cookbook.

I should be posting it in a later best selling tell all...

ok, not a tell all, just a blog post.

With the extra apples, I added an AppLe CriSp to the boo~feh.

Raves!

All in all, it was a grand day out!

Fruit Stand

 

 

The Fruit Stand.

I look forward to it every time I have to go.

All the big piles of fresh fruit and vegetables,

The local Jams and Jellies, Dairy and Honey,

The open air market.

The Womb Fruits love it too.

So We trek on over there to load up on all the goOds.

I completely went nuts for the fresh squash. 

Big, yellow and happy. 

The squash, not Me.

 

Time to go Home, and heat up the oven.
Mamma's cookin!

Pride * I WiLL FoLLoW* & Mysterious Ways~ U2 ... for some Holiday cOOking Bang Up

I have a tendency to listen to Vintage ~ Retro ~ Old School Music when I'm in the Kitchen whipping up some lovely edible Notions especially from
the 80s, My High School days and
the 70s, My Childhood Days.
I spent a week in Ireland when I was 10 and have spent the last 32 years yearning to go back...


Besides being:
Irish,
Great Looking,
and Rockin Ass DuDes,

U2 consistently follows through on great music to do things by:
Cook
Rock
Love
Rock
Love...



AND
They're Irish! 
or did I mention that?


For some reason, for Me, U2 is a Winter Tyme group, lol.
Most of Their songs remind Me of a time in My Life that always occurred during cold weather! 
The Holidays, Winter, New Years....

and When doing a bang up job in the Lab,
Music just adds to the Flavor of all the Food Mixology, don't You think?

Out of all the songs this group has,
These 3 remain Me Hearts Devotion.
Pride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmGGlznSz8

I Will FoLLow  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2BqLlVHlWA

Mysterious Ways 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZLjE_wuRE0

   

I have not had the Honor of seeing Them in concert. 

Very Sad, yes, Very Sad!

Thanks to the Wonderful World of Techo,

I can listen to Recordings, Concert Clips, and even learn the Lyrics

(the REAL lyrics, lol)

Its all right there at My Fingertips.............

I'd rather be right there in Concert.

http://www.u2.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2

Holiday Dinner List Supplies...

Finalizing the grocery list:

Big~aSS Turkey ~ check.

Grandmothers Cornbread dressing with Giblets

***************************************

Jiffy cornbread

Bread Bread

eGGs

CeLeRy, OniOns, grEEn OniOns (also a GREAT song!), ParsLey, Sage ~ check.

Lemon Meringue Pie

******************

Lemons

Pie sheLLs

Condensed Milk ~ check.

Apple Cake

**********

AppLes

Flour

Sugar

CiNNamoN & Spice, that make it nice ~ check.

Broccoli Rice Casserole

*******************

Broccoli

Rice

Cream of MushrOOm soup

chEEse, lots of chEEse~ check.

CoLLection of cd's for Listening PLeasure ~ check.

*****************************************

Kids in America

Shrek's Karaoke

Barbie Girl

I waNNa be a Cowboy

Kickstart My Heart (you KNOOOW!)

Damn, I Love to cOOk.

and as You can see by the song list, so do the Super Kids.

Shiny Ass Clean WindoWs

 Sitting here on the Sunday before Giving of Thanks Day,

the weather all driZZLy, Grey, and Cold,

I decide.........

Let's clean the WindoWs.

Well it had to be done, 

I was bored,

so, why not?

I started with the outside, finished in the inside.

and Magico! 

Not only did I have Shiny Ass Clean windows,

But the Sun came out.

 

Everybody is haPPy.

Zote Soap

I found this soap at my local grocery store. 

First, the package had that vintage look which immediately drew me to it. 

Second, the price, like, a Dollar.

but Mostly,
it was Pink~

The bonus was that it was for Delicates.

And having a newly acquired wardrobe of delicate clothing, I am verra interested in keeping them as nice as new. So when the Sugar Plum Girl grows up, they really will be Vintage, and perhaps,
She will want to dress in them.

The soap is a bright pink, and smells really Lovely!

All Clean, and Sharp.

I washed a delicate sweater to see how Zote worked, and, well,

because the sweater needed to be.

I didn't have all the ingredients, just the soap, so I grated a couple of tablespoons and just added it to the wash.

Here's the sweater that I washed:

I couldn't get the right exposure to show the
Soft Peach coloring.
The sweater was nice and clean.
Simple.


At the very least, it did the same as the boxed detergent.
It did seem to be a tad bit brighter, like a touch of those sparkles they put in commercials, and it dried softly scented and soft to the touch.
I'll have to try out a few more outfits to test the CoLoR theory.....
I do recommend trying it, at least one bar.

Zote.

This is a recipe I found from someone who uses it as a detergent.
I've seen mostly good reviews.

http://www.mybitofearth.net/2009/09/zote-soap.html

http://reviews.ebay.com/Zote-Soap-is-Great-for-Cleaning-and-Fishing-too_W0QQugidZ10000000003252259

http://www.zote.com.mx/english/about.htm