A Productive Snow Day

The weather forecast advised that another winter storm was heading my way. This was going to be a mild, run of the mill kind of snow storm; nothing to be freaked out about.... nothing compared to Tuesday's blizzard. I decided that I was going to have an easy-going, yet productive day. It is very challenging for me to be productive if I am worried or anxious. When we had the blizzard, I was worried about losing power, that made it difficult to focus on tasks. So, I was determined to have a great snow day today. It began with an amazing breakfast. Back in October, I made homemade pumpkin butter. I divided the batch into five Rubbermaid containers and I kept them in the freezer. Yesterday, I took one container out to have on hand. When I wanted breakfast this morning, I decided to make oatmeal with cranberries and pumpkin butter. It was fantastic! I didn't need to add any sweetener, because the cranberries and pumpkin butter are already sweet. Plus, the pumpkin butter has wonderful spices, reminiscent of pumpkin pie. The combination of flavors just did it for me, it was a great way to start my day.

I recently discovered that some of my necklaces were terribly tarnished. Although I don't wear them often, I still like to keep them nice. So, I submerged my necklaces in warm water and added two denture tablets. I keep denture cleaning tablets for cleaning hard to clean objects. A big box of tablets are super cheap and they last a really long time. I set the cup aside and went about my day. An hour or so later, I checked in on the necklaces and added an extra tablet. Ten minutes later, I cleaned up the charms (picture 3), still not satisfied, I used Colgate Optic White to scrub the rest of the tarnish of and to polish the charms. The end result was super shiny silver necklaces!

I noticed that my skin was FREAKING OUT on me. At night I do baby my skin as much (if not more than) I do during the day. I drink water and I do what I can to keep my skin healthy. At some point in the winter, the dry furnace air finally starts to win the fight. My skin was a hot mess of dry patches, which made my skin try to compensate by producing more sebum. Ugh, long story short, dry skin= blocked pores, excessive sebum+ blocked pores= break outs. So, I have a awesome combination of dry patches and spots. I mean, really? So, I pulled out my secret weapon- Burt's Bees Diaper Ointment. I don't have kids, but I love this diaper ointment. I love multipurpose products. This stuff is fantastic for skin therapy. It is 100 % natural. It has soothing oils, like lavender and rosemary, plus it has zinc oxide. It is great to use as a base for stage makeup, as it prevents breakouts, and it makes it tremendously easy to remove heavy make-up. Also, it is great to use if you need white clown base. It is also fantastic for breakouts, I massaged a pea sized amount onto my face and blended. Since I wasn't leaving the house today, I didn't mind looking pale. Were I to go out with it on, I could have applied mineral make-up on top and I would look fine. It has made my face feel tremendously soft and I know that when I wake up tomorrow, My face will be so much better!

This afternoon, I decided to finally reorganize my desk drawers. I have been meaning to do it for a while, but dreaded the task. In an effort to make the project more fun, I decided to first make myself a treat. While I had coffee brewing, I went onto Pinterest to find mug cake recipes. I've dabbled with one once before, and it was a disaster. I found a better recipe this time, and I made a delicious molten chocolate mug cake. In the center was a mound of peanut butter and a mound of Reese's Chocolate Spread. This was SO tasty! The cake with coffee and Hart Of Dixie re-runs on Netflix helped me though and I managed to get my job done.

With many projects completed today, I think that I feel refreshed and relaxed. I think this weekend will be fabulous! If you want to make a delicious treat, I highly recommend searching for chocolate molten mug cakes on Pinterest and find one with a tasty peanut butter center. This cake was awesome. Tonight, I'll be able to watch a whole new episode of H.O.D. and enjoy some pizza; oh, I do love Friday! Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Of Maple Trees In The Snow, Hot Cocoa, PLL, And Ebay

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 3 am and basically cat napped the rest of the morning. I kept my tv on NECN and watched continuous coverage of the storm as it traveled through New England. When I first turned on the news, the storm was in Boston and it hadn't made it's way up north, yet. However, when I awoke again later in the morning I had a dog eager to go outside. So, I got dressed, put on a coat, a hat, some mittens and I made certain that Fred the dog had his tweed on. When I stepped outside, it was like stepping into a snow globe. The wind was blowing fiercely and the snow was coming down. I didn't spend too much time outside, Fred was happy to go back to the house.

The rest of the day, I was trying to occupy my mind as I could not help but worry about the power going out. I've experienced terrible winter storms when power had been lost for days; it's not fun. I kept thinking of Little House On The Prairie and the time when they had to tie a rope to the house and attach the other end to the barn, so that they could make it safely to the animals and back during the blizzard.  It made me thankful to be inside and snug in my lair, not having to tend to animals or to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, without Netflix.

I spent a great deal of my day sipping hot coffee or cocoa and binging on Heartland. With every wind gust, thinking to myself that January is almost over. However, we have another storm coming this way and there is usually a massive storm the second week of February, regardless of what a little Pennsylvania rodent declares.

My day was made better with a new episode of Pretty Little Liars; will "Ezria" ever get it right, I mean really? Side note: I was on Pinterest, recently and saw that someone anonymously admitted to having an "Ezria" relationship with their teacher...wow, that is really messed up! At any rate, my night was made even brighter when I won something on ebay, it was a huge score! So, in a week or so, I'll be getting some treats sent my way. Getting books from ebay and amazon is like Sweet Pickles for grownups. Instead of a pickle shaped bus depositing your order, the literature arrives in a giant chocolate truck!  

Now, I'm toying with the idea of organizing my desk drawers. Whenever I open a drawer, I think of that scene in the movie A Christmas Story, when "Miss Shields" confiscates the novelty teeth from her students and throws them into a desk drawer filled with items she'd taken once before. My drawers look like that. it's a hot mess. Ordinarily, an organization project would make me giddy, but I'm so tired all of the time that I dread the challenge. I'll see how it goes and keep you updated. Until next time~ Toodahloo!    

Preparing For Another Storm

If you have been watching the news, you might have heard about a little storm travelling to New England. This one will not be the typical Nor'Easter that we regularly get, but this one will be a blizzard with 2-3 feet of snow. That is 24-36 inches (60.96 cm- 91.44 cm), sigh. Thank goodness I have a sizable home library and plenty of craft supplies in case the power goes out. If not, I think I'll be indulging in a major Netflix binge. I wish Netflix still had McLeod's Daughters available for streaming. I do like to watch that when it is stormy outside. To look at lovely and warm Southern Australia, when it is 30 degrees F here, is a nice break from the humdrum. I could watch the show on hulu, but it's not the same. I'll more than likely end up watching something British, I can't help myself. I'd love to organize my work space, too, but when it is stormy, I like to curl up into a ball and be a Popple.
I recently discovered the website duolingo.com and have begun to learn French all over again. It's a bit addictive and quite fun. I am amazed at what I managed to remember from my high school lessons. Also, I've discovered that the parts that I struggle with are the same issues that I had when I was a teenager. I ascertained that the cause of these challenges comes down to the fact that I am hearing impaired, which makes it difficult to differentiate some words. Years ago, when I was a high school student, I had no idea that my hearing was going; even though it was back then. Now that I'm in my mid-thirties, it all makes total sense and it's a bit of a relief to know what the deal was. Now, If I could only figure out for the last time exactly what "That" was that Meatloaf absolutely would NOT do.....
Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Lemon Curd Filled Cupcakes

Over the week, I've had a terrible time getting onto the internet. Really, the problem has been more about keeping a connection once I've logged on. It makes it very difficult to get anything done, especially a blog post. Now, after some tweaking and some weather changes, things are seemingly better. I have been able to get on and stay on, which is why I am now taking a chance at writing a blog post. So, over the week I've been keeping myself busy with cooking and baking. It's been a great week for it, since it has been below freezing for most of the week. It was difficult to be inspired to do much of anything with such humdrum weather.

Last Friday, I made lemon curd filled cupcakes. Like the week before, I've been craving summer flavors and nothing is more summery to me than lemon. Lemon curd is shockingly pricey at the grocery store, especially when I know how easy it is to make and with such little ingredients. Taking the extra time to make lemon curd (from scratch) makes all the difference when you're using it in desserts.
** I adapted a Lemon Curd recipe from cookbook called "Cooking With Fruit" by Payne and Senior. I didn't follow it completely, but I wanted to give credit. It is a fantastic cookbook if you can get you hands on it.

I began by separating five eggs yokes from the whites. Keep those whites, you'll need them later. I placed the yokes in a small saute pan with 1/2 cup of sugar. On medium heat, I began mixing the eggs and sugar with a wooden spoon.

I continued to stir the mixture for four minutes. Once the mixture was foamy and light in color, I added 1/2 cup lemon juice. Then, I stirred the juice in for another minute.

Then, I switched tools and began using a wire whisk. I had 1/2 stick of butter to add to the mix. I did this a little bit at a time. I took a little pat of butter and whisked it into the lemon mix for 1 minute. Then, I'd add another pat of butter and whisk for another minute. I continued to do this until all of the butter had been added. This took about 10 minutes to complete. As time wore on, the mixture continued to thicken. I made certain to keep whisking in order to keep the mixture smooth.

Once the curd was able to coat the back of the wooden spoon, I knew that it was ready. I set it aside to cool while I worked on the cupcakes.

So, I totally cheated and used a Pillsbury cake mix. Since I was making the curd and the frosting from scratch, I decided to give myself a break with the cake. There is no need to be a hero; after all, they're just cupcakes. Those egg whites that were saved earlier were used for this batter. I baked the cupcakes according to the directions on the back of the box.

While the cupcakes were baking, I made a cream cheese butter cream frosting. I used 4 oz. of room temperature cream cheese, 1/2 stick of butter (room temp.), ~1/4 cup of milk, 3 cups of powdered sugar, 7 drops of red food coloring, 8 drops of blue food coloring and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. I whipped the butter and cream cheese until it promised to be good frosting, it took about 4 minutes. Then, I slowly alternated between the sugar and milk and when I had the right texture, I added the coloring and flavoring. As with any butter cream frosting, you just have to work it until you have it the way you want it.

Once the cupcakes had cooled, I poked holes into the tops, using the handle of a mixing spoon. This created wells to hold the curd.

I spooned the lemon curd into a quart size freezer bag and clipped off the end so that I could pipe the curd into the cupcakes.

Lastly, I spooned the frosting on top of the cupcakes, making sure to not disrupt the curd. Then, I gently spread the frosting in place being careful not to swirl the curd into the frosting.

Now, I have a delicious cupcake staring at me, waiting to be devoured. I will admit that these are anything but low fat. However, if you've made it this far in the process, you probably aren't concerned with that anyway. I mean really, if you're going to enjoy a cupcake, go big of go home. It is January, it's freezing and I have the metabolism of a puma. I'll enjoy rice cakes in July, when I actually feel obligated to worry about such insane burdens.

I will end the post here, because I've already lost my connection once whilst writing this. More to follow next time. Until then~ Toodahloo!

Sunny Lemon Bars On A Gloomy Day

This week, I have endured one dreadfully cold day after another. Just going outside to fetch the mail or to take my dog out meant having to load on layers to stay warm. I even needed to find my dog's jacket to make sure that he was warm, too. With such frigid weather and grey skies, I needed a bit of a pick-me-up. I decided that the best way to get a bit of summer in my week was by baking lemon bars. The butter cookie crust with refreshing burst of lemon was just the thing to perk me up!

I began by preheating the oven and greasing a 9 x 13 in. pan. Then I placed flour, soft butter and confectioners sugar in a bowl.

I used a fork to blend the mixture together until it was like cookie dough.

Next, I dumped the dough into the the baking dish and pressed the dough evenly on to the bottom. I placed the dish into oven to bake for 10 minutes.

Then, I cracked four extra large eggs into a large mixing bowl and set it aside.

In a separate bowl, I placed granulated sugar, flour, and baking powder and blended it all together. I set it aside so that I could return to the eggs.

I beat the eggs until they were very fluffy and light in color, then I slowly added lemon juice and continued to beat until well blended.

Next, I removed the crust from the oven and set it aside while I continued to work on the filling. While whipping the egg/lemon mixture with a whisk, I slowly sifted the flour mixture into the eggs. I whisked until thick and smooth. Then, I poured the mixture onto the warm crust and returned the dish to the oven to bake for 25 minutes.

I allowed the bars to cool before sifting a few tablespoons of confectioners sugar on top. Once the bars were cool, they were cut into squares for snacking.

These are fantastic with a cup of tea; so lovely on a cold afternoon. I'm enjoying one as I write this post, with a cup of coffee and a re-run of "Heartland" on Netflix in the background. Tonight is a whole new episode on CBC, after a long break over the holidays. I've been waiting for weeks to see what is going to happen with Amy and Ty, but I think the outcome will be good. I'm forty minutes away from the show and I can't think of a better way to end my day.....and then, there's "Downton Abbey!" I love Sundays! This week will be a very productive week and more posts shall follow.

 Until then~ Toodahloo!

Doing What I Want

This wall of bookshelves, pretty much, represents my life right now. Everything is slightly disheveled, despite the fact that I try to keep things as tidy as I can given the space I have available. The challenge I find is that more items keep being added to my wall of life. The weight of it all is starting to cause shelves to bow. Someone suggested that I get rid of some of my books; they know me better than that..what an absurd thing to say!
If I were to get rid of books, there only be vacancies for other books to fill. The solution is clear- get more book shelves and get a bigger place to house the books shelves. So, that is my goal for the next few months- to find a new place. I need a new place and a new start.
This wall of books stands behind me, every day, while I work at my desk. The vibe is chaotic. This morning, I decided to organize my little lair, but I'm doing it one area at a time. Today's focus is on this wall. It looks a bit better already, but I still have a long way to go.
It is zero degrees F. outside, last night it was -19 degrees F. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Since the weather is horrid and I don't want to leave the house, I am working on my lair. I am also going to bake, since it is so cold out, it is a bit chilly in the kitchen. A nice hot oven would make things cozy, especially with the smell of baked goods wafting in the air. I also intend to catch up on shows that I've missed and get back into exercising, too. Ever since the week of Christmas I have  been in a daze. I have stopped doing the things that make me happy. This week is the perfect time to slip back into my norm.
I don't just mean my current norm, but also the way I once was. I studied Visual & Performing Arts in college. I haven't painted a painting since 2008. I stopped scrap booking, I stopped dancing (other than with wii games) I just hit the stop button, not even bothering with the pause. When you hit pause, you intend to resume where you left off. I'd just stopped. So, the last four months of 2014 were terrible and sad. I decided that when the new year arrived, I was going to take it back. I'm taking Lady Toe Socks back. At the advice of my friends, this is going to be a "ME" year; it seems a bit selfish, it isn't intended to be so. I'm just going to take care of me this year. **A Quick Disclaimer- I don't have any kids, just my dog, I'm taking care of him, too. Taking care of myself this year is not to the detriment of others.** 
I will begin painting again. I will get back to journaling and working on my scrapbook. I will read more and craft more. I will be cooking and baking and making messes. I'll be cleaning up messes and get things organized. Life is going to get a lot more interesting and I'll be sharing it all with you. After writing this post, I'm going to go bake. I'll be sharing that with you, soon.
 Until then~ Toodahloo!

It Is Cold This Cold Season

This week has been terribly cold. The winds are so fierce, that I absolutely dread going outside. However, sometimes I have to take Fred out, sometimes I have to grab the mail and sometimes I have to run errands. So, today I ventured out with a few layers (including a wool cardigan) underneath my jacket, as well as a hat and gloves. Even with all of the layers, I could still feel the chill and it is brutal. As I write this post, I'm snuggled up in my cardigan, with a hot cup of black coffee at my side and the furnace is making my room nice and toasty. I am very grateful to be inside and I really hope that these winds don't knock out the power.

One thing that would be fantastic would be a nice bath in the claw foot bathtub. I have many bubbles and bath oils, etc. and would love a bath. Sadly, the bathroom which houses said tub does not have a heat source. So, a bath in a cast iron claw foot bathtub would get very chilly fast. In the meantime I will be dabbling, once again, in making luxurious bath treats. It's been a decade since I've bothered to do so. I think the last bath soak I made was a hot cocoa bath powder. I really want to start making bath bombs and the like, I just love pampering myself with a girlie, flowery bath,

Yesterday, I made homemade bath salts. I know, one must be careful throwing around such words these days. However, I assure you that these bath salts involved Epsom salts, sea salt, essential oils and food coloring. I decided to make a scented bath salt mix that would be good for someone with a cold. Right now, so many of my relatives have a nasty head cold. I added lavender essential oil for calming, eucalyptus essential oil for drawing out toxins and for clearing the nasal passages and peppermint essential oil for relieving sore muscles. The combination is lovely; I can smell it every time I walk into my room. I added blue and red food coloring to make the salts look like a light purple. The end result was quite nice.

I won't bore you with a recipe, because there are so many recipes on Pinterest and online. Really these are easy to make and if you invest a bit of money on essential oils and salts, a lot of bath crafts can be made for very little money. I really do hope to enjoy these soon. I look forward to trying my hand at making more treats, soon. When I do, I will share with you. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

A Whole New Year

The week leading up to Christmas was filled with highs and lows. The anticipation of the holiday kept me in good spirits. I spent a bit of time with a dear friend and received some lovely tea themed gifts, including a cow shaped creamer- something I always wanted but never bothered to get for myself. I was determined to not get stressed out over the holidays, to take life's challenges as they came and to not become an evil version of a Martha Stewart wannabe. The release of control allowed for me to be at ease, which is huge step for me.

I baked "Sinful Squares" for Christmas Eve. I love the combination of salty and sweet flavors in this treat.

I baked homemade mini-mince pies. My Dad had made the mincemeat and canned it. It is such a treat to open a jar of that stuff and use it for pies or cookies. My sister does not really care for mincemeat, but I'm a bit of a mincemeat junkie. So, when I discovered mini-mince pies, I totally jumped on board. My father is rather fond of them and over the past few years they've become a Christmas Eve tradition.

For the first time in my life, I made homemade Panettone. I've never had it before, but I knew that it was popular in some cultures, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. The process of making it is long, but completely worth it. I soaked my craisins and raisins in a ginger lemon tea for hours before folding them into the dough. I baked the bread in a large coffee can. The end result was nothing short of amazing. I used a recipe that I found on the King Arthur Flour website, via Pinterest. I think that I will make this every Christmas Eve to enjoy on Christmas morning every year, from now on.

Unfortunately, the Christmas morning spirit was broken by the passing of my beloved grandmother. This is why I've been off the blog for a week. The rest of the day was spent in a quiet rest. I wasn't in the mood for celebrating. The next day, I took my time and gently prepared myself for the arrival of my sisters and their families who would be coming for Christmas, that Saturday. I was a bit broken from events that occurred on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, so after facebook messaging between my two best friends, I decided to go to one of my their houses and stayed there for the day. This break from things was just what I needed to pick myself up so that my nephews could have a great holiday with their auntie and their grandparents.

When my sisters and nephews arrived I felt a bit better and it was nice to see my nephews enjoy the tree and the treats I made. They had a good time and that was nice to see, that would have been exactly the way my grandmother would have wished for it to be. Christmas was her favorite day of the year, not just her favorite holiday, but her favorite day.

I have a large collection of wonderful gifts that my grandmother had made for me over a few decades. These Christmas gifts I will treasure and I will continue on her tradition of crafting and baking. So, for the rest of the year, more crafts will be coming this way. There will be some changes, not to this blog, but in my own world; I'll keep you updated on that as things progress.
 Until next time~ Toodahloo!