Theme Thursday: Dozen

It's Thursday. And it kind of snuck up on me. For the first time in the history of Theme Thursday I didn't have a plan. I didn't even know what the theme was until I rolled over this morning and checked under the projects tab to look.

Dozen. It's funny that the theme is dozen. I often say "It's that dozen phrase," when I mean "six of one, half a dozen of the other." I say it a lot. Luckily Husband knows what I mean by that. We also say "Potato potato." (Said completely normally no change in inflection or anything. Just the word repeated."

But that is not a picture or even very interesting to you I am sure. And I sure as heck didn't have anything to just whip up this morning to take a picture of. I mean, I could pour a bowl of mini Nilla wafers or something and find a dozen but that just seems like cheating. Or forcing an issue.

So instead I visited the Ye Old Family Stock Photography Area (AKA the pictures folder on the expandable hard drive) and found 2 very representative pictures of a dozen for your viewing pleasure. I somehow decided that using an old photo was cheating less than taking a new one of something dumb. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense but just go with it okay?

So have I mentioned Husband bakes? I like to bake too but Husband get's all into it. Especially with bread.
See?

But he's not crazy because he sells it. See? And cinnamon rolls. With cream cheese frosting. And other kinds of baked goods when he feels whimsy. Imma be honest, there was a point in time when he couldn't find his cinnamon roll recipe because it had been a long while since his last excursion and...I didn't mind one bit. Is the dough good? Sure. I guess I am not really a fan of cinnamon rolls. Not just his either, I just don't groove on cinnamon rolls in general. They do smell good. He did make blueberry rolls once and they were REALLY good.

Anyway. There are more than a dozen loaves in the first picture. And a dozen cinnamon rolls in the second. So I have decided that counts and I have officially fulfilled my duty as a Theme Thursday-er.

Have a delightful weekend! And link up all your dozens over to Cari. She's won't bite. And she has very limited rules for Theme Thursday. (I actually don't know of any but I'm sure if the need arises she'll create one or two to make it work.)

5 Favorites and WWRW

1. Recipes for Gingerbread Houses

In case you wondered at all we use this recipe to make our gingerbread houses. This was the second year in a row of making it and it has worked twice perfectly. Clearly we are the foremost experts at gingerbread so take my word for it.

We use the basic royal icing recipe: 4 cups powdered sugar, 3 egg whites, 1/2 tsp cream of tartar. Mix for about 7 minutes on high until it forms peaks. If not going to be used right away cover with damp towel. We use the pasteurized dry egg whites (2 Tbsp powder, 6 Tbsp water) so I have no idea how it works with just cracking an egg in there but I'm guessing it would. This icing is not super tasty but it dries like cement. When first constructing your house be ready to hold it in place for about 15 minutes but after that...it's probably not going anywhere.

2. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. 

Go get this book. It's a YA book but it's about a WWII young lady spy who's been captured. I don't know if really deserved it's YA title though. It's probably because it's about young ladies, and it's fairly clean. But it is still about war. There is violence and torture. And evil Nazis. If you have sensitive teens I'd pre-read. 

This is  hard book to write about because you don't want to spoil a single thing. But I will say plan on reading it twice. Once just to read it. You'll get so caught up in the adventures of Queenie and Maddie you won't be able to help yourself. And a second time to unravel the plot and see that Wein gave you all the information you'd need the first time around, you just didn't know to look for it. 

It's definitely worth a read. Find it. 

3. Cuties. (Clementines) 

I love winter. I love fresh citrus so much. I love how easy these are to peel. I am thankful we we able to make apple season run right into citrus season. It's totally worth it to have to change C's shirt 3 times a day from sticky orange juice. (And use Oxy Clean on every load.) 

4. Getting Mail

I just love Christmas card season because of the high likelihood that not all of the mail will be junk. Plus then you get cute pictures, updates and cards? That's winning and the reason I hope the art of Christmas cards will never die. 

5. Schwan's Mini Bow Tie Pasta and Vegetables 

Do you have a toddler? Or a picky eater? Buy these. It is an awesome side dish for grown ups and kids alike. C LOVES it and it's a good way to add veggies to a meal. I love that I can make a cup or two at a time and the bag seals up. (Like a Schwan's things.) This is absolutely the best purchase. We love love it. It goes well with just about anything too. (Often it's chicken or left over meatloaf or something for lunch.) AND all of it is in little bite size toddler pieces that do not need to be cut up. Let the angels rejoice! 

I am getting absolutely NO kickback from Schwan's or the Cutie people though if they wanted to send me something I'd gladly take it. The point is, I just really love these  two things. 

Linking up with Jessica AND Hallie today because sometimes I roll that way. 

Gingerbread building

Oh what a weekend.

I slept in on Saturday. I love sleep. I am quite good at sleep. I am a bear without enough sleep. So on Saturday I slept in. And I woke up to a very cute little boy and a clean kitchen. Husband is kind of amazing.

Saturday evening we decided it was too cold to go to the Christmas Village and Kathryn came over to have dinner and make gingerbread houses. Having experienced last year's making a gingerbread house from scratch project I was not nearly as nervous. I still maintain a kit works fine and we probably should have worked our way up to making one from scratch but Husband likes to dive into projects instead of wading.

We made a template for our house during nap time, I guess we dreamed a little bit too big so we wound up sizing it down quite a bit. But it was still plenty big. We made two batches of dough in order to make both houses. (One for us and one for Kathryn.) Our had a chimney and entry way added on, while Kathryn's was just our basic shell.

All in all it took a long time. But we persevered. Both houses survived shaking laughter while the royal icing dried. Candy was consumed right along with the construction. We stayed up way too late. But it was all worth it for these:

Kathryn enjoyed building her house. It was her first gingerbread house from scratch. This is the front. The back of her house says "Merry Christm (smudge)" in royal icing with crushed peppermint. It was SO funny that she couldn't squeeze in the a and s. It really really was. 

This is our house. We opted for a red and white theme and then added the wreath because the front needed something. My entire vision this year was for a shaved almond roof. So I got to work right away. And then when that was done I was pretty much useless. I had no ideas. The peanut brittle chimney was actually our second chimney attempt. Husband made an M&M chimney originally at my direction. But we had different visions so I did it over. After I removed the M&Ms I determined my vision with the delicious red candies wouldn't have worked either. We used the peanut brittle left over from Kathryn's roof. This marks our second year of a red, white and green color scheme. Next year we're breaking out and it's going to be colorful! 

Sunday brought a snowy day and brunch with friends. That was nice. After Sunday nap we all went outside to shovel our 2.3 inches. It was C's first time with his snowpants and boots. He did well. And all in all I think he liked the snow. Generally. No tears until it was time to come inside. Now our little neck of the woods has a reputation for the snow to not last very long. The weather is supposed to be cold for the rest of this week but who knows if it will last 17 more days until Christmas? I do love a white Christmas. 

After C went to bed we finished up The Amazing Race. (YAY Team that Won!! Sorry it was a spoiler all day!!) We've been tuning in since it is before The Good Wife. Now both shows are on hiatus and that is a bummer. I strongly dislike winter hiatus time in TV world. We also wrapped all the presents that are in the house. I have 2 more shipments coming in this week, they'll be here by Wednesday. And then my only non-Amazon or in-store purchase will arrive sometime before Christmas. But now I am DONE DONE DONE with Christmas shopping and THAT is something to celebrate! 

So far we've decorated, got the Christmas cards out, gingerbread house made, finished shopping and started wrapping. Pretty snazy place to be by December 9. 

Alright I am going to leave you with another gingerbread house picture. It is the exact same picture as before just with the filter. I love the filter. It's all old-timey and Betty Crocker Cooky Book-esque. Which is my FAVORITE cook book of all time, if you need a gift idea for someone in your life. I have my Grandma's copy, with vanilla stains and her notes and extra recipes she clipped from newspapers and magazines. The binding isn't doing so well. But then I also got a new edition and it's exactly the same! Spelling it cooky and everything. It is a delightful delightful book. I highly recommend it. 

Have a good Monday!

7 Quick Takes: St. Nick Version

1. It's St. Nicholas Day! St. Nick brought C a Little People Nativity Set and Elmo's Merry Christmas. In the future St. Nick will probably only bring a book or a DVD but this year we needed a Nativity for little hands to play with. 

2. Tomorrow is a big day for us as a family. It is the Feast of St. Ambrose. It's a favorite feast day of mine and while our honey based food may simply involve Honeycomb for breakfast it will still be noted. We are also going to make our yearly gingerbread house and if it's not too cold go to the Christmas Village. (Think decorated store fronts, live nativity, carolers etc.) 

3. I've been having kind of a rough week. It's complicated and I am trying to sort out my emotions. But you know what has helped? This song. The lyrics really speak to me. (He is With Us by Love and the Outcome) I am working on relinquishing control and putting my trust in Him. 

4. My mom gave me a series of 5, not great but not horrible either books on the Kindle. I read 4 books in one day and for some reason I cannot get into the 5th book. Weird right?! I have no idea. I'm going to finish it though. I swear. 

5. We watched NBC's Sound of Music. Eh. Carrie Underwood was a bad bad choice. She was not horrible at some points but that's about as nice as I can be about her. She was stiff and awkward and isn't an actor. The rest I thought wasn't bad. I mean, just because they had 10 cameras doesn't mean they had to use all 10 all the time but other than that, not horrible. 

6. I have a not so secret love affair with Amazon. I love it. I could sing it's praises all day long. But I won't. Other than to say the deals they've been running, some have been really good and some haven't. 

7. I got all my Christmas cards out by Wednesday. I was pretty excited about it. I've got extras in case we receive some from people we didn't send to but other than that I am fully done. It feels good. Plus I updated my address excel document making sure all the addresses were up to date. I also added columns for 2013 sent and received to keep track in the following years if we have a drop off in numbers or what have you. 

Linking up with Jennifer because that's what the people do on Fridays. 

Theme Thursday: Light(s)

It's Thursday. So that means it's time for my favorite party on the internet over at Cari's house. Well her web house anyway. And the best part? It's an open house party--come one, come all! 

This theme of lights got me thinking and all because it was/is Hanukkah. I know that back in the ye old days, prior to that Jesus fellow we're all so fond of, we were mostly all Jews. And I am glad because while some traditions are kind of foreign, Hanukkah and the Festival of Lights is really quite amazing. It was a miracle after all right? 

I mean, that being said, I love me some New Testament so I am ecstatic that God sent us a Jesus. I wonder how long he had that name in his pocket? Like from the moment Adam and Eve fell? Was he all like "They ate that darn apple! Ah well, now I can use that other name I like." Or if it was closer to the actual event he settled on the name. 

Anyway. Do you have a picture of light(s)? Want to go take one, I can wait. Cool. Then come to the party! It's a good one. I mean, how else were you planning to spend the last night of Hanukkah? And the end of prohibition? (That is also today. Which calls for a glass of wine. Or a beer. Or something.) 

Have a good Thursday! 

Internet Round Up!

You'll need to forgive me people. I have FINO disease. That is to say Facebook in name only. I don't post links. I don't comment (usually, very rarely I may.) I don't wish you a happy birthday. (I should probably but it's always someone's birthday.) I don't "like" brands, stores or blogs for that matter because I just don't. 

I use it as a means to not completely lose track of people. The people who don't otherwise have my email can get a message to me and vice versa. 

But that means occasionally funny or sweet things are posted and I want so badly to share and repost but I have made a solemn vow not to do that. And even if it's with myself, I just can't break a vow. So I ask your forgiveness for sharing I will be doing in this post. 

First off, I'm not sure if you realize it but it's getting close to Christmas. Which means Christmas music. I love Christmas music as I said yesterday and make no apologies for that.  But I don't think many will disagree with me that certain songs just should not be played anymore. (Really at all, but since that ship has sailed I will settle for never again.) The John Lennon Happy Xmas (War is Over) is number one on my do not playlist, but that just may be because I hate John Lennon. Beatles or solo career. But a CLOSE second is Christmas Shoes. Oh my gosh. The ear splitting horror. Gross. So when someone on Facebook posted this here article entitled: The 5 Best Ways to Survive "Christmas Shoes" I was sold. It's even funnier when you're reading it. 

In the music camp but with nothing to do with Christmas I am slightly obsessed with this song right now. 

If the video doesn't work for you, it is River Flows in You by Yiruma. It's just gorgeous and relaxing. If you've been to a non-Catholic wedding (or heck even a non-traditional Catholic wedding because I don't speak for The Church as a whole on what's allowed or not.) you may have heard this song before. Anyway, I just love it. 

Sometimes to really reflect on life I need silence. Other times silence drives me mad. This song is good when I can't have silence. And it makes me want to take piano lessons. Just kidding, I'll just force C to take piano until he's good enough to play this song. 

So those are the two things I'd post on Facebook but instead you are gifted here on the blog. But at least I'm not hashtaging right?! 

Advent

Advent has begun. Which is wonderful because it's my most favorite time of year. I love it. I just love it. The anticipation. The planning. The festivities. Husband was commenting today that this year, based on the calendar, that Black Friday was really kind of the baby shower for Jesus. We didn't go shopping but I actually like that idea in that then you can just relax and focus during Advent. 

We decorated today. Oh my gosh. It was wonderful. Carols were listened to. One of my favorite Christmas movies was watched. I'd share with you but I'm going to tell you you've never heard of it. Husband and my parents will tell you that you're better off for that. It's a childhood favorite. It gets me really really excited. I was super excited to watch it with C. He liked it too. 

In lieu of a fireplace we use our staircase. They rhyme. It's cute. It's what I remember as a youngster before we moved to the house with an actual fireplace. But those first 7 Christmases were especially fun because as we were coming down you could TELL that Santa had come and Christmas was really here because the stockings were full. I like that. 

This is our Jesse Tree/Special Ornaments Tree. It has a few of the special ones I need to put up. You know, the pickle and the pierogies, as well a the "Our First Christmas" one and all that good stuff. We read our first 2 verses for the Jesse Tree today. C may or may not have cried through part of it, but I am happy to have started this tradition for him while he's young and impressionable. We will eventually add an Advent wreath to our celebrations but we haven't found one that speaks to us. I guess we're picky. 

What I am basically saying here are those are two of my favorite things about Advent. The OLD and NEW. I love the traditions that we have started and the traditions we continue. It's just the little things that spread the joy and warmth of the season. And they bring focus on family and Christ and let's be honest those are the most important things in life. I feel like the holiday season just brings about a bevy of traditions that are created and continued. It's beautiful. It doesn't matter if you've done the exact same things forever either, some part of the experience will always be new. 

This is our real tree. Empty because while I am ahead of the game with the shopping I pretty much suck at wrapping. I make a beautiful gift bag. Really, I can arrange the tissue paper artfully and so that you can't see the item that is within. But wrapping? Nope. Not my talent. 

And my third favorite thing about Advent? The fact I can listen to carols and nobody looks sideways. I might possibly be one of those people who listens to Jingle Bells by Frank Sinatra whether it's July or December. So being able to listen to the songs I love loudly and possibly on the radio is winning in my book. My favorite secular carol is listed above but give me the religious O Come All Ye Faithful and O Holy Night and I am going to be a puddle of melty go. And in the secular/mash up world I love love love Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon. (Not Christmas Canon Rock... the one with the children.) Chills. I get chills. 

So that's three things. I love the music, the old and the new. Wonderful. I am linking up with Micaela for her 3 Favorites Link-up.