Would you rather.....?

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

 -- Burton Hillis

DH had surgery last month and this has required a lot of car rides back and forth to doctor's offices for check-ups and follow-ups and what not.  And due to the nature of his surgery, he is not yet able to drive long distances, so I have been doing all of the driving.  These trips can be somewhat monotonous, especially when then kids are with us.  And on occasion, one of their electronic devices runs out of batteries.  *The Horror* 

Well, I was ready for it this last time with a rousing Christmas rendition of Would you rather?  For those of you who don't know the game, the premise if very simple.  You ask the question would you rather, and then you have a choice of two answers.  Boys like this game because when they make up the questions, they inevitable involve something gross like eat your own boogers, or eat someone else's earwax.  Ewwwwww.  But you get the picture.

Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids has a Christmas version of this game.  With a wide variety of questions.  Would you rather be in a scene from the movie Home Alone or Elf?  (Me - Elf.  The kids - Home Alone) Would you rather wrap 100 presents or decorate 10 trees?  (Me - wrap presents.  The kids - decorate trees.)Would you rather have a red Rudolph nose or a Frosty button nose?  (I don't think we got a straight answer on this one.)  You get the idea.  And we usually require our kids to give their reasons - it turns into some pretty hilarious and thought-provoking discussions.

From my board "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Elf on the Shelf (again)

"Being a parent is holding the magic of childhood safely in your hand." - Unknown

Is anyone else completely elfed out by now?  Now that I don't work nights anymore, I have taken over the nightly duty of the elves, as it has been relinquished by my husband.  I don't know if I've just been doing it so many years that I'm tired out by it or just have run out of new and exciting ideas.  So of course I turn to trusty Pinterest for inspiration.

And it never disappoints.  Skinnymom.com has gathered 101 Elf on the Shelf ideas.  There was one I particularly liked.

Boy were the boys disappointed when they couldn't find all 6!  Don't fear, they did find it later after school.

French elves hanging out in the front door wreath checking out the neighborhood activities.

 Creepy peeping tom elf!

Sorry so few pictures, but I had to rely on many repeats from past years.  Need to get my game on again for next year!

From my board "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Holiday Sled Decoration

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."
  -- Andy Goldsworthy

I have a friend who is super crafty and last year showed me a picture of an old sled she had decorated and put on her front porch at Christmastime.  So when I was visiting my parents and helping clean out the garage, you can be sure I grabbed my old wooden sled to bring home.  And it sat in the garage for several months.

When I saw a picture again this year, I knew I had to try it and I found this picture on Pinterest.  It was posted by indulgy.com. 

I wanted a look that was more wintery than Christmas so that I can keep it on my front porch for a while.  My friend's sled had an old pair of skates tied to it too.  I just may have to keep an eye out for mine for next year!



From my board "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Paper Snowflakes

"Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery." -- Bill Watterson

Sometimes nothing is as much fun as partaking in childish childhood pasttimes.  I remember cutting snowflakes out as a kid.  You just randomly cut triangles and angles into the paper and out came all these randomly beautiful different flakes.

I guess I didn't realize how HARD it was to fold that paper so that you would get a six-sided snowflake.

At one of my previous job, there was a girl who one year cut out these amazing snowflakes with snowmen and reindeers and trees and other such things cut into them!  At the time I looked and looked on-line (this was pre-Pinterest) era and couldn't find anything.  And I am definitely not creative or patient enough to figure out how to cut them so they would come out in such a way.

But now thanks to the advent of Pinterest, I can easily find such directions.  As usual, I've had these pinned for a while.  And it looks like the link is gone.  However, the pictures are good enough to be able to follow the directions.  And if you look, you can find other sites which use the same or similar instructions.

This one has reindeer heads.  Can you see them?

They look really pretty on windows that are lighted from behind!

 

Our medical assistant had fun cutting out snowflakes from Frozen - Olaf and Sven designs.  We even had a Batman snowflake!

From my page "Creativity is like electricity"

Sweet Peach Tea Cupcakes

"I like the peach tea.  I drink the heck out of it."  -- Kevin Dukes

Growing up in New England, iced tea is tea that you put ice in.  Nobody asks if you want it sweet or unsweetened.  It comes one way - unsweetened - and if you want it sweet you add your own packet of sugar or sweetener.  If you DO want sweetened tea, you get that nasty Nestea stuff. 

So, funny story.  B is obviously a southern boy.  We were travelling to New England to visit family and stopped at a diner.  Now, we all know you can get ANYTHING at a diner.  He asked me what he could have to drink, so I told him anything.  Sure enough, this boy tells the waitress he wants sweet peach tea.  Well folks, take it from me.  Diners do NOT serve everything.  No sweet peach tea for this kid.  And he has not let me live it down since.

Since my last cupcakes were a huge success, I thought I would try again.  This time with these delicious looking Sweet Peach Tea Cupcakes by Baked Perfection. 

 

Shhhhh......the secret to these is Crystal Light mix!

 

Sweet Peach Tea Cupcakesrecipe from Baked Perfection

recipe makes approximately 30 cupcakes

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 packets Crystal Light in Peach Iced Tea Flavor (each packet makes 2 Quarts of Crystal Light)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a medium bowl combine the flour, crystal light mix, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (batter will be thick). Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 

Sweet Peach Tea Frosting

recipe by Baked Perfection

2 sticks of butter, softened

6 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1 packet Crystal Light in Peach Iced Tea Flavor (each packet makes 2 Quarts of Crystal Light)

1/2 cup milk

Beat butter and salt until smooth.  Mix half the packet of Crystal Light with the milk.  Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time to the butter, beating until combined. Add milk/ Crystal Light mixture 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.  If the peach flavor is not strong enough for your tastes, just sprinkle in a little bit of the remaining Crystal Light packet and mix until combined.

 

As you can see, not too shabby.  And again they were a HUGE hit!!!

 

 

 

From my board "Cupcakes take the cake"

The Cat Cafe

"There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat." -- Tay Hohoff

Our last day in San Diego.  B has been bugging me about going to the Cat Cafe which I found on a BuzzFeed list of things you didn't know you could do in San Diego.  I knew we had to get there, so first thing in the morning we hopped on a trolley and made our way there.  (It's like 2 blocks away from the Convention Center trolley stop - SUPER easy to get to!)

The Cat Cafe is a little coffee shop where you can buy your drink and go into the next room and play with the cats living there - which are ALL adoptable!  We counted 9 cats there who have the run of the place - which is filled with cat houses and cat trees and baskets of toys!  

We of course wanted to take them all home with us, but that wasn't going to happen.  We hope they all get adopted.

From my board "You're Off To Great Places"

"The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light." -- Sir Robert Baden-Powell

So, sewing patches onto scout uniforms is a royal pain in the you know what.  I honestly think they should have a sewing merit badge, and once you sew your patches on yourself, you can earn it.  In all honestly though, it's not THAT difficult.  I had no problem when the boys were cub scouts.  But then, when I bought one of those microfiber shirts - well, that's when all my problems started.

So now W has earned enough merit badges (8) that he feels comfortable sewing them on his sash.  Wait.  Let me rephrase that.  Not that he is comfortable sewing them on his sash, but rather he feels there are enough to display on the sash.  I was dreading this and even had some trouble at first, until I remembered this pin.  Probably one of the best bits of advice I have found in a while.

Take the merit badges and staple them onto the sash.  That way they are positioned in place and won't be moving around while you try to sew them into place.

I wish I could credit whoever pinned this, but it just says uploaded by user, with no name.  Anyway like I said, this is a genius idea!  Mine still did look a bit uneven so I did end up using some marking chalk to block out the spaces and then stapled them in the right spot.  They came out perfect!!!

Disclaimer:  I am not sure how well this will work on those microfiber shirts.  But on the regular twill, it's perfect!


From my board "Be Prepared"

St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt

"May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow. And may trouble avoid you wherever you go." -- Irish Blessing

Many years ago, I created a monster without even knowing it.  I had a good friend at the time who would tell me about all the fun things she did for her daughter on all the different holidays - boot prints made from baby powder at Christmas, glitter under the pillow when the tooth fairy came, all kinds of messes and mischiefs on St. Patrick's Day.  (If Elf on the Shelf had been a thing when her daughter was little, she would have been the queen of that.)  Anyway, I can't remember if she gave me the idea or I came up with it myself - inspired by all her stories.  So one year, I got a little black pot and I filled it with gold mardi gras necklaces, fake gold coins, and gold foil-covered chocolates.  I put it in the front garden on my way to pick up my youngest from the bus and there it was waiting when we got home.  They were amazed that a leprechaun was sneaky enough to hide it in that short amount of time.  And they never forgot that.  Because the next year, and every year since, they talk about when the leprechaun is going to hide the pot of gold.  So I am doomed to repeat this every year.  Don't get me wrong, I will never pass up an opportunity that involves chocolate!  

But I wanted to make it more interesting this year.  The kids are getting older after all.  And I happened to find a St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt by The Dating Divas.  It comes with downloadable clues and games.  

And it was so much fun!  For example, my leprechaun name is Goldie O'Blarney, and we also have Greenie McMuffin and Cunning McGrump in the family (both appropriately named I might add). 

 The only change I made was getting the $1.00 gold presidential coins instead of the paper ones you can download.  

This scavenger hunt was a HUGE success!  The boys raced around the house (and neighborhood - to get to the mailbox) in order to find all the clues.  And their "pot of gold" was waiting for them at the last clue.  I will definitely hold onto this one to reprise it another year!

From my board "When Irish Eyes are Smiling"

Cheese and Fruit Tray : How-To

"People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas."  -- Author Unknown

Happy New Year to everyone!!!  One of the downsides of working in a health field is having to occasionally work holidays.  This year, I actually kind of lucked out and got to work New Year's Eve (as opposed to Thanksgiving and Christmas), because really, what is there to do on New Year's eve anyway?  Not much in my town.  There were a couple of minutes of downtime, so we were able to turn on the TV in an empty room and toast the new year with sparkling juices that a co-worker brought in.  

However, we had all brought in food as well.  This was a last minute discovery for me and I had worked the night before, so I wasn't about to go home and whip up something fabulous, because I did have to sleep.  I stopped by my local Harris Teeter and wandered up and down the aisles for some time before deciding to do a fruit and cheese platter that I had pinned.  Seven Layer Charlotte had designed this gorgeous fall cheese plate which I was dying to replicate.

So, my first problem was I didn't have a fancy wooden tray into which to cram all of these delicious fruits and such.  My second problem was I didn't want to spend a small fortune.  I mean, these are nurses and doctors in the middle of work, in the middle of the night.  We are not too picky about what we are eating.  So I wanted it to be nice, but not break the bank.

I wanted a nice variety so I got a blue cheese, a smoked gouda, some cheddar slices (which I cut into smaller pieces) and some brie.  I actually thought it was a wedge of brie cheese, but turned out to be more of a brie dip.  Nevermind, it was still delicious!  I couldn't find dried figs, so I substituted dried apricots instead.  I sliced  up a stick of pepperoni, added some parmesan cheese straws and some grapes and VOILA!!!  A half-way decent spread.  I splurged and got some fancy Carr crackers and it was good to go.

Not as pretty as the one by SevenLayerCharlotte, but not a bad attempt at all.  I was kicking myself though, because I had meant to tuck in some fresh sprigs of rosemary from my garden, and completely forgot about them.

I will be going out to look for a cute tray like the one used in the example.  And if I do this for family or a close group of friends, I will be splurging a little more and getting a lot more stuff to cram in there.

From my board "Appetizers are the little things..."