Xmas Redux

We hosted our annual Xmas Eve Tamale buffet and invited a few of our dear friends over.

There was much celebrating, toasting, eating and laughing.  Our home was warm with friendships and it felt really good to be reminded of the people in our lives that love and surround us throughout the year.

We always spend xmas morning just Steve, Grady and myself.  We keep our pajamas on all day, open gifts, drink lots of early morning coffee...followed by mid-morning sparkling wine and we feast on leftovers for lunch.  Throwing in a nap and perhaps a movie along the way.  Oh, and the Scrabble game that I lose year after year.

G received his very own Hunter boots from Grandma Jan and was spoiled by so very many people this holiday season.

However, his favorite acquisition was a black pair of fingerless gloves that he stated will last him the rest of his life.   He kept these on for about 48 hours straight, only removing them to take a much needed shower.  Then they went right back on his little fingers.

Steve received this lovely tie courtesy of the school holiday bazaar.  Grady and I thought it was definitely in his color family of Hecht Green and, as you can see above, he seems real excited by it.

I could never quite capture a nice picture of my tree this season and so this will have to do.  Lots of new ornaments were added this year and I took great pleasure in this little funky little aluminum tree that warmed a corner in my living room over the last month, along with the colorful paper chains and homemade advent calendar.

Sweet Molly.  She's been with us for six months and we are so happy she's part of our family.  Santa did not forget her and she received a new leash, so that I could take all 65 pounds of her on a walk and not get leash burn on my hand.  She also received a ball from Grady that he purchased from the school holiday bazaar.  She seemed right at home with us.

We decided to make each other gifts for xmas.  Grady asked his father to draw him a picture of a green parrot and BOY did he!  I didn't see it until xmas morning and it was beautiful.  Grady was so sweet and clear with his request for a xmas present and the fact that he just wanted a drawing from each of us (um, my assignment was to draw a dog and apparently I forgot to draw a nose, so there was some concern about his ability to breathe) really made my heart swell.  He wants to frame it and so do I.  I now see where my kids artistic ability comes from.

This was the best gift of the season.  Grady designed this wooden garden bird for me.  With the help of his father, he used a bandsaw and cut it out and then painted it.  He found a stick for the base and gave it to me for xmas.  It's a bird for my garden.  I absolutely love it. He was so happy to give this season and it was really magical to see it all through his eyes, too.

The Girl & The Canner (Part 2)

I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, made coffee and set about to finish the rest of my canning.  It is the eve of the eve of xmas and I do love an eve of any special day (birthdays & holidays especially).  This task needed to get done and the self-imposed deadline of high noon was fast approaching.

My father is of Mexican decent, but it is my brother and mother who are the salsa-makers in the family.  We take great pride in our refried beans & kick-ass Spanish rice.  Over the years, the salsa recipe has been perfected and since shared with me.  I decided to start the morning off with tears over chopped white onions & garlic and boiling peppers, jalapeños and tomatillos.  The smells were intoxicating, but it was still a wee bit early to feel like eating salsa.

Here is the recipe, if you're interested:

Salas Salsa

1/2 White Onion (diced)

3 Cloves Garlic (minced)

1 bunch Cilantro (roughly chopped)

4-5 Tomatillos

2 Yellow Peppers

2 Jalapeños

1 8-oz can of tomato sauce

1 8-oz can of water (reserved from boiling peppers)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Boil peppers until soft (reserve the water)

Dice, chop & add as indicated above

Purée with immersion blender and serve promptly

The next endeavor was chosen in the 11th hour.  I had Meyer lemons on the brain, but the recipe was tricky and perhaps not conducive to canning.

The Clementine Cointreau Curd from Ashley English's Canning & Preserving was super simple and tasted divine.  Who doesn't want alcohol in their curd?  Anyone?  I thought so.

My tour of canning duty was done.  These homemade gifts would have to last me through the next few days of gifting.  I learned a few things and look forward to planting next year's garden with canning in mind.

What a nice way to preserve the season.  Wishing you all a happy holiday and sweet time with your families.  Thank you for reading my blog!

The Girl & The Canner (Part I)

My husband wanted his freezer back.  I had taken over half of the space with eight large yogurt containers that were housing all of my loose blackberries (they stay whole this way and don't get smashed up too much).  The trouble was I had threatened to make blackberry jam from all of the lovely summer berries I'd picked at the end of August, but felt very intimidated to do so.

When my husband inquired again about reclaiming half of our freezer and when would I actually be canning my summer blackberries, I hesitated.  Um, sure.  I can do that.  I said I would do that, right?  I guess I have to do that.  I'll get right on that.

In my typical Tammi-fashion, I checked out a book from the library and read all about it.  Ashley English's Canning & Preserving was a quick read and very informative, but it still felt like a lot could go wrong.

I would need to consult my canning guru and take out my notes from the summer canning class she gave me.  It looked easy enough when she was running the show, but now I would have to apply what I learned and attempt it solo.  My impending deadline of xmas eve was fast approaching and I had big plans to can homemade goodies as gifts.

She informed me not to over-think it and even told me a few steps I could leave out (like submerging all of the jars in the canner after I filled them.  She's never done this step and she's been canning for 50 years!).  This kind of reminded me of all the baby books I read after I had Grady - sure, they were technically correct, but I eventually had to find my own way and trust my instincts.  Don't get me wrong, you have to follow the recipe in the Sure-Jell package exactly, but perhaps I was being too hard on myself with all of the other prep work.

So into the kitchen I went with my book, numerous jars, lids & rings, blackberries, canner, tongs, jar lifter, potato masher, rubber spatulas, bowls, towels, wooden spoons, berries & lots and lots of sugar.  It looked like a war zone in my tiny kitchen.  I cursed a bit at the start.  I locked the guys out of the kitchen and told them it was off limits while I was canning (and thinking, as well as muttering to myself about measurements and steps not to miss).

After I completed my second batch, I finally opened a bottle of wine and took a quick sip.  Whew.  I was a total stressed out lady just a few hours prior and now I had this down.  I ended up canning 28 jars of summer loveliness.  All the little jars lined up and looking at me with their deep purple hues and shiny silver lids.  What a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

Oh, and Steve has his freezer back.  Finally.

Snow-Globes-R-Us

I was reading an article in the 20th Anniversary edition of Martha Stewart's Living magazine and saw this project for Snow Globes.  Talk about cute, inexpensive, recycled goodness!  All of my errant, random jars could be repurposed and, at the same time, we could whittle down Grady's ever-growing small animal and figurine collections.  Add a little thrifted glitter and we have ourselves a very sweet handmade gift crafted by Grady.

We used what we had, but I would definitely use smaller jars in the future - such as baby food, pimiento or small olive jars.  Also, use plastic or ceramic figurines (it's suggested that metal ones are prone to rust).  

Some of the lids weren't attractive enough, so the guys used our handy-dandy silver spray paint.  You could use any color spray paint and I think I'll use red for the next batch of globes, so that it looks a little more festive.  Next up was sanding the inside of the lid until surface is rough.  With clear-drying epoxy, adhere the figurines inside of the lid and let it dry.  Important:  You should probably glue a base down for your figurines to stand on and elevate them just a little bit.  This will help them stand a little taller and be seen a little better.

Fill the jar almost to the top with distilled water (we boiled ours); add a pinch of glitter (we used red & silver) and a dash of glycerin (we had this on hand from our homemade kahlua distilling) to keep the glitter from falling too quickly. 

Screw the lid on tightly and be careful not to dislodge the figurine.  Turn the jar over and back again and watch it snow! 

Now we had to wrap them up.  I decided to iron a stack of vintage handkerchiefs I had been stockpiling in my kitchen drawer.

Grady assisted in filling out the tags (my paint chip samples, again) and then we slipped them into a cellophane bag and tied with mustard-colored twine.

They looked so pretty when we were done and everything about this project was repurposed and thoughtfully placed in the jars by Grady, along with the help of his father.

We have asked our neighbors for their extra small glass jars and I look forward to round two at our snow-globe-making-facility (aka - Steve's garage) while we endure countless days of rain ahead of us.  Snow.  Rain.  Either way, we're happy to bottle it up and shake it all around.

Canine Candy

Today was all about baking, package design & checking the names of dogs we love off of our xmas list.

I got this super simple recipe from a friend and have made them for the last two years.

Canine Candy (aka: Dog Treats)

2 C. wheat flour

1/4 C. cornmeal

1/2 C. parmesan cheese

1 egg

1 C. water

Yields:  48 small treats

Mix all.  Knead a bit.  Roll out and cut with cookie cutter (I use lid of a spice jar).  Bake at 350 degrees for abut 40 minutes.  Flip halfway through.  When done, turn off oven and leave in to dry out.

Grady quickly designed this packaging and renamed the dog treats Canine Candy.  It has a nice ring to it, right?  My dog-loving boy cannot wait to deliver these to all of the wonderful dogs in his life, including one package for our very own Molly Gray the Wonder Dog.

Upcycled Garland

Hi.  My name is Tammi and I'm a paint-sample-holic.  Yes, it's true.  I cruise the aisles of hardwares stores and grab fistfuls of paper paint samples while no one is looking.  It's hard to resist the rainbow of colors and let us not forget the lovely card stock they are printed on.

I like to use my handy-dandy Smith-Corona to type up thank you notes on the larger samples, as well as quick notes on the smaller strips and use them as hang tags on gifts.  Some of the paint colors have the cutest names:  margarita green, bull's eye red, baby pink and pumpkin seed orange.  I just love me a paint sample.  But they were piling up in my desk drawer and I wasn't using them quite fast enough.  How was I going to keep my habit fresh and alive, if I couldn't use them in all of their color glory?  Yes, part of the addiction is looking at them and seeing their array of color goodness staring up at me every time I opened the drawer of paper love, but something had to be done to lighten this color swatch load.

So I decided to cut out hundreds of ovals with scalloped edges to use for a garland project, as well as using them as hang tags on our xmas gifts this year.  The scalloped punching mechanism that I found on sale at a craft store was like magic and transformed my once humble paint samples into things of beauty.  I even gathered posters, postcards and heavy magazine covers and punched away.

The irony of all of this is the color covering about 80% of the walls in my home is Ralph Lauren's Sand.  Yes, like the sand on the beach.  My mother calls it boring beige.  While I don't want my walls screaming at me, I do love color sprinkled throughout and let's not forget my love of all things shiny.  I don't think Mr. Lauren would endorse the renaming of his paint to boring beige, as he has some pretty cool names to sell that color spectrum to you like Sisal, Muslin, Raffia & Parchment.

I opted to string these punched lovelies onto silver metallic wire edge ribbon that I picked up for 50 cents at the Legacy Thrift Store in Sebastopol for 20 yards!  Since I was putting two pieces of card stock on the garland back-to-back (you don't want the white/gray texted side showing on the back of the paint sample - or maybe you do?), the wire edge on the ribbon gave them structure when they were hung.

Marrying my love of silver, color, paint samples and hole-punching was a really great way to upcycle all of them into a useful project and was a really nice way to come clean on my addiction to all of you!

My name is Tammi and it's been five days since my last visit to the paint store.

The Magic of Xmas

Magical Inspiration found here

TES PTA Board post-holiday bazaar

This week was just full of holiday fun.  Looking back on it has brought a huge grin to my face and made me think about the xmas' of my very own childhood.  There is a magic in the air this time of year and while keeping it mostly in check, it feels good to see the little ones bask in all its glory (and the adults, too!).

Our PTA shopping mall in the TES gym

The annual PTA holiday bazaar is a thing of beauty.  We ask for gently used items to be donated by the parents and supplement with a few hundred items we shop for prior to the big day. In total we have over 1,200 items in our make-shift mall.  The kindergartners through fifth graders get to "shop" our store and then our happy team of volunteers wraps each present for them (10 item maximum). We have seasoned parent volunteers, as well as a few staff members from the school and friends/family members pitching in to help.  I definitely was floating on a post-holiday bazaar high when it was all said, done & cleaned up.  Celebrating over bottles of bubbly with my friends topped off the whole she-bang.  Oh, I can't wait until next year!

Dear friend and neighbor donating her day to help wrap for the kids

You hear the sweetest things from the young shoppers and see the unlikeliest of items chosen for their loved ones.  One year Steve received a hot pink race car from Grady.  Every year I receive a hot pink bedazzled necklace from my son, so we'll see if the tradition continues.  He did share with me that it was in the jewelry family, so chances are high in that regard.

We rounded off the week with a birthday celebration for our good friend over oysters, cracked crab, artisan cheeses, jumbo butter lettuce salad and lots of sparkling wine and a flourless chocolate cake with créme fraiche whipped cream.  Yummy.  Our friends are wonderful hosts and make it all look so very easy-breezy when they entertain.

Sitting around the fire and talking about holiday traditions next to their decked out tree was another reminder of the past.  We shared memories of special care packages coming from distant relatives and the happy coincidence that almost all of us opened pajamas on xmas eve.  Gathering over good food, friends, music and laughter is truly the spirit I've been trying to seek out this season.

Gathering with this set of friends was a beautiful way to end this week of hustle and bustle.  Also, seeing the magic of xmas on the children's faces made the work that went into this week totally worth it and a gift in its own rite.

Grady modifying the Jesus Action Figure by adding height to him atop his wallet made me laugh out loud.  The irony of this picture.  How many shopping days until Jesus' birthday?

Boxes of trinkets from the holiday bazaar proudly lined up and displayed under the tree.

Mistletoe decor made at G's first 4-H Club meeting

So, my glittering eyes are wide open and I've clumsily stumbled upon the hidden magic.  It was here all along, just waiting for me to find it and unlock its secrets for me and my family this holiday season.

Here's to hoping you find the magic of this season, too.

Handmade Holiday

I was reading this really great post from Door Sixteen and wanted to share.  Aside from a few little items from a recent shopping trip to Anthropologie, this holiday season will be either handmade by me or someone else, thrifted, purchased at a local independent store or cooked in my kitchen.  To learn more, visit BuyHandmade.org.


Here are a few links to some of my recent favorites:
Sweet little t-shirts handmade in Montana.  
Fine art prints from local artist Kai Samuels-Davis. 
A twofer sale on prints over at Victoria's etsy shop. 
One-of-a-kind fingerprint jewelry from this lady.
Beautiful custom silhouette pillows
This clever handmade lamp that pays homage to my love of land maps!
Great deals on sparkling wine at the best little wine shop on the Sonoma Coast.
Lasercut jewelry from Molly M. now being sold at this shop in Valley Ford.
The most awesome duvet cover for little ones that love both nature and animals.
Local jams and preserves from this small business neighbor.
Sonoma Coast scenery captured by this local photographer, with prints hanging at this coffee shop in Bodega.
Speaking of coffee, the Holiday Blend has been released by this independent roaster.  Get it while you can.

Color of the Day: Green

As I looked at my list of errands today, I realized that quite a few of them could be considered "green".  Now I know that term is overused, but it fit my mood today.  I was returning all of our wire hangers to the organic dry cleaner and dropping off used plastic bread bags, dead batteries and wine corks to the receptacles in front of Whole Foods.  I also made my weekly pilgrimage to the thrift store for no reason in particular, other than my car veers off in that direction if I happen to pass by it.  You must understand.  I also hit the Legacy craft thrift store for jars of glitter to make homemade snow globes and yards upon yards of donated ribbon.  Prior to any of this happening, I walked out of my office door where I work in rural Sebastopol and was taken aback by all of the natural green beauty that surrounded me.  This is the green that truly inspired me today.

Surfaces are covered with blankets of lush and velvety moss.

 The citrus fruit are taking their sweet time ripening on the branches.

The lichen are abundant on all of the old trees that line my drive up the lane to work.

This carpet of moss is slowly creeping up a massive tree trunk and I have a weird inclination to run my hands across it.  Kind of like when I shave Grady's head every year!

The ferns are so in their element today.  It hasn't stopped raining today.  Not even for a minute.

The paint store was my last stop and I was collecting numerous paint samples to upcycle into gift tags.  As penance for my stack of free samples, I will definitely be back to buy some new low-VOC paint for future home projects that are on the horizon in 2011.

What was Oscar the Grouch talking about?  It is easy being green.  Especially if you live in Sonoma County.