Happy Holidays

The carrots and hay are on the porch, ready to feed those hard working reindeer and the dollhouse is finished!

I am happy to say we were able to slide it in beside the tree- finished.  No letters from Santa indicating how busy the elves had been this year and how they just didn't have time to get it all done.  The paint was even dry! I have to say this was a very satisfying project.  It might have been a bit less stressful if I had allowed some more time for completion.  I had trouble getting the roof angles right and that proved frustrating but in the end, I learned a thing or two.  1)It would do me good to have the right tools and save a lot of time.  2) Paint and caulk are indispensable for um creating that "finished" look.  The dolls and furniture came from Target and fit nicely with the scale.  I would definitely do it again and would recommend the project to anyone.  I am comfortable using tools but am definitely not a finish carpenter. I still felt like the project still turned out nice.  I am going to enjoy watching my daughter play with it possibly more than she will enjoy the play. Total lumber cost was about $50.00.

Santa's Work

A dollhouse seemed to be the perfect gift for a four year old this holiday.  Could of been that she cut 12 different ones out of the newspaper to let us know.... she is not so subtle.  After pricing a few we decided we could do better to build one and found the Anna White Dream Dollhouse.  She has free plans and the project looked within our collective skill range.

From the pics you can see how far I have gotten.  Definitely not far enough.  We are getting a bit nervous! Only six days left!  Above you can see one of the wall sets.

Here are some of the stairs.  Yikes-not even painted.

Here we are gluing and clamping the second wall set.  My husband and I have been working furiously sanding, gluing, nailing, cutting and hiding!  Its difficult to do anything in secret with a four year old in the house!  Wish us luck as we burn the midnight oil to see the sparkle in one little girls eyes.

Baking Frenzy

Busy Busy Busy with holiday baking!  Here is the cookie lineup for this year:

Rolled Sugar Cookies

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Lime Coconut Cookies

Snickerdoodles

Peppermint Sugar Cookies

All of them are new recipes that I found through Pinterest or by Googling.  I'm beginning to wonder if there is any utility in keeping a cookbook these days since you can find everything for your cooking/baking needs online.  What is your baking looking like this year?  Old standbys or something new?

The BEST Sugar Cookies

I am not really a sugar cookie fan.  I think they are dull.  After baking these today, I may change my mind because they are oh so good dunked in some tea.  The only reason I baked them is that I have a four year old in the house.  Nothing screams holiday baking more than festive cookie cutters.  I had about five of my own that proved to be worthless so my daughter got out her play dough cookie cutters and viola! Success! I hooked on this recipe at All Recipes.  They truly are TASTY!  I had to bake slightly longer than the recipe indicated (10min), but the rest went off without a hitch.  And now, I may have eaten too many.  Sigh.

Poached Eggs Anyone?

While in Nebraska for the holiday we were able to stop in Fremont for a wonderful little breakfast with my Aunt.  She served a fabulous breakfast of poached eggs, sausage, fruit and friendship bread.  Very TASTY! I never poach eggs for guests because my poacher only holds 4 cups.  What is a person to do if you have more than 2 people eating?  Well my dear Aunt had the answer.  She put several little custard dishes into her largest  skillet and filled the bottom with about a quarter to half inch of water.  Once the little bowls were tinkling together on a low boil, she added the eggs and put the lid on.  Voila!  Breakfast for four!  How could something so simple have passed me by?  I found that putting a little dab of butter in the bottom of the bowls makes the eggs slid out easily. Breakfast anyone?

Birthday Dress

My baby is one year older and much to my delight she requested a birthday dress!  I have to say I was rather delighted to oblige her since she cut me out of Halloween!  Yes, you heard it right.  A near four year old took command of her Halloween costume.  She came up with something already in her dress up stash and could not be swayed.  I have to say I was seriously disappointed. As  a a result, I was giddy with excitement when she announced a birthday dress was in order.  If you are a Pinterest fan, you may have seen something very similar circulating recently.  I used two different patterns to get the look I wanted. Most of the time even new patterns are just a remix of the same basic parts.  I would be willing to bet that if you have even a dozen patterns in your stash you will have what you need to make just about anything by mixing and matching.  I must say I am rather pleased with this one wishing only that I had made it just one size larger so she could wear it longer.

I Saw a Rainbow.......

A few weeks ago when all the snow was flying around and  tree limbs were crashing down I saw it.  Something I have never seen before.  A rainbow around the sun.  It was the most surprising thing I have ever seen.  I wasn't even aware that it could happen.  From the research I have done, it would appear to be called a solar halo not to be confused with a sun dog.  I could however, be wrong about that.  The thing that I know for sure is that it made me stop the car, and gaze in admiration at the extraordinary things that nature can do with an ordinary day.