CMP: Holiday Gift Guide

Have you ever visited a website called Cool Mom Picks? I'm sure most of you have, but if not, please buzz on over there for some great tips and wonderful giveaways. I even won a custom onesie from one of their featured stores for Ava when she was born. Fun!

Now CMP has a holiday gift guide with some featured online stores that you can find in my sidebar. Visit the guide, download the buttons and place them on your blog. When you email CMP your blog website and they see the buttons, you will be placed in a drawing for 2, yes 2 $250 gift certificates from each store at the end of the year.

Ya can't beat that. So get on over to CMP and have some click-y fun today.

Stay on the path...

Mid-Week Lift

This one gets me every time especially during the credits when the alarm goes off. Enjoy.




Stay on the path.

Duce, or Maybe Three Times Over

I just can't seem to keep up with my posts these days. As the holidays approach (evidenced by Christmas music and holiday decorations in the stores ALREADY), I find that many, many things get away from me all too quickly. I am trying my best to live in the moment as my sweet, baby Ava took her first walk to the kitchen this morning. She has been taking steps here and there but just wandered off in her drunken sailor march all the way from the living room to the kitchen glass door to watch the birds outside. Sigh.


I have also decided to try more cookie recipes from my Cookie Cookbook from the Amana Church Society Guild cookbook given to me by Anne Marie.


This is a spiral bound book full of nothing but cookie recipes. I only have a few absolute favorites and I want to expand my repertoire. Experimentation has its high price: cookie consumption.


Right now, these are my absolute favorite cookies out of this book (and they ARE NOT chocolate - gasp!). Perfect with a hot cuppa tea or just shoving into your mouth when you really opened the fridge to get out the milk...

Duce Cookies
Christmas Cookie Walk Collection - Amana Church Society
Contributed by Tina Prusha

1 cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 T granulated sugar
4 oz finely chopped nuts
Jam (I prefer orange marmalade but the strawberry preserves were great too)
Confectioners sugar

Mix together butter, flour, granulated sugar and nuts. Roll on floured board to 1/4-inch thickness. Use small round cookie cutter (I used a 1.25" for smaller cookies) to cut the dough. Bake at 250 to 325 (I used 300 but ovens may vary) for approx. 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned (I just baked until they set) but not too brown. Cool and spread favorite jam between two cookies to make a sandwich. Roll in confectioners sugar. Try to avoid eating them as you finish rolling them.

Okay, so on the healthy side of things, I have recently been going back to Japanese green sencha tea and to make it more official, I've finally gotten my teapot and tea cups I scored in Nagoya off of my shelf and washed them out.


Green tea tastes SO much better in this stuff.


After frogging this sweater start THREE times, I have finally come up with a combination of needles and cast-on amount that I think will finally work. It is supposed to be a sweater for Chandler and I hope to get it done before the cold weather is over! After that, I'm on to a sweater for Ava and possibly a hat for myself, socks for my husband. And maybe a hand massage...

Stay on the path!

Whatnot

Tis' the season for time to fly. After my last post, I headed out for an out of town business trip, an out of town concert (and to see a family member in that concert) and then finally unpacking (although my suitcase is still in the upstairs hallway) and some crafting...

I started a hat for Channy a while back with the thought that it would be yellow (his favorite color) and with some earflaps and ties. I wasn't sure if he would wear the hat since he's pretty particular about fashion (i.e. he demands to wear only a few items for reasons unknown).


Once I presented him with the hat in a nonchalant way, he immediately put it on his head and wore it all weekend (be still my heart!) and protested when I took it back to make a few adjustments. This is his favorite hat!


I am still trying to finish up my quilt(s), and a toddler sweater but I am not even thinking about Christmas and birthday presents - yikes!

Back on the path...