Presents are wrapped, a menu is planned, food is bought, cookies (baked last weekend in large quantities with my friend “E”) are wrapped up on the table for Christmas morning. We are as ready as we are going to get.

Things are still really stressful, Miss Artistic’s issues are not going away any time soon, and as a result my holiday spirit is not what it usually is and I am hoping to “get into it” by the morning.

I wanted to pop in though and wish each of you who celebrate the day, religiously or secularly, a joyous day filled with wonderful sweet surprises and more love than you can shake a wand at.

Blessings!

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, family, holiday, Xmas

Thanksgiving is one of our household’s favorite holidays.  It is a day to sit around relax, spend time together, and stuff ourselves silly on all kinds of good food.

I came home form work a little less than an hour ago and after some well deserved R&R I am off to do the bulk of my cooking for the big day and I thought that I’d share with you all this year’s menu.

I make a lot of food, especially considering we are only 5 people.  But, half the fun of the holiday is that we live on leftovers all the way through Sunday.

Most of dinner is made by me (thus the upcoming hours ahead in the kitchen) but I do supplement here and there with pre-made items as I can frankly only do so much.

As I am every year I am grateful for the ability to feed my family.  I am grateful for the happy yummy sounds that will be made.  I am looking forward to serving my family off my grandmother’s china, lifting a glass of champagne and being grateful for making it through another year.

May each of our readers here in the US have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with friends family and feasting.  For everyone else may the holiday season start off happy for you & yours and continue on as such all the way through the new year ahead.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Appetizers/Light Lunch – laid out around noon

Gherkin sized pickles – both sweet and sour
Olives
marinated mozzarella balls
various cubed cheeses
pepperoni, sopresatta, genoa salami
fried ravioli w/ sauce
deviled eggs
spreadable port wine/cheddar cheese & crackers
cocktail franks

Dinner – served around 4pm

Turkey – deep-fried by the men
Bread Stuffing w/ apples sausage and caramelized onions
Candied Yams w/ mini marshmallows
Mashed Potatoes w/ roasted garlic
Spicy Peas & Mushrooms
Cheesy Cauliflower
Oven-fried Artichoke Hearts
Mizeria – cucumbers w/ sour cream
Cranberry sauce – from a can
Rolls – from a can
Gravy – from a jar

Dessert – served around 7:30pm

2 Mrs Smith’s pies – sweet potato and cherry
3 kinds of cookies (store-bought)
fruit
nuts

Written by Mama KellyTags:cooking, feast, holiday, Thanksgiving

I have off from work starting today and I don’t go back until Jan. 2  yippee!!   I have been in a creative crocheting frenzy for a few weeks now as I mentioned in an earlier post.   I am working on one last holiday gift – it is a HUGE project for a special friend and I’m hoping it’s done by Christmas (or at least shortly after before our scheduled holiday visit).    I am sooooooo very excited about this project – I’ve never ever made anything like this before, but it’s a secret and I can’t tell you about it yet because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.    

I have been getting so many cool ideas for crafting projects that I want to do next year.  I am hoping the inspiration continues, but more importantly I hope I have the energy and time to actually make some of them.  

Our kitten loves our tree. She is very good at climbing it. Our favorite pastime now is sptizing her with the spray bottle when ever she reaches for a tree branch. But to save our sanity we decorated the tree with all nonbreakable ornaments – candy canes, xmas cards, some shatter proof balls from the dollar store, and some foam ornaments from a kit.

I have all the gifts wrapped, all the cards in the mail, hubby and Angelgirl are doing the holiday baking, so I can relax and enjoy the holidays. I did go overboard a little on spending, but starting Jan. 1 I am retiring the credit card.

For the New Year I’m focusing on getting my finances in order – the credit card got way way way too high last year (mostly because of the cost of the HUGE Harry Potter party we had last May for Angelgirl’s 11th birthday). I decided it was best to pay it off as soon as possible because interest rates have got sky high so I took most of our savings and got the balance down as low as I could and in two or three months it should be at zero, then I’ll focus on replacing the funds to savings – NO more spending for me!

Hope everyone has an awesome, safe and happy holiday!  Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:Christmas, creativity, crocheting, holiday

I’m in one of those super good moods today (and yesterday too) - you know when someone is so happy all they can do is smile and buzz around all full of pep and you just want to shoot them!    I warned my friends at work that they may need to shoot me cause I’m totally bouncy and filled with good cheer!

Do idea why – didn’t have any extra coffee or anything.   But hey I’ll take it while I can. 

I am done my xmas shoppping!  Can you believe it?    And already started a little for next year, as well as made up a list of some gifts I want to make (crocheted things) for some folks next year.   I even have my xmas cards and will be getting them done this weekend, I should have enough time to actually send them out by Monday (instead of what has happened for the past several years where I’m lucky to get them out a day or two before Dec. 25).  I will probably even start wrapping the gifts this weekend too!   Disgusting isn’t it.   

I used to be this way every year, but about 12 years or so ago life had taken a turn down hill, got progressively worse and for about 8 years all the joy and energy of daily life was sucked right out of me.  Since we’ve moved to this house (about 5 years ago), life has been getting better and I have been slowly recovering.  It takes a lot of inner self work and soul searching to recover from a long period of stress, but it is definitely worth it.

Sure every day can’t be a holiday or filled with bliss and mania – but it’s nice to be open and in a place to enjoy it when it happens – like today!

I am also feeling creative and in a crocheting phase again.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday I made Teacherman a lovely soft grey scarf using alpaca yarn.  Also I finished a very long, extra wide green and white scarf for donation.   I am also working on two Yule gifts – I am about 1/3 of the way done a big granny square blanket for a friend (varigated purples and white alpaca yarn – soooo soft!), and about 90% done a lovely robin egg blue (satin finish) rectangular shawl for my mom.  I will post photos of the finished projects when they are done. 

Angelgirl asked me to make her a warm poncho so I picked up the yarn for it this week, and while I was there I also found some lovely yarn in two shades of plum (a light and a dark) so I have a couple projects in mind for myself too.  I also plan to make a baby blanket to donate.

Crocheting is so relaxing and it just feels really good to be doing something and being creative instead of just staring at the tv or wasting time.  It is portable and I take it every where – especially to my daughter’s karate classes so I have something to do for that hour.  Adding in an item or two for donations and also making gifts makes the whole process even more enjoyable.  As I crochet I focus on blessing the item, by silently in my head either chanting a blessing, or humming a goddess song.  It really helps me relax and connect with the spiritual aspects of life.

I’m really glad my daughter wanted to learn how to crochet (she is 11).  She does a small project now and then.   Sure it isn’t going to replace ds games or other electronic games – but at least she has the basics and hopefully it will be a craft she continues to develop and enjoy for many, many years.  I truly feel it is important to give kids worthwhile alternatives, instead of just mindless electronics and tv – even if they don’t seem to do it much now, later in life they will remember and come back to it.

Wishing everyone a totally awesome weekend and joy-filled holiday season. 

Bright Blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:crocheting, holiday

In my quest to lose over 150 lbs (90 lost so far!) since May 1, 2006, I have been on the look out for new healthy foods – my motto on my other blog the Diet Pulpit is “don’t be a fool, eat for fuel.”  

I recently tried Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa for the first time – it is a high protein grain. I just love it! It is so easy to make – just combine 1 cup water for every 1/2 c. quinoa, once it boils, cover it and turn off heat, let stand for 15 minutes (2 servings) – or make up a big batch for the whole family. You don’t have to worry about it being sticky like rice. It is light and fluffy and takes on the flavor of what ever you add to it – so it can be sweet (i.e. cooked apples, dried fruits, honey) or savory. I added lots of roasted garlic to my batch as it was cooking. Then added lots of veggies (diced canned tomatoes with no salt added, choppped frozen kale and diced sauteed onions). Heated everything up together and it was warm and delicious, and very filling. It was a great comfort food meal on a cold night. My hubby even liked it and will be trying it in his next batch of homemade soup.

With the color combination of the red tomatoes and the green kale (chopped spinach would work too) – this dish would be great for the Yule holiday. You could use it for stuffed peppers (all green or a combo of red and green peppers), you could use large mushroom caps and use this for filling, or just have it as a nice, colorful sidedish or bring it along as a covered dish to a holiday get together. You can experiment with your favorite veggies and combos for unlimited flavor combos.

Next I am also going to be trying Rice Select Couscous – I got the variety 4 pack so I could different ones. I especially like the sundried and the tri-color couscous (with red from tomato and green from spinach) – not only is it easy to make (just boil water!), it’s pretty too and very festive looking and would be nice to use in a dish for Yule also. The tri-color couscous would be perfect a recipe dedicated to the Goddess too.

Eating more whole grains is healthier for you (tons of fiber) and for Mother Earth (saves energy and resources). So if you haven’t tried these yet, I urge to give them both a try. If you don’t want to go completely meatless – adding whole grains like these can reduce the amount of meat needed (which also reduces the fat content) – i.e. these would work nicely to replace some of the meat content in dishes such sloppy joes, spagetti sauce, ghoulash.

These grains are so easy to cook up they can be made in lots of every day dishes but are also so lovely looking that they can be dressed up and served at any holiday.

Health, happiness, and bright blessings to all, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:harvest, holiday, recipe, whole grains

For a Monday I’m in a great mood!

The Easter get together with the family went well – with no drama. Of course the first hour I was there, no one was home yet – they were an hour late – but that is my family. So I hung out with my mom and brother-in-law. The next hour we just chatted and they got to see our blogs and they all agreed to be the cast in my youtube videos I have planned *hehehehe* . It took yet another hour for any food to come out – which was my cue to leave (since I am dieting and really don’t indulge in lunch meats, macaroni salad, etc.).

Angelgirl and I did some work for the upcoming Harry Party birthday bash (May 27) – but not as much as I would like to get done but it was Easter so there were other things that had to take priority (like an egg hunt!). All the posters are laminated (I have over 15 HP movie posters for the hall), most of the items for all 9 classes and the Diagon Alley shops are at least sorted and in baggies. I need to get the labels printed up though. I placed another order with Oriental Trading – to make my life easier, since they had kits for one of the projects I wanted to add to a class (rather then gathering up all the pieces on my own) — so for the weather charms (rain sticks) I will use a kit.

I may have mentioned some time before that I wanted to possibly go back to school – soooooo I’ve kinda decided I want to get certified in health and fitness. I haven’t set a date to start yet – but I do have some brochures I’m looking over. I need to look into state requirements and testing also. Because often it costs hundreds of dollars a year to stay certified in a profession (like massage for example – which I was trained in years ago and LOVE, but since I can’t work at it full time I would never be able to cover the cost of keeping my certification every year so the entire thing was a huge waste of time and money – and I don’t want to do that again.) If it turns out to be a profession I could do part-time, then I will pursue it – though it’s more for personal reasons that actually planning a new career at this point.

Also Mama Kelly going back to school is such an inspiration – I have bumped taking a class or two up on my list of things to do – so I really do want to find something educational to purse but that I am also passionate about.

I know it may sound totally silly for a 51 year old “chubby” (still 80 lbs to lose) woman to be considering a career change to health and fitness – BUT who else is there to help the baby boomers and others who feel they can NEVER reach their goals, who better to inspire and motivate then someone who is has struggled and knows what it takes to get healthy in the face of big obstacles like age and over 100 lbs to lose. Besides I would be going back to school more as a personal journey – any career aspects would be secondary, since I would still be keeping my day job. I don’t plan on applying to work at a gym or anything like that, but I am leaving the door open to what ever the future may hold should I decided to pursue the certification.

At least I’m looking into it. I’ll keep everyone posted on any final decisions.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.  Bright Blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:easter, family, holiday

The Easter bunny had a difficult time this year deciding what to put in Angelgirl’s basket. But a stop at four different stores yesterday, solved the problem. She was delighted with her goodies – a large 12×12 scrapbook, several different kinds of scrapbook stickers, colored papers, stencils and colored pencils (which were all on sale!), two books, a bottle of Fairly Odd Parents bubble bath, and small white stuffed bunny, a chocolate bunny, and a few other candy goodies tossed in.

She still has candy left over from last Halloween and Xmas. Plus she has a lot of candy from the school party and the after school care program. So we were very glad the Easter bunny was creative enough to find more interesting goodies for her basket, without overdoing it with a ton of candy.

She woke up bright and earlier, bouncy and excited and wanted to hunt for eggs right away. (TeacherMan always hides about 18 dyed eggs during the night.) Next she wanted to set the table to get ready for breakfast (which was for another 2 hours – 9 a.m.). My mom comes over for our traditonal Easter breakfast of hard boiled egss, ham, crescent rolls, orange juice (in the special cups we only use for special occasions).

Our Angelgirl gets so excited about these simple holiday traditions. Sometimes we think she is just humoring us and says she still believes in Santa and the Easter bunny. But even when the time comes and we know for sure she doesn’t, the holidays will always be special. Her smile, our simple little traditions, will keep the magic alive.

Happy Spring to all, Lady Rose
 

Recommend reading:  A New Beginning (Ages 4-8)
The spring equinox signals the time of year when the days are getting longer, the growing season has begun, and animals give birth to their young. With accessible, lyrical prose and vibrant illustrations, this book explains the science behind spring and shows how the annual “rebirth” of Earth has been celebrated by various cultures throughout the ages and the world. Teachers and parents will appreciate the simple science, the multicultural history, and the hands-on activities in this book

Written by Lady RoseTags:easter, holiday, spring equinox