Next Year...

... I'm grinding my own spices for the pumpkin pie. I already make the crust and puree my own pumpkin, so why not??

Thanksgiving Crafts....

I did a few crafty things last week in preparation for Thanksgiving. Some of them were with my 2 year old daughter, like these:

Ellie and I also decorated some sugar cookies. We made these back when we made our Halloween cookies with Mommom and I froze the leaves for later. I actually remembered they were in the freezer and we enjoyed decorating them together, albeit with canned frosting and Wilton sprinkles instead of homemade goodness, but my energy levels were running low and I decided it was more important to spend time with my daughter decorating the cookies than it was to have them perfect. Ack! I think I'm loosening up in my old age...

And last, but not least, I made this little outfit for Eliana to play dress up in last week. It was an afternoon whim and it took me just a couple hours start to finish. And I love how it turned out!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving week!!

Thanksgiving is coming...

and as one who usually turns all looneybin this time of year, I found the following quite humorous:

Bo Bunny Thanksgiving Album!

When I saw this paper from Bo Bunny, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it. All of the eclectic journaling blocks just called for me to make them into a mini album for Thanksgiving this year! So that I what I did. It doesn't have any pictures or writing in it yet, but I intend to use it to document our holiday this year, whatever we end up doing (it's still a bit up in the air as far as plans go...). I'm very happy with how it turned out! (So much so that I did a Christmas one using the Christmas paper, but I didn't really like how that turned out as much.) Anyway, without further ado, here is my Bo Bunny Thanksgiving Album!!

Of course, I used the Bind-It-All and tied some Michael's ribbon on the coils. I also added some Prima crystal frames (ovals) for a bit of sparkle, but other than that it is just that one sheet of paper!

Thanksgiving 2007

Simplicity. It's a beautiful thing. Because I chose simplicity over perfection this year, I looked like this:

happy, calm, collected, and relaxed instead of like this:

which I look like most years. In case you can't tell, this is the "get out of my kitchen before I stab you with this little paring knife" look. I'm often a little more than on edge when I'm preparing a nice meal and trying to get it all on the table, hot and perfectly presented. Especially when there are extra people in my kitchen. I often want to wield a threatening paring knife and menacing scowl at those who step foot in my kitchen uninvited on a day like today, but I'm too nice. So I swallow the menacing scowl and rename it stress.

But not today. No, today I relaxed. Dinner was 5 minutes late. And I forgot to add the cranberries and almonds to the stuffing. And I smiled. It did help, though, that I didn't have extra bodies in the kitchen. It also helped that I'm learning how to make things ahead of time so that I have less to do the day of. I'm also learning how to ignore those who mock me for setting out the dishes the night before. But because I planned ahead and relaxed today, the paring knife stayed in my hand in not in them. So they should be thankful. They should also be thankful that they got to eat pies like these:

and sit at a table like this:


Yes, simplicity is a good way to go. I'll have to try it again next year.

Katakeimai

Mmmm... SO FULL. I had to leave the table and go lay on the couch I was so full. Here's the sad part... I didn't even get any pretzel salad, didn't have seconds, and had to feed the rest of my stuffing to Ellie. Darn that moderate eating for the last few months! Maybe in a couple hours I can eat some pie.

Good news: I can eat the yumminess all week long. Mmmmm. Leftovers.

Thanksgiving Menu... UPDATED

Last year I had everything planned out for a big family Thanksgiving dinner. This year, though it's just Me, Leif, Ellie, and Leif's brother Eric. We are not having ham, and only having a turkey breast instead of the whole bird, so the prep isn't as intensive, but I'm realizing that there are still a lot of things to do! Those things are complicated by the fact that I have a 16 month old little helper who thinks it's fun to dance in front of the "mirror" (aka - the oven door!) and get in my way. So I might be planning the meal prep around naptime! Here's hoping she takes a nap this afternoon (she already took one this morning) or we'll be having store bought pie crusts! Let's see what the week holds: (updates are in CAPS)

Monday:
roast turkey and freeze - CHECK
make pie crusts - CHECK
crush pretzels - CHECK
make homemade cranberry sauce - CHECK

Tuesday:
make pies (pumpkin and pecan-less pecan for Leif!) - CHECK
make bread - CHECK
make up guest beds - CHECK

Wednesday:
make yambake - CHECK
make strawberry pretzel salad - CHECK
cut veggies for the relish tray - CHECK (Done Monday)
thaw turkey - CHECK

Thursday:
make stuffing
make green beans
make mashed potatoes
make gravy
heat turkey and yambake and bread
EAT!

MENU:
turkey (china platter - CHECK)
relish tray and dip (divided glass dishes - CHECK)
cranberry sauce (corelle dish - CHECK)
bread (glass plate - CHECK)
green beans almondine (medium corelle bowl - CHECK)
yambake (glass dish - CHECK)
stuffing (medium corelle bowl - CHECK)
strawberry pretzel salad (baking dish - CHECK)
mashed potatoes (large corelle bowl - CHECK)
gravy (gravy boat - CHECK)
pumpkin pie (pie tin - CHECK)
pecanless pecan pie (pie tin - CHECK)

Whew!! I've got the turkey in the roaster, but I should probably get started on some of the rest of this!! Leif was hoping to go to the Museum of the Rockies one of these days, too, as well as a couple other places, so I need to make the best of my time. Hopefully we'll be able to get out and take some fun family pictures in the beautiful snow that is piling up outside, too. I need to get a family shot so Christmas cards can go out in the mail next week!! Because after that... I head to Texas for two weeks and then Christmas is upon us! If ever I wished for better time management skills, it is now. Want proof that my time management skills are severely lacking? I'm sitting here typing this right now instead of making pie crusts. And there you have it.

Okay... off I go!