Sneak preview of this year's cake with a purpose

Last year, Z1 had a beetle cake. It was quite a chocolatey and wondrous thing. This year will also be chocolatey and wondrous as I mostly believe that cakes should be chocolate. We have decided upon a ladybird and I have planned as you can see in the lovely picture below. The party is on Sunday. Baking shall take place on Saturday. I am quite excited. 

 

On a side note, I was speaking to a friend here who had a book that talked about a ladybird. She thought it was a rather amusing typo or weird mistake. In Ireland and in England, we call them ladybirds but I do accept that the North American version - ladybug - makes more sense.

 

A Sad Story About Advent Calendars and Rejected Toilet Roll Inners

Last year, you may recall that I got Conquering Christmas off to an eggcellent start with this Advent calendar. Around two weeks ago, I began to plan for this year's creation. I started saving toilet roll inners and calculating how to lay out 24 sections of toilet roll inners as a triangle shape to resemble a Christmas tree. This infographic shows the intricate plans that I made.

However, Z1 and Z2 saw Advent calendars in a shop and now they want them. I tried to remind Z1 how much fun we had making last year's but to no avail.


Giant Lindt ball with
mouse for scale

I am seriously contemplating making this one for me - 'twould be perfect for rationing out my Lindt balls from the giant Lindt ball that Husband kindly gave me for no reason at all and I could use up those toilet roll inners I've been saving.


As summer melts into autumn

Back to school and slowly waning warm weather has been keeping us outside and busy in various ways. I make no apologies for soaking up every last drop of warmth and sunshine as the evenings and mornings grow darker.

That is not to say that craft and creations have come to a halt. There was a delicious apple cake which Z1 directed, funeral portraits for our dearly departed fish, a pirate hat for Husband from Z1 and we are currently planning for bat costumes* for Hallowe'en. 

I don't mind shop-bought costumes but I do maintain that there's a certain charm in homemade costumes that just doesn't happen with bought ones. Watch this space.

*links to other bat-mentioning posts, not brilliant bat costumes, you will have to wait for them.

Conquering Canadian Camping

Me and Zeds

I consider myself something of a veteran camper. Not a hardcore, out-in-the-woods-with-nothing-but-my-tent, camper but a civilized-campsite-with-toilets-and-showers camper.

Throughout my childhood and up to my teens, I went camping in France on family holidays. I have innumerable happy memories of these trips - hot sticky car memories, Vivaldi's Four Seasons while feeling slightly carsick, early morning zip sounds, discovering unexpected playgrounds, smelling other people's dinners in the evenings, earning a franc for finding a forgotten tent peg, the joy of parents coming into the water to splash, speaking Irish to confuse small Dutch children who spoke good English, walking up to the campsite shop in pyjamas to buy bread in the mornings, terrifying and exciting thunderstorms in a rattly tent...  With all this and the addition of living in Canada where camping and campfires seem almost obligatory, it is no wonder I was keen to bring the Zeds camping.


Preparation really started last year when I bookmarked a tent so that I'd be emailed if it was about to become a bargain. I read the reviews and ignored the bad ones. I am quite good at that. As it was our first family camping trip and, as I only realised after booking the site and buying the tent, Husband's first camping trip ever, we picked somewhere close to home. We did a test run of the tent in the garden and the Zeds slept in their sleeping bags for the week before we were due to go.  I was more proud of getting the tent back into its carry case after putting it up than I was of putting it up all on my own (with a little help from Z1).

I packed up the car , thinking of my dad all the time as I tried to do it as efficiently as possible - squeezing squishy things into tight spots and making maximum use of the space. I had lists stuck up in the kitchen and ticked them off as I got things done. I was the queen of camping organisation. Z2 had just graduated from nappies meaning less bulk to pack but also leaving me wondering a little anxiously how far away the toilets would be from our tent.


The Zeds on site

Our site? Oh, our site was glorious - large, shaded, secluded, backing onto the little river, not too far from the toilet but not so close we could smell it. Glorious and wonderful. Never mind the noisy, radio-playing neighbours across the river. Husband hadn't really expected neighbours, let alone noisy ones.

We put up the tent with careful attention to which way the door should face and started pumping up the mattresses. I was very impressed with the luxury of the air mattresses - a far cry from the canvas and rubber lilos that I was used to. I was, in fact, rather excited to try out our grand queen size air mattress but that fell through when I unfolded it to find that the stopper was not attached. I valiantly attempted to keep the air in by leaving the pump attached and sealing with bubble gum but, in the end, the Zeds top-and-tailed on one single mattress and me and Husband shared the other. Thankfully, we are somewhat of a miniature family and it was reasonably comfortable.

For the Zeds, a lot of the focus of the camping trip was on marshmallows and s'mores. I had bought a fancy extendable toasting fork, Husband set the fire and the Zeds were assured that after the hot dogs and burgers, they could toast marshmallows. Our fire was very smoky indeed. In fact, I think it contributed to my worst-headache-in-the-world-ever ™ (with apologies to those who suffer truly debilitating migraines - that phrase kept echoing in my head all night as I tried to sleep). However, we had deliciously smoky burgers and delectably charred hot dogs. Turns out the Zeds don't really like (smoky) toasted marshmallows.



Not the weather when we woke
after our first night but later on

We woke up in the morning, ready for Nutella on bread for breakfast only to find that we had committed the rookie mistake of leaving our cooler bag in the open. There were no bears to worry about but a pesky raccoon stole all our bread, marshmallows and chocolate biscuits. This was not a great start to a rainy camping morning but, luckily for us, it turned out that some campers in another part of the site were putting on a free-for-all pancake breakfast so all was well.

Despite smoke, headache and no double mattress, despite rain and stolen food, despite noisy camping neighbours and more trips to the toilet with Z2 than were really necessary (not 'cause he has just toilet-trained, though, turns out there was a bridge on the way to the toilets and he kept saying he needed to go so that we could play Poohsticks on the way back), I loved it. I have already been researching other sites which are radio-free and further away. I had memories triggered from unexpected sources  (notably the blast of warmth and smell of toothpaste intermingled with toilets in the wash block) at every turn and I welcomed them all.

You may also be interested to know:
On our return, when packing up the queen mattress to be returned for a refund due to the lack of a stopper, I found the stopper. Perhaps I was not the queen of camping organisation after all.

Impossible Coconut Pie

I didn't even need to think up a catchy title for this post as the name of the recipe is pretty catchy in itself, doncha think? I believe the pie is called "impossible" as it forms its own crust when baked and you don't have to make pastry. I found it in the ever-flowing fount of inspiration and was curious to try it but felt I should find a reason to make it.

I bought the coconut on Tuesday and was still looking for a reason to make it. The problem with baking in my house is that, while I usually have enthusiastic helpers in a Zed or two, they aren't usually very enthusiastic eaters of the results. I don't understand why as we've only had one baking result that was really and truly not worth eating. We do have willing neighbours, though.

Yes, I am cruel , I banished
these happy small people.

In fact, one neighbour, an old lady (84 on the 5th of July, I believe), gave me a perfect reason to make the coconut pie. We had a rather sad conversation with her on Wednesday about how her bingo was finished and she is at home alone all day and all evening and, though the neighbours are friendly, they are busy with their own lives. We pass her most mornings on the way to the bus stop and wave and remark on the weather but now we're making a bit of a bigger effort to stop for a chat...or, indeed, to drop off some coconut pie. So there was reason number 1 to make the pie - we could use it as a pretext to drop into B at the weekend. As it happened, I had also booked tickets for Z1 and me to go and see the Wizard of Oz this weekend but was keeping it a secret to avoid conflicts with Z2 (who, I felt, would be just as happy at the cinema with Husband) and to avoid over-excitement from Z1. From this a plan emerged - Saturday morning would be spent making the pie, once it was baked and Z2 was napping, Z1 and I would take the pie around to B and then I would casually mention to Z1 that we were going to the theatre. Marvellous!


After our usually summer Saturday morning routine of me getting the Zeds breakfast and then attempting a peaceful breakfast myself in the sun on the front porch (after growing up in Ireland, I cannot tell you how much I LOVE this proper summer that we get in


Breakfast on the porch

Toronto, despite floods and storms, it is WARM.), we set to work. As is usual when I bake with the Zeds, I got a bit more irritable than I should about them dipping fingers in the bowl and tasting and so on. In fact, I banished them after we finished mixing. It was for their own good. Also, the entertaining bit was over, really.



Slightly over-toasted
coconut pie

I baked it and then put it under the grill
(for slightly too long) to get the coconut toasty looking. I tasted it and approved. I sliced a bit for B and put it in a container. Z2 was put down for his nap by the Husband and Z1 and I set forth. B was out but I came prepared and we left it on her front porch with a  note. We went off to see the Wizard and B was waiting for us on Monday morning with the container. She didn't actually mention if the pie was good and the Zeds haven't tried it (though Z2 did express some interest in it this morning) so I can't give an unbiased report. Husband has said he will try it. I liked it, it's better warm. I tried it with raspberry coulis that I made for cheesecake and that was quite nice.

You may also be interested to know:
 - the recipe (halved from Pinterest) can be downloaded from the downloads page here
- Z1 loved the Wizard of Oz and I rather enjoyed it too. The merchandisers really missed a trick not selling ruby red slippers in the foyer, though.

Waiting for Spring, too busy to make stuff

Sparkly pipe cleaner chain
and standing on one leg*

It seems that waiting for Spring to arrive has been taking up a lot of our time and not leaving much time for crafts organised by me. That is not to say that Z1 has not been busy - there have been more pipe cleaner creations (of course) such as this sparkly wonder on the right.

She also made a rather magnificent Play Doh lobster creature which, sadly, was tidied up before I got to take a photo. Small pieces of variously coloured pieces of him may still be on my kitchen floor, though. Damn flaky dry Play Doh.

There have been plastic jewels carefully stuck to bits of cardboard, tiaras from birthday present kits in an array of materials, templates of tiaras traced onto paper and carefully cut out for a teddy, a money box made from a shoe box, a string tied to a box to be a home for a cat and  many more. It would appear she doesn't really need me at all. However, this is not to say that there will not be more force-marched organised crafts to come.

* her serious face is because she is staring at a spot on the wall to help her keep her balance in this one-legged pose.

Birthday party and beetle planning

 Z1 will be 5 this month and we are having a birthday party for her. Husband and I are providing the entertainment. I will take charge of cake and Pizza Pizza will provide the pizza. A community centre will be providing the battleground party space.

I was less than dedicated unsuccessful in getting Z1 to make a list of who she wanted to invite in advance so we just invited everyone she could think of. We added any forgotten people from her class as we distributed the invitations to cubby holes. I printed out 30 invitations thinking we'd need a few spares. There were no spares. We have now invited thirty* children between the ages of four to six to a party, have undertaken to entertain them and have assured the parents they can drop them off rather than staying if they want.

I have a plan for doing a beetley sort of craft. Considering the hiccups I sometimes encounter doing crafts with just Z1, this might be an overwhelming day. Preparation is key, though, and I have over 2 weeks to get ready at this point. I even invented a beetle-themed jumping about type game the other night so it can be a beetle-themed party. Goodness - maybe I'll even make a ladybird cake**.



You may also be interested to know: When on holiday in France with my family when I was about 16, we were staying in a small house in the middle of nowhere. One thing that happened on that holiday was that we saw a rather large stag beetle. I estimated it to be about 1 1/4 inch long, at the time. Exciting times.

*  We currently have 8 confirmed attendees and 1 "no"
**I suggested this to Z1 and she wasn't keen so I may be off the hook on that one.

Good and bad things resulting from Sunday's gingerbread

 As I mentioned before, we made gingerbread on Sunday afternoon. I got a couple of comments and, in replying to them, I realised I hadn't mentioned some significant parts of our gingerbread experience. I have divided them into good and bad things.

Good thing: The baking gingerbread made our house smell lovely.

Bad thing: We really needed a nice smell to cover up the smoky smell that had been caused by me putting the butter in the preheating oven to soften it and then forgetting it. Dripping butter in a hot oven causes a lot of smoke.

Good thing: Our smoke alarm wasn't in the kitchen when the butter incident happened (don't worry, it's back where it belongs now) so didn't add to the smokey stress.

Bad thing: The oven handle came off while the oven was preheating which meant I had to fix it with a screwdriver while wearing oven gloves. This was a little perilous and quite annoying.

Good thing: I managed to fix it without swearing (audibly) and without burning myself or the Zeds.


Good thing: The gingerbread really is rather tasty and we have some  leftover dough still in the fridge to make more.


So, overall, the good outweighed the bad.

Resting on my laurels and planning for the future

In our covered porch today

As I type, our marvellous marbles are a week old and buried in the worst snow in 5 years. Sorry, no, that should have been THE WORST SNOW IN 5 YEARS. Ah, the meeja media, they have enjoyed working themselves up to a frenzy about the snow we are having today with promises of storm reports and second by second weather reports. Admittedly, we trekked to the bus stop only to take one look at the main road with u-turning, stuck and skidding cars and return home. In fact, husband actually got on a bus for a minute or two before realising it was foolish and he should work from home too.

Our covered porch in July
(with Z2)

Anyway, yes, our marvellous marbles are still there though some of them cracked a little from freeze-thaw action and the like. Husband thinks they are wondrous and I know of at least one family who have copied the idea so I have been resting on my laurels and we have been craft-free since last Friday.

However, the cogs in my brain have been turning and I have several ideas gradually emerging.  In fact, given that we have a snow day today and I am working from home, we may have to get cracking today and back on the craft wagon. Oh, the craft wagon, such a thing to behold. I imagine it looks a bit like this.

The Craft Wagon

Breaking news: Z1, on this day, the day of the worst snow in Toronto in living memory the last five years, has asked to colour in my craft wagon drawing so craft-free week is officially over.

Bring on the minuses!

Tempting fate with green water-filled
balloon over my head. Mopping up.

We moved to Canada in April of 2011. I was dreading the winter but Toronto gave us a mild one. As this current winter started and progressed, I had been quietly thankful for each day that went by where the temperature was above -10C or so. I'd check the forecast and then check it a few more times to see if it had changed when any temperatures below zero were predicted.

The day I decided to do this project, it was a balmy 13C (only days after my personal record low temperature of -21C which we survived with minimal digit loss).

Careful placement; in the bowl, ready for placement;
striking a pose to show the arrangement off
(so mild no coat was needed!).

The forecast, as I formulated my plan, was predicting a high of -2C for the next day. I was pleased. I checked later and it said a high of 8C. I was dismayed but committed to the project so we went ahead anyway. (I also checked another forecast which still said a high of -2C - hurrah!)

That was quite an introduction without getting to the point, wasn't it? Well, the plan was to make these icy colourful marbles.

I was genuinely excited about doing these and was disappointed when Z1 and Z2 were busying themselves in the garden. I told them when they had finished playing, we'd do the water balloons. Z1 told me "We are not playing, we are taking care of the worms." and that I could do it myself.  So I did, I started by myself with a green one and went to take it outside to show the Zeds to see if they'd be interested now that there was something to look at. (I had a minor panic when Z2 could not be located - he'd wandered off behind the shed and was not responding to being called.) He was thrilled to see a balloon and happily followed me to the front to help me put it in the grass. Hurrah. Z1 soon followed when she saw that her brother was interested so we retreated to the kitchen to prepare a few more.

Here's the how to. I saw this on Pinterest and didn't read any instructions before starting. The one I did on my own was a good practice: I filled the balloon with water by stretching it over the spout and, when I removed it, water spurted out everywhere, forced out by the balloon contracting back to its deflated size, I suppose. I was not expecting that. Lesson learned.

I had a dropper to drop food colouring into the balloons before filling so the Zeds could help with that by squeezing the dropper. After that, they were guardians of the balloons as I filled the next one. We had an incident where I tied a knot too hastily and put the balloon into the bowl where it promptly splooshed its (thankfully not very brightly coloured) contents onto Z1's coat and the floor. Paper towels were promptly employed. We did a few greens and a few reds. I only had a small bit of blue food dye left which we divided between an attempt at a purple one (mixing red and blue) and a just-blue one. It may be rather pale. I didn't fill them as large as they look in the Pinterest picture as I was fearful of balloon breakage and also thought that it would be good that the smaller ones would freeze more quickly.

They are outside as I type. Current outside temperature is 12C (at 9pm) though it is predicted to be -3C by 8am which is around when we will be leaving the house. I cannot wait to poke them but I suspect the big reveal (cutting the balloons off) will be Friday or possibly even Saturday. There is also snow forecast so we might have to dig them out to see them. Bring on the minuses!

Z1 and me: co-authors (with bonus bat)

This was an activity born of necessity. Once more, I had work to do when Z1 was not going to be otherwise engaged and I needed to keep her happily and quietly occupied. Or, at the very least, occupied.



Words but no pictures

She has made a few books before so it wasn't a new idea and I hoped she'd comply when the time came. I prepared by folding a piece of paper into four and snipping the folded edges. I wrote the story so that she could draw the pictures. I fear the story was not the most magnificent of stories. Nor was it the most original of stories. In fact, the title has even been used before (see pic). However, I knew Z1 could draw a snowman so I thought it was a good place to start. I also prepared a back-up, blank book.



Cover complete

Sad children, melted snowman

Threatening snow

It all went to plan. We read the words, she sat down to draw the pictures and showed me each one as she completed. The pictures here are highlights. She also drew me the bonus bat below. Hurrah.



Wicked (in the sense of bad) bat

A lobster of love

Lobster

This post is not about lobsters and their monogamous mating that many of us learned about from that Friends episode. No, this is about a true lobster of love.
Z1 expressed an interest in drawing a lobster together. I was a little nervous as I cannot remember ever drawing a lobster before - I have drawn plenty of octopi as I used to draw a comic strip about Leonard the octopus who had a sea anemone friend called...erm...Mark, I think, but those days are distant memories now. I was also recalling a major upset that was a result of Z1 trying, unsuccessfully, to copy my admirable bats*. However, I decided to go ahead. I bravely opened Paint on my laptop and drew the charming crustacean you see above. He (for it is a he) was partially inspired by a picture, printed on fabric, of a lobster that used to be in my house growing up. I couldn't find an image of it online and I have no idea where it came from but it was remarkable - bright orange and red on a dark blue canvas.

Lobster in colour

I believe Z1's inspiration to draw a lobster is likely to have come from looking at the lobsters in the tank at Red Lobster.

I asked her how many marks out of ten she would give me for my drawing. She said 1,000,050 so that's pretty good. She did say it was not the best lobster she has ever seen but she has seen actual, real lobsters so I suppose that was to be expected.

You may also be interested to know:
 - I have made the lobster pic into a downloadable pdf so everyone can enjoy it. Just click the picture (and let me know if it doesn't work) or go to the downloadables page (tab up there at the top)

* You will be pleased to hear that Z1 told me, only yesterday, that she is now able to draw "my" bats.

Credit where credit is due: I got instructions on how to do the downloadable pdf from sewBOLD.

Lessons Learned from Conquering Christmas

It's December the 21st and we're leaving for Ireland tomorrow. I declare Christmas conquered. 

Here is the Advent calendar, nearly all opened now.

Here is what I learned in the process:

1. I really like miniature houses, whether of paper or of gingerbread.
2. I really like snowflakes.
3. Don't put on any visual distractions (TV, YouTube) when attempting crafts with Z1.
4. Pipe cleaners are an excellent investment for a craft box.
5. I really growing crystals and seeing the finished result.
6. And, related to 5., one woman's magical/scientific crystal-making potion is another woman's poison.
7. Blogging is quite effective at stopping me mentally packing for our Dublin trip for the entire month of December - I only made a packing list on the 16th.
8. There is time to do a crafty type thing between getting home from school and getting dinner on but it's not always a good idea.

People, I am off to Dublin until the new year but I will be back. The name of the blog will change and it will be at www.conqueringcrafts.com .  Anyone eagle-eyed will have noticed that the www.conqueringchristmas.blogspot.ca address was already redirecting to the conquering crafts one - the magic of the internet did that and will continue to do so.

Have a very lovely Christmas, however you choose to celebrate it.

(Oh, and we did manage to make a Christmas card for the grandparents this evening - DONE!)

A Snowglobe 24 Years in the Making

Glittery reindeer

Before I turned it over
(I should have painted
the Ragu jar lid more
thoroughly)

Could it ever have lived up to my expectations? I have been longing to make a snowglobe since I was about eight, I think. I can remember recipes where dessicated coconut was recommended as snow and one where glycerin was suggested so the snow would swirl more gently.
Today's long-awaited snowglobe was made without input from Z1 (she was too busy playing in a box and trying to remember how to write vampire) but with some advice from Z2. We had a choice of a reindeer or some snow-topped fir trees as figurines and he chose the reindeer. Just as well because he knocked the fir tree off the table a moment later and it broke.

Slightly forlorn reindeer
when the glitter stopped
swirling

I painted the lid of the jar with acrylic paint and glitter glue a few days ago to get it all ready for today.

Glittery reindeer gazing
wisely at the world

And, y'know, it's nice. It's got sparkly glitter and water and swirling, so it's definitely nice but what am I to dream of making now?
Also, I should not be trusted with superglue.



Credit where credit is due: I found this simple version of a homemade snowglobe at this blog which seems to be in Chinese via Pinterest

It's the final countdown

Thinking outside the box
(har de har har)

December starts on Saturday and we still haven't finished all the eggs in the second egg box to facilitate the Advent calendar. However, I have dug into the depths of my creativity and adaptability and decided the eggs can go in a bowl in order to liberate the box (or carton).

Ready to be gobbled 1 a day
by the Zeds

I have bought Hershey's kisses to put in as the daily treat. In my years of Advent calendars, we didn't get ones with chocolates in them...well, maybe we did one year...but times have changed. Two chocolates will be placed in each egg space (was going to write "egg hole" but it sounded wrong and possibly rude) so each Zed gets a treat on opening. Although it seems rather decadent and not very sensible to have chocolate at breakfast-time, I think we will be doing the opening in the morning. Perhaps I should replace the Hershey's kisses with chocolate chee-ay-os* as more breakfast-suitable. I won't, though.

Z1 and I ventured into Walmart and loaded up on paint and glue and pipe cleaners and the like last Saturday. Disaster was averted when I checked Pinterest before choosing the coffee filters for the coffee filter snowflakes.

Yep, it's the Final Countdown and I'm raring to go.

*Z2's terminology (for Cheerios)

You may also be interested to know:
 1.   There were only 3 silver-wrapped  Hershey's Kisses in the packet that I opened for the photo.
 2.   I only ate 3 of the sweets when I opened a packet to take the photo. I am not sure if this shows my   
        willpower the inferior quality of Hershey's Kisses. The 3 I ate were not the silver ones.

Buying gingerbread real estate

Last year's house
in case you missed it
in the previous post

In my first post here, I proudly showcased the decorated gingerbread house from last year. With Z1 a whole year older, wiser and more dextrous, this year's is bound to be even better...but first I had to find it.

Last year I picked it up with glee and anticipation on a bit of a whim from the Shoppers Drug Mart (rather like Boots, UK readers) that is mere yards from my office. This year, I watched the Christmas stock arrive with dismay as no gingerbread houses appeared on the shelves. I began to hunt elsewhere (and by "elsewhere", I mean the internet, of course).

I found some on Amazon but encountered the bothersome bother that one can often encounter with Amazon.com when you are not in the US (or, with Amazon.co.uk, if you are not in the UK): these items could not be shipped to me here in Canada.

I found others which looked perfect until I saw that, for the prices they were asking, I would want something rather more substantial than a whimsical bit of edible nonsense. I did think I was prepared to spend a bit more than last year to have one that was truly tasty (Last year's one, if the truth be told, was one of those things that I would take a chunk of in the evening if I had exhausted all other sweet options in the house) but I thought wrong. While the $73.64 price tag I saw on one kit is clearly ludicrous (even if it is pre-assembled), when push came to shove, even the $30 for one from here, which would be guaranteed to be delicious and comes in a lovely tin, proved too much for me and I was left wondering if, this year, I'd be gingerbreadhouseless. As you can imagine, particularly in light of my paper house metropolis that never was,  this was sorely disappointing to me (It would appear that I love me some miniature house action - this blogging lark is teaching me a lot about myself).



The kit - boxed up and ready to go

However, my dear readers, my spirits were lifted, my urge to acquire miniature properties appeased, when, on the same day I shook my head sadly at the lack of gingerbread house availability, I found myself in Shoppers Drug Mart stocking up on body lotion and sundries and saw that the gingerbread house kits had arrived. Hurrah!



Credit where credit is due: the kit is made by Create a Treat and cost me $9.99 (CA). I saw the same one on Amazon.com for $25.94. So there.

Also possibly of interest:

•  Gingerbread house construction and decoration is currently planned for the 9th of December, blogging will occur soon after. (The numbers in the list there in the right hand sidebar correspond to dates in December, clever, eh?)
• You can buy a pre-assembled, pre-decorated gingerbread mansion for $368.50
• Though tempted, I avoided saying in this post that I'd want a real house for some of the prices they were charging for the gingerbread ones 'cause, while nearly $75 does seem expensive for a house of confectionery, it would be extremely cheap for a real dwelling place. Clearly. Even the massively extravagant $368.50 would be a pathetic sum with which to attempt to buy a real house.
• If you're in Toronto, Sweet Flour Bake Shop (of the $30 kits) is well worth going to - you can pick your cookie dough and what you want in it (chocolate chips, obviously, but they have other options) and they bake it there for you on the spot. Really delicious. I came across it by chance while at the Ukrainian festival along that part of Bloor in September.

I know why they sell eggs by the dozen

It's not something I had really pondered before - why eggs come in dozens and half-dozens rather than any other number.


Thinking about it now, I suppose it could be that boxes of five would be awkward which is why ten wasn't chosen as the base number. However, I like to think the true reason was that somewhere, many years ago when such things were being decided, someone realised that one day I would want to make an Advent calendar with my Zeds and that two empty egg cartons that formerly housed a dozen eggs each would be perfect for this purpose.


I am still mentally refining the precise way in which our egg box Advent calendar will work but I am fairly confident it will be a thing of beauty. (I keep vacillating between "egg carton" and "egg box", sometimes feeling that "carton" is more North American and sometimes feeling that it's just the right name - thoughts?)

(Here's the real answer according to the internet. If I'd googled before writing, this post might never have existed.)

Why I think Christmas in November is fine

I will admit to reluctance in beginning to publicly post here, a blog with Christmas in the title,  in October but once I got the idea for the blog and the project, I just wanted to get started.

However, further musings on the whole thing have led me to feel that, whatever about Christmas in October (we have to give Hallowe'en a chance, after all), Christmas in November is fine. Here is why.

Looking forward to and planning Christmas occupies the part of my brain that is dreading the  cold weather. (This applies to anyone in the northern hemisphere, those in the southern hemisphere will have to find their own reason.) There is a reason pagans instigated midwinter festivals - it just makese sense.

There are also good reasons for early Christmas planning to do with getting parcels and cards to people in farflung places and there are financial reasons if you're a big gift-giver but that's a bit boring, really. No, I am justifying it on the basis that it's going to be cold and it's going to be dark so rather than looking ahead to temperatures falling and evenings drawing in, I am embracing plans to bring light and sparkle and delicious things into my house and I think you should too.




This house (which is not my house) put up all these decorations on November 11th this year.
 (They also decorate well for many other occasions.)

Exciting update: As the Zeds and I were walking home past this house the other day, we were invited into the garden to look closer and then inside to see their amazing, rotating, highly decorated tree. We were all delighted with ourselves altogether.

How blogging has changed me OR I've become one of THOSE people

Two things happened this weekend that illustrate to me how this project, and keeping this blog, have changed me. So, without further ado, I have illustrated them for you (inspired by Amber Dusick who has shown me that Crappy illustrations can actually be rather wonderful and has also made me laugh out loud a number of times )

The events were:

1. We finished a box of cereal

2. Z1 said she would like a rainbow-coloured, non-itchy scarf after we passed a yarn shop with its fence all wrapped in soft and colourful yarn (The shop was Lettuce Knit which is online here but in Toronto in real life )

So there you have it, blogging changes your life and recycling habits.

SHOCKING UPDATE: On the very day I published this post, we finished another box of cereal and I went to put the empty box with the previous one but my beloved husband had thrown it out. The horror!

Think of the children

My plans for this blog were mostly about me. It is only in the last week I started to wonder whether the Zeds would be as enthused as I am about doing lots of crafts.

Today, we spotted some fairy lights and Z1 asked if we would decorate for Christmas and when.

(As an aside, don't be surprised if I talk more about Z1 than Z2, it's not that she's my favourite, that varies on a day-to-day and sometimes hour-to-hour basis*, it's just that she talks more and talks more articulately that Z2 what with being 4 and a half rather than 2 and a bit.)

I waffled a bit about waiting 'til December and that she has a day off school one day and we might decorate after that** but - and here is where I get to the point - we might make some decorations before that. To my great delight, she got very excited and said "Oh, we can we make chains like we did last year and hang them in all the doors, I loved doing that!". She remembered! And she liked it! Maybe I have stumbled upon a rather good idea. (She also told me she remembers making snowman cookies. Which we never did.)

*Joking. I don't have a favourite child. Mostly.
** 8th of December in case you're interested. Partly 'cause I got a Groupon-style deal for a professional cleaner who is coming on the 7th, so that weekend my house will be all shiny and clean AND, when we're done, Christmassy. Hurrah.