eager little mind

I like to think of myself as a fairly low maintenance Valentine. I hate fighting the crowds at restaurants on holidays, so no fancy dinner reservations necessary. I love flowers, but always tell my husband not to buy them on Valentine’s Day. They are usually overpriced and not in good condition anyway. Oh, and I’m not a big fan of roses. But as a girl who worked in corporate America for 11 years before Daphne, I’ll tell you there can be some pride and competition between women in the workplace for the best Valentine’s bouquet. Am I right?! Isn’t there always that one woman in the office who gets an arrangement so big that it takes up her entire desk. Then my “don’t buy me Valentine’s flowers” stance looks a little pathetic. Just me and maybe a few of the single ladies without flowers on our desks. But it didn’t bother me enough to have my husband buy them for me.

Valentine’s gifts are negotiable, depends on the year. The only part not negotiable? A card. I tell my husband he has to get me a card. Or make me a card. Or send me a frakking e-card. Something to signify “I thought of you today!” And you know what? Sometimes my husband still grumbles about getting me a card. Someone please tell him how easy he has it. My husband just thinks Valentine’s Day is a BS holiday and we shouldn’t play into the marketing machine. Really, just spend the $2.99 on a card. It won’t kill you.

(Cover your heart, Indy!)

But just because I’m a Valentine’s grump, doesn’t mean I don’t love hearing about other people’s plans. What do you have planned for this weekend?

Guess who didn’t take a single picture over Christmas? *Raises hand* How is it possible that I took hundreds of pics at the U2 concert in October, but failed to catch any pics of my darling girl opening her Christmas gifts? All I can say is that I was trying to be in the moment, and sometimes the camera gets in the way.

So after Christmas Eve service and dinner, we visited with my dad. Daphne got a soccer ball set, complete with goal, and lots of fun books and educational items. Christmas Day we did the usual stockings and presents thing with my mom and step-dad. Daphne was so overwhelmed. And she really didn’t have a crazy amount of gifts to open. At one point she stopped and didn’t want to open anything else. Then we had a pancake brunch and vegged out until our Christmas dinner guests arrived. Our friends, Jacob, Meghan and Torah came over to eat. Torah and Daphne are so funny together. They had a Kai-lan gift exchange. Torah got Daphne a bath toy Kai-lan, and Daphne got Torah a Kai-lan doll. What would Kai-lan say? Xie xie? See, I have the ability to block out most sounds so I really don’t pay attention to Daphne’s Nick Jr. shows.

Over the weekend, my brother moved his family from Missouri to Houston. Daphne just adores her cousins (2 girls, ages 5 and 3). You can just see it in her eyes that she thinks they are the coolest big girls ever. We are glad to be able to see them more often now.

Other than that, it’s been laundry, dishes, dishes, dishes. Pretty uneventful. Glad we didn’t have any bad weather to deal with.

I hope that you had a great Christmas!

Debating on Christmas? No, no, not debating with relatives or anything. Although, on Christmas Eve my husband and I were debating the health care bill while going to grab some lunch, and Daphne told us to be quiet. That little monkey! And I’ll let those of you who know us figure out who was for or against. Ha!

No, right now I’m debating on whether or not to take something to knock me out. It’s 2:38am and I just can’t seem to turn off my brain. Hate that. Especially with such a busy day ahead. I’ve felt less prepared this holiday season than any other Christmas I can remember.

I’ve been checking the weather reports for OK and MO. Wondering how my in-laws are faring. Hoping the winter storm won’t affect my brother’s family moving to TX this weekend. My brother has been here for a few months getting things ready for the big move, now that my niece’s first semester of kindergarten is over.

I’m excited to see Daphne’s reaction to Christmas morning present time. This will be the first year that she’s really understood what is going on. She’s already opened one of her gifts from me. A fire truck. She’s completely obsessed with fire trucks, so I thought, “What the heck!” My husband thought it was a weird gift for a two year old girl. Pfft.

I’m feeling like I should be up cleaning, or making a breakfast casserole. Too tired to do either, but not tired enough to sleep. Totally sucks. I need to remember to put the wine in the fridge for mimosas. Wishing I could have a few mimosas right now.

I got some new fabric the other day. 4 1/2 yds of Martha Negley prints and another really random abstract, almost Asian inspired floral. And I only spent $13. Martha Negley prints aren’t normally something I would pick out, but I do love how Matilda Jane uses them in their clothing lines. So, I’m thinking a knot dress, or peasant top, or twirl skirt for Miss Daphne will be in the works.

Speaking of Miss Daphne, all of a sudden her feet are huge. She looks like a puppy with huge paws. She’s just about grown out of her size 7 shoes and is ready for 8s.

Wishing Santa would bring me some Nicey Jane, Meadowsweet, Woodland Delight, Flora and Fauna. My fellow fabric nerds understand what I’m talking about.

Thinking about the craft workshop I’m going to lead on January 23rd at a women’s conference at church. If you are in the Houston area, come watch me make a complete fool of myself. I’ve never been much of a public speaker. I think I can, I think I can.

And last, but certainly not least… I’ve been thinking about some big plans for 2010. Trying to decide how to put my plans into action. But more on that later.

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope your day is full of love and laughter.

Look, it’s Daphne and Santa. And no crying!

She was just in it for the candy.

Is anyone else completely stressed that Christmas is just around the corner? I have so many projects to finish. And what do I do instead? Oh, clean house, do laundry. Typical Jenny procrastinating. In my defense, I need some time without Daphne hanging on me to sew, and I need my husband’s help/input with a website we are building. So, after picking up and doing laundry, I made this yarn wreath while watching Daphne color.

Photo processed for that “straight out of a 60’s craft magazine” look, lol!

I never make anything for myself. And since I’d been drooling over several yarn wreaths on Etsy, I decided to look in my stash and see what I could come up with. Not as cute as the Etsy wreaths, and boy did it not photograph well. It’s all cute and sparkly in real life and the glittered leaves and flowers closely match the yarn colors. But considering I only had to buy a $4 styrofoam wreath base, I guess I’m happy with it.

Now to put Daphne down for a nap so I can get some real work done.

Only 12 more days.

While I was going through some old holiday photos, I came across this little gem. The redneck fireworks stand near our house in Birmingham always posted this message before Christmas:

Put the explosives above the fireplace? Yeah, that’s a good plan. Just put ‘em right next to the ammo, Jack Daniels, big belt buckles, and tools. God bless America and Merry Christmas :p

Way too many amazing things on Etsy lately. I need more money in my Paypal account. Ha!

Here are my recent faves:

What are you loving on Etsy, lately? Comment with a link.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We spent ours with family and tons of food. The best kind of day. We also took Daphne to the movies for the first time. She LOVED it!! And I think it helped that we went to a theater that also served full meals and had waiters, so there was more room to move around. I can’t wait to take her back. And it was also very appropriate that my dad took us to the movies tonight. Growing up, my dad took us to a Saturday matinee just about every weekend we visited. Now, the tradition continues with the next generation.

And I realize as a blogger I’m supposed to have a really thoughtful Thanksgiving post. But I’m not doing that this year. Ha! Instead I’m going to gripe about traditional turkey dinners. Ok, gripe isn’t the right word. I’m certainly thankful for the wonderful meals we’ve eaten over the years. But I think that if you are going to spend crazy amounts of time in the kitchen with preparation and clean-up that you should at least make something that’s fabulous. And turkey just doesn’t do it for me. Actually, traditional southern home cooking doesn’t do it for me either (which explains why in all the times we’ve visited Savannah, we’ve never stopped by Paula Deen’s restaurant). I think we should have a beef tenderloin. Or steaks. Or, even better, a killer Tex-Mex feast with steak fajitas, homemade tamales/enchiladas and sauces, fresh tortillas, and lots of margaritas. Oh, that sounds so much better than stuffing. Maybe for Christmas. Does anyone else do a non-traditional menu for the holidays?

Daphne & I are getting a jump start on our holiday baking today by making some pumpkin butter. In typical Jenny/Daphne fashion, we managed to completely trash the kitchen. While Daphne was spilling the apple juice on the floor (because she was pouring it from cup to cup), I managed to spill my Penzeys Pumpkin Pie spice all over the floor. FYI- don’t try to Swiffer Wet Jet up a pile of spices from a tile floor.

But it will all be worth it when we can turn some of that pumpkin butter into pumpkin cheesecake. And if I wasn’t making a cheesecake, I would totally make this pumpkin pie recipe from Southern Living.

A gingersnap and pecan layer over the pie crust. Oh my goodness! And I love that they used the Anna’s Ginger Thins as a garnish as well. Hmm.. maybe for Christmas.

I’ll admit that it’s hard to get excited about pie baking. Especially since Costco makes killer pumpkin pies as big as SUV hubcaps for $6. And because growing up we’d usually buy our holiday pies from Tippin’s. Oh how I miss Tippin’s French Silk pie.

Here are our recipes, in case you need a little pie inspiration:

Pumpkin Butter

1 29oz can pureed pumpkin
3/4 c. apple juice
3 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar

Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices and sugars in large saucepan. Stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min, stirring often, until thickened. Check the flavor and possibly add more pumpkin pie spice. Refrigerate. (Also freezes well) Sometimes I’ll add chopped pecans.

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. pumpkin butter
1 9-in. graham cracker crust
Praline pecans (optional, or other candied pecans, or take the pecan streusel topping from the Southern Living recipe and use that)

Beat cream cheese at high speed until smooth. Add brown sugar and beat well. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Stir in pumpkin butter. Pour mixture into crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min, or until set. After removing from oven, chop praline pecans and sprinkle them on top. The heat will melt the sugar on the pecans slightly so they will stick to the surface of the pie. Or stick the pie back in the oven for a few minutes until your pecan topping can get melty. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Enjoy!

Like so many other families here in the US, we are slashing our Christmas budget. I think we will spend less this Christmas than any other year since we’ve been married. Our financial priorities lie elsewhere right now. So, I plan on making most of my gifts this year. Thankfully, I have a ridiculous fabric/yarn stash to get me started.

For those of you in the same boat, here’s an easy project. Really. You just need a computer and a stack of family recipes.

When my sister got married, I decided to make her a family cookbook. My Aunt Jackie did something similar for me when I got married, using a ring binder and page protectors. But, you know me, I had to push it to the next level. I started with the self-publishing service, lulu.com, and created a spiral bound, 178 page cookbook.

I just downloaded a Word template from lulu.com, typed in the text, designed a cover in Photoshop (they do have stock designs if you don’t want to design your own), uploaded the whole mess and this was the result:

I added a dedication page, table of contents, kitchen helps and conversions section, and divided the recipes up into sections. I didn’t do an index, because I was lazy. The cover was created with an inexpensive stock photo from istockphoto.com. Each book cost about $5 or $6 to print. So, you can print one for all the cooks in your family.

It would have been nice to do a scrapbook style, or full color cookbook. But at the time, those were expensive and I couldn’t have included so many recipes. Maybe there are more economical ways to do it now.

Anyone else plan on making gifts this year? What’s on your project list?