Good-bye Christmas, Hello Weekend!

I always have mixed emotions at this time of year.  On one hand, I am so sad to see all of the Christmas decorations boxed up and put away.  On the other hand, however, I love the feeling of the fresh start of a new year.  I love doing home projects, spring cleaning (even though it is still winter), rearranging furniture and accessories, etc.

This weekend all of this:

will (finally!) be put away and we will hopefully put the finishing touches on this:

just a little peek at the new "play room"

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Change of plans...

This is a ridiculous post, but here it goes...I mentioned a while back that I was planning to use the West Elm free printable gift tags that I saw mentioned on How About Orange.  Then I came across this post and thought I wanted to go in a different direction. Finally, I saw these free printable gift tags when I came across this post and decided to stop looking!  :)  Here is what you can download:

I used the same glitter paper I planned to use originally and will still use glossy white paper and some simple metallic, rubber band-esque ribbon.  The colors didn't come out as bright when I printed them, but them I remembered that they are gift tags that get thrown away, so I got over it, grabbed my supplies and made these:

And they match our Christmas cards, so we will be having a color-coordinated holiday.  :)

I am signing off until next year so I can spend some much needed time with my family and friends!  I hope you have a wonderful rest of December and if you celebrate, a very merry Christmas!!

See you next year!  :)

Since my last post...

...this has been my motto:

This Too Shall Pass print

When I wrote that post (the night before), I thought my son just had a cold.  The next morning, he was gasping for air and I went into complete panic mode.  Having asthma myself, I know the exact feeling of not being able to take a good breath and the fear that comes with it.  That is something I would never wish on anyone, but especially not on my baby.  :(  He is completely fine now, but we had a few very scary hours, a chest x-ray (which seemed like a form of torture and I wasn't even allowed to stay in the room with him), a diagnosis of pneumonia and bronchiolitis,  a breathing treatment regimen, antibiotics, and several rough nights of sleep.  Needless to say, nothing I had been stressing about (Christmas preparations) mattered at all.  All I wanted was for my baby boy to be better.  As I tried to sleep with him on my chest, I finally felt a sense of peace.  It did pass and I now have all that I could ever possibly need for Christmas.  :)

Cone trees!

I really want to make these:

...but have absolutely no need for them.  If you are interested in making your own rock candy cone trees, be sure to check out this post with the steps by HWTM!  They would be so fun to have at a party!  Too bad we aren't having a party!  Maybe next year.

Then I saw these by Danielle Thompson and felt (no pun intended) like I had to have them:

...but since I am still up to my eyeballs in felt circles for my (still unfinished) advent calendar, I decided to pass.  They are so great, though!!  Ahh!!...I just LOVE them!

I did make my own magazine tree, following the steps in this post by Green Eyed Monster.  What a fun, festive way to use up that mile-high stack of magazines I have in almost every room of our house!

Here is mine in our guest room:

I'd love to make more, but it is quite time-consuming.  I honestly think I just need to refrain from looking at other blogs and sites for a while.  ;)  I need to stop adding projects to my list when I still have tons of unfinished ones!!

My poor baby!!

He was scared to death.  He chewed his little finger raw, just in the few seconds it took to get a picture.  Poor thing!!  :(  It was also 80 degrees out, in case you are wondering why he is wearing shorts.  :)

Why I have no business baking...

Happy Monday!!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Last Monday, you may remember that I attempted to make peppermint bark brownies and they turned out ok. They were kind of gross at first, but after being refrigerated overnight, they actually were great.  I still wanted to redeem myself and try another holiday recipe and saw Lauren Brennan making these on GMA.  They looked ridiculously good and easy, so I thought I'd give them a shot:


Ingredients:

• 1 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 family-sized box brownie mix
• 2 (8oz.) packages cream cheese
• 2 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract, divided
• 4 candy canes, crushed

Directions:

• Make brownie batter according to package directions, but add 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract.
• Bake according to package directions and set aside to cool.
• Spray a 9-by-13” rectangular pan with non-stick cooking spray and spread cookie dough along the bottom, creating an even layer. Bake cookie dough according to package directions, until edges are golden brown. Set aside to cool.
• Once brownies have cooled, remove any hard edges and discard (or eat!). Scrape the rest of the baked brownies into a large bowl. Combine brownies with cream cheese to create a thick mixture that is generally uniform in color. Scoop this mixture onto the baked and cooled cookie dough. Smooth the top.
• Over a double boiler, melt white chocolate and 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract. Spread melted chocolate over the cookie-brownie mixture, sprinkle with candy canes and let cool. Once chocolate has hardened, cut into bars and enjoy!
• Scoring the top of the melted white chocolate before putting it into the fridge to set will help prevent the chocolate from cracking.

Seems easy enough, right?  When I got to the cookie dough at the grocery store, I didn't know if I needed the small or large roll.  I thought surely it must be the small one, but wasn't sure.  I almost bought both just for good measure, but opted for the small one and came home.  Looking at that video again and scrutinizing her pictures of the ingredients, I thought for sure it was the large roll!  Ugh!  I was so ready to begin and my son had just gone down for his nap, so I thought I would just make a smaller batch, using a smaller pan.  I  followed the directions and took a peek in the oven and it looked like the cookies were going to bubble over the top of the pan.  Sheesh!  Realizing that the recipe must have been calling for the small roll in the large pan, I quickly dumped the boiling hot cookie dough into the larger pan.  I also managed to burn my wrists because hot dough slid down ME before hitting the pan.  Yikes.

While the cookies baked, I started the brownies.  Somehow I managed to think the recipe called for 1/2 cup of oil, not 1/3 cup and didn't realize it, until I had already poured it in.  I can't even get a box of brownies made correctly.  What is wrong with me?  I baked them anyway and they were super moist and not greasy, so oh well.  :)

Once the cookies and brownies were done, I was ready to get going on the fun parts:

These things are amazingly delicious!  It's a cookie with chocolate cheesecake topped with peppermint bark! If you like all of those things, you will love these and must give them a try!!  Also be sure to check out Lauren Brennan's blog for more recipes! 

Have a great week!!

Eek!!...I love Christmas!

It's funny how things change. When I was a kid, the time from Thanksgiving until Christmas seemed like an eternity. Now it flies way too fast! Years ago, I never would have thought we would have a fake tree and would not even dream of putting it up until at least the first weekend in December...maybe the second.  Now, I am itching to get started before Thanksgiving. I did some decorating before Thanksgiving this year, but waited until this past weekend for the tree.  We have a mix of ornaments we have collected over the past few years, some from my college roommates, a few from when I was a kid, and a few I still need to make.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!  Ours was great!  I had fried turkey for the first time and can honestly say it was the best turkey I have ever had.  Now...off to sing Christmas carols!  :)

Happy Monday!

Just a little peek...

...at how I spent most of my Monday!  ...DECORATING for Christmas!!  Eeeeeee!!  I know I said I was going to wait until after Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't help myself!  I mentioned yesterday that this year I wanted a glam Christmas with lots of sparkle, so here is my take on that:

...more to come! :)