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Buy Books for Holiday Gifts

Obviously I'm a big reader, so are Pete & Maddie, and one of the things we like to do is buy books as gifts. I mean, think about it. Your kids will probably get too many toys and your relatives don't need another gag tie or goofy coffee mug. I find that books are easy to give, easy to get and most importantly, easy to lug home :) So I'm going to mention some of my favorites for lots of the people on your list. No gag books here!

KIDS: Don't be the aunt, uncle, grandma, etc. that gives the kids another hunk of plastic that will eventually end up in the landfill. These books are just as fun and more educational.

For the younger crowd:

• Charley Harper ABCs -- Awesome artist. Mid century modern meets the ABC's. Charley Harper is hot right now because his illustrations are timeless.
• Swing! -- The follow up to Gallop!, these books are interactive and as much fun for adults as for kids.
• Boynton's Greatest Hits -- Sandra Boynton was one of Maddie's favorite when she was younger. A must have!

Girls & Boys who are a little older and reading on their own. . .

• The Judy Moody Totally Awesome Collection -- Maddie *loves* the Judy Moody books and has flown through them. She is now onto the Stink books (Judy Moody's little brother -- great for boys!), and there is a nice holiday book too -- Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday.
• The Doll People -- The first of 3 books about dolls who are "alive" and have adventures. Maddie is currently reading the third as she liked the first two so much. These books include some great illustrations. (I would say these are geared toward girls.)
• The Trouble Begins: A Box of Unfortunate Events, Books 1-3 -- You have probably already heard of the Lemony Snicket books, but I thought they were worth mentioning. We read them in school and they are excellent. Good for boys and girls alike.

Older kids, teens, young adults:

• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak who also wrote The Book Thief. Both excellent books. I reviewed them here and here.
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie will give them a new perspective. I also reviewed this book this year.

Well, this has turned out to ba a labor intensive post, so I'll leave it at that for now. Books for adults another day.

Learning Spanish

I've always had a fascination with languages -- maybe because I was stuck in Latin in high school and never got to learn a real, living language. In college I squeezed in one semester of German and I've dabble in French and Japanese, but I'm finally getting serious.

A few weeks ago, I purchased Rosetta Stone Software so that Maddie and I could learn Spanish together. This is the leading foreign language software amongst homeschooling families and I can see why. We are on our second week and it is going wonderfully! The immersion technique they use makes learning intuitive and fun. I would highly recommend this software for anyone wanting to learn a second (or third) language.

Ballband Dishcloth aka the Warshrag

I may be the last person to make one of these, but here it is nonetheless. It is the ballband dishcloth featured in the first Mason Dixon book -- Mason-Dixon Knitting. It was quick, cheap and easy -- a great little tv watching project.

Details over at Ravelry.

Pot Pie How to

In case you are interested -- here's a semi-recipe for making pot pies.

First you need some chicken or turkey.  I made a half turkey breast the night before and cut the left over turkey into cubes, then reserved the bones to make stock. 

Make stock --
Throw bones in pot, add a carrot or two, a small onion or shallot roughly chopped and a clove of garlic cut in half.  If you have other things you want to add -- root vegetables, celery, etc -- go ahead.  Cover with water and add salt & pepper to taste.  Allow to simmer for at least an hour, 2 hours is better.

If you don't want to make stock, just buy canned stock, but it is *so* easy to make stock -- just try it, you will be so happy!

Make crust --
You can use any crust recipe you like (not one that has sugar -- think savory).  For mine I took out my food processor, threw in 1 c. flour, 1/4 tsp. salt and 10 Tbsp good quality butter cut into cubes.  Pulse until crumbly.  Add egg yolk while food processor is running.  Then add icy cold water -- maybe 2-3 Tbsp.  The dough will come together in one big chunk and that's when you know you've added enough water.  Take it out, flatten it into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap or wax paper and stick it in the fridge.  You can do this hours in advance if you like.

Make sauce --
Put some butter or butter & olive oil in a saucepan -- maybe a couple Tbsp of each depending on how much sauce you want to make.  Add a small onion or shallot finely chopped.  Cook a couple minutes.  Add potatoes and root veggies -- cubed -- and cook a few minutes.  Don't cook them too long or they will start to break down.  Then add flour -- 3 Tbsp or so -- and cook about a minute so flour cooks but doesn't burn!  When it gets frothy and bubbly and looks like it is sticking to the bottom of the pan, start to add chicken stock.  I used about 2 1/2 cups.  Add a cup of milk (or cream if you are feeling decadent) and bring to a boil -- now is the time to add things like peas and corn as well as the cubed, cooked turkey or chicken.  When sauce starts to thicken, it's ready.

You can add all different things to the sauce.  I had a couple potatoes, carrots and peas, so that's what I added, but corn, mushrooms, celery and other veggies would work!

Assemble --
Roll out dough and cut to size.  If you are using little crocks or ramekins, turn them upside down on the dough and cut around them with a knife.  You could also use a casserole dish or pie plate.  Whatever you have really.  The dough might be getting soft at this point, if so, throw it back in the fridge. 

Ladle sauce into dishes, being careful not to overfill -- things will bubble up in the oven.  I put down some aluminum foil on a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides) and put the crocks on that -- so worth it because clean up of baked on sauce would be a nightmare.

Cut slits in dough and then place it on top of dish/es. Press down edges to seal a bit.  Brush the tops with a simple egg wash (1 beaten egg and 1 Tbsp water).  Place in oven preheated to 350 and bake until crust is golden brown -- you want to make sure the crust is thoroughly cooked!

Enjoy your pie!

Comfort Foods -- Turkey Pot Pies

With all the emotional pet stuff going on this week as well as the onset of the cold weather, first snow and the holidays, I've been craving good old fashioned comfort food. Over the weekend it was homemade mac & cheese and last night it was turkey pot pies from scratch.

Now I have to tell you that I was quite impressed with myself after making this dish successfully without following a recipe -- I felt like I passed some cooking mark. I know, I'm a weirdo, but it is true. I mean, seriously -- pot pies from scratch? It took a long time and dirtied a lot of dishes, but it wasn't difficult and I would definitely make them again. So much better and healthier than some frozen thing that comes out of the oven with a gluey crust.

I opted for individual pies because I had these super cute Martha Stewart cast iron mini pots (the red ones in the back) that Pete got me last year for Christmas -- which I had sadly never used. They were perfect for the pies and made it more fun to eat (for me, the self-admitted weirdo!)

Next week I'm in charge of the pies for Thanksgiving.  I've decided on a pumpkin, pecan (my personal favorite) and a pumpkin cheesecake.  Should be fun!

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment or email me concerning Mud. Once the elation over finding out that Mud wasn't at deaths door wore off, I realized that she was going to need a lot of care. Care that I didn't know how to give to her. But then you all told me about your experiences and about your kitties who are doing well with their various treatments and now I am feeling much better.

Thanks again! (This is one of the reasons I seriously love the internet!)

Mud has diabetes and hyperthyroidism, or the joys of living with a geriatric cat

My sweet little old lady. Recently she began drinking a lot of water which I knew couldn't be a good thing, so off to the vet she went. After a thorough looking over and several tests, the results are in and it turns out she has some issues. She is coming up on 16 years though, so it isn't really very surprising. Luckily her problems are all treatable. She has diabetes -- not bad though. In fact, diet may control it for the time being -- fingers crossed. And she has hyperthyroidism -- we are opting for the ear gel treatment (really -- the vet said you just rub some gel on her ear every day!) as opposed to the $2000 surgery which would require a week long stay at a pet hospital. (Although the pet pharmacy in AZ which formulates this stuff just called and the first shipment is $50. Quite pricey!)

So, does your cat have diabetes? Hyperthyroidism? And advice for me? I'm going to be reading up on these things in the next few days. My vet gave me some websites to check out:

• Feline Diabetes
• Veterinary Partners

I leave you with a video of my crazy purring & squawking cat -- she's nothing if not noisy -- Mudbug aka Booga Mud aka BuggaBoo:

Advent Calendars

I've always loved advent calendar -- maybe even been a bit obsessed by them. You may have noticed that I already bought the 2008 LEGO City Advent Calendar -- which arrived and is all set up in the office/schoolroom waiting to be opened. And I blogged about some inspirational crafty advent calendars too. Now in an attempt to avoid thoughts of my older kitty whose test result will be ready tomorrow, I give you a list of even more advent calendars!

BOOKS & PAPER

• Eric Carle's Dream Snow Pop-Up Advent Calendar -- I don't know about you, but we love Eric Carle -- this calendar looks pretty too.
• Olive, the Other Reindeer Pop-Up Advent Calendar -- Another cool pop-up based on a beloved holiday book.

TOYS

• Littlest Pet Shop 2008 Advent Calendar -- Maddie's interest in LPS is starting to wear off a bit, but she was insanely in love with these things the past couple of years -- spending almost all her chore money on purchasing pets.  We did the 2007 version last year -- it was cute.
• Playmobil Advent Calendar Pirates -- Pirates?  I'm not so sure how that goes with the holidays, but we did a Playmobil advent calendar in the past and it was super cute with tons of little pieces.
• Melissa & Doug Magnetic Advent Calendar -- I like M & D toys -- more wood less plastic which is always nice.  This reminds me of the Magnetic Calendar we used in homeschooling when Maddie was learning about months and days of the week and such.

CHOCOLATE

• Kinder Friends Advent Calendar -- This looks pretty awesome.  It's made by Ferrero so I'm sure it's a step up from the nasty mocklate I remember getting in this kind of calendar as a kid.
• Hachez Advent Calendar -- Again -- better chocolate, but maybe aimed more toward the adult -- it looks kind of fancy, not kid-ish.

Now I have to say that I searched around the web for some high end chocolate advent calendars, but really didn't see anything. And I was surprised that the big candy companies don't seem to make anything like this. Perhaps I'll have to make my own. Do you have any favorite advent calendars? I could always use more to feed my obsession!

Crochet Plans

I mentioned my obsession with crochet blankets a while back and I have to say that crochet was on my mind when I took a trip to The Fold this past weekend with Theresa. I found some DK weight superwash wool in colors that appealed to me and when I got home, I started swatching (is it still called swatching in crochet?) The hexagon on the left was made using the tutorial at Atic24 and the flower centered granny square is from a Japanese craft book I have:

This is a crochet book -- ISBN 4834724166 -- which has great diagrams which even a crochet novice such as me was able to follow quite easily.

I do like the look of the hexagons, but mine came out quite concave -- not sure why. The granny square was better but still seemed tighter in the center, causing some distortions. I'm wondering how blocking will change things.

Decisions, decisions.

I now have a webcam like all the 15yr olds

New socks & a new computer

Whew -- finally got everything working on the new computer. When you switch computers, you realize how much software you use on a daily basis. I've finally got Photoshop installed and it's back to photos in my posts.

And what a colorful photo to start with, huh? These are the STR Crazy Lace Agate socks that I knit for myself. I've heard that there is sometimes an issue with the amount of yarn in a hank of this stuff, so I went for a shorter top on these socks. This is more comfortable for me with my German farm girl legs anyway (got that from the Klotz side -- my Mom has wonderfully skinny, shapely legs. Hmph.) But I digress. As you can see, I had plenty of yarn left over. In fact, I think I'll try weaving some of the extra on my BonHop loom.

The Bonefolder

Just wanted to mention The Bonefolder in case anyone interested in bookbinding hadn't heard of it. It's an online journal for bookbinders and book artists which is filled with photos of books, informational articles, tutorials and lots of inspiration. In the latest issue there is a fiber arts related article entitle "An Overview of Fibers, Yarns, and Textiles for the Book Artist" which I thought might be interesting for some of you fiber artists out there -- a different perspective.

New(ish) Online Knitting Mags

I'm sure you have already heard of the old favorites, like Knitty, but have you seen all the new online knititng mags popping up? 

• Knotions -- Slick -- the interface is nice, easy to use and looks good.  Patterns are impressive, although I've never knit any so I can't speak to the accuracy of the patterns, however, they link to the ravelry projects related to each project, so that's cool.
• The inside Loop -- UK based knitting mag with a simple but clean interface. 
• Twist Collective -- Ultra slick with gorgeous patterns -- what's the catch?  You have to pay for each pattern.  As a designer, I have to say that knit designers make very little money and I'm all for paying them in order to allow them to put more time into designing. 
• Popknits -- Nice layout which reminds me a bit of Knitty.  Nothing fancy, but pretty easy to navigate.  Not many patterns, but they are nice.
• MPMK -- MetaPostModernKnitting has a very basic layout with individual pattern pages almost exactly the same format as Knitty pattern pages. 

It's good to see more options out there and while some of them look a bit basic, there are also those that are really trying to do something different -- Knotions, Twist Collective -- which gives me hope for the future of online knitting magazines.

So, what are your favorite online knitting magazines -- and why do you like them?

President-Elect Obama has a blog

Obama has always embraced new technology in an reassuring way -- reassuring to a geek like myself, perhaps. When he was my senator, I listened to his podcast. Now that he's my president-elect, he has a nifty new website and a blog.

Bringing government to the people -- this is what I love about Obama. Let's hope that record turn out at the polls turns into record involvement in the political process in years to come.

New Vosges Chocolate

Cross posted from my chocolate review blog -- Chocolate Blog.

I'm a huge fan of Vosges. In fact, my all time favorite chocolate bar -- the Barcelona Bar is made by them. So when I heard that they were coming out with panned chocolates -- including Barcelona Almonds -- as well as a new line of organic bars, I was eager to try them to say the least. Well, they arrived in the mail this week and I'm going on a chocolate binge.

I resisted the urge to start with the Barcelona Almonds and instead opted for the simplest item in the lot -- a milk chocolate bar. The Vosges Organic Dominica Lait bar is made with Grand Cru beans, both Criollo and Trinitario. This is the good stuff.

Upon opening the package the smell is strong and intoxicating -- a bit earthy, maybe even slightly smokey. Upon putting the first piece on the tongue, it melts quickly into a lush creaminess -- ultra smooth with a silky mouthfeel. A bit sweet, almost like caramel with a touch of saltiness and a hint of smoke. It is absolutely lovely.

Wow! If I don't stop myself I might devour this entire bar in one sitting -- it's that good. I can't wait to try the next bar!

Oh -- I almost forgot! I have a coupon for you from the lovely people at Vosges! The coupon is good for 10% off all website purchases from Nov 1st to Nov 30th. At checkout, enter promo code 2810WB1.

Other Vosges posts:

• Vosges Exotic Caramels
• Vosges Mo's Bacon Bar

I'll be posting more reviews over at Chocolate Blog soon!

Make History -- Go Vote!

Poster from Design For Obama

Find your polling place at the League of Women Voters website.

Making bread with Maddie

Today Maddie wanted to make something, so I thought it might be a good time to try making bread together.  In order to make it easy for her, we used a kids cookbook which has a simple recipe.  This is just the basic bread recipe from The Children's Step-by-step Cook Book which is awesome.  All the recipes use basic ingredients and there are lots of pictures of each step so kids don't get intimidated.  Maddie thought this was very cool -- with the bread rising and all.  And she had fun peeking in the window as it baked -- and grew even taller! 

This was so easy that I am seriously thinking about making it a weekly project.  Yep, baking all our own bread, just like in the olden times  :)

Warped!

Over the weekend I prepared and attached the warp on the little BonHop loom.  There are tiny little teeth on both the front and back beam and I was able to attach each individual warp thread to its own tooth on the back beam, but after several attempts to do the same on the front, I gave up and tied it on. 

Now I just have to make some little cardboard shuttles (I don't have the originals) and I'm off!  This thing holds 60" of warp, so I have quite a bit of length to play with here.  More on this project soon!

Lego Advent Calendar

I love Legos -- LOVE them. Not only did I play with them as a child -- I have purchased them as an adult -- for myself. Luckily, Maddie is very much into Legos too, so I now have a partner in crime. In fact, today I purchased the LEGO City Advent Calendar for her (and me). I love that there is a little Lego project for each day of December!

And the free shipping from Amazon is perfect -- I swear I've been doing almost all my Christmas shopping through Amazon the last couple of years. This way, when I actually do go shopping at the holidays, it's more for fun -- and I don't have all the heavy packages to carry around (this has so helped my holiday spirit!!)

And to get back to the whole Lego thing. Last week Maddie turned 8 and I bought her the Lego Creator Beach House which is awesome! It makes 3 different houses and we've already put together 2 of them. I love this because Maddie really enjoys actually putting the things together (as do I) so a set that can be reconfigured in different ways was perfect for her.

Fun!!!