Enjoying this

I bought this cookbook a few weeks ago. I love using my crockpot but am sometimes frustrated by all the "Crockpot Cookbook Recipes" that call for cream of mushroom soup, cheese soup, etc. as the base for the food. It seems to me like most crockpot recipes border on unhealthy so I was delighted to find this cookbook which offered lots of fresh ideas.

And did I ever tell you about this website? They sell the most amazing beans. I know it sounds crazy but they melt like butter in your mouth. They are a little pricey but their shipping fees are a flat rate so you can really order a lot. (or if you live in the Mpls. area they sell them at Surdyks and The Wedge and possibly more places I am not aware of.) Their products beat canned beans, (or $0.80 dried beans) hands down. I have found the best way to cook them is a very simple process.

1) Soak the bean of your choice overnight in your crockpot

2)Turn them on the next morning when you wake up and cook them throughout the day. By mid-afternoon they will be nice and tender and you can use them as you please.

They also have a great blog with lots of delicious bean recipes.

And I better stop there. I love beans, really love them and I can sit and extol their virtues all day. But in the interest of my readers (sparse though you may be) I will just remind you , like I do my 6-year-old, that beans are really good for you and give you big muscles. (if I believed in using smiley faces I would have put one right there.)

christmas part II

i snatched up that old feather tree at Hunt and Gather. They had two, i have been kicking myself ever since for only grabbing one. (and yes, I did check back but the other was already sold.)


While it may look like everything I have is coordinated, let me assure you that I am not. Many of the ornaments on the tree are ones I had when I was a child, and Aidan also has amassed a rather large collection in his 6 years of life and they are on the tree as well. The rest were all bought the first year we were married. (remember the sample sale Jess and Stace?)

Again, I just can't get enough of the old jello molds!

My tree might not be coordinated but my gifts are. I like plain white and brown paper and pretty ribbons. I usually go to Anthro and ask for extras when I am Christmas shopping but this year they are not offering gift wrapping adornments, just plain white boxes. They do, however, sell amazing velvet ribbon on wooden spools........... I may have stocked up.

You can find the ribbon here. It is so pretty and worth the splurge. My wrapping paper is a $9.00 roll of children's paper from IKEA, so I think it balances out. I also have been known to scrounge through the wrapping paper piles to save my trim from the garbage so I can re-use it as much as possible. Some of the gray ribbon I have is from our wedding!

I also splurge on the gift tags, and yes, I may have grabbed some from the garbage piles last year..... I mean we give gifts to the same people every year so why not reuse a pretty tag? Isn't it cool to be green these days????



I ordered a few gifts from this etsy shop. Her packaging and wrapping is amazing. She layers photos, old hymnals, newspaper, twine........... I don't even want anyone to open them they are so beautifully adorned, the wrapping itself is a gift of art!

So now that I have filled you in on what's under my tree, what's under yours?

did i ever tell you

about the day Aidan and I visited "the farm?"

of course i didn't. I have hardly kept up with my blog this year.

well, we did.

we went to Gale Woods farm in Minnetrista last fall and spent a delightful day there. we watched a sheep-herding competition. (okay- I admit - that was actually pretty boring.....) we watched some national sheep-shearing-competition-winners do their thing. Aidan played on the hay bales and made apple cider.

On our way home we stopped at "Mamma's Happy" in Mound where I found a perfect little end table for my living room. The shop was conveniently located next to an old-fashioned hardware store and so we picked up some birdseed, mums, pumpkins, fabric, candy, a goldfish, some overalls, children's toys, dishes, fake flowers and a gerbil.

Just kidding.

But if you ever want to visit an old-time hardware store you should head out to Mound. That place was literally packed from floor to ceiling.

I would love to say I am done with fall pictures but I may have a few more....... at this rate I will be finishing up Christmas in July!

A Quiet Weekend

Braved the No-Coast in a snowstorm. It was a brilliant plan as there weren't as many shoppers to contend with. We even had a table to eat at! And the best part is that I finished up the rest of my Christmas shopping.

We ate Trader Joe's Pumpkin waffles for breakfast (made in my Grandpop's old waffle maker!) And be sure and snatch some mandarin oranges if you are out grocery shopping. Sometimes called satsuma's they are so much better than clementines and I love them so much I ordered some online direct from a grower in California because the stores here are running low. That is one of the reasons I love the Internet...... If they work out you all may be getting them next year for Christmas.

And I am excited to meet Jessica at Crafternoon today. I am a little nervous, I have only read her blog and she seems a little too talented for the likes of me to hang with. (Her husband took the pictures for Darlene's party, will post those later, they turned out fabulous!)

I am trying these cookies for the swap. I have never made Christmas cookies with whole wheat but her recipes haven't failed me yet.

How's your weekend?

its beginning to look a lot like christmas in the .......

......kitchen.

a vintage tin my grandma j. passed on to me. it was always full of jelly belly's. (at my house it is sadly, empty.)

I love vintage ornaments....... and the little blond boy who made it into the photo.

speaking of little boys....... have you ever tried making a gingerbread house with one?

ours was falling apart faster than we could put it back together so we came up with a new plan.

it's called "bombed out gingerbread house."

you should try it next year because they are waaayyyyy easier.

Thanksgiving Eve

We spent the day running errands, playing games, wrestling, sledding, and hanging out.

Aidan was a real trooper and endured a lunch meeting at "mommy's work" and then a long, drawn out shopping experience at Anthropologie. So I kind of felt like I "owed him" some fun for the rest of the day.

For some reason Aidan really wanted to go to IKEA, (he loves the playland and always wants to spend his day off there.) I obliged but I admit it wasn't the brightest idea we have ever had. Thanksgiving eve, in a snowstorm, driving to IKEA which is on the way to a busy airport.......... like I said, not the brightest plan. We bought some white paper to wrap Christmas gifts, ate an ice cream cone and then headed back home.

We decided the evening was too beautiful to be spent indoors. We did some sledding and then I played "sled dog" and took Aidan all around the neighborhoods. (pulling a 50 lb. + child through the snow is way easier than the Insanity workouts I have been doing lately.)

There are some moments in parenthood you wish you could capture forever and last night we had one of those. Picture this. I am pulling him through the snowy streets. He is laying on his back looking up at the snow with his head resting in his hands and he says "Mom - I had the best day. Thanks."

Melt my heart. Yes-we can go to IKEA in a snowstorm any time you want. And yes, I will be glad to pull you through the neighborhood anytime.

Sorry, my pictures ended up in reverse order. But regardless, wouldn't you agree the park is amazing at night? Recently one blogger asked what kind of software I have - it is Lightroom and it's possibilities are endless; I am barely skimming the surface. ( I think i need to take a community ed class about how to use it.)

Anyway, have a great Thanksgiving!

just making stuff

For those who ask/wonder, i do still sew, just not fanatically the way i used to.

I am having problems coming up with Christmas ideas for this year though because I have given away so many lap blankets, bags, scarves, mittens etc. over the years that I fear I have overloaded my loved ones with handmade gifts.

Last weekend I scoured the craft fair in search of new ideas or even some new homemade gifts that I could give, (even if I didn't make them) but I couldn't find much that was fresh and new.

Maybe next weekend at the No-Coast.

Just had to throw this one in. This is one of our last fall pics. We had unseasonably warm weather through October and so Aidan was still running around in shorts. One Sunday afternoon he needed to "rest" for a few minutes and this is how he fell asleep.