Celebrations : Merry Christmas!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Scuffy wishes one and all a Merry Christmas!
This is his first ever, so he got one of his gifts early!




Our gifts are all wrapped up and ready to go!!  We're spending Christmas at J's parents this year, on the horse ranch.  We hope everyone has a wonderful time this special season,  and hope to see your posts soon!



May you have a blessed Christmas with your loved ones,  and a great 2013 ahead!!

Recipes : Chocolate Fudge for Christmas!

One week to Christmas!!!

I love and hate this holiday season because there's too much yummy goodness around to resist!

Here's one easy recipe I attempted for a Christmas party.

Caution: Super easy recipe and super addictive!



Ingredients

2 cups white sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Grease a 8x8 inch square baking pan and set aside.

Mix the milk, sugar and cocoa in a saucepan.

Keep stirring and bring the mixture to a boil.

When it starts boiling, stop stirring, and reduce heat to a simmer.

Place a candy thermometer in the mixture and cook until 238F. My candy thermometer has a marking for 'Soft Candy' at 238F. So I guess that's what you're aiming for.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and butter. Beat the mixture until the butter has melted and thoroughly mixed in. You don't want to stir it too long, because then the mixture will cool and harden.



Pour the mixture into your greased baking pan and let it cool.

When it has hardened, cut into tiny squares to serve!!

On the bookshelf: Holiday reads!

Via

As an extension of my Kindle vs Paperback post,
I'm curious to know what you're reading this holiday season.

Thanksgiving is coming up. We plan to spend a quiet weekend with J's family up in the mountains. They have no internet access, so holidays spent there are always challenging. I'm so reliant on the internet for the news, finding answers to random questions, check my Facebook. Whenever I don't have the internet i'm at quite a loss!

On the upside, no internet access = more human interaction! We play board games (*gasp* remember those??), catch up with one another, and take walks outdoors.
And we'll also get the bonfire going!!

Aside from gorging myself, and watching Thanksgiving football, I am going arm myself with a few books, just in case things get a little slow and drowsy
(you know how turkey coma gets to you...)

Right now I have Pride and Prejudice and Murakami's 1Q84 on my Kindle, but I'd like to add a

(1) Science Fiction
(2) chick Lit
(3) Travel fiction / non-fiction
(4) historical fiction

to my list.

So, some suggestions pretty please?

Crafting : Travel map garland

Via

No, that's not the garland I made for my sister's wedding, although it's real pretty!

Mine's even simpler -- it can be done in 1-2-3 easy steps!

You'll need:

Old maps
Ribbon / twine
Pen-knife (Exacto knife)




(1) Create a template of the shape you want your garland to be. I made triangles, but you can just as easily make hearts, or any other shape you fancy.
Trace template onto a map, and cut them out. I couldn't get a hold of older vintage looking maps, so I used an old street directory my dad wasn't using.





(2) About one inch from the base of the triangle, I used a pen-knife and made two tiny slits about an inch apart.
This is for you to thread your ribbon/twine through to string the triangles together.





(3) Thread all your shapes together, and get ready to hang your garland up!


With all the holidays around the corner, this is such a simple but great way of sprucing up your home for the festive season! You could use wrapping paper in place of the maps, and cut out some simple Christmas tree / candy cane shapes and string them up! Q.E.D!

Celebrations : Halloween Kiddy Cuteness!

Is it me or is Halloween just around the corner??

I just received an invite to a Halloween party and am scrambling to think up a costume right this minute. I had a few ideas months ago, but the procrastinator in me said "You know you'll get it done in a week, why worry now?"

Ok. It's time to start panicking... the party is in ONE week.


While doing research, the procrastinator got sidetracked (yet again).

And this is what she found...


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I love this last series. The kids in the pictures have just the perfect expressions too. Frodo and Tintin are my favorites! So simple yet so clever!!

How are you dressing your kiddos this year?

Happy 4th!!

What are you planning to do on this lovely midweek holiday?

My friends plan to hang out at the National Whitewater Center for the Coca Cola 4th of July Festival to do some whitewater rafting and kayaking in the day, and stay on for live bands, fun and fireworks in the night!

The Carolina Raptor Center plans to release 8 red shouldered hawks in different parks in the Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, NC, between 11am and noon. One of the parks is really near my house, i might just pop over!

I'm not sure what i want to do yet. But I look forward to spending some nice cosy time snuggling in bed with the J-man (before he leaves for the Philippines on Tuesday!) and then finishing up my 3rd Game of Thrones book!


Happy 4th everyone!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Chadbourne Farm

How was your Memorial weekend?

I had tons of fun visiting my in-laws at their temporary residence on Chadbourne Farm in Hoffman, NC. Hoffman is in Asheboro, near the towns of Southern Pines and Pinehurst. It's a rider's paradise as there are many trails and ranches. My father-in-law had arranged for some riding lessons for us.



Here's me and my buddy Ace, who was ever so patient with me learning to ride. I don't look too confident in the picture! At one point I was telling him to stop and go at the same time! But he was a very steady and gentle horse who's used to beginner riders, so when in doubt, he would stop when I was giving him crazy mixed signals. Such a well trained horse! I think he's a Tennessee Walker, I'm not too sure. I'm also proud to say I actually saddled my own horse before I rode!




Here's the cosy living area we lounged at.




This was our room for the weekend. Isn't it pretty?



And there are charming little nooks and crannies just like this all over the house. I loved it! It would be such a dream to live on a farm, tending to horses, growing veggies in the yard, crafting and quilting the day away!


Be sure to check out Chadbourne Farm if you're in the area! I'm not done exploring the area so I'll be back sometime soon!

Crafting: DIY Christmas wreath tutorial

Here is the simplest wreath you can ever make:

You need:



1 wreath garland ($1)


1 wreath frame ($1)
Cut branches from tree in backyard

Total Cost : $2.00
Time needed: 10mins

Wrap garland around wreath frame.
Tuck ends of garland into wrapped garland to secure.
Arrange branches of leaves and berries around the wreath.



Ready to hang!

Crafting: DIY Christmas tree tutorial

Just because we didn't get a Christmas tree for the house...




doesn't mean I can't have one!

So...I made my own DIY tree!

All you need:

1 styrofoam cone
1 styrofoam ball (or whatever tree top ornament you like)
Yarn (whatever color you desire. I stuck to traditional green)
Pearl studded pins
Styrofoam filler balls for ornaments on tree
Glitter
Sequins
Tree base (i used a recycled cardboard bucket turned upside down)
Cotton wool
Glue gun

To make the tree, I used the glue gun to affix yarn to styrofoam cone. Wind it from the base to the top. Set aside to dry.

Then i started making the tree top ornament, a disco ball sorta vibe. I glued sequins (one by one) all around the styrofoam ball, burning my finger tips countless times, so please be careful! You may use a pair of tweezers to help you in this process.

If you want to cover up the excess spaces in between the sequins, brush elmer's glue all over the ball (after the hot glue has cooled and hardened) and roll ball around in glitter. I didn't have any liquid glue on hand so i omitted this step.

Hot glue the ornament to the top of the tree.

Stick pearl pins and styrofoam balls randomly around tree.

Hot glue tree to base. Then glue cotton wool around base of tree to hide the tail end of yarn.



Ta-daa!!!

Crafting: Handmade Christmas gifts

So i got a little ambitious and decided to make everyone a Christmas gift this year. Not that I have a huge group of friends, but having two jobs right now has exponentially expanded my circle.

I was going to make bags for the girls, but i decided that it was going to take me till Easter to complete! So, it was straight to Pinterest for some Pinspirations!

Source: bhg.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: whipup.net via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: countryliving.com via chuiying on Pinterest

I decided since everyone must have a tree, that i was going to make Christmas ornaments for them, even the boys! Yay!

What are you crafting this holiday season?