Merry Christmas!!!

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Secret Santa

This week we did Secret Santa at school. The rule for Secret Santa was to do a gift for the first four days that cost under a $1 with a gift under $10 on the last day. The person I picked liked crafts so I got to make lots of little crafty gifts for her. This photo shows the first four days of gift giving. A snack, a felt brooch with snowflake post-it notes, tissue covers, and chocolate bars with a wool felt ornament for her tree. I had fun crafting for this.

My person for Secret Santa likes snowmen so for the final gift I gave her a Lia Sophia snow flake charm bracelet and a pair of children's skates I bought at a thrift store. I painted a skate, then added some artificial greens. I think it turned out pretty cute but it reminded me why I never became a florist. I'm terrible at arranging flowers and greens!!!

I painted these skates for myself about 5 years ago. This was a pair of skates I wore as a teenager so they have sentimental value as well as being a winter decoration. I love them! I'd like to find some black skates to paint snowy scenes on. I'm also collecting wool sweaters to felt and craft with through the winter. I have quite a few ideas for projects now I just need the time. Thankfully Christmas vacation is just around the corner!

The Best Guacamole Ever

I mentioned that I made guacamole with my students at school last week. Since then, they've been asking for the recipe. I'm printing out the recipe so they can make it at home. I thought you might enjoy the recipe too. I did my quick and easy version of this recipe but here is the full recipe. Enjoy!

The Best Guacamole Ever

By Christy at Mamarazzi

So here’s what you need:

2 ripe avocados

1/3 medium yellow onion

1/2 tomato

1/4 cup Salsa

Louisiana hot sauce

garlic salt

Directions:

1. Peel avocados, de-pit (save one pit for later). Chop avocado with knife until it creates a chunky but slightly creamy mixture.
   

2. Chop onion & tomato into small, chunky pieces & add to avocado. **

3. Add a few sprinkles of Garlic salt., 1/4 cup salsa, a few squirts of the Louisiana Hot sauce & stir everything together. Stir until a creamy yet chunky combo forms. Keep one of the pits and put into mixture (obviously not to eat), this is said to keep it fresher a little longer, I still recommend serving right away, at the most, within a few hours.

4. The recipe size here will serve 2-3. If you are making this for more, you can easily double it. Serve with Tortilla chips or on crackers.

A few notes:

Avocados are ripe when you can squeeze them gently and feel them smoosh just a little. If they are real hard, they aren’t ready yet, if they smoosh too much, they may be too ripe.

Also, depending on your tolerance for hot & spicy should depend on whether you get hot, medium or mild salsa.

Last: If you are not familiar with avocados, they are similar to bananas in the way that, after being peeled, they tend to “brown” quickly and taste does change. I highly suggest you make this recipe same day as you intend to eat it, for best outcome, immediately before serving. Remember: Fresher equals better when it comes to this recipe.

Visit Mamarazzi for photos and directions on making the Best Guacamole Ever.

** Note from Jill:

When I'm in a hurry I skip this and add extra salsa. It's still delicious!

A New Apron

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from Hawaii. I was expecting this package knowing it contained some Christmas presents for Nature Girl. This fall, my sister J moved to Hawaii for a year with her husband and three girls. We keep getting lovely photos from their adventures on their new island home. Of course the teacher in me uses this information too. As a matter of fact this week my students took a reading assessment featuring a few passages and questions on the island my sister is living on and avocados. After the test I took out my phone to show the students the pictures of Hawaii that my sister has taken. Then we talked about the land and avocados. To my surprise only one of the students in my room had ever seen or eaten an avocado! One of the passages on the assessment described avocado skin and flesh. Many of the kids missed the questions on this passage because they had no experience with avocados. Needless to say I brought in avocados the next day cut them open for the kids to see and sample. Then we made guacomole and have the pits susspended in water to see if they will root. The kids loved it! Not only that they added to their background knowledge and experiences, they now know what avocados look, feel and taste like.
Sorry I digressed a bit there, back to the package. My sister sent Christmas gifts for Nature Girl and at the bottom of the box this lovely apron for me. Isn't it pretty?!! My sister knows me so well and is so sweet to me! It was handmade in Hawaii. It has three pockets along the bottom. It's lovely! I didn't have any baking or cooking to do last night so I wore it to hang out and watch movies on the couch instead. Thanks Girl for the beautiful apron!!!!

Crafting

So I have been busy working. Even with IEPs and evals to write for school I've managed to fit in a few crafty projects. Granted I haven't done as many as I'd like given that Christmas is just around the corner, but I have gotten a few things made. Sadly there are many more projects on my list that I probably won't get to before Christmas. Oh well, I won't dwell on that now. Instead I'll concentrate on what has been finished.
I made this patchwork stocking for my partner in the St. Nickolaus Swap. I love how it turned out and hope to eventually make some for us of course that probably won't happen anytime soon.

I also worked a little bit with wool felt and felted wool sweaters to create these brooches. I sent the blue bird brooch to my partner for the St. Nickolaus Swap. The rest are destined to become gifts for co-workers. I keep forgetting how much I like working with wool felt and old sweaters. I've got to come up with some more projects to use my sweater stash.


I also made and sent this apron to my St. Nickolas Day Swap partner. I love the color combination and the polka dots. I was tempted to keep it for myself but that wouldn't have been in the spirit of St. Nickolaus so I sent it on the way to it's new owner instead.


As you know I'm a bit zentangle obsessed so I've done a some of that over the last month or two. I zentangled this red umbrella for a swap. It took a lot more time than I thought it would to draw on the whole thing. As I was getting ready to mail it out I noticed some black on my hands so now I'm not sure it's even waterproof. I almost didn't send it but decided to send it anyway since I spent so much time on it. It may have to be used as a parasol or a decoration instead of a functional umbrella. I was afraid to test it out!


Lastly I altered this dress for my sister. My sister was looking for a dress to wear to a formal holiday party and asked me to alter her green dress. She originally wore it in her best friend's wedding last year. It was about 5 inches longer and strapless. The dress kept falling down and had to pulled up frequently so it definitely needed some alterations. I have to say I was scared to death to cut it and attempt the alterations. I am not a seamstress and get nervous about cutting and altering items for other people. Especially expensive clothing! My sister was very calm and trusting and didn't seem worried at all. That's okay because I worried enough for the both of us!!! But in the end I worried for nothing as it turned out really cute. It's a little wrinkled in this picture but think it looks even prettier now that it has been altered. My sister wore it to the party last weekend and got many compliments on it.
So what have you been up to? Are you done your Christmas crafting?

Introducing Ruby

This is Ruby. We adopted her 2 weeks ago. Ruby is a 2 year old english bulldog. I have been in love with bulldogs for at least 12 years. I have wanted one for many years. They have a face that only a mother can love! Ruby is no exception, I think that she is beautiful!!!! I tell you that face just kills me!

Ruby is a sweetheart and loves lots of attention. She's thrilled to see me when I get home and wants to spend all of her time with us. She can fetch but most of the time she just watches us throw the ball. Which brings me to a few of the reasons I think she was meant to be my dog.
1. She doesn't really like to exercise. Me neither!
2. She's afraid of all cleaning tools and supplies. I hate cleaning!
3. She needs lots of love and patience. I have lots to give.

She's very smart and quickly figured out that the dog food was in the basement. She kept sticking her head through the large cat door we have in our basement door looking for it. I couldn't resist taking pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so many things to be thankful for today and everyday! So today we celebrate the countless blessings we have as we spend time with our friends and family. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving too! Happy turkey day!