Amazingly Glittered Pinecones

So... I've been going cheap frugal this holiday season. The bucks, run out, and I'm having to rely on Mother Nature to provide for me... and she's been providing me gift items, as well... and as I've been walking our most precious puppy-poo,

I've been collecting "perfect" pinecones... because I saw these at Bed, Bath & Beyond (but of course, they don't have it on their website!!!) for $5.99 and thought, "Hey! I can make that for almost FREE!" (Actually, at BB&B, they are in a little box and tied with a bow, containing a couple of different glittered colors, but are not THAT big of a deal (at least not $6 worth!).

Pinecones are pretty much free, and Nature's dropped them anyway, so instead of someone throwing them away, I decided to grab them up! I cleaned and dusted them off making sure there's no little bugs in them, sprayed one with 3M spray adhesive glue, while rotating it around (make sure you do this in a WELL ventilated area, as I ended up a little "high" [uh... duh!] and use a soda case or some other "box" casing to keep it all in one area). Then I QUICK! sprinkled fine glitter on it, while rotating it around. Pretty! and then I repeated the process until I was done.

(My fingers were so encased with REALLY GREAT adhesive and glitter, that I decided NOT to touch my camera and just show you the finished product.)

So, me... the frugal and recycling person that I am... took out my stash of tomato tubes (from Walmart, 3 tomatoes in each pack) that I've been stashing for a while. And put them to use! The tubes fit 3 pinecones each. I'll Cricut cut myself a little label, and tie up with a bow... Voila! Instant gift that is beautious and super simple. Who could want more? You want more? Seriously? Well then... they're easy enough... go ahead and make some! Super cheap and frugal and re-using, re-cycling, and nature's glamor getting glitzed up! Woohoo! (ok... maybe I'm still a little "high"... next time, I'll open a window! and even after scrubbing and scrubbing... I still have a little adhesive and LOTS of glitter on my left hand... BEWARE and wear gloves!) And have yourself a Glittery and Frugal Christmas!

Easy Casserole for a Busy Night - Cottage Pie

It's been hot here during the day and chilly in the nighttime, lately. Dinner was needing to be made, and I was craving some down-home comfort food. And, since it is that busiest season, I don't have much "real" time to cook, so taking a break from sewing, stamping, wrapping, crafting and cutting, I tiptoed into my kitchen to see what I could find.

I had some leftovers sitting in my fridge... a little bit of corn (off the cob), mashed potatoes, a bit of onion, cheese... I almost always have mixed veggies and ground beef (in 1-lb baggies) in the freezer.  Today was no different. So I decided to make one of our faves... Cottage Pie, known to some as Shepherd's Pie, only when it's made with ground beef, it is really the Cottage Pie.  It's simple, easy and filling... oh! And you know me... CHEAP to make! So... thought I'd share it with you (you can use chopped cooked chicken or turkey in place of the ground beef to stretch your leftovers!!!). Here goes:

Cottage Pie

• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• one onion, chopped
• 2 cups mixed vegetables (use a variety)
• Seasoned salt (I use Lawry's... it can do no wrong)
• Ground pepper
• 1/2 cup beef broth (or chicken if using another meat)
• 1 t. Worcestershire sauce
• 2-3 cups leftover mashed potatoes (thicker is better than runny)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat the oven to 400 F. Crumble the ground beef in a saute pan with chopped onions. Add seasoned salt and ground pepper to taste (I use approximately 1/2 t. salt and 1/4 t. pepper). Brown until onions are translucent and beef is no longer pink. Drain well (I blot with paper towels, as well). Mix in the veggies (make sure they're drained, too!). Add the broth and Worcestershire sauce, and mix well. Spread evenly into a 13x9" pan (no need to grease). Spread the mashed and seasoned potatoes onto meat mixture, spreading evenly. You can use a spoon to make little peaks for added prettiness and texture... Sprinkle cheese over potatoes. Pop it in the oven and bake for 30-30 minutes until the meat mixture is bubbling and the potatoes begin to brown. Simply beautiful! Serve with salad and rolls and Voila! Easy-peasy...  Sure wish I'd taken a picture!!!

*Note: 1) If you don't have beef broth or chicken broth, crumble 1/2 bouillon cube into boiling water and mix well. 2) Potatoes spread easier when warmed or at room temperature. 

I just hate going to the store for one or two items to complete a recipe, and this one allows me to use up what I have, without it tasting like last night's meal. (To be honest, we had cheese enchiladas, beans and rice last night! lol! And the leftover beans will be chili tomorrow... with cornbread, of course!) 

Lights, Lights, Everywhere!

I just love lights, even when it's not the holiday season. They fascinate me. They mesmerize me. They enchant me. AND that's without music!

Add music to the mix, and I am yours! Ahhh... Oooohhh... Wooowww...

I've longed for one of those music synchronizing thingies, and maybe my wish will come true one day. The first year I spotted them in Lowe's (3 years ago), they were a little over $300. Way too much for my budget! But now... the prices have come down a lot, and this year, I saw them at $83... Still too big for my budget AND SOLD OUT! If they keep coming down... I just may have to get one!

Here are some of my fave youtube videos of holiday music light houses (I opted NOT to include the ones with the TransSiberian Orchestra, as those seem to be the most common. I love ALL holiday music, not just the classics...

First up... Jingle Bell Rock! Woohoo! (It's a little blurry, but you get the picture...)
Next up... The Twelve Days of Christmas. This house is (of course) professionally done, but OH! so awesome! Enjoy!

My house isn't this awesome (and doesn't "do" music), but maybe... just maybe... I'll share some pics with you... another day!

Pumpkin (Poo) Galore!

Ok, I know this is post Halloween and Thanksgiving, but these are really going to get used THIS season... I love sweet things made with pumpkin! I promise this week, I'll post something craftily Christmas and/or holiday-themed... moving on...

Pumpkins stay good for a long time, as long as they're not carved... And so... when the Kindergarten class had the local Pumpkin Patch come to our playground (with a petting zoo!) for "Fall" (I call it HALLOWEEN!), the kids each got a sugar pumpkin. I let the 5yo decorate it, but... no cutting... (lol!)

And after Halloween, I washed, cleaned, cut up and cooked and pureed it for future use.

Marissa's scooping out the innards...

freshly cut, small and sweet

CLEAN pumpkin!

I washed the outside free of all ink and glue and other goo. (Woohoo!)  Then I slice it in half and scooped out ALL of the pulp. Ooey-gooey!

fit for a Crock Pot!

Then, the pumpkin was cut, thick tough shell and all... into smaller pieces, fit for the crock pot.  I had a total of 4 small pumpkins, so there was A LOT.

(yes, I used TWO crocks!)

I did NOT cook it in the oven. First of all... been there, done that, have the scent (BAD bad smell that permeates the house for weeks) imprinted in my brain and nostrils from well over 20 years ago. (I was 15... you do the math!) Second of all, I don't like to watch it. And you really have to watch it in the oven, or else it will burn (and smell even worse). So, I crock-potted it.  Simple, easy. It took about 6 hours, as each crock was p-a-c-k-e-d! (Just cook until fork-tender.) And well, the smell is minimal. I can live with that.

Take the pumpkin out of the crocks (there will be liquid at the bottom... just get rid of it) and allow the cooked pumpkin to cool (you don't want the pumpkin to re-absorb the liquid, it could get mushy that way...). I let it cool to room temp (only because the first batch I chilled in the fridge and it was too difficult to scoop afterwards... kinda like rock hard ice cream...). And scooped it... into the food processor.



I processed it (with a blade) at high speed until it was smooth. Occasionally, I had to take out bits of shell pieces (luckily, these don't appear to puree) and scrape down the sides of the fp bowl. It will be thick and luscious. 

I put in in freezer storage containers in 2 cup amounts, ready, willing and waiting for various sweeteners, spices and combiners to be added to make my holiday confections. (Be sure to put the date on it, so it won't be "too" old or outdated.)

We made a homemade pumpkin pie out of one of the containers. (So Stacy dumped a whole bunch of cinnamon in there... life goes on...) We DID NOT make the crust. I bought a beautiful frozen crust (WinCo had Marie Calendar's pie crusts - 2/$1.88), how could it go wrong? Um... super tough, hard and flavorless - don't buy it!

And then... there were lots of extra pumpkins after Thanksgiving from the Kindergarten classes... and who do you think they gave them to? You guessed it! Me! And so... I will be crock-potting them next week, after the kids are on break, so I can use and/or freeze more pumpkin. Gotta love F-R-E-E... free!

Holidays at the Mission Inn

Last year, we went to the Mission Inn (Riverside, CA) and had a blast! The lights were spectacular, the atmosphere was festive, and everything went completely perfect.  We had so much fun and everything was semi-spontaneous.  There were no lines, we found parking right away, the crowds were manageable, as everyone was just... perfect.

So...we kinda thought we'd make it a family tradition. You know... carriage ride around the block, hot fresh donuts, lights, carolers, watching the ice-skaters eat it in the Plaza... nothing totally organized...

Our Carriage Horse - Merlin

And so, we went this year. Last night, in fact.  Only, this year, we looked for parking for 30 minutes... no biggie.  We waited in a short line for the carriage ride, only to find out that we had to walk to the end of the block to get tickets first (last year, an attendant was at the front of the line and took payments). Ok, still no biggie...

Merlin had a "hoof"-icure - check out the glitter on his hooves!

But then, we walked down towards the Inn, we passed a bunch of people standing still on the sidewalk, walking towards the entrance. (The entrance is usually REALLY magnificent with TONS AND TONS of lights and little elves and nutcrackers, and just... well... the whole shabang!) Whelpers, the valet parking dude turned us away and told us we had to go to the opposite end and wait... you know... where ALL those other people were just standing on the sidewalk. Ew... Ugh... *Sigh*

On our way over to the line, my hubs heard a quickie way to get in.  It made sense, so Off! we. went. To the side entrance. YES! The line was much shorter and only took a few minutes. Woohoo! and we were in!

And so... we walked through the small garden to get to the front-ish entry way, only to find out... Ugh!  We had to go through the lobby and could not venture to the front of the hotel, unless... we were patrons of the hotel, valet or dining establishments within the hotel. Seriously? (The front entrance is the grandest of them all!)

Ok, so the lobby is pretty great, too... right? uh... They changed it. Last year (and YES! I'm comparing everything to last year!), there were SO many photo opps! The tree is extravagant. It still is. But... they have it roped off now, and you can't take the awesome family photo there anymore. The stairs with the lavish garland? Uh, no... garland and lights are still there, but heh! so it that security guard that won't let anyone up unless they have a key card... not even at the bottom of the steps to get the classic Christmas-time photo. By the hearth? Uh... nope! Roped off with a sign "For Registered Guests Only." and so on, and so on...

So, basically... we just were able to do a walk-through. But that's ok. The lights outside and around the Mission Inn are still remarkable. And yes! They still are. Even though, they didn't put up A LOT that have been up in years prior.

After touring the Inn (although briefly), we walked around the Plaza. Now, don't laugh, because well... we in Southern California don't get that much cold weather and get to experience that outdoorsy ice-skating, and HECK! I'd never ice skate anyway, because well... I'd just fall too much and probably blow out my knee again... but, Main Street in Riverside (kitty/catty-corner from the Mission Inn) has an outdoor skating rink. And we love to go watch. It's fun, it's festive, and it's a barrel of laughs! People eat it (the ice, that is...) all of the time, and they bounce back up and skate to do it some more. Only, this year... (yes, I said it again!), with our little heat wave (it should be hitting 80 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend), they had to put up cones, as the middle of the rink was m.e.l.t.i.n.g... You know, like Frosty? And it was still fun.

For some odd ball reason, my hubs decided NOT to do the fresh donuts (the little fried ones with the powdered sugar on them... oh yum!) and opted to stop at a regular donut store on the way to look at houses. Ok, so we can change the tradition we started a little... afterall, the City of Riverside sure did.

We looked at wondrous shops filled with Christmas treasures and drooled over what we couldn't have (because they really were expensive... at least to me... right now... in my financial state...). Then the shops started to close. It was only 9pm! (If I had a shop located there, you can bet to all getouts that I'd keep it open later during this busy time. Business is business, right? And people were SPENDING!)

Marissa - calling to the horse

Stacy & Rey, taking in the night of splendor

We walked back to the car and began driving towards "the Woods" streets (all the streets are named after some kind of tree). Only to see... lots of lights turned off already. Bummer. Oh well. We saw some great stuff, and it just didn't last as long as we'd hoped, but hey! we still got to see a lot of wonderful things and experience a great time, in our new tradition.

The California Tower (WOW!)

*If you'd like to see the Mission Inn and the Festival of Lights, check out their website at: http://festivaloflightsca.com/ And Have a Happy Holiday Season!!!

What's Your Favorite Christmas Song?

Mine is... HECK! I can't remember the name of it! Years ago... in 199-something, Mervyn's (do you remember that store?) had an excellent cassette tape (yes, it is THAT old!) that they sold around Christmas time.

I remember it had a bunch of "different" kid-type Christmas songs on it. Most were sung by the same man.

But this one song... it was so cute and fun! It was about a toy. It was the most wonderful toy (or something like that). But the man with the catchy-tune voice sang about all the "Zip and a whirl" and the "clacking" and other fun noises this wonderful toy made. I just loved this song so much... I can't believe I forget the words, or even the name of the song.

I had the tape for two full years... and then it disappeared. I've moved several times since then and de-cluttered and purged several times, as well. And I never found this tape. I am so sad. And the sounds and the spinning of the whirly-gig-type noises keep repeating in my head. If only I could find this song...

*Sigh*

So, if I can't pick THAT song (because, well... I can't find it, can't remember the words, and can't remember the name or even the artist who sang it or the album it came from...), then I guess I'll have to stick with the original "Frosty the Snowman" from 1950 (sung by Gene Autry). Other versions have been changed and flipped around, but the cleanest simplest version was the original. Sometimes, singers/celebrities need to just leave well enough alone. Enjoy!  But, if you happen to find something along the lines of "the most wonderful toy", please, PLEASE!!! shoot me a line... Thank you!

ROAR into Reading! (Bookmarks)

In a Yahoo group I belong to, we volunteered and "adopted" a class of elementary readers. Each of us had to create 6 bookmarks.  Being that I didn't know what gender my bookmarks would be going to and didn't want there to be any problem, I chose something a little more neutral.

Animal Kingdom (Cricut Cartridge) has a bookmark button... so it got my wheels spinning. I love lions (tigers and bears, oh my!) and think they are incredibly majestic. Girls like lions, and so do boys. And so... I created the lions out of a tan-ish cardstock. (Most of my cardstock is simply my stash. I have no clue what brand it is... if I do, I will tell you...) I then distressed around it with Tim Holtz's Distress Inks, going a little grungy.  I cut 2 sets of faces, tail pieces and manes for each bookmark, so each side would be "the front". Before I had any facial parts stamps I detailed in the face with a pen, and attempted to color the noses with a Stardust Gellyroll pen... it kept dying on me (and it was new). So don't laugh at my animal faces. I Stickled a curly-cue around the mane area (did you know I LOVE STICKLES?).

I also keyed into my word processing program "ROAR into Reading!" and printed it in brown. I sliced up the 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of parchment-style paper and wrapped it around the bookmarks for more support. (The back is blank to allow for the each child's name.)

I think they turned out cute. What do you think?