Category: Uncategorized

A Nice Cup of Cocoa

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I’ve waxed poetically about the humble cup of tea in the past.   I figured why not write about its holiday counterpart, the cup of cocoa.

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Especially because it’s now cocoa season.

Cocoa season and Christmas always seem to coincide with each other, but the two are not mutually exclusive.  Although, me putting a candy cane in my hot coca will cease after the holidays are over.  That’s mostly because they stop selling candy canes!

That’s a travesty.  Easy to make peppermint hot cocoa?  Why wouldn’t you want to put a candy cane in your chocolatey beverage?

Or a cinnamon stick?!?!?

Okay, so I might have a cocoa problem.

Can you really blame me?

A Cathartic Cooking Experience

Lauren1 Comment

Last week I made a pre-Thanksgiving treat for my husband’s co-workers.

My family’s Chicken and Dumplings!

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This recipe is a family rite of passage.  To learn is to have the knowledge of one of the most delicious foods to ever pass your lips.  It’s a fun tradition to have to pass down.

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But its also bittersweet.  See, my dad taught me how to make this recipe.  And while I was making it I thought about all the good times we had making this together.

A lot of the time it was me rolling out the dough and him going “it’s not thin enough”  or “you need more flour!”.  These are things I already could tell, except for that first time.  That first time I was still eager for my father’s guidance.

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But mostly it was about just being together in the kitchen.  Like giving mom a hard time, or talking to guests who had come over for the feast.  Let’s be real, for something like this, which is made from scratch and takes all day to cook, you only make it on holidays.

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I miss my dad, but I’m glad I have this meal with these memories.

 

Writers Blank

LaurenLeave a comment

I sat down last night with a great idea for a blog post.  I mean, it was fantastic.

We are talking mind-blowing levels of awesome.

And as soon as I opened the window to start typing, nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Zero.

No words were forthcoming.

Thanks for that brain.  Much appreciated.

Sketching Out A Gift

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One of my favorite hobbies is embroidery.  Among other things, I find it soothing and relaxing.

The hubs and I are gaining a new niece this year!  How exciting!

These two things are connected.  I promise.  I’m not just randomly talking about two unrelated events and/or occurrences.

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See, I am going to be making an embroidered gift for the new baby.  I’d been looking for ideas on ETSY, something I could take inspiration from without actually stealing their work.  That is no good the stealing of work!

I stumbled across this one Etsy shop.  I can’t link it for fear that my sister in law might see it and have the gift spoiled.  Suffice it to say, inspiration struck.

I spent the last couple of days looking at line art online.  and I managed to come up with something pretty cool.

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I’m excited to get started on the actual embroidery part of it.

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Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and buy all the DMC at the craft store!

 

This Weather Needs to Stop

LaurenLeave a comment

When it was summer I was wishing for cooler temps.

Cooler.

Not freezing.

Cool.

Basically, I wanted Fall.

What I got instead was Winter.

Now, I understand the old adage of being careful of what you wished for, but come on!!!  We skipped fall and went straight into a polar vortex of doom.

And I didn’t even get any snow!!!

Oh well, that’s the way the North wind blows I guess.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go curl up with a nice hot cup of tea, Disney+, and a cozy blanket.

 

 

Veterans Day

LaurenLeave a comment

Today is a bittersweet day for me.

Yes, it’s a day when we proudly stand up as a nation and say “we support our veterans”.  But this year my family lost two of them.

My father and my second cousin.

They both served their country and after the wars they fought, they each came home to fight two very different battles.  But battles they were nonetheless.

We love and miss you both.

 

 

Christmas Cards

LaurenLeave a comment

It’s that time of year again.

The time when we start prepping for the holidays.

This year I am sending out greeting cards.  I don’t usually manage to do this, but since I have the time I might as well.

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I have all my pens laid out.

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I’ve been practicing my hand lettering.  I can’t call it calligraphy, cause it ain’t that fer sure.  But hand lettering, I can go with that.

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I’m excited to get these cards out this year.  I am going to be sending them to more than two people, so it should take a few days to be ready.  And then I can mail them out when it gets closer to the holiday.

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This is going to be a fun next couple of days.

Well, I Joined a Gym

LaurenLeave a comment

Believe me, this is as much of a shock to me as it is to you.

Me, in a gym!!

Yes, it will be happening.  It needs to happen.  I need to get healthier.

And not just physically healthier.  Exercise can be good for your mental health as well.  So says the internet!  And my doctor.  Doctors are sometimes right about such things.

Sometimes.

Well, I can do this because I am an adult and I can adult the shit out of this, right?  Right?

Right.

That’s a Surprise

Lauren1 Comment

Well, I didn’t see this one coming.

You know that trip I mentioned in my last post?  The hubs and I were saving to go to New Zealand next year.

I say “were” because the hubby totally flipped the script on me and suggested we go to Disney instead!!!

For some reason I am way more excited to go to Disney than I was to go to New Zealand!  Go figure.

Naturally, I have been in planning mode since I calmly, and quietly (squealed at the top of my lungs) agreed to this.  I mean, we have a full year and some months before we are going to go, so I have some time to plan.  Not that much time if my research is correct, but time none the less.

Squee!  I have much excite!