...12.31...Christmas Recap...

...so here I am on Christmas morning...in my Christmas jammies and Christmas socks...opening my presents...I got a new pair of running shoes...I really needed them as my current pair is almost completely worn through on the bottoms...

...next I opened up a Proud Air Force Mom sweatshirt...love that...and Our Airman has almost gotten over his aversion to the word "Proud"...he still doesn't like for us to 'say' it in his presence...haha...but now that he's not around his teenage friends anymore...we're allowed to be proud of him...haha...

...and then two larger sizes of the glass measuring cups that I love so much...

...and an old old really old cookbook from 1817...the instructions are really neat...and all of the helpful household tips directed at the lady of the house...it'll be a fun read...

...and speaking of reading...Stephanie directed me to the Read Harder Challenge...so I'm going to do that in the New Year...I am still in a virtual bookclub...but it's not nearly as fun and exciting as my old bookclub in WV...so this will be a fun addition...

...but this sweet necklace was probably my favorite present of the day...you may have seen it in the Christmas Party pictures...and I'll be wearing it a lot...the half-moon is from one of Our Airman's favorite childhood stories...Guess How Much I Love You...and a little diamond encrusted heart that says MOM...so so sweet...

...I was kind-of annoyed with Amazon when they delivered this package...as you can clearly see what's inside...haha...

...it didn't matter...I wrapped it up and he loved it anyway...it'll be perfect for his poolish and bigga pizzas...

...and I already told you about this adorable maple syrup bottle...

...and then we had a few little gifties that were for both of us...well the flaxseeds and kala namak are not really gifts...

...but the manual pasta extruder should be fun to try...

...and this coffee grinder is more for the Man than for me...

...we've already tried it out on the home-roasted beans my sweet big brother gave us...the Krupps one on the counter behind is on it's last legs...making a really funny noise...

...and then after the demise of my beloved Foreman Grill...we got a new grill/griddle/waffle maker combo...so like the coffee grinder...it's for both of us...but more for me...haha...

...I have already used it a couple of times...and although it's different...I think I'll get used to it...

...and I was worried when we unboxed it that it wouldn't fit in the same space as the Foreman grill...but it did...YAY!

...and I unwrapped the popcorn...but obviously it's not just for me...married life presents are sometimes like that...haha...

...we've tried it and it's delicious...

...and I also unwrapped this one...it was in my stocking...

...my old beloved red spatula from North Dakota is finally coming apart...so I really needed a new one...

...the pretty new measuring cups alongside my little old one...

...I put on my new hoodie...although it's too warm for a sweatshirt right now...highs remain in the 70's (F - low 20's C)...it's weird...and the new sweatshirt fits pretty perfectly...

~Have a lovely day!

...12.30...What I Ate in a Day...as a Vegan...

...well...there's been a whole lot of snackin' going on...we had a lot of food left over from the party and we're still trying to use it all up...

...but for breakfast...I made pancakes...I'll post the Christmas gifties tomorrow...so you'll get to see the Man's cute little maple syrup...

...Mom made her delicious Ritz cracker/peanut butter/white chocolate cookies and brought me a big bag...

...so I put those in a half gallon jar...and I'm trying to ONLY eat one of them per day...haha...

...my sweet nephew and his wife had brought a big bowl of vegan Chex mix to the party...

...so I've been snacking on that as well...and it's almost all gone...

...and this crinkly bag of peanuts was in my stocking...

...I love peanuts this way...roasted in the shell...

...aaaannddd...I've also been snacking on the leftover hummus from the party...the veggies are almost gone...but there's still plenty of pita...I think I may freeze the hummus to enjoy later...haha...

...and I know you're wondering how I could possibly eat any lunch...well...we were chatting with Mom about how nothing else is quite like Campbell's soup...and it got me hankering for a bowl of tomato soup...so I looked up Copycat Campbell's Tomato Soup and found this recipe...

...I had everything on hand...and it was super easy...

...not exactly like Campbell's but pretty close...

...I always have my tomato soup with Ritz crackers crumbled in it...just like my Daddy...

...and...I'll show you this new Foreman Grill tomorrow with all the other pressies too...I'm still getting used to it...

...and since we were wanting something a little bit different from the Christmas fare we'd been eating...I made a pot of kidney beans in the Instant Pot...

...and a pan of vegan cornbread...

...and the Man made us a delicious chili for dinner...

...and I froze the rest of the cornbread...you know as 'hockey pucks'...to have later...haha...

...what did you eat yesterday?...

~Have a lovely day!

...12.29...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...these are the little party favors that I made for everyone at the Crazy Santa Christmas Party over the weekend...so you've seen a glimpse of them already...

...I raided the old Cub Scout craft bin (it's still in the basement...and I need to repurpose most of those things)...but I got out a bunch of pony beads of varying colours...

...and I started with this frosty blue yarn...I only have this tiny bit in the stash...it has a metallic thread of a darker blue...and I got some appropriately blue beads and some grey for the 'trunk'...

...and then you just crochet a strip...I used half-double crochet for 60 stitches...it's not really a 'pattern'...haha...and then just folded it back and forth into a 'tree' shape...

...and I found it a little bit easier to 'skewer' the 'tree' onto a knitting needle to keep everything nice and in place for the bead addition...

...I just used the tail from the crochet and added a star at the top and a bead in between each of the folds...

...and when I got to the 'trunk' at the bottom...I used the two different coloured beads...tied a knot and then threaded the tail back up through a few beads and trimmed it off...and one little ornament was done...

...and then I just did that a few more times...it's a really cute and simple little ornament...

...I wanted each family to be able to take one home...and the top three on the right were for the 'little ones' at the party to take home to put in their ornament boxes for when they grow up...they'll have a little ornament made especially for them...

...then in other crafty news...of the sewing variety...I mended this old red sweater...I like it but it's getting pretty old now...I remember purchasing it in 2005 for Pentecost Sunday...we were supposed to wear red...which only happens a couple of times in the Lutheran Church year...and I went shopping specifically for a red sweater...and this is an example of a successful shopping trip of that nature...because, generally, if I go shopping to find a definite particular thing...I am almost certain to be unable to find it...haha...

...this is not the first time I've had to mend the neckline...and it's a bit fiddly as the stitches are tiny and have to be threaded through the loops so it won't ravel...

...so after the mending...I decided to reinforce the entire neckline with one of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine...I just chose this one that looks a bit like cross-stitch...and did a 'stitch in the ditch' all the way around the neckline...I think it looks pretty OK on the sweater...not too out of place...

...you can see the stitch detail a little bit better where it went over the tags...and hopefully it will hold everything together and I'll be able to wear it for a while longer...

...and...in other organizing news...y'all know how I used to keep my socks in my undie's drawer...in a box...well after I got the dozen new pairs of white cotton ones...there just wasn't room for them all...

...so I took them all out and put them in one of the baskets the Man's Mamaw had made...and I'll just keep it beside my dresser for handy access to all my socks...but especially the handknit ones...

...Mom sent me some photos from the party...so I went back and updated Monday's post as promised...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!