Simple Girl

It was a Christmas of change.  For the first time ever, the girls didn't  wouldn't wear matching outfits and even though I should have seen the writing on the wall when my eldest daughter turned twelve, I felt disappointed by the fact that I could (or should) no longer completely control them. It's the beginning of the letting go which is perhaps an even greater parenting challenge than the reigning in.  Choose your battles my mother always said. She is a wise woman. My freshman son, however, wore a sports coat and tie without me even asking.  He's smart enough to know when to play the favorite child card. It was also our first Christmas ever to wake up Christmas morning in our own house. To see the stockings stuffed and the presents wrapped under our own tree felt right and magical all at once. Our new house now feels like home. To all the readers of Simple Girl, thanks for journeying with me this year.  I'm looking forward to new adventures, rec...

Even at this late hour you still have time to make these:  Simmering Potpourri Bags.   Aren't they cute?   And I'd also like to introduce you to my new best friend:  Avery Round Kraft Labels. Just go to Avery.com and enjoy their free software which lets you look like a pro.  I love the Kraft Brown round labels with this gift because they look so Eco-Chic.  I love that word. Contents of the Bag:  1 cup cranberries, 1 orange, 2-3 cinnamon sticks (I found mine in bulk at Costco) and 1 tablespoon cloves.  The green ribbon is the perfect Holiday touch. Merry Christmas!

Last week my kids went to a piano recital and brought cookies.  From Target.  Are you feeling better about yourself yet?  It just seems to be that kind of year.  Every project is taking longer than expected putting me just a little further and further behind. For our extended family Christmas get together today, I volunteered to bring goody bags for the 18 kids that would be attending.  At first I was thinking of some really cute large Gingerbread Cookies in cellophane bags.  Then time ticked on and I was going to scale it back to large rice krispie treats drizzled with red and green candy melts.  Then more time ticked on and I came up with this:  White Chocolate Oreos with a dark chocolate drizzle. Perfect.  The great thing about this project is that most of the work is done for you!  It took me less than 30 minutes to drizzle ten dozen cookies! I love these chocolate piping bags I found at Michael's.   They...

Today is the winter solstice which means that up north, we're down to about 8 hours of daylight. Give or take. The way I see it, that's just more viewing time for Christmas lights.  Each day after this is going to get a little bit longer. Since this particular winter solstice also marks the end of a long cycle on the ancient Mayan calendar, I thought I would take time the time to express my thoughts in poem. Enjoy! Winter Solstice Haiku On this darkest night Snow reflects glimmers of hope Dawn will break again.

Pistachios make me think of Christmas. I'm not sure why. I don't remember ever having pistachios growing up. Except for Jell-O pistachio pudding. But there is really nothing very pistachio-y about that.  My next pistachio memory is seeing those bright red pistachios in the bins at the grocery store. It was years before I realized that pistachio shells do not naturally have a cherry red exterior. But that must be where the Christmas memory started. Bright red shells on the outside, a lovely shade of, well, pistachio on the inside. This recipe packed in the pistachios.  A full 3 1/4 cups! This is what I feel a cupcake should be:  small in size, big on flavor.  Pistachios went into the batter both chopped and ground to a paste.  I bought a big bag of pistachios at Costco.  It only came in roasted and salted so that's what I used.  I also used salted butter and just eliminated all extra salt from the recipe.  It seemed to balance out. ...

It snowed four days ago, and the view out my window still looks like THIS! Aaaahhhh....... snow is so beautiful when viewed from a warm, cozy room.  And this beautiful view was all the inspiration I needed to catch up on some blogging. (Notice I didn't say cleaning the basement, paying bills or getting those Christmas cards out!) I baked these Coconut Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache for The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club in October  but am just getting them out to you now ! I'm going to blame it on the move. Or maybe the last few nice days of fall. Or maybe I'll blame it on the days I spent cleaning out the garage so that we could get two cars in it before the view out my window looked like this! I'm sure it's not my fault. And while I'm at it, I'm going to post my end of the world poem.  You know, the end of the Mayan Calendar which is just 9 days away?  I'm going to post it on auto schedule so that in case I'm not here, you'...

My neighbor, Sandy, was baking Christmas cookies with her granddaughter yesterday, and she brought over these incredibly cute melted snowman cookies.  How did I get such a nice neighbor?  The hard part was convincing the kids that they could not eat them until they had been properly photographed.  Aaahh..... the life of a blogger's family. Sugar cookies for the base.  Royal Icing creates the body (but I think melted white chocolate would be great, too!)  Marshmallow head, sprinkle carrot nose, gel arms and face and piped buttons and scarf. The key to the melted head is to melt the marshmallows slightly in the oven before attaching them. The perfect treat for a snowy Sunday!  (or Monday!) THIS POST MAY BE LINKED TO:  MONDAYS :    MADE BY YOU MONDAY ,   FLOUR ME WITH LOVE ,  MANIC MONDAY ,  OUR DELIGHTFUL HOME   TUESDAYS :  TALENT SHOW TUESDAYS ,   TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAY ,   TRIC...