What Nana did today

Walk with Barb. Check.
Get mammogram. Check.
Get blood drawn. Check.
Pick up beef from Janine's freezer and give her some pumpkin bread. Check.
Make Kenzie's Christmas dress. Check.

You can't tell, but the fabric has pink and white polka dots and glitter all over it. Two of Kenzie's favourite things.

P.S. If you click on the photos you can get a nice close-up of the fabric. It's rather pretty and Kenzie has been nagging me for quite a long time to make something for her out of it. I have a new thing in my head, that I should use up the resources I've been accumulating before I buy new stuff. One down, a gazillion to go!

My own personal elf

Guilty Pleasures, Added Upon

Annie wrote in her blog about her enjoyment of drinking hot chocolate this time of year. She melts a minty candy cane in hers to flavour it.
She comes by the habit honestly. Her Nana has long been famous for her hot chocolate habit. Or Milo, as she drinks in New Zealand. All year long. Only one cup a day, she claims, but we all know better!
I am partial to a steaming cup of cocoa in the winter. My guilty pleasure is a splash of flavoured coffee creamer. Yum. The flavour of the moment is "CoffeeHouse Inspirations Caramel Macchiato."
It even SOUNDS sinful.

THAT was not an easy photo to take.

No flash, left-handed, while pouring.

Hence the ever-so-slight blurriness.

What is your guilty pleasure?
And don't try telling me you don't have one!

P.S. This post got me thinking about some defining hot chocolate moments throughout the years at our house. When Jeff and I were first married and had no money at all, one of our big treats was a cup of hot chocolate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream floating on top. It was blissfully delicious. Then we went through a cinnamon-sprinkled-on-top stage. The kids, of course, loved mini-marshmallows the best. Then Costco, in our more affluent years, started selling the Swiss Miss (or maybe it was Nestles) packets of flavoured hot chocolate mix. Raspberry, caramel, hazelnut, French vanilla. I love to heat up a big pot of milk when we have a crowd in the house, adding bits of this and bits of that until I arrive at chocolate Nirvana. It is such a comforting drink, nothing beats it for me.

Coconut gluten-free heaven

When Kenzie was visiting last week, I made Bethany some coconut macaroons. They are gluten free and very delicious. With a slight modification, I made a small dairy-free batch for Joshie.

Ambrosia Macaroons

1/2 c unsalted butter

3/4 c sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 tsp finely grated orange zest

3 eggs

24 oz sweetened flaked coconut

melted white or dark chocolate

Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add zest and eggs. Mix in coconut. I used my hands at this stage to mix it more thoroughly. Form balls with hands and flatten on a Silpat or well-greased cookie sheets. You can place them close together because they don't spread. Bake at 325F for 20-25 minutes until golden on the bottoms and browned in spots. Cool on sheets and drizle with melted chocolate, using a fork. I used lemon zest with a bit of juice instead of orange zest and drizzled them with white chocolate.

I substituted condensed coconut cream for butter and drizzled them with dairy-free dark chocolate to make Joshie's cookies.

We all liked them, even the gluten eaters!

"To Do" lists

Kenzie came to stay for a couple of days this week.
We read together, watched Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian, which is as funny as the first, and made snickerdoodles. On the last day we made a "to do" list and got most of the way through it, except for Make paper airplanes, which was Kenzie's idea.
She is notoriously scatter-brained, so I thought the concept of a list might resonate with her, because she loves to write messages and love notes on pretty paper. Dear Nana, I love you. I hope you are not sick like I am. Love Kenzie. (This note was embellished with googly eyes and a yellow feather.) The list was quite long, so she decided to divide the tasks into two separate lists, one for work and one for fun.

Work list.
Vacuum.
Finish Christmas decorations.
Put away Christmas boxes.
Mail packages to Annie and Charlie.
Clean kitchen.
Clean table.
Put rug back in living room.
(I broke a large water globe the night before, while setting Kenzie's bed up on the couch, and it had created a correspondingly large mess.)

Fun list.
Make snickerdoodles.
Make paper airplanes.
Make cards.

The list idea worked very well, especially for me.

I forgot how motivating a list can be.

And did you notice I figured out how to change my font colour?

I have also started downloading my photos onto the blog using Picasa, which is infinitely more efficient.

Ha! Take that, you 21st century, you!

Kenzie is 9

Our (not so) little McKenzie was nine on Saturday. Jonnie had worked Friday night so Jeff and I picked up Jenny and the boys.

They were ready and waiting for us, eager for the festivities. These three love a good party. I am often sad that I can't better communicate with Jenny because I hear from those who know that she is a very fun person.
The four grandsons revel in each others' company and their enthusiasm is hard to dampen. They are like bouncy little puppies, but I managed to get them to sit still for a few moments while they kept saying"cheese" and waiting for me to figure out my camera's settings.

Kenzie loved this jewelry box from Jon and Jenny.

I think that the part Thomy and Jeff like best about parties is when they get to play with the new toys.

There are rodents in my Christmas tree!