Notebook Stories Moleskin Giveaway

Lately I have been discovering a lot of really great contests through the blogs I follow. One of the best by far is the contest from Notebook Stories who are giving away 2010 Moleskin planners. I am very excited to enter this contest and have some chance at winning one of these amazing products. It would be such an epic Happy Holidays to me present hehehe! But I am sure other people would love to enter so here is the website and good luck!!

http://www.notebookstories.com/2009/11/29/review-giveaway-moleskine-color-a-month-2010-planner/

Thanksgiving Cooking

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving or simply a wonderful Thursday. I actually forced my way into the crazy and overly crowded kitchen this year to whip up some tasty treats!
I made pecan pie as I usually do each year and it was met with much appreciation from the family. At the request of my mother added some rum to the pie which I feel detracts from the dish but that is probably just because I don't enjoy any alcohol in any of my food =P. I also made some rolls for the dinner instead of just using the store bought kind. Everyone loved them and thought they tasted really good. Unfortunately they did not come out looking how I wanted them too. They were not the delicious golden brown color but I am going to blame this on our fussy oven because I can hahaha. http://therepressedpastrychef.com/2009/06/06/basic-dinner-rolls/

I also made some wassail juice/cider. It was SO good! I cooked it a crock pot so it stayed hot all day long. the recipe is as follows

8 cups apple juice/cider (I used the kind that isn't from concentrate so it has a milky color)
2 cups cranberry juice
3/4 cup sugar (this made it a bit too sweet for my taste)
2 cinnamon sticks
1tsp Allspice
1 orange
Whole cloves

Set the crockpot to high and pour in the apple juice, cranberry juice, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and all spice. Stud the orange with the cloves maybe 25-30, I didn't count how many I used. Allow the whole mixture to simmer together for an hour and then turn the heat down and keep it warm. The lovely thing is that you can't over cook it. I got this recipe from a lovely website on yuletide celebrations and unfortunately I cannot recall it at this point.

Overall it was a lovely holiday. The family was loud and crazy as always and I have to figure out how to entertain teenage boys tomorrow but it is always a lot of fun and a good holiday overall.

What I am Thankful for (a short list):

• Spell check because it is late I am having issues.
• The chance to go to college and earn an education in something I am interested in without going into debt.
• My parents who love me and support me no matter what I choose to do.
• A love who always listens with interest, supports my decisions, travels and hikes with me, enjoys trying new foods, and who always makes me feel safe and loved.
• Free speech and my rights to choose how I live and what I believe.
• Love and acts of pure kindness
• Wolves
  

What is this that I have done

A foreign word upon my tongue

A touch so brief to my warm skin

Crossing the border, a line so thin

Unspoken thoughts come to light

Deep desires kept close and tight

So I don't lose this precious joy now unfurled,

I will keep these secrets from the world


Another poem but I am not very happy with this one. I didn't let it flow very well so I feel it is a bit too forced and may read as such. I don't mind rhyming poems but I do better work when I just write and don't try to think about it. Don't ask me what it means because I am not entirely sure myself.

~~Ever so slowly the first tiny screw is loosened from the watch, then the second and the third; each screw gently placed into its storage compartment with a delicate *plink*. Soon the back is removed to reveal the hunters prize. A myriad of cogs and gears all shades of bronze, gold and silver glinting merrily in the lamplight. With a giddy grin of delight the gear hunter slowly and carefully starts to remove the gears. Gear by precious gear they are lifted out and sorted by size and color in to a special box. Once the watch is empty of its invaluable contents the happy gear hunter packs away their tinkering tools and magnifying glasses into their own special boxes and pouches. With their latest quarry safely tucked away they make their way off in search of the next prize.~~


My life certainly is not so grand as this but I was able to partake in a similar treasure hunt last night. I was walking through Pike Place Market and I came across an antique shop that I had never bothered to go into before. Inside it was huge with a wide selection of antiques all from the Seattle area. I had walked down one side of the shop and I was walking back up another aisle just looking about as a meandered my way out. I had stopped to look at something, I don't even know what anymore, when a tiny container of gears caught my eye. I was so excited! I had never actually found gears before so this was a huge discovery. Unfortunately each itsy-bitsy little gear was $3. But seeing those had now put my brain into a steampunk mindset and just a fe feet from the gears was a box full of watch faces, the glass coverings of watches, and one lovely clock center that was full of gears. It was an amazing discovery that I must attribute to my hunting partner Zack. The most wonderful thing is that this eqcuisite clock/watch center was only $10 and full of wonderful gears and cogs. Needless to say I bought it.

After bringing it home (and eating dinner, and watching a movie, and looking at stuff on the interwebs) I finally decided to go ahead and open the watch. This decision lead me on a hunt around the house for a screwdriver tiny enough to remove the screws. Luckily someone had a glasses repair kit which did the trick. Then began the slow process of carefully removing all the little screws and saving them. Everything, screws/cogs/gears, came out relatively easy. There was only one mishap with a very tightly wound gear the shot out of the clock piece and sent a gear flying across the room as it spun madly on the desk. Now I have a collection of gears and no official plans for them but as I attempt to make myself a costume I know I will find something.