The Productive (yet fun!) Day

  So cookie baking is in full swing here at the Little Bayou House.  I spent two days baking a variety of goodies only to have the trays cleaned on the third day.  Well, so much for that.  Back to the kitchen to bake some more.  It seems that I have created several recipes that hit the spot with the guys on this hill.  Requests for the Plum Dots topped the list. *Recipe to be included soon!  Today saw me baking another sixty of these and tomorrow will be the same. My niece needs a batch for a corporate meeting of some sort on Monday.  It seems that all of the "Big Guys" are coming to her office for their annual Christmas party and she cannot possibly bake the cookies.  I have been elected. So....a-baking we shall go, a-baking we shall go. Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, a-baking we shall go!
  
  Today, I was fortunate to have help.  Darling Daughter, Elizabeth, popped in just at the right time!  Things always go so much easier when she is here.  Since I already had the cookie dough mixed, we set up sort of an assembly line to shape and fill the cookies.  Once baked, the icing part was so much more enjoyable with her giggles and chatter to keep me company.  The sixty cookies were finished in no time!  Two large trays now sit ready to be packed as gifts....but our day did not end there!

  Once we vacated the kitchen, a crafty project was in order.  Yesterday, I found a wreath that would be perfect for the Little Bayou House but it was a bit out of my price range.  This one was right at $200!  Wow!  I did find a similar one at a discount place but at $30, I was still adamant not to buy it.  Geez!  I knew that she and I could make one for a lot less.  I described what I had found and we started pulling items to be used.  The base was a salvaged grapevine wreath.  This had seen better days but since it was to be totally covered it mattered not.  Burlap ribbon, jute string, pine cones from the yard, artificial berries from the local Dollar Tree store, scissors and a glue gun were all collected and readied.  Within a few minutes, we were finished with the wreath.  It was even prettier than the ones I had found at the store!  (For one thing, the store-bought version was covered with artificial "snow".  I hate fake snow flocking!)  Now my front door has a beautiful welcoming wreath all for under $6!  Imagine!  

  So our fun day was quite productive!  (And tomorrow...it all starts again!)

The Wreath!

My sister, Susan, and I have this Christmas giving thing down pat!  We both realize that we have far too much stuff in our respective houses so instead of giving some unwanted knickknack we try to find or make something that truly fits the other person..and it all has to cost one dollar or less!  This is quite the challenge at times but so far we have succeeded!  She made me a wonderful wall plaque that consisted of a board and a piece of wood that she found on one of her hikes...I made her a scarf from leftover yarn.  She bought me a pair of stick hedgehogs from a garage sale..I made her gingerbread boy and girl ornaments from cheap cinnamon!  It works out well for both of us and the challenge is all part of the game!  Sometimes the hunt can be considered the hardest part!

Last year, her gift to me was a wreath.  She had been holding a charity auction and the wreath did not sell.  No one wanted this wreath so afterward instead of tossing it in the trash, she snagged it for a one dollar donation.  Her hunt was complete!  My gift was in hand!  Then someone asked her just what she was going to do with such an ummm...unusual wreath.  She responded that it was a gift for her sister causing them to look at her in disbelief.  Then she explained our giving game and added that "She will love it!  She likes the most weird things!"  Uh huh...alrighty then.

Well, she was right.  I suppose that I do like weird things because I really do like this wreath.  If I had been at the auction, I probably would have bid on it!  The whole thing is made from little wood shavings.  I am assuming that they were the leftovers from a wood planing project.  These curly-cues were dyed red.  These formed flowers (roses?) once they were glued to a circular board.  The centers of the flowers are simply sticks cut at an angle!  Filling in around the roses are some dried leaves that I assume are Bay leaves and which most likely gave the wreath a delightful scent when it was first made! I do like this wreath..maybe because of the ingenuity it took to create something from nothing...maybe because of the work put into creating it...maybe because I like weird things.  Who knows...but I do like this wreath!

I was decorating the bathroom today for the holidays.  I am sticking with a more or less rustic theme throughout the house so I did not want to "overdo things" in this small room.  A few carefully placed wooden Santas and vine snowmen should pull the decorations.  I added my "Christmas towels" and thought I was finished.  The bathroom still needed something.  I dug through the boxes hunting for something that would match the towels.  I opted for bright red and olive green towels this year so it was a bit difficult to match decorations to the room.  Then as I walked through the craft room, I spied the wreath!  It was hanging on the door of the craft room but would look much better in the bathroom.  It was the perfect colors!  I snatched the wreath from the door and headed into the bathroom!  There the wreath looked perfect!  The bathroom was complete!  I was happy. Tomorrow if the weather holds nice, a trek down the hill will provide me with some fresh Bay leaves to intersperse with the dried ones and maybe to fill a vase for added aroma!  I do like this wreath!  Thank you, Susan!  (Psst...I hope to get another weird present this year!)