The Peppernut Party

Last night was a somewhat of a first for me.  Christmas baking has always happened around my house and since I’ve gotten married, I do most of it myself.  When I was young of course my mom, my sister, and often, my grama were around.  While we made lots of different things each year, peppernuts were always, ALWAYS on the recipe ‘to make’ list.  My mom started them a tradition before I really remember, but we always had these cookies around.  They take FOREVER, but their taste is totally worth it.  The last couple years I’ve tried to make them myself, and while I’ve made a couple pan-fulls, I haven’t gotten through even a 1/4 of the dough that one recipe makes.  The reason it takes so long?  These cookies are no bigger than your thumbnail.  I posted about them here last year; I was so proud of the fact that I had even attempted to make them.  This year though, I had a reality check.  I’m pregnant, tired, and have a toddler.  As much as I wanted to make this traditional cookie for my loved ones at home to munch and crunch on, I couldn’t do it myself.  So, I called up some friends and asked if they would be interested in having a ‘peppernut’ party with me.  I would supply the dough, and they would supply some of the labour required.  It took four of us 3 1/2 hours and a couple of Christmas CDs to accomplish the monumental task but we all left with some yummy goodies, and I was left feeling more than Christmassy.  Thank you girls for helping!  Now, not to eat them ALL in the next couple days!   Do you do any specific baking each year?

(Sorry for the lack of picture – The next few days are going to be full of baking rather than painting … )

We made it :)

School’s out for Christmas!  I am soooooooooooooooooo happy, I can’t even express it.  I get to have my little one home with me and Andres for 3 weeks, I don’t have to worry about buying and selling our home anymore since we SOLD!!!  And we PURCHASED!!!  All the paperwork is yet to be done but that is being handled by my very responsible and logical husband (Pregnancy does terrible things to a woman’s brain; the only thing that comes out consistently is ‘emotional’ )  And in there, I somehow managed to finish a painting commission (pictures to come after Christmas) paint a couple gifts, do a bit of Christmas baking, and love on my girl whenever possible.  It has been a busy, tough, four months.  Once all the paperwork is finished, I will put up some pictures of our new home so those of you who don’t live close can get an idea of what it looks like.  I also hope that I will have the energy to start posting again.  Visions of painting have been dancing in my head

I’m at 33 weeks pregnant, and feeling bigger than I did at the end of my last run through   Even my doctor says that I’m popping.  What do you think!

Second run through - 33 weeks and counting!

first run through - 35 weeks

I’m hoping to go back to work in January for a couple of weeks, but we’ll see what happens.  I make up the required amount of hours needed for another maternity leave as of December 31st, so if I can’t return to work, than, it’s no stress off me!  Hurray!

Where does that leave me?  Very looking forward to this holiday break, that’s for sure.  If I don’t post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season!

Bunny’s Crayons

I’m currently at one post a month and the speed of my life seems to be moving faster rather than slowing down.  I’m told that this happens and you may as well take hold of the reigns and hold on tight!  On top of two parents working, a little one in daycare and being pregnant (28 weeks and feeling well!) Andres and I have recently decided to put our house up for sale and look for a new home.  Yeah, as if we needed that!  I have been feeling stretched (sometimes beyond my limits) with tiredness, tidying, dinner making, my toddler, and work.  No, I haven’t had time for painting. I wish I did.  Last time this year I was getting ready for an art show in Salmon Arm and painting up a storm.  I had been comissioned to paint an RCMP inspired image, and it turned out beautiful.  This year, the most I can muster is getting out the crayons for Bunny to colour with and send those out   Goodness, how my time has changed!

Can you believe this picture was taken 8 months ago?

I had to post a current photo - this is my Bunny as of about 3 weeks ago Wow, so grown up!

Generally I have a handful of homemade presents (ie, paintings) to give, but not this year. (unless, again, you want a picture by Bunny )  I think I’ll be lucky if I get ANY Christmas baking done, let alone my usual making a gingerbread house and decorating early. (I can say goodbye to early decorating in efforts to keep our place uncluttered for viewings)  Luckily, Christmas music doesn’t take up a lot of room; this is how I’ve been getting my “Christmas kicks” so far.  This whole year has gone by so fast!  When I look at past pictures of this year, it’s amazing how much we have done.  I can’t wait to sit back and smell the roses for a few minutes!  Are you feeling busy with life lately?!

The Art of Baking Cookies

Well, today isn’t Thursday, but well, I have my excuses and that’s that!  Friday came along and my family packed up and headed up to Williams Lake for Thanksgiving, and what a weekend!  My body finally succumbed to sickness from lack of sleep due to a sick child (twice in two weeks) , stress from work and travelling (although the travelling went extremely well!) and I think, just being pregnant.  I took naps on Saturday AND Sunday (and if you know me, that means I’m really not well) and Monday morning, as we were leaving, I felt as though I might be on the mend.  The weekend was busy regardless of my sickness – my brother and sister with hubby were both there as well, so we had a wonderful full house and everyone got to enjoy each other’s company.  My sister and her hubby live up north, so we don’t see much of each other.  It was great to catch up and see them.  Bunny grows so much between their visits, so I really cherish their time together.

In any case, once we got home all the energy I could have put into the turkey and steak dinners we had ended up being poured into baking once Bunny was asleep.  This evening I made bread, muffins, cookies, as well as dinner for tomorrow!   And I must say, a little tip from a friend at work has helped me make much more artful cookies than previously.  (Although goodness knows they’re nowhere near perfection – only gramas know how to do that!)

Many of you bakers out there probably know this trick, but in the case that you don’t and your yummy cookies often turn out a little flatter than you’d like and don’t have that chewy center, this one little thing might just change your life!

Don’t microwave the butter/margarine!

Take the time to let the butter/margarine thaw out on the counter and then cream the sugar and butter together.  Wow, what a BIG difference that made to my baking.  Of course, this is the first time I have tried that, but I’ll definitely be trying it again, hopefully with similar results.

Where am I on the art front?  Well, I hope to have some pictures to share with you later on this week.  My students have been working towards painting seashore village scenes and we have had some wonderful Canadian inspiration.  I’ll try to have some links available next post.  Happy baking!

As Of Today …

So there’s no denying it – I’ve been gone for a long time!  My life and my family’s routine has been so up and down in the past couple of months it has been hard to keep my head above water some days.  What’s going on?  Well, for starters, I’m preggers again.  Second, Andres worked a lot in the summer months, so I was busy with my Bunny (who’s now almost 16 months and a walking, smiling, dancing full-of-energy-toddler) day in day out.  Then, I started working again, and my Bunny has been getting used to daycare.  That is a pretty big upheaval for her, and just as much if not more of an upstart for me and Andres.  I’m not at home with my kid all the time anymore – I’m taking care of other people’s kids!  It’s weird and still feels surreal to me.  I enjoy my job, but am anxious to get home and see Bunny ASAP.  Wow, I have a total of 2 hours with her each day, compared to the beforehand 24/7.  Bunny did not take the routine switch well; she’s just now starting to get back to herself.  I will be home once Ducky (baby #2) arrives.  So, the long and short of my artmaking?!  Haha, well, I’m teaching art, so I have decided that I will be posting about the projects my students are up to.  Teaching art really makes me interested in the who’s who and the what’s what in the present day art world, so I’ll probably start babbling about that here and there.  Thanks to all you faithful bloggers who have been waiting for this post.  I know it’s been long in coming.  I’ll try my best to have another post up again come Monday along with a picture.