Custom Christmas Ornaments

How hard could that be?  I came across this blog post with the title "All that Glitters...MINUS THE MESS".  She had me at "glitter". 

I was off to my local craft store and picked up a pack of glass ornaments, and one plastic just to try.  I already have tons of glitter at home.  All I needed was the Pledge.  It took over a week of looking everywhere for Pledge before I finally gave up and just bought Mop & Glo Triple Action Floor Shine Cleaner.  It's all that I could find and some other bloggers have listed it as the product they used. 

Let me tell you, Hubs almost had a heart attack when he saw Mop & Glo come in the house.  Once I explained it was for crafting and not for use on or brand new hardwood floors he was calmer. 

First I tried it with the plastic ornament.  I put about a tablespoon or so of Mop & Glo in the ornament and swirled it around carefully trying not to make any bubbles. I could see that I was missing spots and try as I might, it just wasn't working with this "careful" approach.  Being that I'm quite impatient, and meticulous is not a word I like (especially for crafts), I got a rag, covered the opening and shook the heck out of the ornament.  I tipped it upside down, let the excess drain back into the original bottle and voila! NO bubbles! Fingers crossed there were no missed spots!

I poured in about a tablespoon of glitter using a paper Dixie Cup to pour without a mess, repeated the shaking until everything was covered in glitter.  Opps, I mean, I covered the top with a rag and shook the ornament until the inside was completly covered in glitter.  I tipped it over a clean Dixie Cup to catch any excess glitter.  Then I repeated the same steps with the glass ornament (using the recaptured glitter from the first try).  First carefully swirling the Mop & Glo, then a somewhat gentle shake to be sure, drop in glitter, shake and leave to dry over night.

The results were pretty spectacular but when I held both ornaments up to light, the glitter coating was fairly thin and not quite what I was hoping for.  I figured I'd test the process and see what happens.  I repeated the process with both ornaments.  First the plastic. I expected that as soon as I poured in more liquid the first coat would be destroyed, but SURPRISE! I was wrong.  It did run a bit, but I shoke it up, added more glitter, dumped out the excess and left it to dry. This time the recovered glitter was wet but it was a minimal waste. I suspect I could have used it for the other ornament's second coat, but I used fresh Mop & Glo and glitter instead. 

Now let me tell you, I was so confident and excited after the beauty results on the plastic ornament, that I expected the glass to just be a complete repeat.  However, it was anything but.  As soon as the second load of Mop & Glo went in, my heart sank! The first coat of glitter washed away.  I swirled and shook and hoped it would fix, but it was just a big, fat, wet glitter mess!  I dumped out the liquid, along with almost all of the glitter. Not wanting to just give up, I added in fresh glitter and shook it around.  The results were the same as the day before.  I threw in more glitter, but none of it stuck.  I took the wet glittery mop & glo stuff and poured it back in, gave it a shake, and now it was all just a colossal mess!   

I should have snapped some pictures to show you, but I wanted to clean up the mess before it dried.  Luckily, it cleaned up fine with some soap and water.  There's still a little bit of red glitter around the very edge of the neck, but you can't see that when the hanger thingy is on.  So I will use the 4 glass ornaments for something else, and exchange the rest for plastic ornaments. 

Maybe the Pledge and glass work better, but here in Canada I could not find Pledge.  But I did make it work. Here is my finished piece.

To make No Mess Custom Glitter Ornaments:

You will need:

• clear, plastic ornaments
• Mop & Glo Triple Action Floor Cleaner
• Glitter.  I used fine glitter, but other glitter would likely work. 

Instructions:

1. Remove the hanger and cap from the ornament.
2. Drop in about a tablespoon or so of Mop & Glo liquid.
3. Swirl carefully or just shake the heck out of it. Be sure to cover the opening first. Either way you do it, be sure the entire inside is coated.
4. Pour excess liquid back into original bottle.
5. Drop in about a tablespoon of glitter using a small funnel or paper cup.
6. Cover the opening and shake until the interior is fully coated. 
7. Pour out any excess glitter and retain for later use.
8. Let dry overnight.
9. Repeat the process until the amount of coverage you like is achieved.
10. When fully dry, carefully return the hook and cap and enjoy!  You can add embellishment to the outside of your ornament, but they are pretty spectacular just as they are.

In the Kitchen

I've been quite busy these last few days, focussed on the running project and on Halloween.  Ok, I'll be honest. Really, I'm spending too much time hunting around Pinterest.  I can get lost in there like a toddler in a corn maze!  There is SO much to see and do there!  Crafts, recipes, decorating.  Everything! But, I digress.

I did manage to try a new recipe this week.  I made this Italian Sausage and Potato Casserole  OMG! It was SO easy and it was so good!  I made it exactly as directed and it was a breeze.  Even I couldn't screw this up!  My daughter didn't like it but she doesn't like tomatoes and apparently she's gone off sausage now too.  But, Hubs LOVED it.  He's usually pretty critical (kind, but critical) but this time, he had very little to say but he did make a lot of loving noises while eating it!  He even went back for seconds!  What a compliment.   I served it with some nice fresh chunky bread to soak up the juice.

Hubs said this was a great "stick to your ribs" meal and he'd eat it again.  Seconds AND a request for cooking it again = huge success!  You should try it!

Since I am in training for a half marathon run in February, I am trying to eat healthier.  The above recipe might not have been a "low fat" meal, but it was yummy and filling enough to have a small portion.  I'm still on the low-fat-is-bland-and-gross team.  But I'm trying.  Smaller portions is a good place to start.

So tonight I'm making Sage Apple Pork Burgers with Caramelized Onions from Canadian Living.  Sounds fancy but it really couldn't be easier.  I'm not sure if this is "low fat" or "healthy", but at least it's not fried, not processed and it's new.  I served it with a nice big salad and light dressing so it's better than what we normally eat and that's good enough for me.

I made the patties ahead of time just because.  I pressed the patties between sheets of parchment paper, wrapped the stack in plastic wrap and left them in the fridge for about 3 hours.  I did cook up a small one to taste right away just because the mixture smelled SO good.  The sample I made right away was not nearly as tasty as the ones that sat for a bit.  I think it was mainly that the flavours had time to come together (I'm sure there's a technical term, but I don't know it).  It might have also been because the sample was fried in a small frying pan and the dinner ones were grilled on a cast iron grill pan.  I can also say the carmelized onions were a must have!

I forgot to take photos of my casserole. But here are my burgers cooking on the indoor grill pan.  Actually Hubs cooked them.  I think he was afraid I'd set off the smoke alarm and truth be told, HE is our official Grill Master. 

Here's our dinner.  A nice mixed green salad with a little vinagerette dressing and some carmelized onions to compliment it.  Please notice the grill marks.  Hubs did them :D  Doesn't that look more healthy than a big ole beef burger on a bun?

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On to challenge two for the day. 

I notice on Pinterest that there is a repin of a repin of a repin.... and so you can see the same one thing 10,000 times.  This week the one thing that keeps coming up is a 2 ingredient pumpkin cake.  It caught my attention after repin 9, 065 because my daughter has a weird passion for pumpkin doughnuts from Tim Horton's.  It's weird because she's a child that generally doesn't like a lot of stuff so for Jess and Pumpkin to be joined by "likes" is very very weird.  Anyway, I am trying to get her to eat different things and especially to get more fibre in to her.  I don't now all the benefits of pumpkin or if it's lost in canned puree'd pumpkin.  But this 2 ingredient cake intriqued me and made me think "how hard can that be?"  So for sure I have to try it, and blog it! Right?

The one pin I kept seeing repeatedly was for muffins over at Sweet Verbena's blog.  So I did my own search for recipes and some say "canned pumpkin" stressing NOT pie filling, and some say "canned pumpkin" and some say "pie filling".  At my local grocery store I could only find pie filling.  I checked the ingredients because apparently the difference between pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling is that the puree is "pure" and the filling has "stuff" in it.

I selected E.D. Smith Pumpkin Pie Filling and Betty Crocker Golden Cake Mix.  The pie filling contains pumpkins, sugar, vegetable oil, salt, spices (contains wheat flour), colour.

There is a recipe on Allrecipes.com and lots of reviews.  Many people were adding eggs and water and other stuff.  In the end, I decided to just go for it as it is and see what happens.  That's kind of the whole point of my blog.  We'll see what my foodie husband has to say about the recipe.  He's the one that never follows a recipe exactly as written.

Having read the reviews, I decided to use my stand mixer because I expected it to be super thick.  It was thick but a hand mixer would have worked fine.  Another reviewer said that it didn't rise, and that it didn't change its shape at all.  So I was expecting a gloopy mess.  But then I remembered, I'm using pie filling and that's different.  I have to tell you, it looked kind of gross in the bowl, but it smelled amazing! 

It was a bit thicker than regular cake batter.  I didn't want to grease the pan, so I used parchment paper.  That certainly makes for easy clean up and removal from the pan. 

This is how it went in to the oven

Here is how it came out

So you can see, it didn't move around much, and it didn't rise like a regular cake, but it dit rise a bit.  I followed the regular cooking instructions on the cake mix box and it came out beautifully.  Hubs came home and said the house smelled good.  He thought the cake was just a golden cake.  He didn't know there was pumpkin in it because I hid the can before he saw it and decided he wouldn't try it.  

The recipe suggests a cream cheese frosting but Hubs doesn't like cream cheese. So plain, white Betty Crocker icing it is. 

Over all, Hubs said it was good, but he's not a fan of the pumpkin flavour.  He certainly ate his peice fast enough! 

It's a little like spice cake.  It's very very moist, but doesn't taste as dense as it looks. It has a very slight spice cake/pumpkin flavour to it.  I think my daughter will like it. As for a 2 ingredient cake, it was truly 2 ingredients, plus the icing.  If you like pumpkin you'll love this cake.  Fingers crossed, daughter likes it. 

Running for My Life

This blog is about to take a huge change in direction.  I will still post my (mis)adventures in to the world of crafting or cooking or whatever other silly idea enters my head.  But I think I may have just registered for the mother of all "how hard can it be"s.

Let me give you some history.  In spring of 2009 we went on what was supposed to be a once in a lifetime trip to Walt Disney World in Florida.  While we were there I noticed an unusual amount of women wearing tiaras, tutus and medals with the castle on it.  I was intrigued and soon found out that these women had participated in what is called Disney's Princess Half Marathon ("The Run").  I made a quiet personal promise that "someday" I too would wear a tiara, tutu and medal from the event. 

Little did I know that hubs was blown away by WDW and when we got an opportunity to return for Christmas 2009 we jumped at it.  Not only did we go on that trip, while there we learned about Disney's Best Kept Secret. 

Fast forward a little and by happenstance our 2012 trip coincides with the half marathon.  I looked in to it and the minimum speed for the race is a 16 minute mile.  That seemed do-able.  I am, by no means, a person of low expectations but I sometimes have to be a realist.  I am 48 years old.  I weigh somewhere in the neighbourhood of 240lbs (I don't have scales so I don't know for sure).  I haven't worked out in over a year.  Sometimes climbing the stairs winds me and I have asthma.  However, I am also a mom to one daughter and I want to be a better example.  More than that, I want to shed this weight and be free of it.  The weight is mostly the result of bad eating habits and low activity, but it's cause is all emotional.  I've been working on the emotional cause(s) and that's for another post. 

So on Saturday just past, I registered my daughter and I as a mother/daughter team in the half marathon.  It wasn't cheap! In the end it was a non-refundable $384.  I don't have to run, I can walk it. But it's still 13.1 miles to do in less than 3.5 hours.... and survive.  I have 121 days until race day to train and I've already put off starting by 2 days!  I did go to the doctor yesterday and discussed it with him.  He said there is no reason I can't or shouldn't do it.  So all that is standing in my way is me.

What I want to do, is time my current comfortable walking pace to see if I already meet the base requirement or if I have to work to even get there.  My confidence would be greatly boosted if I'm already comfortable with a 16 minute mile pace, but I suspect I'm not.  Still, I've got to get on with the training and since the weather here right now is pretty rainy and cold I will have to rely on our elliptical trainer.

So here I go, training for a mother/daughter 1/2 marathon in 121 days because, really, how hard can THAT be?

Friday October 28, 2011

Second Mile done! Yeah Me! 

I honestly felt yesterday like I wanted to do another mile on the elliptical.  But ... I had plans for the day and didn't have time during the day to do it.  I think that's why I wanted to... because I knew I wasn't going to ;)

Today was a no-excuse day and I was going to do a mile!  I have to be honest.  I didn't "want" to.  I just had to.  What I mean is, I don't feel any kind of yearning desire kind of want for the daily workout.  But I DO have a yearning desire kind of want feeling for being able to complete The Run and not die during or after.  The two are connected, but the want is for the big picture, not the babysteps. 

So right now, that's where the challenge is, on the babysteps. I guess this is where I've failed in weight loss attempts before.  I've made goals, but never met them.  They seemed realistic at the time, but clearly they weren't! This is what I was thinking about while I walked my mile today.  This goal has an accountability date.  Feb 26, 2012.  The run date is hub's birthday coincidently.  This goal is clear to me.  I want the medal.  I want to cross the finish line under my own power.  In the process, I HOPE to shed pounds and uncover the woman I believe is living inside my skin.  But I WANT - with a burning, yearning desire - to have that medal for completing The Run. 

I think I finally get this goal setting thing.  Sure, there's some accountability in that I paid $192 for my entry (the rest was for my daughter's ("Dot's") entry).  I told the Hubs and our friends/travel companions I wanted to do this, we booked our joint vacations around The Run date and I convinced my friend, Kara, and Dots to do it with me, and I've announced it here, on Twitter and on Facebook.  That is SOME accountability (as in Wilbur is SOME pig from Charlotte's Web).  My thinking on that though is, none of that matters.  If I can't do it, Hubs loves me enough to forgive me and the rest, will get over it or forget about it.  Even I don't really care about the money, or the failure if I don't do it.  But I know myself well enough to know that come Race Day, I will be in WDW (it's all booked) and I will see lots of women later in the day with their medals proudly around their necks and THAT will kill me if I don't have one.  And therein lies my accountability.  This goal I WANT to achieve more than I've ever wanted anything and I know how bad not achieving it for lack of effort will make me feel.  Knowing that feeling was enough to get me on the elliptical today to complete one more mile.

I changed it up a little today in that I slowed down the pace so it felt "easier" and I completed the mile faster because I didn't have to stop to rest!  YEAH ME!!!