National Treasure Themed Dinner

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had so much fun with last year's Jurassic Park Themed Dinner that we decided to make it an annual Valentine's Day celebration! This year my daughter chose the movie, and decided on National Treasure. 

Unlike last year when there were dozens of ideas on Pinterest, it seems as if nobody has had a National Treasure dinner before, so we were on our own for ideas. Because precious little food is shown in the movie, we began by breaking it into scenes, then contemplating options appropriate for each place. 

Boston - Boston baked beans? Chowder? A bowl of tea with toy boats floating in it?

Agent Sadusky's office - donuts and coffee?

Philadelphia - cheesesteak sandwiches? 

Once we had a list, we were able to choose three specific scenes to base our food on. We also realized that it would be best for our tummies, if we separated this into both lunch AND dinner. 

For lunch, we chose the Gala scene. While not shown within the movie, we imagined canapés would have been present, and champagne was an obvious choice. We enjoyed mozzarella skewers, broccoli-cheese stuffed peppers, and sausage bites with peach alcohol-free bellinis in flutes decorated with fingerprint stickers. Target sold heart-shaped cherry decorations this year for Valentine's Day, and because much of the movie takes place in Washington DC - known for its cherry trees - I picked up a garland, the snack plates, and the napkins. The garland was hung over our "treasure" and we used the paperware for both lunch & dinner. 

I considered a treasure hunt with ottendorf cyphers and invisible ink, but in the end decided it might be too juvenile. Instead, we found a new game, called Conspiracy Theory. Conspiracies and treasure hunting CAN go hand-in-hand, and we thought it would be a
fun addition to our weekly game day collection. It's a Trivial Pursuit style game, with questions on: aliens, mythos, (cryptids) schemes, tech, and "random". It was silly, we were terrible at knowing the correct answers, and we loved it. Then we watched Destination Truth, and opened our treasure boxes; tiny gold brick boxes left over from my daughter's birthday party last year. They were decorated with images of the Templar seal, and filled with a few Lindor chocolates, and chocolate-coated freeze-dried fruit. 

For dinner, we chose Patrick's house. Dinner was homemade cheese pizza, and Coke with plenty of lemon. We turned our electric fireplace on and the lights off while watching the movie. 

Then, just for fun, my daughter and I made chocolate "Parkington Lane" chocolate caskets complete with white chocolate skeletons and cheesecake mousse, for the scene where they find the treasure. 

This was a lot of fun to plan, and everything was so delicious! I can't wait to see what we do for next year! 

Our Narnian New Year

I have now finished my 40th annual reading of The Chronicles of Narnia. As I said in my previous post I've also read it multiple times to both my sisters and my children; so I've actually read it closer to 50 times, but this is my 40th wintertime reading. 

Just as I read the Hobbit and Fellowship of the Rings trilogy each fall, I begin each winter with Narnia. Some years I start on the first day of winter, and other years I begin the year with them. But I read them every year... they are some of my oldest friends. And yes my childhood Narnia books evaporated, so I did need to replace them several years back. 

These books are full of beginnings, renewal, discovery, and rediscovery... to me, they are a perfect way to begin the year. And in 2021, we decided to make it an official part of our family calendar. This is our fourth Narnian New Year!

Because Minnesota winters are SO VERY LONG; beginning as early as October and stretching as long as May, we break up our seasonal decorating to help keep things feeling fresh through the seemingly eternal cold. While December is full of pastel gingerbread, colorful houses, and candies, January is all white. 

We greet our guests with an Aslan wreath on the front door.

Across the marriage wall is a white garland; similar to Decembers, but more sparse. Rather than being heavily laden with bright colors, this one is decorated simply with white and clear ornaments, enormous snowflakes, and silver lions & icicles. The effect when light hits it, is dazzling. And in our niche sits a single white bird, and a snowflake garland. (This part is still a work in progress)

In the living room is a tiny vignette of white houses with my Angel of Hope, and the dining room has a small collection of wintry deer and houses atop our console. The sliding glass doors are lit for both December AND January with white snowflake lights, and two blow mold candles. It's my way of decorating "outside" without anyone needing to climb ladders in subzero temperatures. The goal is to light up ALL of our windows for the winter, one at a time.

Now that the books are read, it's time to re-watch the movies. I have a Pinterest board full of all-white foods to choose from, but we're in the middle of an Arctic blast right now and soup sounds rather good. I'm thinking roasted cauliflower white cheddar soup with fresh homemade bread, and cheesecake mousse with hot vanilla milk ought to hit the spot juuust about right.

We have decided to make our Sunday Movie Nights into more of an "event" and have thematically appropriate foods, turn the lights down low and the electric fireplace on, and make things feel a tiny bit special once each week. 

The details are still being worked out, but the idea is not to spend a lot of money, but to use what's already in the home... with the exception of groceries, of course. 

Between global pandemics, divorce, our church dissolving, and needing to restructure our entire lives, these past several years have been ones of contracting; pulling in, staying home, and digging deep. This will be a year of expanding. We have chosen a new church, the pandemic FINALLY feels as if it's in recession, books and therapy have begun to restructure a new and stronger mamahousemouse, and we are ready to begin leaving our cocoons.

This year, more than any other, feels as if spring is coming... Aslan IS on the move! 

After our long winter, we are ALL ready for our spring!

2023 Book Review

As an avid bookwyrm, I tend to devour books at a startling rate. Having been a hyperlexic toddler who never actually outgrew that trait, my book goals tend to be a bit higher than most. It's because I'm a freak, and I'm okay with this. NEVER compare your book goals with someone whose been reading novels since before their second birthday. If your goal is to read one book each month this year, I LOVE THAT! It's an amazing goal because it means you're reading! 

Books are my oldest friends. As I type this, I am reading through the Chronicles of Narnia for at least the 40th time. I have read them, beginning on January 1st, every year since I was 8. (I know I read them to my sisters and children several times as well, so I've likely actually read them through closer to 50 times by now!) When things go wrong, I look for a book to help me find my way. When things are going well, I look for a book to celebrate with me. And when winter makes my bones hurt... I stack my books about me like the tiny hoarding dragon I am, curled up with my treasures, and read my way back to spring. 

In 2023 I read 237 books. It's a lot, I know. But reading is a priority to me, I'm a speed-reader, and one of the way my ADHD manifests itself is in my reading. I am constantly reading at least 7 books simultaneously; one audiobook, one ebook, one faith-based (as well as constantly rereading the Bible), one heritage, one for personal growth, and one fiction. I am usually also going through an audiobook with my daughter, and occasionally we are also reading through a second book as well. So... after reading an average of 4 1/2 books per week, what sticks out as GREAT books? 

I am currently rereading the Redwall series. These were my son's favorite books in his early teens, and we read through them a few times as a family. We sold these several years ago, but when I found them in audio format - read by the author alongside a full cast, I thought they would make a wonderful bedtime routine. These are done SO well, and I LOVE hearing them as I curl up and settle in for the night. Such a treat! I will be completing the series this year, as I only made it through Salamandastron by year's end.

Lies my Teacher Told Me was one of a few history books I read this year, to relearn a history that was whitewashed in my education. This was the first, and inspired my hunt for other places where I'd been told one - very hurtful and highly blindered - version of the truth. A true eye-opener. 

The sweetest little treasure of a bedtime book, this was a Jólabókaflóð gift from my kids. Firefly Hollow is a sweet little adventure shared by a cricket, a firefly, and a sad little boy. It's a wonderful story of loss and friendship, and was beautifully illustrated. Absolutely a keeper, to be reread on sick days. 

Another "unlearning" book from last year was The Making of Biblical Womanhood. As an indoctrinated victim of purity culture, there are SO MANY books I'm going through to unlearn, relearn, and detoxify my thoughts on my body. This one stands out, as the most targeted for what I personally was taught and how I was brainwashed. I have so many more books to read on this subject, and so much more work to do before I can look in a mirror without feeling guilt. For anyone else who needs to unlearn what they were taught in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's about shame and their body, this is a great starting point. 

Another lighthearted book here... all three of us love watching Rom-Coms. My daughter and I actually ENJOY watching sappy, wholly unrelatable, entirely predictable Hallmark movies. We picked up both the everyday AND Christmas version of this choose-your-own-adventure style book, and all three of us took turns choosing and chortling our way through the silliness. If you've ever enjoyed, heckled, or rolled your eyes through a Hallmark romance movie, this book is worth more than a few giggles! 

 And... my favorite read of the year. Kat has published a FOURTH book.... the first in a new series! Sheepish Beginnings is the story of a young woman who inherits the family farm from her aging grandparents, and the marvelous misadventures that ensue as she learns the ropes of becoming a fiber farmer in smalltown, Minnesota. The sheep are obnoxious, Jack is a true blue hero, and I have been daydreaming about making lavender soap for months now. This is the perfect book for sick days, lazy summer days, or for tucking into your pocket for reading while waiting at the clinic. 

Yes, I'm biased. It's also true. This is an AMAZING light-but-not-syrupy read, and I can't wait for the second installment! 

2024 will be a read-what-you-have year. To save money towards our (FINALLY!!!) bathroom renovation, I will be reading my way through my mountains of freebie ebooks, audiobooks, the Heritage bookcase, and rereading my personal bookcases. 

My goal is 156 books; three per week. Last year I ended up doubling my goal, and still exceeding it. Can't wait to see what I read THIS year!

 

 

 

A Dream Come True

 I have always loved the idea of a secret library. I also prefer smaller homes. These two felt mutually exclusive, until about 10 years ago. 

One of the first things that caught my eye when I began perusing Pinterest a decade ago was a walk-in-closet turned mini-library. It was amazing, and different variations of the closet-library scrolled by my feed for years as I daydreamed. Finances and other issues prevented the dream from becoming reality, but it couldn't keep the dreams from whispering, "I'm still here!"

In 2008, my son's closet was turned into one large dressing room. In 2018, the master closet was transformed into a cloffice - which is perfect for my daughter's writing and audio-recording needs. When I moved into the "spare" room last year, my closet became a storage space for my tiny wardrobe, and the crafting shelves. It wasn't beautiful, but it worked.

Last winter, knowing that I would soon be inheriting the family genealogy files, after actually seeing how much "stuff" there actually WAS, we began contemplating our options for storing everything. After a month or so of running about the house with a tape measure and scribbling countless options onto graph paper, it seemed as if the only viable option was to combine my dream of a closet-library and a family history space into one cohesive space. 

Pinch me... I NEED to build my dream closet? Pinch me again!!!

So this year, after dozens of careful measurements, impatiently awaiting tax refunds and then waiting for things to go on sale, my closet has been altered as well... and I am ever so happy! 

We began by rehoming the wardrobe into my bedroom, and the crafting shelves into the dining room. This created a rather lengthy rearranging of five different rooms, but in the end every room was better for the change. To make sure things didn't become too hot or cold in the closet, we removed the door... a truly cathartic moment, because that door was literally cracked from past trauma. Throwing it to the ground outside and turning my back on that door was truly a healing moment.

Then it time to assemble five bookcases within the closet. I had gone back and forth between these or taller/prettier shelves, but it came down to finances. We saved on the shelves, to be able to finish the project. I reasoned that once filled, it would not matter or show, that the shelves themselves were cheapies from IKEA.

From there it was a matter of filling the closet up.

 This is roughly HALF of the genealogy files I have added to the closet to date. Hence the need for so much space. All of this needed to be carefully sorted, and while I have completed an initial sort organizing things into 8 families, (the 8 branches of my "kids" great-grandparents lines) there is so much more to do. Some photos will need to be scanned to see if I can digitally restore them. With others, there are at least 20 copies of the same photo. And I want to create subcategories within each family box, to make things easier to find. It will take time. It is worth the effort. 

While the family files were being sorted, the books and tiny family heirlooms were all arranged on the shelves. Because I am a bibliophile who rereads books AND reads through 2-300 books each year, finding an organization system for our books was important to me. I eventually settled on the BISAC system, and after ordering a few spare shelves to take full advantage of the space, the closet is finally finished. 

It took three months, but here is the finished closet. You can see the 8 family bins atop the shelves, and the family albums, photo boxes, and random pieces of memorabilia tucked randomly throughout the shelves. 

To the right I have a storage bench (our gift wrap supplies are within the bench) to sit on - or lean on when reaching for those bottom shelves. On the wall behind the bench are the wall crosses from our living room, and there is room on NEARLY every shelf for more books/family memories as needed. 

This was a tiny project, but it is literally a dream come true. I may not be physically able to sweep through here on a rolling ladder, but I love every inch of my tiny little secret library.

Jurassic Park themed dinner

 Happy Valentine's Day! 

The three of us decided to celebrate with a themed dinner; something we've done many times in the past, and loved. My daughter and I had no specific movie ideas, so I asked my son what he would like to watch. He chose Jurassic Park. We had a good laugh, but decided to run with it. 

 After scrolling on Pinterest it was obvious that the only challenge would be making our dinner look appropriate for adults, rather than a 6-year-old's birthday party. I can't say how many bowls of yogurt-coated pretzels labeled "dinosaur bones" I saw... and while they're perfect for kids, I wanted something a little fancier than that.

Feeling as if I needed SOME dinosaurs on our table, I found each of our favorite dinosaurs at the dollar store, and painted them with pearly acrylics. I LOVE how they turned out! I pulled a leafy tray and aqua gravel from our Christmas in July bin, and added a pair of candles for a fun $3 centerpiece. Gold leaf-shaped placemats helped add to the sparkle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For dinner, I made four-citrus marinated Quorn, (vegan "chicken") with gallo pinto; Costa Rican rice and beans. I had originally planned to make triple citrus, but at the last minute added grapefruit for even MORE flavor. A bed of greens was dressed simply, then topped with Chinese tea eggs nestled in Parmesan cups. There were glasses of mango margarita mocktails, and for dessert I made chocolate mousse dirt cups with almond-flour shortbread cookies, stamped with dinosaur footprints. 

We celebrated a day early, because my son works today. It was fun, low-key, and low-stress. 

In a word, perfect.

Reviving a Friend

Sunday is International Teddy Bear Picnic Day. I don't have a teddy bear... I did, once upon a time, but he evaporated one day in the wash and was no more. 

My kids were into Webkinz when they were little, and would decide that I needed my own stuffed critter every once in awhile. One of my little stuffed buddies is Schnurgle. 

Schnurgle is a little koala with a huge attitude. He's visited with hundreds of preschoolers, been with me through multiple hospital visits, and is very much a tiny fluffy part of our family. And over the past dozen or so years, he's become rather bedraggled. With a hole in his neck, his stuffing compacted to where he was only half-stuffed, and his fur beyond recognition he looked nothing at all like he did when he was new. I ran across a random video on Pinterest claiming that a simple metal dog brush could reinvigorate matted stuffed animal fur, and decided to give it a try.  

It took me several hours of vigorous brushing, restuffing, and stitching. With my arthritis this took three days, but sure enough my little stuffed friend is now soft and huggable again. I feel as if I could probably brush him just a bit longer to make him even softer, but am happy with where he's at now.

Now that I know it works, I plan to re-fluff the stuffed bunny my son has had since he was two. In the meantime, little Schnurgle is ever so pleased to be soft and fresh again! 

If you've an old stuffed animal in need of a little TLC, I can now wholeheartedly recommend this!  

A cheap dog brush. Who knew?

 

 

Summertime in a Jar

 

I began canning in 1986, with my mummy. Her frenetic kitchen habits kept most people away, but I was her protégé and basked in the wildness, whether it was pounding her fists and shouting "BARNEY FITZGIBBON" while rolling pie crusts, hollering a dozen orders at once in the midst of getting everything on the table simultaneously for Easter, or simply bellowing, "Hot hot hot... OUTTA MY WAY" while shifting pasta from stovetop to the sink for draining. Everything in the kitchen was fast, furious, and frantic. 

Canning was no different. Stirring stockpots for hours on end, constantly watching for that miraculous "sheet" that would let us know the jelly was ready for jars was hot, exhausting... and we loved every second of it. We would laugh, cry, scream, or bellow at the top of our lungs, but in the end there were always endless rows of jellies, pickles, and relish lined up in neat rows, ready to be enjoyed all winter long. 

Eleven years ago, I also began canning on my own; wanting to try new flavors. Eight years ago, was my last canning-day with Mummy. This year, teach my daughter how to can, keeping the tradition - and recipes - alive.

It will be much, much quieter. 

Watermelon rind pickles. They seem to be a thing of the past... people will say, "Oh, I used to eat those!" or "My grandmother used to make those!" but they're always spoken of in the past tense. It's watermelon season, and in our house... watermelon pickles are very much on our mind! They were the first recipe my daughter requested, and the reason we hunted for something to do with the actual fruit from multiple melons... because while most people buy watermelon for the pink part, we were after the rinds! 

June is watermelon season here. Once they went on sale AND there were a few days of nicer weather, I picked up two perfect ripe melons, ready to can. My daughter has been recovering from a nasty cold, and wasn't quite ready for two days in the kitchen, so she will learn with the NEXT batch of canning. 

Before making the pickles, something needed to be done with all of the fruit. I altered a recipe from online, and decided to make watermelon jam. With only four ingredients it might be the simplest recipe I've canned to date, but it tastes like summertime in a jar. 

This is an amazing new recipe for us! It reminds me of Jolly Rancher candies, and is just perfect on toast. Once it gets colder, I can't wait to try it on my daughter's crepes. The texture was slightly soft-set so I might increase the pectin to a full cup next year, but we are absolutely going to make this again, and again, and again...

Once the jam was made, it was time to process the pickles. While chopping rind for the brine, the first melon produced 17 cups, and since I wanted a small batch, (no more than 7 pints since that's what fits in my canner) I didn't bother cutting up the second one. By the time they were processed, those rinds had shrunk down by HALF! I only had 4 1/2 pints of pickles... barely enough to last us until Christmas! 

I'd read the quantity on Mummy's recipe and doubled the amount to get 7 pints. But for kitchen science reasons beyond my understanding, it wasn't enough. So I quickly diced up the second melon, and popped it into the fridge to brine all day.

Just before bedtime last night, I finished the second batch of pickles. It took one watermelon to create 8 1/2 pints of watermelon jam, but I needed TWO watermelons to create the same amount of pickles. *shrugs* I'll leave the science part of that mystery to someone else, and simply enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Two days of canning. 

Two shelves of summertime, preserved for our long Minnesota winters.  

One very tired mama housemouse.