Musings

Jesse Tree

Are you like me and suffer from Advent confusion? Are you seeking to add meaning and tradition into your holidays? Well look no further. We here at Musings are here to pass on other people's ideas for you to enjoy.

I am just learning about this myself but it seems like a cool idea.

Simple Mom mentioned a Jesse Tree, which is a tree you buy or craft, and add ornaments to as you tell the story of the coming of Jesus every night in December. (kind of like an advent calender but with stories) The name Jesse Tree comes from Isaiah 11:1 "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots."

There are a few books on this, the one the library had one I didn't like; the story they made up was dumb. That is just the way it is. Amazon had a few others that you can buy. The red book by McCaughrean is the one I didn't like.

This website gives the scripture outline so you can make stories of your own or just read the scripture. Each day also has a symbol illustrating the story, these you make into ornaments and hang on the tree.
I am thinking maybe a felt wall hanging of some kind, maybe with pockets? I will have to think about how to execute this most awesomely.

I have just started looking into this but it sounds like a good tradition for Christmas. I like having meaning in the things I do. This makes Christmas more about the history and Jesus rather than all the other stuff we tend to make it about. It is frugal, crafty and meaningful. I like it.

Create a Muppet

I should have taken a puppet when I had the chance. More than once we were offered one but didn't actually take one home. Now those Crank Yankers live in some producers basement. (sigh) Though to be fair it would be collecting dust in my house too.
But now you can get your own muppet for $90!? Seems pretty cheap to me.Though you don't get a lot of options.

Walking through the "build your own" takes me back to those good ol' days at CY. ahhh Sewing on ears and pinning on noses and using wigs backwards to make funnier hairdos. And little socks filled with styrofom for boobs. Good times.

Omg it has fur wigs and eyes like we use to make. We of course were not the Muppets, but we looked darn good. I feel so limited looking at this page of options. No 20 bins of wigs here. And boxes and boxes of eyes.

North Cascades

Chris was told that this was a beautiful drive. Since we don't know when this beautiful weather will end we decided Saturday was as good a day as any to make this trip. We packed the dog and some food in the Jeep (which we paid off today!).

We took Interstate 5 up to the 20 and then took that East.
We stared off the trip listening to a little John Cougar Mellencamp. Lola doesn't seem to be a fan.

After the Greatest Hits we put in the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. That seemed to cheer her up a bit.

This is on the 5 heading North.

This is at the National Park up there.

Somewhere near here you are supposed to be able to see the salmon running, but we couldn't find any.

These tiny mushrooms were so cute.

On the way there and back we passed Concrete.

It was a beautiful, peaceful drive. Lola was really good, just relaxing in the back. We saw several hawks while driving, one that kept pace with us for a while. It is so different to see them in the wild rather than in a zoo, or on a show. I also saw a bald eagle preening itself by the side of the river. It was so amazing. A friend of ours said she sees them up in Bothell. I had no idea you could see them in the wild. And so close to our house (well a few hours close). It was really amazing.
All in all a very nice trip.

Apples apples

Several weeks ago we bought a box of apples from a friend at church. These apples are so amazing.

I made a wonderful apple braised chicken dish I found from Weight Watchers.(A link to a printable version)

Apple Braised Chicken

2 tsp veg oil
1 lb uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 4oz pieces
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 large onion sliced
2 med apples, firm, cored and sliced
1 cup apple cider
1 cup fat-free chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cornstarch (I didn't have this so I skipped this part)

In a large skillet, warm oil over high heat. Toss chicken with flour, patting off excess. Place chicken in skillet, brown well on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet, set aside.

Reduce stove temp. to low, add onion to skillet. Saute until tender and lightly brown.

Stir in apples, cider, chicken broth, salt, ginger and chicken. Bring to simmer, cover, and cook for 30 mins. Use slotten spoon to transfer chicken, onions and apples to serving dish.

In small bowl, wisk together cornstarch and 2 to 3 tbsp of pan juices. Combine cornstarch mixture with remaining juices in pan, whisking constantly. Simmer for one minute. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.
Yields 1 chicken breast and about 3/4 cup of apple-onion mixture per serving. (5 Points per serving)

This braised chicken became an instant favorite. Chris made sure I had the recipe saved to make again and again.

I also made apple sauce, which went really well hot over pancakes. I have never had apple sauce hot before, oh wow, so good.

I used a Joy of Cooking recipe for the apple sauce. (this book has everything, I love it) Wash, peel, core about 3 lbs of apples (for me it was about 6-8 apples), simmer covered with 1/2 cup of water, 2 tbsp of lemon juice, and a cinnimon stick for 20-30 mins.

Remove lid, raise heat to med, add sugar if desired (I used 2 tbsp of raw sugar), cook until thick. Easy peasy.

We are through the first batch of apple sauce and the apples are quickly getting ripe. I read online that washing them and putting them in individual baggies in the coldest part of your fridge keeps them longer. I did that with the greenest of the apples. I made apple sauce with another 6 lbs of it and then froze it. I hope it keeps well in there. And still have the box shown above to go (plus the ones in the fridge).

I see an apple pie in our near future. I usually make my own crust, but I may cheat this time and get a store bought one.

I love these guys

Here is a clip of Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segal doing the "Confrontation" from Les Miserables. I love it.

Trick or Treat?

After seeing on of my tote bags a friend asked me to make a little bag for her daughter to use as a treat bag. I was immediately overloaded with ideas so I quickly decided to keep it simple. I modified the pattern for my totes to make a mini version.

The Halloween fabrics at JoAnn's did not impress. I found these cute dots in the regular quilting section. It reminds me of candy corn and chocolate. Good for a treat bag I think.

 

I ran out of brown paper so I used brown gnome wrapping paper from Ikea. Whatever works right?

I wanted to incorporate her name in a clever way so I finally settled on an owl asking "who?" of course. I found a picture online and cut out the layers in felt and stitched them together with embroidery floss and used iron-on to attach it to the bag front.

I used brown embroidery floss (4 threads) for the lettering.

And finally the finished product.

*Insert picture of happy child with chocolate smeared face*

Happy Trick or Treating!

Family weekend in Seattle

My parents flew out from Ohio on Friday to visit us. I think my mom mostly wanted to meet her first grand-puppy. They only got to stay a few days but I think we were able to do a fair amount of stuff even in those few days.

Friday we went to the Locks in hopes of seeing some salmon run. We saw one fish. Just one big fish. The chart by the fish ladder says we should be able to see three types of salmon running, but I guess just not on Friday.

We did watch the locks opening and watched some boats pass through. One sailor lost control of his sailboat and almost crashed into the lock doors, but managed to gain control at the last minute. It would have been a nasty crash, with lots of witnesses. (I didn't get a picture of him, I thought it a little rude)

 

Saturday we took Lola to the Dog Lounge (she was sooooo happy), while the rest of us went to Smith Tower and to Pike Place Market. We also went to Elliot Bay Bookstore, and had those awesome ham sandwiches at Grand Central Bakery. I didn't get any pictures here either. I will look for the pictures I took at Smith Tower with Nina.

Sunday we went to church, the Ballard farmers market; where we finally had the fire baked pizza they make there (oh so good). We also got some fresh pasta we had later for dinner and some cheese. Gotta have the cheese.

After lunch we took the ferry across to Bainbridge Island. It is only $6.75 per person, round trip and it is a beautiful view of the city.

We also walked around the island for a bit and looked at the cute stores. There was a great bookstore, and a oh so cute fabric store. We had planned on timing our return with the sunset but we were ready to go home before then. So no sunset pictures, but we did get to see Mt. Rainier, it was so beautiful, it is really hard to capture it in pictures.

These ferries are so impressive. We watched the cars coming off, they looked so small exiting this beast. I should have taken more pictures of the ferry itself. It was really taking this ride. I highly recommend it. I wouldn't want to do it every day but definitely worth doing a couple times.

All in all a very good weekend.

.

Deodorant

Earlier this summer I started experimenting with different kinds of deodorant. I have always been an antiperspirant kind of girl. But recently I have started to become concerned about the aluminum in it that is apparently bad for us.

My first non antiperspirant deodorant was Tom's of Main peach deodorant. This only left me smelling worse. And the lavender sent worked for a while. But it did give me red rash like markings on my armpits. And it didn't completely kill the smell.

And I will mention that antiperspirants didn't kill all the smell either. By the end of the day I would smell a little "warm" shall we say? And I it didn't keep my dry.

My latest discovery (and knock on wood), my new favorite is Crystal Body Deodorant. (shown in the picture is the mini travel size) This is made from natural mineral salts. The salts "eliminate odor by leaving an invisible protective barrier against odor-causing bacteria".

It is just a hard salt thing that I wet with water and apply. It doesn't leave any marks on me or my clothes. I asked Chris the other day if he notice if I smelled any different since I started using it. He didn't remember noticing, except that he has been complimenting me on my smell more. And he agreed I didn't have that end of day "warm" odor. All good things.

In addition to my rock salt I put on powder. I was using a bath sponge to powder up, but recently found powder puffs on Etsy. Isn't it pretty? They, Soapalaya Soaps, make several different kinds in all kinds of colors. How cute for babies? I feel so feminine puffing my armpits.

I like my new deodorant routine. I smell better, feel non sticky, and powdery fresh.

P.S. There are other versions of salt deodorant, including roll-ons, but I didn't like the one I tried as much as the block of salt.

Golden Gardens

See we have beaches too.

Knitting with dog hair

When I was a kid some of you may remember that I had a three legged German Shepherd. She shed so much hair my dad often said that we should spin it into yarn. Well it looks like someone else had that idea too.