Peppermint Bark Tutorial

In the spirit of Making Shorter Lists, I am not going to share my tutorial for peppermint bark.

Courtney at Women Living Well has already posted hers, complete with photos! So head over there to check it out!




Right, I can cross that off the list for today then :)

During the week, I placed a random comment on Facebook about the sinking feeling I get most mornings upon waking as I suddenly remember all the things I didn't get done yesterday. 


Remembering things I haven't done sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night! Have you experienced that guilt/regret/cold sweat panic that comes from forgetting things? 


A couple of hours later a friend sent me an encouraging reply.  You, know the 'buck up, you'll be right' type of post that we crave when we leave these self-pitying messages. But there was one thing in particular that jumped out at me...


"Make Shorter Lists"




Make shorter lists? Genius!  I don't know why, but I have never, never thought of doing that!


At work (which is where I have the most problem with this), I keep a running list in a daily diary pad. That list can go for pages and is endless. Each day I write down all the things I want to get done in a day and cross them off as I go. 


There are two minor problems with this:


1. I do a host of other things as well that aren't on the list that prevent me from getting the list done. 
2. There are too many things on the daily list to ever be done in a day - meaning I always feel like I failed.


Every day. 


So, here is my new focus over Christmas as my mind runs away with a million plans to clean out every space in my house and repaint things and sew things and bake things and visit people and... (mind you, I am working full time right through the Christmas and January holiday period, so I'm not sure when I think I'm going to do all this...) - MAKE SHORTER LISTS.


Feel free to bumble along with me as I figure this out! 

Thanks for being my best friend Mr. Awesome. 

I love you :)

Christmas Recipe Highlights

All my favourite blogs are sharing beautiful Christmas recipes.

Here is some link love!

Laura at Heavenly Homemakers shares her Gramdma's recipe for Peppernut Bites 

Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking shares a recipe for Cranberry Orange Coconut Cookies

Courtney at Women Living Well wins the prize for me - these Soft Sugar Cookies look fantastic!

Share me some link love!!

Yummy Christmas Food!

Why is it that we wait until Christmas to bring out all the yummy stuff?!!


Here is the recipe from taste.com.au that I am making this year. 


Christmas Cookies

Makes

24

Ingredients

• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
• 1/4 cup (60ml) milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup (70g) custard powder
• Silver and gold sparkling cachous, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in milk and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and custard powder.
3. Press the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to rest.
4. Divide the dough into manageable portions. Roll out one portion on a sheet of non-stick baking paper to about 1cm thick. Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut shapes and place on the trays. Decorate with cachous.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden. Cool for 5 minutes on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Notes

• Children cooking should be supervised by an adult.
  
  
  The rest of my Christmas cooking plan looks like this:
  - Jars of homemade Lemon Curd 
  - Peppermint rock (this was such a hit with everyone last year and so, so easy.  Tutorial to come!)
  - My very special version of Rocky Road
  
  
  Notice how the recipes are simple and I won't be slaving for days on end. I'm looking forward to a relaxed cooking day! 
  
  
  What are you making this year?

A Reminder For the Peace

Taking Peacetime in the Christmas Season

My Sister-In-Law and Cousin

Take some peace time today. 

Sit and watch God's creation and wonder at the love of three-is-one that sent the Son to die for us fallen ones. 

 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ~ Luke 2: 8-11

May God bring you a sense of peace in the busyness today. 

Christmas-less-ness

Last year I looked around the room after the Christmas hub-bub and thought "Right, I better find a place for all this new stuff."  The problem was, there really wasn't much space. 


Apartment living is cramped. Even in a fairly average size apartment like ours.  And I also had this nagging feeling I might have missed the boat with my gift giving in some circumstances too. Did Aunt Mildred really need a new tea cosy?  Really? 


So this year we are working towards Christmas-less-ness. Here is what we are doing;

• Meeting up with friends for events/dinners where everyone brings part of the meal instead of gifts. Time spent together, especially with people we don't see often, is worth more than the gifts. 
• Joining my Mum and Dad, and Brother and Sister in law for a weekend away as a family rather than buying gifts for each other. Each couple pays their own way and we get to spend time together.
• Making and Baking rather than buying
• Buying things that are usable, useful and thoughtful rather than cheap and convenient. I make my list before I go to the shops rather than looking around 'window shopping'. That way it is quicker and less painful in the pre-Christmas rush at the shops. I also look online at a stores website to get the best price and plan around upcoming sales. 

Maybe one day I will feel confident to buy all our gifts here and here. I'm praying that it will be so. 

How do you avoid Christmas craziness? 

Catching Up on Life

Well we are nearing the end of the year and it has been too long between posts. Nov/Dec is always a tricky time for me work-wise, with many extra hours, as well as lots of training. Blogging became something difficult to focus on. 


Christmas Prep:  I am starting to move towards a Buy Nothing Christmas.  At the moment, my effort is token at best due to office Kris Kringles etc. But I am working on it. I will post about our Christmas gift giving this year later in the week, but food for thought - I would love to move towards this kind of Christmas...  
I am working through this free Jesse Tree devotional each day during advent. 


Fitness:  I have completed the 12 week program and have made a total loss of 4.5 kg from my heaviest weight. I still have a bit to go, and will be continuing to train 3-4 mornings a week.  I just need to go to bed earlier to compensate!!


Married Life:  Mr. Awesome and I are still enjoying the wonderful change that his current job affords us. We live just a two minute walk from his work and enjoy shorter hours, more time together and the financial benefit of only one car. We are looking forward to a little time off early in 2011 for our 2nd wedding anniversary. 


Church Life: Mr. Awesome and I have let a few other ministries go this year to focus on music ministry within our service. God has answered our prayers for more musicians and singers in the last few weeks and we are now able to step back a little in our time spent. Its a great thing! We are looking forward to what GOd plans for us next year.