weekend highlights: last chance before christmas

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Christmas tunes are being played on loop around here. We kept busier than Santa's elves this Saturday.  

Building a rocket ship.  No, really.

Beau's store-bought gift wrap has been segregated from my 

upcycled packaging to prevent rumbles between the gangs.  

Parsley is still alive and well, though production has considerably slowed.

The parsley photo shoot led to all out spring garden planning.

If a person can get carpal tunnel syndrome from a sewing machine, I think I'm halfway there.  But since I've got less than half my gifts to finish, I guess I'll survive.

upcycling trash into wrapping paper

Hidden deep in the recessives of my craft room for the past five months has been my personal shame.  My husband accused me of hoarding when he found it.  Stacked precariously in the closet was a collection of seeming garbage.  Now it looks a lot more reasonable.  It’s my holiday wrapping gear.

Way back in the heat of summer, I decided not to buy wrapping paper this holiday season.  No new boxes, no unrecyclable paper, no metallic bows.  Instead, I raided the recycling bin and removed a variety of wrapping superstars: newspapers, old boxes, catalogues, brown paper bags*, and, yes, one outdated textbook that no self respecting professor would have used after 2007.  I found a bagful of supplemental ribbons for $0.50 at a thrift store on the Cape.     

There are brown paper packages tied up with string...

Catalogue pages to make old boxes sing...

Newspaper pages from sometime last spring...

And a textbook from that guy who gave me a ring.

These ideas and tutorials can help you get started if you also want to limit your contribution to the four million tons of trash created annually from gift-wrap and shopping bags:

Making a Gift Bow from a Magazine Page

Pretty Add-Ons For Brown Paper Bags

Wax Paper Flowers (I used old pattern pieces for mine) 

Snowflake Toppers

* Beau can attest to the fact that I frequently get into arguments with cashiers when attempting to refuse bags in favor of using my reusable canvas one or even my purse.  Home Depot is the worst.  Sometimes, they’ll continue to put things in plastic even as I pull them out and repeat “No really.  No bags needed.  For real.”  On occasion, I just give in and walk out with one.  Mostly though, our brown bags are conspicuously in the shape of wine bottles, which appear on my doorstep in the hands of friends.  I’ll never, ever turn those ones away.    

where i've been

It’s been a whirlwind month, but things are finally starting to calm down.  Thanksgiving came and went and it somehow involved chasing chickens as well as a two-year-old. Woodstock has long since been adopted by close friends who are currently lavishing him with affection.  I landed and completed my first freelance writing gig.  I helped rebuild a kitchen.  I’ve flyered half of the South Shore.  I picked up the cutest little pooch for my dog walking business.  I’ve logged more hours crafting for Christmas than some of Santa’s elves can boast.  I’ve ironed shirts, scrubbed bathrooms, and taught myself how to cook a respectable dinner.  

But I’m back and boy, do I ever have a lot to talk about.  

meet woodstock

There's one of the good reasons why I disappeared for two weeks.  His name is Woodstock and before you get too excited, he's not mine.  He's an adoptable dog that I'm fostering from Forever Home Rescue New England.  If you're interested in adopting this sweet dog and you're in the Boston area or know anyone who is, you can check out his Pet Finder profile for more information.  A few things that profile won't mention:

1) He's very polite and never goes up or down the stairs until invited.
2) He's smart and already understands which furniture is off-limits and which is not.
3) He lifts his leg so high when he pees, I'm always a little worried he's going to topple over.

I'm especially glad to have him as a house guest because I walked out of my job in mid-October.  Life is just too short and wonderful to spend it being miserable.  I've spent the last month starting up my own dog walking and pet sitting business called Bark Breaks (and if any of my lovely, lovely readers would want to toss a link to that page on their blog, I would love them forever and ever).  It's fun and exciting but also sort of terrifying.  I'm learning about all sorts of things I never thought I'd be into - business development, SEO, accounting.  Gracious!  

Now it's time to go flyer the heck out of the surrounding suburbs.  I'll be back next week.  Have a great weekend everyone. 

canned broth personally offends me

Since our condo complex neighbors wouldn't appreciate a heaping pile of compost in my backyard, I'm still trying to find ways to reuse food scraps.  By far, my most successful endeavor since learning how to regenerate scallions, was figuring out how to make my own chicken broth.  It starts with a giant tupperware container that I keep in the freezer and periodically fill with dinner scraps.  Things you'll find in my freezer stock pot:

     -  Carrot peels and ends
     -  Celery scraps and leaves (especially the leaves)
     -  Onion ends and skins
     -  Garlic ends and skins
     -  Parsley shoots
     -  Leftover chicken parts (bones, skin, fatty pieces that are trimmed off)

Once the tupperware container is full, fill a dutch oven with water and dump the block in - I don't even defrost it first.  Add salt, pepper, garlic powder and a few bay leaves.  

Bring it to a boil and then lower to a simmer.  Leave it there for a 2-3 hours.  Strain the solids out and retain the liquid.  You'll be left with beautifully golden chicken stock that blows away the flavorless stuff they sell in a can.   

After trying homemade broth, we're ruined for the canned stuff.  There's no going back.  It has revolutionized my risotto and changed the face of every soup in my repertoire.  It's that tasty.  Best of all, it's made entirely of things that would have been thrown out.  Keeping in mind that it's made of scraps that could have been garbage, how do the processed brands get away with charging so much for it?