Lightening Online

The more we do “simple” Christmas, the more in love with it I fall! 

On Saturday 22nd we left home to spend some time at my in laws shack near the beach.  I spent the last 2 days before Christmas SLEEPING!!!!  Seriously!!!!  How cool is that?  Well, I did have a few small jobs like fill up the lollies and nuts and cook some pasta for a pasta salad.

Christmas lunch was held at my SIL’s.  A beautiful yet simple set up outside.  Few nibblies on the table.  BBQ set up one end so the cook wasn’t excluded from the gathering and food could be cooked as the meal progressed.  Just 3 wonderful salads!  Chicken kebabs, smoked salmon patties and garlic prawns on the BBQ.

Dessert was a salad platter, pudding for those who were keen (thanks to MIL) and some of the homemade goodies I’ve been making (which went down rather well ).

Plenty of good food, even better company and no-one was really stuck in the kitchen preparing food very long.  Totally the way to go!!!!  Yah for my SIL!!!!

Kids favourite pressies:

* Lightning McQueen watch

* High School Musical PJ’s

* MP3 player ($40 from Kmart)

Our kids are not all that hard to please really.  Of course, they got spoilt as usual.  And the Playstation 2 went down VERY well.  That was a family present and mum & dad are having lots of fun too!    Well, maybe more mum than dad  - he wasn’t too keen on joining me on the Singstar.  Well, we had to shut the window anyway!  LOL.  I’m sure he’ll feel better once we get back to the farm where no-one can overhear.

So, that’s about our Christmas wrapped up.  Most of my posts have been prewritten and this one I’m squeezing in while home for a few hours.  I should be back online soon and will answer all your lovely comments then.  Hope you all had a great Christmas!

This morning I made up Lisa’s fudge .  We had a storm and the power went out.  Trust that to happen to me on the only day I actually wanted to use the stove!!!!  LOL.  So, there I was stirring a pot over our camping stove (which I’m very thankful for ).  Of course, now I’m wishing I had a gas stove.  It heats up so QUICK compared to electric.  DH tells me it’s too much hassle (we’d have to have bottled gas etc).  Plus mine is only 3 years old.  *sigh*  Never mind.  We can’t everything in life that we want.  Thankfully I’d also written the recipe down (sort of) as I had no internet access without power either.

I was hoping it would be so rich that I wouldn’t eat too much of it.  WRONG!!!!  I’ve just cut it up and tiny pieces keep ending up in my mouth.  Somehow…..without any help from me whatsoever……  I think the walnuts I added have toned it down a little.  And my cooking chocolate was a dark chocolate (is dark what you’re supposed to use for that bit Lisa?).

Of course, in my usual fashion, I decided to have a play with the recipe.

Instead of using a can of condensed milk, I made up the homemade version (as I always do when a recipe calls for condensed milk).  I have no idea if 400g (as per recipe) is a can but I just used the quantity in my recipe and it seems to have turned out fine.

I wanted to make a sort of white chocolate/caramel version of the fudge.  So instead of using white sugar for the condensed milk recipe, I substituted in brown.

So make up condensed milk as follows (the easiest thing to do is make it directly into the saucepan you want to use for your fudge.:

1 cup dry milk powder

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup boiling water

3 Tbsp margarine

Mix together until smooth.

To this condensed milk mixture add:

500g white chocolate (or thereabouts.  I used what I had left which wasn’t *quite* 500g but it’ll do)

65g butter

tsp vanilla

Melt over slow-ish heat, stirring until all smooth and melted then pour into a 20cm square tin that you’ve lined with baking powder.

Mine isn’t quite set yet but I just pinched a bit and tasted it and this one really IS rich and very sweet.  If you’re not a lover of sweet stuff and white chocolate you probably won’t like it.  Hopefully my BIL’s do as they’re getting some of it for Christmas.

…or should that be making?????  Cos the oven certainly isn’t on today.  It’s warm and rather steamy here today with more rain expected tomorrow (making it even stickier!).  So I’m rather glad that my Christmas “baking” mostly goes in the fridge, rather than the oven.    I’m glad I’ve already finished with baking shortbread as that does need to go in the oven.

I’ve been given the job of “homemade treats” for Christmas Day this year.  My in laws know me well!  It’s great because I’m making a heap of treats for gifts anyway.

Naturally I had to start with the old Christmas faithful - Rocky Road!  Over a few days I’m working my way through whatever I get to….starting with the ones I REALLY want to get made and adding to those if I get enough time and energy.  So, here are my “recipes” I’ve made so far (not everything has a recipe so I’ll do my best to explain what I do).

ROCKY ROAD

1 packet chocolate melts (mine are 375g)

about 1/4 packet of copha (250g or 1/2 pound size pack)

1/2 - 1 packet marshmallows

red jube lollies (I didn’t have any this time so just picked out red, white and green jelly beans)

salted peanuts (you can use unsalted but I like the taste of salt and chocolate together, you can also leave these out)

Melt chocolate melts and copha using a medium heat in the microwave - 1 minute at a time.  Stir between minutes and continue until melted.  Add marshmallows, jubes and salted peanuts.  I add some of each until the chocolate looks to be “chock full” of stuff.  Pour into a tray lined with baking paper and set in fridge.  Cut into bite size pieces or whatever size you prefer.

Alternative suggestions: some people like coconut in their rocky road (I don’t).  You could also add something like rice bubbles instead of peanuts to make these a little more “kid friendly”.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE

My mum had the most awesome recipe for this that I can’t seem to lay my hands on.     Here’s the closest recipe I was able to find.

125g copha

125g icing sugar

6 Tbsp cocoa

4 Tbsp milk powder

pinch salt

Sift dry ingredients.  Melt copha and mix into dry mixture.  You need to work fast.  Pour into mini patty pans or into a thin layer in a baking tray.  Refrigerate.  If you make it in a slab, break into pieces when set.  You could also drop spoonfuls onto a tray lined with baking paper.

I made up a double mixture as that used a full package of copha.  About 1/3 was mixed with rice bubbles and the rest had salted peanuts added to it.  I was able to get some Christmas mini patty pans from Spotlight this year and used those.  This double mix made around 90 chocolates.

It’s quite a strong tasting recipe so you don’t want to overdo the cocoa, unless you prefer it that way! 

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE BALLS

1 packet cream cheese

2 packets of chocolate biscuits filled with vanilla cream (eg oreos, delta creams….)

Blend in food processor, roll into balls and set in fridge.  Dip into white, milk or dark chocolate.

APRICOT COCONUT BALLS

1 tin/can consensed milk (or 1 quantity homemade condensed milk)

2 cups dried apricots (chopped/diced)

3 cups coconut

extra coconut for rolling in

Combine ingredients together, roll into balls then roll in coconut.  Set in fridge.  Makes approximately 60 balls.

This is as far as I have gotten so far.  I’ll be back to add some more if and when I get to them.

If you’re stuck for something to entertain the kids in the last few days before Christmas, here is a recipe for Christmas Playdough that I made for my kids recently.

CHRISTMAS PLAYDOUGH

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 Tbsp tartaric acid

2 Tbsp oil

Green food colouring

Few drops peppermint essence

Silver or red glitter (the cheap kind that is just flakes of tinsel type stuff - be careful as some of the finer, more expensive stuff can have glass in it)

2 cups boiling water

Stir until all combined then kneed to make a smooth dough.  Allow to cool a little before giving it to little hands as the boiling water can make it quite hot.

This is great as it stimulates so many different sense in one activity.  Sight, touch and smell.  If you have really young children you may need to supervise carefully as there is a temptation to eat such yummy smelling playdough!  I love the minty smell that permeates our family room when the children get the playdough out. 

Kate at Our Red House had a similar recipe for homemade playdough recently.  It really is a quick and easy way to make playdough.  I love the way playdough encourages kids creative side.  Ours has been made into all manner of things already.  Lots of fun for not a lot of $$.

I like to add epsom salts to my bath.  It’s very relaxing and apparently the magnesium is absorbed through the skin while you soak.  This is good for me as I seem to be lacking in magnesium and I’m terrible at remembering to take supplements.  There is quite a bit of information available online spouting the benefits of epsom salts.

Earlier this year I bought a large bag of epsom salts from a horse supply place.  It’s much cheaper to buy there than in the supermarkets.   Given my mum is allergic to almost all perfumed bath salts, I decided it would be nice to make her up her own bath salts with just a bit of colouring and no scent.  We’re also doing small gifts for DH’s siblings and their partners this year so I thought something homemade like this might fit the bill for the females.

There has been quite a bit of talk on the Simple Savings* forum about homemade Christmas gifts.  One of the ideas that has been discussed is that of making Candy Cane bathsalts.  It sounded to me like a great concept for Christmas Gifts.  There are quite a number of recipes available on the internet.

I kept my “recipe” fairly simple with the main ingredient being epsom salts.  I also added some bicarbonate soda as that is supposed to help soften the skin.  The red has been coloured with food colouring and while most recipes say to add Peppermint Essential Oil, I just used Peppermint Essence as that’s what I had.

I made Glass Deco images to add to the jars and the tag I found at Organized Christmas .  You can also find a recipe there if you prefer not to just “wing it” like I did.    Here is a photo of the finished products.

I have been busy making shortbread today for my children to take to their teachers tomorrow as end of year/Christmas gifts.  Each teacher is also getting a gift card which says that a child in poverty will be provided with educational tools on their behalf.

DH and I have been discussing if we *should* do something for the kids bus drivers.  I find it hard knowing where to draw the line when it comes to giving gifts to those who provide a service.  After all, they are paid to do what they do.  On the other hand, I feel it is nice to show a small token of appreciation.

I guess I’m particularly keen to give a gift to teachers as having worked in a school, I’m aware of how much work it is.  It can be a very thankless task at times.  From there though, where do you draw the line?  I wouldn’t give a gift to a commercial bus driver but our children build up quite a relationship with their bus driver as they have the same one all year.  But then, what about other service personel?  Or the support staff at the school?  It’s one of those scenarios where it could go on and on and get out of hand.

Do you buy or make gifts for your child/rens teachers?  If so, what kind of things do you do?  Are there others in your life that you do the whole “gift” thing with or do you try and keep it simple?

Over the weekend as part of our “gradual” Christmas decorating, the kids and I made some Christmas stained glass window pictures with a Glass Deco kit I ordered through one of our preschools fundraising toy catalogues. On Saturday the kids had a great time making these and then on Sunday they were most excited as I peeled each one off and stuck them on our cupboard doors in the kitchen.

This first picture is the one done by my not quite 10-year old son. Each of them chose their own picture from those I had found and printed off.

DD chose an angel. No surprises there! (She gets to dress up as an angel twice in Christmas performances this year. Once for school and once for Sunday School. She is very excited about that.)

The black outlines are done first. I did them throughout the week in preparation as they’re quite fiddly to do. This meant that on Saturday the kids were able to fill in the sections with whatever colours they liked. The sparkly sections are done using a Glass Deco confetti kit (so the glitter is already in the paint). I think you can get glitter ones in some stores too but this catalogue only had the plain colours and the confetti.

This tree is my “turning 4 this Saturday” little mans efforts. How cute is it? I had to stop myself from encouraging him to use colours that I thought would be best. He needs to be able to express himself in whatever way he likes. He is so proud of this and points it out every day.

These are really designed to go onto glass - windows, doors, jars etc but they stick to any surface that is reasonably smooth. Stuck to my kitchen cupboard doors (the floor to ceiling ones) they sure do make my kitchen look festive.

I love things that the kids can do instead of using only store bought decorations. At the moment I am making some different pictures to add to jars for some of my homemade Christmas gifts. I’m hoping to have enough paint left that the children can make another one each for us to add to our glass back door.

There are some great Christmas colouring pages available all over the internet. I found these particular pictures here . I’m planning to print off some more colouring pages for them to colour in when school lets out for the year. Only two weeks to go now!! (my children have tommorow off so today is the end of week 7 here). They have a little over a week between school breaking up and Christmas Day so it’ll be helpful to have a few fun “Christmassy” type activities for them to do.

I am REALLY bad at asking for help. It’s a pride thing, I know. But I wonder if it’s also a cultural thing. Once upon a time neighbours were more aware of people’s situations and therefore their struggles and would automatically lend a hand at times. These days it would seem that a combination of our busy lifestyles and our desire not to “interfere” has made that sense of community gradually disappear.

Isn’t it sad that our lives are so busy that we find it hard to fit in reaching out to another? Isn’t it sad that our desire for privacy and “individuality” has caused us to shut others out of our lives?

What about help within a family? DH and I have been talking about this lately. We’ve been trying to work out why his parents seem to want to help his sister and her family and yet seem reluctant to help us out - even when it seems really obvious to us that we’re in need of some help. At first I thought perhaps it was the son/daughter issue. BUT, he has 2 sisters and only one of them gets the attention and the help.

Is it that they’re not interested in helping us? Do they love her more than they love my DH and the other siblings? Does she appear more “needy” than the rest of us?

Sadly, DH and I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get help from his mother is to basically “tell her” this is what’s happening. Occasionally I have gotten to the point of actually asking her for help, only to have her turn me down. This was very perplexing to me as it takes me quite a lot to actually ask for help and when I ask, I’m really DESPERATE. Not that she would know that I guess.

DH has taken over the “asking” now and he basically says “we need you to have the kids…..”. And 99% of the time that works out well. I struggle a little because I feel like we’re being “demanding” and that we shouldn’t expect anything from her. We should wait until it’s offered. I guess we’ve waited for over a decade now…… It’s not that she doesn’t really want to help. It’s sort of a case of “the squeaky wheel gets the oil”.

I guess on reflecting on all of this I feel a great sadness. A sadness that we’ve all let our lives get so busy that we just don’t have the time to reach out to others when they’re in need. I know that before my breakdown I was as guilty of this as anyone. I also feel sad that many people feel they need to put on an act of “having it all together” and not opening up to others about how they’re really feeling. Again, I’m really bad at this myself.

So many people have commented at how shocked they were when I had my breakdown. Nobody could even imagine that I’d be struck by something like depression. Even my poor DH was rather shocked by the whole event. Me, well…..I knew something wasn’t right and that if things kept going the way they were I felt like I was going to collapse in a heap. To be honest, I did try to tell my DH about it. He thought he could “fix it”. He’s Mr “fixit” himself. He and I make for a bad mix when it comes to getting help because neither of us is very good at admitting when we need it.

I wanted to tell someone. For months I had it in my head that if an opportunity would come up, I would say something to one of my closest friends. Sadly, the opportunity never came up. Maybe I was supposed to *make* the opportunity. Maybe I was so used to putting on a “front” that I didn’t know how to let down my guard enough to show people the tank underneath had run completely dry.

When I saw a Psychiatrist for the first time in January of this year, he diagnosed me with having zero self esteem. Not “low” self esteem but “NO” self esteem. I remember sitting and talking with a friend about this (finally getting to the point of opening up and being more honest) and she was rather shocked. Her comment went something along the lines of thinking that no-one would EVER have picked that about me. Do people really see me so much differently to the way I see myself? Sometimes, I’d really like the opportunity to just sneak a peek at the way others see me. Curious minds want to know and all that.

It’s ironic that now I sit behind a keyboard and spill my guts in such a very public way. Not that the whole world reads my blog or anything. But they could if they wanted to…..

In 2006 I was out of circulation for many months. In that time I was sent 1 card. Just the one. If I had been in hospital, do you think I might have received more cards than that? Don’t get me wrong. We weren’t abandoned by our friends or anything like that. Many people from our church cooked meals and cakes for us. I did receive a few emails. And people were constantly asking my DH how I was going and sending their regards and love via him.

But just 1 person of all the people in my life took the time to actually sit down, write a card and send it. To be perfectly honest, that hurt me a little bit. I know my friends care. I know how busy they are. And it’s challenged me to consider how often in my life I’ve stopped and taken the time to write someone a card. Just a note to let them know I’m thinking of them. Nowhere near often enough.

I have been as guilty as anyone else of filling my life up to capacity and then some. Running from one thing to another. Constantly on the go. Constantly running so close to empty that there’s nothing left to give another person. The hearts desire might be there. But if I don’t act on it, how can that person ever know I was thinking of them?

I think we all need to take a step back and really examine our lives. Are we too busy to help someone in need? Are we too busy to bake a cake for our own family, let alone find the time to bake a cake for a neighbour or friend? Are we so busy trying to tread water ourselves that we don’t even notice those drowning around us? And if we do notice - are we in a position to help them without drowning ourselves?

This is a challenge I want to take on myself and I encourage any of you reading this to do so also. As we move into the busy, festive season and then in to a New Year. Do we really want to keep living this fast paced life where people don’t matter enough to us? Can we pause a moment and take a step back long enough to look around us and see how others are doing? Can we pop a little note or card in the post telling someone how much they mean to us?

What can we do today to make someone smile? What can we do to make their day just that little bit brighter?

Some of you may have noticed I’ve changed the title of this blog. I felt the old title was rather long and cumbersome. The definitions I’ve posted underneath are my own. They’re not who I AM but who I desire to be.

What can you do today to spread a little “lightening” in the world.

Well, whether you like it or not, the Christmas Countdown is ON. We’re now exactly one month away from Christmas. I hope that makes you smile and not freak out. LOL.

It certainly makes me smile. Did you notice my Christmas Tree widget with the countdown to christmas on it? That makes me smile too. No idea if it’s in Australian days or US days but oh well, close enough will have to be good enough for now.

I was thinking this morning about the fact that the US Christmas Season begins in earnest the day after Thanksgiving. What an awesome way to get into the “Christmas Spirit” than having a festival with the emphasis on being thankful.

So today, I’m having my own little Blog Thanksgiving. That is, I’m wanting to be mindful of some of the things in my life that I am thankful for.

I am Thankful for:

* The birth of Jesus which ultimately led to me being able to have a relationship with my creator God.

* My husband who is the light of my life and I love him more and more each day.

* My beautiful children who make me smile more often than they make me tear my hair out.

* My church family whom I adore. We go to the most awesome church that sits in the middle of nowhere all on it’s own and is bursting at the seem with children. I was walking around in church this morning, no shoes on, rocking someone else’s baby to sleep and I could honestly say there was no place I would have rather been right then.

* My extended family and friends.

* The fact that the sun rises each morning and sets each night.

* My blog where I get to have my say and through which I have made some wonderful new friends.

* My bed which is sooooo comfy and my pillow which I love!

* Having a roof over my head. Not only a roof but a roof over a house I was able to design and choose colours for. A home that is also paid for. I am so blessed.

* A reliable car which enables us to move about and not be confined to a small area.

* My garden which makes me smile and gives me peace as well as giving us nutritious food to eat.

* Never having to go hungry or wonder where my next meal will come from. An abundantly stocked cupboard, fridge and freezer.

* The internet through which I have made friends and learnt so many new things.

* Chocolate. LOL.

* More clothes than I really need. Shoes to protect my feet and hats to protect me from the sun.

* The beach. We were able to take our children to the beach yesterday (about half an hours drive but we already had to go half the way for voting anyway) and they had such a GREAT time. It was an excellent reminder to me how much children really NEED in order to have fun!

* My knitting needles and loom which has brought me much pleasure, relaxation and created some useful items.

* That I have time to do things that I enjoy doing.

* That I live in a democratic country, even if I have my doubts about the outcome of that democratic process.

* Freedom. I am free to have an opinion. I am free to believe what I like. I am free from fear of being harmed or persecuted in any way. I am free to be who I am.

* My books which are a font of information and a source of relaxation and escape.

I feel like I could go on and on and on here. My life is so blessed and I am surrounded by wonderful people and a LOT more things than I really have need for. It truly is amazing how content it makes me feel when I begin to list some of the things I have to be thankful for.

Do I really need anything more for Christmas? No, I don’t. I really don’t.

What are you thankful for? Perhaps you’d like to add it to the comments here or write your own blog post about it (for those who haven’t already done so).