Merry Merry.. still...

Hi all!

Is Christmas over already? Wow, that was so quick! I still am putting on my Christmas lights and lighting all my Christmas Candles for a couple of days yet.. I love Christmas and want to hang on to it! I had a lovely time at Mum and Dad's, even though it was only Will and I, Aunty Julie and Uncle Daryl and Mum and Dad! Actually, I ended up eating 4 Christmas dinners (Chamber's Family Christmas, Kingman family Christmas, Work Christmas dinner and actual real Christmas Day lunch!) spoilt {grinning!} Needless to say, with all the Christmas busy-ness and lots of food, I think I am a little bit "Festively Plump", time for a run! Run Fatty Run {slapping backside and trotting around the room}!

So to give you an insight on how my Christmas was.. here is the heads up... There are a few important things that happen on Christmas day, the same every year..

1. Wake up early for Church (the earliest possible service so we can be back early to open presents and for the meat to go on!)

2. Choose a seat on the lounge (in our Childhood home Felicity and I used to fight over who got to sit on the seat closest to the tree- the "prize" seat I guess! We eventually just took turns- referring to last years pics to remember who sat where!) and have your presents piled around you.

3. Eat a massive baked lunch on the "good China", usually 2 meats (this year Pork and Chicken), lots of baked veggies, gravy, Crackling {smacking lips in memory!} Bon Bons and you have to wear the hat that comes in the Bon Bons, and Apple Tease to drink. Look how full my plate is! And I ate every bite {holding tummy in painful memory!}

4. Pudding! Mum usually makes the pudding (when I was growing up I always knew Christmas was near when the pudding was wrapped in calico, hanging over the back of a chair in the breakfast room! That chair always weighed a tonne cos of the pudding and was constantly falling back under the weight if you brushed past it!), however I guess time was short this year and we had {gasp} store-bought pudding! It's ok Mum, it was still delicious.

5. Afternoon Nap. Lol, always happens!

So I had a great Christmas! How about the rest of you? I hope you stayed happy and safe with no family dramas!

:) C

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Feliz Navidad, Melakaliki Maka, Frohe Weinachten, Xin Dan Fai Lock (thanks Willy!), Bon Natale, Happy Birthday Jesus, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I hope you are having a great day!! And I hope Santa found you and brought you lots of cool stuff! Mum gave me directions not to run over Santa on our way down to Wollongong last night!! We didn't, thankfully :) although I think I did see him hovering over Olympic Park with Rudolph's blinking nose.. but it could have been a Helicopter!
It was up early for us, 7:30 church, fried ham and poached eggs for breakfast then present opening. Its only Will and I here with Mum and Dad at the moment, my Aunty and Uncle are coming for lunch soon, so it's a very very small Christmas for us!! It's so strange coming from a big family, to have such a small Christmas! We had a big one last year though, so it's ok. It's overcast and a bit windy here though, I thought it was Summer in Australia?!
I'll upload some pics later when I can..
The thing about a small Christmas is that... there's nothing to do now! We were up early for church and present opening didn't take too long.. we're a bit old to have gotten toys for Christmas (although I am still partial to a bit of Lego!) and we're waiting for our delicious Christmas lunch so now what?! Will is playing my Nintendo DS (last year's present!) and I am blogging! We are watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation though! Love it!
Merry Christmas!
:) C

Baking Bonanza!

I added to my Baking Bonanza yesterday by making Gingerbread Cupcakes, Mini Banana Loaves and another lot of Almond Roca, all in 2 hours. Happy days {punching the air with fist}. Needless to say when I finally got home from work at 12:30am I was totally spent!! And went straight to bed!

The Gingerbread cupcake recipe is from the Martha Stewart website, which has heaps of great recipes. She is a pretty good mentor- apart from the whole "going to jail" thing. Maybe I'll skip that part for my life! I love her magazine too, so many pretty things. Especially the Wedding mag which I may purchase sometime in the future... ok, I'm off topic now.. back to baking.. The cupcakes are DELICIOUS!! Although how could they be anything else when they contain a whole cup of butter, a cup of golden syrup and cinnamon/cloves/nutmeg etc! I did have a tiny disaster though: just as I stood up from putting them in the oven I saw the eggs sitting on the bench. And if they're sitting on the bench, they're not in the cupcakes. D'OH!! I quickly whipped the cakes out of the oven, emptied all the cases back into a bowl and added the eggs, mixed, then got fresh cases and filled them and put them back in the oven. Phew!! {relief!} they worked out! And Fliss, I left one without eggs to see how it was, and it was just as nice! So I'll make them for you sometime with Macadamia oil and no eggs. See if you like them! I didn't have time to ice them fully (and I hate icing anyway, too much sugar, frosting is soo much nicer) so I used a white fudge pen to draw pics on top. I don't think gingerbread really needs icing anyway. I wrapped them up for my friends with a mini banana loaf and a handful of Almond Roca each and gave them out at work yesterday. I think they were all pretty pleased! I got a message from one guy this morning to say they'd eaten theirs for breakfast and they were delicious! Cool!

Will and I are off to Mum and Dad's after work, so a Merry Christmas to you all, have a great day tomorrow, celebrating with your family and friends!

:) C

Only 2 sleeps til Christmas!

Wow, how time has flown this year! Can you believe it is only 2 sleeps til Christmas? No, me neither!

At Saturday night's extended family Christmas dinner we did Secret Santa between us cousins. We do it every year cos there are so many of us, and so many with kids and on a tight budget so there is no way you can buy for everyone! Our budget is usually $20-$30 and you choose a couple to buy for "out of the hat" so to speak. This year I got my youngest cousin closest in age to me, Gareth and his beautiful GF Amy. They live up in the Blue Mountains and Amy is a massive hot chocolate lover so I decided to put together a "Snowman Soup" pack for them to enjoy, just in case they get a white Christmas up there! (It's not totally impossible with our weird weather! It's supposed to be summer.. what happened to our usual 35 degrees?) My Snowman Soup pack consisted of a big tin of Ghiradelli Premium Hot Choc (I bought Ghirardelli chocs in San Francisco 2 years ago when I went and they were superb!!) mini marshmallows wrapped up as "Snowman Soup Croutons", Candy Canes as "Snowman Soup Stirrers", 2 of the biggest mugs I could find, some Lindt Snowmen chocs and Lebkuchen (yummy glazed German Gingerbread- not pictured) and that's the Snowman Soup Pack!

I think they really liked it! I didn't have much time to make the labels for the croutons, soup and stirrers cos of all my OT, next time I make it I'll be a bit less busy (I hope!) and will have more time to decorate the tags cos I had so many more ideas for them!

But it turned out really cool and I was happy! What did Will and I get I hear you ask? I got some really funky Tupperware green translucent serving bowls which are cool and very useful (and I love Tupperware but don't own much!) and Will got a "bucket seat" for fishing which is a big plastic plank with a groove to fit over a bucket (cool invention! Those fishermen think of everything!) and a fish weighing scale and ruler. He's stoked with his gifts too!

Merry Christmas! I'm off to buy food for more Christmas cooking.. watch out Martha!!

:) C

Move over Martha Stewart....

Move over Martha Stewart... Mrs Claus the Cook is here!
I have been baking up a mini-storm in my kitchen the last couple of days in my awesome new Apron from Big W. I love it! {hehe, giggling at self}. It is the perfect kitchen wear and I even put it on this arvo just to wash up in. Lol. Pity no-one but me is here to enjoy it! (Yes Mum, before you say it, I realise this is my fake smile, but I was concentrating on getting myself in the frame! It's hard to take a pic of yourself full length in the mirror!)

I have been a bit behind the times this December. I don't know what has happened with all my time, but Christmas is almost here and I only just dug out my Christmas earrings! Today I pulled out my Christmas Mugs and tea towels.. {sigh} I will have to keep them out til my birthday just to make it worth while!!

So... as for Martha.. I was cooking Pumpkin Pies and Almond Roca for my extended family Christmas Dinner last night. I hadn't made Pumpkin Pies before, and they turned out pretty delicious! I absolutely love all the Christmas themed foods in America; I love Cinnamon and all those sweet spices and when I visited the US 2 years ago {sob sob.. I can't believe it's been that long!} I loved the Pumpkin bread, gingerbread cookies, Pumpkin Pie, Pecan tarts etc etc. So this year I decided to have a go. And also cos I found an English recipe for Pumpkin Pie which made it easier cos the American recipes called for Canned Pumpkin and "Pumpkin Spice" which they don't sell here in Australia. [Incidently.. FYI Pumpkin Spice is similar to our Mixed Spice, so I use that in recipes when they call for Pumpkin Spice.] Anywho.. they are yummy! And we only cut one at the dinner so I have another one for my immediate family Christmas dinner tomorrow night (this year I get 3 Christmas dinners, aren't I lucky!!)

The Almond Roca was also delicious, although I couldn't eat much cos it's total sugar overload! It's basically Almond Brittle (like Peanut brittle) with chunks of white and dark choc on the top. Delicious and very morish. Did I mention Delicious? And fairly easy to make, although you need a candy thermometer and I did panic cos the sugar started to burn to the bottom of the pot (despite my best stirring efforts) cos my stove is total crap, hence I thought I had ruined the whole thing. Turns out I didn't cos it managed to set hard and taste delicious! High Five {slap!}. I am going to make it for my work friends too, cos I know they'll love it. It's on my to-do list (with a million other things.. yet here I am blogging. Don't say I never spend time with you!)

And then, after all my efforts cooking and cleaning etc.. it's time for a cup of Hot Milo in my favourite Christmas Mugs (which live in a box labelled by Mum as "Gorgeous Christmas Mugs" so I know who to leave them to in my will!). Hope your Christmas is turning out not too busy and you still have time to cook and enjoy it! I am burning a scented candle called "Gingerbread Santa" and it is totally Delicious!! I wish I could eat it. And it (togther with sitting around in my Mrs Claus apron) has filled me with the Christmas Spirit!

:) C

Mosaic Of Me...

Here's a fun photo game to play!!

I am a regular reader of the orangebeautiful blog, but I followed the link to this game off the Jen in a Nutshell blog. She is super funny and I love reading candid blogs like hers, I just wish she would post more often!

Anywho, this is a cool game where you answer 12 questions about yourself, and paste your answers into Flickr to get this fun photo mosaic of your life! Instructions are at the end of this post.

So here is the Mosaic of Me.. (Can you guess any of the questions?! Prob Not!.. BTW, It's poor Jason Statham in th middle who lost his head! Oh well, the best bits are still there ;) {wink!})

I can't get the photo credits to work though, hope people don't mind I used their pics.. you can search for them on flickr anyway, using my answers!

And here are my answers that led to the mosaic...

1. What is your first name? (Charlotte)
2. What is your favorite food? (Mexican)
3. What high school did you attend? (Grafton High School)
4. What is your favorite color? (Sea Green)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Jason Statham)
6. Favorite drink? (Milo)
7. Dream vacation? (New York)
8. Favorite dessert? (Chocolate Mousse Cake)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Travel Agent)
10. What do you love most in life? (my family)
11. One word to describe you? (creative)
12. Your Flickr name? (The Hours Between)

Wanna play?: Type your answer to each of the above questions into Flickr's search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (3 columns, 4 rows)... Enjoy!

I had fun doing it! I'd love to try it for other questions too! There are so many beautiful pics on Flickr!

:) C

Card Crazy Christmas

Here are my Christmas Cards for this year! Yes, I am one of those slack people I talked about, not having sent out all my cards yet. I've managed to send 5! The hardest part is finding time to write on them all :) I like to write something a bit personalised, so then that takes extra time.

I don't usually make cards as bright as these, but I made a card in SU's Green Galore recently and realised it was really funky and cool and so decided that should be the colour scheme for my Christmas Cards. So along with Real Red and White, they turned out really nice! I used the SU wheel "All About Christmas" for the wording, some cute Christmas coloured ribbon and the new SU Scallop Square punch for the little stamped image and it was done! I varied the little image so I didn't get too bored making the cards :) And there are 4 different types of Christmas Ribbon too. This means no 2 people got exactly the same card (I think, anyway {pondering})...

BTW, I now have 4 cards on my Christmas Card string.. YAY!!

:) C

My Weekend Away

Oh what a beautiful weekend away!! I spent Fri, Sat and Sunday night at The Oaks Pacific Blue Resort at Salamander Bay with a bunch of my girls from work and my sis Alicia. This place is Heaven!! The Resort looks like it belongs on some tropical North Queensland Island, or at least Surfer's Paradise, but it's actually in a really weird place, amongst houses and a shopping precinct in this small coastal town. We had so much fun basking in the sunshine (well, after Friday's torrential downpours) drinking champagne by our private plunge pool {hehe, grinning and clapping hands.. this was totally cool!}, chillin, relaxing and having fun. We all had a massage, for me it was the first time ever! It was awesome and a great way to start off my weekend :) Alicia and I decided this is definitely somewhere we have to come with the rest of our family too.
The Lagoon Pool goes the whole way around the villa's (yes everyone spent some time swimming the big circle! It's like a pool highway!) The villa's open straight onto a deck and straight into the pool. How awesome is that! So the grandparents can sit on the deck sipping cocktails while the parents swim with the kiddies in the pool and the baby sleeps in the villa. Great set up! Our villa wasn't on the main pool so that's why we had our own private plunge pool. Still, that was so great to have in our little backyard!
I can't wait to go back with the family now!
:) C

Sad, So Sad...

Is it because my friends are from traditionally non-Christian countries, or just that everyone is a bit behind this year? (Yeah, that includes me cos I've only sent out 5 cards!) I have only the one Christmas Card and it's Dec 12!! I find that very sad {sigh}. I even bought this cute little string of Santa's washing to hang the cards from and so far.. just the one. And of course, its from Yvette.. Little Miss Organised! Good on you!! {clapping hands in the general direction of Canberra!} I don't have a 6yr old to look after and I haven't finished mine yet! Lol. I sent out 5 to my immediate family cos I realised I'm going away for a long weekend and I'm already getting behind!
So here, sharing the string of Santa's washing, clipped on to his pyjama shirt, is my one lonely Christmas Card. At least you get a quick look at some more of my Christmas deco's sitting on the shelf!
:) C

More Christmas Cards...

Oh, time is slipping away.... Christmas is only 14 sleeps away! Luckily I have done most of my shopping and don't need to hit the shops very much.. they are crazy busy!! Have you noticed? Lol.

I made some more Christmas cards with my 3D stickers the other day (I packaged them up before I remembered to take the pics, if you were wondering why they're so shiny!) I love this Christmas paper that's not really Christmas paper! It's so pretty! The angular scalloped white piece is done with my Martha Stewart border punch Alicia brought back from America, I love the different look it gives compared to my threading water punch.

By the way... I counted my 3D sticker packets (remember my previous post where I said I had mountains of them?!!), well I have 150 of them! What?! Yes, 150!! I will endeavour to use more of them up so they're not hanging around in my stash! That's way too many stickers! Do you know anyone who has more than me?
:) C

Christmas Spirit

I just realised I haven't posted a pic of my Christmas Tree and Decorations yet!! Where is my Christmas Spirit? Lol. It's here, it's just hiding behind lots of work and busy-ness! :)

Here is my tree! Yes, it is the size of your average household dog, but once I placed it on the stool it actually rose to almost inconceivable heights (about 2cm above my head). I do love all my decorations, they mean things (where I got them or who gave them to me) and I also have some beautiful glass baubles that I adore cos they aren't "cheap" decorations! Amongst my favourites are some very cute little "Mickey Mouse Head" shaped baubles that made the journey back from Disney World 2 years ago :), a woven straw star that came from the Christkindl Markt in Munich 10 years ago (YES MUM, IT'S BEEN 10 YEARS!! Can you believe it?!), a bauble from Mum and Dad that says "Daughters are a blessing" (luckily they remembered to give us all one, and didn't miss out on one daughter, that would have been some hint!) and 3 gorgeous little glitter filled glass snowmen that came from Target last year. Ahh... so many memories! Feel free to admire the Pink Chicken behind the Christmas Tree. It was supposed to be for Mum for Mother's Day but I put it up there in the mean time and he made his home there, so there he has stayed. Mum did admire him when she visited! I said he would come to her house one day, but for now he stays with me {grins and waves to chicken- ok it's really late and I'm in the dillusional tired state!}

The most brilliant thing about my new TV unit is the massive wooden bench I now have to display some crap, {achem} cool Christmas stuff, on! The candle holders are big flat glass snowflakes, OOhhh I love them! How I wish it snowed in Australia at Christmas Time!!

My newest decoration is this cute tall skinny tin tree that Mum gave me for helping out at her sale. I love that it doesn't stand up straight, imperfection is reality. Wow, I have a lot of Christmas stuff. I think I have inherited that hoarding trait off Mum (and I mean that in the nicest way Mum, I love all my stuff!) And you can never have enough, cos Christmas comes every year!

:) C

Urban Renewal Take Over.

I'M SO EXCITED!!! The newest facet to my Urban Renewal Program got delivered today! A new TV unit!! I did a massive Happy Dance when it arrived {clapping hands and grinning widely!} It is only the 3rd piece of "Real" furniture I have ever bought! (i.e. not a put-together piece from Ikea and not gleaned off Council Cleanup or Ebay!!) It has only been here for half an hour an already it has made me happy happy happy happy!

So here are some before and after pics for you:

BEFORE: The silver shelves were only supposed to be temporary but have been my TV stand now for 2 years! How is that temporary?!! I hate the put-together shelves that the DVD's are on and my CD's are just in a box on the floor! Not too organised. It's just bits and pieces all crouching together next to the wall!



AFTER: Now everything is tucked away neatly in my new, beautiful TV unit from Everyday Living!! {doing a happy dance while sitting here}. I love the timber top and the white washed base, it's so cool and makes my brown house a little more bright! Much brighter than the silver shelves anyway! Plus it's got a big area on the top where I can put some Christmas stuff :)

I had been admiring the shelves for a few months now, and when I turned the TV on at midnight the other night there was an ad for the sale at Everyday Living. I thought it was fortuitous, seeing as they usually only have sex line ads after midnight.. this ad must have been just meant for me! So I went there and it was save $170! Bargain!! I love it!
Hope your Friday is as exciting as mine!
:) C

A little Christmas Cheer

Happy December Everyone!

Only 21 sleeps til Christmas.. yay!! I have been using up my stash of Christmas 3D stickers lately, and last night when I got home from work at midnight I made another 3 cards! I do my best work when I'm pushed for time! I know they're simple cards but they are really cute!

When I look through my stash, I really don't have many Christmas papers that are fresh and funky. In fact I don't think I have purchased Christmas papers for at least 3 years (except one sheet of this plaid one and one sheet of co-ordinating Christmas paisley) so all my papers are old and a bit dull. I am so bored every time I look at them. I loathe my Christmas papers. And in fact they don't even have pride of place in my paper keeper (also cos they don't fit {hahaha, I know Felicity.. I cheated on my "I'm not buying new papers if they don't fit in my paper keeper" rule by taking them out!!}) I'll have to rectify this next time I order from 2 Peas. Come on Aussie Dollar, I want new stuff!! The green paper with the watermark burst in the BG is actually from a Heidi Grace garden pack but I thought it suited Christmas cards pretty well! I love my Perfect Endings SU Christmas word stamps, they fit so well into the word window :) and they are so cute!

It's so good to get some more 3D stickers out of my stash! I was having so much trouble shutting the lid! Does that mean I can now go out and buy some more? ;) Lol. Sure does!

:) C