Chanukkah Treats

Chanukkah is just about a week away!! Are you ready? I'm not but thankfully, like Shabbat, it comes anyway!

Here's a tasty treat to add to those party platters this year! Your gluten free friends will thank-you for them I am sure!

Start off by making a batch of rice krispie squares. Of course make sure to use kosher marshmallows!

*If you live in the boonies like we do and don't have ready access to purchase kosher marshmallows but have some kosher gelatin on hand you can make your own: http://dancingtotherhythm.blogspot.ca/2012/08/kosher-marshmallows.html

Let the squares harden up and cut them into Chanukkah shapes with a knife (or cookie cutters if you happen to be so lucky!...I wasn't).

Use whatever you'd like to decorate them with. Really anything goes. For these I just used melted chocolate. To pipe it on don't bother with a fancy piping bag (they are a pain to clean!). Grab a plastic sandwich bag and cut a fine tip off the corner. Just make sure that if you use chocolate you let it cool a bit before putting into the bag and also that the bag is thick enough it isn't going to bust when put under pressure....cause that just sucks.... Milk bags are actually toughest!

As you may have noticed...
I made the attempt last year to colour some of mine blue...I wouldn't recommend this, they came out looking more greeny, seafoamy blue than Chanukkah blue....so there I warned you. If you go colouring yours don't say I didn't warn you!

Ta Da!

I now have art items up on my blog that are for sale! I will be working on adding more items as I have time so keep checking back for new stuff! So go check it out! Like right now! :oD

Announcing!....well sorta pre-announcing

So in an effort against idleness and hopefully making a few dollars I will be adding a new page to my blog shortly. Yes my plan is to make stuff so people like you...yes YOU! Can buy it,....well I mean if you want it...if you don't want it then I am not pressuring you to buy it or anything. Uh Anyway yes so that is the plan. It could just totally bomb but I figured I might as well give it a shot.

Snow n' Stuff

  So Believe it or not it was actually raining this afternoon! Then it turned into a beautiful "Ontario snow"...yeah that means it made everything very slushy on the roads but hey, that's the price you pay for scenic winter pictures.

All that being said, as soon as I noticed the snow coming down I quickly grabbed the camera and got outside asap. I have really missed my "outside time" and there is just something about walking through deep snow and splashing through slush puddles that appeals to me :D kinda like comfort food at the end of a hard day...only...um healthier! It also brings back memories of those epic afternoons spent with the siblings. Crazy carpeting down steep hills wasn't enough of a gas for us so we'd spend half the afternoon making the biggest and steepest ramp we could at the bottom( bam! Homeschooled much?!), then the other half perfecting it after each run until...we had either: wrecked it, wrecked ourselves, or actually made it perfect!......and the only reason I said all that was because?...Well this was the perfect kind of snow.....hmmm where is my crazy carpet when I need one? Oh wait...never mind, I am in Saskatchewan! :P

This week I have been mulling over the Parshah....over and over and over again. Vayetze is one of those portions that I think my "for further information file" is just pretty well stuffed as far as it can be.....until I read it again, then somehow I manage to stuff a few more files into that bad boy. Not to say that I don't ever get anything out of it or I don't learn anything. Actually right now my brain is going back and forth like a pin ball machine gone haywire! But all my "aHa"s, inquisitive "oh"s, or boarder line "hmm"s are in such a jumbled mess of thoughts and references bouncing back and forth I just can't seem to write them down....no matter how many times I backspace and start over again :P

Oh well, perhaps better luck next Parshah?

Lila Tov(good night) and enjoy the pictures, I enjoyed taking them :o)

Oh yeah, and I must give a shout out to Mr. Squicciarini, I was listening to a podcast today and heard you read a comment I made on the web-site during the meeting, you'll probably never read this but I just wanted to say thanks (and congratulations) for being one of the select few to actually pronounce my name correctly on the first attempt, for that I salute you sir!

 

                                             

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Two to One - Skirt transformation

 So this was something that I had intended to post about a month ago when I finished this project but due to some things like packing and flying across the country it kinda got forgotten. I had these two pairs of pants kicking around for awhile. I knew I wanted to make a skirt out of them but I just haven't had the time. Well when I had the time off in October I finally did it. I spent around 3 hours trying to make a plan before getting frustrated at getting no where and just dove in and started cutting, sewing and making it up as I went along. I left most of the edges raw so they will eventually fray and make a rag effect...plus it's faster and easier to sew that way ha ha ;)

     Bada bing, bada boom and there you go. I also lined it, so it is actually nice and warm for fall, winter, or Canada, whatever climate you may be residing in.

Etz Chaim - Tree of Life

When it comes to art I have always reached for the pencil and sketch pad over a set of brushes and paints. Maybe because the commitment part of paint scared me too much. You can always erase pencil...and for someone who is notorious for making plenty of mistakes that was top priority. But not too long ago I started experimenting with the painting a bit more and I have to say, as nerve wracking as it still can be working with paint, I love being able to create a work "in colour"!

 

A blog about Wal-mart and other randomness...

Shalom ya'll. So today I braved the city streets solo for the second time since getting here last Tuesday!

After perusing the online flyers I set out on my mission to Wal-mart for a grocery haul for the weekend, well actually I am used to shopping for more than two so it'll probably last way longer than just the weekend. Anyway I got there and the grocery section of the store was pretty well the same size as our entire Wal-mart back home, pretty crazy!

 On my way back from my expedition however, I had to take a detour around some road work and I am pretty sure that the road I took was never plowed after the dump of snow we got last weekend (where is my Subaru when I need it?? Oh yeah...it's at home in Ontario *sniff sniff*) and somehow my usual enthusiasm for taking such roads was replaced by the realization of the very likely possibility of getting stuck :P....I don't like getting stuck...duh that's why I own an AWD Subaru with snow treads! (winter driving = soooo much fun now!!). Thankfully due to my awesome driving skills I didn't get stuck, but I did miss my turn which required me to drive further on such streets as the one formerly mentioned until I figured out where the heck I was and got back to where I needed to be!

Yeah it's all very different than what I am used to. Back home the drive to town is the most relaxing part of the whole outing. Rolling hills, and trees instead of the drum of rolling tires and crazy drivers who think the use of their signals are a waste of their time. *Sigh*

So that was my "big" outing today, then I came home and finally got my suit cases out of the kitchen/living space in my sister's place and gave them a home in the furnace room  >>>>>

And yo! Behold! A feat of thrifty engineering if I do say so myself!
<<<
**Note to self I need more plaid shirts

Shabbat is coming people!

Chanukkah Stars

If I were home right now I would be starting to decorate for Chanukkah, but since I am not at home and my sister doesn't have any decorations yet, yesterday I made a few to get us started. :) 

 I used acrylic paint for these, but I have also done this same thing using spray paint, which is much faster because you can just paint your sticks all at once but if you want a more unique and varied look than painting by hand is the better choice.

Supplies

paint 

paint brushes

hot glue gun

glue sticks

craft sticks

glitter

newspaper/paper(for drop sheet)

cup of water (to clean brushes)

small dish to hold paint 

thread or fishing line

 

Laying 6 sticks side by side is easier than painting each stick individually.

Depending on the paint you use and how fast it dries will effect how long you'll have to wait before you can start gluing the stars together. I found the acrylic paint dried pretty quick so once I painted a second set of 6 sticks I could start gluing the first set.

Hang these around the house and/or use suction cup hooks and hang them in your windows.

If you want to be able to put them outside make sure to use paint that will hold up outdoors

Happy Chanukkah

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Travels and Treasures

Well I left my Grandparents on Tuesday, bound for middle earth(well as far as Canada is concerned) to spend the rest of my time away with my sister! I got to fly during sundown which is always fun(and beautiful in a different way). What also proved to be a great blessing was while I was waiting for my second connecting flight they announced that it had somehow been overbooked and they needed two volunteers to take a later flight. Long story short I got a free supper and a $200 travel voucher (good for a year) just for having to wait a couple more hours! Baruch HaShem what a great surprise blessing! With a sister a few Provinces away it will definitely come in handy!

I have also confirmed that flying does give me a bit of a headache! Even though I made sure to eat more this time, on the last leg of the trip I could feel another one coming on, good thing I remembered to put the pain-killers in my carry on this time. Oh well it beats getting sick like some people...no thankfully none of my neighbours got sick this time! :)

While in Victoria I was really hit with a culture clash. I have never felt the extremes of the high class vs the low class on such a personal level before and for the first time in my life I was really hit with how meagre our means really are, and how little we have financially. It was a really strange experience, one that is hard to fully explain. I mean I have always know we didn't have a lot but at the same time I have never thought of us as not having much either. We have a roof over our heads, have never gone hungry, family, friends and so much more HaShem has blessed us with. We have what we need and we are happy.

 It was a really really odd experience observing the lifestyle where going on expensive vacations, buying all new appliances, renovating their entire house, getting a brand new car every 3 years, or countless other things like it was no big deal. This is their normal, and I guess that is what struck me as so strange.

It can make a person feel very small if you don't have your focus on what is really important in life and I would be lying if I said I didn't at times feel like a "poor little country girl". But really, I honestly wouldn't trade what I have for that lifestyle. I was so thankful for the experience because it acted as a proof for myself that I am totally content with what I have, and with what I don't have. The treasure G-d has blessed us with is indescribable and greater than much fine gold!

Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. 

Psalm 119:127  

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 
Luke 12:34  

Flying away from the sunset!

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On a Shabbat Afternoon

 

Last night I had the special privilege of sharing Shabbat with my Grandparents! I wasn't sure how everything was going to go, I was just praying all day that HaShem would allow me the opportunity to have Erev Shabbat in some way shape or form.

Anyway I made Challah Friday afternoon. Then when sunset came around I pulled out my candles and siddur and invited Grandma to join me as I was going to say my Shabbat blessings. I struck that match and watched the flame catch on the wicks of those two tiny tea light candles I had hopefully shoved into my suitcase 5 days before and began to say the blessing...it was the most natural candle lighting I have ever done. After I finished the Shabbat prayer I felt so honoured to be able to recite Eishet Chayil for my Grandma and wish her Shabbat Shalom.

 G-d is so good, and I am so thankful for the time I have been able to spend with my Grandma and Grandpa T. listening to them tell stories of this or that, looking through old(or new photos), or just laughing together.

While Grandma was having a rest I got out for a walk late Shabbat afternoon. *sigh* no seriously that was an enormously "satisfied, it was seriously renewing to the soul" type of sigh ha ha! Solitude is truly golden. And what could be more peaceful than the sea side! :) There is just something about that

twinge of salt smell in the air. 

I even dipped my toes in the ocean...okay well that was slightly by accident but hey! >

Really my only regret of the day was that I didn't go to Shul this morning. I had one picked out but the weather was looking questionable and since it was a reasonable distance to walk I didn't chance it. I should have gone though, who cares if I would have gotten caught in a little rain, oh well next time!

Shavua Tov!

                                                                                                                                       

Sat down at Grandma T's piano on a Shabbat afternoon and this is what happened! :)

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