Celebrating Small Business Saturday at Make.Do!
All in-stock yarns online are 20% off through November 30th! There is currently Compose Lace, Be & Dream Fingering/Sock, and Realize Sport available. The sale price is automatically reflected when you add to cart. I'll be updating!
20% off all in-stock yarns, patterns, books, tools & notions in the store through November 30th, also! There are some great new patterns and books!!
Thanksgiving kicked off this most unusual of holiday seasons for our family, and we did our best to make it our own.
Yesterday, Mom and I began the day with yoga. She’d never done yoga before, and it’s been years since I’ve practiced, but we did great. You’d never have known that Mom didn’t know her Shavasana from her Sha-Na-Na, and I was surprised at how quickly it all came back to me! I didn’t even mind Downward Dog as much as I used to (that probably has everything to do with my improved physical condition and health). It was the perfect start to the day. Aligned. Calm. Om.
I was in the zone when I got home, cleaning, prepping, baking, playing a few rounds of Bananagrams
Yesterday was the first of two all-out Thanksgiving meals I’ll be preparing this year and I didn’t want turkey for both. I kept it in the family by making chicken thighs — specifically, Bacon-Wrapped Smoky Chicken Thighs (a recipe from Practical Paleo
I served simple mashed sweet potatoes (peeled, cut, boiled, mashed with a little coconut milk, butter, salt and pepper), steamed asparagus, and corn (bought/froze from the farmer’s market) to accompany the chicken.
For dessert, I made Everyday Paleo Pumpkin Pie (scroll down) from Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook
Ali also brought some homemade Brussels cookies (shaped like Milanos) and they were fabulous!
I’m really happy that I was able to prepare and eat a terrific meal, that everyone fully enjoyed, and that was still very much within my guidelines. It’s a holiday! I’m so okay with a little whipped cream and a couple of homemade cookies!!
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A note about ingredients and their cost, the cost of eating “this way.” The main “guidelines” stress any/all of the following when it comes to choosing ingredients: fresh, real, organic, pastured, grass-fed, etc. Some of those descriptors can add up to BIG BUCK$ right quick. A resource I forgot to mention the other day is this:
The Kindle version is $2.99, or Prime members can borrow it for free. Basically, DO THE BEST YOU CAN. You know? I certainly can’t afford to buy everything that way all of the time, so I pick and choose and make compromises — I do the best I can. Yesterday, our chicken was plain old chicken from the grocery store — it was the best I could do — but I’d splurged a while back on some really great bacon, and I’m so glad I did. It was *so* worth it for a meal like this. Our asparagus, too, was right from the regular produce department at the store; the sweet potatoes were some I had that were locally grown and organic; the corn was fresh/frozen last summer from a local farmer. I tried to make my own pumpkin puree for the pie but I wasn’t happy with it, so I got out the can opener and Libby’s came to to the rescue. Not organic. I can live with that. It was still delicious.
And, really, the main thing IS to choose ingredients. I always think to myself when I buy something that’s not *perfect*, “Well, at least it’s not Hamburger/Chicken/Tuna Helper.” That’s one of my benchmarks, though probably not even the worst example, of the processed type of “food” that I’m trying to avoid.
Okay, climbing down from the soap box. Again!
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We cleared the table after the wonderful hubbub of dinner and, as I put away leftovers, Maddy took over the kitchen clean up! She had later plans with friends, so declined our invitation to go see ” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Lincoln (loved it — so many amazing performances!) and was still humming along with a sink full of suds when we left, which meant that I came home to a completely cleaned up kitchen after the movie!
Thanksgiving, indeed.
Working in the kitchen early this evening — I'm not sure what I was doing exactly, peeling sweet potatoes, wrapping chicken thighs in bacon, prepping asparagus, doing dishes, washing my hands for the umpteenth time — I heard Maddy & Katie talking and laughing on the back porch. Maddy had made a fire in the fire pit and they were just hanging out. Before long Ali joined them, with Rod and his daughter, and there was even more!
It's one of the things I love most – have always loved — about the holidays: listening to people talk and laugh. Oh, especially the laughter.
Happy Thanksgiving!
A traditional Christmas tree is not easy to come by in Rio de Janeiro. The "town tree," as my sister calls it, is a gigantic tree covered in millions of lightbulbs floating in a lagoon. This year's tree hasn't been lit yet — luckily, my mom and her husband will see it when they visit during Christmas week, but the lights will be out by the time I go in mid-January. Here's a video from The Telegraph of last year's lighting:
There's still a need for a tree at home and, luckily, due to the magical worldwide bulletin board that is Pinterest, I was able to share an idea with Annie that she is now making her own:
I'm pretty sure that's a present for my mom under the tree! We are all to send drawings or photos of our favorite ornaments that they can add to their tree in Rio. So fun, and a great way to connect with our far-away family this season.
Also, what in the world did we ever do without Skype, Facetime, Facebook, Pinterest, email, and the whole entire Internet?
Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things For Which I Am Thankful
1. My three amazing daughters.
2. My great husband.
3. My parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins — even if it's not always pretty.
4. Their generous and adventurous spirits.
5. Nurturing and inspiring friends.
6. Food — good and real — on my plate.
7. The resources and ability to make it into something.
8. Electricity!
9. The ability to travel — mostly near but also sometimes far.
10. That I may have found a swimming suit that I actually like… or at least don't loathe.
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I was on a quick Sunday-Tuesday jaunt to Chicago with my eldest. We hit up the Art Institute on Sunday afternoon, did a little shopping on Monday, and met up with friends on Tuesday.
My favorite Chicago landmark since I was a kid, Marina City — one of many iconic city buildings constructed with LEGOS on display outside the store at Water Tower Place!
We stayed at the beautiful Sofitel Chicago Water Tower (thanks to hotwire.com) and treated ourselves to cocktails at Le Bar last night before dinner. My drink yesterday — Brazil's national cocktail — was Caipirinha! We had tried to find cachaça last summer so we could make it ourselves at the going-away party for Annie & her family before they moved to Rio, but were unsuccessful here in NE Wisconsin! I imagine we could substitute another rum and probably be happy. Or search some more. Anyway, it was light and lime-y and delicious! Katie had a Monkey Gland. Yeah.
We picked up Maro, a family friend, in the Lincoln Park area on our way home, stopping in Schaumburg for lunch on the way. There, I finally connected with my old friend Julie, whom I haven't seen in close to 20 years! I'm certain that we'll connect again much sooner than that!! It was so great to see her. We dropped Maro off at her mother's, just a few blocks from home, so she could spend Thanksgiving with her family!
For me, it's back to work tomorrow, then running over to pick up Maddy; spending the holiday, which will be very low-key, here at home; back to work on Friday; and then the weekend. Husband should be home sometime in there, and I'm planning our big Thanksgiving celebration for early Sunday afternoon… before Maddy heads back to school!
Also catching up and catching my breath!
I'm thankful that I'm pretty good with logistics, don't mind driving, and that everyone is flexible!!
