Sarah’s Neighborhood

I just adore these two books about being a Girl Scout in the early 1900s - what appears to me to be one of the first Girl Scout manuals called How Girls Can Help Their Country (1916, and it wasn't sexist at all!) and Scouting For Girls: The Official Handbook (1920).  You can take a peek here with these neat little embeddable book-readers and if they're interesting enough you can visit the Internet Archive and read them full screen via the above links.

And see these photos?  That's what's wrong with the world today... and this is just personal opinion... Not enough young women out there hiking and camping out with guns, hatchets and bows and arrows... and playing with matches and standing up in canoes... Ok, I know it's a rowboat, but it's still a cute little funny photo.

And I never got to do any of that in Brownies, and I don't know of any Girl Scout Troop in my area that did those kinds of activities.  We got gypped.

Thank god that divine nightmare's over.

And by that, I do mean the box of incredibly tasty and pleasurable Godiva chocolates I received as a gift and of which 44.4% I consumed singlehandedly on Christmas Day.

Well, I no longer need fret about resisting the 55.6% that kept calling my name, if you get my drift.

Actually, one gargantuan piece with the pecans and caramel does remain, simply because my arm, paralyzed in last night's sugar coma, was unable to lift it to my mouth.

So gone, a box of fancy chocolates in just three days. This is why I can't, won't shouldn't, rarely keep sweet treats I really like around the house. My otherwise substantial self-discipline - pop! - flies out the window.

Speaking of popping, the next sound I hear will be the button on my jeans set free and sailing across the room. I remember when I needed a belt for the roomy waist {waxing sentimental}. Good thing those chocolates weighed in at about a pound and no more, I was well on my way to a pair of maternity pants.

Speaking of poundage, presently this is not my friend:

Scale

This is:

Carrot

blech

My head is absolutely buzzing with ideas and planning, goals, projects and lists. I should be a professional project creator. I have come to the conclusion that there are simply not enough hours in the day. What should one do? Sleep less? Hardly!  But managing my time more effectively would probably go a long way towards helping me accomplish every harebrained scheme I think up.

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What a delightful weekend we just spent. Sherlock Holmes was interestingly done and well worth a watch. I remember my mum reading Sherlock Holmes to me and my sisters at bedtime. The story of the speckled band scared the proverbial crap out of me.  I remember reading the story to Jesse and Libby when they were still quite young (we were living in Hawaii at the time) and they were completely unruffled by it.

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I wanted to go to the zoo today (yes, in December) but the snow was coming down thick and fast.

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 Todd didn't fancy negociating icy roads all the way to Indianapolis so we stayed close to home.

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 Ice skating wasn't the same without our English cousins but we're planning to get them stateside next winter.

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Take a look at this photo of a present I received on Christmas.

Godiva

Anything strike you as remarkable? Other than that it's Godiva, a classy and pricey chocolate you'd never find in my home unless it were gifted, as this was.

Look closely. Notice the vacant squares. Notice that exactly 41.6% of the contents ... gone! Missing! Vanished!

By me. And me alone. In one day, Christmas.

Now, that figure of 41.6% is misleading. It under-reports actual quantity consumed by me and me alone in one day.

Yes, it's accurate to say I ate 10 of the 24 total pieces, equaling 41.6%.

However, the astute observer will notice that not all the pieces are of identical size. Two of the remaining are humongous. There used to be of those, four giant blobs of glorious chocolate covering crunchy pecan bits and golden gooey caramel.

One of those gargantuan pieces is the equivalent of four small ones.

So, painfully forced to recalculate actual quantity, I, and I alone, consumed 44.44% of the box on Christmas Day. Up from 41.6%.

In one day, I morphed from the girl on the left into the one on the right:

Before and after

Of course you know that's not me. I wouldn't be caught dead carrying a clutch, never mind one matching the dress.

But it does get the point across. Two days past Christmas and Godiva hasn't crossed these lips. I'm still burning off the sugar.

So if you need your snowy walkways shoveled, the shower regrouted, linoleum laid and walls repainted, all in a day, I'm your girl. The number's (555) SUGAR-HI (784-2744).

Disclaimer: None of my own piggery in any way alters the beauty and value of the gift and the thoughtfulness of the giver.

drip

1 comment

Father Christmas brought everyone what they wanted, but Mother Nature didn't bring us any snow.

Nothing says Christmas like a Bundt cake candle.

This Bundt cake candle infuses your home with the sweetness and light we associate with this blessed season.

As its five wicks burn, they release into the air an aroma that returns fond memories of your grandmother gliding across the room on Christmas Day, silken lavender polyester robe trailing, drenched in cheap perfume from the 5-and-dime.

Amid a lifelike glaze mounds of cream-colored wax dot the monstrosity (possibly the creation of a Hollywood Wax Museum fellow who ingested three too many tabs of LSD in his youth) like samples emptied from the cosmetic surgeon's liposuction sac.

Garnishments of hard brown plastic balls replicating nuts nearly bring a tear to the eye, a nod to holiday sentimentality, detail and the prevailing presence of cheap Chinese goods in the American market.

Above all, you can rest assured that friends and family, upon viewing this one-of-a-kind candle cake, will shout: "Happy Holidays! And Good God! Where on earth did you find such a hideous contraption?!"

And you'll smile sweetly, if not demurely, and with a wink of an eye and finger alongside the nose like Santa Claus rise up the chimney (pretend if you don't have one) and answer: "At the Goodwill, for 99 cents."

Then like Blitzen you'll hasten toward the skies, three paces ahead of a spinning burning bad Bundt hurled your direction by your aunt (and quite the pitcher's arm she has) with a hollering command of "Get this damn gawd-awful thing outta my sight!"

(and to it a good night)

Ah, Christmas, when shineth the Spirit of Truth. Nothing bespeaks the holiday like the tackiest candle ever birthed on the face of the Earth, a Bundt Cake Gone Bad.

To all my loyal readers, bless you, and to the occasional drop-ins amused by the oddball and unconventional, all animals and to each and all every one a Most Merry Christmas.

May your holiday burn brightly. And badly with a Bundt.

Burn, Bundty, burn!

baking :: more painting :: bowling (I won! Okay, one game) :: board games ("Chrononauts" is more complicated than I remembered) :: simple and delicious steak dinner :: Nigella's baby cakes :: Christmas Eve present and pyjama opening :: one too many episodes of The Simpsons :: one too many glasses of wine :: cinnamon rolls for Santa, sleeping pills for the kids.

Happy holidays, one and all!

just in

bowled away

christmas eve tradition

I've read so many series books I think I have half of the formula.

Copyright: University of Minnesota 1992

The story takes place in a pastoral and picturesque small town along a large body of water, near the mountains, or along a railway line, or all three... usually along the rural Eastern Seaboard.  OR The story takes place at a boarding school.

There is a group of very nice girls.  There is another group of girls, who aren't very nice at all.  These two groups are always at odds with each other, and there is always one especially difficult girl but the nice girls always win out and usually manage to convert one or more of the mean girls to the "better way" in the process.  If the story takes place at boarding school, there is always one old bitter hag of a teacher that will play prominently in the story.

There is a group of boys, made up of the brothers of the nice girls and some of the other nice boys from town.  There is always one joke of a boy that no one likes but is always included in the activities to serve as comic relief and the boys are always playing tricks on him or teasing him mercilessly.  The dolt always redeems himself to the group in some way by showing he's a pretty good guy when he's not being such a lame duck.

These girls and boys are always very civic minded and usually stage some kind of charity event that is threatened in some way, but always comes off well and produces whatever end was desired.

The parents are always minor characters, but 9 times out 10 they appear as kind, loving, patient and understanding friends and confidants.

There is always one adult that the kids love and admire and is their trusty "Go To Guy (Girl)".  This person usually acts as chaperone for the group on their outings, although they are so pure of heart they never need one, but something always happens and the chaperone saves the day by imparting their wisdom of experience to the group.

The group always goes on an exciting trip or has a local adventure where either something mysterious needs to be solved or a conflict that needs to be resolved, or while on the adventure they meet up with either a young waif or an older person who needs to be taken under the collective wing of the group and offered some kind of help or rescuing.

How'd I do, did I get it pretty close?

Well, it's Christmas at last, and from the sound of you all on Twitter your cards are sent, and your presents wrapped. It's been great hearing all your cries of delight recently, as your poor postmen and women have struggled with packages through the snowy weather! Hope those of you who have time off over the festive season get everything you wish for, and those who are working have more fun than you might be expecting. We've published the dates we're working over the holidays, so if you find yourself in the office, you might well have company here in the UK, or over with the MOO Crew in the US. We've had a great few weeks spotting unique gifts and ideas created with MOO, here's a few of our favourites: A tetrabox advent calendar, by Bcome Also by Bcome, this lovely looking memory game, complete with a great pattern on the back: This super-cute Mosaic Frame, created by thisiswoly. Filled with 20 Minicards, it features the beautiful baby Sarah. These wonderful looking alphabet game cards, by taraghb, which look like they were as fun to make as they will be to use! And last but not least, look at this! another entry into our MiniCard Gift Box competition! Created by emusing-emma, it's really bought an extra flutter of Christmas cheer into MOO Towers. We love his little sledge! Fancy joining in the fun? Closing date for entries to our competition is midnight PST 28th December 2009. Why not grab some festive paper, and see what you can do! More competition details can be found right here. And now all that remains for me to say is a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at MOO!