Every Once In A While, The "Martha Stewart" In Us Eeeks Out...

Of course, I think I have too much of an edge to ever pass myself off as Martha Stewart, and my craving to do crafts only comes in very widely spaced spurts, but I do enjoy a few random, magazine-worthy, homespun activities.

My first love is writing. I don't claim to be brilliant at it, but every once in a while, I think I manage to put something down on paper that I feel is worth printing. This happens to be one of them. I crave children's books like other people crave chocolate, so it's no wonder that my first book happens to fit in that category. It's titled, "Oma's Magic". I wrote it a few years ago, and last Christmas, my sister Heidi surprised me with the finished illustrations for the book. That definitely ranked on my top ten of "Best Gifts Ever". The book turned out beautiful, and once I tweak a couple of phrases of mine, and get the format right, I am going to send it in to a publisher. I am currently spinning two other children's book ideas into their own readable tales, and seriously getting up the guts to start my first novel. Hopefully I'll turn out to be one of those untamed, raw, uneducated authors that can actually make waves among so many literary masterpieces out there, but even if I only make the most microscopic of splashes, I'll still be happy.

At Christmas-time, when Mike is busy drowning our house in lights or throwing garland over every single door, I relish over our tree. Our first tree after we were married was showered in blue and silver and twice as big as our apartment. It was one of the prettiest monsters of a tree I have ever seen, but it was our second tree that I absolutely fell head over heels for. We spent hours stringing cranberries and popcorn, drying apple and orange slices and tying ribbons to cinnamon sticks and gingerbread cookies. It. Was. Gorgeous. Not to mention, it smelled like an everlasting holiday scratch-n-sniff sticker. That tree got us on a roll, and we've tried different themes nearly every year. When it all comes down to it though, there is nothing better than homemade.

This picture is of our tree last year and the year before. We copied the idea from a tree we saw in a Pottery Barn catalog. All the pictures are from Christmases past, the cones are filled with candy and caramels, and the paper garland was hand-cut and hand-stamped. I love this tree. This is most assuredly my selfish pleasure during the holidays. My kids get to decorate a tree, but not this one. Their tree is loaded with school crafts and memories and equally as love-able, if not as pleasing-to-the-eye.

Now, I am not a fancy cook by any means. I like simple ingredients, lots of butter & salt, and a good home-cookin' feel in the kitchen. But, baking, in itself, never ceases to amaze me. The fact that you can take the same basic 6-7 ingredients (give or take a couple for flavor) and end up with a thousand unique possibilities... that is astounding to me.

I cannot take full credit for all of these pictures of our recent baking endeavors. My kids love throwing things into a bowl and licking the beaters afterwards just about as much as I do.

These are all Emma's. Completely irresistible, she had her mouth full of one when I took her picture.

Biscotti. Homemade. Mmm-mm. These were Chesley's and mine. Next book club I host I am making these, drizzling them with chocolate and almonds, and serving them with creamy peppermint hot cocoa.

Akin to my taffy experience last Christmas, I have never been able to successfully make Indian Fry Bread... until now. They are like little pockets of sinfully, bad-for-you goodness, just waiting to be opened up and filled with honey. I am seriously debating having these again for dinner tonight.

I have to admit, this last one wasn't my favorite. It was too light and airy for my culinary tastes, but I had to post it, because, although it may look sweet and innocent, this sucker was hard to make. This particular lemon jelly roll was Mike's and mine. I have great appreciation for anyone who can make these look easy and get them to taste great at the same time. I haven't dared make one since, although, this fall, that pumpkin-roll-with-cream-cheese recipe just might win me over.

And that's it. Add a few kid-craft projects, some "how to successfully volunteer in PTO without pulling your hair out" advice, and a pattern for a kitchen apron made entirely from organic materials, and I just might be able to trump Martha Stewart & Good Housekeeping altogether.

(Small side-note... It's been Zach's nap time for the past forty minutes, and he has officially zonked out on the floor next to me among all his toys, because I couldn't finish this darn post fast enough. Hope it was worth it for ya'll, I'm off to tuck my little guy in bed.)