From feet to hands

I have a lot of fun and crazy socks. For the past few years I have received them as birthday and Christmas presents or found them in post holiday sales bins. I love the bright colors or wild patterns, but socks don't last forever. I have used old socks for a number of things, cleaning rags, dog toys, patches, and even sock monkeys.

Recently I had a couple of socks wear out in the heals and toes. They were made with a thick yarn so I thought rather then cut them up I would see if I could unravel the yarn. That way I could use the yarn in a different project. After unraveling the foot portion of the sock I realized that what remained of the sock would actually make a pretty great set of fingerless gloves. So that is what they have become.

From footwear to hand warmers. My old socks have found a new job, and my hands are loving it now that the cooler temperatures have arrived.

I am thinking that the other set might make a good pair of legwarmers for my little ballerina. 

Many blessings to you on this fine day--Kate

Chicken Nuggets

One of the dishes that the kids were most sad to see go was Chicken Nuggets. So again that was one of the recipes I went in search of. I found this delicious recipe and also fell in love with Vegenaise, which is saying a lot because I strongly dislike Mayonnaise and have not eaten it for nearly 20 years. 

Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients
-1 lb thin chicken pieces
-1/2 cup grape seed Vegenaise
-1/2 cup almond flour (I also like to add 2 Tbsp coconut flour)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions
-Mix the flours and spices together in one bowl. Put vegenaise in another bowl. Dredge in vegenaise then in flour mixture. 
-Place on baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, flipping the nuggets at 15 minutes. 

We serve them with a honey mustard sauce for the kids. 2 Tbsp Mustard, 1 Tbsp honey stir until the color changes and sauce becomes thin. Yummy!

Many blessings to you on this fine day.--Kate

All Soul's Day

The last of the three holy days, All Hallow's Eve, All Saint's Day and finally All Soul's Day, day of prayer for the dead.

My father Michael. He passed in December of 1987

Many blessings to you on this fine Holy day.--Kate

Pen Pals

I remember trying a few times to write to pen pals when I was a kid. It never lasted very long, but it was a lot of fun. My oldest had a glorious summer spent playing with new neighbors. Unfortunately when fall came they unexpectedly had to move away. There was a deep sense of heartbreak. It is still an adjustment to not have friends that might show up at your door and be ready to play at any moment. To make up for the lost there has been a lot of drawing, coloring and a claim that she wants to stay in touch with her friend.

So today's surprise is a letter to be sent to a far away friend. This was entirely her idea. She still frequently speaks of how much she misses her friend and hopes to see her again. I think this creation and the chance to maintain some sort of connection offers her a little bit of comfort. It has been a learning experience for me to watch how the very young process and deal with loss.

This has been a good lesson for me to learn from my girl. Her thoughtful heart is my delight.

Many blessings to you on this fine All Saints Day--Kate

Happy Halloween.

How perfect to have Halloween fall on a Favorite Friday. Halloween is a great holiday and the older I get the more of a favorite it becomes. I do not know if it is because it is the first holiday of the "Holiday Season," so everything is still fresh, exciting and new.  Maybe it is because it is a holiday relatively low on stress and high on fun. Thanksgiving seems like a holiday that should be relaxing but it rarely is and the hype that leads into Christmas tends to leave the actual day feeling a little flat. Halloween on the other hand is just a day (and night,) of fun.

We finally got some decoration up. Not much but then we do not get trick or treaters. The kids had lots of fun and it got them excited for the rest of the day. We also took a trip to visit Daddy at work and made a few other stops about town. All of it leading to a wonderful time trick or treating in the neighborhood. We live in a really great neighborhood. We know enough of our neighbors that they were excited to see the kids and even bought them special treats. So their buckets were already half full before we had gone six houses.

The biggest problem with their amazing haul is the fact that we are trying to remove sugars from their diet and not add more to it. I have put the offer out to the kids that they can trade their sweets in for money. It is a chance for them to save up for something that they could be really excited about. Right now though they are more excited about the candy. My hope is that the excitement will wear off quickly when they realize that they will not be getting more then one sweet per day. Then they might realize the appeal of the cash offer.

I noticed this year a new movement with a teal pumpkin. Where homes with teal pumpkins offer non-food treasures. I really wish this would catch on because I want my kids to have the joy of trick or treating, without all the sugar. 

Many blessings to you on this fine and spooky night.--Kate

Some times the "things" in life are not things.

I have just spent a day allowing the things in life to get in the way of enjoying my life. Some times the things that clutter up our life are not physical items that fill up the corners, and closets that litter the floor or spill out into the garage. They are the things that we allow to steal our moments. They are the things that we think are so important right now, but do not give us the joy that we could find if we just set those things down, took a breath and looked around. Today, I let the things take time away from my kids. Time we could have spent decorating for Halloween, or playing a game. My kids sat next to me working together on a puzzle, I was busy with my things.

So for this Thursday it is all of the things that have to go. I know that they will not. I know that there will be more things that need my attention tomorrow. What I really need to do is make sure that I keep them in their place. I need to not let them fill up my entire day and take away from all of the many amazing moments.

Many blessings to you on this fine night--Kate

My warm hearted snow queen.

As promised here is costume number two.

My oldest as Queen Elsa, from Disney's, Frozen.

The costume is not completely wrapped-up. I still have to do the bottom hem, iron on the snow flakes and do some beading but it is all hand work and I wanted to be sure that I got this posted before the day was done. When I get it all finished I will update with the final picture. 

She has been begging for this outfit for about a month now. We will see if we can get her out of it after Halloween.

Many blessings to you on this fine day.--Kate