Little People!!

We found this Playmobil Advent Calendar set at
The Spunky Monkey in Fredericksburg for $11! When I was growing
up, we had Playmobil sets. We called them Little People. Christian
played with them as a child, too, so we had to get it!! We are looking
forward to using it at advent next year!

Happy Holidays

Just logging on from a remote location to say I hope everyone had a
Merry Christmas and is planning a safe and Happy New Year! We are with
family and will be heading off to celebrate our 3 year anniversary,
belated, soon.
I have tons of pictures to post when the holidays are over!

Sad news: trans fat free cake mix update

Bad news for the holiday baking - you may remember that I previously posted about how the Walmart Brand Cake Mix is trans fat free. Marketed and sold under the Great Value brand.

Unfortunately, it has become apparent that Walmart/Great Value has stopped manufacturing and distributing the Great Value cake mix in Walmart stores. For a brief time they sold Great Value brand brownie mix, which was also trans fat free. That is gone now too. I bought the last one at the new Walmart on Forest Lane and they didn't restock. Don't worry, I am writing them a letter as we speak. This does put me on the search for a new, affordable and easily available trans fat free cake mix.

Kroger has really been leading the way with their store brand products going trans fat free, they do have a special kids cake mix called "Kroger Sports Yellow Cake mix" which is trans fat free. It comes with little sports-themed sugar appliques to put on the frosting. I have not tried it, so I don't know how good it is or if it could be used for cupcakes. So far they do not have a chocolate or white cake version. They do have some of their Private Selection brand fancy bundt cake mixes also trans fats free, but I am not sure how successful they would be as cupcakes or regular cake. I was going to take pictures of the boxes, but I forgot my iPhone when I went to the store yesterday.

I also checked Tom Thumb, their O Organics brand does not have a cake mix yet.

One note on the search: I know that Whole Foods has some mixes without trans fats. However, I avoid recommending those because, as a friend of mine has pointed out, they are typically 1) very expensive - around $5-$8 a box, and 2) require you to add eggs, butter, vanilla, oil, and other things; if you are going to do that, you might as well make it from scratch - that is not a mix, you just paid $5-$8 for a container of flour.

Countdown to Christmas

Freebie: for the next 48 hours, Oprah.com is giving away a free Christmas CD for download, so go download yours now!

We are getting close to Christmas, and I am almost finished with the holiday things. I think we have all the gifts. The Christmas cards have been...challenging. Unfortunately we have developed kind of a reputation for having unusual Christmas cards and that sets the bar kind of high for us, causing us to procrastinate.

I have gone to Walgreens to print the cards for several years, but this year the usual person is gone and someone who has no idea what they are doing is there. They lost our order at least once, I had to go back twice, and they asked me to re-send it, which caused me to get a double order. I am not sure yet if they charged us twice or not because my Mastercard web site is not working. I am scrambling to address and send them all right now. So when you get yours, pretend it's not late. Also, I do not recommend the Walgreens on Matilda & Mockingbird now.

Light at the end of the tunnel: After all my years of being a grinch at the holidays, I have learned to plan time to do nothing. I used to take a random day off work for miscellaneous errands, but I had used up all my days this year so far. Then there was a need for someone to work the Saturday shift this weekend. In exchange, I am getting Monday off - all day! I have booked a mani/pedi at an organic spa about 30 minutes away. I am very excited! I have never been to this spa, so I'll let you know how it turns out...

Preserve razors: updated review

A while back, I blogged about my efforts toward more "green" hair removal. When I gave Preserve double-bladed razors a "thumbs down" score, Elissa at Preserve contacted me to sample the new Triple Blade Preserve razor and see if it fares better. I want to disclose first off that she did send them to me for free, which I hope did not make me too biased.

The good news is, the triple blade razors are SO much better! They work comparably to any traditional razor you might have tried. None of the "shaving with a piece of dull cardboard" feeling that I had with the double blades. I have been using them regularly for about 2 weeks and had no trouble!

I change my rating for the Triple Blade razor to: thumbs up!

The bad news is that, so far, I have been unable to find the triple blade replacements anywhere. Every Whole Foods I try has only the double blades. They have the triple blade handle but no triple replacement blades. This is very odd since we live in a very densely populated area with multiple stores carrying the Preserve brand within a 10 mile radius of our house. My only guess is that the double blades don't sell well, and the stores won't re-order until all the old double blades are gone.

It's unfortunate, since I am on my last replacement blade and I really want to buy more! If anyone in the Dallas area sees them around, let me know.

I also tried the Preserve toothbrush, which is also made of recycled yogurt containers. I really don't know anything about toothbrushes. It worked just like a toothbrush, is all I can say. The most unusual feature is that the handle is curved. It definitely takes a little getting used to. I keep switching between it and my other toothbrush and that is a weird experience. I would say, run out and give it a try yourself, and see what you think!

Destined for "What Not To Wear"

HAHAHAHA....doh!

NOTE: This is not our car, it is a car we saw in the parking lot of the Cosmic Cafe.

Potato stamps

This Christmas I have been trying to figure out how to either use the Christmas wrappings I currently have or find a way to use the gifts' own packaging to wrap. So, I had 3 gifts that came in plain brown boxes and I thought: these just need to be dressed up a little! I didn't want to buy anything new, but I had some red and green craft paint and some small red potatoes. I took a knife and made little potato stamps.


I might have too much time on my hands, but this is a welcome break from past Christmases. And we are still attending parties every weekend, so not much else has let up. Merry Christmas!

404 Cookies Not Found

I actually did quite a few little creative things this weekend which I am just now getting around to posting about. One of these was to make cookies for the fellows that Christian works with at EMC. They are a tiny part of EMC called 404 User Experience Design. 404 is actually the room number they were assigned when they moved to their new office a few years ago. This is funny to web guys because of the obvious 404 Page Not Found joke.

In honor of 404, I made these cookies for the guys:
I used Sandy Bembenek's awesome sugar cookie recipe, here it is. The secret to the icing is to sift the powdered sugar!

Christmas Cookies

Cut Out Cookies
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup butter or margarine
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Mix sugar and butter until smooth, light, and fluffy Add egg and flavorings.
Mix well and then add the dry ingredients
Refrigerate at least 3 hours (you can do a quick chill in the freezer for 1 hour if using butter not margarine)
Roll out and cut into shapes
Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and bake cookies at 375º F for 7-8 minutes
Cool at least 15 minutes before icing

Buttercream Frosting
1/3 cup butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons cool milk or cream

Beat butter several minutes until creamy
Add sugar ½ cup at a time, beating well each time
Add vanilla, then milk or cream and beat well again (if it gets too stiff, stick the bowl in the microwave for 10 second increments)

I figured out to hem my jeans

Lately the girls in my Community Group and I have been on a jeans kick. After careful consideration, we are realizing that since we are now old enough not to be growing out of jeans constantly, it is actually more cost effective to invest in quality jeans that cost a little more and fit perfectly to your body and wear them for many years, than to buy a larger number of cheap jeans that have to be replaced regularly and are not built in a way that would take full advantage of your natural assets. Let's face it - if it doesn't flatter, you aren't going to wear it (or feel comfortable when you do). You are just going to spend more and more money buying more and more cheap jeans that still don't fit right.

My first experience with designer jeans comes from a few years back when I was at the Salvation Army main store on Inwood here in Dallas. It's huge and it has a boutique area. A lady came up to me, out of nowhere, and said "Hey, I saw some Sevens and some Citizens jeans on that rack that look like they would fit you". The Sevens were too small but the Citizens fit great! That is how I acquired my first pair of designer jeans for $4.00. I have been wearing them for years and occasionally searching eBay for the same style, but I can never find them much below $100.

A few weeks back, I was able to pick up a pair of moderately nice Odyn jeans for $40 at a FIG sample sale (normally $80 - $90), thanks to Mica May, who let us know about the sale! Then the girls found out about a denim warehouse sale at Dallas Market Hall this weekend. They went early on Friday when the crowds were thick, but I work all day Friday, so I went on Saturday in the afternoon. There was still a huge selection and I had my own area of the community dressing room for all my stuff and my own mirror to try on the jeans. I was excited to find another pair of Citizens for Humanity jeans that fit even better than my Salvation Army pair!

You may be thinking at this point "I thought this post was about hemming jeans". Yes, that is where the hemming comes in. If I have learned anything from What Not To Wear, it is that clothes do not always come to you completely fitting off the rack, and especially that well-made clothing is created to allow being altered, if necessary. With the Odyn jeans, most parts fit great and the length is good for heels as-is. But, the waist band was a little large ,which always happens with my body type. For $40, I couldn't pass them up! And honestly, I may sew, but I am not touching the combination of denim and a waistband alteration. So I took them to a tailor, and for only $16, that is being taken care of (thanks again to Mica for the referral!).

When I bought my original Citizens jeans at the Salvation Army, I could tell that they had been hemmed. Fortunately, the original owner was apparently exactly my height, so it was great! The Citizens jeans I bought on Saturday were long, but I was so excited that I had the original Salvation Army pair because I was able to deconstruct how the (probably professional) tailor had hemmed them, keeping the original hemline intact. It took me probably 4 hours of doing and re-doing my new jeans this weekend, but I have figured it out as of this morning! I am so totally excited! I am not sure if I really saved myself that much money by doing it myself but I think the satisfaction of learning how to do this in the future is so fun!

I did something to my foot

On Sunday morning I woke up and my foot didn't feel right. I honestly have no idea why, but over the last few days it has gotten much worse. Monday I worked from home and kept it elevated all day. I thought that helped, but on Tuesday it was worse. Yesterday I had the brilliant idea to hop directly on it and see what happened. That was a bad idea, it hurt so bad I yelled, and then it was worse from then on. It was at that time that Christian suggested I go to the doctor and I agreed.

Today I tried calling my regular doctor but he didn't have an appointment until next week. It was getting embarrassing to be limping everywhere and the pain was now pretty significant.

At this point I would like to digress for a minute and point out that the argument some people give against national health care system like the one in Canada is that you have to wait too long for care. I would like to point out that we have very good health insurance (Christian's company is one of the top largest technology companies in the world), and we live in Dallas, a city with many doctors. But I am unable to get in to see my own doctor for a week. What if it was broken?! Apparently I couldn't see him before them for love or money. I am just saying...there is something wrong with that. I don't think the "waiting too long theory" is a good argument against nationalized health care, because it happens now.

Back to the story, I fell back on our most common option, CareNow. I really like CareNow because even though it is open late hours and they have emergency services, it is charged to the insurance as just a regular doctor copay instead of the Urgent Care copay, which is usually higher. Also, you can do Web Check-in, where you enter your information online and they call you when the doctor is ready to see you, so you don't have to sit in the waiting room for hours. There is still waiting, but it isn't too bad.

Anywayz, after doing x-rays they determined it wasn't broken and they think it is just a tendon that is messed up somehow. They have given me a painkiller and some steroids. I have to say I hesitated in taking the drugs, but I do need to get better. I will probably not take the painkillers tomorrow, I think they are making me dizzy/sleepy/nauseous. The steroids only last 5 days and they taper down in dosage each day so I guess that is OK. But the ankle is feeling much better!

Welcome, Christmas!

So, now that Thanksgiving is over, on to Christmas!

This year we actually 1) put up a tree, and 2) put it up the day after Thanksgiving!

It might not sound amazing, but has only been one other year in our marriage that we've had a tree at all, so this is unusual. Part of this is because we end up traveling so much during the holidays that there didn't seem to be any point. This year not only did we not have to travel for Thanksgiving, but we'll actually be here in our own beds the night before Christmas!

I've also got almost all of our Christmas shopping done, and within the budget!

I would like to thank the lack of artificial hormones in my body for my not-hating-Christmas this year. I think it is the first time in as many years as I can remember that I have not turned into the Grinch for the month of December.

I would also like to thank our families and friends for being so easy-going and un-demanding when it comes to gifts. I don't feel like anyone has unrealistic or unhealthy gift expectations, we really just all enjoy spending time together during the holidays. It makes the holidays much more pleasant.

Here is Christian's TwitPic of me decorating the tree: