The Chickadee Feeder

GETTING WHAT YOU WANT

When I opened my birthday gifts last June, I was delighted:  every gift I opened was exactly what I wanted!!

Perhaps the secret to this is to ask for reasonable things, and in small numbers….and to find examples of stores and websites where they can be purchased, too.

 

My three guys couldn’t understand my exclamations of delight.  “What?” I asked.  “Why are you rolling your eyes?”

They said it was incomprehensible to them how I could act so surprised and happy when:
1.  I asked for 3 items.
2.  There were 3 packages.
3.  The packages were shaped like the 3 items I had asked for.

Perhaps IT’S A GUY THING  to not understand.  Who could ask for more??–to receive exactly what you wanted.

BEING AWAY

I sit in a crowd of people, all of us enjoying ourselves, chatting, reminiscing, sharing news and ideas.  But in the quiet parts, I think of the book I’m currently reading; it is waiting for me at home. 

I’m worried about the people in it.

Will they be victorious?  Or will terrible things happen to them because they dared to do what is right?

I have to calm myself, remembering that a book holds those people and their adventures BEFORE I choose to read it, and it promises to keep the characters in suspended motion until I return.

As we enter this time between Christmas and the New Year, I hope you find rest, helpful contemplation, and much enjoyment as you visit and share with friends and loved ones!

HERE’S LOOKIN’ AT YA

We’re happy that one of our favorite Christmas candies can be easily converted to a gluten free version–we call them “Eyeballs.”

(*see wheat version below)

8 oz. (or more) round GF pretzels (Ener-G Wylde)
3-5 bags of Hershey kisses, unwrapped
1/2 bag of M & M candies (in holiday colors)

Lay out the pretzels on a cookie sheet.

Place a Hershey kiss on top of each pretzel and place another round pretzel on top of that.*

Bake in a 200 degree oven for 7 minutes.  This makes the Hershey kiss soft.

Remove from the oven and immediately place an M & M candy on top.  Squish it down so that the chocolate is sure to connect well with the pretzels.

Place the whole sheet in the refrigerator for 30 minutes so that the chocolate solids up.

Pop an eyeball in your mouth…and another…and another….

*WHEAT VERSION
The GF pretzels are so small; that is why we use two per eyeball.  But for a wheat version, buy a bag of pretzels that are square and look like waffles.  Stack them like this–waffle, Hershey kiss, M & M–and that will be enough pretzel.

PURSE YOUR LIPS AND GET SEWING

A lot of people are enjoying cloth purses right now, so those who have plenty of free time (or actually–just a little bit of free time) can still whip off a few wonderful shoulder bags for very nice Christmas gifts.

Because I’m handicapped when it comes to following sewing directions, I’ll direct you to website directions that even I can follow:  TinyHappy’s Shoulder Bag Tutorial. 

Here is a bag I have given as a gift:

I used Walmart “upholstery” fabric and made my straps 6 inches shorter than the original.  I have gotten many compliments on the one I used this summer (graciously modeled by my younger son):

WHOOPING IT UP

Sometimes when I’m feeling really great, I quietly say in my mind to myself, “EEE-HAW!”

Wednesday I was so busy “Eee-hawing” as I drove down the road on my shopping day that I missed the turn to the recycle place.

Now I have to haul around a whole trunkful of recyclables for another week.

EEE-HAW.