I've been doing a lot of reading in what little free time I've had lately. The beautiful thing (since like most people, I'm watching my wallet) is that most of the books I have been reading I haven't paid a dime for. Below are three blogs I read that post about bargains or free books available out there.
Books on the Knob - Recommended by my knitsib and fellow Kindle Fire owner, CaughtKnittin, Books on the Knob is a great resource for Kindle users. They also list deals for the Kobo and Nook as well, so still check it out if you aren't a Kindle owner. I find the posts really comprehensive and very easy to browse through quickly. There are short descriptions of the books as well as the publishers they come from. As an added bonus they even post about any free audiobooks through audible.com.
Pixel of Ink - I just recently started reading Pixel of Ink after it was recommended to me by my friend RisenPhoenix. This blog is specifically for Kindle users and is similar to Books on the Knob in format, though the updates range a bit more throughout the day rather than all at once.
Kindle Nation Daily - This is another blog I stumbled across recently that again is only for Kindle users. The format for their updates is a bit longer than the previous two blogs. There are more reviews and sometimes samples from the books that can be quite lengthy, so if you are looking for more in depth info about the books, you might want to check this one out.
By following all three of these blogs I do see a fair bit of repeat info, but I don't mind. Someones one will post about something that the other doesn't. Anyway, that's it from me today... so HAPPY READING! :)
Recently I have noticed I've been cooking a whole lot more than I have been in a very long time. I thought it might be nice to start sharing those recipes with you in a format that would be easy for you to go back into later, so I have started a new page on my blog called My Recipe Box. A link to the page is up at the top of my blog underneath the header and allows me have a list of all the good (and free) recipes I have come across and tried.
I'm grouping them according to the standard cookbook headings i.e side dishes, main dishes, desserts, etc. to make the recipes a little bit easier to weed through if you are looking for something. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If I can keep my act together in the long run, I am going to link each recipe to the blog post that I talk about it in so you can see pictures and my comments before trying it out yourself.
I have waaaaay too many books! This is mostly because I have a nasty habit of snapping up little paperbacks that tickle my fancy. So today's 10 on Tuesday is a good way for me to understand just how many books I already own that as of yet I haven't read. One can only hope that I will finally get through my ever-growing list of "to read" and not just continue to constantly add to it.
Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs - I've had this book ever since I started seriously knitting, but said hobby has drastically cut down on my reading time over the past year.
Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon - Elizabeth wrote one of the best trilogies I have ever read, The Deed of Paksenarrion. It is an excellent book and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
Tapestry of Spells by Lynn Kurland - Lynn is one of my favorite romance authors. She actually includes plot and character development in her stories unlike many others. This book is the fourth in her 9 Kingdoms series which is more fantasy based than her medieval and renaissance with a dash of paranormal style romances that were my first love.
Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind - Actually I have read about half of this book but my hobbies keep on getting in the way of my reading lately. This book is the second in the Sword of Truth series which is another outstanding set of fantasy books.
Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn - Julia is another one of my favorite romance authors. Her stories are witty, her characters have depth and what makes her books even more memorable is that one of my good friends bought me my first book by this author. After plowing through that read, I proceeded to snap up anything else the author had written and this past year finally caught up. I'm just really happy that she now has a new book out that I can put on my wish list.
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters - Really? Do you need to know why I want to read this? I didn't think so.
How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron - Knitting + Romance = Win. Enough said.
Julie & Julia by Julie Powel - Have the book. Saw the movie first. You see my problem?
Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey - A great book my mom got me when I decided to buy my wheel. I've perused, but haven't had the chance to just sit down and read it.
The Knitter's Book of Wool by Clara Parkes - Ok, so I don't own this one yet, but I want to since I'm spinning a lot of wool these days.
Elphaba is my new spinning wheel. She is an Ashford Traditional, which is a type of wheel I've been drooling over since day 1 of my interest in spinning. I found her through a really random connection I made at Wooley Ways in Olden Days at the Wayside Inn last month. Today I was finally able to bring her home. Here she is getting the royal treatment. Not many of my possessions get a padded ride :-) Another bit of happy news is that she is petite and therefore fits nicely in the back of the car. She is going to be so easy to bring to knit night! **GLEE**
Here's Elphie just as she's come in the door to her new home. She is currently residing in front of the yarn cabinet in the hope that she will study all the already finished yarn and take notes for when I ask her to spin for me like a good girl. I'm sure she is going to give me a run for my money though.
I decided to take the plunge and see just how lame my newbie spinning would be. Turns out.... pretty lame! :P Actually, I would consider the bobbin of yarn I made tonight equal in quality to the first hank of spindle spun yarn I made. So, that's not too bad. I just am not coordinated with the whole having to draft the fiber AND treadle at the same time. It's way worse than patting your head and rubbing your stomach.... Towards the end of of the batch fiber I spun, I could actually treadle for a few moments before having to stop or accidentally making her spin backwards. I also figured out that I really need to sit in a good chair to spin on her and that treadling on two layers of carpet is not a sound plan. Two good lessons learned in one evening.
This is the yarn I came up with.... in one night. I can't believe how fast it is to spun on a wheel even with my ineptitude at keeping Elphie spinning and drafting at the same time. I don't think I ever could have spun 4 ounces in one night on a spindle. I'm really happy with how the single turned out. I used a braid of Blue Faced Leicester in the rose garden colorway I recently ordered from MissBabs.com. Her stuff is so gorgeous to look at and the BFL is soooo soft!
So, needless to say, I had a really good day and I am a very happy camper. I can't wait to be able to spend more time spinning on Elphaba.... but for now I guess sleep is a good idea. Who made that a requirement anyway?
Meet my newest gaming accessories! They are made using the Deep Sea Flower Dice Bag pattern I recently found on Ravelry. These little bags knit up really quick, which was their appeal since I have been doing a lot of long term knitting projects lately. I just needed something quick and satisfying to keep me on the knitting bandwagon. The pattern calls for Noro Kureyon, which I happily already had in my stash so all I had to buy were the neat little dangly bits for the ends of the strings. They are ceramic pendants from the Enchanted Planet line of Blue Moon Beads. The pattern didn't call for them, but the closure for the strings was a bit fiddly for my taste, so I decided on the pendents instead.
But, "Why make dice bags?" you ask. Most people wouldn't think I have dice... let alone many dice that would necessitate a dice bag. (Ten points if you get that reference, but if you need to cheat to figure it out, click here) Well to answer your question.... long, long ago (the late 90's) in a dorm far, far away (45 minutes down a local highway) I used to play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends at Wheaton. College was a wonderful place to get into this hobby as we had lots people available and lots of free time on the weekend to take over a common room for hours and then just trudge down to the dining hall for snacks. It also didn't hurt that the boyfriend was into it :-)
So, I played D&D and various other rpgs off and on throughout the last two years of college and a few years after graduating until I found I just didn't have the amount of time I needed to give to the group to be a reliable player. I decided to call it quits. I should also mention that role playing isn't exactly one of those things that I do well.... and well... that's putting it nicely. I'm very good at playing a character that is basically me, but that really isn't the point of tabletop and you get a mite bit predictable. Basically I played to hang out with the guys and socialize.
So, recently one of my friends decided to start up an Eberron game, which is a setting of the newest version of D&D. The game is slated to begin in July and one of my little traditions with tabletop gaming is that when I start a new character, I like to get some new dice. So, when we were down at the Cape a couple weekends ago Brian and I went to the local game store, GameNight.net in search of miniatures to portray our characters and on the lookout for some new pretty dice for me. I picked out the really pretty green and yellow ones in the picture above. This color scheme is actually quite a change from my usual sparkly or swirly pinks and purples.
The I think the last time I bought dice other than recently was back a couple years after college when I hadn't even thought of knitting as something I would be interested in. I got my dice home a said, "Huh, I don't have a dice bag," and promptly logged on to Ravelry to find a pattern. It's amazing how things change yet end up coming back to you isn't it?
1) Les Miserables - I saw Les Mis for the first time in high school and was totally hooked. Even my husband, who in general doesn't like musicals, likes this tale of Jean Val Jean, convict 24601. My favorite song has to be On my Own. I love the original London cast, but unfortunately I can't seem to find a link to that version and nonw of the rest sound nearly as good. Another good one is Do You Hear the People Sing. You can see a good clip of that by clicking here.
2) Sweeney Todd - I saw the Angela Lansbury version of this great musical for the first time with my friend(s) in a viewing room at the library in college. Ever since then the musical has intrigued me. Johnny Depp didn't hurt my liking of the musical either :-) Favorite songs = Green Finch and Linnet Bird (one that a friend was very good at singing in high school) and The Worst Pies in London (both Angela Lansbury and Helena Bonham Carter did great versions).
3) Phantom of the Opera - The first big musical theatre production that I recall seeing. I know I saw many on the small stage, but I saw this at the Wang and it was a big deal. I spent much of my free time in high school striving to sound like Christine along with my other friends. As I recall the cable access hallway had some damn good acoustics! Favorite songs include Think of Me and Phantom of the Opera. You can see a good version of the former here.
4) Wicked - So, I've never actually seen this musical. I read the book and listened to a few clips on the music online and then just downloaded the soundtrack, knowing that I would love it. And love it I do. I hope some day I can actually see a performance. My favorite song has to be Popular which you can see here.
5) Little Shop of Horrors - This is such an awesome musical! The movie starring Rick Moranis is hilarious. Steve Martin plays the dentist and her is absolutely perfect. Favorite songs are Skid Row, Suddenly Seymore and Dentist.
6) Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Not a standard of musical theatre, but a musical nonetheless. Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillian and Felicia Day are wonderful in this web musical. Favorite songs include Bad Horse Chorus, A Man's Gotta Do and Brand New Day. Just download the whole thing now and get it out of the way.
7) Once More with Feeling - Joss Whedon's musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer sung by the actual cast. Some are better singers than others with Anthony Stewart Head and Amber Benson showing their vocal chops off the best. Favorite songs include I've got a Theory / Bunnies / If We're Together which can be heard here, Walk Through the Fire and Under Your Spell.
8) Nightmare Before Christmas - Tim Burton combines Christmas, Halloween, claymation and singing with great results. Favorite songs include This is Halloween and Sally's Song.
9) Bye Bye Birdie - The version I'm most familiar with is the 2005 tv miniseries starring Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams. The story is of the rock legend Conrad Birdie being drafted into the army and how his adoring (and squealing) fans say farwell before he heads off to war. There are quite a few excellent songs but my favorites are Bye Bye Birdie (you can see a clip here) and Spanish Rose.
10) Newsies - Ah.... gotta love those Disney musicals! This was another high school obsession for me. I adored Bill Pullman and musicals, so when I heard he sang a few lines in this I most definitely had a squee moment. The movie is the story of Pulitzer and Hearst raising the cost of their papers by a penny and how it affects the newspaper boy that were trying to scrape by a living. It is wonderful and stars a very young Christian Bale. My favorites from the movie are King of New York and The World Will Know. Below you can see the latter:
So, I'm still keeping up with my one card a week goal, which I'm pretty psyched about. Doing these cards has been getting easier and easier as the weeks go on. This week I thought I would do a thank you card since I have more than a few people who could use some thanking in my life. I'm also really excited because A Muse just came out with their spring release, which is called Everything's Rosy (I looooove floral stamps). I'm so psyched because in a couple weeks I'll be going to a class featuring the use of all these new stamps. AWESOME!!! You can get a sneak peek at some of the new stamps by checking out A Muse's blog. Papers:
1 A Muse Lavender Square Card (these are unfortunately discontinued, I just happened to have some)
So, I'm doing my first ever crochet along (CAL) and I'm so very excited! The two projects included in the Spring CAL are Tiny Whale and Daffodils by June Gilbank of PlanetJune.com. She designs absolutely amazing amigurumi animals and sells those patterns along with the accessories to make them (such as eyes, noses and a stuffing tool for filling up tiny body parts). I also read her blog and follow her on twitter and believe me, she does a lot!
The CAL started on April 19th and will run until the end of May. So if you want to try one or both of these lovely crochet patterns out there is plenty of time left. To join the CAL you need to have a Ravelry.com account (which is free) and then you can introduce yourself and post on the Spring CAL Message Board to chat and share photos with the rest of us.
June was even nice enough to make us a CAL button for those of us with a bit of a blog addiction. Isn't it cute?
I decided to start with the daffodils because... well, we don't have any and the concept of pretty spring flowers appealed to me. I was very fortunate in that I had most of the colors for this project already. Back in December I had picked up a couple skeins of yellow and cream Cascade 220 Wool and my mom had gotten me a heathery orange of the same yarn the previous summer. All I had to do was head out and pick up some green for the stems. Easy peasy!
After winding up the cream and orange yarns, I didn't really get started on the crochet tonight until around 11pm and it took me a few tries to learn and recreate the magic circle method of starting the project. After a few bumps in the road things started going a bit more smoothly. So, here is the first part of my first daffodil. One petal. It's not much, but I already know I'm going to loooooove making these.
Hi folks! I just wanted to share something really nice that happened to me recently. A handful of days ago I received a personal message on Ravelry, which is my online knitting and crochet community, from someone I hadn't met before. She introduced herself as Mary from the America's Knitting website and said she had been looking around at projects on the site and saw my Bountiful Bohus Cardigan. She then asked me if I would be willing to share it on her website's project page and gave me the site address to check her site out.
Me? Share a project? SQUEE!!!!! I have never had anyone ask me to do that before...
So of course, I said yes!
Mary said she would let me know when it was posted on the site and low and behold, today I got the message that it was all set. I was sooo excited to see a picture of my baby up on a website other than my own. Mary wrote up a nice little summary of the project and said very nice things about it. You know, it makes you feel really good when a complete stranger compliments your work.... because they don't have to. It's an especially nice to hear when it is a project you really work hard on and struggled through, which I did.
That leads me to a bit of advice I would like to share with anyone who is even remotely interested in trying out something creative and new like spinning, paper crafting, photography or crochet. Be fearless. Don't worry about failing, just try whatever it is you want to do. Whether you succeed or fail, you most likely have learned a valuable lesson and you will only get better with practice. Being fearless is what got me through making this cardigan and honestly I really learned a whole lot in the process.
You can see the nice writeup that Mary did by going to the AmericasKnitting.com project page by clicking here. There are lots of other great projects on the site as well as a listing of all LYSs (local yarn stores) in the country and spotlights on designers, stores and yarn companies, so check the site out. Thanks very much Mary for taking time out to notice my project; It really means a lot!
Ladies and gentleman this is what happens when you don't read your pattern thoroughly before starting a project. For the past two nights, I have spent my time fretting over if I had the correct needles to finish up my Tempo's Headcoat (which is basically the coolest newsboy cap ever). You can get the headcoat pattern for free on Ravelry here.
I had started on Tuesday, happy to begin a new and fun project. Instead of starting with the brim, like the pattern calls for (why would I ever follow the pattern?), I decided to start the tam section and work the brim later. I knitted merrily along on my size 6 needles. Now, I have a lovely interchangeable circular needle set from WEBS so I can basically make any length circular needle I want out of the tips included in the set. This worked out very well as I had to increase from 3 stitches all the way up to over 250.
After all those increases was when I ran into my needle issue. I hadn't noticed that once finishing all the increases I had to decrease quite dramatically with a #2 needle. This doesn't sound like it's such a big deal, does it. I have that handy interchangeable needle set; I just have to switch out the tips and I'll be golden! Not so much.... You see the interchangeable set I have is great. I am very happy with it, but the smallest needle tips are a size #4 :(
So I ran to my LYS (local yarn store) on the way home from work yesterday to get a #2 16" circular (plus another skein of yarn because I didn't pay attention to how much I needed). I arrived home, finished knitting the tam, went to start the brim and realized that it called for a really long #2 circular.
Insert Trumpet Noise of Failure here.
Oh, I failed to mention that it was now 8:50pm and no craft stores stay open after 9pm and all of them are more than 10 minutes away. Double failure! I actually ended up making it work. I used bigger needles than the pattern called for (yeay for #4 needles) and I think that worked out well. But the evening was full of stress over my awesome project when it was so very close to being done. That's why my project picture looks so funny. I scavenged everywhere for any needles I could find that would work; Circulars, DPN's, I used anything I could lay my hands on.
Oh well, it could be worse... If I had run into these problems a year ago, I would have dissolved into tears and been inconsolable for hours. It's amazing what a year and some challenges can do. Anyway, I am cautiously optimistic that I can finish the headcoat this evening. If so, pictures on the morrow!
These are pictures taken last Sunday when I decided (at midnight) that I wanted to try to cut this baby up the middle before I went to bed. As my post title suggests, I was either really brave or stupid because I know that if my crocheted steek failed, there was absolutely no way I was EVER going to get to sleep that night. Did I happen to mention, that I have NEVER crocheted a steek before and that I learned it watching demos on YouTube? I'm leaning more towards stupid right now.... And here's a link to the demo video I used, in case you ever wanted to know how to crochet a steek.
So, this is a shot of the completed steek. I was able to follow the demo pretty well and thought it looked pretty good. It took we a good couple hours to finish it and I started at 10:00pm after finishing knitting the final portion of the collar on the neck. So, anyway, here's a action shot of me cutting my cardigan.
While I wasn't feeling too nervous at the time, I did ask Brian to come in and offer bother moral and photographic support. It was so strange cutting between the stitches and watching them almost pop apart. I'm telling you, this techniques is not for the faint of heart!
So, here she is! All cut down the middle and no, my cardigan didn't unravel slowly before my eyes. My goal was to get her done so I could wear her to work on Tuesday and knitting that night, but that goal was a complete failure. I still had to close up the arm holes and pick up and knit stitches on both side of the steek for the button bands and those proved way too much to do in one evening. I did manage to graft the arm holes together using the kitchener stitch, a great technique for knitting two pieces together virtually without a seam. A good video for how to do the kitchener stitch is here. And I also knit one button band and got a few rows into the other one before calling it quits are a ridiculous hour (probably 1am).
However, at this point, she's been done for four days. I just haven't been able to get any good pictures to share yet. But, with this lovely change in the weather and me having a couple days off to enjoy the daylight hours, I should have some final product pics in the next few days. More importantly, on Wednesday of this week, I was finally able to wear my beloved cardigan :D
This is the second project I have started as part of my selfish knitting month and it is a pattern I have drooled over for quite awhile now. I won't wax poetic about it too much as I have already posted about it before, but I wanted to share a wip photo with you as I will most likely be finishing it up this weekend. I would have posted about it sooner, but we were having problems with the internet at home and I even thought it was a problem with my computer for a day or so. Luckily the internet has been restored in its full glory and I can post to my little heart's content.
I decided to put my Gathered Scarf on hold for a little bit so I can finish this one up and wear it sooner rather than later. I have a few more things up my sleeve for this month, but I think I have to declare failure on it being full of projects only for me. I just realized I have one project I should start and finish this month and 3 more waiting in the wings, though they are not due anytime soon. Oh well.... Despite this realization, I'm sure I manage this shawlette, the scarf, a pair of gloves and a hat for myself, all of which I already had planned between the other projects.
Don't worry, it's in addition to this one, so everyday ephemera will not be going away. After doing my 10 on Tuesday post a couple weeks ago I decided I wanted to start doing Project 365, which if you don't know of already, is basically a photo a day for a year. I thought this would really get me focused on taking gorgeous photos again instead of the utilitarian ones that I take for documenting finished projects and get togethers.
So, today I started the ball rolling... and created the page and the first post. So, if you are interested, please visit my new blog called My Year: Through the Lens. I would love any comments you can give that are constructive in nature or feel free to just share your thoughts and ideas!
Ok, so I've given up on the whole day or Christmas day of cookies thing. Too much work! So, since my last cookie post, Brian, Mom and I have made the following:
Lemon-Honey Drop Cookies: These are one of my staples every year. They are so versatile. I have made them orange flavored and lemon-lime flavored as well and they turn out great!
Spritz Cookies: Mom dragged over her cookie press and made dozens of these small butter cookies that we decorated with colored sugar and other fun things.
Peppermint Swirls: I found this recipe in a Betty Crocker magazine you can get at the checkout at the grocery store. It's a pretty easy recipe that is a basic shortbread dough which is divided in half and then one half is flavored with peppermint and colored red and then rolled with the plain dough to make the swirls. As you can see, the swirls take some practice.
Oatmeal Cranberry Sour Cream Bars: I found this in in the same book as the Peppermint Swirls. I wanted to make a bar and this was a nice simple recipe, plus is called for craisins and I LOVE those!
Chai Tea Shortbread: I found the next two recipes on the Food Network website from the show 5 Ingredient Fix. A pretty good little recipe over all and the writer offers some good options to changing the recipe slightly such as adding nuts.
Almond Shortbread: This cookie uses the same recipe as the one above, but instead of using pecans as she suggested, I went for almonds and replaced the vanilla with almond extract.
I have at least one more recipe to go, so I'll post that another day, but whew! Do you think we've made enough cookies?
So, I haven't been posting many of my projects lately. Gee, could it be that Christmas is encroaching and I have made more than a few gifts this year? Perhaps. Since I can't yet share the glory of my finished projects, I will instead share with you some of my plans for January.
I am very happy wall the knitted items I have created over the past year. Today I actually counted how many things I have made to date in 2009 and got a total of 50 separate items. Bwah?!?!? I know, it's crazy! So, after working so hard over the past year, I decided I was up for some kind of self-reward. Thus, I have declared this January to be selfish knitting month (SelfKniMo 2009). SelfKniMo will let me get to play with all those projects I have mulling around in my brain that I have wanted to make for myself.
One of those projects I've just been dying to get on the needles is Never Not Knitting's Cedar Leaf Shawlette (click here for pictures). A week and a half ago I finally broke down and ordered the kit for myself. I had lusted after that pattern and yarn (pictured in front of our Christmas tree) for long enough to make me feel that I could justify the purchase. The yarn is an amazing blend of half wool and half silk and is called Lady Godiva by Handmaiden of Canada (you can see their colors here). When Brian saw the mixture of fibers he was convinced that the yarn was made by a sheep/caterpillar hybrid called a caterpeep. Lol! Did I mention how awesome my husband is lately? He's so good and puts up with all the yarn and pointy sticks quite nicely.
The Cedar Leaf Shawlette is just one of the projects I have in store for January. Oh yeah, if you think I'm slowing down on the knitting you're crazy. The only thing that might take up some of my time is that my self-imposed learning-to-crochet ban will be over as of January 1, so I might sneak some easy crochet projects into the mix. Then again, I have 5 knitting projects lined up for myself already, including a matching scarf, hat and glove set. So.... crocheting might have to take a back seat until February.
There wasn't a theme for today, so I made up my own and decided to focus on music. So here are 10 great Christmas songs for you to listen to to keep you merry:
1) Sugafunscary by Aliqua on their album All I Want - I found this album tonight when I was downloading today's free mp3 from Amazon's 25 Days of Free. It's a nice album overall if you enjoy a capella women's. This song in particular is kinda funky and features the women in the group doing a lot of vocal percussion. You can listen to the album samples and buy the album by clicking here.
2) Christmas Tree a single by Lady Gaga featuring Space Cowboy - Lady Gaga always makes things interesting and this single does not disappoint :P You can preview and download the single for free by clicking here until Dec. 25th.
3) Last Christmas a single by The Glee Cast - I just adore the show Glee and basically everything they sing on it, so I had to include the single they released. You can preview and download it through iTunes by clicking here.
4) Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses - Both Darth Coco and I love this song, so I had to share it seeing as she has already commented about it in the blog this year. You can preview and purchase it through Amazon by clicking here.
5) Sleigh Ride by Los Straitjackets on their album 'Tis the Season - what do you get when you combine traditional holiday songs and surfer rock? Check this song out to find out! You can preview the album and download it by clicking here. They also have a new album out this year called Yuletide Beat.
6) Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson on the album Winter Songs - This is a neat album I found last year that is pretty mellow and has songs from a number of different artists. It's really nice background music and the lyrics are beautiful. You can listen to the album and download it by clicking here.
7) Personent Hodie on the album Christmas with the Cambridge Singers - My love of this song stems from my extreme music-geekness. I was a music major in college and let's just say that my taste in music tends towards the eclectic. I blame my musical oddities on all the genres I have been exposed to by school, my parents, and iTunes over the years. Although, I really have to thank Jen T. for letting me know about this version in particular. For some reason, I adore this melody. I have 3 or four different versions of the song and enjoy them all, but I think this is my favorite one. Unfortunately you can't download this album anywhere, but you can preview it and purchase a cd by clicking here.
8) Christmas Canon Rock by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their album The Lost Christmas Eve - I swear that there is absolutely nothing that beats a rock version of a classic song.... I have quite a few favorites that were done by the orchestra including Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24). You can preview and download the song by clicking here.
9) All On a Christmas Morning by Robbie O'Connell - Mom and I went to an excellent folk Christmas concert last year and we heard Robbie sing many great holiday songs. This one was one of my favorites along with Mrs. Fogarty's Christmas Cake which I have already posted about. You can listen and download this song for free by clicking here. You can get a couple more of his songs for free by visiting his website.
10) Ok, I've saved the three most eclectic songs for last in case you want to jump ship. These songs are ones that I have performed in chorale when I was in college. They are songs that were meant to challenge us vocally so they might not appeal to all. But I want to share them because to me they bring out all the feelings I associate with Christmas. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do despite the fact that you didn't sing them at a Christmas concert!
The Los Pastores movement from Navidad Nuestra, a mass by Ariel Ramirez - Everything from this mass is in spanish, which made it very difficult for my little college student mind to memorize. But, memorize it we did and to this day I can sing along, which is kind of freaky since I sang this almost 10 years ago (shudder). You can listen and download it by clicking here.
O Magnum Mysterium, a motet based on a mass by Tomas Luis de Victoria - This motet is in latin and traditionally sung by an all male choir. I think it sounds best that way myself. If memory serves me correctly the Chorale sang this at my first Vespers concert freshman year. Instead of being in front of the audience, we had climbed into the two staircases leading up to the chapel and let our voices waft up the stairs and into the chapel. I wish I could have heard how it sounded... another neat memory of this song was when the Chorale went to Italy to perform several concerts. We were in Assisi sight seeing and were able to sing it in one of the huge cathedrals. It was absolutely amazing. I will never for get that experience! Anyway, you can listen to this motet and purchase it by clicking here.
On This Day Earth Shall Ring by The Rooke Chapel Choir - This song is a staple of Vespers at Wheaton. It would always be the last thing played before the concert was over and my Music advisor, Rev. Carlton Russell was the person responsible for playing the huge pipe organ. For some reason this song has basically become the epitome of Christmas for me. Maybe it's the grandeur or the familiarity of singing with the comforting sound of a pipe organ. Whatever it was, the whole audience would sing the piece with us and we would recess to the back of the chapel for the last verse, which is always the piece de resistance. I hope you enjoy it, for it is church music at it's finest. You can listen and purchase by clicking here.
So Saturday was our annual Cookie Day at Lars and Tara's. Each year we get together and the girls make cookies together while the boys play on the Wii. There are certain staples that we pretty much make every year, but then we change up a few recipes every year to try out news things and try to perfect our output. This year we made: Maple Date Bars, Sugar Cut Out Cookies, Buckeyes, Oatmeal Cookies and Ginger Cookies.
Below are Heather's Buckeyes. They are made of graham crackers, peanut butter and butter, rolled into balls and then dipped in chocolate. They are an every year undertaking. Yeah, these don't leave our house...
We also make chocolate crinkles almost every year. They are one of my absolute favorites going back to when I was a kid and mom and I made them with varying success in her very old olive green stove.
Isn't Lucy so cute? She did a very good job cleaning up all the dough from the buckeyes that fell on the floor. She's a helper!
And Erin is looking very domestic... not to mention angelic. Something is out of place here...
Luke slowly putting a buckeye out of it's misery. He's so fast, all I got was a blur of him and a nice picture if Kristin.
Around 5, I headed out to my friend Jared's annual Christmas party. No matter how hard we try, these two annual traditions seem to end up being on the same day. But, Jared's party is for another blog post and another day.
I went to mom and dad's after work to start Cookie Extravaganza 2009. We weren't particularly productive as it was a work night for me, but we got a few dozen of my assigned cookies done and one batch of a set from mom.
Brian joined us for dinner and even helped out with dough for the first batch.
Mr. Accuracy hard at work!
The cookie scoop or disher is God's gift to drop cookies. It saves soooo much time and effort. Especially when you are tripling batches.
I think Brian was getting sick of our shenanigans by this point. Especially since I kept commenting that he was rolling too slowly and if he didn't hurry up he wouldn't earn his $.10 an hour pay.
Cute little balls of molasses cookie dough, just waiting to meet their oven-y doom!
As you can see, things got a little silly (as they normally do). Mom trying to figure out her new cookies press which looks like it can shoot lazerbeams **pew pew**
Then Brian decided to go home... **pout**
After Brian left mom and I yacked away for a few more hours and managed to get some more work done before I meandered home at around 11pm. Here's an example of the finish product for the Molasses cookies:
