bexcaliber giveaway: poinsettia pillow

Since it is right smack dab in the middle of the season, it is time for a giveaway! I'm excited to offer one lucky reader a poinsettia pillow cover just like this one right here. ^^^^^^^

All you have to do is like my facebook page and leave a comment here telling me you did it.
Find bexcaliber on facebook here.

Go like my page and come leave a comment.

Don't have facebook? That's okay. Pin my giveaway picture to pinterest and leave a comment here and then you'll be entered too.

Or do both and then you have two chances.

Giveaway closes Friday Dec 13th at 5 PM EST. 

 And here is a gem that my mom sent me after my original poinsettia post. This pillow was my first poinsettia attempt years ago as a Christmas present to my mom. I remember embroidering the petals on Christmas Eve in a mad rush to finish in time. The buttons are glued on. Oh how far you can come. Its nice to know my mom still cherishes it enough to bring it out each year.

crafting: Hand Print Wreath Pillow Cover

 This year for Christmas I wanted to send the grandparents something made for them by Henry. I saw a project that peaked my interest in a magazine. It was a hand print wreath wall hanging. I think they printed them on white handkerchiefs and hung them in windows. Of course, I would turn it into a pillow cover. So much easier for me.

 I traced a large bowl with a pencil in the middle of my fabric and had Henry create the wreath with his hand. I was worried about him being able to do this without it being a disaster but he loved doing it and thought the paint tickled. We painted his hand with a foam brush and used acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium. Once the green was dry, he added red berries with his finger.

After everything was dry, I appliqued this wool felt bow on and I think it really adds to the overall look.

 The last step was having Henry sign his name on the back using red sharpie. He only got a little distracted with a small dot-to-dot drawing before finishing his name. Tis' the spirit of a 3 year old. I wrote "Merry Christmas! 2013" at the bottom in green for posterity's sake.

And they have been received with lots of enthusiasm by the grandparents so if you need a gift, this one is sure to be a winner.

Click through to my website for full tutorial and bow template pattern.

oh baby baby: glossy haired maniac

So here I am at 17 weeks. All my pictures were horribly overexposed so I had to fudge with some fancy photo editing tricks to make the most of my best shot. As luck would have it the only one with good lighting would be the one where I look the worst. I have to say I actually like this picture as I think my face looks nice and thin which is not always the case these days.

I know I have been pretty candid here on the blog. Some of you have commented to me or on here how you like it. Others might think its strange. Why be so open about all this stuff? Its something I have given a lot of thought in the past few weeks. And here is what I came up with as far as reasoning goes (although I hardly feel I need to explain myself on my own blog...)

Being pregnant is a wondrous time. Its both miserable and miraculous. You can feel so incredibly close to those you love around you or incredibly alone and isolated. You are constantly in flux and being thrown for a loop. And each pregnancy for each woman is different. I am experiencing so many new things with this pregnancy that never even came up with my first one. I write here what I am going through because there is comfort in sharing. Not only is it a release for me to express what I am going through but it opens up a dialogue for sharing with others. After my last post, I received a phone call from a friend who admitted that when she is pregnant she, too is so irritable her husband calls her Satan's Sister. Her confession immediately made me feel like I wasn't the only person who is out of control emotionally. Its nice to know that someone else only wants to eat Totinos pizzas and similtaneously adores and hates their kid.

So I will continue to share and hopefully it will help someone else not feel so insane even if that person is just me.

• Week 15 brought calm to my face. (knock on wood...) My zits are on vacation! Just in time for Thanksgiving and our family pictures. 
• As mentioned above, I am totally in love with Henry these days. Sometimes I just look at him and his cute face and am overwhelmed by how much I love the kid he is becoming. And then the next minute I am so frustrated and annoyed by him. I feel almost manic. Luckily he won't remember any of this. 
• One lame thing about being pregnant is your exhaustion can just sneak up on you. The other day we were watching the UGA football game. It was halftime and Steve left the room for a minute. I fell asleep on the couch. It was 8:45 pm. Yes, I went to bed and slept all night. 
• This pregnancy has brought me way more discomfort than my last one. Last time I was able to make it almost the whole ten months without aching and general uncomfortableness. Well I am already sore. The term is called "abdominal achiness" but it feels like my uterus is trying to detach and free itself from my body. All of my abs hurt and it is strong enough to be not ignored. At first I thought it was caused by my foolishness in trying to do a plank after months of no ab training. Well it wasn't. Apparently it is my second-time-pregnant-weakened abs, ligaments and tendons being unable to support my growing gut like last time. Totally normal. Totally sucky. Nothing I can do about it except surround myself with pillows that will support my body when I fail to do it on my own.
• Another awesome pregnancy side effect is insane hunger. The other day we went out to dinner at a new restaurant Cook Out. We got baskets of burgers and fries and onion rings. Henry got a hot dog. Well you better believe I demolished my whole meal plus Steve's half uneaten cheeseburger. Shameless. I wasn't even grossly full. No regrets. 
• Because of my erratic energy, I have had to readjust my usual Monday Do Everything Day. Now I spread out laundry, grocery shopping and such throughout the week. Much more manageable. I still find an excuse not to clean my bathrooms though...
• One silver lining is definitely glossy, thick hair and long, strong nails. Hooray for excesses of protein. 

And we get to find out what we're having in two weeks! Steve wants a girl. I want a boy but I feel like its a girl. Only time will tell...

Come back tomorrow for a fun Christmas gift idea and no more talking about babies and bellies.

Henry: Almost 4 years old...

I haven't done a post about Henry lately and he has been a super busy guy. Here are some of the things our almost 4 year old has been up to.

• To say Henry loves Christmas would be a true understatement. Above is a sample of some Christmas themed crafts from preschool. I guess the assignment explains itself but I feel like he is going to be very disappointed come Christmas morning. I knew he wanted an ipad but I had no idea he wanted a tv or a broom...
• Henry loves coins. He has a teddy bear bank and loves putting his pennies in it. Steve gave him a little red tin from a box of tea we purchased. Henry immediately transferred all his money to the tin and every once in awhile he'll pull it out and dump the coins from container to container. Right now they are in a cardboard box, the other day they were in a Piston Cup trophy and once they were in a toy pot, he said it was soup. 
• Henry was invited to Maya's 4th birthday party and was really excited to buy her a present. With his own money. We went to the $1 store and I told him he could pick out one thing. He of course wanted to get her a piggy bank and paid for it with his coins. He was so proud. At home, we put some pennies in the pig and we also bought her some playdoh to go with it. 
• Eating has not been Henry's forte these days. He will eat breakfast and lunch just fine but when it is time to eat dinner, we are struggling. I insist on him eating along with us and whatever is on the menu. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to eat two bites of chicken and a small scoop of mashed potatoes. Sigh. Hopefully this is just a phase as he used to be a really great eater and maybe he just doesn't like listening right now. 
• On a positive note, Henry has been willingly going to preschool again. For about a month he didn't want to go in alone and I had to sneak away. Sometimes it would take me 15 minutes to get out of there. Now he just walks right in. Thank goodness. 
• Henry can be heard exclaiming, "I'm sure he's going to be amazed!" whenever we have something to show Steve. 
• Henry still loves super heros and creating his own different guys. The ones that have stuck are Wet Man and Monster Man. He talks about a couple different variations of these guys every day. Wet Man is a good guy and Monster Man's brother. Their dad is Wolf Man. Wet Man can create fireballs and also waterballs to put out the fire. Sometimes Monster Man has sticky hands so he can stick to things and he always has claws. To be honest, I tend to zone out during his super hero monologues especially in the car but I do love how creative he is and how its a great exercise for his memory. 
• Steve taught Henry how to play hot and cold. One of us will hide something and then we'll tell him if he is getting warmer (closer) or colder (farther away). He also loves to be the one to hide an object and shout at us colder! or hotter!
• We have a picnic almost every day. A blanket is spread in the living room, the plates and bowls are laid out and the food is overflowing. All his friends and stufties (and sometimes Steve and I) are invited. Its one big party. 
• Henry has finally mastered wiping his nose. He even keeps a kleenex in his pocket.  Too bad he also picks his nose and eats it. One step at a time. 
• He has also learned how to open the fridge. He is particularly interested in having cold milk. When his breakfast milk starts to get warm, he says "This milk is old." and he puts it back in the fridge. Whenever he needs a drink he just goes and helps himself with whatever is in his cup. Its been very convenient after we had a talk about not standing in front of the fridge or leaving the door open. 
• As previously stated, listening is our biggest issue right now. He doesn't whine as much as he used to and he isn't really throwing a lot of tantrums, he just never listens. Simple things like parking lot safety, getting into his carseat and following basic directions are a challenge and seriously try my patience. He is at the tricky stage where he is very capable but it is just easier and faster for me to do it myself since he doesn't listen. I know he can do the shoulder straps in his carseat but it takes 10 minutes. And while I get frustrated, I try really hard to acknowledge his listening and following direction successes. At least his teachers say he listens at preschool. 
• Henry loves simple mazes. We bought a preschool aged workbook and he has already done all of the mazes. Now I draw (sad) simple ones for him and he loves doing them. Obviously, taking it to the next level would be him drawing mazes for me.

 This one is a simple maze that required only one wall jump for me to make it from the bottom to Henry at the top.

 Here we have a more complicated maze complete with fire caterpillars (from Super Mario), water hazards, big rocks, dead ends and a leaf that turns you into a fox (also from Super Mario.) The object of this maze is for me to rescue Maya from the evil bad guy, Henry.

• When asked he says his favorite thing to do right now is play Super Mario. His favorite food is still turkey sandwich. His favorite colors are black and green. His best friend is Maya. His favorite book is The Little Snowflake and his favorite song is Deck the Halls.

eaten: Mississippi Mud Pie

With Thanksgiving approaching, what better time to try a new and decadent dessert? Of course, there is always the risk that it will fail and you will have no dessert for your special dinner but in this case, we hit a home run.

I'm sure you've seen this on Pinterest. A rich chocolatety flourless cake, pudding and whipped cream nestled in an oreo cookie crust. Heaven.

Since I was already doing a bunch of cooking for Thanksgiving, I kind of cheated and replaced the made from scratch pudding and whipped cream with store bought versions. Cook n Serve pudding and a container of cool whip helped simplify. Next time I would do the whole thing from scratch though as I will be making this again. Also a note: make sure to really spread out the oreo crumbs as mine tended to be thicker in the edges of the pan making it really hard to cut.

Mississippi Mud Pie

Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Total Time: 6 hours

Yield: 10 servings

Recipe Adapted and Picture from Cooking Classy

Ingredients

Crust
• 40 Oreo cookies (one 15.3 oz pkg)
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Flourless Chocolate Cake
• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (1 cup. I recommend Ghirardelli)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup water, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs at room temperature, separated
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Chocolate Pudding--I just bought a box of cook n' serve chocolate pudding
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (1/2 cup)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
Whipped Cream Topping--a good ole tub of cool whip
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar 

Directions

• To make the Oreo crust:
• Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan, then line the bottom with a round of parchment paper and lightly butter top of parchment paper. In a food processor, pulse Oreo cookies until finely ground. Pour into a bowl along with 5 Tbsp melted butter and use a fork to stir until evenly moistened. Pour mixture into prepared springform pan and press into an even layer along bottom and up the sides of the pan, coming within a 1/2-inch of the top of the pan. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and transfer to freezer and chill 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and bake in preheated oven 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
• For the flourless chocolate cake:
• Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees. Place 6 oz bittersweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat mixture in microwave in 20 second intervals on 50% power, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth, set aside to cool slightly. In liquid measuring cup (used to measure water) whisk together water, 1 Tbsp cocoa powder, salt and 1 Tbsp vanilla until well blended. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip 6 egg yolks with brown sugar on medium-high speed until mixture is pale and fluffy and has nearly doubled in volume, about 5 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture and mix just until combined, then scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and mix on low speed 5 seconds longer. Add water mixture and blend just until combined, then scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and mix 5 seconds longer. In a clean stand mixer bowl (you may have to transfer egg yolk/chocolate mixture to an alternate mixing bowl and clean out/dry well stand mixer bowl if you only have one like me), whip egg whites until foamy, then gradually increase speed to high, while slowly adding in 1/2 cup granulated sugar and beat until soft peaks form.
• Scoop out about 1 cup of the whipped egg white mixture and gently fold into egg yolk/chocolate mixture, just until combined, about 30 seconds. Add in remaining egg white mixture and fold just until nearly combined (don't overmix). Pour mixture into cooled cookie crust and spread into an even layer. Bake in preheated oven 38 - 42 minutes, until cake edges appear set but center still jiggles slightly (cake may appear under-baked). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
• For the chocolate pudding:
• In a medium saucepan whisk together granulated sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt. Stir in egg yolks and mix until combined (the texture will be thick). While whisking, slowly pour in milk. Heat mixture over medium heat, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds then remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Add butter, chocolate chips and vanilla (I used vanilla bean paste because I ran out of vanilla) and stir until combined (I pressed mine through a fine strainer but that's optional). Allow to rest at room temperature 15 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap pressing directly against the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours or overnight.
• To assemble pie:
• Remove cake and pudding from refrigerator and stir pudding to loosen, then spread pudding into an even layer over flourless cake, staying within the cookie crust border. Chill in refrigerator 30 minutes.
• For the sweetened whipped cream:
• In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add in 3 Tbsp granulated sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Remove cake from refrigerator and spread whipped cream in an even layer over top of cake. Remove springform ring and cut into slices.

Christmas Tree and Return of Zippy

 The day after Thanksgiving we did some black friday browsing/shopping and then headed over to Lowe's to get our Christmas tree. Henry has been so super excited about Christmas this year. All weekend long his merriment has been infectious.

We managed to get the tree up and lit before babysitting. Henry was anxious to decorate so I had them decorate with toys. This was the best babysitter ever. It kept them busy for almost an hour. My favorites are the donuts and onion rings as ornaments.

 

Henry was a pretty good helper when it came time to decorate the tree. After I explained that we should spread out the ornaments, he got the hang of it quickly. You can see a large concentration of gold ones in one area but that is the price you pay for letting kids be independent. He did insist on placing the star on top. 

After setting up the tree, it was time for Zippy to return. This elf was one of my favorite things we did last year and I was excited to have him come back. Henry did not remember much about it but luckily Zippy wrote Henry a note and brought his book back. Now Henry is super excited to see what happens every morning. This first day Zippy was hanging around under the fan on some sparkly garlands. I found this return letter here, printed it out tiny and folded it into a min envelope.

The next morning I could hear Henry running around the living room excitedly. "The elf is in the tree!" he exclaimed running into our room. I rushed out to see this silly stunt from Zippy. Henry kept asking why Zippy would make such a mess? And how did he get into the tree? This year Henry definitely has more questions about the whole thing, why can't he talk? and why can't we touch him? But he is still full of wonder and belief. And this year he will appreciate little pranks which will make it more fun for us.

Kids really do make the holidays that much more fun and magical.

Thanksgiving

 We had a fun and quiet Thanksgiving this year. We mostly spent the day at home, lounging, cooking and chatting with family. We even forgot to watch football or the parade. We lucked out to have our friends the Jeppson's over to share in the merriment and the cooking. Ali brought all the veggies and a delicious french apple pie. We made the turkey and stuffing and of course, rolls.

 Henry mostly just ate olives and a few bites of the things I made him try. At preschool they have been learning about turkeys and how we eat them at Thanksgiving. He kept asking me if the turkey had eyes and feet. I think it was creeping him out. He for sure didn't connect that he eats turkey almost every day in his sandwiches. After feasting, the kids ran around playing while we played a game and then ate dessert. Henry also continued to sneak olives all evening until the bowl was empty.

Henry helped me decorate the table. He and Steve went for a walk to gather pine cones and then he helped me put a decoration on each plate and spread the rest around the table. 

Steve and I finished off the night watching a Harry Potter marathon and going to sleep early. 

The next morning Henry ran into our room and asked if it was Christmas. 

Lucky for him we got our tree that day.