Gifties & give-away(s)

The countdown continues! How are you doing 'getting ready' for the holidays?

The gal friends & I have a holiday 'brunch' & present exchange over at Martha's on Saturday - I'm bringing the lovely gluten free scones, & found this latkas (potato pancake) recipe over @ Suzi's - I may make a couple for myself before I head over, (or take along my mini processor n the 'fixings') as one gal is bringing a potato dish & using 'regular' flour - boo!!

I made a 'sample' batch this PM, using sorgham flour, a potato, 1/2 onion & clove of garlic from my CSA, & a free range egg - delicious!!

I finished my gifties for our exchange; sweet half round napkins that you can fold into a 'Christmas tree' shape! I found the holiday angels & skating girls in the discount area of a local fabric store. These are two sided, I used 1/2 a 'fat quarter' for the reverse. I'll take along the Nisse I made last year, with his bag stuffed full of the (wrapped) napkins.

I made one for myself that includes a little pocket for the wooden chopsticks, spoon & knife which I carry in my purse (for times other folks might use plastic utensils.) It rolls up & tucks away quite neatly.

Check out the give away over at Two Thousand things - a $50- gift certificat from Bamboosa - wow, what a neat company!! Organic bamboo, & US made products! Check them out - & enter the give away! I have several bamboo shirts that I LOVE! These look especially nice.
& there's a note to go check out the other blog - Tigerlily's Book - & there's a wonderful give-away there as well, for non-toxic nail polish!! So check out Piggy Paint 'natural as mud' - I WANT SOME!!

I invited my almost 5 yr old grand daughter over for awhile this evening - it's always fun to have her visit & get to be an 'only child' for a few hours. She typed a bit (is picking out her name!) & had a foot bath (with epsom salts) before heading home.
On the weekend as we walked through the back yard, she told me that I was "probably lonley, since you're not married to that guy - I forget his name - any more, & you live all alone!"
Wow!
She'd just seen 'Papa Michael' - 'that guy I was married to' - earlier that day! But he has a teen son with health problems, & he works out of town, so isn't very 'involved' as a grandparent!
Still . . . . out of the mouths of babes!!

Tomorrow it's time for my Bodaceous Babes to meet for tea - this time at 'Tea's Me' in Sleighbells - a wonderful year round Christmas shop! I invited my friend Donna, & she's coming to check out the group. I called the owner a few weeks ago to discuss gluten free choices - she suggested the Curry Chicken salad (Fowl Greens), I'll have that, minus the scone, with a pot of the White Christmas tea. (Mutan White Tea, Vanilla, Almond and Cardamon). It's interesting to see how different places approach gluten free. At favorite local restaurant, the host said 'we'll bring a bowl of fruit!' to replace the bread . . . no problem, not an issue.
At another (VERY well known 'nice') restaurant the waiter said 'the soup only has a tiny bit of wheat in it - it won't hurt you!' thanks but no thanks! I had a chicken 'pannini' without the bread - came very nicely presented, with extra meat & cranberry sauce. No minestroni soup, sigh.

I am still working on legwarmers & the fingerless gloves. I've been reading knitting novels (Chicks with Sticks & a murder mystery series, beginning with 'Knit one, kill two') & knitting - fun combo - except . . . all those descriptions of the lovely yarns in the fictional yarn shops entice me to stop in 'next door' (the yarn shop is 1/4 block from my office!) & pick up a yummy skein of this or that. Sigh . . . today it was some lovely red silk! & NOT on sale -