Christmas Gifts: Grocery Totes

I got a little out of control at the end of my gift making. With less than a week left, I thought it would be a good idea to make everyone grocery totes. I mean, there were dozens of little treat bags and everyone needed something to carry their stuff home in and I didn't want to foist plastic bags off on people and how much time can 10 totes take to make anyway?

I made mention that I might need a 12 step program and was ever so gently told by a friend that I needed at least 13 steps.

Anyway, for last minute totes, I was pleased at how they turned out. The pattern couldn't be simpler and it turns out that 60" cotton duck comes in a rainbow assortment of colors. Instead of cutting two 18"x20" pieces, I cut one 18"x40" piece. That way, I didn't have to sew the bottom seam.

After the bags were assembled, I thought it would be a good idea to embroider the word "groceries" on each one. It gave the bags a finished sort of look, but it would have been so much easier to have embellished before the bags were done.

One side story I'd like to share: I chose to make these assembly line style. I cut out all the parts for 10 bags, I ironed all the handles into shape and about halfway through the handle stitching, my little Singer decided that it was done and locked up. I checked the bobbin. I blew on every surface I could get at. I searched and searched for something that might be gumming up the works. No dice. Talk about a panic moment! I called my mother-in-law, Kronk, and asked if I could borrow her spare machine.

I had forgotten how nice it is to sew with an Elna. Even the low end Elna that Kronk loaned me was a joy to work with after my economy model Singer. Ah, to one day own a grand machine for sewing.

In any event, these bags were a huge hit and made giving gifts (and bringing them home) super easy. I'm now scouting the stores for interesting cotton duck or some interestingly patterned canvas or oilcloth for next year's bags.

Christmas Gifts: Sister's Shrug

My sister is forever complimenting the sweaters I knit. I can't imagine why since they are homely things, but I thought that since she seems to enjoy them, I'd try my hand at something a little more polished and fashionable for her. I have to admit, I'm very pleased with how this shrug turned out.

I started with this pattern for a shrug. It's straightforward and quick-knitting. Essentially, it's a wide, ribbed scarf that gets sewn together at the ends to form sleeves. Once that's done, stitches are picked up around the edges and more ribbed knitting forms a collar and back. Easy peasie.

I wanted to add something a little more decorative, so I modified this pattern for bookend mitts and created a false sleeve to go inside the ribbed sleeves. It looked really good on her and I know with her fashion sense, she'll be able to figure out just the right pieces to wear with it.

Christmas Gifts: Athena's Griffingor Mitts

I love fingerless mitts. They help keep your hands warm without compromising manual dexterity. Not only that, but they are fairly popular with the younger crowd these days.

My niece, Athena, has recently started to get into the Harry Potter stories. I thought she might enjoy some mitts done in Gryffindor colors so I whipped up these stripped mitts with black button accents.

The mitts knit up quickly and are based on this pattern. I cut the number of stitches in half and used needles that were a half size larger and the resulting mitts fit her just like I wanted them to. They're very snug and stretch all the way to her elbow.

Now that Christmas is done, I get to make a pair for me!

Gifts for Athena - The Hunt

Like many kids, my niece Athena loves a good mystery. Recently, I've started hiding her gifts. Last year, I gave her a card containing the first in a series of rhyming clues that she had to solve to lead her to her treats. This year, I took her love for crossword puzzles and combined it with a word scramble to give her the location of her gift bag. Believe me when I tell you it is much easier than it sounds to do this.

Start by deciding where you're going to hide your gift. I picked a spot in the house known as the Chair Closet. Next, I looked over a list of holiday words and assigned each letter in my location to one of these words. For example, I needed a "T" in my crossword, so I picked the word "Mistletoe" to be a part of the puzzle. Once you have all the letters accounted for, do an Internet search for crossword puzzle generators, like the one at Crossword Puzzle Games. The generator I used has a 20 word limit but some of the other generators allow you to add many more words. The more words you use, the better looking your crossword will be. Chair Closet only allows for 11 words, so I picked out 9 more to fill the puzzle out.

Perhaps the hardest part of this idea is coming up with the clues. Now, before you say "Oh, I'm not clever enough to come up with clues", I point out that you don't need to put in any brainpower. You need a dictionary and a thesaurus and that's it. Type your word into the dictionary and then into the thesaurus. Choose whichever clue seems better. For example, you've used the word jingle. Jingle is a metallic clanking noise and synonyms include chime, clatter, rattle and ring. Your clue can then be as simple as "clatter" or "rattle" or it can be more specific like "A metallic clanking noise".

Sometimes, crosswords offer hints in the form of common phrases that are missing a word. In the case of our "jingle" example, your clue could be "_____ Bells". See? Very little clever thinking required. Of course, once you get going, you might find that it's easier to come up with puns and the like to use for your clues. All the better!

When you're done entering words and clues, the computer generates the puzzle. Easy peasie! Everyone will think you're a supergenius. For the word-scramble part of my treasure hunt, did a screen capture of my puzzle and opened it in Photoshop. I changed the color of key letter squares to red and green. If you don't have editing software, you can do this by printing out your puzzle (make a couple copies) and highlight squares with green and red markers.

The purpose of the red and green squares is to indicate which letters need to be unscrambled to find the hidden gifts. Because "Chair Closet" is a little long, I used the red squares to highlight the c's and to show where they belonged in the puzzle. If you want to eliminate the word scramble, you could choose letters that appear in the correct order in your puzzle so that the hunter only has to write them down in the order they appear to find their gift.

This sort of hunt is good for any occasion. Use spring words for Easter or spooky words for Halloween. For a birthday, use clues and words that describe or mean something to the birthday boy or girl. Use religious words, if holidays are a spirtual time for your family. Use rude words to get a laugh out of jaded teenagers and childish grownups. Your crossword treasure hunt can be anything you can dream up and makes giving a gift more than just opening a package.

Dinner and a Movie: Avatar

Ok, so dinner was $12 movie popcorn, but today Husband and I took some time (during a regularly scheduled naptime for which I'm sure I'll regret later) to go see James Cameron's new film Avatar. My overall review of this movie is that it's worth the $14 ticket to see this in the theater, especially if you are a Sci-Fi fan. Don't expect to see anything new when it comes to the story. There are no twists here, but the world that has been created is magnificent. I'll try to keep my comments non-spoiler but please use your discretion as to whether you should read on or not.

The Good Stuff
Go see this movie for the visuals alone. We saw this at a 3-D iMax. I couldn't get my glasses to work for me so I watched it without them. Even blurry, this movie was stunning. I look forward to seeing it again at a regular theater in sharp focus. Husband was able to get his glasses to work fine and loved the extra dimension.

Cameron has created a gorgeous Garden of Eden paradise world that is as dangerous as it is beautiful. He's also got some interesting and novel twists on alien botany and biology. I could get used to living somewhere with so much bio luminescence.

The acting is solid and the entirely digital Na'vi are able to emote every bit as well as the human actors. Have I mentioned the gorgeousness yet?

The Less Good Stuff
I realize that Hollywood is a business and they need to make money, but I really wish they would stop catering to the lowest common denominator in an effort to get maximum return on their investment. Amazing visuals will take a movie far, but to really achieve greatness it has to all be backed by a good story. It doesn't even have to be an original story, so long as the characters are engaging.

Sadly, these characters are either black or white. The humans are predominantly evil, soulless and greedy. The Na'vi are noble, spiritual and beautiful. There is never a reason given for why the humans need the minerals they're willing to destroy a planet for. It all makes you feel like crap for being human. It's also a way-hard-sell environmentalist message piece. I'm a supporter of environmental issues and think that people who commit genocide are monsters but even I wanted to say "Whoa. You're preaching to the choir. How about some actual good James Cameron storytelling now please?"

The original scriptment from Avatar is available online and although I haven't read it, reports are that there was a lot more subtlety and depth when Cameron first conceived this tale. There was a reason for strip-mining Pandora. I really wish he would have traded some of the effect budget to keep the story strong.

Should a Hollywood exec read this please note: The stupid people who don't get subtle would have gone to see this movie anyway just for the pretty pictures. Remember, beauty fades and in 10 years, when these cutting edge special effects look dated, this movie will suck because there is no story, at least, not one worth caring about when the amazing shininess has worn off. Tell us stories like we have a brain. The dumb people will catch up.

This review from Ain't It Cool News is perhaps harsh, but hits on a lot of good points (warning: it's also filled with spoilers and profanity). Cameron can do better. He has done better and this world, this gorgeous, detailed world he has created deserves a more engaging story than the one it got.

Bubble and Squeak

When the weather outside turns frightful, I turn to the kitchen where nothing tastes quite so good as those fatty, not at all good for you foods. Things with cheese and cream and pasta that are mashed and baked and just yummy.

Sorry. Drooled on the keyboard. Ahem.

I've recently become a fan of Bubble and Squeak, a traditional English meal that makes good use of leftovers. I came to the dish by way of Jamie Oliver's Jamie At Home. As with most of the things he cooks, his version is delicious. I recommend you give it a try.

The thing is, I was feeling a bit lazy and quite hungry the other day. Rather than wait for the sausages to cook, and mess about with pan frying vegetables, and make a gravy and all that, I fudged it a bit and came up with this winner in the comfort food arena. Ok, so it is a bit closer to Shepherd's Pie than Bubble and Squeak, but I like that it has all the effect of classic comfort food while potentially keeping the fats down and sneaking in a ton of veggies. In fact, I like it so well that I may need to make it again tonight. After all, I do have the other half of a cabbage to use up.

Lazy-Maine-Girl Bubble and Squeak

• 5 potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 butternut squash, peeled, seeded & chopped
• 1 apple, peeled & chopped
• butter (or use olive oil to get the good fats)
  
• sour cream (low fat substitute - fat free Greek yogurt)
  
• salt & pepper
• 6 your favorite sausages (about 1 lb), casings removed. I like Hanniford's Port Wine & Provolone. Chicken should work if you want something leaner.
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 cabbage, chopped
• handful of mushrooms, chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Put potatoes, carrots, apple and squash in a pot of water. Bring to a boil, until tender. Mash vegetable mixture & mix with salt, pepper, butter and sour cream to taste & texture. Set aside.

In an oven-safe skillet, brown and crumble sausage over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until tender. Add cabbage and mushrooms, cooking for about 10 minutes more until tender and delicious looking. Spread mashed vegetables over the top of the sausage mix in the skillet and bake in oven for 20 minutes or so. Long enough to get a golden brown on the edges.

Tutorial: Christmas Crackers

Every year for Christmas, I borrow from an English holiday tradition and make my version of Christmas Crackers. Not the kind you spread with cheese, mind you, but the kind that you pull apart and that make noise and dispense treats.

I first discovered Christmas Crackers in the Mr. Bean Christmas Special where Mr. Bean makes an uber cracker by adding a bunch of snaps to one tube. Hilarity ensues.

Traditional crackers have a paper crown, a toy, and a joke or piece of trivia on a slip of paper. I don't have the time or inclination to make paper hats, so I've "Americanized" the contents of my crackers ever so slightly.

Tools & Bits for 1 Cracker
Check out the notes & links section after the directions for specifics about my materials.

• a 3" piece of paper towel tube
  
• a 6"x12" piece of thin wrapping paper
• 12" piece of curling ribbon (x2)
• tape
• a joke or trivia or fortune printed on a slip of paper
• a candy
• a small toy prize
• a cracker snap
• a colorful sharpie (Optional. For decorating the paper tube)
  

If you choose to decorate your tube, do that now. Once you're satisfied with how the tube looks, place it in the center of the wrapping paper. The long side of the tube should be parallel with the long edge of the paper.

Roll the tube in the paper and tape in place.

Cinch one of the ribbons around one end of the tube. Don't make it tight just yet. Slide a cracker strip into the tied end of the tube. Make sure that the cracker snap sticks out evenly on both ends. You don't want to see a big strip of cracker snap sticking out from one end, like in the picture below. When your snap is even, tighten the ribbon and knot it to hold it in place.

Fill the cracker with your treats, making sure they all fit inside the cardboard tube. Tie off the other end with the remaining ribbon. If you're giving these as a gift to someone new to Christmas crackers, be sure to include instructions on what to do with them. Traditionally, two people each grasp an end and you pull, like a wish bone. We tend to do them each-to-their-own-cracker.

Notes & Links
Commercially made crackers look like this. See how pretty and neat they look? Yeah, I don't bother with that since everyone just wants to pull them to pieces and get to the sweet insides. I ought make them pretty, but there's only so much time before Christmas. Should you decide that your crackers need to have this polished look, I would add another inch or two (maybe even three) to the length of the wrapping paper. When you roll the tube, roll two other tubes at each end. Tie the cracker between the tubes and that should help keep the ends sharp-looking.

Cracker Snaps can be purchased online from a great little store called Olde English Cracker Company of Bellingham, Washington. I bought 100 snaps from them about 10 years ago and they work just as well today as they did then. I remember the Olde English Cracker Company staff to be cheerful and polite and I will buy snaps from them in the future. They also sell hats and tubes if you're so inclined.

A regular paper towel roll yields 3 tubes, if you cut carefully. You can use toilet paper rolls, but I have found that they sometimes skive people out.

The wrapping paper you use should tear easily since guests pull the two ends apart. Some of the coated or Mylar wrapping papers are just too durable to make good cracker paper. I don't recommend tissue paper only because then you see the paper tube. I think the tubes look kinda ugly. If you really want to get crazy, you could use the tissue paper, and paint or glitter the tubes. In fact, that might be a good project for the kiddies.

Any wrapped candy will work for snaps, but I like Lindt Truffles. Easy to find in the grocery store (at least here in Maine) and yummie.

Gathering toy prizes is a bit of a hunt and I find that throughout the year, when I see some small trinket that would make a good cracker prize, I buy a couple and add them to a box with all my other cracker making supplies. Places to keep an eye out: the checkout line at most stores, locally owned toy and gift shops and party supply stores. Party supply stores often have packages of gift bag goodies that work perfectly for crackers.

Holiday jokes can be found with a simple Internet search. I tend to go for the bad puns, but you can tailor your jokes to your audience. You can also search for Christmas trivia and find interesting factoids to entertain and delight.

Don't celebrate Christmas? Wish you could have crackers for all the holidays? Go for it! Use this project to make crackers for Hanuka. Valentine's Day, Kwanzaa, Halloween, graduations, wedding favors or whatever.

Add this game to your holiday wish list right now

This is our new favorite game and we think it could be your new favorite game too. Pandemic isn't only topical (Swine what?), but it's challenging, variable and, best of all, cooperative.

In Pandemic, you play CDC workers in a race to save the planet from four heinous disease. There are several unique roles for players to choose from. For instance, you could be the Medic who specializes in removing disease or you could be the Operations Specialist in charge of building research facilities. Players must coordinate a strategy using each of their strengths and try to find cures for the four diseases before time runs out.

While the base game is great, adding the expansion makes it oh-so-much cooler. For one thing, they add petri dishes to hold your disease cubes. A tiny thing, yes, but props like this enhance the feel of the game. The expansion also adds additional roles, special events and (insert villain music here) an optional bio-terrorist role for the player who wants to work against the team. The expansion includes new ways to make the game harder (just in case you find the basic game too easy) by adding virulent and mutated strains of the diseases.

Everyone from my 11-year-old niece up to my 70-year-old father loves this game and I highly recommend it as Good Family Fun. With the players working together as a team, everyone can share in the triumph of a victory or add their two-cents on what strategy might beat the game next time. We have found that even the base game is very replayable since the roles change from game to game and the pattern of the diseases is different each time.

Although the game is marketed for 2 to 4 players, we have played with a team of 5 (and lost by the skin of our teeth! Grr!) and noticed no breakdown in gameplay. Since it's cooperative, players younger than the suggested 10 can join in the fun, even if they're only moving their pieces around the board. You'll learn your geography with this one!

Pandemic Rundown

Number of Players: 2-4 for the base game, 2-5 with the expansion
Time To Play: 1 hour
Age Range: 10+
Theme: Science Disaster
Style: Cooperative resource management
Interesting mechanics: Cooperative play, Variable player powers, Multiple game variations, Action points
Expansions: Pandemic: On The Brink
Price tag: $35 for the base game and $30 for the expansion
Luck Factor: Moderate
Learning Curve: Easy to Moderate
Useful Links: Z-man Games, Boardgame Geek