Not A Creature Was Stirring...

Merry Christmas from the Witch and all her crew!

Merry Christmas 2013, Everyone

My very first gingerbread house and I made it all from scratch. I just had to share.

So, The Apocalypse Didn't Happen...

A Maritime Christmas Card by Cape Shore

So, The Apocalypse didn't happen as promised(?) by the Mayans. I guess that means that we will be able to get on with Christmas after all.

I just wanted to wish all my fellow bloggers, followers, friends and family a very Merry Christmas. May we all feel the joy and magic that this season has to bring and remember to help the less fortunate with our good will throughout the year to come.

I'm a very lucky person in that I do have a full time job which pays out a bonus in the new year. This year's bonus will go to "Because I Am A Girl" and the local humane society. Last year I gave to "Smile Train". It makes me feel good to be able to donate which is why I do but also because I think that I am responsible to do so.

I'm certain this year will be more challenging for everyone to save money as the cost of everything is on the rise. I'm going to be tweaking my budget even more, with Gail's help of course. I have a challenge for myself to pay down more on the mortgage because retirement is close for both Hubby and I.

When I first started my blog it was about the challenge of saving and paying down debt so I'm going to be writing about these ideas again and about the ways I plan to stretch our budget. The first challenge will be about shopping wiser and smarter so as not to waste any food. Now that will be tough because everyone has waste whether it be produce that went bad or unused. I'm going to try to buy less and use more of what we bring home.

Wish me luck and together we can come up with some new ways and ideas to save some bucks.

My Secret Santa Has Really Come Through!

My Secret Santa parcel has arrived!

My Secret Santa has really come through!

Christmas had come and gone and there had been no parcel in the mail and I was wondering if maybe there wouldn’t be one but, lo and behold, there it was in this morning’s post! Hubby picked it up before work today and then phoned me to say that it was here. I spent all day wondering what it could be, just like a little kid.

When he finally got home this afternoon I tore right into it and it was full of wonderful things! There were four jars of home-made preserves in a table-top caddy, fours small books and a nice card. Wow, Secret Santa, thank you so much!

Pulling the contents from my Secret Santa parcel.

Everything was nicely wrapped and looked beautiful.

My Secret Santa gifts, homemade jams in a pretty metal caddy and four little books.

While I can’t be 100% sure who my Secret Santa really is I think that I know and she is a fellow blogger. You can find her at this link and if that isn’t her then that blog is an interesting read anyway.

Thanks again, Santa!

From Our House To Yours...

Outdoor Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas to all.

Secret Santa

(photo above stolen shamelessly from Buttons, Ribbons And Other Things)

Way back in October I came across “Serendipity’s Guide To Saving” while doing a little surfing. She was writing about “The Bloggy Secret Santa Project” and it sounded like such a great idea that I signed up right away. It looks like about 3 dozen others were interested, too. I’ve been waiting for the email since then to find out who I would be sending gifts to and just yesterday I got it. The matchup is just perfect, as far as I’m concerned. Great job, Serendipity!

So I was doing a little spying on my recipient’s blog and it turns out that she has already put up a list of her interests and what she would like to receive and it made me realize that maybe MY Secret Santa would appreciate the same thing from me! Well, here goes!

• If you are crafty, any home-made goodies would be great.
• Home-made jewelry made with beads, sea glass or other found pieces.
• I love all earthy colours but my favourite has always been purple.
• Anything to do with owls, I’m just crazy about them.
• Dark chocolate covered almonds, mmmmm.
• I love gardening and all plants, too.

I want to give Serendipity a big thank you for organizing this. It was just what I needed to put me in right frame of mind for the upcoming season. My brain is just buzzing with all kinds of ideas, now. I’m going to have to get busy if I’m going to make the deadline!

Pie, Anyone? My First New Recipe of the New Year.

Well, here’s it is, the start of the second week of the new year and I’m following through on one of my resolutions. I made my first blueberry pie last weekend and it turned out great. It was easy too, in part because I had my pie crust already made. Back in October when I was doing a bunch of baking I made up a whole batch at once and then froze the extra in disk shapes, enough for one pie each. They are so handy and convenient to have on hand.
Here’s the recipe I used. It is my adaptation of one I found in the summer 2006 edition of Homemakers magazine.

Blue Berry Pie

Ingredients
5 cups blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp lemon juice
2tbsp orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
2 tbsp butter
2 pie crust doughs

Directions
Roll out dough into 2 rounds, ¼ inch thick and press 1 into the bottom of your pie plate. Toss the berries with the rest of the ingredients and pour into the pie shell.
Dot with the butter and then top with the 2nd piece of dough. Trim the edges and then crimp them together. Cut some steam vents in the top.
Bake in the lower third of a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbly, about a further 40 minutes. You’re done!

My first ever blueberry pie!

This is the easiest pie ever to put together and even better, blueberries are supposed to be great for your health! Look at that beauty, you know you want some. With the snow falling down around us today it helps to think about late summer when these August Blues were harvested. Oh August, that’s vacation time right? Sorry, memory lapse, I was thinking vacation already, sigh.

Yesterday we took down the Christmas tree. It’s always a sad thing to see it going away again, the living room looks so bare. We also put away all the decorations pertaining to Santa Claus. Snowmen get to stay because, well, um, they just do. That’s my rule and I’m sticking to it.

Here are some of the guys who will be hanging around for awhile. Try not to think about that pie while you’re looking at the snowmen. I bet you want some pie.

Warm Winter Wishes

This is the wall hanging I bought in the Big City last fall.

This is one of my all-time favourite decorations.

What do you suppose snow actually smells like?

My brother gave me this skating snowman for Christmas this year.

Over The River

This guy usually carries a Merry Christmas banner but it has been put away for now.

I don’t necessarily agree with this sentiment.

I love this little snowman lamp!

This guy will play Jingle Bells when you press his belly.

This guy is on the back of the front door.

This was a fun craft to make!

This star is made from dogwood branches.

He should be saying Let It snow Like Crazy SOMEWHERE ELSE!

Husbands, too.

This is one of this year’s Christmas presents from Hubby.

This guy is actually a candle holder.

Okay, thanks for looking. Here’s your piece!

It was as tasty as it looks.

A Waste of My Waist(line).

What's a girl to do? With the new year just around the corner now, I'm starting to think of resolutions and how I could improve my life and health. A diet is my perrennial favourite. I mean who doesn't think that they could stand to lose a few pounds? But just look at the picture below. Between the presents Hubby brings home from his customers, goodies I make myself and lots of Christmas gifts we have a ton of temptation sitting down in the pantry cupboard. Very tasty temptation. too! People know all our favourite treats and weaknesses and send us only the best. So it's not like I'm just going to chuck it all out or something but while it's in the house I'm going to be feeling its pull just like a high-calorie black hole in the middle of the house. It's not just me, either. Hubby apparently had half a bowl of Bridge Mixture with his morning coffee before I even got out of bed!

How do I resist eating all these goodies?

So today we packed it all up into a box and tucked it away in the farthest reaches of the pantry underneath the bottom shelf and in amongst the garbage bags. We did reserve three of the nicest boxes of chocolates to pass out to the friends who are coming over tomorrow evening. Hopefully this won't ruin their diets! I haven't even thought until now about all the Christmas cookies I baked and the Yule Log, what about my Yule Log?

I'm clearly going to have to come up with a different resolution this year. I mean was it any more successful last year? Maybe I'll just give up eating tripe and eggplant instead. Yeah, I think I can stick with that one!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I'm hoping you are surrounded with family and friends and having a wonderful day.

Gingerbread Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

The Gingerbread Girl and some of her suiters!

As you can tell from the pictures my Christmas baking has started of course, and just look at how happy this gingerbread girl is in amongst all her cute male suitors. She’s probably going to need to remind them to take off their muddy boots before coming in the house! So far I’ve completed all the gingerbread and some of the shortbread cookies and even a pan or two of Rice Krispie Treats. Hopefully I manage to find the time to get more baking done. Let me see, there’s the orange-oatmeal cookies, the lemon flavoured sugar cookies, maybe a Yule log still yet to get made. Maybe I’ll save all the calories and just stop now!

These cookies are some of my all-time favourites.

The Turkey Drive challenge was a huge success. The Turkey scoreboard was completely full. Our original goal had been 25 birds and then it was increased to 50 and then 100 turkeys but we exceeded even that. By Friday morning we had collected enough money to provide 160 turkeys setting the bar very high for anyone else. I was so proud and still have a tear in my eye for all the kind and generous co-workers who really pulled together to make this huge donation happen. The stakes have been raised for next year and I know we will exceed them because that’s just the type of team spirit we all have. We may even have to have two Turkey scoreboards!

Just a few of the donated turkeys on the front doorstep.

We may need a bigger scoreboard next year.

I have included a few pictures of our Christmas decoration as we have been busy getting ready for the Holidays. I have lots more to get done before the big day which is closing in rapidly. Just remember, only 10 more sleeps everyone!!

The Christmas tree was almost finished.

This owl guards one of the crystal snowflakes.

CBC Turkey Drive

I’m still glowing with all the positive feedback from you, my readers, to last week’s post. So this week I’m going to tell you about another way to help others in your community.

Here on The Witch’s Island the local CBC station runs its “Turkey Drive” every year to help the food bank provide a turkey dinner for every family in need. We have been contributing to the drive for the last few years usually by dropping off a bird at one of their collection points. This year I’m doing something a little different.

I’ve been making the suggestion at work for a couple of years now that we should donate as a group and challenge other companies to do the same. They finally decided that they would go with the idea and set a first goal of 25 turkeys. Instead of bringing in an actual turkey it was determined that a donation of $25 would be enough to buy one. By the time I got upstairs to buy mine there had already been 8 people in ahead of me!

My turkey!

The girls in Human Resources did a great job in organizing the collection. They made up a “Turkey Scoreboard” to keep track of the number bought. Everyone who contributed got to select and sign a paper turkey on the board. By lunchtime they had revised their original goal of 25 to a total of 50 turkeys and by the end of my shift the turkeys were almost to the edge of the board. 75 turkeys donated in one day!

Turkey scoreboard.

This was, in no small part, the result of some good natured competition between the different departments in the plant. E-mails flowed back and forth between the departments and HR all day with challenges offered and met. It was a lot of fun!

The scoreboard with the revised goal.

At the same time as we were doing the turkey challenge we were also holding a bake sale and a Christmas ornament sale with all proceeds going to the same cause.

We also held a sale of Christmas ornaments.

The CBC will be in our city this Friday as part of their Turkey Drive and that is when my company will be presenting our contribution. With almost another week to collect donations who knows how much there will be. Anybody out want to try to beat us?

Pins Galore

Wow, I had no idea that I was or had become a collector of pins. I was reading the “Grunge Queen” the other day and she was writing about a recent trip to the Goodwill store where she scored a couple of neat jewelry pieces (read the article here). I loved the filigreed owl pendant and it reminded me of a pin my sister gave me several years ago. So, just for fun, I dug out all my pins to have a look and it seems that I have quite a few!



As I was looking them over I noticed several themes going on. Halloween was the most obvious; this is “The Witch’s Island” afterall! There are skeletons, Dracula, ghosts and witches. Did you pick out the pin that say’s “#1 Witch”? I guess that’s me!






Did you notice the different witch pin in the upper left hand corner? This is an original designed, carved, and hand painted wooden pin from darling Hubby. It’s a beauty and I wear it with pride. The skeleton and Dracula pins have working doors and sometimes I wear them opened and at other times I leave them closed. Oh, and the Scardy Cat pin was too frightened to even be on the same mat as the witch!



Next are my bunny pins. I do seem to have an exceptional amount of them, also. The oldest one of these is the “Barnaby Bunny” from Hallmark. He’s turning a yucky yellowish colour now but he is almost 30 years old. There’s a bunny pin with a door as well. Hmm, maybe there’s a theme there, too.



What amazes me is the amount of Christmas reindeer pins in there. I didn’t know that in my subconscious I must really like reindeers. The big gold one (maybe from Avon) actually has a battery inside which allows his nose to flash red. I just love this but the battery will die out quickly if I leave it on for any length of time. It’s a great ice breaker at a Christmas party. Who doesn’t love Rudolph?



I also have some pins which were given to me from family and friends and as I look at them all gathered together they bring back great memories. The Grinch pin is a gift from my Dad and all of his children received one as a joke. We loved the old Grinch (and Dad, too) and how he stole Christmas. It was always our favourite Christmas show.



The Mexican sunflower with all the turquoise stones was purchased for a couple of bucks at a yard sale by Dad and when he returned from the sale he held his hands behind his back and had my sister and I pick one. This pin was in the hand I picked. I don’t remember what my sister received. I’ll have to ask her.


Lots of pins, lots of happy memories. Thanks to the Grunge Queen for the inspiration. Enjoy the rest of the pictures.