Clean-up Report and a Little Treat

The Great Clean-up of 2009 is well underway and I would like to thank all of you who wrote in with suggestions and encouragement and kind words about my little space and my sewing machine and such. I really do appreciate it.

I spent a good amount of time downstairs Friday and almost the entire day Saturday cleaning out and organizing. I have so far filled up almost 3 whole trash bags with items that I have no idea why I even kept. I have two good size bags of crafty stuff that I am going to bring to my son's school for their craft closet. I think the Kindergarten teachers and the art teacher will be able to use all of it over time. I have a large pile of things that I am going to list on ebay the next time they offer a discount on listing fees. And I have quite a few things that I am going to offer to my readers in giveaways.

Another thing I have as a result of this clean-up is a list as long as my arm of projects to do this year, for which I already have the necessary materials. This means no more shopping for yarn, fabric, beads, thread, floss, or anything else until the project shelf is empty! Think I can stick to that resolution all year? We'll see.

I've been working so hard the past few days on this project that I thought we all deserved a nice little treat. So here is a look at my Christmas dessert that was served when we invited our neighbors over during the recent long holiday break.

I am a candy cane snob. Bob's candy canes are the only brand I buy. They are so delicious and beautiful and come in all different sizes, and the little ones were perfect for this cake. This is the Peppermint Candy Cake from the Southern Living cookbook that my mother sent me for Christmas this year. Thanks Mom! It was fun to make and even more fun to eat! It is made with 3 layers of a plain white cake, a cooked peppermint sugar glaze poured over each layer, and then a fluffy frosting of egg whites whipped together with a cooked sugar syrup covering the whole thing. Of course the pretty Bob's candy canes finish it off nicely.


Along with the Peppermint Cake, we also had my husband's favorite which is a simple ice cream pie made by spreading softened ice cream into a purchased graham cracker pie crust and then frozen. Doesn't get much easier than that and it's always a big hit! We also served a platter of my spritz cookies and pretzel/Hershey Kiss/M&M yummies, separated by a generous handful of Hershey's Miniatures dressed for Christmas. An assortment of teas and hot chocolate, sugar and cream, sweatener, chocolate covered peppermint stirrers and a pot of hot coffee finished off the selection of the evening.


The gingerbread house that the little ones decorated with a little help from me and their big sister was just for decoration on this night. We demolished that just a few days ago!

The two jars of jelly were made by me and were given to our neighbors before they left. I made four flavors this year, six jars of each, and have only a few left. They make nice gifts.

The bowl of blue and brown would be the new premium M&Ms in almond and mocha flavors. They showed up in my mitten Christmas morning. Santa sure knows what I like!

Thanks for joining me for that little after-Christmas treat. Now I think I have just enough energy to get back downstairs and finish cleaning up the mess. I'll show you the results of this effort very soon...I hope!

Happy Stitching!

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