Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey

Are you a fan???  

Season Two starts Sunday night!  

This year I have a special interest in watching:  COSTUMES!

The Edwardian Costumes on the show are to die for.  I love that the costumes almost take on a role in the show.  


And the hats!


And in service aprons are aplenty.


As I mentioned before my 11 year old is playing Mrs. Banks in our school production of Mary Poppins.  I am on the costume committee.  It is the perfect excuse to watch!  Albeit they are from 1914 and not 1910 but the silhouette is right in line with what we are looking to do.

Will you be watching??

Be sure to watch along for my Mary Poppin's Costume Creation posts in the next few months.

The White Factor: Month 6

I am still on this journey.  For those of you who are new - you can read about this journey (Month 3 here and Month 4 here).

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SO, here I am.  It is 2012.

Six months with no color added to my hair. My hairdresser told me to plan for a year transition.  This is the halfway point.  This is a big one. January brings me another birthday, the one that takes me into my Mid-40s.

Christmas was tough for me.  I tend to see the same people day in day out who don't really notice the slow change happening.  Yet, the holiday gatherings brought people I do not see all the time together, mostly family, and I felt like eyes were upon me.  I was very cautious about what colors I was wearing.  But I am feeling less anxious now that we are back to a normal life.  

I guess I need to share more photos!

For reference I am adding Month 3:

and Month 4:


And... here we are today:

I would say it is a full 3 inches at this point.

A rare photo of it up.  

Indoor lighting shows that pesky 'old color' is an even lighter brown now. 

Yup - that is my hair.  The hair I was born with and destined to have.

I am struggling mostly right now with the cut of my hair and the curls than I am the color.

I have grown to like the white - but there is this constant nagging going on that I should not be wearing my hair 'long and curly' if I choose to have its natural color.  Like I am 'supposed' to cut it shorter thing.  But that is not what I want to do.   The curls in my hair can look pretty unruly with the crazy whites on some days.  And why do women with the women I see with gorgeous white hair always have that smooth hair?

I committed years ago to being a curly girl - not blow drying/ironing, I only use SLS free shampoos and water soluble products in my hair.  I am not sure I can abandon that right now.

SO I spend a lot of time going over my options to include:

• go back to color (NO!)
• cut it shorter (NO!) 
• keep having frequent trims and keeping the current style
• making a change but keeping the length - maybe bangs again
• stop wearing it curly - and ironing it more (not comfortable with that!!)
• keep it the same, wait and see
• and my favorite: stop worrying about all this - it is JUST hair. 

When I start to feel anxious about this journey I like to go here:  Going Gray Looking Great and then I do not feel so alone in this big world of colored hair.  I am following along with these ladies.

On a positive note - I do not miss the blistery bumps that hair color caused on my skin. Or having to spend a day removing the hairdye off my hairline after a color. I have enjoyed having more money to spend on other things.  I recently starting taking photography classes.  That's much more fun than sitting in a salon!  I plan to go back to the gym soon too.

While my birthday passes by this month I am hoping to not be fixated on how I look but rather on how I feel.

A full blend of white, dark brown and light brown. 

Thanks for reading along!!  

Leave a comment to tell me how you feel about YOUR white/gray hair - have you thought about growing it out?

That's a Wrap!

Welcome 2012!

Bring her on - we are READY!! 

 For some reason here at the Little Red House the even years are just a little better for us. 

Who knows why?

Everything is now unwrapped and put away.  Signs of the holiday are gone.  We are back to clean counters, tables and that uncluttered feeling.  I love January just for this.

Until next year....

My cuties are getting so big.  

I hope that 2012 brings them all the joy they deserve!!  

I only started my little blog 6 months ago and I had no idea I would even be at it still in 2012.  What a great release this has been for me.  Thank you for following along with me!!

Biscuit Doughnuts

Who knew you could take a can of these:

and make these:

Not me until NOW!!

Here are the fly-by instructions:

Bring oil of your preference to 375 degrees with a candy thermometer.

NOTE: having now made these - next time I will use my iron skillet and maybe 1.5 inches of oil.  This was too much.  

 Open your can of biscuits and prepare them by pressing them a little flat.

I only used ONE can - it was plenty for a family of 4

 I chose to doughnut hole mine using a small cookie cutter.  But you could leave them whole and fill them after with a jelly or cream!

All prepped and ready. 

Into the hot oil they go!

 I think the longer you cook them the better they tasted.  A nice deep golden brown makes them crunchy!

A quick sit on a rack with a pan under to catch any drips -

After this we either dredged them through some cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar.  Next time I will have a glaze ready to try on them for sure. 

They went so fast this was the only photo is could get!  

TO think that I used to make dough from scratch to do this.  The hardest part of this was waiting for the oil to heat up then cool off.  Oh, and NOT eating them all!!!

If you need something fun for New Year's weekend - grab some biscuits when you go to the store!!

Do you Zoku?

What is Zoku?

  

It is a quick freeze ice pop maker. I am sure I was the last to hear about this - but we LOVE to Zoku!  

The best part is we get to choose what goes into it.  AND - it really works!!

We decided to make ours like fudge pops. With Lulu being lactose intolerant this was perfect because we could use Lactaid skim milk!  We even added mini chocolate chips.

First - you put the unit into the freezer for 24 hours.  Then we added the chocolate milk.  And sits for 7 mins.

Then you use the removal tool and it POPS out!!

And - they were GOOD!!

We cannot wait to try all kinds of flavors and ingredients.  I hear you can even make an 'over 21' one too ;)

Have a ZOKU recipe to share? Leave it below!!

My Gift

A lot of focus goes to my family, my girls and my friends over the Christmas season.  I have to say it is nice to be given a gift or two along the way!!

Please be the first to view my first piece of artwork.  This is an oil painting of a sailboat but it has much more meaning to me.  I suppose all pieces of art have special meaning - this is why we posses them.  Let me explain.

I have an Aunt, Aunt Sue to be specific.  She is the most artistic person I know.

She painted this picture for my parents back in 1976.  It is a painting of my Dad on our sailboat in the harbor. That was our boat 'Illusion' and she was a 1968 31 foot C&C Corvette.  I actually grew up sailing with my parents over the summers of my youth all along the New England coast.  (It sounds much more romantic than it was!)

This painting has hung in my parents home since I can remember (I was 8 when we received it).  When we posed for photos in my Mom's house we stood in front of this painting.

A while back - I asked for the painting.  My parent's obliged.  I received it for Christmas.  It has been re-framed to match my decor.

I think it looks beautiful in my home.  Almost like it was meant to be here all along.  Maybe this is why I was never able to commit to a painting until now.  It will now hang above my mantel. We will take our family photos in front of it.  (Unless I decide to move it).  Someday I will hang it properly.

I look forward to telling people who visit us in the future how special this painting is and how proud I am to have inherited this work of art!

Christmas Eve Shortcut Buns

We don't have a lot of traditions over Christmas - but the ones we do have - we stick to them.

Years ago we started making Christmas Eve Shortcut Buns.  We make them on Christmas Eve just before we leave for our big family party.  It is one of those recipes that the girls who were very young at the time were able to help with (and still do!).

Lulu  in her 'hot rollers' helping to make the buns.

In the morning, I heat the oven up after I get my cup of coffee before the girls start unwrapping and it is usually out of the oven before they finish.  I always make this in a Bundt pan and dump it over onto our glass cake plate.

They are sticky and sweet and we LOVE them!





Christmas Eve Shortcut Buns
by Leanne Ely

20 unbaked frozen dinner rolls (Rhodes or Bridgeport are brands I have used)
1 cup brown sugar (3/4 cup is not SO sweet)
1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, melted

Lightly grease a 10-inch bundt cake pan. Place frozen rolls into the pan and sprinkle with brown sugar, the pudding mix and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over the top. If you don't have a bundt pan, you can use a muffin tin, but they turn out better in a bundt pan.

Cover with a clean, damp cloth and leave overnight at room temperature to rise.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Turn rolls out onto a serving plate and dig in!

If you have not done all your shopping yet -  give these a try!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!