Spontaneous Moment #54: 60 Facts for a 60th Birthday

My father turned 60 this year and I wanted to do a little something special to celebrate. Since I don't live near him, I wanted to send him something a little special and different.

I spent a few months researching facts about things that happened in the year my dad was born: 1955. From companies that were established in 1955 to inventions to favorite TV shows or how much something cost. I put together 60 facts about 1955 for my dad's 60th birthday. 

I wanted my dad to open the box with a poem about his gift:

60 years you've been alive

Since you were born in '55.

Let's see what happened in the year

That Michael arrived here.

The world was changing quick and fast

and Dad, you would see it pass.

New inventions; all things change!At times it must have seemed so strange.

So back we'll go- let's tae a dive

And see what was in 1955!

I wrote out facts on little tags and tied them with string. I numbered each tag so that he could read everything in order. I had gathered 20 gifts for him to physically keep or use. The other tags were separated. If I had a cluster of tags (ex: fact 20-24) I would put them on a piece of paper together.

Some of facts I wrote out.

I started every tag with "In 1955..."

A better look at how I wrote everything.

What the group of tags looked like. Below you'll see tags 46-49.

I wrapped all the presents in green and used the same string that was used on the fact tags. As you can read some of the tags below, I got corresponding gifts. Del Monte came out with Stewed Tomatoes in 1955. The Banana Boat song was popular in 1955, so I got my dad some Banana Boat sunscreen. Coca-Cola switched from soda bottles to soda cans in 1955, so I got my dad some sodas. MGM & Warner Bros. were established in 1955, so I got my dad a Fandango card. VW came out with the beetle in 1955, so I purchased my dad a mini replica of the exact beetle... and the list goes on and on.

The used the 60th as a sweet letter to my dad. It started with "In 1955, I wasn't even the slightest figment of your imagination..." and then wrote a personal note to my dad.

After putting lots of padding at the bottom of the box, I put all the gifts in.

Then I put padding on top and put all the facts in. I placed them in numerical order.

Last, but certainly not least, I put more padding in and then had it so that the poem was on top for when he first opened the box.

I wrapped the box in brown paper wrapping and then put washi tape around it to look like I wrapped it with a bow. 

My dad was incredibly touched when he opened the package. It was the perfect gift and a sweet personal touch! It was also way more fun to put together than going out and buying something. 

Spontaneous Moment #53: Glitter Galore & Chalk Oh My!

I started writing this blog before the holidays, but of course the holiday season got in the way and I'm only able to come back to it all. We're focusing on Christmas Wrapping themes!

Here we go again. That time of year. This year I had three different themes: glitter, chalk, and holly. I attempted to make everything black, red, green, gold or glittery.

As you can see, I put ornaments on almost every gift as a "mini gift" before opening the real thing.

The gift on the lower right hand side has a candy sleigh on it that I created from the tutorial here.

To see how I created the holly decorations on my presents, go to my older blog post here.

Now onto the ornaments! I bought some cheap half prices ornaments that they put on sale closer to Christmas. I bought some clear ones with a hint of shimmer and some $1 ornaments.

Glitter Ornaments Materials:

• Clear Ornament
• Pledge Clear Floor Care
• Glitter color of your choosing
• A funnel
• Optional: glitter letters as an initial

My ornaments

Squeeze a small amount of Pledge Floor Care into your ornament.

Turn your ornament until it coats the entire ornament. Don't swish or shake as it will create bubbles or streaks. Just swivel the ornament around in a counter clockwise motion.

Once coated, place your funnel in the ornament and pour in glitter.

Slowly rotate the ornament around so that the glitter covers everything. You might need to add some more glitter after the first rotation to get the full glitter effect.

How they'll look once you're done! Glitter galore! They sparkle under the tree.

Not shown: I later added glitter letters on the glitter ornaments to label which gift was for which person. I used a red "D" for the gold glitter ornament and a gold cursive "K" for the red ornament.

Another option is to use glass etching solution to create an initial on the glitter ornament. I put one of my glitter letters on the ornament and then put the glass etching cream around it.

I wasn't very happy with the final product so I didn't continue with the rest of the ornaments. I just kept the glitter letters on the rest. Here was the outcome for me. It's a bad picture due to the light.

Chalk Ornaments Materials:

• Cheap Ornaments
• Chalk Paint
• Brush
• Chalk or chalk pen

Paint your ornaments and then prop them upside down on a flat surface. If you have trouble propping them up while wet, I suggest painting it half way and then once it's dry, prop the ornament upright in the ornament holder (the white container seen in the photo below).Then paint the rest of the ornament and let it dry.

This is what I did when I painted the ornament halfway and let it dry.

This is how it looked when I painted it the entire way and then slowly propped it up to dry.

A close up.

The final product of a few of the ornaments:

How I incorporated the ornaments into the presents for decoration:

Spontaneous Moment #52: Butternut Squash round deux

On cold chilly nights such as these, I just want to bundle up on the couch and eat a nice bowl of warm soup. Most soup is full of salt and I feel I need a large glass of water to go with it... when I would much rather a warm glass of hot chocolate on the side.

I looked up a handful of butternut squad recipes, but they all called for heavy whipping cream or an overwhelming amount of salt. So I attempted to make my own stab at it. My husband didn't notice the difference and ate three bowls full. So this recipe is a clear winner that's here to stay.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

•  1 Whole Butternut Squash
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ½ medium onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• ⅛ tsp. ground nutmeg (plus more for garnish)
• ½ cup almond milk
• 4 slices of turkey bacon
• green onions for garnish
• Optional: greek yogurt for garnish

Instructions: 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds using a spoon. 

Line a baking sheet with tin foil or a silpat sheet and place the squash, cut-side up, on the sheet. Place in the oven and roast for 1 to 1½ hours or until you can easily insert a fork or knife. Once it's done, remove from the oven and drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil on top. Allow it to cool.

Next, scoop out the inside of the squash using a spoon into a medium sized pot (I use my dutch oven) and discard the skin. Turn the oven to 400 degrees.

Add the remaining 2 tbsp. olive oil, the onion, carrots, salt, pepper and nutmeg over medium-high heat and saute until the onions are tender, about 8-10 minutes.

While it's cooking, add bacon to the oven so that it will be crispy. I usually cook it 8-10 minutes, but keep an eye out for it's crispiness.

Add the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a low-medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Check on your bacon. It should be ready to take out of the oven by now.

Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture until completely smooth. Then turn up to medium-high heat and add the almond milk. Heat mixture until hot, but not to a boil.

Add salt and/or pepper to taste as needed. Place your butternut squash in a bowl.

For garnish, crumble your bacon over the butternut squash. Add a few diced green onions and a dollop of greek yogurt if you desire. Also feel free to add a pinch of nutmeg. Bon appetit!

Spontaneous Moment #51: Kiss My Wrap

Happy Holidays everyone! I've been decorating our apartment in preparation for Christmas and wrapping presents along the way. 

My Texas stocking, John's stocking, and stockings for our two little nuggets (the cats).

Every Christmas/Hannukah, I always try to wrap my presents in some new or different way. My in-laws always expect a uniquely decorated gift each season. So I try to make sure not to disappoint. This season I've decided to decorate my presents with the holiday themes. More ideas to come, but below you'll find my holly wrapped gifts.

HOLLY THEMED CHRISTMAS PRESENT:

 

Materials:

• Sparkly green sheet paper
• Red 10mm pom poms
• Some type of glue (I used Mod Podge because of the wrapping paper used)
• Ribbon (I prefer gold & sparkly)

I drew holly leaves on the back of the green paper, but if you don't feel like drawing by hand, you can trace these.  Cut out the holly leaves.

Take out three red pom poms and add a dab of glue to the side of one and then tightly squeeze all three of them together.

Wrap your gift and then tie your ribbon around it.

Glue down your holly leaves. Once the red pom poms are dry, add more glue to the bottom and position them over the leaves.

Easy peasy!! You have a great looking Christmas present!

Spontaneous Moment #50: Cookie Swap

It's that time of year again. My friend, Alex, was throwing a cookie swap party at her place and I was seriously lacking in time. Thankfully, I have a few tricks of my sleeve. In my back pocket, I keep two simple cookie recipes: crinkle cookies and bacon chocolate chip cookies. You're in luck! I'm in the mood to share my secrets. If you're going to be like me and make both, use the same bowl for both cookies. While the first set of cookies are baking, prepare the second set of cookies.

I started with the crinkle cookies:

CRINKLE COOKIES

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Combine cake mix, eggs, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Stir until their are no longer any chunks.

Mixing this all together is the hardest part of the recipe

Pour powdered sugar into a small bowl. Drop a tablespoon sized cookie dough into the powdered sugar. I like to use my hand to slowly roll the cookie around in the powdered sugar, but you can also use a spoon.

The bowl of powdered sugar ready for cookie dough

Roll your teaspoon sized cookie dough in the powdered sugar

Drop onto a greased cookie sheet. You can also use parchment paper or a baking silpat.

Bake for 12 minutes for chewy cookies. You'll notice a lot of the powdered sugar baked off in the oven. Let the cookies cool for two minutes and then sprinkle some more powdered sugar on top of the cookies. Transfer the cookies over to cooling racks. Once you let them cool completely, enjoy them with a big glass of milk.

If you're making both cookies... before the crinkle cookies are in the oven, start preparing the bacon chocolate chip cookies by making the bacon. Once you take out the bacon, pop the crinkle cookies in and prep the chocolate chip mix.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Mix
• 1/2 (1 stick) softened butter (leave out for 45-60 minutes for it to soften)
• 1 egg
• thick cut bacon
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar

Directions:

Keep the oven at 350. Line the bacon on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.  Sprinkle brown sugar on top of each slice of bacon. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until crispy.

Line up the bacon.

Pat down the cooked bacon with paper towels. Crumble up the bacon into little bits.

Pour cookie mix into a bowl. Sprinkle in the bacon bits and mix together. Then add in the butter and egg. Mix until there are no chunks and soft dough forms.

Yes, no need to change the temperature of the oven. Keep it at 350. Drop teaspoon sized cookie dough onto the same cookie sheets you used for the other cookies. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges are light golden brown. Let them stand for one minute before removing and placing onto the cooling rack.

I promise these cookies won't disappoint. They were the first ones gone at the party. I'm sure I'll make them again for work.