My Christmas Gift Guide

Mary Kate has a Christmas Gift link-up.  Gifts is my number two Love Language, so I am jumping in with both feet.

Oldest to Youngest:

Peter is 17.  He wants ugly sweaters.  I am thinking about getting him  Axis And Allies because he "might" be going away to college this fall, and all the nice boys I knew in college played Axis And Allies all weekend long.

Now, there are about a hundred different versions of this game.  If anyone would care to enlighten me on what a beginner or novice-level nerd should get, I would be most grateful.

His other "toy" may very well be an Uncle Si Chia Pet Planter, because honestly, who wouldn't want one?  Especially in college!

Susan is 16, and a junior in high school, which means that sometime in the not-too-distant future there will be a Junior Ring Ceremony.  In lieu of a class ring, she has asked for a Claddagh ring.

Patrick gave me my Claddagh ring in college.  It's a James Avery ring.  James Avery is a beautiful silver jewelry company that has locations in Texas.  They also have an online store.

James Avery is still making Claddagh rings.  This one is a little different than mine, but still lovely.

She also wants a ukulele.  Fortunately, her godfather is of the musical persuasion and has agreed to take on that task for me.

And of course, she's getting clothes.  As she said today, "Clothes are fun!"

I found a few lovely and reasonably priced items at Avery Lane Boutique.  Susan specifically asked for "things with elbow patches."

Can you see the elbow patches?

Lucy is a 14 year old freshman.  Her wishlist wasn't much different than Susan's, with the exception of one item.  She asked for a crossbody hipster bag from Vera Bradley.  The discontinued patterns are on serious markdown through the outlet.

If you aren't a member of eBates yet, what are you waiting for?  LL Bean, Vera Bradley, and GapKids are just a few of the stores I'm getting cash back from thanks to eBates.  When I'm online shopping, it actually literally PAYS to use eBates.

Sending a wedding gift?  Bed, Bath, and Beyond is on eBates.  Kohls?  Disney Store?  Sephora?  They're all on eBates.

We try to give each child a book, a toy, and an article of clothing.  "Try."  I don't really consider a hipster bag a toy, so I'm considering The Resistance  board game for Lucy.

Susan got Telestrations  last year, and it was a huge hit.  She played it with family, she played it with friends, she even brought it to sleepovers and on vacation.  I'm hoping The Resistance has the same appeal.

Edmund, age 10, and brand new fully fledged Boy Scout, recently received a catalog from JM Cremps:  The Boys' Adventure Store.  He carried it around with him for over a week, and finally surrendered it to me, after circling the things he wants.

That little gem, the Estwing Sportsman's Axe, was circled A LOT.  There Is No Way That Is Going to Be Under My Tree This Christmas.  

I think it's time we did another family read-aloud of Where the Red Fern Grows.

Edmund will likely be getting some other (safer) items, such as a headlamp,

And a Mad Bomber hat, which he asked for.  You can see his father sporting a Mad Bomber hat in my header up above.

And maybe this 7 Wonders board game that got great reviews.  We like The Settlers of Catan and Ticket To Ride very much.  This seems like the same high quality.

Edmund's stocking will be filled with Rainbow Loom Rubber Bands.  He uses Susan's loom.  The neighbor kid comes over and they make bracelets for HOURS!  They had me look up YouTube videos of different patterns to try.  Edmund has even invented some of his own patterns!  It counts as a homeschooling class, right?

Jill, age 2.  The question is what NOT to get her.  Little kids are so easy to buy for.

She wants a kitchen and this Kidkraft Retro Kitchen was on sale at Costco Online in October, so that's taken care of.  It was much cheaper than the Amazon one.  I like this kitchen because it's not one unit.  We are pressed for space in our tiny toy room, but I'm hoping the sink part will fit under a window.

Jill's Disney Princess obsession is off the hook.  She has been eyeing the Disney Princess Barbies everywhere, but Santa found something a little more wholesome and age-appropriate with the Melissa & Doug Celeste 14" Princess Doll.

Though I prefer to avoid licensed trademarks on our toys, clothing, etc.  I will share with you that I bought the Disney Princess Toddler Bedding Set with Rapunzel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella for her brand new toddler bed today.  I'm good, but I'm not that good.

It was that or Hello, Kitty, which weirds me out because of all the Japanese adult dressing-up strangeness that goes on with her.

I'll get something less polyester-y soon.

Jill and a very special goddaughter of mine are also getting copies of the MOST GORGEOUS version of Little Red Riding Hood, which is a Caldecott Honor Book and illustrated by the very talented Trina Schart Hyman.  With the books, I am pairing the red riding hoods from Etsy that I mentioned here, and if I get around to it, baskets for goodies from Cost Plus World Market.

That about wraps it up for my children, but I only covered one of my eleven godchildren.  I might have to write another post about them and link up again.

Head over to Mary Kate's for more gift guides!

Theme Thursday: Statues and Knots

She promptly named them "Jack and Jill."

These figures sit outside the cottage near the bluff where we go to watch the sunset in Michigan.

This was our view in the other direction.

This little guy is Patrick's patron saint.  I think his grandmother gave him this little statue for his Confirmation?  maybe?  The top of his crook is long gone.  The rest of him is still here because he is hand-carved wood.  Wood statues have the most life in my humble opinion.

There's part of sticker on the bottom that says "Goldscheider Italy."  Every now and then, I do another ebay check for more figures like this one.  No luck to date.

Last week's theme was Knots.  Here you can see Susan and Lucy working on hand-knotted friendship bracelets, in front of knotty pine walls.  You'd think if you put your hand on those boards that they would be rough, but they are actually silky smooth. 

Linking up with Cari's Crew.

7QuickTakes + 5Favorites

1.  My sweet and thoughtful friend, Texas Rose, gave me a gift subscription to Birchbox for my birthday!

Birchbox is like a "cosmetic sample of the month" club.  Once a month, I get a lovely little package with trial size beauty products chosen just for me.  I had to fill out a preference page, so the folks at Birchbox have an idea of what I like.

I liked everything that came in this first box.  Some of the items I loved, so I went back to the Birchbox website to order some full-size versions.

If you order something that was in your monthly Birchbox, you don't pay any shipping.

Birchbox makes a lovely birthday or shower gift.  If you'd like to order one for yourself or a friend, use this link, and I get points toward my next potion purchases.

2.  This is my full size order that came today.

I received the Whish Shave Cream in blueberry in my sample box.  The product was wonderful, but the blueberry fragrance was not my favorite flavor.  Undeterred, I ordered the full-size version in pomegranate.

3.  I also ordered the Color Club four pack of pastel neon nail polishes.  The green color, "London Calling" had come in my box.  Lucy loves it, as do I.  Susan is absolutely addicted to neon nail polishes lately, so I cannot wait to share these with her when she comes home on Wednesday.  *Happy Dance*

The operative word is "share."

Cut me some slack.  It's very hard to paint one's own right hand.

This orange color is called "The Reign in Spain."

You may have noticed I also ordered Miss Jessie's Jelly Soft Curls.  Well, that wasn't in my box, but I'm desperate for some kind of frizz control.  If this doesn't work, I may have to take Anne's advice and get the Keratin Treatment.

4.  Why are razor blades the single most expensive toiletry item for men?  Why do they break the bank at $50 a multi-pack at Costco?

The girls and I are perfectly content with Bic Soleil, which are about $2 each, but the Chef likes his Gillette 3000 or other comparably posh brand.

Enter Dollar Shave Club.

Like Birchbox for men (Birchbox does have a box for men feature, by the way), the Dollar Shave Club sends razors and refills to your door on a monthly basis.

Patrick got his first delivery this week.

For $6 a month, he gets one razor and four blades.  I don't think he goes through blades that quickly, so once we amass a stockpile, I'll probably cancel the subscription for awhile.

You can choose between $1 a month (plus shipping with this option only), the $6 plan, or the deluxe $9 version.

I don't know what Patrick thinks about the product, but I haven't heard any complaints.  I am especially pleased with the price.

Also, the commercial for Dollar Shave Club is hilarious.

If you subscribe to Dollar Shave Club though this link, I get $5 credit towards Patrick's beardbusters.

5.

The Cadillac of charcoal grills

We eat grilled food at least once a week all year round.  Yes, even in the dead of winter, you can find Patrick grilling rink-side.

During the summer months, we probably grill five to seven times a week.  Four of my five children know how to light the coals.  We use a propane starter, but it's still a good 30-45 minutes before the coals are ready.

Lately, I've been wondering if there isn't a way to make the process speedier and more cost effective.

I've been thinking about going over to the dark side, the gas grill side, even though my husband, aka Archbishop LeGrille wrote an encyclical called Grillitatis Splendor, in which using a gas grill is the cooking equivalent of using artificial contraception.

Then someone I know and trust linked to this article on charcoal grilling on Wired.com.

Guaiacol is an aroma compound produced when you use heat to break down lignin, the resin responsible for holding strands of cellulose together to form wood. “It has a smoky, spicy, baconyaroma,” says Sacks. “In fact, the flavor that most people associate with bacon is largely degraded lignin.”
Translation: Cooking over charcoal makes your food taste like bacon. Let me repeat that: blah blah charcoal blah blah BACON.

Did you read that?  blah blah charcoal blah blah BACON.

I can't argue with that.

6.  Until I read this article, also from Wired.com.

 Fourth of July is hobby grilling.  But what about the 22nd of June, or the 12th of August — when temps are in the 80s and all you want is to be in your backyard with a beer and a hunk of meat to cook? Instead, it’s 6 p.m., you’re at the office, the kids need to eat by 7, and you still have to go to the store.
This, my friend, is why a gas grill rules.

This quote clinches it for me:

I can walk in my door with a bag of groceries at 6:30, and have grilled chicken on the table at 7, a happy family praising a delicious dinner. The most precious commodity in the world, the one resource that none of us has enough of, that’s constantly dwindling until we die, is time.A gas grill claws back time for you every time you use it. Grill three times a week over the course of a summer, and you’ll have saved yourself a full day. A day! Think of what you can do with an extra day, provided to you by your gas grill.

So basically, if you want your food to taste like bacon (which I do, believe me, I do) you should fire up the Weber Kettle.  But if you need a time machine, the microwave of grills, if you will, you need a propane grill.

What about cost?

I know that gas grills cost a lot more up front, but I'm hauling home 20lb. sacks of coals to the tune of $15-$20 a week.  Googled it.  Yup.  Just as I suspected.  I'm bleeding money.

Gas grills typically cost more than charcoal grills, but they cost less to use. Assuming that it costs $15USD to fill a 20 pound propane bottle that gives you 25 cookouts and that 20 pounds of charcoal runs around $10USD and gives you three cookouts you will spend about $.60USD per every time you fire up the gas grill and around $3.50 on the charcoal grill. If you grilled every week you would spend $31.20USD in propane or $182USD on charcoal. Of course there is more to the Gas versus Charcoal debate than cost, but if you grill a lot gas is far more economical.

Wait a minute.  This line, from the very same page, can't be true.

Fuel Efficiency
You can greatly reduce your fuel expense for your grill by avoiding excessive preheating. Most gas grills are ready to cook in 5 to 10 minutes, and most charcoal is ready in about 15 minutes. If you are ready to cook the second your grill is, and you turn your grill off as soon as you are done you can reduce your fuel consumption greatly. When using charcoal, only use as much as you absolutely need. Most grills will cook great on about 5 pounds of charcoal. It also helps if you have a charcoal grill that can be shut down (see the next item). Conserve fuel and grill more.

Most charcoal is ready in about 15 minutes?  What am I doing wrong?

According to Mr. K. C. Masterpiece,

How to Tell When Coals Are Ready

• Good quality charcoal briquets – like new Kingsford® Sure Fire Charcoal – should be ready in about 15 minutes. They should be at least 70 percent covered with ash and have a slight red glow.
• To estimate the temperature of the coals, hold your hand, palm side down, about six inches above the coals. Count "one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.," until the heat is uncomfortable and you have to pull your hand away. If you can keep your hand in place for:
• 2 seconds – it's hot, about 375 degrees or more
• 3 seconds – it's medium-hot, about 350 to 375 degrees
• 4 seconds – it's medium, about 300 to 350 degrees
• 5 seconds – it's low, about 200 to 300 degrees

I'll have to check this out.  We usually wait until the coals are completely white/grey with ash.  As I said, that can take 45 minutes.  

But FIFTEEN!  minutes?  I highly doubt it.  

Mr. K. C. Masterpiece is probably drinking buddies with Mr. Christopher Kimball over at the America's Test Kitchen conglomerate.  

Mr. Kimball frequently tells me things like, "simmer until reduced by half, about 5-7 minutes."  

My food tastes damn good, but the times are always off.

Mr. Kimball is a pathological liar.

I cook on a bares bones Frigidaire gas stovetop that sags a wee bit in the middle (because some child stood on it to access verboten treats).  What takes Mr. Kimball an easy 5 to 7, takes me 30 to 40 ev.er.y.time.  I'm pretty sure the fancy-pants-blowtorch-with-burners that he's using has a lot more firepower than my home stove.

For example, Mr. Kimball's magazine states that the Alabama Chicken (June/July 2006) will be ready to eat after 45 minutes on the grill.  I don't know what went wrong on Independence Day this year, but those bird parts took at least twice that long, more like four times that long.  

We are picky about chicken though.  We like it well-done but still juicy.  No pink.  Hopefully, that's the way Chris likes it too.

Call me a skeptic, but I sincerely doubt my coals will be covered with 70% ash after 15 minutes. Maybe if I lit like 10 coals.  The man I married likes his fires BIG and indirect.  Always indirect.  That's a technical term for banked up against the side of your Weber Kettle.

Methinks I need a gas grill.

7.

I'm a teacher, but I'm still totally boss.

If you didn't see this NPR piece on a teacher who wore the same outfit to Picture Day every year for forty years, here you go.  This man puts hipsters to shame.

Linking up with Hallie for Five Favorites and Jen for 7 Quick Takes Friday.