Thanksgiving is rushing up quickly in the States. It is a wonderful time of appreciation and association with those you love. Even though there are those here in the State that have slowly forgotten what the original Thanksgiving involved, it seems to me that at least there is still an appreciation of (and thanksgiving for) the relationships that pull us all together.

Now the fun part of Thanksgiving for me is to try to create something new in the kitchen that will be requested over and over as the years go along. This great little dessert idea is something that might just qualify once my nephews and nieces get old enough. I posted this suggestion two years ago, but I think this year is a fabulous time to bring this oldie but goodie back out for the holiday.

This treat is just an extravagantly decorated rice crispy treat. Instead of making rice crispy squares, these were made with bars that have lollipop sticks inserted. After the sticks are inserted into the rice crispy goodness, the bars were given a chocolate sauce/candy dip, then decorated with candy corn and a little melted orange candy for the feet.

Almost any craft store now carries lollipop sticks and meltable candy pieces in various colors. Finding the supplies for these Thanksgiving Day treats should be a breeze.

One last suggestion: when I make things like these, the easiest way to let them dry is to use a piece of floral foam (or styrofoam) that I keep around the house. As the treats are coated with chocolate, I plant the stick into the foam and let the chocolate dry. I always make things like this at least a day ahead in order to give myself plenty of time to address unexpected challenges.

And remember, there are no disasters. Just handmade treasures that are more unique than others.

Oh, and as an additional surprise, you have the opportunity to participate in some serious flashbacks when you watch the quintessential 1980s commercials embedded in this video. They are fabulous! One last thing – the movie cuts out before the finish, which really stinks. In the end, they all get to go to Grandmother’s house, and pile into the car and are on their way.

Finally. And I mean, freaking finally.

This road trip has always been predicated upon the idea that my baby sister was moving from Georgia state back to Washington state, from whence my family originated.

However, this road trip was in plans for more than a year now. First we had to wait out a knee replacement surgery (not mine). Then mouth surgery (not mine either). Then implant healing time (also not mine). And then…I am not sure anymore.

So, three intrepid travelers are we, setting out to take Sis from the coast of the Atlantic literally to the coast of the Pacific. To the point where the shoreline inhibits further travel. My purpose on this trip is basically historian. And driving duty.

Dad already has a list of sites that he wishes to visit as we go, so from what I understand, the trip stands to take anywhere from two to three weeks. All this is wonderful as far as I am concerned.

For example, we know a few of the stops already: Dad wants to hit the UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico, and of course, Sis and I are completely behind that! I want to see the Grand Canyon again, and try my hand at walking the Sky Walk (and with my agoraphobia, this should be highly interesting.)

Sis has on her list an afternoon of throwing away cash in Las Vegas and seeing our great-grandparents’ then-farm-now-oil field in Oklahoma

Leaving the family for what could turn into two months leaves me nerve racked, but hubby is a resourceful fellow. I know he can survive.

As for Kattitudes, this actually means two things: first, I am going to have a veritable plethora of ideas for projects that can travel. Gift creations that you can take along with you. I have to populate my etsy store and my ebay store at the same time, so handmade jewelry gifts are going to be a screaming priority. I am bringing more jewelry pieces than you can shake a stick at because I intend to create and list as we travel! (Well, you know what they say about good intentions….and how coincidental that I will be on the road already….).

As some of my plans are already in place, I know that I will be carrying (of course) an extensive selection of jewelry findings, and will spend the majority of my time creating new one-off pieces for sales. However, I also have a fabulous collection of silk ribbon flowers, and have had ideas for how to embellish with them forever. I already purchased a supply of silk scarves for use, and intend to get a head start of not only a number of upcoming gift-giving occasions, but also to work on adding to my store. Things have been selling well locally, but I absolutely must get accustomed to sales online and producing enough to cover my bases, both locally and online.

I finally found myself a perfect teach-yourself to crochet kit, and when I need some monotonous relaxation time, I plan on pulling out my practice ball of yarn, and sitting down to crochet. The instruction book I have have some plans for just marvelous little projects, and things that would make actually quite wonderful gifts in and of themselves. I want to take the opportunity to find some videos of needlework and/or make some videos so we can all hop on board and start creating!

There is so much more I could do, but I am determined to limit myself to 1) projects easily transported and 2) projects that could legally go through an airport security search (be it in checked luggage or carry-on). If I am not cautious, I can significantly overpack. What I mean by that is that whilst my clothing selections are spot-on and easy to transport, when it comes to my crafting and gifting tools and supplies, I always significantly overpack. Then I am stuck lugging all these pounds of craft items without the opportunity to sit and turn all the pieces into an easily transportable gift. So another goal for me is that at the end of the trip, I will only be transporting finished items and absolutely no stock findings or parts and pieces will be left to overfill the corners of my suitcase.

OK. So now we know what to expect. Oh, I know what I forgot! Giveaways!

Giveaways. In the process of organizing and simplifying my life, I have discovered stashes of craft supplies and items from which to make enough gifts to entertain a small country. I am never going to be able to use it all in this lifetime. As a result, I have decided to start implementing some giveaways on kattitudes. I haven’t decided exactly how to do this yet, but I will start about the time we pack up and get on the road. I’m taking a number of items with us, pre-packed in mailing boxes already, and as we go, I’ll drop the winnings in the most convenient mailbox.

This way everyone benefits! My house gets cleaned out and someone gets a chance to express their creativity with something that might not have been available to them before.

I think that is pretty much it. There was one last thing tickling in my memory as I was typing that last bit, but it disappeared. Ah well, thus is the illustrated benefit to the edit function of blogging software. I will obviously need to use it this time.

I will start adding gift ideas again later tonight or tomorrow. Interspersed with them will be my blog entries for my road trip. I’ll tell you a little more about blog plans for the roadtrip later. Hopefully you will find yourself as interested in the cross-section of America that we will see as I am.

Ah, I remember what I forgot. If anyone has ideas for vacation type projects, please feel free to leave a comment. Keep in mind that the focus of kattitudes has always been on handmade gifts, and projects you can make and share to show the love you feel for your recipient. I am hoping to keep all the projects on this trip items that I can then pass on to friends and family (and a lot for sale for other people to give away). Anyway, if you have suggestions, please leave them for me!

Thanks. Have I mentioned lately how excited I am for this road trip?

I love movie time, and even more, I absolutely adore animations. Few things make me feel happier than a stormy night (Georgia state is currently under tornado warnings, and we are experiencing a rip roaring thunderstorm as I type), and a movie that reminds me of my childhood. Peanuts fits the bill perfectly.

Now, granted, this is not part of the original Peanuts magic, nonetheless, it still warms my heart.

So welcome back to Kattitudes, and enjoy a little Easter cartoon magic on me.

Not everything makes me literally laugh out loud, but this sure did. I hope you enjoy it too.

Now, more than ever, it is important for us to look back at the skills that our parents and grandparents held, and focus on learning to do for ourselves. Prices for everything have increased so much, that trying to find the money for gifts and things of the sort is often quite the challenge.

I have always focused on making gifts just because I really enjoy the effort it takes to make something. I find pleasure in giving something of my talents and my sweat to a cherished one, knowing that I am giving not just a material item, but a gift of my time and my love.

However, these days, more than just the pleasure of giving a handmade gift is at stake. Now, the prices for items has skyrocketed, including, unfortunately, the costs of supplies to make gifts. Now, more than ever, it is important to learn some frugality, and make the best financial decisions possible.

The holiday season is nearly upon us, and as such, if you are planning on making gifts so as to save some cash, it is time to get working.

I will start posting gift suggestions tomorrow. With luck, I might even be able to get some accomplished this evening. Either way, we need to dig in and get things underway.

As I said earlier, it has been a long, lean year around here. I have been making and selling my jewelry for some time now. Goodness, it has been rewarding, but it is a challenge sometimes to know that you are taking hard-earned money for an item that in reality is not truly necessary (after all, who really needs jewelry to survive?). The pleasure and peace I find in building pieces counterbalances the madness of the financial situation out there.

With luck (and practice), you might just find a particular gift making skill that brings you the same joy and peace that I find. I am going to do my best to give you as many ideas as possible so as to help you find that place of enjoyment.

Email me if you have any suggestion for items you would like to make or questions about how to get things made.

Oh my, it was LOVELY!

I have not seen my only uncle and his wife, my dear aunt, for almost ten years. And my only remaining Grandmother – my precious, dear Grandmother – whom I absolutely adore and I do believe that the sun rises and sets upon her – visited also.

And yes, my Mister and I were able to wreak amazing transformations upon our home (now it is a home, no longer a house). Amazing. In fact, we are currently most of the way through a most unique infection that oh so many of you will recognize.

We have been calling it the “as long as we are here fever”. And that is truly the best description. I admit I suffer from a significantly higher degree fever than poor Mister, who simply has to keep up with the ever increasing list of “do you think we can get this done by tomorrow/this weekend/Thursday/March?”

“As-long-as-we-are-here fever” symptoms are varied from case to case, but all involve an invocation of differing varieties of the namesake phrase. Victims fall sick most commonly during a flurry of home improvement activities, and if proper precautions are not taken, inevitably, one or more of the participants will be heard to say, “you know, as long as we are here, we might as well (fill in the blank, which could include anything. Literally anything, including something innocent like changing the curtains in the room, or, in our case, painting the entire three floor house, steam cleaning the floors of all three levels of our home, changing all the window treatments, getting new furniture and rearranging through the house the furniture we did already own, and creating an entire new in-law suite for my wheelchair bound father on the first level of our home).

Yes, I believe that in retrospect I actually did achieve all my goals. I even recovered said ottoman I originally mentioned.

Lest I believe for one moment that I let crafting and creative pursuits slip by the wayside, I am proud to say that I finally (and I do mean finally) re-opened my eBay store. Tonight I am in the process of listing a number of the jewelry pieces that I have been making over the years. But I admit, I am having a new and unusual problem.

Does anyone else suffer from this problem? Having used so much of our budget to update the house, it is definitely time to contribute to the household budget as much as possible by selling some of my larger budget creations. But I am finding that as I prepare to list these on eBay, I just do not want to let them go. I have easily sold the smaller pieces without issues, but some of these pieces I just adore myself. There is the problem with making things that you love. It is hard to let them go!

On the flip side, if we do not let our creations go out into the world, then we would never have room for the next creation and the next, or the next challenge. So I guess it is just as well that I bid these pieces farewell and hope they go to a home where they will be as loved as they were with me. Oh, but I hate to see them go. Anyway, there are only so many pieces of jewelry one human being can logically (or tastefully) wear anyway (or so I keep reminding myself).

Now that the house has been internally remodeled, there is a new sewing place, so I hope to start listing some of my sewn creations along with the jewelry. My baby sister-in-law is preparing for her wedding in July, so we are still working on making so many of the things for that event. She has asked me to make the jewelry for all the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, along with her jewelry and whatever her groom will wear, so that is a combined total of jewelry for 22 people. I will have a lot of pictures to post for jewelry suggestions!

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter and the Spring season has sprung for you and yours in a wonderful way. There is a lot to do this time of year. Are you keeping your head above water?