Thinking about it . . . .

Yes, I’m thinking of coming back to blogging, but have yet to figure out the mechanics that such an undertaking would require. How often would I post? And what would the posts be about? My life has changed and I think that any blogging would have to reflect that. I’m not sure if my life would be entertaining enough to even be worth blogging about. I’m thinking about it all.

I may move over to WP (from Blogger) if I decide to really get into blogging again.

I hope this answers questions, even if only nebulously and vaguely. If not, please feel free to keep them coming.

xx

—enc

Blogging Break

Dear Esteemed Readers,

I'm writing to let you know that I'm putting observationmode on hiatus, so that I can take a blogging break.

I'm feeling the need to regroup and look at what I'm doing with the blog. Though I am inspired by new things every day, I feel like I've worked myself into a rut, and until I work out why and how that happened, I'm stepping back.

Some of you may have noticed I've slowed down in commenting and reading blogs. That's true, I have. But I want to make clear that my absence doesn't mean I don't love you anymore. I do. But for the last several months, I've been following more than 130 blogs, and with everyone's brilliantly prolific talents, it's difficult to keep up! Everyone has such great ideas, insights, and thoughts, I was driven to keep up with every single one. I love everyone's work so very much, I didn't want to miss a thing. I also didn't want to disappoint anyone by not showing up to their blog every day. But I think I overloaded on blog reading, so I will be taking a step back from that, too.

I know my Esteemed Readers to be wonderful people with integrity, empathy, and intelligence, and I'm grateful to have been in your midst. I'm not sure if I'll resume blogging again, but I'm leaving the option open. I hope everyone will understand.

Love,
enc

Golden Slumbers

I'm going to dream about this tonight! The magpie in me loves the metallic sheen.























(Image from Barneys)

December GiveAway #4 Winner!

It's time to announce the winner of the

December GiveAway #4

Grand Prize!



Here's the prize, a fabulous silver squirrel necklace from Wendy Brandes Jewelry:




















And here's the winner!
>

>


Hooray for CDP!

CDP, please contact me so I can send you your prize!



Thank you to all the Esteemed Readers who joined in the December GiveAways. It's been really fun running these contests.

FYI: If you've already won, and haven't received your prize yet, that's because I haven't shipped anything yet. I was waiting for the Xmas crush at the post office to wane. I'll e-mail all winners as soon as prizes are "in the mail."






(Image from Wendy Brandes Jewelry)

It's December 25 . . .

. . . and to all my Esteemed Readers who celebrate Xmas:













And a happy "today-is-just-another-day-on-the-calendar" to everyone else!


Lastly, Zquurle reminds you:

















(Xmas graphic from me. Image from FreeFoto. No, FreeFoto isn't paying me or giving me incentive of any kind to keep citing them as my source, though it might seem that way since you've seen their name every day this week! I just keep citing them because I keep using that image every day.)

Cookie Cuts Cookies

Many of my Esteemed Readers will already know that I refer to Mr.OM's 12-year-old daughter as "12" on this blog. Calling her "12" on the blog makes things easy when I'm writing about her.

However, around the house, I call her "Cookie." I started calling her Cookie (derived from Cookie Puss) because of the old Beastie Boys song, "Cookie Puss." Anyone familiar with that song will probably think I'm nuts. Anyone familiar with Carvel Ice Cream products (when you click on that Carvel link, make sure to scroll down) will also probably think I'm nuts. 12/Cookie knows all about the Beastie Boys song and Carvel's product lineup, and loves her nickname anyway, so we stick with it.

At any rate, on Monday, 12/Cookie and I spent the day together making gingerbread men. She'd never done it before, and was very excited to learn. Since I am an old pro with gingerbread, I stood back, giving only instructions, and made her do all the work! Hey, how else is she going to learn?

She got a primer on how to mix dough, refrigerate, roll, refrigerate, cut, refrigerate, bake, mix icing, and decorate. We used the old Joy of Cooking recipe.

Here she is surrounded by ingredients, wearing my owl apron:

























Freshly cut gingerbread men ready to be baked:






















Finished products, all decorated by 12/Cookie, using a makeshift icing bag:























Don't they look grand?
























I'd say 12/Cookie did beautifully. As I suspected she would, she really got into the icing part. And the tasting part. Next up? Soufflé! Just kidding.





* * *

Zquurle would like to remind my Esteemed Readers:


















(Images from Mr.OM and FreeFoto)

Zquurle Asks:

* * *

I'd like to return briefly to Thursday's Poll question about the skirts made from menswear shirts: "How much would you pay for the skirt?"

















I promised to let you know the skirts' cost, but before I do that, here are the poll numbers:

79% would pay $100 or less for the shirt skirts.
21% would pay $101-$200 for the shirt skirts.

While I think anything in this range would be quite fair, it's not even close, Esteemed Readers! Those skirts fetch $320 apiece. What do we think about that?

Click here and here to view.





(Zquurle image from FreeFoto.com, manipulated by me; skirt images from Creatures of Comfort)