Works For Me Wednesday: Terrarium

By Alan

It's been a family tradition to spend the weekend around Thanksgiving to fix up the house for the Christmas season. However, weather and family illness slowed us down a bit. There wasn't as much opportunity to do things together.

Luckily, that week, there was a fun little article at one of my favorite web sites, Make Magazine. Someone took an ordinary incandescant lightbulb (now banned in several countries), carefully and safely cracked it open, removed the guts, washed it out, ending up with a perfectly clear little glass vase. There were several projects that derived from that idea, but the one that caught my eye was this lovely terrarium.

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Works For Me Wednesday: Gingerbread Houses

By MAD21

Like most people, we have many traditions in our house during the holidays. I think traditions are important. They not only provide opportunities to build the bonds of family, but they are also wonderful memories over the years.

One tradition we have is to build gingerbread houses. Not just for us, but to give away as gifts to grandparents and close friends. They are easy to make, the kids LOVE making them, and the people we give them to look forward to receiving them each year.

For each house, you will need:

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Works For Me Wednesday: Christmas Shopping

By MAD21

It's November and people are realizing how close we are getting to the holidays. One of my favorites is definitely Thanksgiving because it means family and friends... and food. But mostly it's because it's a time to reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for. Not that we don't do that every day, but it's nice to have a time to celebrate those things together with everyone.

But Thanksgiving is something else for me. It's a deadline. It has been my goal for years to have as much of my Christmas shopping done by 'Turkey Day.' It probably started even before I was married with my own kids. Because I live so far away from my family, I had to have everything done early enough to get it in the mail without paying a fortune to have it delivered by Christmas day.

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Works For Me Wednesday: Making Applesauce

By MAD21

We started a new tradition in our family last year. We decided that we were going to give everyone homemade applesauce as gifts for Christmas. So in October (the middle of apple season!) we headed out to one of our local farmer stands and purchased several bushels of apples. Seven different kinds. It was a hit. Both the family time it took to make the applesauce, and the they joyful reception the gifts got during the holidays. We really enjoyed the time we had with Grandma teaching us the canning process, and our girls LOVED using the peeler to peel all the apples (which was Grandma's station...though thinking back, I think the time with Grandma was probably what was enjoyed most).

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Works For Me Wednesday: Organizing Rooms

By MAD21

We all have one... A space in the house that is like a dumping ground. For some it's the garage, some it's the attic, others it's the 'spare room.' You know the kind, it's the space full of clutter where there is a mix of items that are used and unused, and things that need to either be given away, sold, or thrown away.

I am, by nature, a neat-freak. I am one of those people who can't stand the sight of clutter everywhere. It was much easier to live a life clutter-free before being married and having kids. Though, it wasn't too bad until the kids came along. Now it's a daily struggle to keep my house from looking like a giant toy box. I am happy to find out that as they get older, their toys seem to get smaller, so I do have some hope for the future...

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