Play date at my house

For the most part, I am the last one to have a kid in my group of friends. Most of my friends' kids are 2-4 years of age, with one of them as old as 8 years and one of them 5 weeks younger than Paxlet. Being the last to have a kid and basically the only one on maternity leave right now, it is pretty lonely in my circle of friends. Everyone is busy with their families, work and just at a different stage of things than we are. It is rare that I get to see any of my friends and I find that quite sad.

Before everyone had kids, we'd get together semi-regularly at one another's house or in a pub to chat and eat. It's been ages since that has happened. To remedy this situation, I thought I'd have a play date at our house! And what better way to start the new year than to have it in January (20th to be exact), after all the hubbub of the holidays has died down.

In order to try and be more accommodating to everyone's daily schedules, I stated that from 11am-ish until 4pm-ish is the time for people to come over for as long as they wish and fits their schedule. I figured if Paxlet is awake, great! If not, oh well, I really just want to see my friends...and uh...their kids too.

I sent the email out on December 20th, a whole month in advance, as that is what seems to be needed these days. I know two mom&kid(s) won't be coming for sure, one has said she'd come and a couple others will try to make it. The rest haven't replied. I sure hope more people will show up.

In the mean time, I need to get our downstairs area mobile-kid-proofed!

Counting my lucky stars

I ran into a former co-worker/acquaintance at the grocery store yesterday. I worked with her during my second year in Finland and don't think I've seen here since sometime during my third year here. Any who, she asked what I had been up to. I pointed at Paxlet and told her it took us 4 years to get him (among other things that I've been doing since we last spoke). She told me that her and her husband tried for many years and went through all the treatments under the sun (her words) that they possibly could and nothing worked. They are now learning to live child free. I told her I'm sorry.
This is a change: I'm feeling sad for someone else and happy for myself. It still isn't a great feeling.

Cookies as gifts, Xmas 2012

For the last few years, I've been giving my in-laws (MIL, FIL,SIL*2) cookies for xmas. I just got tired of stressing over what to get them and giving them something that they probably didn't want anyway. So, they now get cookies. I figure that even if they don't like all of the cookies, they will hopefully like some of them. Plus, they can pass them on to someone else and they won't be stuck with yet another thing that collects dust.

This year I made 4 different types of cookies and they are not something I have gifted before.

In the top left corner (clockwise) are the original Kellogg's Rice Krispie Treats, Holiday Pinwheel cookies from Christmas Your Way blog, Chocolate-Marshmallow-Fudge-thingies from my friend and White Chocolate & Raspberry Cake Pops (without the sticks).

The recipes for the first two can be found by following the links. The recipe for the chocolate-thingies from my friend can be found below. And the cake pops were sort of my own creation using a couple of sources for hints and tips and a cupcake mix & topping packet. I know there are many recipes out there for them right now as there are the 'in' thing, but if someone would like more details on what I did, I'd gladly share my process.

All of the cookies were easy to make, some of them just took a little bit of time, such as the pinwheels and cake pops. To help things along, I made cake pop innards on the 21st (Friday) and they firmed up over night, the chocolate-things on the 22nd. The pinwheel dough was prepped (rolled & cut) at the beginning of December and then frozen until I wanted to bake them on the 23rd (Sunday). The cake pops were rolled in melted chocolate on Saturday so that they could set up over night. The Rice Krispies were fully made on the 23rd.

Chocolate-Marshmallow-Fudge-thingies recipe
(I have no idea what these are called, except for yummy!)
Ingredients*:
325g (11,5 ounces) Chocolate
3dl (1 cup) marshmallows (They are different than the ones you can roast over a fire.)
1,5dl (1/2 cup) Vanilla Fudge squares
15 x 30cm (6 x 12 in) pan
parchment/baking paper

Break the chocolate into pieces and put in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until all the chocolate is just melted. Don't over heat the chocolate. Stir in the marshmallows and vanilla fudge squares. (If the chocolate gets too hot, you have to wait a bit before you can add the marshmallows to the mix or they will melt.) Spread the mixture into your lined pan and let cool. If you want it cooled faster, stick it in the fridge for a bit. Once the chocolate is hard again, break it into pieces and serve!

*All measurements are rough estimates and you can substitute or add different items into this.