Chance Encounter (By the Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin)

I haven't written about a Chance Encounter in a while, probably because I haven't encountered anyone too interesting.  The other night we looked out our front door and found a whole herd of interesting (sorry for the bad pictures - they were taken through a window).

Just in case you can't figure out what you're looking at, here's a better stock picture:

These are javalina (have-a-leen-a).  There were eight of them on our porch, including at least two little ones.  They were having a great feast on our leftover pumpkins.  At one point a car made a loud noise about a block away and they scattered in a flash of little hooves clattering on the brick walk.

This one came back and he was very sassy.  Right here he's standing less than three feet from me with only a window between us.  He was chomping away at that pumpkin.  At one point he raised his head and looked right at me wiggling his snoot.  We were really connecting.

So now that you've seen these guys, guess what kind of animal they are.  Razorbacks?  Boars?  Pigs?  Well, not exactly.  A javelina is a Collared Peccary which migrated over time from South America as far north as Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  They weigh about 35-50 pounds and travel in herds (like the herd on our porch).  They have very poor eyesight, but a great sense of smell and pretty good hearing.  If you startle them, they will run off but leave a musk smell like a skunk.  That's why they're also called Skunk Pigs.  However, "pigs" as known in the U.S. are derived from European pigs, while javalina are native to the Americas, so they are not related to domesticated pigs or feral pigs (razorbacks).

Their natural food is cactus, but hey, this guy lives in Scottsdale.  He loves ornamental flowers.  He has an accurate calendar and knows trash day.  If you put out your trash can the night before pickup, you will find the street littered with trash from all the trash cans down the street.  That's good eatin'.  These guys even tried eating the votive candles and metal pumpkin pails in front of my house.  This guy spared my pumpkins before Halloween, so I could hardly begrudge him a little snack and chat with me.

I guess we had a chance encounter over a good meal.

cindy

The Craft Diva Strikes Again

It's been a very creative season this year.  My little craft diva is really enjoying all the creativity.  We've been working on some projects together and she's done a couple herself.  Mostly we've been working on candle projects, inspired by some of the candles on my Holiday Candles post.

My Craft Diva found the metal wreath thingies at Goodwill.  Believe it or not, they are aluminum pop tops weaved together with ribbons - very cool!  The candles were made from ordinary white candles covered with red acrylic paint and modpodge rolled in Epsom salts.  The balls were repurposed styrofoam from old thread covered ornaments.

   

I tried out the ribbon covered candles - easy concept - strips of ribbon glued to the sides of a glass candle.  It was very time consuming, though, and I'm a little nervous about the ends of the ribbons catching on fire or the heat from the candle melting the glue.  It is pretty, so maybe I just won't ever burn the candle.

The Craft Diva has tried out her own projects too.  We bought some pink and purple crepe paper (because you know Advent is pink and purple) and did some mache on a glass candle holder using a watered down glue.  They turned out really pretty and were so easy!

Finally, I came home tonight to a little project she did with glue on construction paper and salt:

She specifically asked for this one to be featured on Mom's blog.  Here's to you Craft Diva!

cindy

Scentsy Love!

I don't want to say anything about gifts, because some of my family members read my blog :)  However, I am loving me some Scentsy!  It's already a popular product line, so many may already share my love.  Scentsy is a wax warmer system with wonderful smelling scents.  The warmers come in full size and mid-size and there are many beautiful designs:

   

They also have travel tins for your car, scentsy circles and cute stuffed animals with scents inside.  I don't have one yet, but they also sell these plug in warmers

  The warmers work with a light bulb that heats up a container with wax in it.  There are lots of scents which is the best part for me.  I love to try out all the scents.  Scentsy scents come in scent bars and scent bricks.  These are scent bars:

Scent bricks are really big and I haven't found a scent yet that I want to commit to that much. Scentsy works by melting squares from the Scentsy bars in the warmer.

Scentsy is not sold in stores, but you can find a seller by going to their website.  I use Scentsy products in most of the rooms of my house.  They create a nice ambience (and smell good too!)  Some of my favorite scents are:  White Sands, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Welcome Home, Sunkissed Citrus and White Tea & Cactus.  The wax squares last a long time - I think between 8 and 12 hours (and there are eight squares per bar).  The best part of these products is the SMELL!  They are strong and long lasting. I love Gold Canyon candles because I think they are the very best.  But if you're looking for something without a flame, nothing beats Scentsy.  You can leave them on (I left one on a whole weekend by accident) and you never have to worry about fire.  I'm looking for my next order which should be in later this week and I can't wait!

Before I finish this "gushfest" I should say - I have not been compensated in any way for my opinions about Scentsy, nor was I asked to comment in any way.  In fact, I borrowed the pictures from their website.  I don't have a family member or close friend that works for Scentsy.  I just really believe in the product and like all small businesses, I believe in promoting the best ones so they stay successful.

cindy

Advent Season

It's now December and everyone is rushing around getting ready for Christmas.  This year I'm celebrating Advent.  I know Advent comes every year and it's a time of preparation for the birth of Christ, but I am so busy getting ready for Christmas that I forget about Advent.  Not this year - First Things First.  If you don't know what Advent is about, here's Advent in Two Minutes:

I'm making a concerted effort to teach my kids about Advent.  In addition to putting treats in our Advent "house", I'm including a verse from the Bible that anticipates the birth of Jesus.  We also have an Advent wreath and light it every night as we read the verse.

Another new tradition (can it be a tradition if it's new?) is to set up our "Bethlehem" and populate it one person at a time.  We have a Fontanini set and they name each person and provide a back story. I know they are not Biblically based, but I want my kids to understand each person and his/her perspective living in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth.  Here's an empty Bethlehem:

My son mentioned the sheep were dead, but they are just sleeping :)

So what are you doing to prepare?  Are you preparing for "Christmas" or Christ's birth?  One more reminder:

Cool, huh?

cindy

Holiday Candles

I really like the look of candles while I'm decorating for Christmas.  I like how they look and how they smell.  I don't use candles to provide great scents for my home (see my next blog where I talk about Scentsy), but the soft light candles provide gets me in a Christmas mood.

Source: 33shadesofgreen.blogspot.com via Cindy on Pinterest

But candles can be dangerous, especially when you have so many other items decorating your home.  Here are 5 tips to stay safe with candles:

1.  NEVER leave a candle unattended and don't use candles on or near a Christmas tree.
2.  Keep candles away from anything that could burn (decorations, pine needles or matches in the candle, loose clothing, furniture, etc) and keep candles out of the reach of children and pets.
3.  Trim wicks to 1/4" before using.  If a candle flickers, sparks or the flame gets too large, put the candle out.
5.  Use a candle holder designed for candles.  This is a serious concern for those of us who DIY.  Be careful wrapping anything flammable around a candle holder or putting candles directly on surfaces that could be flammable.

Source: houzz.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Speaking of DIY, I couldn't resist at least showing pictures of some great projects with candles.  I admit I haven't tried any of these myself, but if you click on the picture, it should take you to my Pinterest account and then the source of the photo, which is usually a description of the DIY.  I did have to selectively choose which projects I would show, because many were, in my opinion, a little too dangerous.  As an example, I saw several projects where a taper was placed in a candle holder wrapped in leaves or evergreen.  Here are some of the best, and I'll let you click through to see how to create the gorgeousness!

Source: bhg.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Source: thriftyparsonageliving.blogspot.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Cindy on Pinterest

This has me itching to try some of these. They are so pretty, yet elegant. If I get started now, I just might have something for my Christmas dinner table.

cindy