wishful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine appreciates two unexpected treats...

While leaving the New Seasons earlier today, after acquiring the missing ingredients for making Rum Balls* (our ancestral family holiday season treat) the floral clerk offered me a sprig of tiny yellow orchids, saying that they hadn't enough stem to be used in a bouquet, and would I like them? And when I delightedly said thank you, and could you give me a piece of paper to wrap them in so they would survive my bike journey home, she went back in and wrapped them up with another flower, a snowy hydrangea! Now I have birthday flowers for later this week!!

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The doorbell rang this afternoon, and there was a package from my father on the doorstep. When I opened the box, there were three smaller packages inside. A bundle of arnica gel travel size tubes (which I will add to the various salves and potions for my Cranky Ankle™, "Oogy" a book about a rescue dog, and this tiny owl. Little owl has a secret.. they are actually a key fob that unzips and holds a nylon shopping bag! My dear mother sent this as a surprise gift, and I can clip it to my bike basket, or carry in my pocket when out and about.

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I managed to limp out onto the front porch this morning, and use the self-timer on the camera to get the rest of the photos taken for the "pre-SWAP Dress Challenge", and posted them to the gallery on Stitchers Guild.

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Last night I made up a double batch of Awesome Sauce, in part to clear tomato out of the freezer, and in part to bring to my dear next door neighbors as a holiday gift. Five half pint jars, and five four ounce jars...

It is the season to be preserving things, and putting them in the pantry. I've acquired a few pounds of organic clementines to try the recipe from America's Test Kitchen for DIY mandarin oranges, which looks pretty simple, and would be a nice addition to food stores

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If I could have just one personal level wish granted (as opposed to the larger society level wishes like justice, connection, and lovingkindness) I would wish for not more physical pain than I can cope with, while still maintaining good function in my daily life. I am so very tired of being in this amount of intense pain all day and night, and having one injury lead to another system failure and so on down the line. If I hadn't torn the meniscus in my right leg back in June of 2015, I suspect that the cascade of subsequent ankle problems would not be happening. This current tendon issue feels rather like there are hot coals stuffed inside my ankle, whether or not I am standing, sitting, walking or lying down trying to sleep. Topical medication isn't touching it, and the prescribed ankle brace hurts to wear, a lot, but I'm afraid to not wear it. Ice gives a little relief, but can only be applied for very short periods of time...

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	brown linen blouse	GM enamel redone	extra tartlets**
2	jingle bell	brown blouse cuffs	bag of fabric scraps
3	indigo batik dress	enamel reset	low hanging branches
4	miyazaki stamps	x	yard waste bin
5	Laurel stamp	x	-
6	much Awesome Sauce	x	-
7	x	x	-
8	x	x	-
9	x	x	-
10	x	x	-
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

* Ancestral Rum Balls
12 oz chocolate
1/2 C sour cream
3/4 C confectioner sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 C rum
2 C fine cookie crumbs

Melt the chocolate, I use the microwave, but it can be done over hot water in a double boiler instead. When it is melted, mix in the sour cream. At first it will look curdled, but keep stirring and it will turn into a sort of ganache. I then mix in the alcohol. I use rum because that is what we used when I was a kiddo, but I have also used whiskey, for friends who don't like rum, and have used coffee liqueur to make "mocha balls" to good effect. Lastly I mix together the confectioner sugar, salt, and cookie crumbs, and then add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture. It forms a sort of crumbly dough that gradually comes together like a kind of rough edible playdough. I let it sit in the fridge for a while, then form the dough into small bite size balls, between dime and nickel size. Those balls get rolled in either more confectioner sugar, or in cocoa powder. Serve immediately, or put aside in the fridge until needed.