Remodeling Updates and Jesus Birthday Cake In Jars

 Well friend, it's almost Christmas!  

Life has been a hectic blurr for a several weeks here and remodeling right

into the holidays can get kinda  stressful.

Thankfully the hard parts are finished.

This is our little add on right after I finished painting 

and staining it.  

The color is much darker than the other trim in our house but 

we like it.  I didn't buy the stain... it was left over and found under the bathroom sink???;

saved- I assumed from our other trim only ... it's surely not.  

I tested it on a piece towards the back and was shocked how dark it was.  

I took a photo and sent it to Myguy asking him if he thought I should stop or 

keep going.  We both liked it so ..just went with it. 

  

 I could hardly wait for it to all dry so I could put the mattress, bedding

and books in it.  

Standing back and looking ... it didn't bother either of us 

that it doesn't match everything else in our house.  

In some ways I like that even better. 

The wall on the left has four shelves and the side to the right

is just sheet rock so you can lean against it to read, watch tv, birdwatch, 

or gaze at the garden and potting shed.  

The contractors had trouble when putting the new window in.

They decided it was made crooked. 

Anyways when they were trying to open and close it they actually even 

broke part of it so ... now we're waiting on yet another new window. 

 We babysat our grand-dog Dottie for a few days and this nook

became her favorite spot.   Since it had a white down comforter; I tossed an old 

quilt on top and she spent many hours curled up on it watching  the cats and chickens.

Now it's also become my favorite place in the  mornings to read through my Advent book.   

 This is where we're at on the barn.  The stalls inside are finished as well

as the feed/tack room.  The ladder is done as well as the staircase off the back.  

We still lack more perlins on the front to attach the wood siding and doors. 

But it's getting close now.  

As time goes on I'll show photos of the inside and what it's like in the loft.  

 We were late getting things decorated for Christmas this year and in a spurt yesterday

I got most of the baking done.  Last night I finished the little cakes in jars for Jesus' birthday.  

And today; added fabric and candles to the lids.  

I've been so rad for plaid this year and already had this  flannel buffalo check. 

The little bit of extra thickness to the fabric made it pretty difficult to get the bands

on over the fabric so it took determination.  

I'm anxious to make some special deliveries now tomorrow.  

That's the fun part; ...being an elf.  

Thank you for stopping by the shed this evening and 

journeying along  with me!  

LeaonMary

Little Birthday Cakes For Jesus Baked In Jars

Hey friends,

Thought I'd share a quick post of how things turned out baking my little cakes in jars.  

This year I wrote out my recipe that I've shared here many times before and clipped

it to my board that my friend Sue made for me.

Here is the recipe if you have trouble reading my handwriting:

 Pumpkin Spice Cake in a Jar

16oz can pumpkin- (I think mine said 15 oz- and it worked fine.)
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup walnuts (I didn't add these... because I didn't know if everyone likes nuts)
1 cup raisins (I didn't add these either... it's up to you... I love raisins but some don't.)

Mix really well. - Pour into just one jar first

and bake it all by its cute little self at 350  to see how high it will rise.

I fill just below half and see what happens.

This is my test jar.

And I'd never used this tiny of a jar before.

On the recipe card on my clipboard I jotted down the time to also 

have an idea of how long it would take to do the rest.  

That will help me next year when I make them again.

Here she is. 

Done.  

I didn't even eat it.

Really!  I'm not pullin your leg even.  

So then I lined all the other jars up on my cookie sheet and 

left a little space in between them all and popped them into the 350 degree oven.  

The memory came back of was it last year when I had my jars slide on my pan and one 

went overboard on my oven door.  Oh what a mess.  I made SURE that didn't happen

this year. lol  Hope me writing that helps one of you to not make the same mistake I did.  

You'll be able to join the circus after carrying your jars on that cookie sheet without 

letting any of them slide off.  lol  You can laugh now but I'm warnin ya... 

they have a mind of their own on that cookie sheet!  ha  Okay.. anyways... back to the jars...

ta da... done.  

If your jars raise slightly above the rim... don't panic coz mine did too this year.

I guess I got a little crazy and overfilled a tad BUT... I quickly 

put the lids on and screwed them done and every single one of them sealed.

Praise God.  

Then since my jars were so tiny I still had batter left.  

So.... 

I grabbed three aqua pint jars and 

my little bent funnel and had enough to make three more cakes.  

When I took them out of the oven and screwed the lids on I grabbed my phone

and actually at four minutes got it on video - my jars 

sealing.

Pinnnng!  

I tried to add the video here and for the life of me I can't figure that out.

I wish I could show you.

So happy that all of them sealed. 

While the jars were cooling down

I grabbed my fabric.

Had every intention to use some of the fabric I already had... 

but my pinking shears had to be retired and while at walmart

I spotted "this" red material with Stars!!!

Ohmystarsngarters!!!

I bought everything left on the bolt.  

When using the pint sized jars I've found that a plain saucer works well to make a circle for the lids.

But the tiny jars would be swallowed up since they're so short.  

But guess what came to the rescue?  

The robins egg blue vintage bowlie!  

Worked just right.  

 You just unscrew the bands- not the lid and 

sandwich the fabric between the two.  It's a little tricky 

getting the band to screw back down sometimes but with a little

fiddling around... you'll get it.  

The jars came with these oval labels and I just 

printed off Happy Birthday Jesus on my computer a few times

and cut them out and used a gluestick to attach them.  

 Finding all white candles was impossible this year.

Had to buy multicolored packs and just used the white out of them.  

 Anyways this part is over and its now time to  start making 

peanut clusters, and candy pretzels, and then holiday

M&M cookies and chocolate chip cookies still tonight.  

Tomorrow- scotcheroos, and maybe peanut butter cookies.

I think the baking is one of my most favorite things about our Christmas traditions.  

Time to don my apron....

Leaon mary xoxo