The Loot!

So when I came home from Ireland on Sunday night, I had to go grocery shopping for the kids lunch fixings, as the next day was a school day.  By then, I was truly zonked.  In the morning, I had HAD to put away the Christmas decorations, as it was January 7th, and past the epiphany. I love to put Christmas up on December 1st to enjoy the decorations as long as possible. However by the time its done, I just want my house uncluttered looking again (hah, as if!).  Yesterday I went into the city to visit my parents, and by the time I came home it was time to make dinner...I know I'm droning on and on, but I'm trying to explain why I HADN'T UNPACKED YET!!!!  This morning I tackled the two suitcases.  Isn't your favourite part of unpacking pulling out any shopping you did? Unfortunately I couldn't find any vintage treasures!  We did find one flea market in Dublin on our last day, but it was so small (being right after new years I guess...) that there were only about 7 vendors, mostly selling '80s clothes (I have that in my closet!).  There was one lady with old jewellery, who had a whole stack of vintage postcards for a euro each.  I could kick myself for not negotiating a price for the lot!  But by that time I was so tired and disappointed that my brain froze! I can't believe I didn't even buy one!  

However, what I did buy was some of my favourite Cath Kidston! Given the space and weight restrictions on our luggage, I had to be restrained! Also, our flight was from Dublin to Philadelphia, and a SMALL commuter to Toronto, with limited overhead space. So, I had to be cautious with carry on luggage as well!

I wanted this tin set last time we were in Ireland, but since the kids were with us, we couldn't find any room in the luggage for it!

But look! You open it up and theres not one, two...

But three lovely Royal Rose tins! The colours are so soft too!  Three tins which fit into one, definitely worth the space in my luggage! Also, I'm going to empty all the biscuits (cookies) we have in our pantry into these tins, so I will be organizing, and space saving at home too!  AH-MAY-ZZZZING!

I've been eyeing this broach on there website, and couldn't resist it!  Took no room at all!

A nice little assortment of patches! I'll put them on something!

This is a school satchel for Minnie Me (with the nicer nose, and nicer straighter hair).  The patterns on my table cloth with the satchels are hurting my eyes!

Christmas Apron

I think I can officially open my own Cath Kidston shop now...its a disease!

My oldest daughter asked for this small suitcase.  Look at the interior! It definitely had to be carry on, so why let that space go wasted? I filled it with this...

TAYTOS!!  If you've been to Ireland, you know and probably LOVE these! Cheddar and Onion is the standard flavour (none of that boring 'PLAIN' for the Irish spud!).  My kids LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE these!

This is Mr. Tayto!

Besides Cath Kidston, the only thing I bought was TONNES of candy! Whenever I travel, I always look for local/unique candy!  I miss the days of small local candy manufacturers in North America, so I troll candy aisles whenever I'm abroad!

I won't show you ALL the candy I bought, just the different types of candy! Lets just say, one suitcase was only candy!

Four boxes of these, some which got smushed! 

These are CRAZY good!

These had the funniest tv commercials!

These were called wigwag in Canada when I was a little girl!

And that that that ah thats all Folks!

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Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Fridays

I LOVE (EYE) CANDY!!!

I love candy!  All sorts of candy (including allsorts!).  I thought I would share some of my recent eye candy with you. 

Firstly. . . I LOVE COWBOY BOOTS!!!!  I live in a suburb of Toronto, and Toronto definitely has an urban flair for fashion.  It also has a strong traditional fashion aesthetic as well.  The prairie aesthetic hasn't hit the Toronto area.  This doesn't bother me my friends, for I am my own person.  Always have been, and feel that I probably always will be, and I LOVE COWBOY BOOTS!!!


Last year I bought these (my first Old Gringos):

I LOVE them (made a funny), and thus cannot possibly wear them!  I know this sounds nuts, but I haven't found the perfect 'worthy' occasion to wear them!  I don't want them wrecked, worn, dirty, dusty, scraped, scratched, stretched, etc. . .  I just look at them, and smile. . . true eye candy!


I thought I should buy a pair of these Old Gringo boots that I would wear.  Possibly ones I didn't love as much!  Now, I know I sound crazy, but surely you must know what I mean?  I bought two more pair over the last six months (some people buy shoes or lipstick, I buy cowboy boots!).  Its difficult to find Old Gringo in Canada, as they are pricey and by the time they get imported into Canada, become even more prohibitively expensive.  So, I bought one pair on sale over the black friday weekend, and bought the other pair just during the Christmas sales.  I purchased them online, and had them sipped to my Aunts house in New Jersey.  I just picked them up last week!!!  I'm so excited about them, but my friends think I'm crazy!  Can you believe it?  My 'city' friends just aren't impressed!  


Here is my second pair of Old Gringos:

How can anyone not LOVE the hearts, roses, wings embroidered front and back onto these beautiful black leather cowboy boots!?!?  Wild thing, you make my heart sing!!


Old Gringo pair 3:

Okay, while they don't have birds, hearts, 'love', peace signs, embroidered on them, aren't they the perfect pair of cowboy boots?  Couldn't you wear these with just about anything?  While these boots are pricey, I will save and scrimp and buy them on sale!  
Now for the Candy Eye Candy.  You see, all candy is eye candy!  Its beauty and sweet sugary goodness speaks to your palate through its sheer colourful goodness!


I bought three of these jars at Homesense for $15 each and filled them with (peanut free and safe) candy!  I used girly pink/pastel candies which while I may not normally eat these candies (except for the jelly beans. . . can't resist those!) they made great jar fillers!  I put them on my dessert buffet on Mothers Day and everyone grabbed some!  My family doesn't even like candy, but they ate them anyway!  Enjoy the eye candy. . .

and. . .

and. . .

Cherry coconut covered marshmallows!!!
Now they sit permanently on my kitchen island. Drives the neighbourhood kids crazy!  They smear their noses on our kitchen door staring at the candy while waiting for my kids to come outside to play.  I usually bag up some as treats for the usual suspects!

Finally, I'll show you the last piece of eye candy.  I know what you are going to think when you see it.  This item, along with the cowboy boot collection, you're going to think I'm extremely tacky!  In my defence, I'm not!  I just like kitsh! 'He' comes out every holiday! Sometimes wearing Santa hats, bunny ears, tiaras!  It depends on the holiday.   Ready for it?


Here he is. . . 'King' of eye candy!!!!

May your life be filled with sweet eye candy, my friends!  Have a great day!


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Cinnamon Popcorn revisited!

Hi All, a few of my friends have asked me for this recipe recently, cause its something most of our (ahem…) kids really enjoy, and its pretty easy.  So as I posted this two years ago, I thought I would repost cause I'm sure many of you  your kids would love it!  Bon Appetite!

Ok, so last night the 3 kids (all in the same class by the way) spring on me that their having a Valentines party today at school and they signed me up for popcorn.  I've made Mother Goose Popcorn for them in the past but I couldnt find my tried and true recipe (cause I'm sooooooooo organized).  So I searched for it on the internet, and numerous versions popped up.  The first one I tried was absolute rubbish and turned my 8 cups of popped corn into popcorn soup.  NOT NICE.  The next one was this one http://www.recipezaar.com/Mother-Goose-Popcorn-48667 and it seemed easy enough, with simple ingredients.  So I pulled out all my gear/ingredients and lo and behold I had no vanilla left!!  Well, I like vanilla or some kind of flavour just so its not sugar popcorn.  If I'm baking and I dont have vanilla, I usually replace it with cinnamon, so what was another 8 cups of wasted popcorn if it didnt work?  I always experiment, not necessarily successfully, but that doesnt stop me…

Here is a peak at all you need, including that antique air popper (you can get them for next to nothing at Walmart).

Very basic requirements here.  My tweeked version of this recipe is:

• 1/2 cup milk**I'm Canadian and the what gives it away is our bagged milk!  All my American friends always think this is some kind of urban legend, but its not!  Its real!
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 8 cups air popped popcorn
• red food colouring

Directions: 

1. Mix milk and sugar in  small saucepan, and heat on medium till it boils.  Let it boil for a few minutes just to give the syrup some body, but dont let it burn.  This must be watched.
2. Add the cinnamon, and mix well so it disolves into syrup.  You dont want clumps.
3. Now add as much food colouring as you like.   I made it a bit darker, like cinnamon hearts. Mix in well.
4. Pour hot syrup over popcorn (in a large bowl) and mix as well as you can.  Try to coat the popcorn evenly.  The syrup will gather at the bottom of the bowl, so scrape it up and keep mixing, almost like 'folding' eggs.
5. Pour sticky popcorn in two shallow cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.  Place in warm oven.  I usually heat my oven to 200 - 250* F for twenty minutes, then turn it off, and place the popcorn into warm/off oven.  I leave the popcorn in the warm oven overnight. 
6. In the morning (or whenever you're ready) break up the popcorn and place in airtight container, or just eat it!

Just a warning- Remove any unpopped Kernels prior to coating with syrup or they stick to the popcorn and you dont want anyone to break any teeth.  Enjoy!!

Sorry I didn't take any photos of it once it had dried.  I was too busy/late trying to get it ready for school!  But it looked soooo good!

Linking to:

Funky Junk Interiors Sat Nite Special link party!!

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.ca/2012/04/sat-nite-special-130-link-party.html

The Cowgirl Roundup link party (use link below)

http://farmhouseporch.blogspot.ca/2012/04/welcome-to-cowgirl-up-link-party-12-and.html

Having HUGE problem getting the button up, so used the link instead!