Lavender Biscotti

I think that I meant to make this on that lavender kick that I was on a while. But I needed to fill the family Christmas baskets, like tonight. I had made my regular biscotti, which is from The Veganomincon and left off the almond extract, added that fantastic Lavender Syrup and threw in some dried lavender. This is really classy dressed up biscotti.
Enjoy and happy New Year

Christmas

Things have been interesting around here. I have had to focus on  other things to make sure that my family is getting the things they need. And sometimes when we do that, other forces push back. 

I do have things in the works (drying as I type), and a schedule that I hope to be able to keep to in the new year. I am all for trying new methods of increasing productivity. 

The above photo is of a Christmas ornament that my mother made at least 30 years ago. I have had it on my  tree for as long as I have been away from home.

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season. 

Gingerbread

I love gingerbread, ginger snaps, ginger tea, ginger tofu... I think you get the idea. Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar has an amazing recipe for gingerbread biscotti. It has wonderful bits of ginger in the cookie that add a great texture and zing.

And the light in the house was wonderfully cooperative today, so I was finally able to get great photos of some of my favorite ornaments. That is something I have been trying to do for several years. Some of these ornametnst are from my childhood, and I would bery much like to scrap them.

I hope you all had joyous weekend.

Shabby Chic

That is what this page reminds me of... shabby chic. It is a picture of me holding my niece who is just a week or so old. And Bit is beside me. It is hard to tell it is Bit, as that curly hair that so many people recognize her by has not come in yet. 

The little heart shaped extra is from a bracelet that I harvested the pieces from. I am trying to use more of my stash than I am purchasing new.

Thankful

I certainly am. More than anyone can imagine. Most days my life is better than it has ever been. I am gifted more opportunities to explore my world and to find out what I want from it, and what it wants from me. I am able to help others. I teach and I learn.

And I hope you all had a truly wonderful weekend. 

Follow up Thinking

After all of the wonderful comments that I received on my thinking post, I found myself thinking even more.

One of the wisest people I know as frequently told me that motive is more important than we realize. She comes to this from a recovery point of view. Addicts must ask themselves what it the motive for participating in their addictive behavior in that moment. 

What I take from that comes from a very Buddhist point of view. In Buddhism we know that the way to escape suffering is to follow the Noble 8-fold Path. The second step is Right Intention. I see this as motive. What is my Intention or my Motive in the actions I am about to engage in.

How this relates to inner and personal peace is the peace that comes from being able to TRULY check your motives. It is easy to superficially say "I want that to say these mean words to K because it will help her see her errors. I am doing it for her". But if your actions are meant to help in a true sense, there is always a way to make them not hurt. ALWAYS.


Part of understanding our own motives is understanding that we cannot be responsible for someone else's motives. Only the person acting is responsible for their actions. And only the person reacting is responsible for the reaction. 

Because that inner peace comes from personal responsibility as well as deep introspection.

A pretty little card.

I love how this little thing turned out. It was for an office mate of my husbands. It uses my favorite, favorite fabric.
She even said she would frame it!