Someone long ago emailed me and asked if I knew how to make those hostess swizzle sticks, the colorful peppermint ones half dipped in chocolate. I had no idea at the time, but the December Martha Stewart Living Magazine has the recipe and instructions in the Woodland Desserts section, just in case the person who asked is still wondering, and still reads this site!

What I want today is a toasted bagel cooler. I like toasted bagels with cream cheese, but not when they are still warm and make the cream cheese all oogy. So, something that could cool a bagel down in, oh, say 2 seconds would be great. I had plans to make pie last night, I gathered all my ingredients, I blocked out some time between work and watching Netflix, I was all set when I realized I completely forgot to buy pie crust. I did not have the energy to make pie crust so I just ate blue corn chips instead, they weren't quite the same. Do I have christmas cards addressed, presents procured, decorations up, or even the Xmas shrub out of storage yet? No, I do not. According to the time bubble surrounding this house it is still mid-October.

recipes (listed here so I can find them later)

• marshmallows
• english toffee covered in chocolate
• chex mix it is a tradition in my family to make a huge tin of this and eat yourself silly during the holidays
• osgood pie family recipe (nov. 2nd)
• chai recipes: at get crafty at eric mulherin (may 6th)

It's a holdiay tradition - the Leslie Harpold Advent Calendar!

I love this - perfumed ice cubes for the body. So brief, and so expensive.

Oh hey look, the instructions for making wine glass charms here at Not Martha were mentioned in this article at SFGate! They also talk about a shop called The Ribbonerie in Potrero Hill, I wish I knew about the shop when I was living in San Francisco, I could have used it. They took a trip to the Urban Knitting Studio, which is a very cool place with a super nice owner, if you live in the area it's worth a visit (be sure to check out the hooks on the wall in the front).

The Winter Knitty is up!!

A while back I bought some fancy grapefruit liquid hand soap from Williams-Sonoma and a cheap Dial Foaming Pump to use it in (instructions). One container of the fancy soap has lasted us until this week, that's eight and a half months of nice smelling foamy soap goodness.