Blueberry Hand Pies and Blizzards

I have been dying to try making hand pies -- single-serving pies that can be eaten by hand.  Since it is just Eric and I at home, hand pies would give me the opportunity to make a tasty treat, without all the excess baggage that comes with a full-sized pie (several days worth of fat, calories and guilt; or throwing the extra servings away and suffering a different kind of guilt).  With hand pies, I could make a batch and freeze them in two-serving packets.  

Yesterday, I made these blueberry hand pies to take to a pot luck party.

Are they not the cutest?

Unfortunately, the party was canceled due to blizzard conditions. Now, instead of being stuck with an entire pie that we must eat or put to waste, I can easily freeze the extras.  I had one last night, Eric had one today, and the rest went into the freezer for later.  Yum. 

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Blizzard photos from my front window...

And my back window...

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Wren Report - January Update

It has been months since we have seen the wrens.  While I was watching the snow from the latest Alberta Clipper fall outside my kitchen window this morning, guess who showed up under the gazebo.  Yep, our friend the wren.  He flew up into the rafters and hopped around for a while.  It looked as if he was searching for a cozy place to roost during the next storm.  He examined several roosting spots and even checked out the evergreen garland we have hanging in the front of the gazebo. But he didn't stick around for long.  I last saw him fly into the cozy looking arborvitae in the middle of our yard.

Origami Accordion Box

Don't worry, I'm not adding another craft to my list. 

I just happened across this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzK47Ro3qhM) on YouTube while I was looking for something else related to a project I am working on.  The video shows how to make this paper box.

It is three accordion-folded paper cups (or boxes) that are nestled together to form a chain.  If you linked enough of the individual cups together, you could link the two ends together, forming an Origami water wheel. 

 

The opening of the middle cup faces down and is resting on the table in the pictures above.  In the picture below, you can see the opening of the middle cup. 

 

In her video tutorial, Leyla Torres uses two different Origami papers, with the middle cup being folded from a different paper than the outside cups.

My version is made of vellum paper, as I don't have any Origami paper.  Nor do I intend to start buying more expensive paper that I will never use.  I have more than enough scrapbooking paper that I will never use. 

(Wow. Did I just admit to having "more than enough" of anything?)