Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

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Jingle Like a Kringle // My Favorite Christmas Albums

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When it comes to playing the best Christmas jams, I consider myself an expert. I’m all in on nostalgic songs like “White Christmas,” but I also know a good new calol when I hear one, like Sia’s latest “Santa’s Coming for Us” (which I love). New or old, I think I have the best Christmas playlist around. Here are some of my favorite albums.

Christmas Party by She & Him

A DIY blogger who wishes she looked good with bangs is a She & Him fan? Shocking. The duo’s second Christmas album is an absolute must for the holidays (I could take or leave their first holiday effort) whether you watch New Girl or not. This LP is packed with fun and less common Christmas tracks. “Must Be Santa” is probably my favorite for it’s polka style, but “The Coldest Night of the Year” makes me want to curl up by the fire. Overall, it’s heartwarming and fun like the holiday itself.

It’s a Holiday Soul Party by Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings

I have a feeling that this album will one day be considered a classic. It’s filled with holiday soul as the name implies and I love the arrangements on some of the traditional Christmas tunes like “Funky Little Drummer Boy.” It’s just such a good, good album, though it saddens me that Jones isn’t around to spread a little more cheer and funky vibes.

A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector by The Crystals, The Ronettes, Darlene Love and more

Phil Spector aside, this is the best Christmas album you can get your hands on. The tracks are quintessential Christmas. I mean, who doesn’t love Darlene Love’s “Baby, Please Come Home?” I’m going to say it: “Baby, Please Come Home” is the best Christmas song. Yes, better than Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

The Beach Boys Christmas Album by The Beach Boys

My husband is likely the biggest Beach Boys fans around, so it stands to reason that this album gets it’s fair share of air time at our house. It’s filled with hits like “Little Saint Nick,” but also a few moody tracks like “Blue Christmas” and “We Three Kings.” I’m partial to the latter – it’s probably the spookiest Christmas song out there.

Honorable Mention: It’s My Favorite Time of Year by Phase II

Back in 1997, Boston Store (and it’s sister store Carson Pirie Scott) sold Christmas CDs at their registers. I know what you’re thinking: those generic store-branded albums are trash. And you’d be right, except for this one. My mom impulse bought this CD 20 years ago and it’s been on a regular holiday rotation since. I don’t know what it is about this CD, but it feels like home.

• • •

If you have any Christmas music recommendations, I’d love to hear them! I love expanding this part of my music collection.

 

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Holiday Burnout Strikes Early // How to Make It Through

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I was about to write a post all about balance during the holiday season and how I was getting so much better at juggling all the cheer along with the stress, and how you too could follow my simple strategies to become head elf. But then I made it a whopping six days into December and had a Christmastime meltdown. So I’m obviously no expert.

Instead of giving you tips on how to plan your month, I’m going to give you one piece of advice that I should have been heeding this whole time: check in with yourself.

Check in with how you’re feeling about the month ahead, the plans you’d like to make and what you’ve got to accomplish. And, most importantly, keep checking in with yourself to make sure that you’re not on the fast track to holiday burnout just so you can complete your Christmas bucket list.

And that’s where I was on December 6, having a serious bout of anxiety over a can of poppy seed pie filling. My moment of near-tears was not about poppy seeds, of course, but just my holiday stress coming to a head. I was behind on my stitching goals, I had a kitchen to clean and I had to make and photograph potica for work – a recipe that I’ve made before, but was incredibly nervous about sharing. It was just a lot.

So when I came home, I asked myself what I needed to bring myself back. It wasn’t stopping at another grocery store for poppy seeds. It wasn’t sitting down and stitching. Instead, I gave myself permission to just have a lazy night. I put on some pajamas, wrapped a few presents and watched some Food Network. And that’s what I needed – just a short break so I could regroup and come back refreshed the next morning.

So, take it from me, the girl crying in a Piggly Wiggly, that taking some time to figure out what you need personally (not just what you need to accomplish), is absolutely necessary for making it through the holidays. Whether it’s more plans with friends or more cozy days in, be sure to to take the kind of time you need to feel your merriest and brightest.

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Keeping Your Cats Safe (and Yourself Sane) at Christmas

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If I love two things in this world, it’s my cats and Christmas (OK, OK, and my husband and family). But I recognize that the two aren’t always compatible. I mean, every cat guardian has suffered at the hands of a kitty who got caught in the tree. So in efforts to make the holiday season a little easier on your cat (and you), I’ve got a few tips from personal experience on how to keep your kits (and, to a lesser extent, your dogs, rabbits and parakeets) safe.

  1. Set up a basecamp. I can’t stress this one enough. The holidays are crazy stressful even for the most social of cats. I find it best to set up a place as far away from company as possible for the cats to retreat to. That means I fluff up the kitties’ favorite blankets on our bed and keep the bedroom door cracked open for them to have some alone time if they need it. For Zara, our tabby that is not really a big fan of strangers, I try and encourage her to hang out in our room before the party even starts.
  2. Prep your guests. On that same note, let your guests know if you’ve got a finicky feline. I’ve got a script that I use all the time: Zara is a cranky cat. Please, just ignore her. This will help preserve your cat the stress of having visitors go searching for them all the damn time.
  3. No plants. Pretty much all the Christmas-y plants are toxic to cats, dogs, rabbits, birds – pretty much any critter. Poinsettias, mistletoe and holly are all bad news for pets and their intestinal track. As for pine trees, they’re not that great for your pets either. The needles are super hard to digest, and whatever plant compounds are in them can lead to some serious stomach upset. Also, tree water: It likely has some pesticides from the tree (and sap) in it. Try to keep that covered. While I’ve never run into tree-eating issues with my cats, it’s probably best to monitor how your pet interacts with the tree (and cross your fingers that they aren’t too curious).
  4. Just say no to ribbon. Ribbon, string, twine, tinsel – you name it and our cats love to chew on it. While they’ve never ingested any of these things, you can never be too safe (it can get pretty gnarly if your cat swallows ribbon). I’ve cut down on my ribbon usage and I’m sure to keep it any festooned gifts and garlands put away or far out of their reach.
  5. No people food. We don’t feed our cats much people food. Around the holidays, though, it can be tempting to want to share a little something special with your pet. I’d draw the line at a small, skin-free piece of turkey or ham. Any greasy foods can cause stomach upset (and its friends vomiting and diarrhea), and other foods – raisins, currants, chocolate, onions – are straight-up poisonous.
  6. Have updated tags. There’s a lot of hustle and bustle around the holidays with people coming and going. Visitors that aren’t used to pets in the house might not be as mindful of the door as you, so your cat (or dog) could slip out by accident. In case, I’d make sure their tags have your current contact information on them (and make sure those kitty collars are break-away!).
  7. Avoid the vet. Not in general of course, just right before Christmas and New Year’s. A few years ago, I took my cat to the vet a few days before Christmas for her checkup and vaccinations. That year she had a really terrible reaction to the shots, lost a lot of weight and became really lethargic. I was on the phone with the vet on Christmas Eve begging to bring her in. Luckily, I was able to get her an appointment and pumped with some fluids (and Christmas was saved!). To avoid anything like this happening, I say just push that appointment up to the first part of December or postpone until January. You never know.

OK, I’m off my cat lady soap box! Now go enjoy the holidays with your pets. And if you need a DIY gift idea for your kitties, I’ve got one!

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Small Goals // December 2017

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I’m back with some new goals for this month (lots of holiday-related goals to come!), but first let’s see how I did in November.

  1. Finish half my Christmas shopping. Check! I checked a few people off my list, and I feel really good to have that weight off my shoulders as I go into December.
  2. Have a cozy Black Friday in. Check? Well, I didn’t leave the house if that makes it cozy. I did spend a lot of the day deep cleaning before we put up Christmas decorations, though.
  3. Unplug a bit. Done. November 1, I said goodbye to Facebook on my phone and set up some do not disturb times. I’m not sure if it was a drastic change, but that’s OK! Experimenting with this was a good idea.
  4. (Lightly) rebrand Kaminski Handicraft. I’m going to check this one off my list. I updated the colors used in my Etsy header and that’s about all I’ve got time for at the moment. I’ll be calling in a favor from a designer friend come the new year.
  5. Make 5+ new designs for Kaminski Handicraft. Done! I haven’t really kept up with exact numbers, but I’ve made some serious progress.

5/5. November went by fast, so I’m thrilled that I kept on track with these goals! For this coming month I’ll be focusing a lot on crafting and the holidays – ’tis the season!

  1. Make it through my first craft fair. I’ll be at the Mini Crafty Fair Saturday, December 16 in Madison. It’s my first one ever! Let’s see if I can get enough inventory piled up, create a half decent display and not feel entirely overwhelmed!
  2. Make time for Christmas crafts I love. Kaminski Handicraft is closing up for the holidays about mid-month. This is to give myself a little time to relax and enjoy sillier seasonal crafts, like these plastic canvas houses.
  3. Get baking. I love making Christmas cookies. It’s seriously one of my greatest joys to take a day off from work and bake all day around the holidays. I might have to adjust my normal baking lineup, though, so we don’t end up eating cookies until February. That or loosen up my (almost) no cookies before Christmas policy.
  4. Watch 3+ Christmas movies. I just watched The Holiday for the first time last week and now I’m craving all the Christmas movies. I’ve made a short list of new-to-me flicks to check out, like Christmas in Connecticut and Home Alone (I KNOW!) and some time-tested classics like White Christmas.
  5. Get rid of a bag of clothes/books/miscellany every week. I’ve been trying to cut down on stuff lately just to make my home feel a little less congested and cluttered (not that it’s bad, but you know).

Got any small goals for December? I’d love to hear about them!

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It’s Getting Real: Kaminski Handicraft @ the Mini Crafty Fair

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Remember how I said I had something up my sleeve in my small goals post from November? Well, it’s true! On December 16, I’ll be participating in the Mini Crafty Fair in Madison!

I’m so so thrilled to be a part of this holiday market. My mom and I have visited this pre-Christmas fair for a few years now and we always discover the best artists and makers (and we come home with lots of goodies).

But I’m also thrilled because this is my first time taking Kaminski Handicraft out into the wild! As my first fair, I’m banking on it being a major learning experience, but you gotta start somewhere! I’ve recruited my mom to be my helper for the day, my husband to help me build a display or two and pretty much all of my friends to come check me out.

With only a few weeks until the fair, I’m kicking my stitching into overdrive. New fabrics, new designs, new new new. I’ll admit that my stress levels are a little high, but I’ve got a few dedicated stitching days planned to help me get some hoops completed. I’m thinking 50 is the magic number, but we’ll see!

I’ll probably write about this more here and on Instagram before the event, but here are the details anyways: The Mini Crafty Fair, Saturday, December 16, 10AM-4PM at the Goodman Community Center in Madison, WI. Or to make it really easy, check out the event on Facebook.

I hope to see you local folks there!

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New Tools of the Trade

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When it comes to embroidery, I have to say I find it pretty relaxing. I love brainstorming ideas, shopping for fabrics and plopping down on the couch to stitch.

The exception to this ultra-mellow process is the whole tracing the designs onto fabric bit. Well, the tracing is easy enough, it’s just my equipment that would get me me bogged down. For the past few years I’d been using this 1970s-era light table that I snagged out of the Boston Store garbage. I mean who was I, someone that would trace designs by taping fabric to the window on bright days, to turn down a free light table? It was the solution to my main stitching problem!

And then it became the problem itself. This old table was huge – easily 18×24″ – and heavy. Lugging the thing up from the basement became such a hassle that I’d leave it on the floor of our den for weeks at a time, which wasn’t a great look. But I tried not to get down on it too much, because it’s not like new tables were that different.

Until I found out they were.

After making a dozen trips down to my basement to trace in a day (because I didn’t fee like moving the monster from its home), I was all that’s it – I’m looking for a new one (but only if it’s cheap)! I searched for light tables on Amazon, and I found this.

Holy crap, folks. It was like I flashed 50 years into the future (well, I had considering how old my light table was). Light tables are the size of iPads now. And they only cost about $25. I’ve never clicked “buy now” so fast.

Working with this table – well, it’s obviously not a table anymore – is a real dream. I love the adjustable brightness, the slim profile, how easy it is to store (even though this one is laying out in the den more often than not, too). This one small change is making my stitching process way easier. A good investment at last!

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Cranberry Orange Pecan Cookies

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Folks, I’ll let you in on a little something: I’m not a huge Thanksgiving fan. While most people are salivating over the biggest food event of the year, I shrug and go meh.

The turkey is fine, the stuffing is OK and I like apple pie well enough, but in conjunction with mashed potatoes, yams, vegetable casseroles and pumpkin everything? Not into it. It’s all just too much rich, brown food, you know? And to deviate from those classics would be almost blasphemy.

So I try to make Thanksgiving enjoyable for myself in other ways. For the past few years, I’ve mixed up pie crusts in advance for all the pies my family makes (which is a lot: apple, lemon meringue, pecan and two pumpkin–one with coconut, one without). This year, I decided to up my Thanksgiving baking game with more pie crusts and a new cookie recipe.

Admittedly, I’m not a pecan person (or really a cranberry person), but these cookies really seem to fit the Thanksgiving bill (and they’d work well into the Christmas season, too). Bonus: they’re so easy to make and great for a last-minute treat.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
  • ½ cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Zest of one orange

Making the cookies is super simple. Just cream together your butter, sugar and egg yolk, then mix in your vanilla, salt and flour until combined. Once that’s all mixed, stir in your nuts, cranberries and zest.

Then divide your dough into two. Roll each bit of dough into a log, roughly six inches long. Wrap this up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least three hours (though you can keep it in the fridge for a day or two if you’re the plan ahead type).

Once chilled, slice your logs into ¼” slices and pop on a lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350ºF for 12 to 15 minutes.

If you don’t have pecans on hand, I think pistachios would work well, too (but feel free to sub in macadamia nuts, walnuts or whatever you prefer). If you’re into white chocolate (I’m not) a drizzle over the top could be super pretty. It’s up to you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Small Goals // November 2017

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I’m back with another month of goals! Let’s see how I did on my October ones first.

  1. Create a great couple’s costume. Check. I’d say our Bonnie and Clyde turned out pretty good.
  2. Check out Old World Wisconsin’s Legends & Lore. Nope. In my defense, it was exceptionally cold last weekend. Plus Stranger Things just came out. (I’m the worst.)
  3. Make three (or more) apple recipes. Not even one! The month got away from me kitchen-wise. Good thing apples keep a long time.
  4. Anything tarot. Stop trying to make tarot happen, Lisa. It’s not gonna happen.
  5. Scary stuff. Done! I’ve been listening to Lore and Welcome to Night Vale, and watching Unsolved Mysteries, Salem and Murder Maps all month long.

2/5. Not my best month, but that’s OK. Not every Halloween can be the spookiest.

  1. Finish half my Christmas shopping. I cannot deal with the stress of last-minute shopping. I can hardly deal with the stress of on-pace shopping. My goal this year is to have half my gifts purchased before December rolls around so I can maximize my baking and crafting time closer to Christmas.
  2. Have a cozy Black Friday in. Last year, for the first time in my adult life, I had the day after Thanksgiving off of work. To really celebrate the day, I spent a good portion of it in my jammies and then I made Michael take me to see Fantastic Beasts. I feel part two coming on this year.
  3. Unplug a bit. I do not need to look at Facebook on my phone multiple times a day. I do not need to keep up with every Snapchat. I do not need to answer every text immediately. To separate myself from technology a bit (not entirely, though – I love this blog, I love my job and I love Etsy) I’m going to take a step back, remove Facebook from my phone and get comfortable with not having it nearby all the time.
  4. (Lightly) rebrand Kaminski Handicraft. I’ve got something up my sleeve for next month, so I think a very light rebrand for my Etsy page and business cards is in order.
  5. Make 5+ new designs for Kaminski Handicraft. Ambitious! If you have any good ideas for hoops you want to see, I’m all ears!

That’s it for me this month, and seriously, folks, if you have any ideas, send them my way!

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Scaredy Cat Skirt

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I’ve gotten to the point in my life where I realize that costumes at work are not cool. Well, they’re not cool unless you have some sort of company costume contest and you win $15 (me!).

But as deeply uncool as it is to head to work dressed up as Special Agent Dana Scully only to find that no one else has so much as cat ears on (also me), it’s also deeply disappointing to me as a Halloween fanatic to be out and about on Halloween without even giving a nod to the holiday.

So to satisfy my need to be festive while also not making a total fool of myself, I created this Halloween cat skirt! I realize that wearing this on Halloween might also be a little lame, but it’s not nearly as depressing as seeing a grown woman march to work dressed as an owl (me again).

While this skirt was definitely a silly endeavor, I take comfort in knowing it was also a very simple one. From start to finish, this skirt took about a half hour and required almost no measuring. All I did was take a yard and a half length of fabric and cut it in half (perpendicular to the selvedge). Then I sewed the edges together until I had one big loop. Then I gathered the top, stitched it to the elastic waistband and hemmed the edge. That’s it!

And in the end I think it’s super cute (and also a little crazy looking). It’s also best accessorized with a nice Ouija board pin, my favorite booties of all time and a cranky cat.

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The Story of Bonnie and Clyde

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Prior to last year, couples’ costumes weren’t really Michael’s and my thing. Halloween was our thing, costumes in general were our thing, but never coordinating looks. But now we’re going hard into the couple thing, dressing up as some of the most famous duos ever. Last year we were Scully and Mulder, this year we donned our best Bonnie and Clyde getups.

This idea, while not exactly original, came via my gangster history-loving dad. Immediately he recommended the 1967 movie for research. Michael and I watched it dutifully. And we followed it up watching the made-for-TV version that came out in 2013. I think our costumes borrow a little more heavily from the latter, not that it really matters since neither rendition was historically accurate (OK, OK, I like gangster history, too).

At any rate, I’m pretty happy with how things turned out! I say the hats really do the heavy lifting for us with these outfits, and that’s fine by me – I love a good beret.