As far as I’m concerned, Yankee Candles have no competition. No other affordable candles are so fragrant, with such great smells. I hate to toss large candles that have burned down to the bottom, but still have enough wax for a few more hours of burn time. So I needed to do something about my growing collection of mostly-empty candle jars. Naturally, I took to Pinterest, and found a layered candle tutorial with basic instructions. If you also want to try this, here’s what I did!

You will need:
Old candles with compatible fragrances (use your own judgment)
Candle wicking, and metal wick clamps if needed (available at Hobby Lobby and other craft stores)
A pencil or something to hold up the wick
A new container for the new candle

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. The water should be around the level of the wax, but obviously, not high enough to overflow the candle jar. When the water is boiling, place a jar into the pot. Start with the one that has the most wax in it (I didn’t think about this ahead of time). Leave it in the boiling water until the wax has fully melted inside the jar. Your time will vary, but it probably won’t take more than five minutes. It’s safe to do this – as long as your jar started at room temperature, it will not explode in the pot. I looked it up!

Meanwhile, prepare your new candle jar. It should be smaller than the existing one. I used a small canning jar that I already had. Cut off a length of candle wick and fasten one end to the metal wick clamp. Tie the other end of the wick to the pencil (or whatever you’re using). Place the pencil across the mouth of the jar so the wick is roughly in the middle, and the wick bottom is hitting or near the bottom of the jar. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Once your wax has melted, carefully remove the jar from the pot (use oven mitts!) and pour the melted wax into the new container. Try to keep the wick in the middle. The wax will cool while your next candle remnant is melting. The tutorial said it would be set by the time the next one had melted, but I wish I’d waited a little longer, because the final product was a little sunken in the middle. Place your next old candle in the pot, and repeat the process until your new candle container is full! Then trim the wick to your desired length. If you have pets, a pet nail clipper is perfect for this job.

I highly recommend this reuse project. It’s SO easy to do, and you can enjoy your good candles for a little longer!

2 Comments + Posted in: crafts

At this time last week, I was waiting for the results of another test on my mysteriously sick cat. After months of digestive problems, Peach weighed six pounds. The vet had already ruled out the main cat diseases – diabetes, hyperthyroid, feline leukemia. This test was for pancreatitis. Aside from the fact that she couldn’t keep food down, she was perplexingly healthy. With no diagnosis, she kept getting worse. It was my understanding that after this, there would be nothing else to do for her besides exploratory surgery. Cost aside, I didn’t think she was strong enough to survive a surgery. She was clearly declining. I didn’t feel optimistic about the test results, since none of the other tests had told me anything. So I started to accept that I was going to lose her, and probably soon. The only question was whether I would have to make the decision myself. I spent several nights last week crying next to her cat bed, praying for God to take her peacefully so she wouldn’t have to be scared at the vet in her last moments.

I’d been praying for Peach every day for at least a year. I prayed and prayed and prayed for God to heal her or provide answers, but she kept getting sicker. Over time, it really started to mess with me spiritually. Sometimes I’d hear her getting sick in another room, and I’d think in despair, God, why won’t you have mercy on one of your little creatures? Sometimes it devolved all the way to, Okay God, so it doesn’t matter if I suffer, but how can you allow her suffering? Where’s the purpose in that? I think this experience has given me a tiny window into how parents of severely ill children feel. It’s awful to witness the distress of a creature who relies on you for care, and be unable to do anything else to help. I went through that for months and months. The only thing that comforted me last week was the certainty that one way or another, it was almost over. Either she’d get better, or she wouldn’t make it. I didn’t want to lose her, but I knew I was at a breaking point. I pretty much gave up and waited for bad news. God had said no, and I would just have to accept it and cope with it somehow.

 

Then, last Wednesday evening, the vet left me a voicemail. In the space of that voicemail, I did a total emotional 180 from grief to euphoria. The test results were in, and Peach didn’t have pancreatitis. Not even close. BUT! He suspected she might have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS – just like humans get) and was willing to try treating her for that if I was okay with it. Immediately I was flooded with hope and relief. I didn’t care that it wasn’t a definitive diagnosis and the medicine might not even work. I was just thrilled that she had one more chance at life.

Sure enough, Peach has been on meds for almost a week now and hasn’t gotten sick ONCE! She obviously feels better, is eating heartily, and has more energy. Feline IBS isn’t curable, but it’s manageable with prednisone. She’s on a pretty high dose right now, but once things are under control, we’ll scale back to the lowest dose that will keep her healthy. Added bonus: prednisone is cheap, I can even pick it up at a regular pharmacy, and she takes the pills happily in a pill pocket treat. I’m very hopeful that I’ll get to see her healthy and plump again. :) Also, cats with IBS should be on a high-protein, low-grain diet. I switched both cats to grain-free food back in September in case Peach’s problem was a food allergy. That switch might have saved her life.

Regardless of how things unfold from here, I have a renewed assurance of God’s providence and care. I’m sure this whole story seems melodramatic and laughable to some because, you know, “it’s just a cat.” But 1) that cat is part of my family, and 2) this experience has been about much more than a pet. A lot of the emotional byproducts haven’t been new to me. I already know what it’s like to pray long-term for healing and restoration, to give it everything I have, only to watch what I love fall apart and die. It’s been rough to go through that process again in any capacity. I’m also slowly losing hope that some of those losses will be redeemed. But God pulled off an eleventh-hour miracle with my cat when I seriously had no hope left. I had already given her up for dead, and He gave her back to me. He was there the whole time. He heard me. He had compassion on both of us. It’s not a guarantee. But it’s definitely something.

5 Comments + Posted in: cats, hope, thankful

I pinned a recipe for a football-themed grasshopper cake a long time ago, and Super Bowl Sunday was the perfect occasion! The cake itself was easy to make, but something went very wrong with the frosting, which was supposed to start with a meringue. I almost shorted out my hand mixer trying to achieve the meringue – twice. Though I followed directions exactly both times, nothing happened. In fact, none of my other meringue attempts have really solidified either. Maybe I need a new mixer? So, with my ears ringing and my arms aching, I whipped up some standard buttercream frosting in about five minutes. (Whatever, Martha.) In the end, the cake was a big hit at Caroline‘s Super Bowl party, so it was worth the trouble!

Grasshopper Cake
From Martha Stewart (cake) and adapted from Southern Food (frosting).

Ingredients:

For the Cake
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for the pan
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup warm water
½ cup milk
¼ cup sour cream
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
¾ tsp pure vanilla extract

For the Frosting
1/3 cup butter, softened
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pound (3 ½ cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted if it’s organic or lumpy
3 to 4 Tbsp milk or light cream
½ tsp peppermint extract, or 2 Tbsp creme de menthe (can adjust to taste)
Green food coloring, if using peppermint extract

For the Footballs
12 large Andes mints
White sprinkles

Instructions:

Make the Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-12-inch cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment or wax paper. Butter the parchment, and dust with cocoa powder.
 
2. Whisk together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, warm water, milk, sour cream, butter, and vanilla, blending until smooth (hand mixer recommended!).

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate or the cooling rack. You may want to pop it into the fridge for a while before frosting. (Cake will keep, unfrosted and covered, overnight.)

Make the Footballs
With a small, sharp knife, trim Andes mints into the general shape of footballs. Set aside the trimmings. Press three white sprinkles into each mint to form the “laces.” Caution: don’t press too hard, or the sprinkles will disintegrate. Alternatively, you can “glue” them on with frosting, but I wasn’t in the mood for such delicate work.

Make the Frosting
1. Cream butter, salt, vanilla, and peppermint extract or creme de menthe (and food coloring, if using) with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar gradually, beating after each addition. (You might want to tarp off your kitchen before doing this!!)

2. Add the milk or light cream, beating until smooth. Beat in more milk until your desired spreading consistency is reached. Makes about 2 1/3 cups of frosting, enough to frost tops and sides of of an 8-inch 2-layer cake, a 10-inch bundt cake, or a dozen cupcakes. It was just enough for the top of this 8X12 rectangular cake.

If you haven’t eaten all the Andes mint trimmings, you can sprinkle them over the top of the cake before (or after) frosting. It’s a nice surprise in every bite!

1 Comment + Posted in: baking

Sorry to post two book-review posts in a row, but it’s time for the monthly reading roundup. Because IT’S FEBRUARY!!! The blahness of January is OVER!

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Lost meets Miss Congeniality: When a plane of teenage beauty pageant contestants crashes on a desert island, the small group of survivors still see each other as competitors. But as they shed their pageant smiles and learn to love and accept themselves, they become a united force to be reckoned with. That’s fortunate, because it turns out the desert island isn’t so deserted after all – and the locals aren’t friendly. This novel wasn’t what I expected. It’s creative and funny, and I LOVED the concept. But it’s also a liberal treatise on almost every current political and social issue involving women, and gender in general. Some of her points were insightful, but I got tired of being hit over the head with an agenda. I’m all for fiction making a statement, whether I agree with it or not, but for me this was a little too much.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Twisted murder mysteries aren’t my thing, and neither are stories with little to no redemption, but Gillian Flynn’s amazing prose and plotting make this one totally worth it. This book will keep you guessing and shaking your head until the very end. Aside from that, it’s an excellent commentary on the particular depravity of our times. I wish I’d read it with a book club so I could discuss all the shocking moments!

Magic or Madness, Magic Lessons, and Magic’s Child by Justine Larbalestier
I’m a longtime fan of Justine Larbalestier, and this trilogy is probably her best known work. It’s about a teenage Australian girl named Reason who’s been raised by a single mom, on the run from her dangerous grandmother. When her mom has a mental breakdown, she’s forced into her grandmother’s custody in Sydney. There, Reason opens the back door and finds herself in New York City. What follows is an unconventional, compelling story about friendship, identity, family, first loves, and the ethics and balance of magic. It took plenty of turns I never saw coming. If you like fantasy that’s a little off the beaten path, try this trilogy. I recommend Kindle – it’s hard to find in print.

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord
I reviewed this here.

When The Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait For God – And Joy by John Piper
This little book provides good reassurance to Christians experiencing any level of depression or a “dark night of the soul.” It’s very short – the notes indicate that it’s more like an expanded chapter of Piper’s book When I Don’t Desire God. He takes a very compassionate tone, while also pointing out some of the uglier root causes of spiritual struggle. Most importantly, he repeatedly states that depression or spiritual struggle is not an indication of unbelief. That can’t be said enough in our “positive, encouraging” Christian culture. I’m glad I read this.

Books for January: 7
2013 year to date: 7

3 Comments + Posted in: book reviews, reading