Elastic Pencil Pouch Tutorial and Pattern

I am so tired of having to hunt down a pen or pencil when I need one. Anyone else? With my kids home way more than usual right now due to the pandemic ... somehow my writing utensils seem to be wondering off on their own (since no one will own up to actually taking/using them)

Well, this creative mama decided to take things into her own hands and design a way to keep all my necessary writing instruments close at hand. The bonus is that I can use it for post its, notecards, and anything else I might need to use along with my pens and pencils. 

Dairy-Free Toffee Recipe

Holidays are always a hard one at our home. With severe food allergies, times of year where delivering baked goods, and having treats left on your door step can be anxiety inducing... for real! If you are lucky enough not to have to deal with life threatening food allergies, think about this: what would it be like to find that someone had left you a delicious plate of chocolate chip cookies on your doorstep. You pour a glass of nice cold milk, sit down to enjoy your cookies and milk only to find out an hour later that you are on the verge of death because they were laced with arsenic. Instead of enjoying those cookies, you are clinging to life hoping that someone, somewhere is able to help you. 

That may seem a bit extreme, and not really something that we will ever be faced with, BUT when it comes to food allergies the concept is the same. You teeter on whether that plate of goodies that your friend says are safe, are actually safe for you... or if it will send you into an anaphylaxis reaction that will follow with a few hours in the ER. 

That being said, this time of year when everyone is enjoying all their baked goods, we are just doing the same thing we've been doing all year, cooking from scratch. Over the years I have taken some of my favorite holiday recipes and adapted them so that my entire family can enjoy them. 

Cooking, baking, and eating dairy free has its challenges, and if you enjoy dairy, just know that any recipe adapted to be dairy free isn't going to taste the same... but it can get pretty close.