Festivities Begin

So I was ALL excited to go Black Friday shopping with Captain America. SO excited! And then, around 10pm, when I was thinking about taking a shower, my headache got bad. Real bad. I took my favorite meds, and Captain America and I sat on the couch and watched episodes of The Office, hoping it would get better. Yeah, no. It just got worse.

We finally went to bed at 1:30am, and I didn't feel anything. But I didn't wanna be out and fighting with the crowds, either. So we went to bed. hmpf!

I woke up around 9am. Darn, I missed the whole thing :( But my head didn't hurt anymore. That was good, at least.

We got up, and had the kids turn off the movie they were watching. We cleaned up for a while, and made a plan of tasks we wanted to do for the day. So we didn't end up wasting the whole day - hehe.

Captain America and the boys cleaned up the backyard for our party tomorrow. Mowed the grass, trimmed the weeds, fixed the patio set, picked up toys, and got it looking very nice.

I folded a TON of laundry, and did some more. Eme and I hung up some Christmas decorations, and realized that we're missing a box. I know it's in the garage somewhere, but I don't know where. Hmmmm.




The kids all got an hours worth of computer time, and were very happy about that. And all the chores were done again.

I took some pictures of my decorations, but yeah, my memory card didn't save it. Crud!

We had lunch around noon-ish, and then Captain America went to work on his truck. And I grabbed my laptop, and finally put in my new memory card. I had to download it to my laptop, erase it from the memory card, put the old memory card into the house phone, and load my new memory card (8GB), and put it in my phone. Dang, it was a long process.

We had pie after lunch (counted it as my one plain cookie), and watched Home Alone 2. And then around 3pm, I went to take a shower. My hair kinda turned out frizzy, but it was good enough, I guess. hehe.

We opened computers back up again for an hour, and I hopped back on my computer for a bit to blog and design.







And it's now 4:18pm. Captain America and I are planning on going out later today. How much later, I'm not sure.

We need apples and splenda, so we need to go to a store that carries those. I'd like to go to Walmart, Fallas, Big Lots, hmmm, where else.... Maybe the Jewelry Box. And Dollar Tree. Oh yeah, and Howdys, for a soda :) See, I'm not hard to keep happy :)

Just went out to find Captain America, and here's what I found.....hmmmm, when will he be ready for my date.... Oh yeah, OUR date. hehe :)


Click on the link below to go to my account to download the pNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared
box.net

Black Friday

Welcome to Black Friday!!!! hehehe :) First off, here's my SUPER sale for the weekend! 21 WordArt Packs for only $15. 71% off or so, I think. Can't pass this one up! AND, you'll have all the Christmas WordArt you'll EVER need - hehe :)

Click HERE to go to my store

And my 5 new releases for the week. Click HERE to go to the store

So how was your Thanksgiving? Was it wonderful? Did you get enough to eat (hehehe). All of the above for me!

I set my alarm for 7:30am, so that I could get up, put the turkey in the oven, and go back to bed. And I crawled out of bed, tired and sleepy, and could not for the life of me find the turkey bags. I wanted to cook it in the bag in the roasting pan. I knew I bought them. I KNEW I did. When Captain America got all that soda I got the bags. But yeah, they were NO where to be found. I gave up looking after about 20 minutes, put the turkey in the roasting pan, popped it in the oven at 325 for several hours, and went back to bed (after eating my breakfast)

I finally woke up around 9:30am, and came out to start cooking. I was SO glad that I'd stayed up till 1am working AND cleaning the kitchen. All the dishes were clean. No mess. Yeah, it was WONDERFUL. I put the dishes away, and started cooking.

The turkey smelled awesome. I made the Wagergate saladand set the kids up peeling potatoes. I taught Tom and Joe and Eme how to use the peelers, and they really did a GREAT job :) And I didn't have to peel a single potato. hehe :)

Jacob helped me peel the eggs, Jim passed them to Tom, Tom rinsed them, I cut them in half, Eme took out the yolk and arranged the white part on a tray. It was a nice little assembly line :) We were all working together.

I made up the filling with Light Miracle whip, spicy brown mustard, salt, and egg yolks, whipped it up, and put it in a ziplock baggie, cut off the end, and squeezed it into the eggs. They looked pretty good :) I like Curry on my deviled eggs, not paprika, so curry it was :)

Maybe next year I'll wake up earlier and shower. hehe.

After the turkey came out of the oventhe cornbread went in. Yeah, it's not part of MY Thanksgiving tradition, but it's part of Captain Americas from growing up. So I happily made it for him :)

And then the green bean casserole went in.

And I cooked the stuffing and gravy while the green bean casserole was in the oven

Gravy made from the turkey drippings and corn starch

And then the rolls

Here's the spread

Veggie tray

Cheese ball and Ritz Roasted Vegetable Crackers

Veggie tray and dips

Captain America carving the turkey

And then we prayed, and loaded up our plates. Yeah, mine was FILLED to the brim with food. And we all sat and ate and chatted and stuffed ourselves. hehe. I don't think ANYONE went back for 2nds. Because our plates were so big and so filled with 1sts. LOL.

Here's my plate when I was done. Yup, I almost ate it ALL!

And then we covered all the leftovers (TONS), and got it ready for the fridge, and pulled out the pies. All 7 flavors. And cut them in half, then into 8 pieces, and gave everyone a piece of all the flavors they wanted. Here's me with my plate of little pie slices.

And I couldn't finish it! I tried my best, but I was STUFFED :)

We dragged ourselves into the living room, and all sat down and watched 'It's a Wonderful Life". SUPER great movie. We want it to be our new Thanksgiving Day tradition. Can you believe that my kids had NEVER seen it? hehe. What a shame. LOL.

About 1/2 way through the movie, we paused it and put away all the food. Then finished the movie. And we all had quiet time in our rooms. I was SO sleepy. The kids hung in each others rooms and played quietly, I instantly fell asleep on my bed, and Captain America put away his clothes. And I assume, evenutally fell asleep too. Because when I woke up at 6pm, he was sleeping. hehe.

I came out, got out the leftovers for the kids to have dinner, and made myself some peppermint herbal tea. Because my stomach STILL felt like I was gonna die. hehe. AND, an "unwanted family member" showed up. Aunt someone or another..... That would explain some things. hehe :)

We put in Home Alone 1, and I sat down to load my store and blog. It's now almost 8pm. I sent the kids upstairs to watch a movie/play in their rooms, and I'm gonna go clean up again. Captain America is still sleeping. He said he'd go Black Friday shopping with me tonight/morning. So I should probably let him sleep as much as possible. LOL :)

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared
box.net

Layout by Sharon. SUPER cute, hon!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!!!! How was your "preparation" day? Did you make some pies? hehe. I sure did!

But first, I slept in. hehe. Till around 9am. Then got ready for the zoo. Kari and her kids, and my kids and I were gonna go to the zoo today. Because we had the pass, and because my kids SURE needed out of the house. hehe.

I let Jake walk around on his own (he had a phone to stay in contact), and he did WONDERFULLY by himself. That child is such a loner. He absolutely loved it - hehe.

The kids and I hung out in the African exhibit until Kari and her kids got there. We snapped a few pictures of the lions.

And then noticed that one got up and moved closer to the glass. So the kids went by the glass window, and were sitting real close, looking at the cool lion. So I got my camera ready, snapped a picture, and the cat decided to attack the glass! And I caught it on my picture. I think it scared Jimmy pretty bad. He was DIRECTLY in front of it. hehe. Poor kid!

We swung by the Mirr Cat exhibit before finally catching up with Kari and kids. Here's a few pics I snapped before heading back to the lions.


We caught up with Kari, and all wandered around for a while, looking at this and that. The kids were all about a FAST trip. I think they just had a lot of "coupped up" energy to burn. hehe. I was afraid I was gonna lose someone, they were all going so fast in different directions. I KNOW I didn't have this many problems keeping them all together when Captain America was there...hmmm....

We would periodically bump into Jake, and he'd tell me all the cool things he'd seen. He always had a big smile on his face. He loves his independence. :)

And then we went and watched the sea lion show. The kids liked it :)

And then we walked around some more. Here's the reptiles

And Eme and Jake on an elephant (ha!)

Josephine and Tom on a tiger

Check out this CooL zebra table we found. hehe

The island of spider monkeys was pretty cool. I think it was one of Jake's favorite parts :)

We got to the zoo at 10am, and by noon, we were ready to head out. We drove over to the McDonalds that Captain America and us had gone to on Veterans Day, which we will now refer to as "The Zoo McDonalds'. hehe. It's not at the zoo, but down the road, closer to our house, from the zoo. hehe. But I like to name things.

I let each kid have $3 for lunch, and everyone was happy :) And of course, we posed for lots of silly pictures!






I wanted to get a picture of Jimmy's eyes, because they were the same color as his gray/green sweatshirt. Well, he said "You have to take a picture of my butt crack first". Whaaaaat? Where did that come from. Strange kid...

But then, I DID take the picture, so maybe strange kids come from strange moms, right? Earlier in the day, he was debating with me about how many days a week he HAD to wear underwear. "Mom, why do we have to wear underwear everyday???". Sigh...

We stayed at McDonalds until around 2:30 or so. And it was a ton of fun. Kids playing nicely, Kari and I chatting, and avoiding all the baking I was gonna do when I got home. hehe :) I really do enjoy baking, but sometimes it's hard getting started :)

We eventually headed back home, and I got to work. Kids did their chores, and I started in on baking. I gathered most of the ingredients I needed, and I was ready :)

Ready to bake!!!

I had bought 4 frozen pie shells, and was planning on making 2 pumpkin pies, 1 pecan pie, and one other baked pie. Then a pumpkin mousse pie, and MAYBE a cheesecake. But I ended up with 9 pies total! Whaaaat? hehe.

And even if that's not 9, I did make 9. I'm getting tired, and I can't remember what I cooked. LOL!

And in the middle of cooking all my pies and a 30 minute shopping trip for more supplies, I made a cheeseball, a veggie tray, 18 hard boiled eggs for deviled eggs, and dinner for myself and the kids. Pfew! AND, I washed most of the dishes that I'd been using.

And I took a lot of pictures, and I'm gonna blog them AND the recipes :) Cause I'm just nice like that. hehe :)



Pumpkin Pie

Yeah, just follow the directions on the back of the Libby's canned pumpkin. It's the BEST! I won't eat store bought pumpkin pie ever again. Not worth the calories - hehe.

Pumpkin Mousse Pie Dessert (makes 2):

1 box of Pumpkin Dessert, Jello No Bake.

Use the bag of graham cracker crumbs, plus
2 Tbsp sugar
5 tbsp melted butter

combine, and press into a pie pan. Then repeat, except this time, use a package of graham crackers, blended, for the 2nd pie pan. Still add all the butter and sugar and such.

Then, make the pumpkin dessert part as directed. Mix plus 2 1/2 cups of milk. Blended. And divide that between the 2 pies.

Then prepare a box of pumpkin pudding, using the mix, and 1 3/4 cups cold milk. Add in 1/2 container of cool whip. Divide between the 2 pies.

Topped with remaining 1/2 container of cool whip. Sprinkle with chopped chocolate chips and walnuts.

Chocolate Mousse Pie:

1 package graham crackers, blended in the blender
2 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted

Combine, and press into a pie pan

Combine:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Blend together

Add in 1 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

And mix until smooth.

Now, in a separate bowl, whip 1 1/2 cups of Heavy Whipping cream until peaks form. Then fold that into the chocolaty mixture. And put that over the graham cracker crust in the pie pan.

I melted some chocolate chips, put it in a snack sized ziplock bag, cut the corner, and drizzled it over the pie. Looks SUPER tasty :)

Pecan Pie

Put 1 cup chopped pecans into the bottom of a frozen pie shell.

Combine 3 eggs
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Pour mixture into pie shell, and bake at 350 for about an hour.

Cherry Pie

Open can of cherry pie filling, and pour into a froze pie shell.

Combine 1 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, melted. And you'll have enough crumble topping to cover like 5 pies. hehe. Just sprinkle part of it on the pie. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with the rest of it... Maybe save it in the fridge for cupcake/muffin toppings?

Cheese Ball

Combine all in a large bowl

2 packs cream cheese, softened
1/2 finely diced onion
1/2 package finely diced green onions
2 packages of Budding Original Beef (yeah, it's that SUPER thinly sliced luncheon meat)
2 tbsp (at least) minced garlic
1 package fiesta blend shredded cheese

Form into a ball

Chop 1 cup of pecans, and roll the ball on the pecans, until completely coated. Refrigerate. Serve with crackers. My kids LOVED the taste I gave them.

Extra Key Lime Pie

Make a graham cracker crust (see above directions)

Press into a pie pan (yeah, I used a 8 inch square pan, cause I ran out of pie pans...)

Empty the contents of 1 can of Key Lime Pie filling into a bowl, and combine with the zest of 1/2 a lime, and a bit of the lime juice. Stir, and pour over the crust.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 package cool whip with the zest of 1/2 a lime, the juice of 1/2 a lime, and 2 packets of True Lime, Crystalized Lime Substitute (someone inherited it to me, I have NO idea where it came from, but I found it in my cupboard. hehe)

And you know what, it kinda turned it into a butter consistency. And it was tart, but GOOD. Very limey, but very tasty. And it was hard to spread, but I managed. I put a little bit more zest on the top, and a few sliced limes in the corner, and it looked and smelled good. I have no idea how it tastes, but I'm hoping it's good - hehe.

Apple-ish Pie

This recipe is from my new CT member, Sharon. OMHeavens, it smelled WONDERFUL!

In a sauce pan, combine 1 1/2 sticks of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar. I set my daughter to work constantly stirring it. Not a fun job, but it needed done :)

Line the bottom of a 9x12 pan with a package of refrigerator crescent rolls. Mine fit PERFECTLY in the bottom of a disposable cake pan.

Thinly slice 3 apples (I used my apple cutter to core and cut it, then diced it (leaving the peels on)) and place over the crescent roll layer. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Pour 1/2 the butter mixture over the apples and cinnamon.

Cover the apples with another layer of crescent rolls (package #2). and sprinkle with more cinnamon. Then pour the remaining 1/2 of the butter mixture over the crescent rolls and cinnamon.

Now, here's the cool part. Open a can of Mt Dew (Yeah, I used Diet Mt Dew), and pour over the top of the whole thing. I couldn't quite use a whole can, because my pan was pretty shallow, but it was the majority of a can.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. OMHeavens, it smelled good! I SO wanted to taste it - hehe :)

And all of the left over pies (or pieces of pies!), we'll have for our Saturday party :) See, I have a plan for the 9 pies :) Cause a family of 7 should NOT consume 9 pies in one day - ROFL!


And here's me, FREAKIN' tired :) The kids and Captain America watched part of Star Trek (the newest one), and Lord of the Rings. And Eme and I baked. And then the little kids went to bed (I think around when I was apple pie-ing), and Jake and Tom and Captain America watched Lord of the Rings. And I finished up cooking, and sat down to blog.

And here I am, at 10:52 pm. Jake and Tom went to bed after Lord of the Rings got over. Captain Americafell asleep on the couch (hehe). I put in an episode of Glee (double hehe). And now that I'm done, I'm trying to decide if I wanna make my Watergate salad (pistachio pudding, pineapple, marshmallows, nuts, etc) and deviled eggs. I still don't know if I'm gonna do it or not....

Tomorrow, I need to wake up somewhat early to start the 15 lb turkey (already defrosted, thank goodness!), green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, brown and serve rolls, and maybe or maybe not eggs and salad (depending on my motivation now - hehe)

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared

box.net

A super cool layout by Sharon! You rock, my friend!