Christmas and Six Flags

I don't have any pictures of Christmas so there isn't a whole lot of point of blogging a lot about it but I thought I would give you all a quick recap

Christmas Eve:

christmas with mom's side

mafia

white elephant- olive garden

midnight mass

Christmas Day:
egg casserole with PW cinnamon rolls

Ema gets cuter by the minute

mom is super thoughtful (pics to come, hopefully)

standing rib roast with yorkshire pudding (SO good)

dominos

tetris party

Day after Christmas:
tetris party

dominos

Saturday after Christmas:
Sixflags with mr.tc, two brothers and a sister in law. these are the only pictures that I took but I think you'll enjoy them

Things That I Have Done

It's an interesting list, I've have put in bold the things that I have done

1. Started your own blog.- duh
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.- does marching band count? we'll say yes
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning yuck! do not try and add this to your list
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. - I don't think you can any more
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked. does picking up a ride to your car as the club is letting out count?
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. I like to call it mentally ill
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise - dinner cruise a la the office
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language. I tried spanish, but it didn't stick
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater - so fun!!
55. Been in a movie. - do high school history class productions count?
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason -both for myself and from my sweet husband
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job -no, thank the Lord!
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. poor fishy!
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous- Luke Wilson
92. Joined a book club - Tried to start one but it didn't work out
93. Lost a loved one- so blessed
94. Had a baby-
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee.

What I Did This Evening

S'mores in a jar. Of course we had to make a batch to make sure we
weren't giving our friends a jar of crap. I am sure the receivers of
these jars will agree, this is a recipe for heaven in your mouth.

busy BUSY weekend

My friend Jessica said she had a busy weekend and boy was she right. We were so busy too, let's see how we compare!

For his birthday, mr.tc asked for what we call a "day of fun." Basically you plan a whole day of going around and doing new stuff around town. I decided to step it up a notch (BAM!) and give him a weekend of fun. It ended up not going exactly as planned but here is out it worked out:

Friday night:
-came home from work, picked up the apartment, lit candles, tried to make the house look nice for his bday dinner.
-did the same thing for my self, beautied up a little bit
-made/ate dinner
-went to see the Second City Touring Company (hilarious) at the Majestic

Saturday
-woke up at 3:40 AM!
-drove 5 1/2 hours to Odessa
-changed clothes in a whataburger bathroom
-went to funeral
-went to burial
-went to lunch @ church
-changed in an exxon bathroom
-drove 5 1/2 hours home from odessa
-went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner

Sunday
-woke up at 7am to get ready for the day
-went to the grocery store to get a few last minute things I needed for the day
-made chicken salad and prepared a picnic and myself for the day
-got ready to leave only to find out that my battery was dead
-decided to go to breakfast at Breadwinners anyway
-stopped by auto zone to buy jumper cables
-jumped car and drove it to NTB for repairs
-went to NorthPark to see Quantum Solace
-went to Half Priced Books to par take in an awesome sale
-waiting for 20 minutes to check out
-picked up my damaged car
-two stop dinner and watched the office
-ironed, made lunched, and in general got ready for the work week


whew! I'm tired just typing that all out!
I think she has me beat but it was fun reminiscing about the busy weekend none the less

I'm lovin it

Filled up for $21. If this keeps up we can cut our gas bill in half

I'm lovin it

Filled up for $21

with the good, comes the sad

That is that way it always works, right?

This weekend I had just the best time. I got to see family that I haven't seen in a long time. I got to spend good quality time with my favorite aunts. I got to play with my cousin's children who I have never really had a chance to get to know. These kids have had kind of a rough year so I felt very special being able to be a part of their lives, if even for a short while. I also got to spend just a little alone time with my precious niece who is getting cuter by the day.

When I finally got to spend some time with mr.tc we went and looked at a house. Got to eat at one of our favorite burger joints. We just had the best day, driving around, relaxing, recovering from the busy busy weekend. I was making one of my favorite dinner when the sad news came.

One of my bestest friend's dad died. No warning, no chance for her to say goodbye. I was so in shock last night that I had no idea what to say to her. All I wanted to do was to drive to Kansas to give her a hug but that isn't possible. I could not sleep last night because I kept thinking about the whole situation and her wonderful family that is having to struggle through this pain right now. I lay awake thinking, what can I do to make it all better? I kept coming up with the same answer, nothing. Not a thing.

This morning I couldn't leave for work. I was just too sad. Keri and her family are very strong, and I know she'll be okay very soon. I just cannot imagine what the transition time is going to be like and how hard it is going to be for her in the mean time. All I can do now is pray. Pray for peace for Keri and her family. Pray for her dad. Pray that all the pain that comes with death can be healed knowing that now he gets to see everything that is going on with her and her family, and he gets the best seat in the house.

Weekend with the Inlaws

a couple of weekends ago we went to Waco so that tc could vote. after dinner with the in laws we went to see the new trailer they bought as a temporary home on their land.

here it is:

what you may or may not have noticed there in the front is their patio set. we got out of the car and were rolling we were laughing so hard. it is the perfect patio set for their new dwelling!! complete with rusted step ladder and dickies cup. mr.mr.tc didn't really see what we thought was so funny and even said, "what! we ate dinner there last night!" He thought that was a hint they needed to upgrade but I think it is perfect!

while we were out there we both got to drive the "new" tractor! tc almost ran over a piece of metal and almost ran down a fence, while I drove it like an old pro

My sexy man

plans for the weekend

waste it away. I can't wait.

my phone conversation with tc this morning

First he made me laugh really hard telling me something about my dad (if you are reading this Dad I’ll fill you in if you ask)

 

Then…

Me: someone was really insensitive this morning and didn’t get out of bed to give me hug good bye

tc: I gave you all of the sensitivity you get last night (I was having a bad day and he had to do lots of hugging to make me feel better)

Me: Oh yeah, that is all I get for the rest of the week?

tc: Yep, I’ve met my quota

Me: I need to go, you’re being a jerk

tc: whatever, I’m pretty good to you

me: oh you are?  I am so glad you know that

tc: I don’t believe in false modesty babe

 

I don’t know if that was a you had to be there sort of thing but he had me in tears this morning.  Oh, and I don’t think he believes in modesty at all.

 

Lakehouse in the Morning

This is what makes the drive worth it

Stuffed Avocados

This recipe is so special to me now. First, this is my favorite thing to order at my favorite restaurant. The problem is you can only get it on Tuesdays and it just is not convienent for me to go down there on Tuesday. Also the last time I was able to make my way down there, the meal was a disappointment. The avocado has some bitterness to it and the chicken was dry and flavorless. After tooling around on the internets for a while I realized I could make this myself pretty easily, and I had some extra chicken in the fridge that I wasn't sure what I was going to do with so this would be perfect. As it turns out one of the avocados I picked out had the same bitter taste to it so maybe this recipe is best left for summer. Or if you a pro at picking out avocados then just pick up the ripest ones you can find that are still pretty firm. Other than the bitter avocado I think my recipe (avocado v avocado) tasted much better. Another reason why it is so special is I completely came up with the seasoning myself, and it my so humble opinion the seasoning is what make my version better than the restaurant. The thing it is missing is a nice hatch chili pepper sauce, so I'll have to work on that for next time.

What you'll need:

2 avocados

2 eggs

2C panko bread crumbs

2 chicken thighs

4 oz shredded jack cheese

Cumin- approx 2 tsp

Garlic- approx 1 tsp

S&P

Prep Your Dredge

2 eggs- beat

2C Panko- pour into bowl and season with 1 tsp salt

Prep Your 'Cados

Cut the avocados in half, remove the seed, and using a large spoon remove the flesh from the skin. Scrape out any flesh remaining in the skin and set aside. If desired carefully use a small spoon to increase the size of the crater (more room for cheese!) Add the flesh you removed to the extra avocado.

Prep Your Chix

If using rotisserie chicken, pull the chicken off the bone and discard the skin. Tear or cut into small pieces

Make Your Stuffing

Shred the cheese into the chicken. Add cumin, garlic, salt and pepper. Taste the mixture and add seasoning. You want it to taste very flavorful so the seasonings will come through with all that avocado you'll be eating.

Put It All Together

Take enough of the chix mix to fill the avocado crater and press it together to form an egg like shape (try and match it to the shape of the hole you are stuffing) Hold the cado in your hand and gently press the mixture in. With one hand, carefully dip the cado in the egg, remove and let the excess drip off. Using the same hand set the cado into the panko crumbs and turn over. Make sure it is fully covered. Put on a plate and repeat with the remaining avocado halves. Let rest for about 5 minutes.

To make avocado balls: take your extra avocado and left over chix mix and combine. Form into balls and dredge the same way you did the avocado halves.

I used two cooking methods to try and see if I could do it the real way and the semi healthier way.

Real way:

Before you start the prep, fill a cast iron skillet (or any deep skillet) with two inches of oil. If using shortening melt the shortening on low and when you are ready to fry, increase the temperature to med-high. You want the oil hot but not smoking. Smoking is very very bad. Get your spatter screen out and use a slotted spoon to place the halves and balls into the oil. Cover with splatter screen and cook 2-3 minutes until the coating is dark brown. Turn over and cook another 2-3 minutes until GBD. I finished these in the oven to make sure the cheese was nice and melty.

Semi healthier way:

Before you start the prep, heat the oven to 450. Put ½ tsp oil into a small baking dish or pie pan if that is all you have handy. Cook the avocados and avocado balls until they are gbd (about 15 minutes) I actually cooked mine 15 minutes and then an additional 5 minutes on broil to get them really dark brown. If you decide to do this do not take your eyes off of them. They will turn from perfect to burnt in an instant.

Fiber at the Fair

This sign says Food, fiber, fun and more. Who goes to the fair to get
their daily dose of fiber?

Everyday Minerals- Free Sample Make Up Kit

I am a big advocate of mineral make up. I have always had oily acne prone skin and I think that mineral make up stays on longer, keeps me matte for longer, and keeps me from breaking out as bad as standard liquid foundation. As of right now I am completely brand loyal to Bare Escentuals but I am always up for trying something new. Especially when it is not hard on my wallet.

I came to find out about this deal from Google Reader. For those of you that are not on Google Reader yet seriously, look into it. Anyway the deal is Everyday Minerals want you to try their make up. To get you to try it they are giving Free Sample Make Up Kits. You get to pick 3 foundations, 1 blush or all over face color, and 1 concealer. The good thing so far about their foundations is they have a ton of different colors and each one comes in four formulations, original glo, semi matte, matte, or intensive which provides extra coverage. All you have to do is pay for shipping which was $3.13 for me. I also added on a sample of their Start to Finish Rice Powder in Fair because I am about to be out of my mineral veil and I thought it would be good to try something new. For only $2.50 I figured it was worth a shot

I'll let all of you blog readers out there know what I think when it comes in in 3-5 business days.

Boston Trip

We had such a great time on our trip to Boston. This was my third time there, and tc’s second so this trip we spent most of our time just visiting with my brother, his wife and his three amazing kids. They are adorable and fun all in one. We did have lots of fun stuff going on though. The weather was perfect for spending lots of time outside. We walked the kids to school every morning, and picked them up every chance we could get.

One of the first things we did was watch Helen play soccer and Andrew coach the team.

We also got to watch Brendan play soccer

he even got a turn at keeper

gave enough hugs to make up for lost time

played a lot of wii together

this is when the kids invented photo jumping. they thought it was hilarious to jump in the middle of someone else's photo

We got to read to Helen and Peter's classes. tc read How I Became a Pirate and did great pirate voices

we went apple picking which was really fun, and free! it was military appreciation day so we got to try apple crisp, listen to some good music, the kids got to do some fun stuff and of course we picked apples. the best part is you get to pick the apples right off the tree and taste them. those were some good apples!

because of the beautiful scenery I wanted to try and take some family pics of my brother's family. i think it looks like they are in a painted scene.

here are some of the other shots that I got

my favorite subject

our last day there we went to visit harvard yard. we walked around the school, visited all of the shops and eat a local pub. tc wanted to play the chess master that sits outside of the school. $2 to the winner. guess who had to pay up?

Ema's First Birthday Party

Ema’s first birthday party was, well, a one year old’s birthday. What more can I say. Luckily she is as cute as ever.

There were three wardrobe changes. This is outfit #1

Look at all of those presents! That isn't even all of them. She opened them all at the party too. Oh and outfit #2

She mostly liked the tissue paper though

and the cake...

I can't remember what outfit #3 was now? I think it was some overalls for after the cake

Happy Birthday Ema!

My sweet niece turned 1 year old this week! Here she is looking as cute as ever while she eats her present

Sauteed Bananas

Did I spell Sauteed right? It sure doesn't look correct.

Okay so I know this is another example of a not so appetizing picture but I just had to post this recipe and I couldn't get a good picture of the results because I was too lazy.

This is a great recipe if you are anything like me and you try not to keep sweets in the house but you do keep fruit. So when you are craving sweets you score How to Cook Everything for ideas on how to turn said fruit into dessert.

It is pretty simple, here is what you will need:
4 Bananas ripe but not too soft.

1/4 C flour

4 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of sugar, plus some to pass around

Slice the bananas (does anybody else sing that song while spelling that out?) in half length wise and then again vertically so you have 4 quarters. Dredge the bananas in flour and shake off excess. Melt butter in pan over med high heat until the foam subsides. Cook the bananas until golden brown, turning often. The recipe says it will take 10 minutes but it took my bananas about 5 so make sure you keep an eye on them. Sprinkle with sugar and cook 1 more minute. Remove bananas from the pan and sprinkle with extra sugar.

This is something worth trying for several reasons:

-if you buy bananas you probably already have all the ingredients on hand

-the crunchiness of the sugar and the softness of the banana are so delicious

-counts as a fruit, right?

Frosted Art

What does a unicorn have to do with fancy cakes?

Note To Self

Don't go scrolling around in new cooking blogs right before lunch when breakfast didn't happen. Please, please, I am begging you, don't look at the pictures in "Heidi's favorites." Your stomach will hate you for it.

This week I am totally attempting to make homemade gnocchi.

Weekend

I have come to realize there is no point in saying, "we don't have plans this weekend" or "these are our plans for the weekend" because it almost never turns out that way.

Here was our original write up for the weekend
*friday: clean and do laundry

*saturday: in laws come to town, eat at hip dallas restaurnt (The Porch) then ride the Dart rail to the Balloon Festival.

*sunday: church, church school, relax, relax, relax

Here is how our weekend went:
*friday: waited for the dryer to be repaired then went to dinner with high school friend, her husband, and their adorable 15 month old daughter. called up the 'rents and they were at my high school's football game, decided to meet up with them. loved watching the marching band!
found out the girl I babysat is now a senior in high school. sadness.

*saturday: picked up mr.tc from getting his car repaired, went to grapevine mills, did some shopping, drove to mr.tc's home town. Ate at same place we usually eat, went to the mall, went to the tractor supply store.
Found out that ils have figured out which john deere tractor they are buying for our not yet concieved child.

*sunday: church school, nap, house hunting with hs friend. they were nice enough to show us the neighborhoods around their casa and even put up with us as we toured all of the houses we were able to go in to. returned home for laundry and cleaning. decided at 8:30 pm I wanted to bake some cookies. After starting I realized the cookies had to chill for 2 hours. We baked two cookies (one for me, one for the mr), rolled the rest into balls, put them in the fridge and went to bed.

Now it was an awesome weekend, but you can see how fun things just pop up and plans get changed last minute in our household. It is monday, so far we have no plans for the upcoming weekend but who knows what is in store? I'm hoping a trip to the lake house will pop up.

That is all for now. Now get off my back for not posting enough.

ps. my ils did give me an herb garden for my b-day, pics to come. I can't wait to use the lemon basil in something, it smells interesting!

Go Cowboys

A great way to watch the game

Happy Birthday to Me

And a happy day it is indeed

Good times

At grapefest

my special birthday present

my hubs is terrible at keeping surprises, TERRIBLE! I am not any better, but that is not what we are discussing right now. It isn't like he always tells me what my presents are, but he HAS to let me know that he has gotten me something. Or, if he is keeping a surprise he does things that make it obvious something is up.

this birthday surprise was no different, except he was able to keep the details under wraps. I knew he was up to something due to his hiding the computer screen when I walked in the room and hiding papers when I walked up to his truck, but I had no idea he had such a wonderful night planned.

It turns out for the last month or two he has been planning a dinner party for with some of my girlfriends. He cooked and even did wine pairings. When he did all of the final cooking at Sherri's house he wore his chef's coat. ooo la la

We went over to my friend sherri's house and she had bought a new GORGEOUS dining set that had not been sat in yet and busted out with her wedding china that had not been used in the 5 years or so that they have been married. I already felt special just walking in and seeing my girlfriends there and having this beautiful set up.

We started with some Moscato D'Asti that he had opened to use in the cooking. That is definitely a good way to start a party.

He made lobster bisque from scratch, all the way down to the live lobster, with brie topped french bread. The wine he served with it was a pino grigio and it was perfect. He said it was served with that because the acidity from the wine would clear away the cream in your mouth and it cleansed the pallet for every bite of soup. YUM!!!!!

For the main course we had petite lamb t bones with a thyme merlot sauce served with a potato and smoked goat cheese custard, carrots and snow peas. It was a beautiful presentation. He served it with a syrah. Oh my, it was so tasty!

For desert we had Napoleons which he took phyllo dough and baked it with butter and powdered sugar. He filled layers of the crispy dough with pastry cream and topped it with a raspberry sauce he made from pureeing raspberries and sugar. He topped the pastry with blueberries and served with fresh peaches. This was served with a Moscato, another great pairing!

To finish off we had champagne. He asked the wine dude where he bought the wine from what he favorite all time wine was and it was this champagne. It was good but to be honest I had enjoyed all of the wine from dinner a little too much to appreciate it fully. It did make great mimosas on sunday morning!

I think I'll go ahead and keep my sweetie!

To Whom it May Concern at Sears

My husband and I purchased our first dryer about a year ago from Sears. We did our research on the top dryers and decided on a Kenmore 800 series from Sears because we had heard about Sears’s great products and service.

Unfortunately our experience with our Kenmore dryer is not what we were expecting. Because the dryer was installed incorrectly we had to have it serviced within its first three months of being in our home.

More recently however we were having some problems with the dryer making a very loud noise and not fully drying the clothes in one cycle. We called Sears to have it serviced and it turns out the motor and fan both have to be replaced because a nut was loose on the fan and melted in to the motor. This is clearly a manufacturing defect, but because our warranty is one month out of service we were going to have to pay $412 to get it fixed. $412 for our brand new dryer that cost us $600. We spoke with Service One and they informed us that they would reimburse only $100 for the cost of the repairs but this does not seem like a fair amount considering the dryer was brand new and this problem was not something we created.

Due to the poor quality I do not intend on purchasing a Kenmore or shopping at Sears ever again.

I do appreciate how kind everyone has been through the process but this experience has led me to believe that Sears does not stand behind the quality of their products.

VA

stupid crappy dryer

We bought a dryer about a year ago. Actually one year and one month ago. I know the exact date because we are exactly one month out of warranty. I know that we are one month out of warranty because my dryer has broken down for the second time this month. It is going to cost $475 to fix it. Actually they are so generous, they are going to reduce that by $100. Thanks a lot, that makes me feel SO much better.

I no longer will trust consumer reports, sears, or kennmore. All three of them stink big time.

How I Spent My Labor Day Weekend

Arts and Crafting! I had so much fun doing it! I decided that it was September 1st, and in most other parts of the country September kicks off the fall season so I can put out fall decor. The only problem was I did not have any, so I decided to whip some up real quick like.

Here is a display of all of the work I was able to do:

Now to zoom in.

First, something I made for my six year old niece. It is a compilation of ideas I have seen around the internet. I heard about wrapping scrapbook paper around a canvas to make some art for my home and I thought it would be cute to add my nieces name. This was really easy to do. I hope she likes it!
Speaking of wrapping scrapbook paper around a canvas. I did this for the area above my sink in the kitchen.



A close up of how they turned out. Do you think the order looks right? I thought the squares should go in the middle, to break up the flowers. the hubby thought the white should go in the middle, to break up the dark colors. I think he is right. I also think this would look a lot better on a wall with some color but we don't have any of those.

Next, the glitter pumpkins. This was by far my favorite thing to do. It was so fun, when I was done I was trying to think of other things I could glitter. hubby probably shouldn't stay in one place for too long or he might be next.
This was the big thing to do last year but I did not have any extra money to spend on glitter and glue last year so this year I was bound and determined to do them. Even if they weren't in style anymore. cause that is how I roll.

I know this is silly but I actually thought these looked cute on the green plates because it was kind of a pumpkin patch thing going on, but alas they couldn't stay there.
They ended up here, by our door on a candle tray I thought I threw away.

I know you already got a close up, but look how beautiful these are. They would be gorgeous next to some candle light but unfortunately I used funkins and they say not to put these babies anywhere near open flame.

Next I made a fall arrangement center piece. I got this idea from this blog. If you strain your eyes hard and look really close you can see I am missing a candle. I plan on replacing the white candles with some pumpkin candles to make our living room smell like fall. I just have no idea where to get such candles so who knows when that will happen.

Here is how this piece landed. I love it!

Finally a fall wreath, an idea I stole from amie. Hers is obviously much cuter. I wish I had looked at the pic of hers before buying supplies because I prefer the use of the mums. I also think the placement of the flowers on mine looks off but if I rotate the wreath they are even which looks worse. Anyway, I will probably be redoing this when I muster up the courage to try again.

Thanks for looking at my fall creations! Every time I see them it puts a pep in my step that fall is just around the corner!

fyi, I did all of the fallishish stuff for less that $50 and the other two projects for less than $10. That includes the white platter. I looked at how much it would cost to buy a wreath and that alone would have run $30-50! Yay for labor day!