Year: 2017

Top 10 Posts of 2017

I can’t believe we’re on the last day of the year. Just the other day I was playing around with Google Analytics and I found just the thing I was looking for. I’m pretty sure I started doing the Happy Dance! I know I yelled giddily (word??) and my husband looked at me like I had lost my mind. I get excited when I figure things out I guess. So when I got it figured out I was so happy.

Anyway here are the top 10 posts from 2017. I was a little surprised at the ones that made the list.

Top 10 Posts of 2017

  1. The 2017 Totality Solar Eclipse, Were you there?
  2. Quick Update on Last Week
  3. 7 Marriage Advice Tips
  4. Raising Money for Christmas {Last Three Months of the Year}
  5. In Light of Recent Events
  6. Thoughts….
  7. Hallmark Thanksgiving Dinner
  8. Black Friday
  9. Chiefs Preseason versus 49ers
  10. I Decorated Early and I’m Okay with That

Happy New Year!

Top 10 Food Posts 2017

Here we are at the end of the year. I thought it might be fun to take a look back at this past year and find the top 10 Food recipes. And since I did the research, I’m sharing with you too because that’s how I roll!

  1. Buncha Crunch Oatmeal Cookies
  2. Gus’s Mac and Cheeseburger
  3. Lunchroom Lady Brownies
  4. Eat like a Gilmore: Luke’s Meatloaf
  5. How to Can Tomatoes
  6. Cupcake Diaries
  7. Root Beer Float Cupcakes
  8. Sugar Cookie Challenge
  9. Checkerboard Cake
  10. Milk and Cookies Cupcakes

I just want to say thank you for sticking around. 2017 was an interesting year, not only for me but for a lot of people. I hear that 2018 is just around the corner and it brings a whole new clean slate chapter to write the best you possible. We’ll see. Bring on 2018!

Christmas 2017

After we came back from Ft. Worth, I swear we all came down with the plague that everyone I know is fighting.  Ugh! In fact, here I am, still fighting it. It’s awful! But enough about that….

Three days before Christmas Abug and I decided we needed to work on Santa cookies. Santa was coming and with his long flight across country and the world, he needed some good sustenance, so we went with making Red Velvet Peppermint Kiss Cookies. We figured he’d get Chocolate chip everywhere else so we’d give him something a little different. That’s the way we roll in this house.

And might I mention, my kid is a country kid, but she’s worse than her mommy about having dirty hands. Making the Red Velvet part of the cookies, the food coloring along with some of the oil transferred to her hands (and mine) and she hated that! WOW!

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Ft. Worth 2017

The real start of the Christmas season for me tends to be our trip to Ft. Worth. There have been a few years I haven’t been able to go, but I try to make it down there every year. Sadly, for me this year was a little lackluster. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but it just didn’t scream Christmas season to me.

Hubby had to go to San Francisco for work the whole week leading up to Ft. Worth. He flew into DFW on Thursday night. We left home Thursday night and drove as far as Denton, Texas. Then from there, Friday morning we drove to the hotel that hubby was at and picked him up.

It seems like every year they change up the schedule for the NCHA Futurity. This year the NonPro and Amateur finals happened Friday night, the Open Semi-finals happened on Saturday, and the finals for the Open happened Sunday evening. Truthfully, that’s how it used to be, then they started changing it. We’re back to basics now.

Ft. Worth Stockyards

No trip to Ft. Worth is complete without a trip to the Stockyards. I have to say, this is probably my favorite place on earth… or at least one of. Hubby though wasn’t in the Holiday spirit so I felt like I was “dragging” him and he pretty well refused to go into the stores with me. One of my favorite things to do is window shop at the stores and I couldn’t hardly budge him into a store with me. I was getting frustrated.

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This is What It’s All About

Earlier this fall… yes, it’s still fall… you know tomorrow starts the Winter Solstice, that’s the shortest day of the whole year. From there we’re going to be gaining light!! Anyway… back to the fall… We had our annual Chili cookoff to raise money for deserving Children whose families have fallen on hard times for whatever reason.

I always refer to those who help with this project as Santa’s Helpers because who couldn’t use a helper? So, Santa’s helpers have been busy at work, getting applications, reviewing them, and trying their darndest to make sure kids have a fabulous Christmas no matter what the circumstances their family faces are. But here’s the thing…

They needed a place to store the presents bought, wrap the presents, and have a pickup point for parents. But the other day someone broke into that warehouse and stole at least $300 worth of gifts. WHAT? Sad, but true. (more…)

Apple Pie Cupcakes

I bet you thought I forgot, didn’t you? Well, truth be told, I didn’t forget but I did. The end of November snuck up on me like BAM! I’m here. It’s over. Neener neener neener. What the heck. I went to Orlando, I met a book deadline, Thanksgiving, and then WHAM! It was over. It was more so, I didn’t forget but I just ran out of time. (more…)

Thanksgiving 2017

Thanksgiving feastDesserts at my Father in Law's house - Thanksgiving 2017

Thanksgiving 2017 is on the books. It was a bit of a sad Thanksgiving this year as it was the first Thanksgiving without Grandma W. That first Thanksgiving is always awkward. Awkward and sad. This proved to be no different. And it was strange because my Father-in-laws house is always booming with people. Not this year though. There was still a fair amount of us, but still, it was different. (more…)