Thanksgiving 2019 has come and gone. Ah, I love Thanksgiving. That might not appear that way as it seems like I slide past it to Christmas, but Thanksgiving is totally about the food. Heck yeah! Anyone who knows me knows I like food.
The day before I decided to make the desserts. I knew the day of I’d be super busy. I got it in my head I wanted a Coconut Cream Pie Cheesecake. Now before anyone asks, no, I’m not pregnant. Yes, I’ve already been asked. I was told this was a weird combination. I didn’t think so though. I really like Coconut Cream Pie and Cheesecake is okay. Why not put them together.
My mom had some medical issues earlier in the summer, which has caused her to eat differently. Then she decided to follow a Keto diet so she gave me a recipe my dad came up with for a Keto Pumpkin Pie. Yey, everyone had dessert. When I invited my mother-in-law, she asked what she could bring. I told her to bring a Chocolate pie that she makes, you know, just in case my cheesecake didn’t turn out. btw, it was amazing! (more…)
I’m a little leery to google that title phrase. Yikes! Anyway… that’s what we did the Monday before Thanksgiving with our kiddos at school. It was called Moms and Muffins. Mom went into the school, where we spent time with our kiddos and ate muffins.
We also helped/watched them make turkeys out of apples. Earlier in the month the teachers sent home a feather that the students were to decorate and design to get them into the Thanksgiving spirit. Then during Moms and Muffins, we took an apple and made it into a turkey.
There were marshmallows (large and small), m and m’s, fruit loops, gumdrops, icing, and toothpicks to help decorate the apple into a turkey. After the first round of decorating our turkey, Abug ate some of it. Then she redecorated it and ate it again. I took home half a decorated turkey…? (more…)
It would be funny if people didn’t know my favorite holiday was Christmas. Especially if you watch my Facebook page all year long. Now here is where I say that sometimes I post how many days/weeks/months until Christmas year-round just to be ornery for all the people who give me CRAP about it :). But somewhere along the way, this year hasn’t felt quite right. I haven’t been nearly as excited as I normally am.
A friend took it upon himself to try and help me get into the spirit. When it didn’t work, he eventually backed off. I told him not to but he did anyway. He said he shouldn’t cram it down my throat, but I told him that maybe he should. and while right now I’m still not 100% feeling it yet, I feel better about it. That might have come because I’ve been listening to Christmas songs since they came on Sirus XM radio. Or the fact that Hallmark has been playing Christmas movies around the clock since the weekend before Halloween. Quite possibly it could also be because our Christmas trees are up and decorated. Yes, I said trees, plural.
Whatever it is, I hope that it keeps coming! Last year at this time we were hanging in Limbo on if we were going to get our house bought or not. And I hung Christmas lights up the day we bought it. I got made fun of but I didn’t care. I threatened to put my Christmas tree up in our house but I didn’t. Instead, hubby and I got into a huge argument about actually putting the tree up and we almost didn’t. Then when it was up, the fight was still going on to the point I almost tore it all back down that day. And the fight… want to know what it was about? It was about putting up the tree. (more…)
I can’t believe we’re already on the downhill slope toward Christmas. Oy! If you watch Hallmark Channel, we’re on Christmas in July… round the clock Christmas movies. Gosh, I love Christmas movies, but that’s another post for another day. Right now, let’s discuss the 4th of July, again… one last time.
This will be in the form of hubby’s family. I only say that to distinguish between our two families although technically when we got married, they all became OUR family. Anyway… Just clarifying right there :).
Now one thing that I should point out just to remember is that Hubby and I were the last ones to the party for the most part. A couple of stragglers came in but, usually, we’re some of the first ones there. When we hosted it, we were first, now that we are just patrons (haha, jokes on them… just kidding) we’re still usually some of the first ones to show up. Then I had to leave to go back to my house to get a trailer to set up the fireworks on.
When I got to the house, the joke was on me… hubby left his truck empty. I used his truck because at that time they were using the bed of mine to sort fireworks. I hopped in his truck and there were 27 miles to empty. Now, I could have made it to my sister-in-law’s and he could have made it from there to the gas station, but at that late at night, who wants to bother? So I stopped and got fuel for him. I might be nice sometimes, but don’t spread the word! (more…)
I saw a meme on Facebook the other day saying something to the effect, 4th of July is over, it’s now time to get your Halloween costumes, your Thanksgiving menu, Christmas Presents, and we’re basically at the New Year, Happy 2020. Truthfully I might have giggled a little too much because… the way this year has been flying by, that almost seems real! Here we are 5 days past the 4th of July. Hello, July 9. We’re quickly approaching the dawg days of summer. It is finally getting hot and humid in Missouri. Yes, we have humidity. Yes, it’s horrible. You walk out of your house and feel like you’ve just walked out of the shower. It’s nuts.
Spring has been crazy around here. Tornadoes on top of tornadoes. Rain and flooding. Cooler temperatures… you name it, we’ve probably seen it. Except for a Hurricane. If we see a hurricane in Missouri, we have real problems. Did you know I’m only just a few hours away from the dead middle point of the U.S.? It’s up on the Kansas border near Nebraska. I’ve never been there although that’s on my list of things to do someday. Why not…
I actually live in a part of Missouri where within 30 minutes you can be further into Missouri, into Oklahoma or Kansas or Arkansas. And there is a point over near here where you can be standing on the border of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. 3 states in one swoop. Honestly, I’ve never been there either although I’ve always been within a mile or so of it. Why I never stop I have no idea.
This year because the 4th of July fell when it did, we got to celebrate twice. Once with our diver friends and again with my husband’s extended family. I overheard that some people think the 4th of July is only about bbq’s, fireworks, and spending time with family. That’s totally inaccurate. It’s about the birthday of our country. On July 4th, 1776 our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence freeing us from British control. It was only after a horrific battle called the Revolutionary War was fought and won. Just thought I’d throw that very broad, basic explanation out there for anyone who might be confused. Do they not teach that in schools anymore? Although the person who made the previous claim is closer to my age than not. I’m really confused.
New Year’s Eve tends to be a night where everyone is ringing in the New Year. And don’t worry, we brought in the new year. In fact, I brought in the new year baking a cake… but not this one. I made this one the day before…
Our friend Doug has a birthday on New Year’s Eve. Yup, his momma got to ring in the new year in the hospital, but it wasn’t a bad accident. Nope, it brought my friend Doug into the world… 50 years ago in fact. And I have to admit, I met him in 2013 and didn’t realize he was in his 40’s at the time.
Wow, I’ve known him 5 years… CRAZY. I just thought about that. Just a thought… but back to the cake.
This Christmas was quite a blur. Between buying and remodeling a house and Abug being at preschool, this Christmas season was quite the blur. They say that time doesn’t slow down, it only gets faster as you get older. I believe that is true. But I sure wish it would slow down!
This year for name tags, I printed off Christmas pictures from years past. I tried to include the person who the present was to in the tag, but that’s not always an option (ahem, my mother). I also tried to put bows on the packages. They were just so darn pretty. Especially under the tree.
Here we are, the last day of 2018. I’ve tried typing 2019 a few times and my fingers always slip up and I wind up typing 2018. Oy! I’ll wish you luck with that new task just as you should wish me luck!!
So being the last day of the year, I’ll leave you with a weird/funny story. I really should recap Christmas but I haven’t edited all the photos yet. I guess that’s what happens when you get busy remodeling a house…
Once upon a time, I think I told you the socks story but… My grandma used to always give me socks for Christmas. Then she passed away in 2007. Hubby and I didn’t start dating until 2009, but I swear I didn’t make this comment until I was dating him, but I questioned who would get me socks for Christmas now. So silly and stupid I know… But I did say that. (more…)
Everyone is all talking about Christmas and Holiday Home Tours and I’m over here like wait, WHAT?!?! I want to do that. Oh, wait… I can’t. Why? Well, look above. Do you know what you’re looking at? If not, I’ll tell you… It’s my open concept bathroom/Kitchen. Why put a wall between when you can make them one and take a shower while stirring something on the stove, right?
I’m kidding… sort of… I’ll explain. Right here on the left side of the wall (look for the shovel leaning up against the wall on the right side…) you really are looking into the kitchen and bathroom. And there really is no wall separating the two. They always say be prepared if you plan on doing something like this because you don’t know what you’re going to find. Well, what we found was there was a leak for what appeared to be YEARS in the bathroom where the bathtub/shower combo was and the floor was rotted. In fact, the wall behind where the window is was rotted all the way through and you can actually see the back side of the siding through the house. That’s not normal. Nope, not normal at all. (more…)
As we all pretty well seem to know, this year has been the year of cakes. I stumbled across this cake a while back and thought, Perfect for Thanksgiving! In fact, I debated making this for Hubby’s birthday cake since I knew he wasn’t going to be home. But then he was going to be home. In the end, he wasn’t home. Then I made a cake he would like just in case. Heck, we were eating it without him and he can’t have nuts so…
So one of the ladies my mom works with asked me to make a cake. It was going to be one she’d had I’d made before… a Pumpkin Spice Latte Layer Cake. Somehow with some convincing, I conned (haha) her into this one instead. She decided that yes, we’d do this one because the other flavor was more for her taste and this would be more for her whole family. My only request was I had to know how it was because I wasn’t going to get to try a bite. I hear it was excellent! I don’t know. I’ll probably have to make it sometime so I can try it! I like Pecan Pie.
Pecan Pie Cake
Unlike most of the cakes here lately 2 things… 1. I didn’t pull from here and there to do exactly what I wanted. I followed the recipe to a T. 2. It was only 2 layers high, not 3 or 4. The cake itself was made with brown sugar instead of regular sugar. It gave it a more molassessy feel/taste. Yup, totally made up that word. But as you know, brown sugar has molasses in it if you have to make it yourself. (more…)
