Happy Thanksgiving

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I meant to post something earlier... before we left for the inlaws to spend the day... but I ended up getting distracted and forgot. Needless to say better late then never so Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!

This was one of the better Thanksgivings I've had since leaving AZ and I had a really fairly good day. There was plenty of bird (it was a 26 pounder!!), tons of stuffing, some really good garlic mashed potatoes and of course (as is now the 'norm') I brought the sweet potato casserole. This year I made it a little different, I used fresh sweet potatoes and roasted them, I then broiled them with butter and brown sugar, mashed them with strained apple sauce, and topped them with the usual layer of marshmallows. Yams are the one thing I HAVE to have, it's my little piece of home even when I can't be there. When I'm mashing the yams I always think of my mom, when I'm sprinkling on the 'mallows I smile and think how she always lets me steel some (now it's Chance who gets to steel them).

Hopefully next year I'll be able to go down south for the holiday...

oh and by the by... that picture up top with the kiddo sitting in front of a pie. That was taken AFTER we got home. He wanted to see the pie, then he wanted to taste it. Thinking he just wanted to taste it and then he'd be done I went ahead and set the whole thing in front of him. When he started chowing down I quickly transferred that pumpkin pie piece onto a plate and put away the rest. *sigh* The whole reason we brought home a pumpkin piece was for ME to eat. I can't get to upset though, he didn't eat any pie at the sister in laws place, he was too focused on playing.

Breakfast for dinner

Brigid, over at Home On The Range, (where I am an unabashed lurker; for her recipes as well as her writing) recently (meaning at least a week ago) posted a recipe for a breakfast type casserole.

I finally got around to making it the other night and, as usual with the recipes I take from her, it was yummy. Even the Man liked it and he is NOT a stuffing eater.

We used sausage, broccoli, and a mix of sharp cheddar cheese with jalapenos to give it extra kick. The next go round we'll probably substitute the broccoli with mushrooms and bean sprouts. I'm also thinking that maybe a little beef gravy would go good on top, we'll see though.

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A couple days ago she posted another recipe, this one for Lasagna, (scroll down to her comments section to see the recipe) She makes her meat layer by simmering ground beef and spicy sausage in tomato's and tomato paste for an hour or so and then layers that with a cheese blend (eggs, cottage cheese, and Parmesan) slices of mozzarella and of course lasagna noodles. I gotta say it sounds easy and looks amazing. I'm itching to try it!! Maybe next week....

Fastfood Drive Through

Yet another example of the kiddo's vast imagination. He's playing fastfood drivethrough. That's a gas station toy and hotwheels. Before you say it no we do NOT get fast food to eat all that often, but I suppose it's probably one of his favorite things. To get to munch on chicken nuggets and french fries in the car.

Another Monday

I'm yawning non stop this morning.. the Kiddo was up three times last night, each time just shy of an hour after the time before it. Which means almost enough time to get to sleep, but not quite. So, by the time I went to sleep it was 2!!

The Man and I are amazed, very nearly daily, on how creative and imaginative the Kiddo is. Yesterday we were all hanging out in our bedroom and he started playing with one of my socks. It was a thick black and gray stripped calf sock. He had his little people, and his little people school bus and a sock. ... ... what do you think he did with the sock?

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He made the sock into a "dinosaur" and used it to gobble up some of the little people. They all fled before the great sock dinosaur, and it opened it's big sock mouth and ate them if it caught them. Then, he told the sock to "say aaah" and he performed sock surgery to extract the people from it's sock'y tummy so they could go ride in their bus.

A sock dinosaur. I don't know else to say *shaking head*

I should put this out there

** 10:02pm Edited to add ** 48 to 24 Utah!! It was a really good game. The defence couldn't seem to get a tackle to stick for a bit there but the offence worked hard enough to compensate. We won, comfortably... but it was hairy enough in the middle to make it a fun game to watch. 6 (yes 6!!) turnovers (all BYU, and all in the second half), not to mention that we almost had three more. Yep it was a really good game.
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Today is the B.I.G. game. We play BYU. We've won every single game played, they've lost one. If we win we get to go to a big bowl game. I don't really care about that, but I do think we should win. This is the biggest rivalry game (I'm sure you can imagine why), the one everybody looks forward to every year. I think we have a chance, but our offence has to step it up. Anyway I'll post the results tonight, we're going over to the inlaws to watch this afternoon. I hope the Kiddo actually lets me watch vs making me chase him all over the basement.

a Holiday meme

The Man and I have known each other for TEN years this December. We'll have been married for 5 this coming summer. (It really doesn't feel that long). Even with that length of time together we still really enjoyed doing this meme together. It was fun to talk about memories and be reminded how similar we really are in our views of what's important.

So I don't do a lot of these, in fact I do very very few. But I don't have anything else exciting to talk about so I thought I might as well. If you've got a minute it would be neat to know what your answers are... just cut n paste the questions into the comments box, delete my answers and type in your own.
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Christmas Questionnaire

1. EggNog or Hot Chocolate? Eggnog. Don't get me wrong I LOVE Hot Chocolate but I can have that any day of the year. Eggnog is seasonal, so for a holiday drink it tops the list.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them. What would be the point of unwrapped presents, isn't that what elves are FOR??

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored on the house, but white inside (or white and one single color like blue or green)

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I haven't yet but I kind of like the idea, sometimes the Man needs a kick hehe

5. When do you put up your decorations? First weekend of December'ish

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Turkey stuffing, with turkey mixed in, drenched in gravy.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I think my favorite is Christmas morning with us kids all in each others rooms trying to wait till we were aloud to go down stairs.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? For me there is no distinct before and after knowing. Which speaks volumes on how much importance we put on it. I think Santa should always be the "extra something" not the main event.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Never have.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Blue silver and white. Though, if I can afford it this year I might switch to green silver and white... that would be fun.

12. Can you ice skate? Um, define ice skate?

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The one that stuck out when I did this with the Man was my guinea pig. But I woke up this morning thinking hmmm I think that was a birthday present? Anyway, I've had a bunch of good gifts over the years but most of my favorite Christmas memories are more family focused.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? By far family. Mine little one here, and my big one in AZ.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pie, with ice cream. mmmmm pie....

16.. What is your favorite holiday tradition? When I was little it was hanging the stockings and the morning of sitting impatiently with lady D waiting to go down stairs. When I was older it was Christmas eve decorating the tree, cookies, eggnog, and the walk around the neighborhood with lady D and my bro P looking at the lights. I miss that SO much EVERY year.

17. What tops your tree? The ceiling *snicker*... ahem A white and silver star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, when it's the perfect gift and I know they'll love it.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? It's a tie between a couple. The Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas CD's are usually on repeat play once December hits. I want a hippo for Christmas makes me think of my mom and I smile every single time I hear it. And "River" (which is an unbelievably sad Christmas song, but I still love it). (for fun, a mini Christmas play list)

20. Candy Canes? Yes!!! But only the normal ones. Weird flavored candy canes are just... well... weird.

21. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Who doesn't? I think I'd feel better about it if they'd just wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate. For crying out loud people yeesh.

icecream

This is the kiddo having his very first ice cream cone!! I couldn't catch it on film but he was licking it with tiny licks like a kitten lapping up milk. He had so much fun eating it. And if you're wondering no, he didn't finish it (but he did eat a good 2/3's of it which was rather impressive).

And yes, I know, the picture quality kind of stinks, but all we had was a cell phone camera at the moment and, well, you make do with what you've got. (Plus, apparently, the man does NOT have a steady hand when it comes to photography).

Photo Editing

I love a good photoshop program. This is more of a photo editing thing but the cool part is they'll print it out and mail it to you. I've only just started messing with it but I love the oil painting editor and the collage thing is pretty darn cool too (that would save on having to buy 8 zillion frames). I can think of several pictures I'd love done in an oil panting style and printed on canvas (they DO that). At least one from my wedding, and probably a couple of the kiddo to start *chuckle*.

I followed a link from Dawn's review page over at Because I said So. She does a lot of neat reviews and contests so if you've got the time go check it out.

Anyway you do have to register to play with the site, but it's fun to play with so I think it's worth it.

Photofiddle

(click on the picture to make it bigger and see the detail, it's one of their paint style options)

woof

I got this one from Phelgm too. Anybody seeing a trend? She's a doggy person and has two very cute little puppies that make me really miss my Callie.

Maybe it's a lazy day for me *chuckle* So far all I'm doing is stealing posts. I suppose at least I'm posting something!! I didn't realize until last night that I hadn't posted anything at ALL yesterday. It's twilight zone week for me I guess. So, what breed are you? (I actually really do want to know, I think my results were pretty accurate).

Labrador Retriever
The Caretaker
Your family is what makes you tick, and you never "flea" from an opportunity to hang out with the whole gang. A family picnic complete with hot dogs, deviled eggs and a refreshing swim in the lake is hard for you to stray from. Your sparky temperament and dogged intelligence mean you are not only a blast to hang out with, but great to work with as well. Your close pals appreciate your patience and forgiveness, knowing you'd rather let sleeping dogs lie than dwell on the mishaps of the past. Your dashing good looks may one day lead to a modelling career, if only you can tame the unfortunate clumsiness that sometimes causes you to go flailing from the catwalk.

Fetch...

I'm unabashidly swipping this from Phelgm... she puts up good stuff. Anyway it makes me giggle every time I see it so I thought I'd share.

Monday morning catch up

If you haven't checked out the link on the side of my blog for the Cake Wrecks site, make sure you go look at Sundays post. They made an entire car out of CAKE!! yum *drool*

Sunday afternoon Chance and I spent a bit of time camped out in front of the tv (with apples and popcorn) and watched Tinkerbell. I was worried it would be very "barbie"ish (if you've seen the commercials for the barbie movies you know what I'm talking about). It really wasn't to bad though. The movie had so much potential (seriously how many of us adults are Tinkerbell fans!) but it was definitely made for kids. It makes me wonder if anybody will every make a Tinkerbell movie geared towards grown ups. My final review is it was cute and not to obnoxious. If I had a daughter I'd definitely be buying it and adding it to my collection.

The Turky update is I contacted the buyer and offered a refund if she returned it. She wrote back and said she'd super glued it and it looked fine so she will keep it. I'm glad. I still feel a guilty that it broke though. I thought it was packed well enough (so did the Man AND Ph).

My last rambling note is this... over the weekend I got some unsolicited Avon junk catalogues hung on my door. First let me say to anybody thinking of doing that it is NOT a good way to get business. Oh sure, I looked through the catalogues, then I marked the stuff I may want, and then I browsed online to find some place else to get them. I don't like to encourage junk mail *grin* The ultimate point of this paragraph though is to say that there is a cologne in there for Men (Black Suede) that smells absolutely devine. I tried to get the Man to tell me if he'd wear it and he wouldn't commit. You can get it off Ebay for about half the price of what Avon is selling it for and it's really not a bad price to begin with (comparatively). hmmm... ...

Hunting

This afternoon the Kiddo and I sat down and watched a pbs show about big cats (lions, tigers, mountain lions, puma's etc etc). Anyway when the show was over he crawled over towards me (he was on the floor I was sitting on the couch). I didn't think anything of it till I felt a sharp pain... he bit my leg!! When I hollered at him for it he said "but I want to hunt mommy, like the lions". I explained (after barely managing to stifle my laughter) that we don't hunt people. So, this is what he did....



As far as I can tell he wanted to drag her into a tree like the leopards do before he ate her.

bleh

Today I had big plans to be creative and sew beautiful things and be productive... but once I checked my email I became cranky so it probably wont get done.

I'm cranky because ... well, if you've checked out my etsy store lately you've probably noticed I've listed some craft stuff for the MIL. Last week one of those things sold. This morning I got a message from the buyer saying that a piece of it was broken when they got it. Granted I packed it in a bubble mailer with paper and plastic bags as extra cushion (instead of spending money on a box), but the thing was at least 3/4" thick wood so I figured it would be safe. Now I have to write this person and tell them if they want to return it I will happily refund the purchase price (minus shipping) and I'm really sorry bla bla

The whole thing is sooo much more trouble then it's worth just for good karma points and being a good DIL *big sigh*

Tomato soup and grilled cheese

The kiddo hasn't previously been very positive about the soup idea, he definitely still wont eat chicken noodle. But apparently he's changed his mind on tomato. He's even learning to dip his grilled cheese in it. hmmm Makes me hungry just looking at it.

Don't Ever Give Up

I think the video pretty much speaks for itself. I kept asking the Man if he thought the wing was supposed to fall off, you know, like a planned emergency to get people excited. He told me he didn't think so, he thinks it was real. Wow.

a brief recap

(they got along swell, he is giving her ugga mugga's in that first picture)

My weekend was wonderful. Ph flew in early Friday morning and we spent the day basically bumming around. We did go visit the Mans parents for a bit during the late afternoon but Ph didn't seem to mind at all. Saturday was beautiful and we spent a large part of it driving up Provo Canyon to visit our old haunting ground. Ph was a little shocked at how mish mashed it's gotten... the old farmhouses are still there, some of them more run down then ever, and sprinkled among them are the big expensive looking mansion style farmhouses and ranches. It's, to me, not a pleasant homey feel anymore. I've always said I'd move back in a heartbeat but every time I go back to visit I rethink that a little more.

The rest of the weekend was spent either window shopping and trying on shoes etc (I found the most amazing pair of pants which fit lovely but were a gasp inducing $50!! *wistful sigh*). Or hanging out. It was supposed to snow Sunday night but didn't and we were very disappointed, we did a little hot tubing anyway. She spoiled the living daylights out of Chance, and he loved every minute of it!

All in all it was a great visit and over way to quickly. I didn't take any pictures at all (aside from these few here) and spent four days strait talking (it's a wonder I don't have a horse throat).

back to the grindstone

Well Ph is gone home now. She left yesterday afternoon. I, being a lazy no good you know what, didn't feel like posting anything last night which leaves me playing guilty catch up this morning.

First a funny story (the Man says I MUST share). Friday morning the Kiddo and I bundled up and hustled to the car (several minutes late) to drive to the airport and pick up Ph. I had him, his diaper bag, my purse, a blanket, and my coffee... only I didn't have my purse. I found that out when I got to the car (which is a decent distance from the apartment). So as I was buckling Chance in I was (yes I admit it) distractedly swearing up a blue streak. shit shit shit shit shit... thinking hmm can I get away with locking him in and running back for the purse or will I get arrested and have my child taken away. (You know the drill I'm sure).

Okay do you have that image in your head?? There I am, kneeling in front of my child buckling his seat belts saying the S word... and the angel child pipes up, interrupting me from under the mound of blanket, and winter coat "no mommy, it's damnit!, say damnit"

I still snicker thinking about it. Yeah, I am SO getting the best mom of the year award. I was corrected on which swear word I used by my THREE YEAR OLD!! To give myself a little credit I told him "no, it's darNit, mommy should have said darNit, we don't say those other words huh."

visit

The visit is going very well. The kiddo is in love (he adores having people stay over) and we're all relaxing in good ol fashioned vacation style!

Meanwhile a lil bitty three-week-old pygmy hippopotamus made an appearance on the news last night so I (of course) went and found more pictures of the cute little critter. (all together now: aaaaaaaw)

The weekend approaches

Just to forwarn, the younger sis is coming to visit for a few days and posting will be minimal. We're really excited to have family coming (haven't seen her since last Oct.) and I'm hoping I've done everything I needed to do to prepare.

Lets see:

Groceries - Check

Couch Prepared - Check

Bathroom Cleaned - Check

Kid excited... Check

Dubai Mall Aquarium

Someday when I'm rich (and hopefully not famous) I am definitely going to visit the Dubai Mall Aquarium. I can't imagine the Man passing it up, he has a thing for sharks. He's even threatened to go down in a cage with em someday.

The many uses..

... of the fabulous silver stuff called Duct tape.

Okay I'm not really going to say anything about the many uses... just one, and this one is airborn. How'd you like to have been the passenger sitting next to her?

snow angel.. snow ball.. snow man..

Just in case you can't figure it out... I had to BRIBE him to get him to come back inside. Apparently he's a snow junkie.

brrr

On the plus side I live in an apartment so I don't have to shovel!

*sigh*

ah well, I did my part that's all I could do. Pretty words won the day, now to settle in and watch the nieve folks who listened to the pretty words realize that that's all they were. It could be fun, I've always liked to people watch...

yep you guessed it

In an attempt to defeat my own fatalistic attitude:

Thoughts for the day

bah humbug on anything election related! I'm boycotting tv and for the most part the internet. I don't want to know, I don't care, go tell your next bottle of cola... the bubbles will listen I swear it, and they'll even talk back at you... really... they will... ...

Instead I've spent the entire morning painting snowmen. I love tumbling snowmen. They're so frisky and quirky.

Three year old fashion...

woot

October went oddly well for us here at casa de L. This month appears to be starting off on the same note. The Man found out yesterday that he has a new work schedule starting today. He still works the four day'er. Still works at the same building. It's just that now he works from 5-3pm!! He is pretty happy about that and I am too, it'll be nice to have him home before 8pm. The Kiddo will love it too!!

A review in color...

a little mood music

This one is for you bestie. Get mad, stay mad, and use it to do the right things! (by the by I saw you added it to your blog already but wanted to post it here anyway).