5 on Friday: Shots of Turkey Day!

It doesn't even feel like Friday...

1.  A great Thanksgiving

We did our family tradition for the fifth year.  A trip to Boone for the day and a yummy lunch, a bit of browsing, the quest for the perfect tree, and a stop to some friends we only see on Thanksgiving.  

This year there was added fun - snow.

Four inches to be concise.

If you're from the South then that's a lot of snow.  If you're from the mountains in the South then that's not really anything.  However, to a six year old and a one year old that is magical.

2.  A great tree

If you need a Christmas tree and are not partial to the ones that come in a box and sit in a closet or attic then you need to go see the Greene Family at Greene Family Tree Farm in Boone, North Carolina.  We have been going for five years and every year is a lot of fun.  We take the tractor ride up to the field and walk around thousands of trees trying to find just the right one.  This year we have a 6 foot slimmer beauty than in years past.

3.  A great family

When we came back from "them thar hills" our heat went out in the house.  As in the high was 38 and heat was critical.  It didn't take but a few phone calls before my brother, dad, and uncle were on a mission to find the piece we needed.  We had heat restored in about an hour.

My brother put a "Thankful For" status on Facebook.  I'll just let you read it:

"Kinda late, but I'm thankful for my sister and her family. She's always been there for me, and probably one of the few people I honestly can depend on and trust. Her husband is like the big brother I never had, and I appreciate everything that we do, from cutting wood, to moving furniture, to watching the game. They're both model parents with a beautiful daughter and a handsome son. I'm beyond blessed to call them my family, and I hope to have the type of family that they have. I love y'all!"

4.  Saying "No" to Thanksgiving Shopping

I opted against going out on Thanksgiving evening to "score a deal"...instead I made cookies with my little girl and watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  I scored great q time with my child instead.

5.  Saying "OK" to brief Black Friday Shopping

I did it....for forty-five minutes I went to an empty Walmart and quiet Lowes and got what I wanted.  Yes, we finally have bar stools...thank you Lowes.  To the sales guy at Lowes, thank you for being above and beyond and not just loading my cart but pushing it all through the store so I could do a little "browsing" and also for loading my car.  That dude rocked in excellence.

You know you are getting old when your Walmart list for Black Friday consists of bed sheets, a shop vac, and Rubbermaid containers.  Can you believe they had it all?  Hahaha.

Happy Thanksgiving

Find this at: eyedrawit.com

From our little house to your warm hearts we wish you an amazingly gracious and blessed Thanksgiving.

May your belly be full

Your hearts be light

Your mouth turned up in a smile!

Snapshots: The Start of the Holiday Season

Christmas music on the radio....fresh baked pumpkin pies....a cold week ahead.....and runny noses.  Here are the pictures from how the Holiday Season started rolling for us.


Friday - Bed Race

My camera on my phone sucks to the extreme.  I only had a few pictures semi turn out.

Friday - The crowd was pretty thick at the Bed Race.  Luckily, I saw Katie and could squeeze in beside her and her beautiful girls.  I cannot tell you who won the race but I can totally admit the little kids in their "race" was super cute.  Little Superheroes and princesses pulling wagons...so funny!

I wish I would have had a camera that worked but um...yeah no.

I came home and made two pumpkin pies!

The Diva and I cuddled up and watched Eloise At Christmastime.  We do that every year!

Saturday -  Parade Day

In years prior the roll back was loaded down with tons of people!  This year there was plenty of room to move around on the truck.

Little Man got to join in the fun this year.  My mom couldn't watch him because she was sick.  He and I sat in the cab and waved and threw out candy and my phone to the crowds.  Yes, my cell phone.  I got it back.

I had issues with saying Merry Christmas during the parade since um.....its Thanksgiving.

I also have issues with "Christmas Parades" held prior to Thanksgiving.  Oh well.

Sunday - The winter air found us!  It was a very blustery day and it is here to stay for a while.  Our high was around 36!  We stayed in and enjoyed our new kitchen, watched Christmas movies, and enjoyed each other's company.  Pretty perfect!

Elves & Evil Shoppers

Yes, we have one.  His name is Red.  He came to our home last year.

Can I just say whoever came up with this idea is a freakin' rock star?  Seriously!  If I want my kid to mind her p's and q's by gosh that Elf can get it done.

Apparently, you can bring your Elf back at any time you see fit during the year.  I read the book and there is nothing saying you have to wait until Thanksgiving night.  I do believe that is a good rule of thumb though.  Think about it....if I would have brought Red back in September I seriously doubt that thing would have the amazing power he has from Turkey Day - Christmas Eve.

This year I have been toying with how the small, over priced retro decoration will make his grand appareance.  I had a few ideas and I'll pass them along.

1.  In a wrapped box, nestled under Christmas pajamas, popcorn and hot cocoa packets.  I saw the box of pajamas and stuff on a post my friend Ashley put on Facebook a month ago and thought that would be a cool way to reintroduce him.

2.  In the "mail" - that's how he arrived anyway.  Wrap a shipping box in red paper and set it on the porch like FedEx had brought it by.  Side note:  my daughter gets letters from Santa three times a year to let her know that he sees her and what she needs to work on or be praised on.  Mail is pretty important.

3.  Just stuff him somewhere and see if she spots him.

I'm leaning towards number one.

I'm also debating on him coming the day before Thanksgiving or the actual Turkey Day.  I had thought it would be cool for us to get back from our mountain adventure and for her to find the present in the middle of the floor.  Ok....that excites me.

So what are you guys thinking?  Do you have an EOTS?  Share your ideas with me and my readers.  We'd love it.

_____

Black Friday is upon us but I think that term is out dated.  Should we call it Materialistic Thursday?

I am saddened that Thanksgiving - a holiday that gets ran over by Christmas (hello my last few posts) is now getting trampled by people out to "get a deal"...

I used to be a Black Friday shopper.  I would fuel up on black coffee at 2am and stand in lines with other insane asylum cohabitants.  Now that I look back on it I never scored an incredible deal...those generally came a week or two later.

I do not miss the thrill of the woman stomp woman or man shoot man shopping event.

The real reason I quit Black Friday Shopping?  It is the fact humans become evil over a toy that a kid will play with for a day and then say they are bored with.  Does that make any sense?

So as I type this I realize there is something that I want and it totally screws me over:

1.  It is priced extremely well. (I am a tightwad)

2.  It is only offered on Thanksgiving evening.  (No one should have to work during Thanksgiving except medical professionals and policemen, they are necessary to taking care of the woman who stomped the other woman for the Barbie and the man who shot the other man over a television set.)

3.  Though it be something no one else cares about I would have to be around those demented nut jobs who have been gearing up for this event for the 364 days prior to it coming to life. (And they can cause me to be rather ill.)

Ah hell...I think I am in between a rock and a hard space on this one.

What do you think?

Yummy meal & December Templates

Since it is the week we eat and eat and eat I decided to put some recipes up for you guys.  These are two of my own recipes and they are quite yummy if I do say so myself.  Let's just call this Brownie's Meal For You.

I do realize we are at that time of year where we are all about Mr. Tom Turkey and all his savory goodness.  However, I wanted to give him a break and focus on Caroline Cow and all her deliciousness.

Here's the meal plan:

Main Course:

Oven Roasted Garlic & Herb Beef

Roasted red potatoes, asparagus and onions

Finale:

Easy pumpkin pie

Recipes:

For my oven beef roast I purchased a 2 1/2 pounder.  I also used some of my new Corningware to bake this in - you do not want to cover the meat as it cooks.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  While the oven is heating up you can make a rub like mine:

1/2 tablespoon of garlic pepper

dash of salt

1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning

Mix these together and rub over the meat.

Place it in the oven for 2 hours and fifteen minutes!

When the time is winding down to about 45 minutes on the beef slice your onion and red potatoes and cut your asparagus to your liking.  I layered the veggies on a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil: potatoes, asparagus, onion.  Then I drizzled a tablespoon of EVOO and sprinkled a bit of salt.  I wrapped it tight and let it cook on the top rack for 45 minutes.

Yummy!

Easy Pumpkin Pie:

It is truly easy...and makes two deep dish pies.

1 can of pumpkin

1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice

1 can of evaporated milk

1 egg (beaten)

1 cup of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 frozen pie crust

Preheat oven to 375

Mix all ingredients together, pour in pie shell bake for 45 minutes.

After I did some cooking I realized that my calendar addicted self did not have a calendar for December up in my kitchen.

I'm kind of addicted to using a calendar.

Then I remembered a blog site I used to ADORE!  They made the cutest monthly templates for calendars.  Guess what?  They still do!  Sad news?  December 2013 is the LAST freebie for the monthly calendar.  UNCOOL!  Oh well....here it is and here's a {link} so you can print a cutie pie for yourself.

Created by Hello Cuteness (click the link above)


And since December is upon us and the fat man will be making his rounds very very soon....here' s an adorable template we used over the weekend to write our Santa Letter on!

Go here to get it Wink Design

Five on Friday!

I am kicking off the holiday season today!  Join me!

Compliments of my little girl

1.  Turkey Day is 6 days away!

I'm ready for Boone!  Bring it on.

2.  New tradition in the making!

Tonight is the bed race and tree lighting I blogged about yesterday.  I am looking forward to enjoying these events with my six year old.  I cannot wait to see Little Man's face when they turn the lights on!

pic from allenellenberger.com

3.  The Christmas Parade is tomorrow!

Got to admit I love riding on the Osborne Tire roll back!  Chunking candy, shop rags, and koozies is way too much fun for a thirty something.

4.  I have started my Christmas shopping!

Yes folks I have 27 people to buy for and that list is down to 24.  Let's celebrate the small things ok?

allrecipes.com

5.  Black Forest Cake

A lot of people have no clue this is my most favorite cake of all time.  I'm going to attempt to make one this weekend.  If it's good I'll send you a virtual slice.  Hehe.

Traditions

I am not sure where my brain has been but apparently it has taken a vacation without letting me know.  The other day I was reading one of my preferred blogs {Tattered To Taylored} and commented she didn't need to worry over Thanksgiving since it was two weeks away.

Um...????  

Thanksgiving was 9 days from the post she had put up.  

See, my brain is somewhere tropical obviously.

So now I am facing the fact that I am two weeks behind on everything and I am getting a little nervous!  There is a lot on the agenda for us this time of year and I'm trying to bring myself into current time and not backwards.  I guess we can blame this loss of calendar space in the brain on the house and parenting right?

----

Now that I am getting back into gear I thought I would share some of our traditions (I haven't forgot those) that we have for Thanksgiving.

1.  The Christmas Parade

Photo from Christmas Parade past - eventcrazy.com (yes that's my downtown)

Ironically it is held before Thanksgiving so I think they should change the name to the Thanksgiving Parade.  If you haven't guessed we live in a small town.  Now, its not the smallest of smalls with a population sign on the "Welcome" sign but it is not a large booming metropolis.  

We have a Mayberry-esque downtown (DT) and unfortunately it cannot hold a business to save its life.  There is one good restaurant, a vet clinic, a dog groomer, a pool hall, and a bar.  Of course it is also the hub for business for the county and a few small town law firms.

The DT of this little place only really comes to life for events like:  The Christmas Parade, The Criterium, and a couple of little events through out the year like The Daniel Boone Festival and Four Oaks Festival)...

For the past five years we've been a part of the Christmas Parade by riding on my husband's work's float (which consists of a rollback decorated with as many people as can fit and items to throw at the attendees).  Our daughter LOVES this - I think its the whole throwing stuff at people that really gets her excited.  Must admit I kinda like that part too.

Since little man is a toddler he will not be joining us as we creep down Main Street this year.  I think I would be a nervous wreck as he tried to do death defying feats.

2.  Tree Lighting

This is it.  Thanks to afar.com for letting me use their picture.

This used to be a tradition for me when I was a little girl.  Back to Downtown...there are four huge Oak Trees on the square of this little town and a few years ago it was decided to deck them in lights and Griswald those babies up.  When I was a kid there was a massive evergreen placed beside the courthouse and they would light it up.  I'm not sure why they quit with the evergreen but it doesn't matter because seeing the oaks lit up is a pretty site.  However, its not just the trees that get some white light magic, the outline of the buildings are all donned with white lights as well.  It is very pretty.

Along with the tree lighting they also do a bed race now (slow down fast girls it isn't that kind of bed race).  We have yet to attend this so I believe it will be the newest tradition to our holiday schedule.

3.  Thanksgiving Day

Photo from greenetreefarm.com

Ahhh my favorite holiday on earth.  Don't get me wrong I'm super happy Jesus was born and we celebrate his birth (though it is a little too materialistic and big business) but if you want to make me happy give me Thanksgiving.  No hassles, no worries, no debit card craziness....ahhh.

When our first born was a tiny baby we had a lot of issues with holidays.  My family is split since my mom and dad divorced when I was at the tender age of 27.  My husband's family is also split but he has more to do with his dad's side than his mom's.  So when you throw in three different family events all around the same time of day and a little tiny baby you get overwhelmed.

We decided when our baby was about to celebrate her second Turkey Day there would be no more extended family Turkey Day celebrating.  We would take that precious day and use it for our little family and our little family alone.

It was decided we would go to Boone for the day.  We would get a traditional Thanksgiving meal and then go on up the mountain to get our Christmas tree.  All the while it would be at a slow, nice pace so we could enjoy our time together in a different environment.

We always hit up the same restaurant even though their new location in a strip mall sucks. Then we do a little fun Christmas shopping and off we go to {Greene Tree Farm} to get our pretty little Christmas Tree.  The day isn't done until we have stopped at the Wilkesboro Walmart to get some decorations for the tree. Dang, Brownie is always bringing Walmart into this!

When we get home the tree goes up as do the decorations and then we all veg out together and watch football.  

Ok guys I think my mind is back on track....lets do this holiday season thang in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.....

Booger Eaters & Antibac

So the miniature humans that I work around Monday-Thursday are disgusting.  I mean seriously, have you spent time around 3-5 year olds for more than five minutes?  They do some pretty gross things and the number one gross thing I have seen them do is something we all know that small kids, elderly, and the guy beside you at the stop light do....pick their nose and eat their findings.

It seriously grosses me out.

Really.

Now we're like in the funk of weather that gives us a 70 degree day and less than 24 hours later it is 30 degrees out.  That is prime weather for even more rewards in the nose picking department for a whole slew of nose pickers and eaters.

Our classroom lives by three things 

1.  Play time  

2.  Pray time  

3.  Magic Soap

Magic Soap is pretty freakin' important as the booger eaters and thumb suckers and hand lickers get busted they get sent to either:

a) the bathroom for supervised hand washing 

or 

b) the magic soap dispenser.

Magic Soap is hand sanitizer.

Over the weekend I was catching up on some smart reading (smart = public health crap) and I was totally reeled in by the need to get rid of antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers for daily use.  Yes, nurses and doctors need them but the rest of us do not really need them on the daily.  They aren't helping us but making us a little weaker in the immunity department.

So as I see another one of my sweeties claim that green snot and devour it I'm left crying and whispering to myself antibac....antibac....antibac.

Then over the weekend I develop this annoying upper respiratory infection.

Seems like all the magic soap, Lysol, Clorox, and alcohol (rubbing) hadn't helped me out.  I was the gold mine for all things green and gooey and I was manufacturing it at a speed at which demand wasn't met because it backed up and caused me to mouth breathe (gross).

After several doses of Mucinex and my allergy medication I was able to maneuver about without much issue.  

Moral of the story....

I may just take sides with the smart read and let the antibac stuff go out the door for now, it apparently is making me weaker!!!

Lesson to pass on...
Continue to drill it in your kid's head that it isn't cool to let snot roll down their face, spray on to their pants, or hang out on their hands.

Nor is it cool to lick your hands and gobble down your boogers.



Ok, my gag reflex just kicked in....excuse me!

3 Things Tuesday

Three things on my brain and paint ain't one of them!

Let me show you what I got for the kitchen on my shopping trip last week:

1.  New dishes

Well I could not find anything I liked anywhere.  And then as I was in Target I saw these and was like SCORE!  I love the color (I'm an orange fan) and they are muted (proper name is Brick) so they go perfectly with the kitchen. 

2.  I love these knives!

These are Hampton Forge 13 piece Cutlery Set - man oh man!  They are super sharp and therefore cut super well.  I've enjoyed using them to prep for some recipes this week.

3.  Kohl's CorningWare was on sale!!!!

I really just love this stuff like with all my heart.  I am so happy to have more than one piece now.

Monday, May I Show You Something?

As in may I show you my kitchen?

Yes, I'm revealing my 97% completed kitchen today!  You can thank Mackenzie for this.  She said she had to see my counter tops and when I realized I had NO pictures on my phone then I decided - blog post time.

So let's take a stroll back down memory lane:

Here is the original shot of my kitchen.  A lot of white...a lot.

And then we started gutting her out...

This process was a long and took a lot of hard work (in overalls) but after three weeks she was down to the bare basics.

After new electrical (recessed lighting, new plugs), a new floor (ceramic tile), and fresh paint (Valspar Redstone Blue Spruce) she was ready for some cabinets.

Kitchen Vision (Winston-Salem/Lake Norman) delivered our cabinets (made by Wolf) on November 11, 2013.  That's a lot of cabinets ya'll.

The installation process took two days.  To say we were excited to see these is an understatement!

This is the near final result of our work and dedication.  As you can tell we are living in it too!!!  Yes, we are in love with our new kitchen.

The counter tops are beautiful!

Two happy people on Sunday morning in a new kitchen that fits this family so dang well.

So what is left?  Moulding, new windows and a door to the laundry room.  They should be completed in the next 7 to 10 days.