This Week's Menu

This Week's Menu...I had several people wonder where this week's menu was.  Ok, it was less than 5, but that makes me feel bad for not putting one up here.  Nothing impressive.  Some of John's favs.  All comfort food.  Still bracing myself for Christmas food.

Fettuccine Bolognese (a fancy way of saying spaghetti)

Best Eva' Chili

Chicken Tetrazzini*

Dinner Party

Christmas Party

*I have no recipe for this.  I was just thinking of a creamy, chicken dish and new that tetrazzini was one of them.  I was talking to my friend and asked her if she has ever made it and how to do it.  Instead of giving me a recipe/step-by-step directions, she gave me a list of ingredients and I know exactly what to do.  My dad does this too.  I have received maybe 4 actual recipes from him.  99% of the time, he just gives me a list of ingredients and that's it.  No measurements.  No process.  I take it from there, and I get to make it myself.  It's more fun that way, am I right ladies?

Burl Replaced the Dog

This is going to be fun.  First, let me tell you about these reindeer antlers.  My dad has had them forever and loves to pull them out for Christmas and throw them on anything that moves.  At first it was me.  Then it was the dogs.  That's right, the dogs replaced me.  Now, it's Burl.  I'm not one for dressing up a baby in silly stuff, because I hate silliness, laughter, and fun.  Not.  

When my dad brought these over, I had to grab some solo pictures of Burl.  I think he looks quite handsome.  

My dad wanted his picture made with Burl to send out as a Christmas card.  He came over in his nicest, tennis ball green shirt and we took a lot of pictures.  We almost went with this one:

Then, we decided to go with this one, but we didn't send it as-is.  Nope.  We played around with the picture on Picnik.  Am I the last one to know about this?  It's a free picture editing website that does great stuff.  For $2 a month, there are extra features (like airbrush).  So far, I've stayed with the free stuff, and I'm loving it.  

Here was the picture before:

It took us a while to decide what to write on the card.  Most of the time was spent laughing.  I was SO CLOSE to getting my dad to write "Happy Kwanza" on there.  So close.

Kwanza or Christmas, it turned out pretty cute.  Here is the picture after:

Pretty fun, right?  If you haven't tried Picnik, get on there.  It's a lot of fun.  That's how I made the cookie exchange pictures.

One Quirky Sister

There is a new blog that I am very excited about.  I'm more excited about this blog than I've ever ever ever been about a blog before.  It's called One Quirky Sister.  Here's the gal:

Isn't she adorable?  She my cousin and her name is Abby and she is "a spunky teenager who is very independent and outgoing."  Here are some facts about Abby:

1. She drives a white VW bug.  It has a flower vase by the steering wheel.

2. She wants to be a teacher.

3. She is going away to college.  Sniff, sniff.

4. She is a babysitter extraodinaire, like the kind that folds your laundry and cleans your house while doing super fun things with your babies.

5. She lurvs Burl.

6. One of her best friends lives two doors down from me.

7. She is in student leadership.

8. She is SUCH a cute dresser.  Like, super cute.

9. She loves to dance.

10. She is an actress at school.

11. She has a beautiful, older cousin who has a baby named Burl.

12. She is one inch shorter than me and this makes me nervous because she might keep growing and I might have to pass on the crown for tallest person in the family.  I like that crown and I'm not ready to pass it up.  Thank goodness I still have the crown for being the most awesomest out of all the cousins. 

13. She's loud...like really, loud, but not as loud as me.

 Another great thing about her is that she sends super cute, fun mail.  Remember this sweet card that she sent me?  Well, last week, she sent me another card.  And I fell even more in love with her.  I lurv it.

Also, she has some pretty awesome sisters.  One of them is a little bit younger than her, drives a really cool old, red, truck, has short hair, a funky style, and loves photography.  Her old sister is way cool too.  She is a nurse, great babysitter, spent a year in Colorado, and I love getting to talk and catch up with her.

I would also like to take a minute to say (if you can't tell by now) that these 3 sisters are so cool and so great.  John and I got to babysit them overnight a few times and he agrees that these girls turned out great.  Once, John and I asked my aunt and uncle what they did as parents to make their kids so great.  Here was what we got: "Um, I have no idea.  Thanks, you're so sweet."  No really, what do you do?  "Well, I apologize to them a lot."  

To be honest, I think that's pretty good parenting advice-and good LIFE advice as well.

This post wasn't really about that story, it just kind of popped in here.  This post is about my new favorite blog, ONE QUIRKY SISTER.  Check it out.

Catalog Living, Take 2

Buying and wrapping gifts.

Decorating the house even better than the year before.

Trying to squeeze in small amounts of time and effort to focus on the real meaning of Christmas.

Yeah, holiday stress is on the prowl.  Forget about it all, and treat yourself to a laugh...maybe a laugh at yourself.  I've blogged about this before, but I think that it's so funny that it deserves to be repeated.  Compliments of Catalog Living.

...............................................................................................................................

Take it Inside...

“NO MORE PICNICS!!!” Gary yelled with satisfaction as he sent the sled flying down the hill.

The best part of waking up...

Gary thought Elaine’s bedding choice was particularly cruel, given his recent vow to give up caffeine.

 Wheels are turning...

Elaine, you know my Napping Couch is where I get all my gift ideas, so if you didn’t want a tandem bike for Christmas you shouldn’t have put that picture there.

Driving me crazy 

I don’t want to take all the credit, but the roads have been a lot safer since I got these toys for Gary to act out his road rage.

Sands of time

Elaine, just once could we have a conversation without you saying “your time starts now” and flipping that thing over?

...............................................................................................................................

Wouldn't it be funny if we all took pictures of our house and posted funny captions.  I'm pretty sure that I have 874 vignettes in my house that would be great for this!  

Hope your holidays are keeping you laughing, not stressing!