Crochet lessons!!

For the last two Tuesday nights we have been trying to learn how to Crochet. A friend was suppossed to come give us lessions but she wasn't able to come...so we YouTubed it! But because we have poor service we couldn't watch the entire video but it got us started!

Megan and her girls are there for our entertainment and lots of hugs and kisses.

I made this hat!! It is a little big so I'm going to find directions before I make another one because after I got started I just made up how to make the rest!!

We got a treat last night because Analeise is home from college. She is usually off in the big city of Austin being a Longhorn.

Aunt Rachel is showing off her scarf she is working on.

Like with all of our activities, Aunt Becky is an observer and entertainer. She is showing off her "air crochet" skills here.

My mom also made up her own stitch and is making a cute scarf. Of course, my Sassy was there for our girls night.

Gran Gran always has a treat for us prepared. Here she is making Hot Punch which is so yummy this time of year. Here is the recipe:

Using a 12 cup percolator:

3 C Gingerale

3C Apple Juice

3 C Pineapple Juice

In the basket put about 5 cloves, a cinnamon stick and about 1/4 a small bag of red hots.

Brew and enjoy!

We will probably be crocheting for the next few Tuesdays. After that I don't know what is on our agenda. Any suggestions??

Pie Crust Lessons

Every Tuesday night is our girls night. We usually go to Gran Gran's house and watch whatever is on at the time and read the latest US Weekly. Gran Gran always has some celebrity in her prayers! Lindsey Lohan frequents the list and I am not really sure who is on the top of it right now!! The last few months we have been watching Dancing With The Stars. But, our favorite is The Bachelor!! Coming this January!

This week my mom hosted girls night and had pie crust lessons! My dad has cooked almost every meal for as long as I can remember because my mom claims she can't cook. Which really isn't true because when she does cook it is always great. She has a few things she is always in charge of and one is pies. The pie plate is always licked clean when she has cooked them!

It was a blast! We made 10 pie crusts and four chocolate pies and laughed the entire time. :)

Here is mom's pie crust and chocolate pie recipe:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I hope you eat lots of delicious pies and other good food.

The Christmas Card Debate

After hours of trying to decide on a design, picture and website to use to make our Christmas I had decided against it. I was spending way too much time on it and didn't know if it was necessary. I love receiving cards from friends every year and seeing their adorable families, but Brett didn't really see the point of sending just us and I had decided the same.

That is, until I was catching up on my daily blogs today and learned that Shutterfly will give away 50 Christmas cards to bloggers if they blog about it. So, here I am blogging about it!

Go to THIS link if you want to do the same.

May as well do it since it is free, right?

I think this is the photo we will use:

This being our first year of marriage, of course I have to use a wedding photo! Maybe Sam will make the card next year. Poor thing.

Here are some other links to Shutterfly. I have used it to make note cards and shower invites in the past. It is an easy website to use, the quality is great and it ships quickly.

Christmas Cards

Holiday Photo Cards

Upload Pictures to share

Make a New Candle from Old Ones!

Somehow I ended up with a lot of candles that I could no longer burn because the wicks were too short. I felt like there was so much wax and I just couldn't throw it all away! Kari told me how to fix this dilemma! You can buy wicks for about $3 at a craft store and make a new candle!

Place the candles in a little water and heat slowly until all of the wax has melted.

Remove the old wicks with a fork or something when they have melted enough to do so.

Use a pot holder and pour the wax into one or several jars. After it begins to cool a little place the new wicks in the wax and let it cool.

Now you have a brand new candle that smells so good because it is a mix of all your favorite candles!!

Homemade Sushi

I stayed in East Texas for the weekend because it was my 10 year high school reunion. I really considered not going, but I am so glad I did. I didn't go to the football game Friday night, but rode in the parade on Saturday and went to the party Saturday night. It was fun seeing old classmates I haven't seen since graduation!!!

Since I was in town all weekend, I got to hang out with Heather from Match Made In East Texas. We talk all of the time, but rarely get to actually get together. We made sushi at her house and had a blast. I had never made it before and can't wait to do it again!

The preparation was a lot of time and work, but that was part of the fun.

Sushi grade fish is not available where we were so we made California and Crawfish Rolls. They were delicious!

Heather also whipped up some amazing fried rice. We ate every last bite and I am craving more right now. I'm hoping she blogs the recipe because I don't know exactly how she did it and I need to know!!

I can't wait to experiment with more homemade sushi! So good and so much fun!

A Spooktacular Dinner

Aunt Mary hosted the second annual family Halloween Dinner the other night and it was SO much fun. She got super creative and cooked all kinds of yummy and spooky food. I don't know how she did it all! Check out all of these delicious foods she created!!

Boo Berries
Skeleton Brownies
Mummy Bread = Sausage Cheese Bread
Ghostly Sammies = Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Bat Blood Shooters = Tomato Soup Shooters
Dirty South Sausage Eyeballs = Phyllo dough stuffed with seasoned sausage balls

Coffin Dip
Rats In Blood = Porcupine balls with marinara sauce.

Eyeball Pasta = Sausage, pasta, marinara and mozzarella balls

Gran Gran, Neil and Braelyn in her adorable Halloween outfit.

I went as Pioneer Woman with my chicken ready to cook.

All of the appetizers.

Already looking forward to next year!! Thanks Aunt Mary!

To Clarify

There has been a very big misunderstanding at our house and I wanted to clear things up. In my last post I mentioned that The Sound Of Music was one of Brett's favorite movies. Well, I was VERY wrong about this! He only said he thinks it could be one of MY favorite movies, not one of his! It now is one of my favorite movies, but again it is not one of HIS! Apparently he was given a hard time about this by some of his very manly friends that just happen to read our blog.

Anyway. I needed to show some pictures of a few of the very masculine things Brett loves to do to prove to some people he doesn't enjoy watching classic movies in his spare time.

(Baking Pumpkin Cream Pies is not fun to him either.)

Rebuilds transmissions (and all kinds of other stuff I don't know what are) for his Jeep.

Feeds our family for the entire year with meat from his various hunts.

Spends time in the wilderness with his dog.

Grows outrageous facial hair.

Rescues me from giant rats.

Welds, puts faces back together, hikes through blizzards in the mountains, rock climbs in the jeep, doesn't sleep for 36 hours a time and so many other things that don't include The Sound of Music and baking.

I love my manly husband. And I love that he will watch The Sound of Music with me even if his friends make fun.

At least he doesn't sit around and read blogs. (Dr. M********y) :)

A Week Off

I was SO excited to get to spend the whole week + in Dallas with Brett because that never happens. But, poor Brett has had too work non stop since I have been here. 3 of the 6 nights I have been in town he has been on call and worked all night and the next day with no rest and then comes home and crashes with no dinner, tooth brushing or anything! I don't know how these guys do it. They are machines.

Anyway, I have been trying to find ways to keep myself busy. I am not used to having this spare time! Not that I'm complaining...

Ok so here is what I have done so far this week.

Organized every cabinet in the house. I ended up re-arranging the entire kitchen and I love it. This is obviously an in progress picture!

I hung another closet rod in this closet and cleaned it up a little.

Now we don't have to take cover every time we open the door!!

Of course I have been cooking up a storm.

I made Tasty Kitchen/PW's Outrageous Garlic Soup which was totally Outrageous! I mean this was so good. I got some italian sausage links, sliced them and cooked them and added them to the soup which I think made it even better. I will make this again, no doubt.

I started going to Yoga. I love it. I went for 5 days in a row, but skipped today. A yoga studio down the street has a special for $10 for 10 days and that is what I am doing. I'll probably join though. The room is about 100 degrees and the classes are an hour and a half but somehow it feels so good. I have a mini panic attack for about the first 5 minutes after I walk in because I feel like I can't breathe, but then I get used to it.

I also cooked these: Pumpkin Creme Pies

Oh my these were good too. I made them too big though. If you make them, do it smaller than what I did because this is a lot to eat.

I can't take total credit for these cute things. Brett helped out a lot. I'm sure that is just what he wanted to do on a night off, but we got to hang out that way!

I made another piece of spray paint artwork with another board from the attic.

Cooked a whole chicken which was awesome. Here is what I did:

Preheat oven to 450.

• Stuff chicken with onion, garlic, fresh rosemary and lemon.
• rub chicken with olive oil and cover with fresh chopped herbs ( I just used Rosemary), garlic powder, sea salt and pepper.
• Throw in any veggies you want around the chicken. I used sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots. Sprinkle a little olive oil and about 1/4 cup water around veggies.
• Cook for 1hr 15 to 1 hr 30 and baste periodically to get this golden brown color.

So moist and yummy.

I also used some funny quotes and some wedding pics to make note cards with some blank cards I had.

(I'll bring them home so you can see them. I know some of you see a pic of yourself in there!)

We also joined Netflix. The first month is free so I figured I would take advantage of it. I have already watched a few movies and documentaries. Last night we watched "The Sound Of Music". If I have ever see it, I didn't remember, but I loved it. That is one of Brett's favorite movies and he has been trying to get me to watch it since we started dating.

Tonight I made this Risotto. I had never made Risotto before and it was maybe the best PW meal yet. Thankfully Beth was able to come over to enjoy it with me.

I made PW's Risotto and did the shrimp as it was done here and added to it.

This recipe makes enough to feed a small village so it would be great for a dinner party.

(The iPhone just doesn't show the deliciousness of these pics like I want it to. A new camera is my next investment. Any suggestions?)

I actually ended up working here today at the nursing home, which was great. Going to meet a friend and her new baby bump tomorrow for lunch in Waco :)

No plans for Friday, but I'm sure there will be laundry to do by then....!

The good news is Brett has all weekend off! The first in over a month. Not sure what we will do. Maybe Fright Fest at Six Flags? We have season tix but have only gone once....