The Birthday Boy

Today, my sweet husband turns 31!  Of course he wouldn't want me to draw attention to the fact that it is his birthday, but this is my blog so I can do whatever I want to :)

Since it is his 31st birthday, I have listed 31 things I love about him.

I love...

1. His sense of humor
2. His determination
3. His soft spot for Koby
4. His handyman skills 
5. His willingness to use those skills to help anyone who asks
6. When he laughs out loud while watching a TV show, even if he's the only one in the room
7. The way he compromises with me
8. His passion
9. His work ethic
10. The pride in his face when he has accomplished something great
11. The way he supports me
12. His sense of adventure
13. The way he challenges me
14. His faith and the ways he has helped me grow in mine
15. His fun-loving spirit
16. His willingness to try new things
17. His love for the Wildcats
18. His loyalty (he has been a Royals fan all his life)
19. His understanding
20. That he does the majority of our laundry :)
21. When he's patient with me
22. That he could live life very simply and be perfectly happy
23. His leadership
24. That he loves kids and will make an awesome dad some day
25. His sensitive side
26. That he isn't afraid to cut loose and have a good time
27. That he reminds me not to take things too seriously
28. That he isn't afraid to make tough decisions
29. That he has quirks - like wearing his church socks all day on Sunday because he doesn't think it is necessary to wear two pairs of socks in one day or that he craves milk after he works out
30. That he can't keep secrets
31. That he chose me as his wife

Happy Birthday, honey!  I can't imagine a day without you in my life!

In other birthday related news, we celebrated big over the weekend, completing item #1 on our January To-Do List.  On Friday night, we went out to dinner, just the two of us.  We had a gift card that we had been given for Christmas and intended to put it to use.  As we were waiting for our table, one of Brandon's sub-contractors saw us and came to chat with us for a bit.  Once our name was called, we headed our table and he headed back to his.  Since we had a gift card to this particular restaurant and were celebrating Brandon's birthday, we didn't skimp on our dinner.  After an appetizer, salads, and our entrees, we were stuffed and happy!  As soon as the waiter cleared our table, he informed us that we had an "admirer" that had taken care of our ticket.  We couldn't believe it, but knew that it had to be Brandon's sub-contractor.  He is a super nice guy anyway, but we just couldn't believe he would pick up our whole ticket, and we hadn't even mentioned that it was Brandon's birthday!  So, after we composed ourselves, we found his table and thanked him profusely for his kind gesture.  And, now we get to go back to the restaurant again to use our gift card!

On Saturday, we decided we needed to get some things done around the house and then I had a full day of cooking for his family birthday dinner that night.  Brandon got another crazy idea to finish insulating our garage and then he bought a few more sheets of sheet rock to install, completing item #2 on our list.  I think the garage has become his new playground since he can't do anything in the yard.  A while back he told me that guys tend to enjoy mowing the lawn because they can escape from their wives...I'm beginning to wonder if the garage is becoming his winter "escape".  Here are a few pics of the new digs:

{New cabinets and counter tops}

{New insulation and sheet rock}

While he was messing around in the garage, I cleaned house, ran a few errands, and then baked his birthday cake.  I used this recipe for the cake and the frosting and I have to say, I think it turned out pretty good! 

Obviously, if you looked at the recipe, this isn't a cake I would make on a regular basis, given the crazy amount of butter in the cake and frosting, but for a special occasion it is certainly delicious!

Brandon, of course, wanted to smoke some meat for dinner, so he decided on a pork tenderloin and a rump roast.  He got them all rubbed down the night before and after he finished his garage project, he fired up the smoker and got the meat cooking!  

 

Everyone who came to dinner raved about the meat, which made Brandon proud!  I think he has learned something new each time he has smoked and is finding ways to perfect his methods.  I envision a lot of smoked meat in our future!

After dinner, he got to open his gifts.  He got LOTS of smoking-related gifts including rubs, sauces, and chips.

He also spoiled part of my gift, which was a gift card to get his golf clubs re-gripped.  I was struggling with what to get him because he can't even decide what to do with his Christmas money, let alone his birthday money.  When he mentioned that he wanted to get his clubs re-gripped I thought that would be a perfect gift from me.  Well, I got him the gift card and then on Saturday afternoon, hours before he was going to open the gift card, he decided he wanted to go take his clubs right then to be re-gripped.  Trying not to blow the surprise, I told him he didn't need to do that and maybe he should wait until later in the week since we had so much to get done.  Well, after a little communication problem, we were headed out to pick up a few things at the store and I thought we were also going to the golf shop to look at the grips.  I knew the guy at the golf shop would recognize me and would probably think we were coming in to use the gift card, so as we were driving down the street I felt like I had to tell him that I already got him the gift card and we might as well just take his clubs in.  Well, he didn't think we were going to the golf shop since I had thrown a little fit so he says I ruined the surprise.  Either way, he's very happy he is getting new grips!





After he opened his gifts it was time to blow out the candles on his cake.  Unfortunately, as he blew out his candles (since there were soooo many) he also blew sprinkles all over the table.  Next time I need to remember to add the sprinkles right after I frost the cake so the sprinkles will stick to the frosting!

Sunday was a pretty lazy day for us.  We went to church, ran a few errands, Brandon spent some Christmas money, and we came home and lounged around the rest of the day.  We even got in a traditional Sunday nap!

I'd say it was a great weekend celebrating the birthday boy!! 

Shhh...Don't Tell My Dad

As I mentioned earlier today, Brandon broke out his Christmas smoker tonight for a test run before his b-day smoke-out on Saturday.  The first culprit was a whole chicken.  Brandon has spent the past few nights researching recipes, methods, and techniques.  And, I have to say it all paid off!  But, don't tell my dad because in his world, you can make dead chicken taste good.  Ever.

Here is the chicken, all rubbed down and ready to go, right as he put it in the smoker.

And here is a good shot of the setup.  See that cast iron skillet?  We searched long and hard for the perfect skillet for this venture.  And to think, I've been wanting a cast iron skillet for some time now and I'm forbidden to use this one...the nerve!

After about four hours, the bird was smoked to a crisp and ready to eat (no fear, the smoking started around 3:45)!  

I bet you wish you had stopped by our house for dinner, huh?  The meat was so moist and tender and had excellent flavor!  Brandon did a kick-butt job for his first attempt if you ask me.  I now  feel much more confident that we can whip up an excellent meal for his birthday this weekend. 

But Dad, if you're reading this, I want you to know that I used BBQ sauce on my meat.  You know, kind of like when Brandon puts A-1 on your steaks?!? 

Today...

...I'm feeling really sleepy (I slept in and took too many naps last week)
...I will have only had one caffeinated drink in three days (woo hoo!)
...I wore my new "texting" gloves that I got for Christmas
...I am thankful for a wonderful husband who has been doing such nice things lately, like putting away the dishes in the dishwasher at 5:30 a.m. (I think one of his resolutions must have been to wake up eariler because he's been up by 5:30 every morning this week!)
...I have a list of "To-Do's" sitting on my desk, staring me in the face
...Brandon is going to use his Christmas smoker for the first time to cook a chicken for dinner.  I'm sure this will deserve a post all of it's own.
...I am thankful I got "Shellaced" last week - my nails still look awesome!
...I am listening to Pandora on my iPod thanks to a few Facebook station suggestions (Pandora might be one of my favorite things about my iPod now)
...I clearly have nothing else to blog about :)  Hope you are making the after-Christmas transition better than me!

Clicking Right Along

We had a fun and easy-going New Years weekend in GC with Brandon's parents.  We played games, watched movies, watched A LOT of football, and visited with family.  It was a nice way to end the Christmas season and kick-off 2011!!

We also got a head start on our January To-Do List:

1. Celebrate Brandon's birthday
2. Clean out the garage and create a work bench area (in process, pics to come soon) 
3. Have a dinner party with my college friends
4. Write thank-you notes (we should be writing these this week...)
5. Research storage sheds (do you see a theme here?!?)
6. Paint our bedroom

We went out to Home Depot while we were in GC so the guys could browse (Brandon has Christmas money burning a hole in his pocket).  While we were there, Brandon and his dad looked at sheds and decided they could probably build a shed for less than the kits that are for sale, so they started scheming on what kind of design and what materials they might need and how much it might cost.  It looks as if we could have a shed sometime this Spring!

Looking Back and Looking Forward

I usually make New Years resolutions, but as most people, I don't always follow through with them like I plan to do.  Just like last year, I plan to build upon my resolutions of getting/staying organized and eating healthy and exercising (I really have to focus on this one) because I let these things slide as the year went on.

This year, I'm also going to add a goal; I want to use my time more efficiently.  I have a problem of putting chores off during the week only to feel overwhelmed on the weekends by all of the things that need to be done.  I want to try my hardest to use my time in the evenings during the week to accomplish small tasks that seem to pile up.  I'm also going to try to spend 10 minutes each night picking up the house so we can start fresh the next day, and I'm not going to let the dishes pile up in the kitchen sink (this became a big problem towards the end of this year).  Laundry will always be a weekend chore, as well as a few other things, but I don't want to spend all weekend catching up on chores when we could be doing fun things.

I'm also going to make a "To Do" list for each month so we can plan our projects, outings, activities, etc.  accordingly and not try to cram them all in to one week.  For instance, our January "To Do" list might look a little like this:

1. Celebrate Brandon's birthday
2. Clean out the garage and create a work bench area
3. Have a dinner party with my college friends
4. Write thank-you notes (we should be writing these this week...)
5. Research storage sheds (do you see a theme here?!?)
6. Paint our bedroom

I really believe it is good to have goals and to write them down.  I really like to cross things off lists (I always have a running list on my desk at work) so if I write this down and post it on the refrigerator, it is sure to be seen everyday which in turn will prompt us to complete the tasks.

So, as I look towards 2011, it helps me to look back at 2010, figure out what got accomplished, what didn't and why, and look for ways to improve.  I will keep you posted!

The After Christmas Void

I always love putting up our Christmas decorations and I always dread taking them down.  But, I'm always itching to take them down because I dread it so much...does that make sense?  So, on the first day of my week off (I know, I'm lucky right?!?) I decided I was going to tackle the Christmas decorations.  Now, I really don't have that many decorations because I don't have the space for much, but it is still a chore to take it all down, wrap it up, and get it into the storage room.

Before I show you the after, I thought I better show you the before.

Here is my lovely and simple Nativity set, prominently displayed on our coffee table:

Side note -- that snow was a MESS!  It had glittery confetti-like particles in it that went everywhere!!

Here is the mantle.  I tried a new look this year with the beads and over-sized ornaments hanging down, forgoing our stockings (which don't match the new look anyway...):

And the crown jewel of every house during the Christmas season, our Christmas tree:

Obviously I went with an all green and silver look this year to blend with our green and purple house decor and  I really loved it!  We also got a new tree this year that fit perfectly between our couch and love seat and created a very cozy space.

This is a shot of my Christmas table centerpiece (the table was set for our girls dinner).  I used things I already had like the tray, vases, and green balls and just added the mums.  I loved this look because it was casual, with a little sparkle and the flowers lasted FOREVER!

So, as you can see I really didn't have all that much to put up or take down, but after it was all down, our living room felt very empty!  So, I got to thinking about what I could do to warm up the space a little bit.  One way was the addition of a really cool lamp I got for Christmas (more on that later).  But another way was to change out the flowers in the centerpiece and move it to the coffee table. 

Every time I am at the grocery store, I always take a peek at the fresh flowers and on Monday, I saw a bunch agapanthus that I just couldn't resist.  I thought they would be a perfect addition to the centerpiece.  What do you think?!?

The little purple blooms will open up and fill out and just be so pretty.  When I worked in the flower shop, we used to call these firework flowers because they look like an exploding firework. 

After we took the tree down, it seemed like there was a huge void between the couch and love seat.  I've always thought that we needed to add something to that space, but it didn't really become too obvious until the tree was gone.  So, when we were at Lowe's last night looking for a few things, I saw this plant for only $15 and convince Brandon to buy it (I don't have a very good track record of keeping plants alive, but this one was clearly marked "Tolerant").  While I think the plant needs to relax a little bit, I think it is a good addition to the space.  Now if I can only keep it alive....

Along with these touches, I also rearranged a few vases and have a few more thoughts of things I could add to help spruce up the place as we begin the new year!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was this cookbook:

 

I have heard good reviews of this book, so I thought I would add it to my Christmas list this year.  Let me tell you, I've already tried two of the recipes and I have been extremely pleased with both. Most of the recipes are relatively quick and easy and pretty much use basic ingredients.  Plus, it has a whole seciton devoted solely to side dishes, which is one category I always struggle with. The book also contains several yummy looking fish recipes, which is another category I'm a little scared of.  I know we need to eat more fish, but I'm always nervous to try new recipes because I'm not used to cooking fish.  

So, after flipping through the cookbook, I decided to try three recipes this week, one of which was this recipe for Asian Salmon Patties.  I don't particularly like salmon, but I thought the ingredients in this recipe sounded good so I decided to try it and believe it or not, I loved it (and so did Brandon)!  If you are wanting to incorporate more fish into your diet, you should definitely give this one a try!

Asian Salmon Patties

1 1/2 pounds skinless salmon fillet, finely chopped

2 shallots, minced

2 T. finely grated peeled ginger 

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Sesame Mayo (see recipe below)

In a large bowl, gently combine salmon, shallots, ginger, egg, red pepper flakes, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. pepper. Form mixture into eight patties, about one inch thick, packing each firmly; transfer to a plate.  Freeze until just firm, about 20 minutes.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook salmon patties (working in batches) until browned on both sides and just opaque throughout.  Serve with sesame mayo.

Sesame Mayo

1/3 cup mayonaise

2 scallions, trimmed and sliced thinly

2 T. fresh lime juice

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Stir together all ingredients.  Cover and chill until ready to serve.

I also served this dish with the recommended side dish of Chinese Noodles with Sesame Dressing and it was a perfect combo!

Chinese Noodles with Sesame Dressing
8 oz. Chinese noodles (I used whole wheat spaghetti)
1 T. vegetable oil
1/4 c. fresh lime juice
2 T. soy sauce
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tsp. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
3 T. cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Cook noodles until tender, according to package directions.  Drain; rinse under cold water until completely cool  Transfer to a large bowl and toss with vegetable oil. 

In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients.  Pour over noodles and toss to coat.

See, this is the gift that keeps on giving.  It was given to me and now I'm sharing it with you!!

This Christmas

We spent our Christmas weekend with my family at my parents' house.  Unfortunately, Brandon got sick on Friday so he was out of commission that day, but we had a great time regardless.

We spent a lot of time chasing around and playing with these girls:

Wearing matching pajamas:

Leaving cookies, milk and notes for Santa:

Opening gifts and playing with our new toys:

And how could we forget, re-enacting the Christmas story:

After our time in Pratt, we headed back to Wichita to celebrate Christmas with my dad's extended family.  We had a great lunch and played Dirty Santa with the whole crew.  While my cupcake stand was opened by my cousin who is in college at KSU, he rolled with it and thought it could be used as a shot holder...lol!  Luckily, my aunt showed him mercy and stole it from him.

Here is a pic of my dad's family, minus one sister and one brother.  Could the brothers look anymore alike?!?!

After we finished playing Dirty Santa, Brandon and I had to scoot out to go celebrate Christmas with his family.

We started out the afternoon watching "The Little Fockers", which was pretty funny.  His family has a tradition of seeing a movie on Christmas Day, so it was fun to be able to carry it on, even though we weren't together on Christmas.

After the movie, we headed back to his sister's house to eat pizza and open gifts.  This year, Brandon's parents wrote out Bible verses on slips of paper and before we opened a gift we had to read the verse.  All of the verses represented ways that they prayed for us this year and in the years to come.  This was a great way to remember why we celebrate Christmas and to slow the gift opening.


Pam and Craig opening their gifts:

Justin and Ashley reading their verses:

The boys got head lamps from Grandma Cathy:

We were definitely blessed this Christmas, so I will have to do another post to show off our awesome gifts!

Be Right Back.

We have been Christmasing all weekend, which translates to eating lots of food, enjoying time with our families, getting sick (well, Brandon anyway), playing games, watching movies, and relaxing.

Now, it is time for me to get our house in order, make a grocery list, do some laundry, disassemble Christmas decorations, and prepare for the new year ahead of us.  I will be back soon, though, with lots of pictures and fun stories to share!

Oh, and I'm going to live up my WHOLE WEEK OFF WORK by doing fun things with friends :)

Sharing the JOY of the Season

I love Christmas time at our church.  The music is always so touching and beautiful, the church is beautifully decorated, my heart flutters when the lights dim and the advent candles are lit, and the sermons are always so insightful.

This week's sermon was all about the shepherds who were told by God that the Savior had been born in Bethlehem.  You can listen to the whole sermon here, but I wanted to share a few of my thoughts after marinating on the sermon for a few days.

The shepherds werenot the "upper crust" of their society.  They wore tattered clothes, had a reputation of being thieves and partiers, and were pretty much the lowest on the totem pole.  But, God chose to tell them of Christ's birth.  He chose the broken people to spread the good news of Christ's birth.  After they were told the news, they decided they wanted to go to Bethlehem to see this thing for themselves.  Once they got to Bethlehem and realized that what God had told them was true, they began spreading the news like wild fire.  They told everyone they came in contact with that the Savior had been born to a virgin.  They shared the news with JOY!

Often times, we as Christians are nervous or apprehensive to share our faith with others.  Whether it be out of embarrassment, fear of rejection, or lack of answers to hard questions, we sometimes think it is just better to live our lives and hope people see a difference rather than to shout it from the mountain that we love Jesus and we are going to have eternal lives in heaven because of the gift Christ gave us.

One of our pastors gave us a great analogy to put this into perspective; if we were to find a cure for cancer today, we would tell as many people as we could and we would become VERY rich.  So, why is it that Christ has given us a cure for death and we are hesitant to share the steps to be cured?

As I've pondered this thought this week, I have felt very convicted.  Why can't I be more like the shepherds?  I mean, they had a lot to prove, given their reputation, but they shared anyway.  They weren't afraid of what others might think because they wanted to share the joy with everyone.  I can only hope that I can somehow make an effort to share the joy of the season as much as possible.  Because really, who wouldn't want the ultimate Christmas gift??


"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full" -- John 15:11

Fa la la la la

Tis the season to be jolly and boy have we been having a jolly good time!  In the past couple of weeks, we/I have:

• had two office Christmas parties
• hosted my BUNCO group Christmas party
• we've organized 216 gifts for our church's Angel Tree and packed 108 food bags with our small group
• attended the VIP opening of the new Warren IMAX Theatre that Brandon worked on
• gone bowling (and I bowled the best rounds of my life!!) with people from Brandon's office
• had a date night out that included looking at Christmas lights
• hosted a fun girls Christmas dinner and gift exchange

And, it's not even Christmas yet!  Thankfully, we have 99.9% of our shopping done so we aren't having to worry about running around too much more.  I also have a lunch with a couple of my college friends, we have dinner with Brandon's sister and her husband, and Brandon has an office Christmas luncheon left, but that is all very manageable compared to the past week!

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures at our office parties, my BUNCO party or of our small group packing up the Angel Tree gifts, but I do have a pics of the IMAX opening and our girls night.  I also have a couple of recipes to share, so bear with me!

For my BUNCO party, I made a really yummy punch so I thought I would share the recipe here in case anyone is needing a good, refreshing and not too sweet punch for a Christmas gathering this week:

CRANBERRY-RASPBERRY GINGER SPLASH

6 parts Ocean Spray® 100% Cranberry & Raspberry Juice (could also use Cranberry-Pomegranate juice)

1 part orange juice, chilled
4 parts gingerale, chilled

In a pitcher, mix Ocean Spray® 100% Cranberry & Pomegranate Juice and orange juice. Stir in gingerale. Fill with ice and serve.


In recent years, our small group has helped with the Angel Tree ministry by making dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies to hand out along with the gifts.  We have always enjoyed making the cookies, but this year we were all so busy that we couldn't find much time to make cookies, so we decided to make up some food bags to pass out.  We also talked about how this is a Christian ministry, but we weren't doing much to spread the word about Jesus with these families, so we found the poem below, printed it out and attached it to the food bags with a candy cane.  I think it is a fun poem that also talks about Jesus:

Look at a CANDY CANE, what do you see?  Stripes that are RED like the BLOOD shed for me! 
WHITE for my Savior, Who's sinless and pure! 
"J" is for JESUS, My Lord that's for sure! 
Turn it around And a staff you will see --- 
Jesus, my SHEPHERD, Is coming for me!

The IMAX opening really deserves a post all of it's own, but I thought it would be fun to show a few pictures of the building.  Brandon and his team put in so much time and effort and got this building built in less than six months!!  Pretty amazing!!

This past Thursday, the Warren folks had a huge VIP preview party and we were lucky enough to score an invitation.  It was definitely fun to be there with the movers and shakers in the city and to experience the theatre for ourselves, but the movie selection was not up our alley.  TRON Legacy 3-D was the movie and to be honest, we wouldn't recommend it to others.  But, like I said, it was more about the experience than the movie.  Here are a couple of pics from the evening:

{In the limo on the way to the party....yeah, that's how we roll!}

{The project team - Evan (assistant superintendent), Don (head superintendent), Brandon}

{Ready for our 3-D movie experience}

Finally, tonight I had the privilege of hosting the three girls from our small group for a nice dinner and gift exchange.  I've known each of the girls for different amounts of time, but they honestly are some of my best friends.  We've seen each other through a lot and they each have blessed me in so many ways.  I'm so thankful God brought us all together and I hope our friendship continues for many years to come!

{Christy, Emily, Ali, and me}

I wanted to make this dinner special, so I used my china and I had the following menu (links for all but one of the recipes are included):

• Filet Mignon in Mustard-Balsamic Vinegar Sauce
• Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
• Garlic Parmesan Green Beans
• Chocolate Banana Brad Pudding 

The filet recipe was so easy and very tasty, thanks to my aunt Sharon's recipe in our new Bohn Family Cookbook (more about this later!).

Filet Mignon in Mustard-Balsamic Vinegar Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 beef tenderloin steaks (filet mignon)
½ cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

About 30 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 425 degrees. In ovenproof 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, in hot oil, cook filet mignon until browned on all sides, about 6 minutes. Place skillet in oven, bake about 5 minutes for rare or until desired doneness. Remove meat to warm platter; keep warm.

To skillet, add chicken broth, vinegar and mustard. Add some cornstarch to chicken broth if you prefer a thicker, gravy-like sauce. Over medium-high heat, meat mixture to boiling, stirring constantly and scraping until browned bits are dissolved. To serve, spoon sauce over steaks or serve sauce on the side.

Three out of the four recipes were new recipes that I had never tried.  Thankfully, these girls are used to being my guinea pigs and are willing to try out all of my new recipes.  In my opinion, all of the recipes were quite tasty, but I am a little biased!

So, there you have it.  Play-by-play of what we've been up to.  I absolutely love this time of year and as much as I long for some down time, I've loved every minute of the past couple of weeks.  It really doesn't get much better than spending time with friends and creating memories!

Christmas Questions

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? A little of both, but mostly wrapping paper. I love mix and matching papers and ribbon.  It is one of those opportunities to bring out my floral skills :)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial (and we got a new one this year! hip hip hooray!)

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually after Thanksgiving. This year it went up the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually between Christmas and New Years

5. Do you like eggnog? NO. WAY.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The one I remember most vividly is my Barbie house

7. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad

8. Easiest person to buy for? Brandon

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a beautifl Willow Tree Angel set.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? One of my favorite things about Christmas is receiving all of the Christmas cards and pictures from our friends and family so it is only right for me to reciprocate the thought.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Hmmmm...I can't really think of anything.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? In December.  I just can't get myself organized enough to start any earlier.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything in sight?!?

16. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? Clear lights

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night or Silent Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We usually travel to one set of parents house during Christmas, but always find another time to celebrate with the other set.  This year we will be in my home town for Christmas.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, but only because of the song..."You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer..."

20. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? None of the above.  I have some sprouty sticks that come out of the top of the tree. (I need to post pics soon)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning with my family and either Christmas Eve or sometime during the day on Christmas Day with Brandon's family.

22. Favorite children's Christmas song? I guess I don't know how children's songs differ from regular songs...

23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The grouchy people.

24. Favorite ornament theme or color? This year we are doing green and silver

25. Turkey or ham on Christmas day? I prefer Prime Rib, but I think we're having ham this year.

26. What do you want for Christmas this year? I never have trouble coming up with a list.  One of the big items this year is an iPod Touch.

27. Does anyone in your family dress up as Santa? No. But my mom and I saw a Santa suit when we were shopping last weekend and I suggested she should have my Dad do it this year.

28. Age you discovered who Santa was? Honestly, I don't remember at all.  I know I still believed the year I got the Barbie house because in later years, my mom confessed that they stayed up all night putting the little stickers on all of the appliances since Santa doesn't deliver unassembled toys.

29. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or apple cider? Peppermint Hot Chocolate

30. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors? I love the traditional red and green, but it just doesn't jive with the colors in our house, hence why we went with green and silver this year.

Just Like Peanut Butter and Jelly...

Tonight, I made a recipe containing these two ingredients:

{I used the generic version of Nutella}

You may be asking why I combined Nutella and pumpkin and honestly, the recipe probably only caught my eye because a couple of my friends have been telling me how obsessed they are with Nutella.  I have never used it before, but that ALL changed tonight thanks to this recipe for Pumpkin Nutella Cake.

Here it is right after I put it in the oven:

And here it is right after I took it out of the oven:

And I couldn't resist a close up of the gooey Nutella goodness:

I definitely recommend you try this recipe this Christmas season, or anytime of year for that matter!  This was delicious and it was small group approved!

Pumpkin Nutella Snack Cake
{Recipe courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod}
  2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Add the pumpkin puree. Reduce speed to low, and mix in the flour mixture until just combined.

4. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan. Drop tablespoons of Nutella all over the pumpkin cake batter. Swirl in the Nutella with a knife. I wanted the Nutella to stay towards the top, to act as the frosting, so I swirled gently.

5. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the sides pull away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Place cake on a wire rack and cool completely. Cut into squares and serve.

This combination of flavors is just as good as peanut butter and jelly, I promise!

Bargain Hunter Wanted

Maybe it is the time of year with all of the sales at the stores or maybe it is because I keep hearing about all of these great deals that people are getting or all of the money someone saved by using coupons, but I've decided I want to learn how to be a bargain hunter.

I am not the type of person who can plan my grocery list based on the grocery store sales or travel around the city to different stores to find the best deals.  I just don't have the patience for that.  I also can't bring myself to face the dreaded Wal-Mart because I don't want to battle the masses of people who are there meandering through the aisles as if they are the only people in the store. 

I've tried clipping coupons before but find I clip them for things I don't really need and end up spending money on unnecessary items just so I can use a coupon.  Or even worse, I forget the take the coupons to the store.  Our grocery store did have a brilliant idea, though.  They decided to track what we buy at the grocery store, using our shopper's savings card that we scan before each purchase, and they send us coupons based on the stuff we buy regularly.  However, we only get them about once a quarter. 

The other thing I'm horrible about is on-the-spot deals.  Just like this weekend.  My mom and I were out shopping and I needed to get some face wash.  Well, my face wash costs $18, but if I spent $35 I had the choice of picking out a free half-size bottle of face wash or a mask.  So, I went ahead and got a spot remover just so I could get the free gift.  This might have been a deal if I was already planning on getting the spot remover, but in my instance, it was not a deal. 

I wish, more than anything, that I could actually learn the art of bargain hunting.  I know my husband probably wishes the same thing, too.  If there was a bargain hunting class, I would definitely sign up.  Or, if there was a person willing to give me private lessons I would love that even more!  I would also accept any tips or tricks anyone has to share.  In the mean time, I will just keep living vicariously through others.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had another busy weekend, as usual for us.  My parents were in town on Friday so after work, we headed to my cousin's first basketball game of the season.  The game was at my mom's alma mater (SE High School) so we had fun razzing her about her high school days!  The game was supposed to have been a tough one for my cousin's team, but they ended up winning and played a great game!  After the game, we went out to dinner with my parents and then we came home to watch what was left of the Wildcat's basketball game.  My mom and I ended falling asleep on the couch, which is pretty typical for us, so we didn't see the end of the game but the Cats did win!

Saturday morning Brandon had to get up early for work and my parents and I took our time getting up and around.  My mom and I were planning to do some shopping and my dad headed back to Pratt.  Mom and I had a few things we had to accomplish on Saturday including finding me an outfit for the grand opening of the Warren IMAX Theater that Brandon is building (more about this later!).  Let me tell you, we had a horrible time trying to find an outfit.  Either stuff wasn't fitting right or we just couldn't find anything that wowed us.  Finally, on our last stop we found an outfit that I think will work.  Brandon was a little unsure, but once I get it all put together with jewelry, I think it will be very fun.  However, I will wait to show pictures until after the event :)

Mom and I had fun shopping and spending time together.  We always wind up getting distracted and finding things that are not on our list and we always do a lot of laughing!  I am glad she lives close and can come to town to spend the day with me.

After our shopping day, my mom had to head home so Brandon and I just hung out and relaxed the rest of the evening.  He has had a few pretty stressful weeks recently, so it was nice for him to just hang out.  I made dinner, we got our Christmas cards ordered and got a few other little things done that have been on our list for a while.  We capped off the night, dare I say it, cheering for the Sooners in the Big 12 Championship football game.  As much as we don't like the Sooners, we dislike the Huskers even more!!  We joked that this was the first time and most likely the last time that we will cheer for OU.  It is satisfying to us that of the last eight times the Sooners have played in the Championship game, they have only lost once and that was to the Wildcats back in 2003 (this was also the night of our first date..awww!)!! 

Today, we got up and headed to church.  My friend Ali is in charge of the Angel Tree ministry at our church and we have been helping at the table in the foyer for the past couple of weeks.  After church, we had a birthday lunch for one of my aunts and then I had a hair cut and Brandon took a Sunday afternoon nap and watched football.  This was our last free weekend until Christmas so we are definitely soaking up all the free time we have!

An Update

Click here for a "live" update from Lindsey, the girl I know who is battling cancer for the third time.  I continue to be amazed by her strength and obedience!