November 30

WOOHOO!!! I made it!! I posted everyday in November - oh yeah...that's right....I rocked the NaBloPoMo!!!! I'm so excited I'm going to have a giveaway:)

Please excuse how my hand looks in this photo - I really don't have leprosy. Seriously, I have no idea why my hand looks so weird.

I'm giving away one of my adjustable rings and hair pin set featuring luscious vintage buttons. Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner on December 6, then lickety split get these in the mail to you in case you want to use them for a Christmas gift. Or you can keep them ALL to yourself - it's all good!! But I need help too - I need ideas of how to display the rings at my craft fair on Saturday (without having to buy anything) - any of you wise souls out there have any ideas??

November 29

Leftovers....one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving:) I made Turkey Tettrazini tonight with leftover turkey and it was really yummy...though Miss S said she didn't like it:(

TURKEY TETTRAZINI

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package uncooked spaghetti 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 3 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk 1 2/3 cups grated Parmesan cheese 4 cups chopped cooked turkey

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain, and place in the prepared baking dish.
3.	Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour. Mix in chicken broth and milk. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir in about 1 1/3 cups Parmesan cheese, and remove from heat.
4.	Mix chicken broth mixture and turkey with spaghetti. Top with remaining cheese. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until surface is lightly browned.

If I make this again I'll probably add a can of green chile to give it a little zip.

Does anyone have any good recipes for leftover mashed potatoes? I have a crap load leftover and I can only make so many Shepherd's pies with them:)

November 28

I've spent a lot of free time this weekend crafting....here's a snippet of some of what I've made. These are all easy peasy, and perfect for crafting at my desk while I'm watching tv on the computer. I watched an episode of NCIS: LA and How I Met Your Mother while I made these....

Vintage button rings:

Vintage button earrings:


Vintage button hair pins:

Notice a trend? I think my favorite part was going through some of my vintage buttons and deciding which ones to use:)

November 27

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! We spent the day with our best friends and their kiddos at their house in the mountains, about 40 minutes from our house. We love going up there...

Kiddos acting goofy....


Me and Lisa - we've been buddies since we met when we both worked at Dion's like 20 years ago:) Man we are getting OLD!!!

The boys....I told them both to act natural and instead they act like goofballs....typical of these two when they are together:)

We enjoyed a delicious lazy dinner, let the kids run around like wackos playing hide and seek in the house, checked out all the Black Friday ads together, and just in general had a nice relaxing day together.

As for Black Friday - my tradition is to not leave the house:) I did actually go out to Walgreen's, Michael's and Best Buy at about 2:00 this afternoon. By then the crowds had mostly died down and I did a little bit of leisurely shopping. Other than that I crafted the morning away - I'll show off some of what I did tomorrow:)

November 26

Today I am grateful for YOU!!!! Be back tomorrow with a recap of our awesome Thanksgiving:) For now I'm heading into a deep post-turkey slumber:)

November 25

Today I am grateful for:

• Thanksgiving Eve - I can't wait for tomorrow, for all the yummy food, and spending time with good friends
• Dr. Pepper - I've gone the whole day without it and it's really making me realize how much I love it:)
• Watching TV and cuddling on the couch with Miss S

November 24

Today I am grateful for:

• Big thick winter coats
• My loving Hubby - who came to the rescue of our sweet little abuela next door when her heater wasn't working
• A delicious dinner out with Hubby, Miss S and my baby brother

November 23

Today I am grateful for:

• An unexpected visit from my baby brother, Chad - isn't he the cutest!!!!

• My BFF Tammy whom (who?) I am totally missing this week....

• Thanksgiving treats - aren't these darling!!! And completely edible - YUM!

November 22

Today I am grateful for:

• A short work week ahead
• This lesson at church today
• Sacred music - we sang one of my favorites today:

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

• 
  Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
  To guide the future as he has the past.
  Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
  All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
  Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
  His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.
  
  Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
  When we shall be forever with the Lord,
  When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
  Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
  Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
  All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

November 21

Today I am grateful for:

• Hubby's new position at work which gives him EVERY weekend off!!! Woohoo!! He has never had every weekend off in the 18 years he's worked for Target.
• Christmas shopping
• My wonderful, beautiful home - even though it's stuffed to the gills with crap - I'm grateful to have a home and for it to be filled with love
  

November 20

Today I am grateful for:

• A last minute stop at Goodwill and being surprised with a 50% ALL clothing sale today only
• Going out to dinner with Hubby and Miss S
• A new magazine subscription that I can't wait to arrive!

Thanks Lain for the push to finally subscribe to this! You convinced me with your "5 mags you love" post:)

November 19

Today I am grateful for....

• lunch with Miss S for her Family Thanksgiving lunch at school
• how much I look like my dad in this pic of me
• that it's almost Friday!

November 18

A fairly recent "new to me" blog I love is ilashgirls. One of my favorite features is the Wednesday Words of Wisdom. Today's is the one pictures above and it's perfect for the kick off of my Week of Gratitude leading up to Thanksgiving. Each day until Thanksgiving I will be posting three things that I am grateful for. Why don't you join me?

Today I am grateful for:

• New books bought at Miss S's school book fair
• A delicious dinner courtesy of my best bud, Carla
• A freshly vacuumed bedroom courtesy of Hubby

November 17

I participated in Amy's Haunted ATC swap swap this year and I was totally blown away by the cards I received - SO awesome!! I feel like such an amateur sometimes when I see the art work others create. Such cool ideas.

November 16

OOOHHH I have the best friends:) I met Marian through a swap and I just adore her! I was one of the lucky recipients of her "Handmade by Me" giveaway.....


She sent me one of her handwoven scarves! Oh my gosh I love it!!! Marian was so nice to send me this package when the original package arrived empty - those dang postal workers!!! I will treasure this scarf always. Thanks Marian XOXO!!!

November 15

Yes, it snowed in Taos last night!! It was beautiful when we woke up. Miss S and I played in town while Hubby was at his hockey clinic. We drove out to the Taos Pueblo and walked around and enjoyed the scenery. I took tons of pictures at the Pueblo and I think I'm going to make up our Christmas cards for this year with some of the images.

November 14

Mobile blogging is going to be the death of me!!!!!!!! I tried, and tried and tried and tried to post on the 14th...but it would never load to actual Blogger. Piece of crap! All that it would load was the title so at least it "looks" like I posted on the 14th:)

November 13

We're heading out on a quick little weekend trip to Taos. Hubby is participating in a hockey coaching clinic and Miss S and I are going to PLAY!!!! I'll do some mobile posting so as not to break my NaBloPoMo streak:)
PS this picture really is of part of the road to Taos - breathtaking!

November 12

Bunco was awesome!! I had such a wonderful time hosting 11 of my fab friends....and I completely forgot to take any pictures. I served one of my favorite salads -

Strawberry & Spinach Salad

Easy, peasy and yummy yummy yummy. wash and drain fresh spinach. Top with sliced strawberries. Sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese and sliced almonds. Finish it off with some balsamic vinaigrette. The crunchiness of the spinach, sweetness of the strawberries, smoothness of the goat cheese, nuttiness of the almonds and the tanginess of the balsalmic vinaigrette all combine together into one heckuva good salad. Like I said, yummy yummy yummy.

November 11

Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I can't say it enough for our veterans and active duty loved ones. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you to you too for all your wonderful thoughts and prayers - I am feeling tons better today!!!

November 10

HELP!!!!!!!!!!! I am still feeling like crap....I stayed home from work yesterday....and barely made it through work today....I'm supposed to host Bunco at my house tomorrow night for my Bunco group. I have been looking forward to this for MONTHS and I totally don't want to have to cancel it. Please keep me in your prayers and send me lots of good vibes for miraculous healing in the next 24 hours:)

November 9

I love it when surprises show up in my mailbox. These darling Halloween itty bitty bags stuffed with candy arrived several weeks ago from my darling friend Monica. Everything about my lovely Monica makes me happy:) One for me and one for Miss S...oh did I tell you I "forgot" to tell Miss S that one was for her so that I could keep them both all to myself?

November 8

I am trying my best to get some Christmas crafting done....it's sucked being sick the last few weeks. Yes, I am still sick:( Last night and today I've had a slight fever and a horrible croupy cough. Yes, I will go to the doctor if I am not feeling better in a few days. I am not looking forward to week 3 of feeling sick.

I love to crochet in the evenings while watching tv....it's so quick and easy for me....unlike knitting which is still so horribly slow for me. I can crochet a scarf in a handful of hours, or knit one in about 3 months....

I finished this one up a few nights ago. The turquoise and white yarn are from the thrift store, and the variegated was from a swap. Double crocheted about 7 rows and it was done:) I made it nice and long too - just perfect for warping around your neck a couple times.

So Tired

I spent 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. today at a Cub Scout training then was at a birthday party from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. I am tired.

November 6

Hmm.....just in case you were wondering....on my Christmas wish list this year are the following:



I'm pretty easy to please:) Gift cards to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Joanns and Target are also perfect too:)

November 5

One of my many responsibilities at church is as a Den Leader for the Bear Cub Scouts in our ward....it's a challenging calling sometimes....lots of boys and the need for lots of activities to keep them busy. Last week was our Pack Meeting for November and the Bears were in charge of the activity for the evening. October's theme was Safari so we decided to make paper bag animals....the boys LOVED it!!!





It was a cheap, easy and FUN craft!!! We printed out all the templates from here.

November 4

SewMamaSew is one of THE best resources online for tutorials....I love it.....and in November they feature an absolute smorgasbord of ideas as part of their month long celebration of Handmade Holidays. Each day is a new theme and it will get you SO excited about crafting for Christmas!
I can't wait to make some of these.

November 3

I love crafting and sewing for Christmas - I'm getting a really late start this year but that's okay. This Christmas is going to be about less "stuff" and more meaningful gifts and gifts that encourage time with loved ones.

One of the tips I love to employ throughout the year is whenever I am making something, I make an extra one and add it to the Christmas gift dresser - yes I have a dresser full of gifts, as well as about 10 small plastic bins too.....I'm also obsessed when it comes to buying things when they are a killer price, then they get stashed in one of my gift giving stashes. This year I'm committed to using a bunch of these gifts to put together little themed gifts.

I got this book on clearance at the grocery store for $1.75!!!!! I'm going to add it to a little basket with all the ingredients for one of the recipes -

Tell me some of your gift giving plans for this year.

November 2

I love having a wreath on the front door but they are so dang expensive!!!!! I haven't quite figured that out since you can make one for next to nothing. Here's the one I made for us for this year-



the directions are easy:
take one grapevine wreath, wrap it with a garland of leaves, and pop in a couple picks on one side. Quick and easy and I think the total cost was about $10. And I didn't even need to get the glue gun out - SCORE!!!!

November 1

Welcome to NaBloPoMo!!!! I'm gonna go for it and do my best to post everyday in November.

Halloween Night was awesome - Miss S and her bestie trick or treated the neighborhood with their dads until they couldn't carry anymore candy. Miss S got quite the haul!!! I think we have enough candy to last us until Christmas.



We had tons of trick or treaters as well....I guess about 100 in all....I bought about 120 pieces of candy and I have about 15 pieces left....but a couple of our friends got more than one piece:) It was fun to see all the costumes. Hope you're Halloween was awesome too!