Meal Plan for the Week

We had such a great weekend! Friday night we went to a friend's house for a Sunday School Christmas party. We ate and played games and had a really great time!

Saturday morning we cleaned a bunch of JUNK and empty boxes out of the basement, and Jason and Hunter hauled them to the dump/recycle center on their way to help their grandparents move some furniture. That night we had a yummy Panera dinner, then retreated back to the house and hunkered down for the night.

Sunday morning we made it to church, then went up to my parents' house for Nick's (family) birthday party! Ahhhhh!!!!!!! I can't believe he will be 13 this Friday!!!! Unbelievable. Seriously. Pictures will be posted tomorrow!

And it snowed!! WHOO HOO!!! Enough to get the kids out of school, but not enough to cancel work. Bummer, right? Oh well. Here are two pictures of last year's snowy-ness to tide you over for now.

For now, I'm keeping myself accountable and letting you know what's on the menu this week.

Monday: Cheddar Ranch Burgers
Tuesday: Salsa Chicken (aka chicken with salsa dumped on top, cooked in the crockpot all day)
Wednesday: Stromboli!! (love this stuff!)
Thursday: Chicken Fried Steak Strips

Here's hoping I follow through! :)

Our Cwistmas Twee

Last Saturday, we began the process of putting up our Christmas tree!

We got this tree from Jason's grandparents last year and it serves its purpose well!

(loving the little stalker watching daddy)

Then last night I (finally) pulled out all our ornaments!

Okay, and by our ornaments, I mean 1,642 of mine and 3-4 shared ones. :) What can I say - I've gotten one from my mom and my Mamaw every year since BIRTH!

This is a cute (shared) one with a bride and groom and our wedding date! We got this at our Signal Crest shower from the hostesses.

And a little ship from our cruise on the Adventure of the Seas - we couldn't find this last year (for our 1st Christmas) so we were excited to finally get to put it on the tree!

This one is harder to see, but it is a handpainted ornament from the Banff Springs Hotel from our Canada trip this summer! We love getting ornaments from all the places we go.

And here's little mischievous Snooker... being mischievous. She is obsessed with the tree skirt! Like, rubs her face on it, gets tangled up in it, plays with the tassels (which are now tucked underneath)... she's crazy!

The finished product!

Okay, and she's precious. I mean, completely precious. She curled up on the stockings and I couldn't help but snag a few shots. Sweet little girl...

Have you got your tree up or are we the last ones?!

Mmmmm... Fudge

Last week, as part of my "make tons of Christmas goodies" goal, I made CHOCOLATE FUDGE. And not just any chocolate fudge, my mom's recipe of super easy chocolate fudge (would I make it if it were hard?). So here's the recipe for you and a picture of fudge that is not our fudge. But I didn't think to take a picture of our fudge. Maybe next time.

picture source

Super Easy Chocolate Fudge

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 bag of butterscotch chips

1 can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

handful of mini marshmallows

tsp of vanilla

shake of salt

*Pour the Eagle Brand in a saucepan, and let it start to warm up for a few minutes over medium heat.

*Then add the whole bag of chocolate chips.

*Stir. Stir. Stir. Stir some more. Until all the chocolate is melted. Then - guess what?

*Add the whole bag of butterscotch chips and stir.... stir..... your hand may hurt a little.
*Once your butterscotch chips are melted, grab a loving handful of mini marshmallows (after eating a few) and plop them into your chocolately goodness.
*Stir.
*Once you are all stirred up, add a shake or two of salt and a little vanilla, and stir again. :)
*Pour into a 9x11 pan and let it cool. Or don't. Definitely at least try some while it's still warm. It will rock your world.
*Cut it up into little squares and put it on a cute plate to take with you, or leave it in the pan (like we do) and cut pieces to the size of your liking. :)

We're bringing this to all of our Christmas parties in the upcoming weeks. It's so easy and SO YUMMY! I want to try a new variation (peanut butter chips, anyone?) but it's just so good the way it is, I hate to ruin a good thing.

Tell me if you try this! You won't regret it.

Busy Beavers

...or cats.

We've been busy around here. :)

But things are about to get back to normal.

On the list:

inside decorating pictures

outside decorating pictures

preggo update

(Jason hates when I say preggo - sorry, hon!)

Okra Soup & Cheese Biscuits

Last night I decided that I wanted some yummy tomato-based soup with 1,000,000 pieces of okra in it, henceforth known as "okra soup". It was a little bit of an experiment (but hey - I finally made a new recipe!), and I can already tell you what I would do differently next time, but luckily, the hubster liked it.

My big mistake was when I bought diced tomatoes, I decided that it would be "smart" to get garlic, basil, & oregano to add extra flavor. What I got was a spaghetti sauce wannabe, not a vegetable soup feeling. Booooo. Next time I'm getting plain, but you get whatever kind you want. :)

Okra Soup

minced garlic

carton of chicken broth

bag of frozen okra

can of diced tomatoes

1/4c of rice (or however much you want)

(also called for corn but hubby doesn't love it) 

really you could put anything else you wanted, J wished for meat - ground beef or kielbasa

Saute garlic for 5-10 minutes. (Next time I will saute meat at this point.) Add chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and okra. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes (long enough to make the cheese biscuits). Add rice and cook for 5 more minutes or so (long enough to unload the dishwasher). Taste and season to your liking. :) Enjoy.

And OH SNAP - I made my mom's cheesy garlic biscuits... they rocked. If I had had more Bisquik, I would have made a ton more.

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

1c Bisquik (2c was original recipe)

1/3c milk (2/3c was original recipe)

handful of shredded cheese

2 shakes of garlic powder

melted butter on top

Preheat oven to 400. Mix bisquik, milk, and cheese together until soft dough forms. Add 2 shakes of garlic powder (or however much you want, really). This should have made six. I should have made 6. But I made 4, and then I had to squish them down after 8 minutes because they were started to brown but they weren't nearly done. So yeah. Make 6, bake them for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Brush melted butter on top (or pour squeeze butter and smush it around with a spoon - you gotta improvise sometimes. And I wasn't dirty-ing up another dish just to melt butter).

It was all very yummy! A great winter meal! :)

Connections to the Past

The following is a story of amazing "coincidences" that I hope you enjoy reading, but more than anything, I wanted to document them, so I never forget.

In elementary school, one of my very best friends was Amy. We hung out a lot and just loved being silly and having fun together. People would often ask if we were sisters because we looked similar - brown hair & brown eyed bean-poles. :) After 1st grade(?) she went to live with her mom, and we didn't really see each other for several years, but in 4th or 5th grade, she came back to my school when she moved back with her dad. We were instantly best friends again!

We spent SO MUCH time together during middle and early high school. Singing (Mariah Carey) and cheerleading were two of our favorite past-times. (And watching old Eddie Murphy SNL re-runs.) We drifted apart some near the end of high school, and have been pretty bad about keeping in touch since then, but I will always count her as one of my best friends growing up. LOVE YOU AMY!

When we were planning who all we would invite to our wedding last summer, it was no question that I would be inviting Amy and her dad & stepmom. They were such a big part of my life growing up and I wanted them to be a part of this special day.

One afternoon I was at Jason's parents' house, and Patricia was looking through the "Guin" side invitation list. She got to Amy's dad's name and said, "How do you know Demetreos?!" And I'm like, "Uhh.. how do you even know how to say his name?" :)

Turns out, when Amy's dad moved to America from Greece when he was a teenager, he spent a ton of time with Jason's father!! Jim helped Demetreos learn English! And they all knew each other at Red Bank High School (where Amy and I also went to school). It was totally unbelievable to me!

We ran into Demetreos at Walmart a month or so before the wedding. After he and I hugged and caught up, since it had been several years since we had seen each other, I introduced him to Jason and he immediately hugged him and started talking to him like they'd known each other forever. He told Jason what a great man his father was, and how thankful he was that they had been friends all those years ago.

Now, just think with me - I spent tons of my early life with Amy and her dad, and he spent tons of his early life with my future husband's father!! WHOOOAAA!!! How cool is that?!

I love that God revealed this special connection to us. I wonder how many other connections will come to light in my lifetime?!

December Goals

When I realized that it was December 1st, I was PUMPED! I can't believe it's already here! One year ago is when I started to do monthly goals, so it's really exciting for me to think of all I've accomplished this year. I'll try to give a run-down at the end of the month of the "yearly" goals accomplished, but for now - let's get to the fun stuff!

hoping this comes true again this December!

Fun:
*Read 2 books {Something Blue & something else :) }
*See Voyage of the Dawn Treader!!
*Celebrate Christ!!!
*Spend as much time with family as possible
*Throw a Christmas party!

DIY/Crafting:
*Send Christmas cards by December 3rd
*Finish decorating for the holidays
*Make a gift for someone

Home:
*Keep the house presentable for company
*Hang chandelier {officially the 100th time I've posted this but I'm DETERMINED to have our kitchen "done" before the end of 2010!!!!}

Cooking:
*Make tons of Christmas goodies {chocolate fudge, sugar cookies, chocolate-covered-peanut-butter-Ritz-cracker-amazingness, etc.}
*Contribute something to Christmas meals with friends/family

Wellness:
*Drink water
*Eat healthy - more fruit!!
*Daily vitamin {fer da baybee}