Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving and a nice weekend


We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Doug's mom and sister Dee. The turkey was delicious and turned out really nice. Don't mind the mess on the counter or the smirk on my face - Doug likes to have me say funny things while he is taking my picture so I'm pretty sure I'm mid sentence on this one. Just focus in on how delicious the turkey looks.
This year, I even remembered the rolls. Last year, they were purchased and put in the pantry where they stayed until the middle of dinner when somebody said, "Hey! Where are the rolls?" Doug's family has teased me all year about how last Thanksgiving was ruined because I forgot the rolls (didn't forget to buy them, just forgot to bake them. This year, I bought the kind that you have to defrost, let rise and then bake. I managed to remember all the steps and get them defrosted, allowed them to rise and popped 'em into the oven. They were fabulous - all light and fluffy. Yum! You can see them right behind me, all ready to go.

I made pumpkin pie and an apple pie for dessert along with seven layer cookie bars. Ever since the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Cookie disaster,(not sure if I posted about that one) it seems I'm no longer a fan of pumpkin flavor. I took a couple of bites (yeah- one bite wasn't enough) and decided I'm off pumpkin pie. The pie itself should have tasted good, in fact it tasted like it always does but I'm just not liking that flavor anymore.
Funny thing is I used to be such a good baker but I've had a few mishaps as of late. For one thing, I thought maybe our oven was "off" and it turns out I am right. I bought an oven thermometer so I could check (I didn't want to wreck Thanksgiving) and it is under by 15 degrees! However, I can't really blame the baking disasters on that.

Dee and me. And yes, I know I look chunky. I *AM* chunky. But I'm going to fix that. Doug and I are starting the gym TOMORROW! It is a tough time of year to start but I need to start now before I get any bigger. It is NOT going to be easy because I love cookies, and cake, and holiday food....I'll keep you posted how that goes.

Doug and I like to take a "self" shot so here is our Thanksgiving photo. We have fun, that is all that matters, right?
In other exciting news, Doug bought me a Gypsy for my Cricut. It is an early Christmas present. I haven't had a chance to try it out just yet but I can hardly wait! I spent 13 hours upstairs in my craft room organizing, purging and cleaning. I'm getting ready to do some serious holiday crafting. I'm not going to post any "before" pictures until it is actually all clean and I can post some after pics too.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Little House on the Prairie

When I was a little girl, I LOVED Little House on the Prairie. On Thursday nights, my mom would let me stay up past my usual bedtime and watch the show. I'm not sure exactly what I liked about it because I would NOT have liked to have lived under those conditions or during those times. I LIKE modern conveniences.


Shari (in blue) & Me in the outfits our gram made for us:
(I know, embarrasing..But I'm cutting us some slack
because we were just little girls and we didn't know
better.)

Yesterday, Doug and I went with Frank and Tonya to see the musical Little House on the Prairie. Melissa Gilbert was supposed to be starring but had a back injury requiring her to have surgery today. Even though we were disappointed we wouldn't be able to see half-pint, her understudy did a good job in her place.
The show itself started out a little slow but got better as it went along and we ended up having a nice time.

Prior to the show we ate pizza at Joe Momma's. Pepperoni, half olive, half jalepeno. One review that I read online was from someone from Connecticut who remarked that the brick oven pizza could rival any of those famous pizza places in New Haven. Yeah, right...The pizza was good but by no stretch of imagination did it compare to my all time pizza love: Pepe's. Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana on Wooster Street in New Haven, Connecticut. OH. MY. GOD! If you haven't had Wooster Street Pizza, you are soooo missing out!

The other famous pizza joint on Wooster Street is Sally's. There are some pretty die hard fans that choose one place over the other but honestly, as long as I can have Wooster Street Pizza, either Pepe's or Sally's, I'm happy!
In other news, Doug made it home safely from Ft. Lauderdale. Yay!
Work has been busy for the both of us. Lots of long days and nights out networking. It is nice when we get a chance to just stay in.
I made a taco soup on Saturday night and it turned out pretty well. We are gearing up for Thanksgiving. I'm cooking again this year. Doug's mom, sister and niece are coming to dinner and I'm going to *try* to keep things low key and not go overboard cooking a million different things. We'll see what happens...

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Four Dogs, No Doug...

Yep, just me and four furry little friends tonight.

Niles:

Nestle:

Teddy:

Phoebe:


Doug is in Florida for a Stryker meeting. Wish I was there too. It's very quiet around here tonight...We miss you honey!