Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Movie



Instead of writing a post about our day yesterday, I thought I'd share it in video form.

Plus I added the beautiful "Christmas Lights" by Coldplay to cover up my annoying voice for your viewing pleasure!  Enjoy!


**Please note this is my first movie... I promise to only get better from here.**

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Procrastination at it's finest




Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas day.

I am procrastinating the Christmas pick up right now, so I decided to pop in and tell you to check this out!  



I am guest blogging on one of the sweetest gals' blogs today.  

Merry Christmas to everyone!  Can't wait to share with you our day.  :)


Monday, December 24, 2012

True Meaning



It is snowing outside, my child is asleep, and my husband has banned me to the upstairs so he can finish some last minute wrapping.
I felt this was the perfect time to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

I used to have a hard time with this holiday.  Instead of joy, it brought a lot of pain.  If you are in that situation today, my prayers are with you.  To get through those times I tried to focus on the TRUE meaning of Christmas.  We are blessed and loved by such an amazing Father who gave us the greatest Christmas gift... His Son!

My prayer is you find comfort in that today.



Enjoy your holiday!


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Best Gingerbread Recipe You'll Ever Find




Every year for as long as I can remember I have made gingerbread men.  I love these cute little guys!
And they make great gifts for friends and neighbors.

After years of perfecting this recipe to make a soft gingerbread men, as opposed to a crunchy bitter ones, I thought I'd share it with you!

So let's start my whisking together your dry ingredients.  Flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves all go into a bowl and you whisk it away.


Then in a kitchen aid (or use an electric mixer) mix together the butter and brown sugar until it's fluffy looking like this.


Before we move on let's talk about molasses. 
That thick kind of nasty looking stuff.
Yeah that... well there are many types of molasses, light, dark, blackstrap.
Don't get blackstrap and don't get light.
Dark is the proper choice for this recipe.


Now that we are clear on that, add the molasses, water and egg and mix it up. 
It kind of looks a little nasty, huh?
But you will soon learn the dough of this stuff ain't pretty.


Now all at once dump the flour mixture into the gross looking mixture and beat until it's combined.
Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.
And don't turn your mixture on to high because you might end up in a flour shower.... don't ask me how I know that.


Now keep mixing into the dough starts to form a sticky ball and then divide it into 3 different balls and wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or for up to 2 days.

(we'll keep this picture small because it's looks kind of nasty... but it tastes good.  Promise)

Now comes the fun part.
Roll it out and start cutting with cookie cutters.
Make sure to use plenty of flour.  This dough has a tendency to stick.


Then call gangster daughter who likes to wear her hat side ways and let her help cut.


Cook these little guys in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.  
Pull them add and immediately add chocolate chips and then pull them off the baking sheet.
You don't want them to get crunchy so pull them off that hot sheet ASAP.
Continue this process until you have used up all of your dough.


Check out your cute little army!!!  :)

Now this trick my mom taught me and it is absolutely necessary for this army.

Once cooled, put your men in a big ol tupperware and layer it with wax paper and then.....
add 2 pieces of bread to the top.
Weird right?
But it works.
The cookies take the moisture of the bread and leaves the poor bread all cracker like, while the army ends up all soft and delicious.


Well there you go!
Hope you enjoy!!!!





A Gift for your Pearly Whites


A few weeks ago I was asked my Modern Mom to review the top of line Oral-B Professional Precision 5000!
Of course I said yes and now I'm here to tell you all about it.

I had an electronic toothbrush before but I wasn't to impressed.
In fact I was so unimpressed that I went back to a regular old toothbrush.

But this puppy was simply amazing!
Seriously... I love it and I will never and I mean NEVER go back to old school brushing again.

My teeth are B-E-A utiful thanks to this fool proof way of brushing.  It tells you if you are brushing too hard, and the brush not only rotates and brushes your teeth but also flosses them all in one step.
In fact, I'm excited to go to the dentist and be praised for my dental hygiene as opposed to my bi- yearly scolding!

So let me introduce you to all the wonderful features of this one.



First, it has this handy dandy little timer that tells you where to brush and how long! It makes sure you do your 2 min brushing! Somehow this little guy makes you feel guilty if you don't get your full 2 min in.  So don't test the smiley face... trust me on this one.


Now don't worry you don't have to stay glued to the timer you can mosey along and go about your business. There is a nice little pause followed by a beep when it's time to switch sides! (Everything is split between left top, right top, left bottom, and right bottom)

Next is this very small compact way of storing it in your bathroom! It charges and doesn't take up much space! My husband and I have our own color coded toothbrush heads so we just swap them out when it's time to brush.



And that's not all... A cute blue travel case!! I mean really, how easy and cute!


  


Oral B did not miss a beat... This thing is perfect. I really can't think of anything negative to say!


So if you need a last minute gift, consider picking up one of these. Right now is the time to do it because Oral-B is offering a $20 mail-in rebate on select power toothbrushes November 18  through December 31, 2012.  They will love you, their teeth will love you and even their dentist will thank you and you get $20 back. Win-win situation if you ask me.

For more information check it out HERE







“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Modern Mom on behalf of Oral-B and received a product sample to facilitate my review.”

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Christmas at our House




Can you believe it's almost Christmas?
I love this holiday.
This year having a 2 year old made it so much more special.
She actually got it this year.
So I thought I'd give you a quick tour of how our house has gotten all "Christmasy" this year.

Let's start with our good ol Christmas tree.



No it's not real... its fake.  I've found that the dogs have less of a tendency to hike a leg on a tree if it's fake.



Next comes this favorite character of mine... he holds yummy Christmas treats for all to eat.



These little guys were a gift from my mom last year.
Aren't they adorable?
Little Miss likes to pretend they are "horseys" and ride them around the house.



Then it's just little touches of Christmas throughout the house.


Greenery and red berries... a Christmas must if you ask me.



Now this fun calendar, I had growing up.
A couple of years ago, I found it at my mom's house and begged her to let me keep it.
So now Little Miss loves it just as much as I do.



Every day you move the bear closer to finding Christmas.

And then my mom hit a home run in grandma world.
She got Little Miss her own tree for her room.
I'm telling you, she hugs this tree good night every night.



While we were in the Christmas spirit, I decided to Mother-Daughter ornament making was necessary.
More on how we did this soon.
Super fun but super messy!



Well folks, it's a week and before Christmas.  I hope everyone is enjoying the season and not getting to caught up in the hustle and bustle.

Happy Holidays!!


Remembering Sandy Hook





Friday, December 14, 2012

It's Chilly So I Need Chili


I hope everyone will forgive me.... I've been so overwhelmed with the sweet comments and new followers thanks to the iPad giveaway.  I'm trying to follow you all back and write you back.  I just haven't had the time.  So please don't think you are going un-noticed.  You aren't!  :)

Now on to Friday Foods.  I started this for two reasons.
1.  I'm a firm believer in having home cooked meals and family meal time together!  Family time is important and often the only time we get to focus on each other is during a meal and the health benefits of home cooked vs. "out to eat" food is incredible.
2.  I have stolen so many recipes from others blogs when I got in a cooking slump, so I decided I needed to give back.

So if you are new around these parts...  Welcome to Friday Foods!

I don't know about you, but it has gotten pretty cold around here which means warm comfort foods are a must.  So today I'm going to show you how to make the world's best chili!  I have tried several but this one is my ALL time favorite.  So here ya go....

The World's Biggest Frito Chili Pie!


I kid, I kid.  To much of a good thing if you ask me.  So now that I got that out of my system.  Let's get started on the normal size chili.

Start by sauteing 2 large bell peppers in about 2 tsp of salad oil.  (the recipe calls for green but all I had was red... it's called improvising people, so pretend they are green)


Next dice you up 2 medium onions and add them to your peppers.  Stir around until they become tender.


Next add 1 clove of garlic, 1/4 cup of chopped parsley (oops I was out of that so pretend parsley is in there), 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes, 1 TBSP of salt, 3/4 tsp of pepper and 3/4 tsp of cumin.
Stir and let that simmer.


While that is simmering, melt a little bit of butter in a skillet.  (omit this step if you are trying to be healthy) and cook up your meat.   If you want healthy substitute turkey meat and turkey sausage... it's awesome.  Not feeling super healthy?  Go with ground beef and sausage.

Brown that meat.. and I don't care if you are going unhealthy or not... DRAIN THAT MEAT!
Sorry to sound bossy but excessive grease just grosses me out so I always drain!  ALWAYS.


Now dump your meat into the tomato pot and add 1/4 cup of chili powder.


Stir it all up.  Make sure that chili powder is evenly distributed and your tomato to meat ratio is right.  
Ok just kidding, just stir until you like the way it looks.


Now comes the tricky part..... You ready?
Put a lid on it and cover it for at least an hour.  
Whew, that's a tough one, huh?


Now I usually let the pot cook on low for 3-4 hours.  I make it during Little Miss's nap time and let it cook the rest of the day.   About 30 minutes before I'm ready to serve it, I dump in 2 cans of pinto beans and stir it up and let it cook uncovered.

Set a bag of Fritos on the table, grate up some cheese and let everyone dig in!  It's amazing!  I promise!

 


And while you are letting this baby simmer... I recommend you pop over for a Find and Follow Blog Hop!  Just click below!  :)




Thursday, December 13, 2012

Anniversary Getaway

A few weeks ago the hubs and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary!
Allow me to brag, I didn't do a thing.  Nope, not one single thing.

Hubby arranged the entire trip.
Little Miss had her first sleep over with Nana and her cousin.
He made reservations at the most amazing little bed and breakfast I'd ever been to.
Great room, amazing food, beautiful views, hot husband.  What more could a girl want?

the only picture of us on our trip and I'm blurry... Boo!!!!

Sometimes, it's necessary to get away and remember who you are as a couple, not parents.
And that is just what this trip did, helped us be a fun loving couple.

There is something so fun about bed and breakfast inn's.
They are so personal and make you feel like you are at home.
Nothing is more peaceful, especially when they are tucked away in a small, quiet mountain town.

Let me introduce you to Arrowhead Manor 


Enjoy breakfast while looking at the gorgeous mountain views


Admire the GORGEOUS decor of this place.
Seriously, I love all of the dark wood and the beautiful light fixtures.


Now it's time to check into your room which has more than you could imagine.  Starting with a huge king size bed that is the most comfortable thing I have ever slept on....


Complete with your very own sitting area. 

    

(Excuse the fact that my husband can't live without football for 2 seconds.)


As well as your own personal deck with a hot tub that overlooks the beauty of Colorado.

I don't have to do much convincing because the pictures speak for themselves.
This was the perfect setting for Hubs and I to enjoy us time without the interruption of our lovely 2 year old.

So now, if you are looking for a quiet, romantic getaway in Colorado.  I highly recommend this place.


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