Come spend the day with me!

Friday, December 5, 2008
4:32am: wake up, put a load of laundry in, let the dogs out. Crawl back into bed & watch the news until the alarm goes off.

4:50am: Alarm goes off. Drats!!!

5:15am: Roll out of bed...again. Make sure daughter is up for school.

5:25am: Get cozy on the couch and watch Channel 3 news until it is time for hubby to leave for work.

6am: hubby should leave now...

6:15am: hubby leaves for work.

6:20am: eat breakfast.

6:40am: get daughter moving...bus will be here very shortly. Bus may be late today, we got about 4-5" of the white fluffy stuff and big white flakes are still coming down!

6:48am: bus is here!

6:55am: write a new post on my blog.

7:15am: start thinking about getting to the barn to feed the 2 steers out there!

7:20am: need to get son up & moving before I go to the barn.

7:25am: to the barn I go!

7:30am: feed & water Brutus. talk to the cats. Feed Kumar, he has plenty of water in his stock tank. also need to shovel some manure from Brutus' pen. Give Brutus some hay.

7:50am: back in from the barn.

7:55am: get son to eat some breakfast.

8:00am: make sure son is eating breakfast!

8:05am: gotta pack son's lunch.

8:15am: quick run through-- does he have his boots, snowpants, hat, gloves, lunch, book bag...?

8:25am: Son needs to get out to the bus!

8:35am: the bus has arrived!

8:45am: get dressed, need to go to town to get daughter at school for an ortho app't.

9:15am: pack punchneedle stuff--need something to do during her app't. Has had her top braces since early September, getting bottoms put on today!

9:30am: head up to the high school to get daughter.

10:00am: arrive at school

10:10am: leave school

10:20am: arrive at ortho

11:15am: SHE IS DONE :)

11:25am: stop and get her some acetaminaphine.

11:30am: drop her back off at school

11:45am: ran an errand---can't say or daughter will know what she is getting for Christmas!

12:00n: ran another errand---can't say for son will know what he is getting for Christmas!

12:30pm: ran to Walmart, needed a few odds-n-ends!

1:45pm: arrive home

2:05pm: go to elementary school to give blood. I know it is a great thing to do, but I hate needles and have never done this before (yes, I am a lab tech!!). But son really really wanted this stuffed blood cell and if I gave blood he would get one. So needless to say, I signed up and now I feel like I am going to pass out and I have not even gotten to the school yet!

2:30pm: start all my paperwork for donating blood. My palms are sweaty, my pits are soaked, I feel light headed! But 2 good friends are also there at the same time. One has given, one hasn't either! We can do this together! The friend that has let's us know that it is nothing! Being a lab tech, I know what size the needle is...I am still afraid!

2:45pm: the needle is going into my arm...wow! I did not feel 1 thing! Jessi was right! I was so happy that Jessi was in the other chair facing me and was there to keep talking to me while the procedure was going!

3:30pm: It went great! I will do this again! Cody gets his little blood cell after all!

3:45pm: back home! And I didn't pass out! Whew!

4:00pm: back to the barn for evening feeding time!

4:25pm: back in the house

4:30pm: time to jump in the shower, have a Christmas party to go to!

5:45pm: let's get a move on, the party starts in 15 minutes!

6:09pm: arrive at the Christmas party!

6:30pm: eat a wonderful dinner! If you ever get a chance to go to Josephine's in Jefferson--go!! The food is great! The owners are wonderful!

7:30pm: time for white elephant! What fun! Bart ended up with a Texas Hold'em set..(that will be regifted!) and I got a little basket with 2 gingerbread cookies and a jar of jam! Yum!

9:00pm: time to leave. One of the party goers invited us back to their place for wine. I had the best peach wine!

11:00pm: arrive home! need to get to bed, tomorrow's schedule is even worse! Gotta take Brutus to the fairgrounds for weigh in and tagging for fair! We will be there from 8-2 pm and then off to another Christmas party!

11:30pm: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Getting ready for Christmas!

Our Italian Tree - insprired by my heritage on my mom's side!

Our Pewter Tree--this was started by my Longaberger ornament collection, but many other pewter ornaments have been added. This picture does not do this tree justice! It has white lights, pearl garland and pewter ornaments with some red poinsettias here and there!


My Christmas decorating is well underway! I only have 2 rooms left to finish! I have the pewter tree in our den. In our dining room, I have the Italian tree and the John Deere tree. In the kitchen, I have a small Polish tree. In the living room I have the miniature Hallmark tree along with a tree that just has Hallmark garden themed ornaments. Next week we will go cut down a live tree that will go in the living room and has all of our other Hallmark ornaments. My son has his full size tree up and a table top one. My daughter has a full size horse themed tree up in her room and a table top horse themed tree. In our upstairs hallway, we have what we call our "Gaga & Popi" tree. What is that, you ask? Well, when my hubby's grandparents moved here from Michigan, I bought them a pencil tree for their apartment and every year I would go over and put it up for them. When they had both passed away I knew I had to put a tree just like that one in memory of them. So I went out and bought a tree and just happened to find all the same ornaments that i had used on their tree! So now we have a "Gaga & Popi" tree! In my bathroom, I usually have a blue themed tree, but this year the lights died and I did not want to wait to go and buy more...I wanted to get it up right then and there. So it is a hodge podge tree this year! In my bedroom will go the snowman tree and a new tree---my Bill Hixson ornament tree! ( I got the pleasure of meeting him the night before we left for Savannah!-I bought a bunch of his ornaments and he signed them!!) All my trees have started out as 4' trees and as I accumulate more ornaments,they grow to 7' trees! I have a tree down in our family room that is all handmade ornaments that people have given me or that I or the kids have made! I am also adding an OSU tree in there this year since the room has an OSU theme to it! Gosh--did I forget any trees???
I just love decorating for the holidays! I owe that to 2 special people that have touched my life! On my dad's side it was my Aunt Joanne. She always had the most festive house at Christmas! We would go over there on Christmas Eve (more about that story later--I will let you know my childhood memories soon!). Anyway..she had colorful Christmas lights EVERYWHERE! I can still picture her mantle and her nook in her kitchen! I always thought "when I grow up this is how I want my house at the holidays!" She will always have a special place in my heart! I miss her and wish she was still here to see my home!
My other inspiration is my Aunt Jo on my mom's side. She is a wonderful person! I loved going to her house on Christmas Day! She always had the most awesome tree you can ever imagine! I can still see it....I loved the chocolate ornaments she would hang on it! I happened to find them last year at World Market and was able to put them on my tree for my kids! It brought back many wonderful memories! I also remember all her pine cone wreaths she had hanging! They were gorgeous! And I remember a wreath that was made out of paper cones and the paper had little squares cut out of them! It was neat!
As you can imagine, I have lights and garland anywhere you can put lights and garland! I do not even have to turn on any regular lights! Nothing is more magical that sitting in the glow of holiday lights! And they must be colored! White lights are pretty, don't get me wrong--but I use those the rest of the year! It is the colored lights I remember as a child!

Today, I am jotting down everything I do for the day and tomorrow I will chronicle my day for you! I am one busy person! Come spend a day with me!

Until tomorrow....

Savannah, Georgia!

One of our "Horse Crazy" photos!

Spanish moss hanging from a tree downtown Savannah!

22 lb. Tom Turkey...looks done to me :)

What a beautiful place! We went to Richmond Hill, GA for Thanksgiving. It is a tradition. We stay with my husband's brother & his family. This year...the WHOLE gang went down! It was fantastic! God love my sister-in-law for putting up with all of us. 20 of us in all! And we all stayed at their lovely home! My husband and I along with the 2 kids got there on Sunday before Thanksgiving. My in-laws came in on Tuesday. And the rest of the family arrived on Wednesday. Here is how the whole trip went:

We left early Saturday morn...like 6am. We drove to Charlotte so that I could spent an evening with my very bestest friend Beth (Old Tyme Design--check out her cool blog!). She was at the Southern Christmas show so I got to do a little shoppin'!! We try to get the hotel before the OSU/Mich game so that Bart & Russ can watch the game, but this year it was an early game...so needless to say, I had to hear football onthe radio! Anyway Beth came over to our hotel to have dinner with us and we exchanged our Christmas gifts! Boy---she knows how to spoil my kids! She gave them a "He Fartsalot"....he can fart Old McDonald! (Everytime I turn around someone is squeezin' his thingy and making him toot!) anyway...it was a short but sweet visit! Then Sunday we got to Savannah around 1pm.

We just chilled out...baked cookies! Teri made great pasta! Then we crashed...went to bed by 8pm....I wanted to watch "24-Redemption but fell asleep as soon as I sat down! I was whipped! Monday morning, we went downtown Savannah! We always eat lunch at The Lady & Sons, owned by Paula Deen! DELICIOUS! If you ever get a chance to go to Savannah----GO!!! What an awesome town! You have to do the "On/Off" tour at Old Savannah Tours! And of course you have to eat at The Lady & Sons....get there right at 11am! Or you will have to wait hours! And you can not miss River Street! and then there is City Market! There is just too much to list! okay...back to my trip! So Monday we also ran to Bass Pro Shop & Camper's World! My hubby was in his glory there----we pulled in and they were taking a $260,000 motor home to get gas and asked if we wanted to ride along and then let him DRIVE!! I was a basketcase! He was in love---and not with me :) no----we did not buy it! But we can always dream!

So back to the house...I made my chicken casserole for dinner and hubby made an awesome salad! I promised my Godchild I would help her make Berry Blue Clouds...a jello dessert! They did come out pretty cool! Tuesday, I took my daughter and 2 nieces shopping and out to lunch while hubby, son & my brother-in-law ran some other manly errands! Tuesday when we got back, the girls and I made 4 pumpkin rolls. My mother-in-law got there and made an apple pie and cherry pie---God Bless her...she made her crust from scratch! I made 4 pumpkin pies and guess what....I rolled out the ol' Pillsbury crust! Thank God for Pillsbury! Then everyone else got there Wednesday. My hubby had to make his wings in the deep fryer. I made the sauces. We made 30 lbs. of wings! I made terriayki, hot, BBQ, & Butter garlic. I also threw together Beth's awesome beans!---Maybe she'll post the recipe on her blog!!

We also got some of the casseroles put together on Wednesday and cut up everything for our stuffing. Needed to make Thanksgiving as stressfree as possible! So we wake up on Thanksgiving...have a couple of casseroles to finish....a 14 lb turkey to fry and a 22 lb. yard bird to bake in the oven! Time to stuff the bird----the bird got all cleaned out after I went to bed on Wednesday. So he comes out of the frig...brother-in-law stuffs him and has an enormous amount of stuffing left...I tell him to stuff the front too. He asks "Where?" I say, "Under that flappy thing!" "Here,?" he points...."YES!!" So he lifts it up.......STILL FULL OF GIZZARDS! So he had to finish "cleanin' out" ol' Tom Turkey and finish stuffing him! I was laughing! I got the biggest kick out of it! I said, "Didn't you wonder where they were last night?" LOL LOL LOL!

Anyway....we got everything cooked and dinner was fabulous! We all added our own little tradional dishes! It was a colaboration of traditions! Another funny story...my sister-in-law made this pineapple cheddar cheese dish...very good! She asked how everyone liked it...and one brother-in-law says, "I didn't get any"...we all pointed out that he did and already ate it...he said, "No, that was my cheesy potatoes!"...so we teased him the rest of dinner about his "Cheesy Potatoes"!!

After dinner my mother-in-law got everyone together for a family photo! She got all the girls a "Horse Crazy" t-shirt to wear and all the guys wore black t-shirts. My kids were crabby because they had not gotten any sleep for 3 days...busy staying up with all the cousins! So they were refusing to get dressed....I was mad at them....needless to say, I'll be surprised if we are all smiling in ours!

And then Friday morning we packed back into the car for our drive back north to the cold snow! As much as I love the south, I gotta have my snow! Especially this time of year!

It was fantastic having everyone together for the first time in ages!

hey that leads me to another GREAT recipe!! My sister-in-law got me hooked on this many Thanksgivings ago! It has become a tradition! It is a recipe from her Grandma B!!

Pear Salad

1 lg Lime Jello

1 lg can pears, reserve juice

2 (3oz.) cream cheese

1 tub cool whip

Combine juice & water to equal 2 C. Boil; dissolve jello. Add pears (cut up into smaller pieces) and cream cheese. Blend. Fold in cool whip. Refrigerate until firm. YUM-MO!!! I can not eat enough of this stuff!!

Great Recipe for Christmas Morn!

With Christmas just 24 days away, I HAVE to share a great recipe for Christmas morning! It is for Overnight French Toast! Just whip this up sometime on Christmas Eve, leave it in the frig overnight and when you wake up Christmas morn, pop it in the oven and when you are done opening all your goodies from Santa, you will have a delicious breakfast to eat! This recipe is so yummy!! Enjoy!

Overnight French Toast

8 lg. eggs
3 C milk
1 T vanilla
1 t cinnamon
1 t sugar
2 T butter
1 loaf french bread

Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Slice bread into 1/2" slices and arrange in dish to fit snug with sides touching. Beat eggs; add milk, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar. Pour over bread. Cover with foil and put in refrigerator. Needs to be made at least 4 hours ahead of time. Can be made up to 36 hours ahead!!
Before baking, uncover dish and dot with butter. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until puffy. Serve with syrup!