He is good

You know He is great when you get to see this out the window before you leave work everyday:

-A

Happy Thanksgiving!

This thanksgiving was a great one for me- We got spend time with my husband’s wonderful family! My family was visiting one of my sisters and her husband and baby (I do wish I could have seen baby W). We had an eventful few days of activity…

Wednesday night we finished processing our deer from the weekend and then I was given the job of pie master. Usually this is E’s job, so I had a lot to live up to! And, after 4 hours I had 3 pies to show for it: a pumpkin, apple (with cinnamon crust thanks to Pinterest) and pecan with honey whiskey.

Thanks to Gpa B, I was awarded a 9/10 on the pie making scale- pretty proud of that!

Thursday’s meal was wonderful of course, my in-laws are awesome cooks!! Point-in-case:

I love/hate the feeling after you eat this meal. I want to keep eating and eating but I just get so full I can’t move too far. Should’ve worn my stretch pants. Some visitors made an appearance during dinner as well, our friend the turkey!

After dessert we played some Pinochle, which I forget how to play every time so I end up just throwing out cards and getting lucky ha! Oh and we started the Christmas music with some California Raisins!

Then it was movie time, and the film was Limitless. And let me tell ya folks, it was pretty darn good. I definitely recommend renting it if you have the time.

Overall I give this holiday a 10/10. Great people, great food, great time!
Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving, so much to be thankful for!

-A

MT. DOOM

During our adventure in NZ, E and I hiked up a mountain, yes a mountain I say! That was probably the last time I will partake in an adventure of the sort for two reasons: 1) It was waaaaay harder than I thought it was going to be, albeit it was awesome and stunning and beautiful. 2) it erupted not 24 hours after we left the base of the mountain and hubs thought this was the coolest thing ever that we could have been pummeled to the ground and suffocated…. And now I’m back to tell you it erupted AGAIN! Crazy!

See this article with explosive photo! They should put this in Lord of the Rings, or at least the Hobbit!

Tongariro Explosion

-A

I got a pickle I got a pickle!

Just kidding, I don’t have a pickle. BUT I do have a new job I started this week and I am really enjoying it! So basically it may be a little quiet on this front for a couple weeks- sorry folks!

Also, we are going hunting this weekend, so hopefully I have good news Sunday!

***Thats right folks, I got 2 deer with one shot this weekend! I think I did my hubby proud. Now for the processing… 🙂 ***

-A

Meat on the Table

This weekend is opening weekend for rifles, so the hubs is off to put some (deer) meat on the table! I am so lucky that I have such a wonderful husband that can provide for me 🙂

This is pretty much the only meat we eat throughout the year; we rarely buy meat from the store, unless its chicken or we are at a restaurant and we usually only eat fish that the family has caught (mostly white bass and crappie). We put deer meat in anything that calls for beef, ground or pieces: chili, burgers, pasta, jerky, sausage, steak etc. It really is so yummy and has hardly any fat content! The family even process the meat/fish ourselves- we know exactly where it comes from and what is in it.

Next weekend I get to chance to experience my first try at hunting. I am hoping I get a deer with some antlers 😉 I will be sure to update you all on that!

-A

***UPDATE***
Hubs got an 8pt buck this weekend! So proud of him!

Dollar Tree Crafts

Tonight was another craft night (dollar store finds) with my mom as she is getting ready for a Christmas themed party.

We did lots of crafts with glitter again. Who can say no to glitter?! But I cannot share those right now as they are gifts/surprises.

I will share a couple things. First is the mint serving platter:

We just arranged the red and green mints in a circleish shape on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Put in the oven at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Let cool and then put your cookies or snacks on it to take to a party so you never have to worry about leaving your dishes!
Even the pup likes the idea 🙂

Second craft I can share is a white candle we got for $1 and used double sided sticky tape to make stripes and covered in red glitter. We sprayed a sealing coat of Mod Podge to finish. The before and after:

I love getting in the Christmas spirit as cant wait to give everyone homemade gifts this year!

-A

Craft Night with the Family

After a busy day with the husband, it’s craft night with my mom and sisters! Actually I should clarify- it’s glitter night!

Old Christmas light bulbs covered in glitter. We just covered the cleaned bulbs in Elmer’s glue and shook on the glitter and finished with a spray of Mod Podge spray acrylic. Viola!

Glittery wine glasses. Same technique as above. FYI- we got these glasses at the Dollar Tree for $1 each. That’s what I call a bargain!

Last project for the night was a personalized iPhone cover- of course, it was glitter!! Again, same technique, but added a coat of clear nail polish mixed with the glitter on top of the coat of Mod Podge.

These were all super easy and fun projects and just make you smile because there is so much glitter! And seriously I love Mod Podge- it does everything! Have fun 🙂

-A

Pinterest Pumpkin

So in the spirit of Halloween, since apparently I am too old to trick or treat, I decided to try a recipe I’ve been seeing floating around on Pinterest (click the button at bottom of page to follow me on Pinterest). I went for the 2 Ingredient pumpkin cake: cake mix and canned pumpkin. Yep that’s it! I was a little skeptical as to how this would actually turn out without the eggs, oil and water, but you know what? It actually worked!

Here’s a pic of the final product with some orange cream cheese icing to boot!

My thoughts on this recipe:
1) definitely a must because it is super easy
2) tastes more like a pumpkin bread than cake, but still yummy
3) next time I will use spice cake instead of just plain yellow cake to get that fall flavor I love

Oh and did I mention I am eating it for breakfast today?

Enjoy!
-A

LOCOS TACOS!

I’m still sad about the Cards not going to the World Series. But there is a silver lining to everything, and this is a good one! I definitely got my free Doritos Locos Taco today at Taco Bell. If you weren’t aware, since a base was stolen in a World Series game Taco Bell had this promotion going on and boy is it delicious!!! You have til 6pm tonight- now get up and go!

-A

M-I-Z…

This weekend was definitely an adventure! We headed up to Como (Columbia, MO) for Mizzou’s homecoming game and to celebrate my Sister A’s 22nd birthday, but mostly for the tailgating, food and drinks! After an exciting Friday night driving around Columbia and visiting friends, saturday we watched Mizzou play Kentucky and rocked the socks off of them. Mizzou-rah!

Side story- I was showing my Mizzou spirit with my clothing choice, but apparently my sister thought my outfit made me look like a hobo and even asked strangers about it, to which one guy responded that he’d give me a dollar. Guess it was true, but no matter, I had fun!

E had so much fun at the tailgate, he wore himself out!

After braving the cold weather at the tailgate, the hubs and I headed down to the lake for some fishing. This time was a new thing for me since the trailer had already been winterized and therefore we didn’t have running water. We had an outhouse! And surprisingly it wasn’t that bad- not that I wouldn’t rather have a real toilet! I also had another first this weekend with fishing: I cleaned, gutted and filleted my own fish! I am so proud of myself, but now I have no excuse for future fish ha!

We closed up shop and I’m writing this on our way back home to the STL. I love weekends with my husband, makes me love him even more.

-A