Screamin' hot deals

Did any of you get any screamin' hot deals this past weekend?

I was able to get a shirt for Todd (regular price $36) for 68 cents shipped!

It was on clearance at Kohl's for $10.80. I had $10 Kohl's cash, and stacked two coupon codes for 20% off, and free shipping. With tax it came out to .68.

I also got fleece to make pajama pants for 2.99/yd, a $25 toy for $8, and 12 (hopefully good quality) washcloths for $4 shipped (I can hear my mother cheering right now...I only have three nice washcloth's for face-washing).

Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought I would take a moment while my boys are "otherwise engaged" (with sleeping, football, and the Wii), to acknowledge my many blessings. I'm not going to make a list, as it could go on all day, but it's been a good year for us. I'm grateful to have a few quiet moments to ponder all that I've been given.

We were on our own for Thanksgiving this year, since Todd is on-call this week. I've spent 10-12 hours in the kitchen over the past two days, and it took a whopping 15 minutes to inhale our meal!

Todd had to work all morning, but I managed to have almost everything ready by the time he got home. The boys helped peel the potatoes (until two of them peeled their knuckles), and Todd mashed them. Our gravy was the perfect consistency (only took 12 years to get it right), the turkey was moist and oh-so-good, and I found a great use for our over-abundance of parsnips (the white "flowers" garnishing the turkey).

I was talking to Vanessa this morning, and we both commented how every Thanksgiving we have forgotten how we did things the last time. Because of that, I'm going to write down all the boring details for my own future reference. Maybe one day I'll be able to pull off a Thanksgiving meal without calling my Dad 42 times.

I made Maple-Roasted Turkey with Sage, Smoked Bacon, and Cornbread Stuffing. The grocery store didn't have fresh sage, so I used dried. I had a 13 pound turkey, and put it in the fridge to thaw on Sunday night. I probably should've taken it out on Saturday night. I followed the directions in the recipe, even though I was afraid the turkey would be dry without foil or an oven-bag. I basted it every 30 minutes, and it was every bit as moist as the ones I've done in a bag. It baked for about 3 1/2 hours at 350 degrees (did NOT stuff the bird).

I used my favorite cornbread recipe for the stuffing. I should've cut the sugar in half (or more) since you really don't need it for stuffing, but it was good anyway :o) I added celery and mushrooms to the onions, and sauteed all in sage butter. I sprinkled 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder over the dry ingredients before mixing it up to make it fluffier.

I cooked and sliced the yams yesterday, and re-heated them today with butter and brown sugar, before toasting marshmallows on top. I made them in a round dish like Grandma does, 'cause that's just how yams are supposed to be. I can't even fathom them in a square dish...

I made the fresh cranberry sauce yesterday. It was Dillon's favorite part of the meal. I didn't add the cinnamon or cloves because "the mood didn't move me". I think I like the recipe I used a few years ago better...but I have no idea where to find it.

I made the World's Best Dinner Rolls, and they were good, but not as light and fluffy as I expected. I'll try them again, but if they aren't "the best", then I'll move on to a new recipe. It's probably just me. Or the altitude. Or the weather. I've had lots of issues with bread making lately.

I made Aunt Anita's famous Orange Jello last night as well. It takes one large box of orange Jell0, and one large box of COOKED lemon pudding (not instant). You make each one according to the package directions, leaving 1 of the cups of COLD water OUT of the Jello. Then you whisk the Jello and Pudding together and refrigerate.

For dessert, after everyone has finished digesting, we'll be having this Pumpkin Roll. I changed the servings to 15 and re-calculated the ingredient list to make it in my large baking sheet rather than a 9x13 pan. It ended up being just the right amount. I made this a few weeks ago and the kids all loved it. I nearly made this Pumpkin Cream Trifle today, but Todd wasn't feeling brave enough. I have leftover pumpkin so I'll be making this in the next day or so and I'll try to remember to give a review.

I wish I would've made the pumpkin roll yesterday, but there wasn't room in my fridge until I had the turkey in the oven. I was in the kitchen yesterday from about 6:00-10:30 PM, and from 9:00-2:30 today. I think if I had to cut something out next time, it would be the homemade rolls. They took up a lot of space, time, and dishes. If only Dad's bakery were closer...

'Tis the Season

ONE week long wilderness first-aid training for Todd (out-of-town)

ONE new calling (RS activity coordinator)

ONE midnight call to the doctor/breathing treatment

TWO kids with fevers

THREE days of missed school

FOUR croupy coughs

FIVE new prescriptions

SIX quilts that need to be quilted

SEVEN long days for a "single" mom

{THIRTEEN pound turkey thawing in fridge and THIRTY TWO days 'til Christmas}

SIX hours between Motrin

FIVE dropped calls on a dying cell phone

FOUR hours between Tylenol and ear drops

THREE trips to the clinic

TWO times a day antibiotics

ONE ear infection

ONE sinus infection

ONE HUNDRED TEN ladies to feed at the upcoming RS dinner

I was up for several hours with a sick baby last night, and Todd let me sleep in today. He got one kid off to school, and did his first phone call from home. I got up just after he left for work, and found the following:

A candy bar on my nightstand, empty garbage cans (today's garbage day), and milk in the fridge (we were out).

He also made dinner tonight.

I am THANKFUL that Todd is home.

Free MP3 downloads for kids

Click on this link to download this VeggieTales Christmas album for FREE! (Offer good today only).

You can click on this link to download FREE audio tracks (wacky animal poetry) from The Tighty Whitey Spider by Kenn Nesbitt.

Our kids have been listening to these all day.

Cauliflower Soup and Brussels Sprouts

Tonight I made this Cauliflower Soup recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and it was excellent. We will definitely have it again.

When I took my half and half out of the fridge, it had gone bad (even though it didn't expire for a few more days) so I ended up using milk instead, but it was still really good.

I also made Roasted Brussels Sprouts. I would use less salt next time, but Todd and I both really liked them. The kids? Not so much.

Three Months

Justin is a Daddy's boy. Every night before bed they have a "playdate" and both Dad and Baby are all smiles. I found Todd's high school football jersey for the background here. I wish I had gotten a picture without the pacifier, but Justin wasn't about to give it up.

Here he is, next to one of his newborn pics. Oh how I miss his hair! Everyone said he would lose it, and they were right.

Dillon has a hard time understanding what it means

when we say Justin is 3 mos. He keeps asking if Justin is still zero.

I told him that Justin was 1/4th.

Todd thought we should celebrate with 1/4th of a cake.

Luckily, we already had that on hand.

Turkey Disguise

The kindergarten teacher here always sends home a turkey pattern that we are supposed to "disguise" before Thanksgiving. Brayden made a superhero turkey back in '06. Caleb made a Santa turkey, and Dillon chose to make this fire-fighting turkey.

I had everything we needed IN MY STASH! I usually get frustrated with projects like this because we don't have any craft stores around here. We used a wooden spool, silver paint, a pipe cleaner, and a blue feather for the fire hose. The fire hydrant is some kind of a jewelry box that I had in my craft bin--random, huh? I also had the reflective ribbon in my sewing room.

Dillon had a great time disguising his turkey.

The Winners

Thank you all for your help with Dinner Campaign 2010. We had a great time, and the boys are already thinking about their nominations for next year.

Our final ballot consisted of the top two (three if there was a tie) choices in each category, and the winners were:

Salisbury steak, glazed carrots, egg nog...

...and "Our Favorite Chocolate Cake".

Who won the election?

We all did.

Our Favorite Chocolate Cake

1 pkg. Devil's Food cake mix (is there any other kind?)

4 oz. instant chocolate pudding mix

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1/2 cup oil

12 oz. bag MILK chocolate chips

Grease and flour your bundt pan. Say the word "bundt" a few times (the way they say it on Big Fat Greek Wedding), tell your kids they can't lick the beaters 'cause there's raw eggs in the batter. Bake at 350 degree's for 45 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes, slide a small rubber spatula down the sides, and dump onto your favorite plate. No frosting needed. Enjoy!

"Held Hostage"

According to Todd, we are being held hostage by produce.

We've recently been able to participate in Bountiful Baskets.

Before we got our first basket, I already had a butternut squash, an acorn squash, five zucchini, a bunch of banana's, a fridge full of apples and carrots from Dad and Grandma, a box of tomatoes, a head of cabbage, four kiwi's, a pumpkin, and four peppers. (We were the lucky recipients of some leftover Bountiful Basket produce from a previous week).

For some reason I feel an overwhelming and uncontrollable urge to take a picture of my "haul" each week. It's kind of like Christmas 'cause you don't know what produce you're gonna get.

So, here's our first basket, which we added to the produce listed above:

The kids ended up loving pomegranate's, after I spent 30 minutes "harvesting" the fruit :o)

We have yet to try the parsnips. Everything else from this load was pretty "normal" at our house. (We only ever have yams for Thanksgiving, though).

We got our second basket yesterday, and we still had some leftovers from our last basket. Also, my Aunt Joyce brought ANOTHER load of carrots from Dad. I currently have a carrot cake ready to go into the oven, but it didn't even make a dent in our carrots. We made carameled apples for Halloween and didn't make a dent in our apples either.

I am determined to use it all up, although this week is going to be harder.

The kids LOVE having pears around, and can't wait to try the Asian pears from this load. Todd was excited about the collard greens and will prepare them the way he liked them on his mission. I'm a little leary about the brussels sprouts, but found a recipe online that I'm going to try.

Has anyone ever had a persimmon? I had to look it up online to find out whether it was a vegetable or a fruit. (It's a fruit). There are two kinds of persimmons. One kind can be used for pie or pudding which I wanted to try, but we have the other kind, and from what I can tell from all my research, we're supposed to core them, and eat them like an apple. I've read that if they aren't ripe, they'll make your mouth pucker up more than any lemon, and they'll take all the moisture out of your mouth.

I don't know how to tell if they're ripe. Do you? Most of the stuff we've gotten has needed to ripen for several days. I think we'll wait until at least next week before trying the persimmons.

Dinner Campaign 2010

This week we are continuing our annual election week tradition of campaigning for next Monday night's dinner. Since it is rare for anyone to vote for anything other than their own nominee's, we need YOUR help this year. I have put polls on our sidebar so that you can all vote as well. The polls close on Saturday night at 10:00 PM. The top two choices in each category will go on the final ballot, and our family will cast our votes on Sunday evening.

Take a look at the posters that are hanging all over our house, and then vote for whatever YOU would choose to eat if you were lucky enough to come to dinner at our house on Monday night :o)

Top left to right: Applesauce, Kool-Aid world

Bottom left to right: Ice Cream Tree, BLT machine

Feel free to take a "sticker" if you'd like one.

(No need to add a link...I'm not looking for extra traffic).

Lunch

This is a must-watch video! This lady had five kids in four years, and she made a time-lapse video of herself--feeding her kids their lunch. Every mother out there will understand.