Leftovers and Christmas Lights

Rob really got into reusing our Thanksgiving leftovers this past weekend. On Friday, he used the mashed potatoes to make some German potato dumplings that he loves that his grandmother and mom made. The technical name for them? "Round Things" he says. I wish I could tell you better what they are but they were yummy and I guess that's all that matters. On Saturday he used most of the leftover turkey and made Turkey Macaroni Casserole that was really good too. He made a few modifications to use what we had for noodles and soup choices but it was still delicious. Finally, yesterday he made some Yamberry Muffins out of our leftover yams. Here he is cooking up the "Round Things."



We worked a bit on some chores around this house during the long weekend and the most exciting part was putting the Christmas lights on the house yesterday. We waited until Sunday since that was the warmest day we had- it got all the way up to 44 degrees. It was still kind of chilly and windy but we got the job done and they look great- despite the blurry picture below. I also changed out Stuart's ribbon from his Thanksgiving gear to his Christmas-themed ribbon. We still have a 3-foot tall plastic Santa that we got at a yard sale this past summer for $7 and it needs to be put out but we've got some work to do before he's ready.

Thanksgiving Review

I was a little nervous about doing all our own cooking for Thanksgiving, especially since we were going to prepare so many different things. Okay, we bought the pie but that was it. We cooked everything else. The item that was the scariest was definitely the turkey breast but we just followed the directions on the package and it came out great! Actually, everything did. We ate around 5:00 last night and had a wonderful meal. Maybe next year we'll be brave enough to invite people over to eat with us. Here are some photos.

Crescent rolls, stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole and sweet potatoes in an orange flavored sauce:


Jello salad, mashed potatoes (in the striped bowl), cranberry sauce and turkey:


Here's a photo of us at our little table- we have a much bigger and nicer one but we decided to eat here in the kitchen and enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner in our new kitchen and watch the snow just outside the window:

New Trick Up My Sleeve

I have a Mac computer which I absolutely love but I do find there are some issues with having a Mac at times. Not all websites work for Macs and when they do, you sometimes get a limited version of it and it's missing features and options that PC users have. For instance, when I blog from a PC, there are about seven different buttons to help me do things like add links, make words bold or italicized or even to upload video. I have never had these options on my Mac and had to learn a lot of code to be able to do these things that others can do so easily. Apparently, Blogger decided to give all of us Mac users a Thanksgiving present because now I have those options too! One thing I never learned the code for was to add video. Now that I can do that, I couldn't wait to try it. I took a short clip of the snow falling yesterday just outside our house and decided to share it all. You can see it wasn't snowing a lot yesterday, just some light snow that was so pretty falling down.

Update: Though you can see the snow good when the video is bigger, it isn't showing up too good here. Darn it! I'll leave it up though so you can see our snowy neighborhood.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all, a few pictures of the snow from yesterday. I may have fallen asleep on the couch last night rather early and didn't get a chance to do this last night like I had planned. Oops.

Just starting to snow outside my window at work:



Snowing a bit more while I was still at work:



What our house looked like when we got home:



And finally, what our backyard looked like last night (and actually still does this morning):



It ended up snowing quite a bit more yesterday than was expected. We got 1-2 inches here and they weren't even sure we would get any. And even more unexpected? It's snowing again this morning! Not too much, just enough to look really beautiful.

We're watching the parade this morning on tv and Rob had to run to the store this morning for a few more things. I went yesterday after work but forgot the bananas for the jello salad. I also did not buy cranberry sauce because I don't like it. Oops- turns out Rob does like it and wanted some. And since he left the bag of groceries he brought in for me yesterday sitting in the laundry room, we needed more milk, cool whip and lettuce to replace what I just bought yesterday. He thought I put them away and I thought he did and it turned out nobody did. I already made the jello salad this morning but that's it so far. I was planning on us eating around 1:00 or 2:00 but it seems our boneless turkey breast isn't quite thawed out yet. We need some more time, it is close to being thawed, so I think we'll be eating around dinnertime now, maybe 5:00 or 6:00. Our menu is:

Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing
Yams
Jello Salad
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Crescent Rolls
Pumpkin Pie

More pictures and reviews later to let you all know how it turns out!

Okay, Now It's Snowing!

Now it is really starting to come down. The ground is white and it's totally covering everyone's cars. It is so pretty! I went outside to take a better picture. It's still with my cell phone camera so it's not great. I promise to put more photos up later tonight when I get home.



Though I am loving the snow, it will be a bummer tonight when I have to go to the grocery store for a few last items for Thanksgiving dinner.

It's Snowing!

It started snowing about 30 minutes ago- our first snow of the season! I've been running all around telling everyone and taking pictures. No one at work seems nearly as excited as I am. In fact, some people don't seem very happy about it at all. But I am!! Here's what the weather people are saying:

Snow Advisory in effect until 6 PM CST this afternoon... Periods of snow will continue across central Iowa through the afternoon. Gusty winds of 15 to 25 mph will produce areas of reduced visibilities. An inch of snowfall will be possible in the next couple of hours as bands of snow move through the area. Total snowfall expected with this storm will be 1-3 inches with isolated 4 inch amounts possible through tomorrow morning.


I took a picture on my phone to share but I will post the rest later when I get home. This is looking out of my window at work. It doesn't look like it's snowing that much but it kind of is. It's not piling up on the ground yet but maybe in a few hours it will.

Fun with Google

I don’t know how many of you frequently use Google but I use their Gmail all the time, their maps feature is great and even Blogger is hooked up with it. They have a way to personalize the Google page on your computer and they call that iGoogle. (I would love to put in links to all these things but when I did, it went to my personal account and I'm afraid everyone could get into my email which I don't really want. I'm trusting you to find it on your own from the main www.Google.com page.) My favorite thing about iGoogle, and the thing I want to share with all of you, is their setting for “Themes”. It’s probably more of a girl thing because most of the cartoons are very cutesy and are things guys would not appreciate. They have several different "themes" (or scenes) you can select from and they just added about 5 more. I noticed it yesterday but perhaps they’ve had them for a while. There are scenes with people at a bus stop, a cityscape but the best are the ones with the little cartoon animals who do different activities throughout the day. I had it set on “Tea House” which had a little fox who would sleep in his sleeping bag, pick oranges, do laundry, fish on the pond, eat lunch and several other things. You also enter your zip code and it will mimic your weather as well as the sunrise and sunset. Maybe I’m a total geek for liking to see what the cartoons do throughout the day, but it does bring a smile to my face and I just thought I’d pass it on.

P.S.- You do have to sign up with them but then you get to personalize your Google page with all kinds of gadgets/widgets. I have brain teaser games, news, weather, recipes, and comics, among other things, that I get every day so it totally makes it worth it. I also highly recommend the Gmail and if you would like to have it, let me know so I can send you an invite.

Pretty as a Flower

This weekend we worked in the yard a bit more, doing our final yard clean-up for the year and finishing planting the rest of bulbs I purchased at Sam’s Club. I had already planted about 50 assorted fancy bulbs and I topped it off this weekend by planting 100 mixed-color tulip bulbs, 40 narcissus bulbs and another 10 hyacinth bulbs. If it turns out good, it should be amazing. If they start to bloom and then it snows again (like this past spring), it could be trouble. But I’m willing to gamble on it because I love all the spring bulbs! This should conclude my posts on yardwork until probably about March or April because it will be that long until we need to mow or do anything again because of the snow.

Speaking of snow, we still have not had any. Last year, they got the first bit of it on November 10th and it’s not uncommon to have some in October (so we’ve been told). This past weekend the highs were in the 60s which is a little unusual, but really awesome. Now the 10-day forecast is claiming a 60% chance of snow showers for next Wednesday and Thursday. It might be kind of fun to have a white Thanksgiving.

And speaking of Thanksgiving, Rob and I are hosting our own, just for ourselves, this year. We’re looking forward to cooking it all up in our own house and in our brand new kitchen. I bought quite a few of the things I would need for it yesterday. I learned a few years back that you don’t wait until a day or two before Thanksgiving and think you will find cream of mushroom soup, cool whip, green beans or crescent rolls. So I bought everything I could ahead of time but we’ll have to get some things a day or two before because you just have to. The one thing I’m not sure about what to do concerns the turkey. Two people don’t really need a whole turkey and the thought of preparing one for cooking grosses us both out. I was looking into just getting a turkey breast or two but they seemed so small and I know we’ll want some leftovers. My latest idea is to see if I can buy a whole turkey cooked or at least all cleaned up and tied up and ready to be stuck in the oven. I think that’s the best idea for us. I’ll be sure to post pictures that day and let you know how it all turns out.

Go Green!

More contest news- I found a new one to enter! This contest has a $20,000 grand prize so you can make your house green (not actually the color, just more environmentally friendly) which I think is a fantastic idea. You can go to the Duraflame website to enter. In the meantime, I will continue to fight the good fight with my husband to make our house as green as we can. The man loves his incandescent light bulbs and I can't seem to convince him to use the CFLs. I buy them but they just sit in the box. I try to appeal to the side of him that likes to save money but even that doesn't work. I think I'm just going to slowly start replacing them all without telling him and hope he doesn't notice.

I Give Up

I have come to the conclusion that my life is not exciting enough to blog about everyday. Monday we were boring. Tuesday we were boring. So far today is also pretty boring. I think I prefer to wait a few days and save up stories until there is something good to tell so I hereby announce that I am giving up on the blogging every day challenge. It’s not for me. I have learned though to be better about blogging more often and that was all I wanted.

So. We did rent Spiderman 3 on Monday and watched it that evening. Rob really wanted to see it over the weekend but we had no luck obtaining a copy of it to watch. We had tried to use the “On Demand” feature of our cable service to order it online but they didn’t have it yet. Rob called Hollywood Video to see if they had any copies over the weekend but they did not. So finally on Monday afternoon we found one there. I really enjoyed it and I hope they make more. I don’t believe I have ever read a comic book in my life but make a movie about comic book characters and I will be the first one in line. I love Spiderman, Superman, Batman but especially the X-Men. I am so looking forward to the Wolverine movie coming out.

It is really cold here. Really super cold. When I left for work this morning, it was 20 degrees outside. Rob checked the weather online last night and it said that it was 69 degrees in Fresno, CA and it was only 29 degrees where we are. There is supposed to be some rain this weekend and I suppose if it is still cold enough, there could be some snow. But that’s not what they are forecasting now- just rain and it’s actually supposed to warm up a bit. I am looking forward to some snow though because it is so beautiful. It wouldn’t be so bad to have some for Thanksgiving. I’ll be sure to put up some pictures when we do get some.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Fall is absolutely my favorite season. The time change and the whole "Fall Back, Spring Ahead" thing got me thinking about fall and that I should share some photos of all the fall colors in our backyard. We have one beautiful bush/tree thing called a "Burning Bush" that is really bright red and is just stunning to look at. The color is so intense.

A close up of some leaves:


The Burning Bush:


We took a few at a nearby park a few weeks ago too that I think we're going to frame for our orange and green themed bedroom. I recently discovered that you can upload photos to Walgreens and have them blown up to poster size for really cheap.

Already Blew It

Well, looks like Day 3 of the National Blog Posting Month (aka NaBloPoMo) was my downfall. I already blew it- I just totally forgot to blog yesterday. We were busy doing all kinds of things and I never thought about it. We got up pretty early and went to the grocery store and bought waffle mix, among other things, so we could make a big breakfast. We didn't actually end up making any waffles until this morning but we still had a big breakfast. After that we worked in the yard. Rob mowed the lawn and put on the winter fertilizer while I planted hyacinth, giant allium, some tulips, some more tulips and even more tulips. Those were some specialty bulbs that I picked up in another town at a small nursery- now I need to go to Sam's Club and buy some big bags of cheaper bulbs and plant those in big drifts in the front yard. We got all cleaned up and it was time for Rob to go get his haircut at the mall. While he was there, he decided he felt like shopping but then wanted me there too to help make some decisions. He picked me up at the house and we headed back over and picked out a couple of shirts for him. I looked around and tried on a few things but the trip ended abruptly when a very stupid lady totally ran over the back of my foot with one of those ginormous fire truck stroller stupid things. It hurt so bad, I cussed at her (did I tell you how bad it hurt?) and then I went to get Rob and we left. I also gave the pushy lotion kiosk guy the business when he attempted to sell me some of his crappy lotion about 10 seconds after my big accident. When we got out to the car, I took my shoe off to find a bloody sock and then my foot all torn up and bloody. We came home and got me fixed up and then watched some racing and went to bed. I also got some laundry done during the day. So though it wasn't the best day ever, it was productive. We'll have to find something fun to do today.

As for the NaBloPoMo challenge, maybe I'll just post twice today and then I'll maintain a once-a-day average. That's pretty close.

Look What I Won!

I love to enter contests- and buy lottery tickets too, for that matter. I always hope to be a big winner but usually it's just a little something here and there, enough to keep me hooked and thinking my turn is right around the corner. I entered myself and Rob to win the HGTV Fall Fix-Up every day of that contest. Nothing. Now I'm entering us in the DIY Network Kitchen and Bath Remodel sweepstakes. Probably won't get anything there either but I'll try. So what have I won? Only the classiest prize one could imagine.

It came in the mail a few days ago in this envelope:



Isn't it great?



No, it's not great and it doesn't even come close to fitting me or look flattering. But at least I won something- one more thing to keep me going in my quest to be a grand prize winner. There was a code inside a box of some beer Rob bought and the grand prize was a trip to the Super Bowl. That's pretty cool right? I got excited when I entered the contest and they congratulated me on being a winner- until I saw what it was I won. It is pretty funny I suppose but dang it! Guess I'll just have to keep trying.

National Blog Posting Month

November is National Blog Posting Month and though I didn't officially sign up, I am going to take on the challenge. I suppose the real challenge would be over Thanksgiving for most people but since we're not going anywhere, it shouldn't be too bad. I just can't promise that the postings will be that entertaining but they will be here. We will try to come up with some entertaining stuff over the next month though.

Once again, I know it's been a while since my last blog but I had a very good reason! My computer kept shutting off for no reason at all when it was turned on. Rob did a little research and it turns out that this is a problem with a certain group of 20-inch iMac G5 computers with the EMC number of 2056. Of course, that would include mine. We took it down to Des Moines this past Monday night which turned out to be quite an adventure. A few of the freeways we take to get there were shut down because a solvent plant exploded that afternoon. We took a different route that we decided we actually liked a little better since it was more scenic and had a lot less people. They were able to fix my computer right there at the Apple Store in about 15 minutes. We put it back in the car and went and had a nice dinner.

I guess I better stop now so I'll have something for tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day....