Where have I been?!

Things have been busy here.  The Hubster has been studying like crazy for his licensing audit (aka pre-exam).  He not only passed, he killed it.  I am very proud of him.  It has been a long road.  A very long road.  Mostly for him.  But a little for me as well.  You know, long hours for him equal long hours for me.  Unpaid for both of us.  Heh.  


So that has been going on.

We've also had ballet class for Big One and swim lessons for Little One.  Both of them love their activities.

I've been baking quite a bit.  One of my newer ventures is bread.  As in, sandwich bread.  So far I've only done white breads.  But what I figure is is has to be healthier then store bought bread.  No high fructose corn syrup.  No preservatives (thing about how long your bread stays good for folks).  And cheaper.  It is just something I have decided is right for our family.  Not to say I will not buy store bread (mmmm artisan bread from the bakery), as a matter of fact, I picked up hotdog rolls this week because they were super cheap.

I've also been cleaning and decorating our master bedroom.  Why is it that our room is always the last room to be decorated and the last roomed to be cleaned?

Anyway.  We swapped out our linens for ones I bought when I bought my first house.  I got some new lamps and shades for our bedside tables.  Pulled pillows up from our guest room.  Bought a couple of matching framed pictures from a local chain store.  And my favorite.  We bought vinyl letters for above our bed.  We purchased them from this etsy shop.  She did an awesome job working with me, emailing back and forth, until I figured out exactly what I wanted.

So here is a terrible photo.  I need to take one with the camera during the day.

I have a throw coming later this week from Amazon.  I'm just hoping it ends up being the right color.  It is so tough to tell via the computer.  And we've got some walls to decorate.  I keep going back and forth on what I like though.  Work in progress.

But I looooove our room now.  Love.

I'll try not to disappear for so long.  But.... no promises.

Remember me?

Heh.  Didn't mean to be gone so long.

I'll try to post something interesting tomorrow.

In the meantime I'll leave you with this.  We had a fabulous Christmas with my family.  And my extended family.  It was all kinds of awesomeness.

Growing up we'd spend every Christmas with my Aunt/Uncle/Cousins.  But then we moved.  And it was just too far.  So it was a huge surprise that they were able to come celebrate with us.  It had only been... ten years.

The girls had a great week and a half being smothered by Nana, Papa, Auntie, Uncle, Grand Aunts, Grand Uncles, Cousins once or twice or whatever removed - I always screw that up.

We had the best weather ever.

...And then we all got sick.  Awesome.

But here are some (very belated) pics.

Terrible pic.  But I'm too tired to find a better one.  Rocking horse.  Doll house.  You get the picture.

Big One with Nana and Papa

At the bounce house with the Hubster.  And nope.  Still not walking.  Sigh.

Spritz Cookies

I love spritz cookies.  They are so dang cute.  And way easier than rolling out dough, and cookie cutters. 

Want to know something new about me?  I hate to clean the counters.  Add a layer of flour and bits of dough?  Not fun.  

This year I decided it was time.  I needed a cookie press.  I did some research and grabbed this one from Amazon.   None of them had awesome reviews, so I was keeping my fingers crossed.  But one batch down and I'm very happy!  Good purchase!

See you can see my first attempt!

I need to work on my decorating now!  But they were so very tasty! 

I was going to follow the recipe that came with the cookie press, but I was missing an ingredient.  So I used this recipe.  I doubled the vanilla and the almond extracts.  And they took 4-5 minutes in my oven, 6 minutes was too long and they were a little brown. 

So now my boxes for friends/neighbors are complete!  Hooray!

From my kitchen

I've been doing some baking lately.  Getting ready for Christmas.  Sending goodies to work with the Hubster.

Last week I made Never Fail Fudge.  It is the recipe that my mom always makes.  Hard to go wrong with that, right?

Today I made Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Candy.  Half will go to work with the Hubster.  The other half will go to friends in the area.  Man.  It is yummy.  But rich. 

And tonight I made Pizza Pretzel Bites.  Oh man.  They were awesome!  Took a little time.  Next time I'll make them ahead of time and then boil/bake when we are ready to eat.  They will keep in the fridge over night without a problem.  We will definitely have them again.  A fabulous Super Bowl recipe.

Tomorrow we've got Big One's ballet recital.  Can't wait to see her perform! 

And more cookies to bake.  Presents to wrap.  Laundry to do.  Sewing projects!  Ek!

Hair Salon

Yesterday I told Big One that today we were going to get her hair cut.  Her response was "At the Barber?"  Um.... no.  It was a funny response because she has never seen a barber.  Hubster cuts his own hair.  So barber?  I explained that we were going to a hair salon.  And she started talking about Oswald.  Another instance of my children watching too much tv.  Heh.  

This is Big One's second hair cut.  I forgot my camera again.  Oh well.  She sat perfectly still.  She did an awesome job.  And I think it turned out really cute.

Little side bang so the wispies can grow out.

She lucked out with that gorgeous hair!

Ignore the funny mid-cheese face!

I'm kind of just amazed we got there on time this morning.  Little One was up (and SCREAMING) from 10:45-3am last night.  I am beat.  I imagine it is all the teeth she is popping through.  But good Lord I'm praying for a better night tonight. 

Early Christmas Celebration

Last weekend we headed out for a 5 hour drive with the girls to spend 23 hours with the Hubster's family to celebrate an early Christmas.

It was a lot of fun.  The girls got to see (and meet, in Little Ones case) their Great Grandmother, Great Aunt and Great Uncle, Nannie, PawPaw, Aunt/Uncle and cousins.  

Santa and his elf came to visit the kiddos.  My girls were less than thrilled about Santa.  Heh.

It was awesome to just spend the day and catch up with each other.

The Hubster's Grandmother and her sister made super yummy food (and plenty of it!).

We played cards.  Opened presents.  And ate.  Did I mention that already?!

Just before leaving we got a group picture.  I'm so glad we did.

It was a lot of driving for the girls.  We were all antsy to get out of the car on Sunday.  Perhaps even asked to go potty when there was no need to go??

Oh yes folks.  Side of the road.  Potty chair in the grass.  Interstate traffic whizzing by.  Fun times.  Best black mail picture ever.

Cheese Cake (edited)

I'm weird.  I don't like like cheese cake.  Unless it has a bunch of stuff in it.  Like snickers.  And caramel.  And chocolate.  You get the point.

My father-in-law and my brother-in-law both love cheese cake.  And their birthdays are both in December.  So last weekend we celebrated since we were all together.

And I made cheese cakes.

Last year we celebrated too.  And I made my first cheese cake ever.  Plain.  My mom's recipe.  It got rave reviews.  But I wouldn't know because I didn't eat it.

This year I was going to be feeding more people.  So I decided to make two.  I plain and I oreo.

This is not a fancy recipe.  It is rather easy.  So if you want to give it a whirl, here you go:

Peggy's Cheese Cake:
1 premade pie crust (fancy, I know)
2 bars of room temperature cream cheese (low fat is fine)
2 eggs (heh thanks Christy I forgot!)
3/4 c. of sugar
1tsp of vanilla

Whisk cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until really smooth.  Dump in pie crust.  Put in preheated 350 degree oven for 25-35 minutes.  You want to watch it once it hits 25 minutes.  You want it a little jiggly in the middle and a couple light brown spots are fine.  I know, real specific.

For the Oreo Cheese cake I used the same recipe.  I crushed 1/3 of a package and mixed it in the batter once it was smooth.  And crushed another 1/3 of a package and put it on top right before serving.  It would be fabulous with a drizzle of melted chocolate too.

Of course I didn't take any pics of my masterpieces.

Trust me though.  So yummy.  I actually tried a piece of the Oreo one this year.