House of Lights

This is the first year Michael put Christmas lights on the house; we wanted to put lights up in years past, but never got around to it. We came close last year, Michael bought the lights, but that's as far as it went. We have a festive house this year. Here are some pics...

I took this pic before we went outside to watch Michael put the lights up. Gorgeous hair... Oh to be young again.



Just another quick pic before heading outside.



Michael putting up the lights. He's using the bigger bulbs, the old-fashioned kind.

It's coming along nicely. Caitie's supervising.

You can't tell it in these pics, but Michael has a cold. He was determined to get the lights up this year, whether he felt like it or not.

Caitie went around picking flowers. Some neighbors may not be too happy 'bout that. Just kidding, I'm the one that's not too happy about it, she picked them from our yard.

The ladder wouldn't fit against the house in some places, so Michael had to go on the roof to hook some of the lights up. There goes the warranty.

After the lights were put up, the Christmas wreaths and the outside light bulbs went up; we change the clear bulbs to red and green. A wreath goes around each light.

A Christmas wreath was placed on the front door as well.

Ain't it purty?

Michael put lights around the upper deck too; he didn't put them up at the same time as the other lights, he took some time out to rest, then got back at it later this evening.

It was a bit chilly out; Caitie was trying to keep her hands warm.

A view from the backyard to the upper deck. These lights can be seen from the main street behind us too.

After those lights were put up, we headed to Dairy Queen. I think I found the candy cane shake I've been lookin' for... it's called the Candy Cane Chill(it's a blizzard). It's delish! It has real bits of candy cane in it; it comes with chocolate too, but we ask for it without chocolate. Give it a try! You won't be disappointed. Caitie was trying her best to be patient while I took this pic, she couldn't wait to dig in to the yummy Blizzard.

Bah Humbug!

We went to see the movie 'A Christmas Carol' last Saturday night at the Imax theater at AMC 30. We went to a late showing, so it wasn't crowded at all, there were maybe seven other people in the theater. This was Caitie's first 3D viewing in a movie theater. I had read/heard that it might be too scary for youngsters, but Caitie did great; she loved the movie and wants to see it again. If you haven't seen this movie yet, and plan to, I recommend seeing it in 3D.

I like the classic Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), but I think this new version of it is now my favorite; it's done so well that you feel like you're watching real people instead of characters created in CGI. It's amazing what can be done these days. It's similar to The Polar Express; love that movie too. The latter is out in DVD and can be seen in 3D as well; it comes with 3D glasses.

I took this pic before heading into the Imax theater.



I got this pic when the movie was over. I thought Caitie looked cute in her 3D glasses. See all the snack food containers? We had mini pizzas, popcorn, plain M&M's, peanut M&M's, and soda(no soda for Caitie, she had a shake). This is part of the movie going experience for us. If we keep this up, it could soon become the dental going experience for us.



I took this pic when the movie was over and we were heading out. It was around 1 a.m. (Thanks, Mom, for the AMC Gift Card! :) )

The Big 2 - 0

Wow, has it been twenty years already? It seems like only yesterday, well, maybe like yesteryear, or actually, more like yestercentury, or somethin' like that, that Michael and I ran off to get married. We've had our ups and downs through the years, but hey, we like a fun, and exciting ride, that's why we go to Disneyland so often.

As is tradition, we usually head to Payson on our wedding anniversary, but not this year, not yet, anyway. But we did have a seasonal treat at Sonic, their candy cane blast. We then headed to Top Shelf Mexican Restaurant where we picked up take-out, then headed home to eat and watch a couple of episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents(we love this show). You can definitely tell we've been together 20 years... who watches Alfred Hitchcock Presents on their weddidng anniversary? But you must admit that there's something romantic about the ol' black & white TV shows.

Here are a few pics from our 'romantic evening'...

I've been hoping to find a candy cane shake from a few years back that had bits of real candy cane in it; it was soooo yummy, but I don't remember where I got it; we've checked around, but have yet to find it. When we found out Sonic had a similar shake, which is called a Blast, we just had to try it, and what better time to try it than on our wedding anniversary? But their Blast just didn't measure up to the one from the past. Ah well, such is life. But it was tasty.



I got a blurry shot of Top Shelf when heading out... their food was subpar this time; a bit of a disappointment since they usually have good food.



Guess what Michael surprised me with... a very sparkly diamond ring. (did you notice it in the Sonic pic?) It could take the place of my wedding ring, but I'm too sentimental to make the switch, so I plan on wearing the new ring on my other hand. Isn't it a beauty? He also got me a sweet anniversay card, which Caitie liked since it has Cheetas on it. Caitie has much nicer hands than I do, so she agreed to wear the ring in the pic, as long as Eeyore could be in it; he didn't quite make it into this pic, but...



he did make it into this one. Caitie took this pic, and made sure Eeyore was in it, and his cow friend too. She did a great job. She's learned a lot from watching me with my camera. She knew what buttons to use and how to focus, etc., in order to get this pic. As you can see, I'm still wearing my first wedding band and promise ring; I have yet to get my wedding ring looked at to make sure the diamond is mounted securely. I plan on taking care of that tomorrow. Look at the size of my new ring... wow...



Michael is soooo hard to buy for; he's very picky and has expensive taste, and the things he's usually interested are things I haven't a clue about, like computers, electronics, etc., so my gift to him, which is not only for our anniversary, but his birthday and Christmas as well, is allowing him to purchase a new movie projector. Unfortunately, the one he was interested in a while back is no longer available, so he is now searching the web to see what's out there that's comparable to the one he wanted. Hopefully he'll find one soon. In the meantime, he can be content with knowing how much I love him; that will see thim through. If not, cuddling with his laptop usually works.

Beautiful Barbecue...

How I love you.

Boy, have I missed barbecuin'! Our stainless steel gas grill went kaput quite a few months back. We got it at Costco in June of '05 when I was pregnant with Caitie; it was my birthday present from Michael. It got a lot of use. The day Michael put it out for bulk trash pick-up, I almost cried; I felt so connected to that barbecue grill. Well, recently Michael's mom and dad surprised us with a new one. It was so thoughtful of them to get it for us. It's been getting a lot of use, even with it being cooler out. Food just tastes better when coming from a grill. Here are a few pics...

Here is my little model posing with our new barbecue grill. It's both gas and charcoal; gas on the left side, charcoal on the right. I love it. I've been wanting to try a charcoal grill, and now I'm able to.



The first thing we barbecued were steaks... they turned out yummy! We used the gas side since we didn't have some thingamajig that's needed to heat the coals. Michael finally picked one up at Lowe's; I can't wait to try the charcoal side.



Caitie's helping out. As you can see, it was cool out, but it was warm by the fire.



Have you ever seen corn on the cob catch fire? If not, you can now say you have. That's what's happening in this pic.



We also had zucchini, yellow squash, and onion. I cut them up, then Michael took over from there. He mixed them with some olive oil and seasonings in a ziploc bag, placed them in a cooking tin, then heated them up on the barbecue. One of my favorites! Yum!

The husks were burnt to a crisp, but the kernels survived. Don't ask me why I left the can of beer in the pic. It's not mine; beer is a guy thing.

Caitie's laughin' at the thought of having to finish her plate. There's med-rare steak, rice, tomatoes, charred corn on the cob, zucchini, yellow squash, and onion. Lots of food for a growin' girl. (don't worry, she didn't have med-rare steak, we put small pieces into the microwave to finish cooking; it was safe for her to eat.)

This was the next day; I made hot dogs and bratwursts on the grill for lunch. Caitie couldn't wait; she was a hungry gal.

I made chicken breasts on the grill that night. I marinaded them in italian salad dressing for a couple of hours(it's best to marinade them overnight), then put them on the grill. They came out moist and yummy.

We've been enjoying our barbecue grill the last few weeks; it's so nice to be able to cook outdoors again. :)

Not So Soft Gingersnaps

The actual name of these cookies is Soft Gingersnaps, but there's too much crunchiness for them to be called soft, plus having soft along with 'snaps' seems like an oxymoron to me, so my new name for them is Not So Soft Gingersnaps. I will admit that they're semi-soft in the middle, but not enough to let the word sneak into the name of the cookie. I'm weird like that, and in other ways too, but that's for another post. Anyway, these cookies have a nice bite to them, and are quite good, if I do say so myself. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com. You can click here for the recipe, or you can just get it off this here blog.

I made these for Thanksgiving. I took some of them to Thanksgiving festivities and left some at home, and we're still eatin' on 'em. This recipe makes A WHOLE BUNCH of 'em. You may want to do half the recipe. I made the dough early on Thanksgiving, baked half of them, and put the remaining batter in the fridge and finished them up the next day.

Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:



1 - 1/2 Cups Butter (no substitutes), softened (i always use no-salt butter when baking)

2 Cups Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Molasses

4 - 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

3 Teaspoons Baking Soda

2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

Additional Sugar - This is to roll the cookies in before baking.

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and nutmeg; gradually add to creamed mixture. *Refrigerate for 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.

Roll into **1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 12 minutes or until puffy and lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks.

* I was in a hurry when I made them, so I ended up putting the dough in the freezer so I wouldn't have to let them sit so long before rolling them; this worked for me. Just thought you might like to know if you're in a hurry when baking them.

** I rolled most of the cookies into 1 inch rolls, but did make some bigger, and baked them for the same amount of time as the smaller ones, and they came out just fine; so if you like a bigger cookie, go for it.

The cookies below are 1 inch in size and rolled in sugar.



I think these would make nice Christmas cookies.

Black Friday Blues

We looked at the Black Friday sales ads the day before... we had it all planned out... we got up before the break of dawn(the other two did, i, the serious one, stayed up all night), but we came home with only two items(neither was the main item we had hoped to obtain), tired feet, and a fret of ever having to meet up again with non-early morning people.

Our first stop was Wal-Mart. I can't even begin to describe what the crowd and lines were like, let's just say if the smoke alarm had gone off, we probably all would have been goners... you couldn't move an inch without bumping into someone, and believe me when I say that most, if not all, of the people there were not morning people. It was a challenge to just move around, much less find the item you wanted and check-out. By the time we got there, it was between 4:30 and 5am(this store is open 24 hours, the sale started at 5am), and all the laptops that we were interested in were gone. We did, however, get a blu-ray DVD player at a really good price. Ask us if we would go through the same hassle again to get one... the answer would be an unequivocal no.

We went to the fabric area of the store to get some breathing room(no claustrophobic should attempt Black Friday), and to take a break before heading back into rush hour pedestrian traffic. Caitie was eyeing some red yarn she wants to get the cats for Christmas. After leaving Wal-Mart, we headed to Lowe's. Michael wanted to get some shelves for the garage; they were listed at a good price. There wasn't much of a crowd there, thank goodness, so we went in, found the item, and departed. It was very pleasant. We also went to Kohl's(we found caitie hadn't been strapped in her carseat on the card ride from lowe's to kohl's; it's still a mystery how that happened); the crowd was almost as bad as it was at Wal-Mart, so we hightailed it outta there(we made sure caitie was strapped in this time). The next stop was Staples. Michael wanted to look at a labeler that was on sale(everybody should have a labeler; it just makes life easier); it was a good price, but the labels were expensive, so he decided to pass on it. Staples is in the Target parking lot, so we planned on going there next, but when I saw where we had to park, which was a county over, I asked Michael to keep his foot on the gas pedal and get us out of there. He obliged. Our final shopping stop of the morning was Best Buy(we found a decent parking space, otherwise we would have hightailed it out of there too). We found some DVD's we wanted, but the check-out line was the last straw for us, it was a mile long, so we put the items back, and ran to the truck, sank into our seats and listened to a donkey Christmas song on the radio before heading to Whataburger to get some breakfast. Once home, we ate, watched a movie and collapsed. After relaxing for a bit, I finished baking some cookies from dough left over from the day before; more on this in an upcoming post.



That evening we headed back out. We always go to Target and Fry's Electronics on Black Friday, it's tradition. Most of the early morning sales were over, but some stores had sales that continued through the day. We stopped at Fry's Electronics first; we saw this Coke display outside the snack shop. I decided it was a good photo-op, so I told asked Caitie to stand in front of it so I could get a pic. Not everyone thought it was a good place to get a pic; someone that walked by commented on how it was a bad place to try and get a pic, this was said with irritation in their voice. It had to have been an early mornin' shopper, the kind that doesn't do mornings; I think I was their 'last straw' of the day. ha

Caitie always checks out the keyboards(i think I took a similar pic last year). We were at this Fry's Electronics a week ago and looked at a karaoke machine; Caitie loved it. We were hoping it was still there and that the price had dropped, but it was gone. We then headed to Target, got some popcorn(yum) and walked through the store. We got some DVD's and a book for me, then headed home. We were worn out. Just having it fresh in my mind from writing all this wears me out. Will we do Black Friday again next year? The answer would be an unequivocal yes. It's tradition, and yes, we're crazy like that.

Gobble, Gobble

I didn't get many pics on Thanksgiving, and of the few I did get, only a few of those few came out halfway decent; this is due to my questionable photography ability and also due to trying to get people from behind(not everyone is crazy about having their face exposed to the blog world), which isn't easy, so I got maybe one or two. Here are a few of the few...



I had just done Caitie's fingernails with glittery fingernail polish; this was her first time ever having her nails polished. I would be outdone later that day, as you will see below.



There's a couple of reasons for this pic, first, take a look at the entertainment center, Michael's brother is building it from scratch. It looks like an expensive one you would find in an upscale furniture store. He's still working on it. Second, Michael, his brother and his dad are looking at my wedding ring. Why, you ask? Well, here's the deal... a few days before this, Michael moved a rug that was getting in the way of one of our master bath closet sliding doors; up until this point, whenever we opened or closed this door, we would have to use a lot of muscle power since the rug was pressed against it. The night before Thanksgiving, I was closing that door, and had forgotten about the rug being removed, well, I used the same force I had always used, and let me tell ya, that door went a flyin', and smashed my hand into the wall... I mean it hit hard, I think it shook the house. What I noticed afterwards wasn't pretty... my wedding ring had taken the brunt of the force, which sent my engagement ring's diamond flying and smashed the prongs that held it in, and both bands of my rings were pushed in. The ring probably saved my hand from being smashed. I'll always be grateful to it, but at the time I was thinking of how I now had the perfect excuse to upgrade my ring; my wedding anniversary being next week didn't hurt either(what timing). Some might say I planned it... ummm... no, I wouldn't do a thing like that... really, I wouldn't. But it didn't matter because I'm the sentimental type, and didn't want it replaced, plus it is a nice ring, so I was hoping there was a way it could be repaired. This is what Michael's brother is doing in this pic, he's trying to repair it. An interesting part to this story... the day before the smashing ring incident, I came across my first wedding band and promise ring; I found them when looking through things we had in storage. I hadn't seen them in a long time. The timing was interesting, to say the least. I'm wearing them until my wedding ring is checked out.

He did a good job. He fixed the prongs and got the diamond back in and aslo fixed the shape of the bands. We're going to have a jeweler look at it to make sure the diamond is in securely; we all decided this was best since Michael's brother had a few beers before working on it. ha

One of Caitie's cousins did her nails in bright red. They really stand out against her fair skin. She also put a bit of makeup on her. Bright red nail polish, sitting on a pool table holding a ball... not your typical Thanksgiving pic.

Lucky Little Donkey

Enjoying the first half of bath time

Here is Caitie enjoying the first half of her bath. These are the 'before shampoo' pics... she's a giddy, happy, playful, little girl.


You didn't really think I'd show the 'after shampoo' pics, did you? Let's just say the 'giddy, happy, playful' description doesn't work for those pics. Caitie still doesn't like to have her hair washed.

Sold! to Bidder # 880

We went to an auction on Saturday; we attend this particular auction occasionally. The weather was wonderful. Here are some pics and details...



A wheely cool pic, don't ya think?(sorry, couldn't help it) This was the wheel on a big rig up for auction. We were sitting next to it looking at the auction catalog to see where to go next when I caught a glimpse of us in the wheel; I thought it made for an interesting pic.



Caitie's a tractor gal; she loves John Deere. Caitie asked a lot of questions about different parts on this tractor; she likes to know how things work.



Michael and his dad took notice of this antique gas pump while walking through the auction lot on preview day; these are held on the Thursday and Friday before the auction on Saturday. Michael's dad was interested in it.

I thought about bidding on these festive hens, but I refrained. They were hard to pass up; I was picturing them under our tree in the front yard. ummm... yeah...

This dog looked interested in the hens too; I have a feeling his reason of interest was different than mine.

The gas pump was open for bids... the orange sign is on top of it. We were interested in the windmill blades and stand behind it, but we didn't bid on those items. They were being auctioned off separately; I guess with the hopes of bringing in more money. You wouldn't want one without the other.

Guess what... we finally won something! Michael was the highest bidder on the antique gas pump; it sold for $200. Remember this post about another auction we attended? I said I wouldn't know what to do with the gas pumps had we bid on them and won... well, we now have a gas pump. I guess it can always go in the front yard as part of the landscape decor, as I mentioned in that other post. Actually, we got it for Michael's dad. His dad was glad we won it; he and Michael plan on fixing it up and selling it. (just in case you're wondering... 880 was Michael's bidder number)

Ain't it purty? We're not sure of the year, but we're almost certain it's a 1956... it's so old that it has a hand-crank on it; in the old days the attendant had to turn the crank to reset the pump for the next sale. Fun, fun. I love things from long ago... so much history attached to them. While we were in the antique area, the auctioneer announced that there would be an antique auction held in February; I can't wait! I'm sure our bank account could though.

I kept seeing this old man, mostly in the antique and tractor areas. I kept trying to get a pic of him, I thought his face had character, but he looked down a lot, so I just snapped this pic real quick. Looks like he might be a Vietnam Vet(going by his baseball hat), and possibly served in other wars as well due to his age.

Caitie takes a closer look at our new, old, gas pump.

We thought about bidding on this antique washer, it went for only $20, but we had to think fast, and didn't know what to do with it, so passed on it. Michael's dad and brother said we should have bid on it since it could be fixed up and sold at a pretty good price.

We took a break after our big win and went to Circle K for Michael to get a soda and to get a snack for Caitie, and me too(shame on me... we got candy bars). We also went to Jack-in-the-Box to get some burgers; I haven't had their burgers since way back when there was an e-coli scare, I believe it was back in the late 70's, or maybe early 80's. Let's just say I'm cautious. On our way back we went up Thomas Road near 67th Avenue and passed the apartments Michael and I used to live in, it was our first place together after we were married; the name had changed, but otherwise, it looked pretty much the same. Across the street from the apartments was Thomas Road Baptist Church. I didn't even realize we were in that area until I saw the church; it's been a long time since we've been out that way. I used to go there with my family, way back when, and would bring Michael along occasionally; this was before we were married. It looks the same, yet different, if that makes any sense. It brought back memories of days long ago.

When we got back to the auction we headed over to some trailers we were interested in bidding on. We went inside them to check them out. See Caitie way at the back there? It's a pretty deep trailer. We're wanting to get either a storage container or a trailer to put up on our property to be used for storage. The stuff we have in our trailer up north now will be moved to the storage container/trailer. We didn't end up bidding on these. This one was 45 feet deep, and 8 feet wide, I believe.

This is the other trailer, it was 40 feet deep, and the same width as the other one, I believe. Caitie enjoyed playing in them.

Here is one we wished we hadn't passed on... it's an ol' Doodlebug(gotta love the name) antique car that may have been converted into a tractor(click here to see what a decent doodlebug car/tractor looks like; view second pic down). We're talking one of the first cars ever made, by the looks of it. I fell in love with it... so much history there. Caitie liked 'driving' it. The drive train was in place, the only things missing were the seat and some of the body parts, hood, doors, etc. At least it had a piece of wood to sit on; Michael said his dad suggested putting a couch on it(picture granny from the beverly hillbillies). ha

Caitie and her daddy still on a 'test drive'.

A trip to Discount Tire may be in order.

I miss the ol' Doodlebug.

I think the auctioneer guy was hoping we would bid on it, he kept looking our way; it went for only $175, which is shocking to me. We're talking history here, people. When Michael told his dad and brother about it, they got on to him for not having bid on it, especially since it went so cheap. It would have been a neat project for all of them to work on together. Oh well... you live and learn.

Michael is doing the paperwork for the gas pump. You can't miss him, he's the one in the farmer's hat; he'd be a cute farmer, don't ya think?

Michael is giving the ol' gas pump a love tap. Well, not really... he's just giving it a look-over before heading out.

This is Caitie's favorite stuffed animal. We got it for her on our trip to Disneyland this last May. She takes it everywhere. To lose it would be dreadful...



which almost happened on our way out... the police officer in this pic told us we dropped something, and when we turned around to see what it was, it was ol' little donkey Eeyore. Thanks, Mr. Policeman, for noticing. Policemen are worth our tax dollars and more... much, much more. We spent all morning and part of the afternoon at the auction, and enjoyed every minute of it.