O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

As soon as Thanksgiving was over I had Christmas on my mind.  I even roped my dad into helping me get my Christmas boxes out of the attic on Thanksgiving Day.  I think of it as working off our turkey.  I was in the market for a new Christmas tree since my old 9.5' tree would not have worked with my new 8' ceilings.  Now I'm not normally one to go out in all the Black Friday hoopla but with all my ornaments staring at me from boxes I could not resist.  I went to 4 big box stores between 10am and 11:30am.  I got great parking at all of them and didn't have a problem with crowds at all!  I did have a problem finding a 7.5' prelit tree until $100...which is why it took four stores, but at my last stop (the second Target of the day) I snagged one.  The last one to be exact.  It was $85 and I had a $5 coupon.  Not too bad!

I took it home and spent the rest of my afternoon getting it all set up.  Spreading out the limbs on a brand new fake tree is quite the chore.

When I finally got it done, it struck me as a bit of a Charlie Brown tree.  I could see right through it in spots.  But the size was perfect and I was armed with ornaments.  A couple of hours later it filled up!

I love decorating the tree every year and reuniting with some of my crazy ornaments that I forgot I had.  Like Yoda.

And Big Bird.

I also have an apple from 2nd grade, a pickle, some ornaments that I may or may not have stolen from my parents (flat Santas), and a really creepy glass clown that I hang in the back of my tree every year. 

Now that the tree is up I'm in the Holiday spirit and can't wait to get some decorations up in the dining room and outside.  I bought my lights for outside but since it's dark every night when I get home from work, those will have to wait until the weekend. 

Pie Fail

I will spare you too many sob stories about my lack of pie-making skills.  Maybe I'll just sum it up with a couple of pictures and a couple of contributing factors that worked against me.

Unbeknownst to me my pies were doomed from the get go.  I bought the last two pie plates Target had in the store.  When I got ready to make my pie (using pie crust dough pre-made) I realized that the pie plate was 9.5" while my dough was for a 9" pie.  Doesn't sound like much but trust me.  The effort spent on trying to stretch my dough into place was enough to make me crazy.  The other problem my dishes presented was a 1.5" lip of glass that went around the edge.  A true baker could have worked around it but it had me perplexed as I tried to make fun crust designs (the sole reason I wanted to attempt to make a pie).  But I digress.  Onto the pie flops.

#1) The Chocolate Chess Pie

This one doesn't look all that bad fresh out of the oven.  I think it's biggest problem is that it sunk about an inch before it was actually served.  The surface of the pie vaguely reminded me of images shot back from the Mars Rover. 

#2) Dried Apple Cider Pie

I had high hopes for this one.  It's basically an apple pie made with dried apples that you rehydrate in apple cider.  Sound great, right?  And then I think I overcooked my apples.  And then my fabulous crust design flopped and burnt.  Yes, I used foil around the edges.  Somehow it didn't work for me.  I will add here that this is my first house to ever use a gas stove/oven.  I'm pretty sure I haven't quite mastered the temperature and that's why I keep burning stuff.  Regular food has been fine but most of my dessert items of late have fallen flat (some literally).

I will take all responsiblity for my failings.  My coworker, Sally, gave me these recipes and I guarantee when she makes them they are devine.  I have confidence that some day, withs lots and lots of practice, I will be able to make a pie.  I just wouldn't hold your breath while waiting.

On a positive note, I did solve a problem when it came to my presentation.  Since I had two pies (I use that term loosely), I needed two pie stands and I only had one.  A quick brainstorming session resulted in a faux-pie stand created with an upsidedown bowl and a plate.  Not bad!

Guess I should just stick to decorating and crafting and leave the baking to the professionals.

My First Thanksgiving Attempt

This year is pretty much the first time I've had to much more than show up in stretchy pants for Thanksgiving.  I was determined to learn how to prepare all the holiday fixings and my family was trusting enough to actually go for it.  They are brave people.  Luckily I eased into holiday hosting with a small group of four mouths to feed. 

These are my groceries for those four mouths.  I can't imagine what it would look like if four times the people were coming.  Luckily I was able to score several Albertson's Cuisinart Stamps.  It helped lesson the blow of the total I spent. 

After pouring over cook books and magazines, I picked my Turkey recipe.  With only four people, I opted for a 7 lb turkey breast over a full bird.  Southern Living had a great recipe for grilled turkey and that sounded right up my alley. 

Once my menu was set I made actual menus...because I'm cheesey like that and because in my family, presentation is 90% of a meal's overall score. 

After getting way too intimate with my turkey, I threw that puppy on the grill for 2.5 hours.  Set it and forget it!  Actually I had to keep double checking the temp on the grill after it turned itself off an hour into the process and nearly gave me a heartattack.

Valuable lesson learned this Thanksgiving:  Do not touch a meat thermometer with you bare fingers.  They are hot.  You will be burned. 

TA-DA!  The turkey turned out perfect!  My carving skills might not be up to par yet, but it still looked great and tasted even better.  It was juicy and had a great flavor!  Once I put it at the centerpiece of our table, I'm pretty confident I earned all 90% of presentation points available.

Not to brag, but I'm pretty sure I scored at least 8 of the remaining 10 points for the taste of my meal.  Tune in tomorrow when I tell the heartbreaking story of why I will never be a professional pie maker.

My Cartoon Avatar

At the shower last weekend, Nikki presented the Hostesses with the sweetest gifts.  To Do list notepads with our own cartoon respresentation on them!  They are the cutest things and quite flattering.  I'm pretty sure Cartoon Thea is 5'10" and 115 lbs.

Seeing as though tomorrow I'm hosting my first-ever Thanksgiving for my family and today that involves baking 2 pies, I'm really hoping a pipe wrench and paint brush aren't necessary.  But once Thursday passes, I'm sure I'll be picking up my tools again and filling out a checklist!  

To Do List Check In

A month and a half ago I posted my Fall To Do List.  In the weeks since then I have been pretty darn productive.  Here's how it looks now:

Aside from remulching my yard, which has been postponed until after the Great Leaf Shed of 2011, all my tasks were accomplished.

1) I planted mums in the front yard. 

3 & 4) I bought a rug and painted the dining room

5) I sewed curtains for the kitchen

6) I touched up the trim work in the living room...which is really boring and didn't warrant any photos
7) I gave my trees a haircut

So now, with Thanksgiving just days away and the Christmas season on its heels, I present my Holiday Season To Do List.  Let's see how many things I can knock off this list in the next couple of months.

Shower Success

This past weekend a few of us hosted a shower for our girl Nikki at my house.  I was my first indoor event hosted at the new house.  You may recall my first outdoor event which invovled giant Jenga and chocolate mustaches.  Since this was a baby shower, we classed it up a notch or two.  The shower theme was Yellow and Blue, the nursery colors.

I used Pinterest to collect great ideas for yellow and navy flower arrangements. I had about 5 different types of yellow flowers and put them in vases and jelly jars around the house.  I bought the navy and white ribbon at JoAnn's (yes, using my 25% off coupon.  Man that thing came in handy).

Stacey made this great banner from wrapping paper!  It carried on Nikki and Brad's wedding logo "n+b" by adding in little Weston.  The food and drinks were all set up in the dining room.  Tiny flags flew from lemon boats indentifying each dish.

You have to love the Son-Flower cake from Nothing Bundt Cake.  It not only matched but it tasted great!  The yellow cheveron table runner was just a scrap of fabric I had laying around the house and worked perfect with our theme.

The guests all decorated burb cloths for baby Weston in the living room while we ate and opened gifts.  On the way out we had blue and yellow M&Ms for the guests to grab.

All in all it was a very successful shower!  The mother-to-be enjoyed herself and got to catch up with her Dallas friends.  In the end, that is all that matters. 

Initial Art

While on my JoAnn's shopping trip last week, armed with my 25% off coupon, I picked up these sturdy cardboard letters representing my initials.  I believe they set me back a whopping $6.00.

They are 12" tall and about 2" deep.  At the time I didn't really have a plan for them.  To be honest, I'm still not 100% but I'll share what I'm thinking this week.  First I decided to paint them black using more leftover Halloween pumpkin paint.

What?  You're not into African biting fly art?

 Now that they are painted, here is what I'm currently thinking.  I need art in my dining room above the new dresser-turned-sideboard.  I have decided that the sideboard will eventually be painted black and the gold hardware will be replaced (if that helps you visualize).

I was thinking of doing a gallery of pictures rather than one large piece.  Now that I have the letters I am going to try to work them in as well.  I will now present to you my very primitive design plan created with good old PowerPoint.

This is in no way drawn to scale but it gives you the idea for what I'm going for.  And here's a sampling of how I've been trying to plan it out in real life on the living room floor.

The two Warhols you see above (hanging out with my stencil art) are new.  There are also two prints upsidedown currently being flattened by coffee table books.  They will all eventually be in black frames.  I ordered the prints from posterrevolution.com via Amazon.  They ranged in price from $.99-$15 and all four cost me $27.  Not bad.  Hopefully once it is all framed I will like the arrangement and be able to get it up on the wall.  Otherwise, I'll just move on to Plan B.  So stay tuned...    

It's Raining...Leaves

'Tis the season for the leaves to start falling off the trees.  Not my tree, mind you, as it's an evergreen.  But every other tree located anywhere near my house (or so it seems). 

Above on the left you have my hearty live oak with deep green, still-attached leaves.  On the right you have the neighbor's tree with yellow, ever-thinning leaves. 

Here you can see leaves coating all my flower beds (and a few weeds I need to take care of).  I had every intention of remulching my beds but now I am waiting for the deluge of leaves to let up.

My entire lawn is covered in these trespassing leaves and after a rain last night, the street feels my pain as well.

I tried to clean up a bit this weekend using my trusty leaf blower.  Unfortunately the leaves just went everywhere including the street (which I think is illegal) and my neighbors yard (which I know is unfriendly).  Mowing (and mulching) didn't seem to do much either.  It's a lost cause.  Actually it probably just means I need to channel the pre-electric lawn tools days and buy a rake.  What would be really awesome is if the people who own the offending trees provided my lawn cleanup.  And with that sentence I just became the grouchy old lady that lives all alone whose house trick or treaters will start skipping.  Sigh.  Guess I better buy a rake.

Garage Organizing

I now know how garages get so out of hand.  It starts off with just a few things stashed in the garage to get them out of the way.  And then empty boxes end up there.  And then spare parts to random items you've bought and self-assembled.  It just all adds up.  I never really got this until I got my own garage and things got out of hand.  This weekend I was determined to bring some order.  Bulk trash pick up is this week so I finally got rid of my patio furniture boxes from months ago.  And an old ironing board.  And TONS of tree trimmings.  Once I was able to see the floor again, I organized all the stuff that would stay.

I started off hanging this old shelf I had been storing on the floor in the garage.  My whodats and thingamabobs collection had grown out of control.  This shelf was my answer, along with a $6 set of jelly jars from Wal-Mart.

On a sidenote: That big white tub is completely full of dog food.  Do you know how long it will take Pablo to eat all that food?!?  I'm guessing at least a year or two.  Crazy.

Once I got the shelf hung and then double secured, I moved my doohickies to their new home.

Now there are all separated by purpose and not just in an odds and ends bucket.  Need a cup hook?  Got it.  Need a rubber washer?  Done.  I even have room for more whatchmacallits to enter my life.

I also organized my growing collection of interior room paint, noting which color goes in which room and then tucking them away for future touch-up needs. 

Pay no attention to the left side of the garage.  This weekend I only tackled the right 2/3s.  Baby steps.