Winter Tree 2012

Our Hanukka celebration begins tomorrow!! 

My Assistant

I have the best job ever! I do customer support for a fantastic company and I get to work from home. My office is my recliner sofa, with my laptop in my lap and my assistant snuggling by my side. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Lonely Only Child?

There was a time when being an only child was a lonely prospect. At home, no siblings, nobody to play with. What is a girl to do?

This is a whole new age. With Skype and Minecraft servers where multiple players can "meet up", Princess can play with friends no matter where they are.

Princess has a private server and shares her address only with close friends, but this gives her such a great opportunity to play and get incredibly creative. Headphones with microphone became a quick necessity. Now external noise doesn't bother her and the Lizard King and I can have conversations without anyone trying to talk over anyone.

One Pot Cuban Chicken and Sausage

For some reason, whenever I decide to post a recipe I end up with an orange plate. We have nine different colors and I end up with the orange which photographs horribly. Anyway, on to the recipe.

4 Cuban Sausages

Chicken left over from a roast chicken (about 3 cups or so)

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 large bell pepper, chopped

1 cup chicken stock (preferably homemade)

2 cups (or more) green beans 

3 T tomato paste

2 tsp. oregano

1.5 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. turmeric

1.5 tsp. garlic powder

salt & pepper

bacon grease

Slice sausages in bite size slices. Melt bacon grease in a large pot. Brown sausage slices on both sides. 

Add onions and bell pepper. Cook until onions are translucent.
Add chicken.

Add chicken stock, then tomato paste. 

Add spices, then salt and pepper to taste.

Combine well. Add green beans, put a lid on it and cook on low until green beans are done to your liking. Enjoy!

Ransom Note

We had a bit of windy weather a while back and we ended up with the neighbors umbrella in our back yard. We could have just returned it or let them know it was there, but what fun would that have been? Instead, we left a ransom note.

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We have your umbrella. 

Place $1.27 in unmarked one dollar bills in an envelope on my porch if you want to see it again.

(or you can come get it out of our back yard) ;-)

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The umbrella disappeared, so they must have come over to get it. We can only hope they were as amused as we were.

A Glimpse at Our Thanksgiving Day

 Princess worked on the new Thankful Tree . . .

and we all put up leaves sharing what we are thankful for.

 As is our tradition, pumpkin roll "appetizer".

Lovely flowers from our friends.

 Football, of course!

I found this turkey cooking method online that worked beautifully! Why has nobody else thought of cooking the turkey breast down? It was juicy and delicious!!

 Just a few of the sides.

 

It was a lovely Thanksgiving with our dearest friends. We did miss having the Pittsburgh Royals (kids and grandkids), but they will definitely be with us next year.

How was your Thanksgiving celebration?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wishing you and your family a very warm and happy turkey day . . .

This is our thankful tree from last year. Somehow we misplaced it, but Princess will be painting another one. Everyone will write what they are thankful for and tape the leaf to the tree. I love this tradition!

What are your Thanksgiving traditions?

Disney on Ice

I have wanted to go with Princess to a Disney on Ice show for years. Somehow, I always missed it . . . until this year!

We got there early, a feat in itself. ;)

Love this guy!

 We had great seats!

 We were all excited to see the show!

I shot a bunch of pics, but I've been relying on my phone a lot these days. It's not the best for this kind of thing.

The show was fabulous! We all thought so. Princess can't wait until next year. After all, we are all about the Disney. :)

Harvest Fest

Every year, Village Home (our homeschool resource center) celebrates the Autumn season with Harvest Fest. Families bring soup and pie to share. We play games, do crafts and there's even a costume contest. I help my best friend set up and then hide out in the office. There are way too many people for this shy introvert. Princess, my not shy extrovert, had a blast and marched in the parade for the judges to decide who wins. Guess what?! Princess won for best impersonation costume!!

She was thrilled!!

At Least 10 Inches

Princess has always had long hair. She was born with a full head of hair and while she's had it cut a few times, it hasn't been significant. The longer it gets, the harder it is to take care of and Princess has never been able to brush her own hair.

After a lot of careful thought and consideration, Princess made the decision to cut her hair . . . a lot. Having made that decision, we talked about cutting enough to be able to donate. We found 4 places to donate. Princess reviewed them all, narrowed down to 2 and finally chose Locks of Love. They require a minimum of 10 inches.

That's some looooohohohohong hair!

Snip, snip, snip! (Eek!)

So cute! And she loves it! AND she can brush her own hair now.