Movie-Night

This evening the girls gathered at Keri's house for our monthly game-night. I always look forward to these evenings getting together with the girls, eating good food and relaxing with a glass of wine. As usual, everyone brought a great spread and we were all impressed with Keri's baking skills as she had made a dee-lish pumpkin cheesecake for the group! My little "Domestic-Diva-in-training" is definitely on her way to becoming a grand DD! It was very yummy!

After we had dined on great food, we all decided to forgo the usual game and head to a late movie instead. We had discussed scary movies earlier in the evening and I had mentioned that I wanted to see Paranormal Activity. Everyone agreed that it looked like a good, scary movie so we checked and found out that it was playing in KC so off we went - with a bottle of wine to drink while watching the movie :)

The movie started off slow but as it went along it started to hold my attention and it ended up creeping me out. I have always believed in haunted spirits & ghosts and this movie made me not want to ever go to sleep again! I caught myself grabbing my friend Erinn several times (sorry Erinn) throughout the movie and freaking out at certain parts. I must say it wasn't worth the $10 we paid for the late showing but it was worth it watching it on the big screen.

After the movie, we headed back to Keri's to finish the wine and then we headed over to the Hideout for a nightcap. Keri's husband Ken had never been there before so we introduced him to this infamous Spring Hill hole-in-the-wall bar! It ended up being a very late but definitely great evening once again! I can always count on these girls for a fun night!

Art of Racing in the Rain

4 hours....that is the time it took for me to read this page-turner from front to back. I bought it Sunday afternoon and spent the early evening on the patio reading! It was such a good book that I got through more than 1/2 of it the first day. I finished the book Monday night!

The Art of Racing in the Rain is about a dog named Enzo and the story of his life with his family - told by him, the family dog in his own words. From the first chapter I was hooked and had already shed a tear. While reading this book there were times when I laughed out loud as well as silently sat while my emotions got the best of me.

I found it quite interesting reading what a dog might think about or why they possibly do the crazy things they do and what they might say if they could speak. It is of course all fiction, but it is comforting to me knowing that my 3 dogs might just "get me" and "understand me" and that they just might have a soul like a human. The book also taught me that when they have lived a long good life with you and it is time to let them go, they understand and are willing. And even though we are so very sad at the time - it is the best gift we as owners can give them - to rid them of their pain & suffering.

If you are a dog lover, I highly recommend reading this book. Anyone who would like to borrow it please let me know! I promise you won't be disappointed :)

FINALLY :)

Graduation day 5/95 with 1.5 degrees: $25,000 +

Monthly payments to Sallie Mae for 14 years: $235

Feeling of sending the LAST payment in: PRICELESS

WOO HOO - just sent in the very last payment to Sallie Mae and my school loans are now PAID OFF! What a great feeling! It only took 14 years but that's because I managed to pay only the minimum payment.

Bye Bye Sallie Mae - this is one relationship I am happy to see end!

PSA

*stepping up to the podium*

Today kicks off Breast Cancer Awareness Month - an annual campaign with a goal to increase awareness about the importance of detecting breast cancer in its early stages.

This is a gentle reminder to all the women who read my blog to get their mammograms and/or make sure you do your monthly breast exams regularly.

Thank-you!

*stepping down from podium*

Fall Baking

This evening I had an impromptu gathering with a few of the girls from the neighborhood. I had made the 1st pumpkin-baked goods of the fall season and invited the girls over for some wine and to share in the Pumpkin Roll dessert I had made.

We all enjoyed a beautiful fall evening out on the patio (dogs included) eating this yummy dessert, enjoying a glass of wine and had fun catching up with each other. I was SO excited to have started my fall baking with the canned pumpkin I had bought earlier in the week and look forward to making pumpkin pancakes for breakfast this weekend! Mmmm...

*thanks Mel for taking a picture - and yes, I am wearing my Domestic Diva apron :)

Crisis No More :)

For those of you who were concerned - there are now 5 cans of Libby's pumpkin stocked in my kitchen cabinet. Thank you Wal-Mart at 151st in OP! I managed to grab the LAST 5 cans of pumpkin that were on the shelf! Finally the crisis is over - bring on the fall baking :)

First item on the list to bake: Pumpkin Roll - coming soon!

Pumpkins & Mums

Oh how I love fall! I usually end up decorating for Fall starting the 1st of October but with our unusually cool mornings this past week I have gotten the "bug" to start early.

So today I ventured out on a mission to find hardy mums (with plans to plant them for next year), pumpkins and Halloween/fall decor. I made my way to Hobby Lobby where I picked out some really cute yard art, Bed Bath & Beyond to purchase the super cute Halloween canisters I saw in an ad, then I stopped at a local farmers market booth where they had TONS of pumpkins so I got 2 big ones and 2 little ones - hopefully they last until Halloween so I can carve them! Last stop was at Ace Hardware to pick out some mums. Surprisingly, they always have a great variety of flowers/shrubs/bushes to pick from every spring and for fall flowers they didn't disappoint. And another bonus is that they were perennial mums AND on sale - SCORE :)

Once home, I set everything out in front and this feeling of excitement came over me & I got goosebumps - I don't know if it was the fact that I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall or the fact that out of the corner of my eye I see this little guy staring at me as I was setting out my flowers:

Then he was on the move:

Now I am fine with snakes as long as they are still or coiled up. When they start slithering I start to panic. I quick ran to get the camera because I wanted to get a picture of it so I could look it up online to see what kind of snake it was and if we should be concerned about it being poisonous. Turns out, that what you see in this picture is a baby Western Fox Snake. I know that it is a baby because it was only 12 inches long and an adult will get to be 50 inches long! Whoa - that is 4+ feet!

This is concerning because a) where there is a baby there is a mom & dad and b) there are probably brothers & sisters and c) we found several snake holes in our flower bed that lead under the front steps so there is probably a family of snakes under there.

After much discussion of what to do with this snake (as Shane had the shovel in his hand) we decided to let the little guy live. Turns out that these snakes are non-venomous and they prey on rodents, mice and bugs so they are actually good to have around your house - especially since we have the occasional mouse that likes to hang out by our grill! I guess as long as I don't see them or see them moving I am fine with that.

So, after all that excitement, I finished arranging the flowers & pumpkins in the front of the house. The mums are just starting to bloom and look so pretty! This is what I have done so far - it's not much but it's a start:

I am heading out today to run some errands so we will see what else I can find! Next up on the agenda is decorating inside the house. Light up the fall Yankee Candle and let the decorating festivites begin :)

Canned Pumpkin Crisis of 2009

I haven't started my fall baking yet so I was totally unaware of the crisis going on in bakers homes across America. It was brought to my attention by my dear friend Keri - who also shares the love & excitement of early fall decorating/baking and early X-mas music with me!

Seems that there is a canned pumpkin shortage and all the stores in the KC metro area are wiped out of this baking necessity. The thought of no pumpkin bars, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake in the fall about sends me over the edge to insanity. I LOVE LOVE LOVE pumpkin baked goods and this canned pumpkin crisis is putting me into a panic.

This context was taken from an article out of the KC Star:

*According to the Libby’s company, the canned pumpkin shortage stems from last year’s harvest. “Our harvest was smaller than typical and some consumers may have difficulty finding Libby's Pumpkin right now.” said Libby's spokesperson Loretta Ivany.

The problem has left many stores shelves empty nationwide. “Pumpkin is harvested once a year beginning late August and into September, so for the last couple of months, there have been empty shelves in most retailers across the nation,” said Walmart spokesperson Caren Epstein in Bentonville, Ark. This year’s pumpkin harvest is underway right now and a new supply will soon be on store shelves. “The good news is that we are in the process of harvesting our pumpkins this season and you will be able to find our products on store shelves within the next few weeks,” says Ivany. “Walmart will have pumpkin in all stores starting next week, now that the pumpkin has begun to be harvested, canned, and shipped."

But, Walmart warns that you could expect to see empty canned pumpkin shelves before the start of next season. “Due to poor weather conditions once again this year, it's looking as if the crop is going to be the same as last year,” says Epstein. “Not great news for pumpkin pie lovers.”

With that said, you can guarantee I will be snatching up a case of pumpkin as soon as it becomes available in the stores. If you all want pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, I suggest you buy it as soon as you see it available in the store because chances are it may not be there when you really need it.

End of Summer BBQ

This evening I joined my Woodland Ridge game-night girls along with their husbands & headed over to Olathe for an "end of summer BBQ" at Jill's house. Shane was supposed to go with me but he had not been feeling well all weekend so he stayed home and vegged on the couch!

Everyone enjoyed the wonderful spread of food as well as the many beverages to choose from. Unfortunately, I was on call for the evening but it remained a quiet one so I was able to enjoy the night with Jill and the neighbors. Even the guys seemed to have a good time...

Once the majority of the people left, we moved our party from the deck down to the lower level for a bonfire, some more wine and plenty of entertainment from Michelle - who had one too many glasses of wine :) The WR crew ended up being the last group to leave and kept the party going past 1am!

Thanks Jill for being such a fabulous hostess and for a super fun evening!

Harley Davidson Factory Tour

Today Shane & I enjoyed a beautiful, sunny, 75 degree Saturday by heading up North to tour the Harley Davidson Plant. They were having an open house where you could take a tour of the plant for free, visit the many vendor booths located around the plant, as well as check out everyone else's Harley Davidsons in the parking lot.

The plant tour was really neat. I think Shane was a little more excited about it than I was though :) We were both amazed at all the rows of HD parts and accessories that were waiting to be assembled into a motorcycle and then seeing the finished product as well as visualize how they box it up and ship it out.

Here are hundreds of "frames" ready to be made into a bike:

And one of 3 rows of painted gas tanks:

And painted fenders:

After the tour, we walked around the parking lot looking at all the different bikes. There were some really old HD bikes there as well as lots of new ones. Shane enjoyed telling me about the difference in all the bikes and their motors while I enjoyed looking at all the pretty colors and bike accessories :)

Before we left, I dragged Shane into the gift shop to buy a souvenir. No trip is complete unless a little shopping is involved :) I picked out a super cute HD t-shirt just for me and we made our way back home. All in all, it ended up being a great afternoon spent with the hubby!

*self portrait - didn't realize I cut off Shane's head until I got home - oops!

Sept Game Night

Tonight I headed over to my friend Michelle's house for another monthly gathering of "game-night" with the neighborhood girls. It was a great end to the work week to gather with this group of girls, enjoy great food and great conversation.

It seems our last couple game-night-gatherings have turned into "social-hour" instead of actually playing a game! I guess that is what happens when you mix a bunch of Chatty Cathy's & wine together - the night seems to fly by :)

So instead of playing the traditional game, we opted to all pull out our calendars and started planning some fall festivities to do together and with the husbands. Looks like an upcoming Halloween Party, Christmas Party and a trip to Hermann, MO to tour the wineries are all on the calendar for this fall :) This is such a great group of girls and I am SO happy to have met and gotten to know them all!

DD strikes again!

This morning when I woke up I had a craving for waffles so being the Domestic Diva that I am, I put on my apron and whipped up a batch of my famous homemade waffles for Shane & I - that was AFTER I let the dogs out, fed & watered the dogs, did a load of laundry, folded the clothes that were in the dryer & put them away, emptied the dishwasher, washed the dishes in the sink, dried & put them away, stripped the bed sheets, made the bed with new sheets, and finally made coffee! All that before 9am! Whew - I am tired already! May need a nap this afternoon :)

*me & my Domestic Diva apron Keri got for me - I LOVE it :)