Pressies for Bullies

We participated in the Secret Bully Gift Exchange again this year on Facebook. It is becoming an event that I look so very forward to & enjoy buying gifts for other bulldogs & sending them in fun, wrapped packages with a letter written by Bubba & Millie letting their "secret" bully know who they are.

Secret Bullie was established in 2010 through the Carolina Pet Pantry - an English Bulldog rescue organization. Through their website, you can buy all kinds of treats, toys, collars, leashes, supplements, dog food & SO much more. I find the prices are cheaper (even with shipping) than buying toys or treats at stores like Petsmart & the best part is that everything purchased from their store benefits their English Bulldog Rescue called Bullies 2 the Rescue by donating a percentage of the proceeds from your purchase.

Secret Bullie is the World's Largest English Bulldog gift exchange with almost 400 bulldogs & their owners participating this year. We sent pressies to bullies Moogie in Fort Wayne, IN & Sophie in Kannapolis, NC this year. These pictures are of our bulldogs opening their gifts from their "secret bullies" :)

Millie checking out the "goods"

"Iz dis for me???"

Bubba checks out his package from his Secret Bully

"Iz got a new bone & it iz all mine!!"

Millie is wore out from chewing on her new Kong toy!

They each received a new toy & some treats called Coconut Crunchers which smell good enough for humans to eat:
Millie LOVES getting & opening presents. In fact, I have a hard time keeping presents under the tree because she is always sniffing them, pawing at them & trying to open them. (post about this coming soon).

She is quite the little stinker ;) Here is a funny video of her opening her Secret Bully pressie! Never mind my stupid "dog voice" - lol!

FYI: the video takes a little bit of time to load :(

Gathering

Tonight I was on my home from work when I got a phone call from my girlfriend Heather (HK). Her & our friend Deb (pictured above) were meeting at Mi Ranchito for an impromptu dinner & wanted to know if I could swing by & join them.

Good friends + margaritas + mexican food = YES! How could I turn down that invitation? I turned the car around & headed to the restaurant for a quick catching up with girlfriends I haven't seen in awhile & some good food!

I just love unplanned gatherings with girlfriends :)

Yard House

My girlfriend Desiree & her daughter Miss Sofia were in town this past week visiting family & I got the pleasure of meeting them both for dinner tonight before they headed back home to Dallas. I made my way up to the Legends after work & met these lovely ladies at Yard House. I had never been there before so I was looking forward to trying out a new place.

Once inside, I spotted the girls right away. Miss Sofia was looking adorable & quite fashionable in her little holiday dress with matching hat & Desiree looked gorgeous - as always! We spent a couple of hours getting all caught up with each other over beverages, cheeseburgers & sweet potato fries. I think even Miss Sofia enjoyed the girl-time!

It was SO wonderful to get to see them both & I look forward to seeing them again when they are back in town for Miss Sofia's 1st birthday in April!

Gobble Gobble

Today couldn't be a more beautiful day to give thanks. The sun is shining, it is a warm 65 degrees out, the windows in the house are open & the house is filled with smells of pumpkin spice candles burning & thanksgiving dinner cooking in the oven - mmmm, heavenly. Shane made a comment to me earlier this morning that makes the trouble of cooking T-giving dinner all worth it. He said he wishes someone could bottle up the smell in our house at this very moment & make it into a candle :) See? totally worth it!

I ended up making the full thanksgiving meal again this year but instead of hosting for my entire family, it was just me, the hubby & his brother James at the dinner table. Quite the difference from previous gatherings but just as nice!

I awoke early this morning, put my apron on & T-giving 2011 was underway. On the menu for today was:
-Turkey
-stuffing
-mashed potatoes/gravy
-candied yams
-green bean casserole
-corn casserole
-crescent rolls w/honey butter

After 4+ hours of preparation, we sat down to eat around 1pm & in less than 20 minutes we had stuffed our bellies full & we were done. It was all so very good - if I do say so myself! Ugh - & after any fine meal comes the clean-up! Shane helped put the leftovers away while I did the dishes - teamwork, baby! Then we all headed down to the family room to watch some football. After being sick all week, it sure felt good to be lazy, hang out with the boys & snuggle with the furries.

This is what was for dessert:

Strawberry cheesecake made by guess who? It was dee-lish - as usual. Best part about the Thanksgiving meal??? LEFTOVERS - YAY :)

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with whomever you are spending it with! May we all wear pants that adjust in size today, be thankful for much, bless the hands that prepared our food, & enjoy celebrating with family & friends!

Productive sick day

So today I am at home sick :( Seems like the "crud" everyone at work has been sharing this past month has finally got me :( I have been fighting it for 3 days now & this morning I finally surrendered. I woke up feeling awful & after lots of hot tea with lemon, ibuprofen & some cough syrup I'm not feeling too bad. So since I am at home by myself with nothing to do I decided to turn the Christmas music up loud & do some cooking & baking.

A co-worker of mine is battling lymphoma & her 4th round of chemo is coming up & she is starting to not feel all that great. So a group of us at work formed "Linda's Helping Hands" & are going to be making meals for her & her kids to eat while she is not feeling well. It is my turn this week so since I am home today, I thought I would make her meals. Here is what I am making & freezing for her:

1) Chicken Potpie
2) Chicken Noodle Soup
3) Cheddar Garlic Biscuits
4) Chocolate Chip cookies
5) Cupcakes (for my work peeps tomorrow :)

I have shared with you all the potpie recipe which I hope you have tried because it is some good comfort-food! My chicken noodle soup recipe is from the Food Network & can be found here. I kind of cheat though. Instead of making my own chicken stock I just buy a rotisserie chicken, cut it up & use good ol' Swanson's chicken broth. I've made it both ways & like the "short-cut" route better - for taste & time. I also put extra carrots, celery & chicken in it since Shane & I both like a "chunkier" soup.

Now for the biscuits - oh my!

Walk - no, RUN to your nearest grocery store & buy the ingredients for these bad boys NOW! You like the Red Lobster biscuits? Well now you will have the recipe to make these delicious, buttery morsels any time you want. You can thank me later :)

Red Lobster Biscuits

Biscuits:
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
4 T cold butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Butter Glaze:
3 T butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease or line one cookie sheet with parchment paper (which is what HT prefers when baking on a cookie sheet); set aside.

Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter (or just use a fork). Don't worry about mixing too thoroughly; there will be small chunks of butter in the mix about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, & garlic powder. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix. Use a spatula to get excess dough off your hand.

Drop 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes in preheated oven until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. Halfway through baking make sure to turn cookie sheet around - gives more of an even baking.

While biscuits are baking, melt butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in garlic powder & dried parsley flakes. Once the biscuits are done baking, use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Sprinkle a little salt on the freshly coated biscuits. Makes one dozen.

* Don't have any Bisquick in the house? You can make a "homemade" version found here.

You are welcome :)

Wisconsin

Hard to believe it was 2 weeks ago that I was on a jet plane headed to Wisconsin. Even harder to believe that Thanksgiving is 4 days away & better yet - Christmas is only 36 days away - YIKES!

FRIDAY - Nov 4th
I arrived at my sister's house in Wisconsin around noon. As I was walking up to their house, my nephew Tanner came running out & gave me the biggest hug. Best-feeling-ever! He was so excited to see his "Aunt Hedder" :) Cael was unfortunately sleeping when I got there so I had to wait a bit longer to see him.

In the meantime, Tanner was telling me all about Halloween & what his costume was. He even tried it on so he could show me & so we had to take a picture in his Captain America costume. So stinkin' cute:
Shortly after, Cael decided to wake up from his nap & we all gathered around the kitchen table for an afternoon snack. Love his blonde hair & curls:

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, catching up & making a birthday cake for a very special little boy who was turning 4 years old! The boys insisted on "helping" me make the cake so we all put our aprons on & then started baking. We had so much fun pouring & dumping & mixing.

Tanner wanted a Lightening McQueen cake & my sister didn't want to spend lots of money having a bakery make one so she figured "we" could make his cake. Somehow along the way, it turned into ME making his cake - my sister is sneaky like that ;) Honestly, I didn't mind. It was actually kind of fun!

After the boys went to bed, I started to frost the cake:

Two hours later & the frosting is complete. Here is what I ended up with:

Being that this was the very first cake I have ever made, I must say it turned out pretty darn good! Sous chef HT in the making :)

Saturday, Nov 5
My parents were making their way from South Dakota & arrived to my sister's house around lunch-time. We spent the early part of the afternoon playing with the boys & catching up. By mid-afternoon it was party time. We all headed to McDonald's where everyone gathered in the Play Land for Tanner's birthday party. There were lots of little kids running around everywhere & we didn't see the boys again until it was time to eat. We gathered the kids & they sat down to eat their Happy Meals. After they ate, it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Tanner & cut the cake.

He really liked his Lightening McQueen cake which made it even more rewarding making it myself.

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out with the family, drinking wine & relaxing while watching TV.

Sunday Nov 6
We started off our morning by eating a yummy breakfast of french toast & sausage made my brother-in-law. He always does such a good job of making everyone breakfast! After we stuffed ourselves, we made our way to the very small town of Fremont to visit a true Wisconsin cheese factory - Union Star Cheese Factory & buy some fresh cheese.

From the outside, it looks like a regular house but on the inside it is a full blown cheese factory. They only make the cheese Mon-Sat so unfortunately we weren't able to to take a tour & watch them :(

We browsed through the many refrigerators packed full of cheese, butter, ice cream, beef sticks & everyone got a little something to take home.

My purchase consisted of a block of colby jack, tomato/basil cheddar, mozzarella sticks, cheese curds, butter & beef sticks. Two weeks later I can tell you that it is all gone - except the butter. It is only half gone :) Lucky for me, you can order their cheese online & they ship it out the same week so I will definitely be taking advantage of that! They also ship gift baskets which would make a really nice gift!

After our cheese stop, the girls dropped all the boys off at home & we headed to the Oshkosh Outlet mall to do a little shopping for the rest of the afternoon. I was able to get Shane's birthday present at the North Face outlet & a pair of gray, leather boots for me at the Bass store. I could have spent so much more but managed to keep the spending under control. My mom & sister got a few things also so it ended up being a productive trip.

We headed back to the house, ate dinner, took some pics, made cupcakes for Tanner's class & spent the rest of the evening lounging around.

Sunday Nov 7
Today is Tanner's 4th birthday! It was also the day that me & my parents were leaving :( My sister & her husband were up early since it was the beginning of a work week so we were all up & saying goodbye by 7am. My parents left shortly after & headed back to South Dakota. My flight wasn't until later that morning so I was able to enjoy some coffee & slowly get ready to go.

It was sad to say goodbye to my sister, her hubby & the boys knowing that I won't see them until April but am hoping the time flies by as quickly as it has been!

Happenings

I have gotten REALLY behind on my blogging lately. I apologize to those of you who check-in daily anxiously looking for an update only to see the same darn post written 10+ days ago. I need to really work on this. Don't want to disappoint.

Since Oct 22nd (the last time I wrote a real post), there have been a few things that have happened that I would consider "blog-worthy"...

- Shane went & bought himself an early B-Day present:

At least he was considerate enough to buy it while I was IN town unlike his last big purchase!? Last I knew the boy was just "looking" at new trucks - I should have known better! Looks like I need to start thinking about what fun toy I get to buy next :)

- one of my favorite Fall festivities occurred on Oct 31st: Halloween. The hubby & I joined our neighbors out in the cul-de-sac for our annual tradition of food, a bon-fire & passing out candy to the kids. The KC Chiefs were playing that night so our neighbor Dave brought his big screen TV out to the driveway so the guys (& girls) wouldn't miss the game. It was a beautiful night to be outside & as usual we had a lot of fun with our neighbors.

- first weekend in November I flew to Wisconsin for my nephew Tanner's 4th birthday party. This trip needs it's own separate post so look for it coming soon. In the meantime, here's a "sneak peak":

Those boys are SO cute & SO much fun! Can't believe how fast they are growing!!!

- this past Friday night I met the "game-night" girls out at BB's - Spring Hill's local bar & grill. Nov & Dec are always so busy for everyone so we decided to gather for dinner rather than having someone host game night at their house. We all enjoyed catching up over a cocktail & dinner while watching some KU basketball. I also brought cupcakes from Smallcakes to celebrate Keri's birthday so everyone got to indulge in some yummy cupcakey sweetness. Right now they have a Pumpkin with cream cheese frosting cupcake along with a Peppermint Mocha Crunch cupcake for the holidays. Mmmmm - they both get HT's stamp of approval.

- on Saturday, Shane & I road-tripped down to Pittsburg, KS along with a couple of our neighbors to visit Julie & Brian who used to live next door to us. It is about an hour & 45 min away which ended up being an easy drive. We enjoyed the evening gathered in the kitchen snacking on a yummy spread while being "forced" to watch the K-State game (which was a nail-biter after 3 OT's), as well as played several rounds of Mad Gab which had everyone cracking up with laughter. It was a fun evening spent with great friends & am looking forward to seeing them all again at our Annual Progressive Dinner in December.

This upcoming weekend I am on call & have no plans other than housework :( so blogging might be kind of sparse for a few days with not much to blog about. Will get my WI post up soon along with a couple of other posts I am planning.

Thanks for hanging in there & sticking with me :)

VIP

To the left is a cheesy self-portrait of me in my hard-earned personalized Dream Dinners apron. I have been in the program for 12 months now & have finally earned my apron. I am now also a member of the VIP club.

With this VIP status I receive a 10% discount on my dinner purchases each month, along with a clean pressed apron that says "Heather T" on it & is hanging up waiting for me when I enter the store.

Shane & I have really enjoyed the meals I have prepared over the past year & I have loved not worrying about what to make for dinner when I get home. You can't put a price tag on time & that's what makes doing Dream Dinners so worth it.

White Chocolate Pumpkin Drops

Tonight I made these delicious cookies & thought they were very "blog-worthy" so here is the recipe for you all:

(photo credit)

INGREDIENTS

2	cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
2	cups granulated sugar
1	can (about 16 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
2	eggs
4	cups all-purpose flour
2	teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
1	teaspoon baking powder
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
1	package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips
1	container (16 ounces) cream cheese frosting
1/4	cup packed brown sugar

*Substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/4 teaspoon each ground allspice and ground nutmeg for 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease cookie sheets.

1. Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat until well blended. Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and baking soda; beat just until blended. Stir in white chocolate chips.


2. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10-14 minutes or until set and bottoms are browned. Don't overcook as cookie will end up being hard. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets & then move cookies to wire racks.


3. Combine frosting and brown sugar in small bowl. Spread on warm cookies.

* Makes about 6 dozen cookies.
* Serving size: 1 cookie * Total Fat 8g; Carb 19g; Cholesterol 7 mg; Calories 151; Sodium 97 mg; Fiber 1g; Protein 1g

HT's thoughts:
- Definitely use an upright mixer as this makes A LOT of dough or you could just halve the recipe!
- I like a bigger cookie so I doubled the size of the drops of dough & ended up with about 3 dozen cookies.
- I baked my cookies for 10 minutes & they turned out soft & moist on the inside & just barely crunchy on the edges. Perfect in my opinion.
- I always bake my cookies on parchment paper on top of the cookie sheet rather than greasing it. Makes for a perfectly baked cookie.
- Also, I turn the cookie sheet half-way through baking as the back of the oven is always hotter than the front. Cookies are then baked evenly on your cookie sheet.
- I spread the frosting on the cookie while warm & it turns into a yummy icing.
- Not to be enjoyed if you are on a diet. 4 sticks of butter AND 151 calories per cookie!? YIKES - but they are SOOOO good.

Happy Baking :)

Holiday Mart 2011

October brings with it many things. Fall, pumpkins, blooming mums, cooler temperatures, Halloween & my favorite - the annual outing at Holiday Mart.

My friend Melissa was kind enough to join me on this annual adventure that I look forward to every year. Nothing begins to put you in the holiday mood like an afternoon of holiday shopping at this fun event.

We first stopped for lunch at a little place called "The Brick" which is located in the Crossroads Art District in downtown KC. This little hole-in-the-wall restaurant was featured on the hit show "Diners, Drive-In's & Dives" on the Food Network. If Guy Fieri has been there then it has to be good, right?

Melissa & I ended up deciding on the burger with tots. Any place that serves tator tots is a hit in my opinion! We both agreed our meal was very good & I was happy that Mel had suggested this place. We of course had to get a picture under Guy's signature before we left:

I have to take a moment to make a comment about my scarf & the drama it caused when I picked Melissa up. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge Jayhawks fan. Melissa is a HUGE K-State fan & today the two teams were playing each other in football. Notice Mel in her K-State purple & black. As soon as she gets into my car she comments on the purple in my scarf & how nice it was that I am wearing "K-State colors". Um - my scarf clearly has pink in it NOT purple. Don't you agree??? I mean look at the color she is wearing & compare it to my scarf. Definitely NOT purple! She knows I don't own anything purple so she enjoyed giving me a hard time :)

After we enjoyed a yummy lunch, we made our way to the shopping extravaganza. When you first walk in I must admit it is a bit overwhelming but once you get going, it is a lot of fun. There were over 200 retailers there with rows & rows of booths set up all selling their specialty items. There was jewelry, clothing from quaint boutiques for kids & adults, home decor, dips & soup mixes, lots & lots of holiday stuff & so much more.

Later on we met up with Mel's friend Sarah who joined us for some shopping fun:

We spent 4 hours taking it all in & we each kept our spending under control. I ended up buying only 4 things for less than $50 so I stayed well below the $100 budget I had allowed myself.

All in all it was a great day spent with a great girlfriend & I was so glad that Melissa decided to ditch the football game & come with me instead :)

House

Before:After:

The first picture is of our house the day we moved in. The 2nd picture is what our house looks like today with a fresh coat of paint. We are so happy with the color & as crazy as it may sound, glad to have painted it by ourselves.

Surprise!

This past weekend was a busy one. My mom & her friend Jodi came to visit for the weekend as well as attend my brother Steve's surprise 30th B-day party. They ended up getting in late Friday night & we enjoyed catching up while chowing down on some Papa Murphy's pizza.

Saturday we spent the morning checking out the 2011 Parade of Homes. We stayed in the Overland Park, KS area & looked at several homes from the $500,000 - $1 million range. It was a lot of fun going through all the homes & seeing all the expensive tile work, intricate details, huge rooms, closets & design of the homes. We all had our "likes" & "dislikes" of each & got lots of decorating ideas for our own homes. It is definitely something to check out if you have a free afternoon with nothing to do.

Next stop was lunch. Jodi had never experienced KC BBQ before so we HAD to make a stop into Jack Stack Fiorella's. We all enjoyed ribs, burnt ends & of course the delicious baked beans. She is now a fan :)

And no visit from my mom would be complete without a visit to Hobby Lobby. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon browsing up & down the aisles & somehow our shopping cart became jam packed with stuff. I ended up getting a new pumpkin for the front porch that I just had to have along with some pretty Christmas ornaments & my mom got some fall decor, fabric & some ornaments as well. Even Jodi found something to buy - yarn for an afghan she is going to knit. Hobby Lobby is such a dangerous place to spend time but oh so fun! It's hard to believe Christmas is only 2 1/2 months away!!!

After our shopping excursion we headed back home & had a few hours before we were to leave for my brother's party so I whipped up his favorite dessert - a cherry pie to take with us & then we lounged around watching TV until it was time to head out.

We made our way to Parkville, MO where the party was being held & awaited the birthday boy's arrival. We were all gathered at my sister-in-law's (Meghan) mom's house for the festivities. Steve had gone golfing for the day with his brother-in-law while Meghan got everything ready. The plan was that Meghan was to get the phone call that Steve & Shawn were close by & we were to all head to the bottom of the driveway & surprise him when they turned in.

SUCCESS :)

He was more than surprised as around 40 of his closest family & friends greeted him! I think seeing my mom there was a HUGE surprise for him as she drove 9 hours to be there. To say he was speechless seeing all those people was an understatement!

There was LOTS of food, music, beverages, a bon-fire & lots of fun had by all. Meghan had this photo collage made of Steve from when he was born to the present:

And right underneath it was the dessert table with his favorite cherry pie & the cutest cookies ever of Steve's favorite things - Chicago Bears, football & beer :)

The invitation said for everyone to dress up in clothing from the year Steve was born which was 1981 so there were several who participated. Here is Meghan in her lovely floral vest & shorts set & her best "big hair" impression:
There was even an 80's shirt for Steve that he was given to wear:

Me, Steve & my mom

It was a great party & so very nice to see Meghan's family again! She did a great job of pulling off the surprise & I think the birthday boy even had a great time!

Sunday morning Steve & Meghan made there way down south & we all met for breakfast at IHOP before my mom & Jodi left town. It was really nice to spend some one-on-one time with my brother & Meghan & glad they met us.

After everyone said their goodbyes & parted ways, Shane & I headed back home for another day of painting. Lucky for me, the wind had picked up & it ended up being way to dangerous for Shane to be up on a ladder so he opted to go to the Nascar races with his dad & I did a little painting & then alot of lounging :)

It was definitely a whirlwind of a weekend & so fun to have spent it with my family!