Millie ♥'s Christmas

Millie is obsessed with wrapped presents. It doesn't matter what is inside - she just KNOWS there are treats in that pretty wrapped box or maybe even some bullie toys or stuffies in there & tries her best to get inside the box. I have a hard time keeping gifts under the tree because Millie will have to check them all out, one by one, sniffing them, pawing at them, moving them out from under the tree & trying to get them open. Lil' stinker!

If she isn't messing with the presents, she is laying UNDER the tree. She loves to sleep under there, gather all her toys & hide them under there, lay under the tree chewing on her ball & play "hide & go seek" from her Momma under the tree.

I thought I would be sneaky & put all the furries wrapped gifts on the kitchen table in a bag until Christmas morning but I failed to forget dog's have amazing noses & can sniff out anything - especially when they are new Cuz balls, treats, stuffies & Nylabones :)

This is what we have had to put up with during the days leading up to Christmas...
(video will take a couple of minutes to load)

She is truly like a little kid when it comes to gifts & loving Christmas.

TSO

Shane & I had tickets to go see Trans-Siberian Orchestra today & I have been SO looking forward to going. Unfortunately, someone drank a little too much last night & wasn't feeling up to it so I called my girlfriend Jill who was MORE than happy to go with me as my date.

Jill & I got settled in our seats & were impressed with our view. Of course we had to take a self-portrait (notice the couple kissing in the upper left hand corner? I think they did that on purpose :)

From the opening song, I immediately got goosebumps. The show was narrated by a guy with an awesome low, bass voice & the music was phenomenal with all the displays of lights, lasers, pyrotechnics, spotlights among many other visual effects. There was a cast of 2 dozen musicians, singers & dancers & they rocked that place.


Towards the end of the show TSO played music other than Christmas music & it ended up being more of a rock show than a holiday show. There were dancers on the catwalk above the crowd doing their thing & lots of head-banging & hair-whipping going on:

They ended the show with a fireworks display, a shower of twinkly lights & a Merry Christmas message for all. It was a GREAT show & so glad Jill was able to come with as I would have been really disappointed to have missed it.

Annual Progressive Dinner

Last night we gathered with the cul-de-sac neigbhors for our Annual Progressive Dinner. We all look forward to this event every year & enjoy the time spent with these wonderful people. Our ex-neighbors Julie & Brian even came down from Pittsburg to join us for the festivities. They may live 100+ miles away but they will always be considered "neighbors"!

First stop of the night was Barb & Jim's house where we enjoyed frozen margaritas, finger sandwiches & different kinds of chips with dips. They are our "adopted" neighbors & live a mile away in another sub-division. We came to know these wonderful people as they are the best friends of our next door neighbors Dave & Gael.

Speaking of which, Dave & Gael were the 2nd stop of the night. When we walked in we were presented with this on the kitchen island:

They had literally brought their entire bar up from the basement for our enjoyment. The cocktail that Gael made for me was called a "Poinsettia" which consisted of vodka, cranberry juice, champagne & orange zest. It was dee-lish! Shane headed over to our house to make his first drink of the night which was his usual scotch. When we weren't busy mixing cocktails, we snacked on yummy chicken wings & crock pot meatballs.

The third stop was Mike & Linda's house where we enjoyed Slip-n-Slide martini's (which were SOOO good), Shane enjoyed scotch #2 & brought it back over just in time for all the guys to enjoy cigars out on the deck while the ladies all snacked on a cheese/meat/crackers tray, & fried cheese squares. After cigars, Shane headed back over to the house to make scotch #3 & joined us once again. (there is a point to counting Shane's drinks :)

The fourth stop was at the Taylor house & this is where things got wild. In keeping with tradition, the last stop of the night is always a fun, crazy time as everyone is a little tipsy :) It is also where we do our White Elephant gift exchange which always provides some good laughs. Since we were the last house, Julie & Brian joined me in hosting dessert. I had gotten a Stetson Cheesecake in Strawberry for everyone to enjoy along with a cookie & candy tray.

Shane filled up scotch #4 while I made these yummy martini's for everyone:























Above is a Chocolate Mint Martini with chocolate & crushed peppermint candies on the rim & on the right is a Peppermint Martini with red/white sugar on the rim. Both were SO yummy & a hit with everyone.

By this time of the evening, everyone was feeling the effects of all the cocktails drank throughout the night (especially Shane) & someone busted out the camera which wasn't me! Seems that my hubby is quite the photographer - all of these pics were taken by him:

Linda & Gael

Julie & me

Shane with the ladies

Once everyone enjoyed a cocktail, some dessert & picture-taking we headed down into the family room where we did our gift exchange.

Julie got cigars

Brian & Dave modeling their new boxers

And the backside :)

Gael got Christmas flamingos that light up which she LOVED!

Mr. Goofball Shane got Crayola sidewalk chalk

Shane was quite tipsy in this picture. There is always one in this bunch who tends to have a little too much alcohol & ends up being the life of the party. The first year it was Tom, the 2nd year it was me & this year it was Shane. Come to find out, Shane didn't have anything to eat while we were hopping from house to house so he was drinking scotch on an empty stomach. He says he wasn't hungry from eating a late lunch of BBQ earlier so it eventually caught up to him.

As the night was winding down & the neighbors were getting ready to leave Shane was nowhere to be found. We were all gathered in our family room & our bedroom is located right above us. All of a sudden we all here "thump.........thump" - the sound of Shane's boots hitting the floor.

Mr. Taylor was done.

After mostly everyone left, Brian, Julie & myself went upstairs to find Shane & this is what we saw:

He was OUT & had called it a night :) Oh silly Shane - he is not going to feel well in the morning!!!

As usual, it was another successful progressive dinner gathering with the neighbors & as always, we look forward to seeing what fun the next one brings us!!

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 :)