Weeks In a Nutshell: Turkey, Snow, Sugar

I have been somewhat of a slacker with these "Week In a Nutshell" posts. Notice how I am just getting to typing this up Sunday night? Isn't it supposed to be up Sunday morning? Apologies mostly to grandparents and other family members who wonder what in the heck we have been up to.

So quick recap. Thanksgiving was great. Went to Utah to spend time with family. Hubby had the honor of carving the bird...notice above...doesn't he look turkey legit?

Middle was very intrigued by the carving of the bird...mostly because he was starving and really had convinced himself he needed a drumstick. He ended up passing on it when he realized what the drumstick actually was and how big it was.

Oldest was so charming and let me take is picture mid meal...

Then when I asked for a second, I got this face...ah that is the "mom-put-the-camera-down-you-are-so-annoying" face I love so much.

I hardly took any pictures of the day. I get so flustered with all the running around I just forget. But don't worry I got a picture of Oldest enjoying his chocolate pie...

He thought he was being rather funny...

Nothing so sweet as a chocolate goatee. After this I had to threaten my kids with banishment if any of them did it again. Hard to sound threatening when everyone is laughing.

After Thanksgiving we came home, decorated for Christmas, and somewhat welcomed the chilly weather. With chilly weather comes SNOW.

The boys begged to play outside so I was a trooper and said okay. See how happy they are?

I say I was a trooper because Littlest got to be included this time, which meant that I had got to stay outside with them. I still can't bear to let him wander outside by himself. SO while he played...

...I took the opportunity to weird out my new neighbors and take some photos of myself for a distraction from the frigid temperature.

Yeah, I am sure that didn't look awkward to the passerby.

We also enjoyed our favorite winter treat...a grilled peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwich. Oh, so delightfully gooey and warm. Trust me!

And speaking of sugar, I just had to throw these in of Littlest discovering the glory of Fun Dips.

"What is this sugar stick and this colored powder?"
"Say what? I am allowed to put this in my mouth?"
"Why haven't I tried these before?"

"Why are you laughing at me?"
"Is there something wrong with my tongue?"

So priceless!

There is our little recap of the last couple weeks. Hope you enjoyed it grandparents!

Deck the Halls

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.

I love decorating for Christmas. Even when it is just one room, I love bringing in the cheer and joy of the Christmas season. I love the excitement of the boys just at the mere mention of putting up the tree, let alone actually putting it up. I love the patience of Hubby and the boys as I crazily orchestrate the perfect placement of each ornament.

I even love it when Oldest annoyed declares, "Why do you have to have everything match so much?"


Insert Hubby chuckling under his breath now. 

"Oh son...I just do!"

This year I added in some classic green and a dark blue. Thank you to The Mart for selling cheap ornaments.

I added the new ornaments in with the old red and white ones.

Remember these silhouette ones from last year? I will be making a new one for next year.

The new Christmas look is due to the fact that we can hang our stockings in the main room in this house. These stockings were made by my Grandma. She has made every single stocking in my family. Parents, siblings, and now siblings spouses and each new great-grandchild. They are so classically lovely. My boys LOVE them. Mine is over 30 years old. So great!

My Christmas place mats turned into throw pillows sit cozily on the sofa. A little bling on the lamps carried over from last year too.

I also added a strip of gingham fabric for a runner on our coffee table. Then I added our stack of Christmas books. Our boys get a new one every Christmas Eve morning. It's Christmas, David! was our book last year. Pretty sure it describes our boys exactly!

I added my new Cone Christmas trees into the adjoining kitchen.

I have a couple of other projects, but I am not stressing if they do not get done this year. I do not want to spend my whole Christmas season sitting at a sewing machine...

When it is so much better to have a cup of hot chocolate in my hands, snuggling next to Hubby sitting here...

Seriously I just love this time of year. Merry Christmas!

Rootbeer Pulled Pork with Coleslaw

What a gloriously delightful sandwich! The pork was perfection and super dooper easy to make. Slather a homemade roll with it and top it off with some coleslaw, and a choir of angels will sing in your mouth...okay maybe just your head.

I mean what's not to like...
rootbeer...good
pulled pork...good
coleslaw...say what??? Oh I mean GOOD.

Please tell me someone got my television reference above!!

This pregnancy is doing wackadoo things to my appetite. For reals. I mean anyone who knows me knows that me and coleslaw...well we are not friends. We are not even acquaintances. Heck, normally if I saw coleslaw walking near me on the street, I would purposely cross said street and give coleslaw the haughty cold shoulder...anyone else concerned that I just had coleslaw walking down a street???

ANYWAY...

Needless to say, I do not like coleslaw...

However, when I came across this pulled pork recipe I immediately wanted it in tiny slider form and, thanks to baby, I craved to top it with a scoop of homemade coleslaw.

So happy I listened to baby!

Not only does the coleslaw make it look prettier, but it also makes the sandwich all that is delightful. This sandwich was a winner at our house. Hubby was also quite impressed that I evolved enough to actually use the coleslaw.

So if you are looking for an easy, show-stopping recipe to feed the fam. This is a keeper.

Rootbeer Pulled Pork with Coleslaw


For the pork:
2 lb pork loin
1 bottle of bbq sauce (I chose an basic original flavor...not to spicy not sweetened)
12 oz rootbeer

Put pork, bottle of bbq sauce, and rootbeer into a slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Until fall apart tender. Once cooked, pull out pork and shred with two forks. Then put shredded pork back into the slow cooker and coat with the sauce.

For the Coleslaw:
2 cups shredded cabbage
1/2 cup slivered or sliced carrots
**or you can buy a pre-packaged cabbage and carrot slaw mixture
1 Tablespoon diced onions
1/3 cup mayo
1 1/2 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon poppy seeds
dash of salt
If you are a coleslaw fan, double this recipe. Hubby would have liked more, I just wasn't sure how I felt about it yet.


Combine the cabbage, carrots, and onions in a bowl. In a separate container combine the rest of the ingredients. Wisk the dressing till well combined. Pour over the cabbage mixture. Coat well.

Assemble the pork on your favorite roll, homemade or store bought. Place a spoonful of coleslaw on top. Now you have the yummiest pulled pork slider and some pretty tasty coleslaw to boot.

ENJOY!

Poster Board Cone Christmas Trees

I have wanted to add cone Christmas trees to my holiday decor for awhile now. I always think, maybe this year. Then I talk myself out of it because I don't want to splurge on the cone forms...I know not all of them are even that much...but hey there are some many other things to spend money on...you know like milk, eggs, cheese, toilet paper...

This year I found myself once again really wanting to make some. Especially since, once again I found myself having to revamp our Christmas decorations. If you remember, last year I redid our Christmas decorations for the first time since we got married. Well tweeking was needed again with our new house and our new layout.

Still armed with my use-what-you-have-piling-up-in-my-craft-closet philosophy, I started putting together a game plan on how to make myself some of these beauties.

LIGHTBULB!

Use poster board and role my own forms. Add scraps of what I have in coordinating colors and I have myself some glorious cone Christmas trees.

I thought I would share with you how I did this...and if you promise not to judge, I will even give you the template I made (using no logical math procedure and relying only on my eyeball it skills) for the cones.

So here is what you will need:
poster board
templates-
Template 1
Template 2

Mod Podge
hot glue
fabric, yarn, trimming scraps
tape

First download, print and cut out templates.  With the larger template (#2), you will need to either cut out two and then tape along seam to make a whole template, or you can trace half and flip over and trace the other half at middle seam. Next trace the templates onto a poster board. Make as many as your heart desires.

Cut all your cones out.

I suggest you give them a little temporary roll before you tape them. That will help the cone hold its form. Next using double sided tape, attach the rolled cone together at the tab. Hold secure for a little bit. Be patient while you roll these, sometimes the poster board is temperamental. Breath through it though, it will work.

Make all of your cones.

It will be okay if some of them are a little wonky or wrinkly...you are just going to cover them. See my wonky cone??

Gather all of your glorious scraps.

Get your Mod Podge out. I used the hot glue only for the sequin trimming. I doubted Mod Podge would hold it on.

To start assembling your trees, pick which trimming you want. I started with 1" wide strips of gingham fabric. With a craft brush apply just a little amount of Mod Podge to the base of the cone. Start wrapping. Wrap, then continue to Mod Podge and wrap as you go up the cone.

If your strip runs out and you need to add another one, simply apply some Mod Podge to the point you ended and then continue wrapping and gluing.

Keep going all the way to the top and then wrap and secure the end of the top of your tree. Oh hey by the way, your fingers will get messy.

This same process applies to any trim you might want to use. I did a yarn one, which I will say made me want to poke my eyes out. The wrapping and gluing process was much slower and took WAY more effort.

I got to about here and seriously wanted to give up and eat some chocolate. I had to take a break and do the sequin one.

Eventually I finished wrapping the whole thing, and I was happy I stuck it out. If you do a yarn one, don't stress the Mod Podge will dry and the yarn will not have a white -

Let the cones dry before handling them to much, but once they are dry they are sturdy and ready to set out.

I am pretty sure there are several more cone Christmas trees in this house's future. Happy Christmas tree making!

Linking:
Show and Tell Wednesdays: Blue Cricket Design
Strut Your Stuff Thursdays: Somewhat Simple
Deck the Blogs: Ninth and Bird
Friday Linky Party: Creation Corner
Weekend Wrap Up Party: Tatertots and Jello
Frugalicious Fridays: Finding Fabulous
Friday Flare: Whipperberry
Christmas with My World Made By Hand
Craft-O-Maniac Mondays: Craft-O-Maniac

Christmas Card Download

I came across this incredible free download last week. I about fell out of my chair with excitement. I had been debating what I was going to do for Christmas cards this year. There are so many great card sites out there, but thanks to our lovely new home we are on a pretty tight budget and those sites, while cute, are expensive.

Rebecca from Simple as That is so generous and talented. She made up three new templates this year for Christmas cards. She offers them completely free. All you have to do is download them to your computer, edit them with your pictures, and then order prints. Bam! You are done!

With cards downloaded on the computer, I took my Little Men out for a quick photo shoot. They did so well...you can't tell in these photos that it was FREEZING out...the wind here is killing us. Then I edited my pictures and added them to the free template. I couldn't decide which one, so I did two. All this was done in a day or two.

Lovely, right?

I printed them off at Costco. She recommended printing of a test print first, so I did. They were perfect, so then I ordered all the cards I needed. They are glorious. I am so grateful that I came upon her site. The quality of this download is so professional.

Ya want an extra yippee??

Not only does she have the three cards new for this year, but she also did some last year that are free to download. That means you have at least 6 different options for cards this year. YIPPEE!

Here are two of my other favorites:

So if you haven't ordered your cards yet go on over to Simple as That and download the card of your choice. Then make it your own.

P.S. If you get an actual mailed card from us...then you will have to wait with giddy anticipation as to which card you will get...I know you are excited!


Happy Holidays friends!

HEY EVERYONE...here is an added little blurb...

Just found another set of free download Christmas Cards from

Becky Higgins Scrapbook extraordinaire.

Just to add to your options!