Small Business Saturday!

I didn't want to be a part of Black and Blue Friday so I stayed home yesterday completely away from that mess and I decorated my house for Christmas. I had declared this a no-mall Christmas for me last month and pretty soon after that, I saw this commercial for Small Business Saturday that was taking place the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I was SO excited!!  Right up my alley, it was!!  I had already bought some things online from individuals and small businesses and I'd done a little shopping locally here in Warner Robins but to have a whole day set aside for the little man??  I was tickled pink.

I hope everybody went and bought something at a small business today.  Just one thing will make such a difference.

I can't talk much about what I bought because my family reads my blog but this one place I went to (mostly for me!) was a little hippie/new age hole in the wall (that had the AC crunk and it felt so good in there!).  I found so many goodies in there!!  Hand poured soy candles, handmade lavender stuffed pillows, tiny little silver rings, oh, so much stuff to get into!!  I got me some patchouli oil and some candles and these things right heah...

The wrapper says it's a "relaxing chocolate chip cookie".  It ain't lyin'.  The cookies have 5-HTP, which is hydroxytryptophan, basically the same stuff that's in turkey that makes us all mellow and lookin' for somewhere to lay down.  I highly recommend them.  Ha!  100% natural and 100% legal.  You can't beat that.

My Small Business Saturday was a hit!  I think we should do this EVERY Saturday.

Fill in the blank Friday!

Waking up at the butt crack of dawn to go shopping is my idea of HELL.  Insanity.  A total waste of sleepy time.  Completely out of the question.  I have never, ever wanted anything that bad.  Not even $7 sheets.

If I were to go shopping today (and I made a deliberate effort to not go anywhere!), I would be on the hunt for something handmade or vintage.

Something I've been learning lately is to trust God every day, in everything.  He really knows what He's doing!

The best thing I ate yesterday was um, everything?  This was my plate.  

The BEST thing, though, was Mama's dressing.  Under the ham.  :)

I cannot start my day without my little routine!  Pee, brush my teeth, wash my face and moisturize, wash my hair and drink a glass of tea.

My nighttime attire consists of tank tops and pajama shorts when it's warm, long-sleeved tees and leggings when it's not.

I'm looking forward to Christmas!  Duh.  Four weeks!!

Happy Weekend!

More Christmas!

 

That tiny little picture on the right 

is of me and Mama my first Christmas.

  

My collection of Santas with a copy of 

'Twas The Night Before Christmas that Ami gave me.

They go perfect together!

 

I had the perfect dish for our sweet little clay ornaments!

  

Plate all ready for Santa's cookies!

 

 

 Huge Christmas ornaments I borrowed from Mama!

 Who says a Christmas tree has to be pine or fir?

I say a eucalyptus makes a fine Christmas tree!

 Please to ignore the satellite and the MOON next door.

 

Santa hangin' around on the front door.

I give you the Schneider family Christmas tree :)

 Flash.

 

 No flash. :)

  Most of my favorites right there in the front!

The red reindeer and bells from my childhood, a mouse in a stocking that a friend made me in 1977, Santa visiting Baby Jesus and a couple of smiling dancing dreidels that we put on our tree every Christmas to honor Larry's grandma, Grace, and her heritage.

Pretty much my favorite Christmas song...

Alabama's Joseph and Mary's Boy from their first Christmas album, and in my humble but Alabama-crazed-still-after-all-these-years opinion, the BEST Christmas album anybody has EVER recorded in the history of Christmas music.  

It was released in 1985 and I have owned several cassette copies and one CD that I could not find to save my soul today so I've got another one on the way from Amazon.  Should be here December 1st.  :)

Every song on this album is awesome but this one is my favorite.

Who's the One we need to thank?

Who's this party for?

Who's the One responsible for all this peace and joy?

Who deserves the credit for the blessings we enjoy?

The preacher said last Sunday it was Joseph and Mary's little bitty boy...

That last part courtesy of ME and not Alabama.  Ha!

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

We had a wonderful day today!  We were all together and we were all stuffed!  Here are a few pics of the spread!

 

Ami had a great idea for us to make clay Christmas ornaments after dinner! She brought all the stuff we'd need, clay, paint, cookie cutters, stamps and ribbons.  I think we've got a new family tradition!

 Here are the ones I made!

I'm pretty proud of my Santa!

These were some Ami made to show us how. She gave them to me and I think I'll put the ones without holes in a cute Christmasy bowl on my foyer table.  The ones with holes are going on my tree! 

I got some goodies today, too!  Mama and Daddy gave me a couple of new ornaments for my tree and this precious little stuffed red fox.  He was stuffed before we ate!  Ha!

His name is Todd.  :)

Ami got me this beautiful peace musical snow globe!

I LOVE it!!  I'm going to leave it out all year.

We had such a great day.  We ate, we made Christmas decorations and we put up Mama and Daddy's tree.  Our first Thanksgiving without Maw was sad, as we knew it would be.  There wasn't a moment when she wasn't a part of it, though.  Ami made a sweet hope ornament in memory of her and it's hanging right in the front of Mama and Daddy's tree.  Ami also shared sets of pictures of Maw with all of us and we talked about her and shared memories of our Thanksgivings with her.  

I had my own Maw moment last night when I was making the crust for my sweet potatoes.  I have Maw's mushroom canisters and inside them were two measuring cups that she used.  I put one in my flour and one in my corn meal.  I needed 1/3 cup of flour to make my crust last night and I really didn't want to get my measuring cups down from the cabinet so I was just going to scoop some out of my flour canister and eyeball it.  Close enough is good enough, I thought.  I went to the pantry, grabbed Maw's scoop and filled it full of flour and as I was taking it back to the counter, I looked down and saw that the scoop was 1/3 cup!!  Exactly what I needed.  I said, "thank you, Maw!" and I knew my sweet potatoes would turn out perfect.  And they did.

I hope everybody reading this had a wonderful day with your family and friends.  We have lots to be thankful for!

The finished products nom nom nom

Four pounds of oven-roasted Brussels sprouts steamed in chicken broth and then roasted for 30 minutes at 400 with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh crushed garlic. 

Chase's Silver King corn from the summer, cooked in my cast iron skillet with butter, sugar, salt and pepper. It ain't long for this world. That's all I'm gonna say.

I'm really happy with how my sweet potatoes turned out! I roasted them last night in the oven then scooped the potato out of the skins today, mashed 'em with milk, eggs, butter and brown sugar. The topping is flour, brown sugar and more butter.

I can't wait for tomorrow!!

What I'm loving Wednesday!

I'm loving that tomorrow is Thanksgiving!

This guy?  Not so much.

I'm loving how yummy this pumpkin roll looks!  I can't take credit for making it, though.  A sweet little Mennonite girl hooked us up at the office with cakes and sweet potatoes and dinner rolls.  AND she said she'd come back Christmas!

I'm loving the general festiveness that's going on in my kitchen today!  I AM making sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts and skillet corn to take to Mama and Daddy's tomorrow!  

I've got to get busy!!

I'm loving that we finished up Digital in class last night and when we go back next Tuesday night, we'll get right into Microprocessors!  Our last class for this semester is December 13th so we don't have long!

And I'm loving this video of President Obama (and his girls) pardoning the White House turkey.

Gobble Gobble!

Forever is only the beginning...

Forever is FOREVAH when you're a vampire.  

I was gonna wait to see Breaking Dawn until the hooplah died down.  And I did wait.  18 hours.  Ha!  I'm pathetic.

But I'm not even ashamed that I like Twilight.  I've said it here before.  Openly and without shame.  At 44, I love me this teenaged vampire love story.

And it's exciting to go and be a part of that chaos.

I consumed all four books in about three months' time, back when I worked at Citi and we were slow.  I read them at work!  So when the movies started, I got sucked into them, too.

And I'm not the only one.  Breaking Dawn made $70 million yesterday, over $30 million at the midnight showing.  That's pretty incredible for a bunch of kids.

Breaking Dawn was my favorite book of the four so I've been looking forward to this movie for years.  Yes, even though it basically builds up to nothing much.  It was my favorite.  I love Renesmee's sweet little character and I really hope Stephenie Meyers writes her story as well.

The movie did not disappoint.  I laughed a lot and even cried twice.  I thought Kristen Stewart did an amazing job in this movie.  Bella's inexperienced attempt at seduction was absolutely hilarious.  As a beautiful bride, nervous newlywed and then the very pregnant Bella, who was determined to protect and have her baby, despite the fact the child was killing her, robbing her of nutrients and breaking her bones.  True to the book, she looked like a corpse.  Skinny and gray.  It was really hard to watch.

And she seems to have gotten control over that thing she was doing with her mouth that drove me up a tree.  Maybe she heard it bugged me. :)  I wrote on Facebook that I take back all the snarky things I've ever said about her.  She was awesome. 

They all were.  Jacob's imprinting on the baby was both sweet and hilarious.  The wolf pack angst was great comic relief and the bed-breaking scene was one of the funniest scenes of the series.

This movie is part one of the story and breaks in just the right place.  Part two will be released next November.  I'll be there.

Fill in the blank Friday!

A nervous habit I have is crossing and uncrossing my legs.  Oh my GOD, I have no control.  I also twirl my hair.  A lot.

Something that makes me sad is knowing the first Christmas of my life without my Maw is coming up.  :(

Today I am thankful for like every day, SO MANY THINGS!  My healthy family, my happy husband, my warm little house, my pantry full of food, every blessing the Lord has given me and continues to give me.

My favorite room in my house is my office/guest room.  I spend a lot of time in there.  It's cozy and warm, has a TV and my laptop and is close to the kitchen and bathroom.  :)

I can't stand a barking dog.  Especially at 3:00 in the morning.  Don't think I won't go out there in my 'jamas and yell at him.  I've seen me do it.

If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted I would, well, I pretty much DO.  But to spend $$$ just for the sake of spending??  I wouldn't do that.  I guess to answer this blank, though, I'd say extra Christmas presents for my family. 

The last person I hung out with was Larry.  We had chicken tenders and ranch dressing.  :)

Happy Weekend!

What I'm loving Wednesday!

Today I'm loving these pumpkin spice latte cupcakes that my friend, Rachel made and gave to me! They are AMAZING!!!  She's taking orders for them, pumpkin pies and pumpkin cheesecakes for Thanksgiving so if you're in the Warner Robins area and are interested, let me know and I'll hook the two of y'all up!!

 Nom nom nom nommy nomm nomm

I am straight loving these homegrown green peppers and tomatoes that my friend, Sabrina, brought me today, too!!  I'm so jealous that she even still has maters growing in her garden.  Mine died and shriveled up months ago.

 I brought them home and promptly got them into a pan!  :)
 

Oh, and I am loving this thunderstorm we're having this afternoon!  It made for a very nice nap.  :)

 

It looks a little like snow!!!  NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The big apple

I went out to Lane Southern Orchards or Lane Packing, as we call it around these parts, today to do some local early Christmas shopping and LOOK at this apple I got out there!  It's a green fuji and it was enormous!!  You can see how big it was next to Maw's mushroom canisters.  It was as big as a grapefruit.

And absolutely delicious!