Turkey

I think I am the only person who thinks Thanksgiving dinner is a total let-down. Thanksgiving is the MOST anticipated meal throughout the entire year! People get the day off of work, spend all day in the kitchen, and the result is turkey, mashed potatoes, and random side dishes you don't enjoy enough to make any other time...and dessert is pie from a gourd....? So, it's no surprise that I never have Thanksgiving at my house ( we would have something so not traditional if I cooked). But, every year I cook a turkey and shred and freeze the meat because it is such a great deal, it's only $.50 a lb, where chicken is $2 a lb. Yesterday I cooked my 25lb bird- which was so big!

And now I have a freezer full of cooked and shredded turkey ready for pot pie, enchiladas, casseroles, soups, etc. So, if you've never cooked a turkey - try it this year! Below is my recipe.

Homestyle Turkey - The Michigander Way
1x 12lb turkey
6 tablespoons butter, divided
4 cups warm water
3 tablespoons chicken bouillon
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 tablespoons seasoning salt
Directions
1 Rinse and wash turkey, and discard of giblets
2 Place turkey in roasting pan, and separate skin over the breast to make little pockets. Put 3 tablespoons butter on both sides between skin and breast meat.
3 In medium bowl combine water and bouillon. Sprinkle in the parsley and onion. Pour over top of turkey. Sprinkle seasoning salt over the turkey.4 Cover with foil and bake at 350 F for 3 ½ to 4 hours, or until internal temperature reads 180 F. For the last 45 minutes, remove foil so turkey will brown.

And now a cute picture of Belly. She has never fallen asleep while eating in her high-chair before! I was amazed. She must have it pretty rough :)

Busted!

Missy exclaimed to me one morning last week:

"Mom! You have scooters under your bed!"

Note to Santa: Find a better hiding place. You KNOW under the bed is a horrible place yet you still tried it.

6 Years Old

Missy had her 6th birthday on Thursday. I am amazed at how fast she is growing up! Instead of cupcakes she wanted to take "really big, M&M and chocolate chip cookies" to her class. So, I made some HUGE cookies that were a big hit. (some kids ended up throwing away some of their cookie because they couldn't eat it all.... next time I'll make them a little smaller).

I let Missy choose if she wanted to have a birthday party, or take a friend to Chuck E. Cheese and then to dinner of her choice with us as a family. She thought for a moment and said, "Since we have 2 extra seats in the car, can I take 2 friends with us?" Smart girl! So, she took Emma and Emma to Chuck E Cheese with us. I was secretly very happy she didn't want a party because I have been too busy lately to even think about a fun party (and not organized enough!) So I was thrilled to not have to plan one.

Afterwards we went to Elephant Bar, which she picked, for dinner. Our kids love Elephant Bar! Every child's meal comes with a drink and dessert! And, their meals are huge! Our kids sometimes split a meal.

Lastly, the highlight of the day was when she got her "car". Missy LOVES these cars. So, when a friend was selling theirs, which is practically brand new, for $20, I knew exactly what she was going to get for her birthday. She and Little Dude have been outside nonstop since Thursday driving around. Missy is trying to insist she can "drive" herself to school and leave it there during the day. Haha. Again, she is growing up way too fast.

And lastly, Baby Belly banging on the sliding door wanting to go outside and drive the jeep.

Cute Moment & Free Stuff

I caught Missy & Little Dude in a totally candid moment today, while Little Dude watched a few cartoons and Missy played on the computer. Not sure why Little Dude wanted to sit so close to Missy and have his arm around her, but I LOVE IT! This does not happen very often.... we are very much into the sibling tattle-telling and teasing stage. So, when something this cute happens, I need to document it :)

My sister Lisa is the best! She got all of this stuff for me for FREE!!! It cost $131 ( in weeky purchases) but I got back $136 in rebates.... so I got all of this stuff for free and I actually made $5 too! And the rebates actually come, and they come every monthly. Thank you Lisa for some really cool stuff that I can't wait to try. :)

Boutique

Sandy Diamond's 9th Annual Boutique!

10506 Italia Way

Rancho Cordova

9AM - 7PM

Friday (11/7), Saturday ( 11/8), and Monday (11/10)

Home Deor, Holiday Decorations, Candles, & DOOR PRIZES!!

Go Check it out!

This is just a few of the things that I have been working on getting ready for the boutique this weekend.

Proposition 8

It's over, and I am overwhelmingly happy, relieved, and truthfully, surprised. Thank you to everyone who was so eager to help and who continued to say YES to me after all the requests! And specifically, thank you to Tarah, Rochelle, Laura B., Laura C., and Karma for being such great examples. I LOVED working with you in this effort.

"This is a great day for marriage. The people of California stood up for traditional marriage and reclaimed this great institution. We are gratified that voters chose to protect traditional marriage and to enshrine its importance in the state constitution. We trust that this decision will be respected by all Californians.
The Yes on Proposition 8 campaign has been the single largest, most powerful grassroots movement in the history of American ballot initiative campaigns. We raised approximately $40 million from over 70,000 individual contributors. We recruited the active support of over 100,000 volunteers who gave tirelessly of their time and energies to our cause. We could not have won without them! These dedicated volunteers have visited millions of homes, made millions of phone calls, distributed over one million yard signs and displayed one million bumper strips. The silent majority is alive and well in California."
Statement by Ron Prentice on Proposition 8 Passing.

Halloween Traditions

I love traditions, they make life more simple, as well as give everyone something to look forward to!! We started a tradition of having spagetthi for dinner on Halloween night out of skull cups. Missy and Little Dude got a kick out of eating "brains" for dinner. (note: I meant to have salad and garlic bread with the spagetthi, but due to time and lack of thought, it didn't happen. And, the spagetthi dinner was more like an "appetizer" because I ran out of noodles! I guess I have had too much on my mind lately :)

Little Dude enjoyed eating his "brains".


Missy got lots of compliments again on her hair. I love how cute it turns out! And she gets to wear the same hair do for 2 days (or 3 if I'm really lazy and don't want to cut out all of the rubber bands yet :) It only takes about 20 minutes to do, but it comes with lots of "you're pulling my hair" screams.


We met up with some friends to go trick-or-treating in a big group.


And finally, a picture of what the Great Pumpkin brought! ($4 clearance toys from Target :) Missy and Little Dude are allowed to eat a reasonable amount of candy that night, and then choose 6 pieces they want to keep. The rest is left on the hearth for the "Great Pumpkin", who then takes the candy and leaves a small gift. Mommy got smart this year and threw away all of the candy immediately because otherwise I continue to nibble on it for weeks secretly:) So now, it's out of the house and can't be a temptation (except for the chocolate ones that I couldn't bear to throw away :)