Anna: I really like the Zero version. 4/5 stars
Jen: I am not a huge flavored pop fan but I give the regular version a 3/5.
Tom tried both and liked the Zero version better. 4/5
We have consensus that it needs vodka. 😂
We wanted to try it after seeing tons of ads for it—we were intrigued. So we finally forked over $10 for a box and…meh.
As you can see — the bag is only half full. And it was a smaller box to start. The taste was okay — it definitely didn’t taste like the sugar cereals of our youth like they claim. That said, it wasn’t bad…but I wouldn’t waste your money on this unless you really REALLY specifically needed this type of product and just couldn’t live without cereal.
Tom made the most delicious smoked T-bone steaks tonight…so gave the pups a treat. Ivy tore the hell out of it.
I did it! A whole month with no alcohol! So as a reward, I got my own personal pitcher of Holy Water while celebrating Owen’s birthday a day early with friends!
The kids missed giving gifts to their teachers since they had a snow day so they need to take them tomorrow! I had planned to give them some from the first batch but we ate it all. But loving my new oven!
Anna and family went home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning but came back for Christmas dinner! Tom had wanted to smoke a prime rib…
It was delicious.
Otherwise known by most as Chex mix. But it’s not your basic recipe from the back of the cereal box.
My mom has been making this for probably 45 years — though now it’s on a much smaller scale than before. She gifts each family a small container every Christmas and it’s never enough… So this year I decided to make some myself! I’ve made it before but it was so long ago I can’t even remember when it was.
The best part about making it yourself is putting in whatever you want! This is what I chose (the last box is peanuts).
All buttered and seasoned and ready to bake!
Laying out to cool…just like mom does on brown paper bags!
To be honest it wasn’t the best, but it was still damn addictive. I bagged up 7 small bags for some of the moms and the rest was gone within a week!
Tom randomly found a Facebook marketplace listing for a used GE Profile double oven for a price we could kinda afford…
So out with the 20yo original oven and in with the new! It’s super fancy! But now all our appliances match!
Anna christened it with seven layer bars and white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies! Tomorrow I’m making Chex mix!
If you love caramel corn but hate the hulls… We usually get it from Grannie every year but I made it this year!
I innocently took a sample at Sam’s Club because I couldn’t imagine what they tasted like. I’m not a huge peppermint fan either.
And holy hell were they good. Dangerously good.
Members Mark Peppermint Almonds: https://www.samsclub.com/p/members-mark-peppermint-almonds-20-oz/P03010806
I feel like I’m just gonna leave both of these here.
These are always a top request!
White Chocolate & Cranberry Scones
3 cups flour
½ cup white sugar
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup cold butter
1 cup fresh cranberries (or ¾ cup dried Craisins)
1 cup white chocolate chunks/chips
1 cup milk
1 large egg
I was so busy with a houseful of guests and dinner prep that I barely had time to look at my phone (so most of these are from everyone else)! But it was so worth it to have everyone together — from Georgia (Filipek), Michigan (Schwalm & Coe), and Illinois (Schwalm & Hudson). And our best friends joined us, too…and fit right in!
Then we did some reenactment shots!
I can’t believe it was 22 years between these photos. But we all still look the same, right?! Also: no kids in 2000, six kids in 2022!
A few months ago my mom asked me if I’d go with her to a 4-day Pysanky Retreat in northern Ohio. I jumped at the chance—I think I said yes even before she finished asking! I’ve long been wanting to get back into Pysanky—and I never get to spend any alone time with my mom—so it was a no-brainer!
So this morning I was in the car and on the road by 9am (in a super quick and easy road trip look) to Middleburg Heights/Berea!
Tom always does the driving so it kinda stunk not being able to work while on the road, but I did listen to an audiobook (which eventually made me sooo tired I took to eating popcorn to stay awake)! But I made it!
After we got settled and visited for a bit it was off to find dinner. I found a local Chinese place with really great Yelp reviews (Little Hong Kong) about a mile away…where we had some of the best General Tso’s chicken I’ve ever had. Highly recommend!
Then it was back to the hotel to make 65 goodie bags for the event…
And take a Covid test to be able to attend.
Tonight we tried to replicate Chicago Woodfire Pizza’s Wood Roasted Corn Pizza. The second attempt was actually better than this first one but they were both delicious!
Still loving the Ooni pizza oven — tonight we had al pastor! With pineapple, red onion, shaved parmesan, mozzarella, lime crema, and cilantro. So delish!
Katie decided to get a cotton candy machine with some of her birthday money. I might have showed it to her.
Unfortunately it got taken away for a bit since she left everything out after me telling her about four times to take care of it.
Grilled Aldi steaks, garlic cheese bread in the Ooni pizza oven, and salad! And a margarita because DUH.
Our welcoming committee (Katie) was dressed and out waiting a good 15 minutes before guests were supposed to arrive!
I apparently don’t know how to make food for less than 30 people.
It was a BBQ so Tom did pulled pork (which requires cole slaw since we lived in North Carolina for eight years), baked beans, and cornbread. Then we added three flavors of smoked cream cheese with three types of crackers, pea and peanut salad, peanuts, cashews, fresh fruit and chips for the kiddos, and someone brought the veggie tray (and desserts which aren’t in the photo).
We used what we had on hand: butter, brown sugar, and caramelized pancetta with a maple syrup drizzle.
Oh. My. Gawd.
Anna and I had gone to the store for ice cream last night after the band concert and saw they had some liquor on clearance. I bought three bottles—two of which were just to try (because they were so cheap) but one vodka that we were sure we’d like. Well…after trying it…we decided we needed to go back for more. Or, rather, the rest. So this was our cart tonight.
So what vodka is it? Smirnoff Red, White & Berry! It mixes great with pop and it will be amazing in Jello shots!
We were having friends over for dinner so Tom decided to do ribs. It smelled so good all day!
We love our local Hawaiian food truck so much that we splurged and got their SuperBowl Platter (meant for 6-8 people) even though we are just 4 people. (Oh darn, we’ll have leftovers.)
So tonight was hush puppies with remoulade, coconut shrimp with orange mustard marmalade, poke nachos, mochiko chicken, and Asian slaw and spam musabi (not pictured). It was all DIVINE.
And if that wasn’t enough, Anna had decided to make Doubles, a traditional Trinidadian sandwich that David hadn’t had in years. (It’s curried chickpeas and cucumber chutney on fried bread.) Those were yummy, too!
And then it was off to the couch to finish watching the big game (or, rather, the commercials). The dogs enjoyed it, too.
It was a school night so we headed home early, totally stuffed but already looking forward to Hawaiian leftovers!
We’re still loving the pizza oven!
Hear Tom get up early to make sure the kids get off to school. Roll over and wake up a bit later and work my SeneGence biz from bed until Tom gives me crap about being a lazy butt. Get out of bed making old person grunting sounds. Text BFF off and on all day. Take a shower. Do my skincare and makeup and take photos for future posts. Take kid to appointment. Do random house things—pick up, let Maggie out/let Maggie in, water plants, let Maggie out/let Maggie in, feed Maggie, organize office, do laundry, let Maggie out/let Maggie in/let Maggie out/let Maggie in, give Maggie her meds, clean kitchen, wonder aloud who left six glasses on the kitchen table/who left candy wrappers on the couch/why there are dirty socks everywhere, walk by the kids’ bathroom and lament how disgusting kids are, let Maggie out/let Maggie in, pop into the office to work for a bit. Spend some cuddle time with Maggie on the couch while working my biz. Run errands. Get nails done. Jump in the hot tub with hubby. Watch a TV show with hubby. Try to make the kids do chores when they come home from school. Make dinner for/with friends. Watch a TV show with friends/Tom/kids. Remove my makeup, wash my face, apply nighttime skincare. Take more photos. Go to bed and work my biz from bed.
I kinda love it all and wouldn’t change a thing (minus the old person grunting sounds, the messy kids, and the geriatric dog that goes in and out 28x a day).
So we got an early Christmas present for us…an Ooni pizza oven (we’d casually talked about it before but then after talking with Jim and Beth over Thanksgiving, our interest was renewed).
Tonight was the inaugural dinner with David and Anna (and kids) as guinea pigs. Initial setup was on the deck but torrential rain moved it to the garage.
And it was absolutely amazing! I foresee a lot of pizza in our future…