We haven’t done cookie decorating because I just don’t have the patience. Buuuuut Anna wanted to do it so we tried. And even though there was a bit of a shaky start…Katie was actually pretty good at the whole thing. I was impressed. Owen doesn’t like sugar cookies so he did like one cookie and that was it. Tom and I even got into it.
We did a Frontera pickup today from Dwell Social. It’s a bit more prep than just dining at a restaurant, but we didn’t have to drive to Chicago, so it’s a win. This photo is missing most of the main courses but trust me, it was all there.
Short Rib Enchiladas
Six homemade heirloom corn tortillas, each wrapped around braised Creekstone Farms beef short rib, roasted local gold potatoes, tomato-guajillo chile sauce, Samuel’s artisan Jack cheese. Served with black beans and chocolate-pecan pie bars for dessert.
Tacos al Carbon
Wood-grilled Creekstone skirt steak and Gunthorp Farms chicken breast along with everything you need to make fabulous tacos: guacamole, roasted poblano rajas, black beans, classic Gulf-style rice, grilled knob onions, shishito peppers, two salsas and handmade tortillas with heirloom corn from Oaxaca, Mexico. Finish off with Mexican vanilla flan for a sweet ending.
Guacamole and Chips
Mashed Michoacán avocados, local Mighty Vine tomato, serrano chile, cilantro, lime. House-made tortillas chips served with red three chile salsa & green roasted tomatillo salsa.
Queso Fundido
Samuel’s artisanal Jack cheese, garlicky roasted peppers, and homemade chorizo served with heirloom corn tortillas.
BAR SÓTANO CRISPY TLAYUDA (TOSTADA) STARTERS
Six crispy Oaxacan tlayudas (rustic tostadas) with 2 toppings:
Kim Ho Ho Ho’ed everyone today with treats and a #momsquad wine glass for our Secret Santa exchange…
We had a great time but can’t wait to see each other in person again…
So the problem with my dream 12′ tree is that you need oversize accessories. More ornaments. BIGGER ornaments. A bigger star. A bigger tree skirt. (And this stuff is kinda stupid expensive.) Amazon didn’t have much in the way of 72″ tree skirts (typical ones are 48″) so I called on my friends to help me. And they came through. After we parsed out the $200 skirts, this is what I ended up ordering for $59! Yay!
This isn’t the best pic, but you can see my new Hobby Lobby clearance trees and reindeer above the TV. And the stockings hanging below the TV on hooks Anna gave us since they can’t use them.
I still need to figure out what to do on the topmost shelf…it looks odd to have the regular glass jars, candles, and rooster up there with Christmas all around…so stay tuned.
I wasn’t sure what color scheme I wanted to do with my tree. My friend Britt has a gorgeous red/gold/silver tree that I thought about trying to duplicate…
…but when I went to Hobby Lobby with Anna (to get some clearance Christmas decorations and (hopefully) ornaments) they had nothing with color that I liked. I did get a few generic items like silver deer heads and neutral burlap balls—as a start.
And then.
Anna said she had a whole bucket of unbreakable purple ornaments I could have. I had thought about purple but didn’t really want a PURRRPLE tree. But as soon as she showed them to me I knew they were perfect. They are in the dusty lilac plum family.
So now I need to find some bigger ornaments in those colors. And get some ribbon (right now we’re just testing it out with a few lengths Anna had on hand). And maybe add some snowflakes or icicles…
FYI this is what an order looks like when it’s been building for three months! Kristin lives in New Zealand and consolidates her orders for shipment to a stateside relative’s house! This goes all the way back to my birthday party month!!
I just want to thank everyone who shopped with me this month. I am so very thankful for each and every one of you! When you make a purchase with my SMALL business, it means a lot for my family! And I love spoiling all of my customers, too…giving gifts is my love language.
Kim Kruse, Michelle Galvez, Cheryl Malato, Brianna Powvens, Jannie Louise Sandifer, Kristin Huff, Heidi Leafblad-Habel, Lindsey Mares, Britt Nickelsen, Rebecca Whitley, Ashley Bouchard, Pam Kozu, Stacy Bishop Stark, Anna Bennett Chang-Yen, Ann Balat Gasperini, Rachel Young Wehrle, Jackie Moens, Amber Bookhout Dennis, Leah Waters Cossarek, Suzie Girard Teal, Jami Wallis, Clarencene VanVuuren, and Monique Morrison-Meyer!
This was the closest Britt and I got just for a quick pic!
Back at the house we sat outside across the deck and I was too lazy to actually remove the chair cover and it kept falling down so we joked it was our way to keep distanced.
Friendship means Thanksgiving dinner plate leftovers delivery at 10:30pm because we had deep dish pizza today. (And we had had a game night with a bunch of us!)
When you’re on a cheese party zoom call in the kitchen you have to make do.
Playing some new online collaborative games. Quiplash is my favorite!
A friend repotted some aloe babies for me. I totally spaced on the drive home and forgot I set it on the center console. I didn’t stop fast, but it was obviously unstable. My poor recently detailed car…
It took about 20 minutes to clean the car and then I did repot it and it’s doing fine.
We heard the Ring go off and all of us ignored it because we were sure it was absolutely nothing—again—but then Katie said maybe we were booed again (yeah, right, okay) and ran out to check and I’ll be damned. We were Gobbled!
And here’s the stash from all earlier Boos!
Okay this is getting crazy. But oh my gosh we are having so much fun with this. Now the deliveries are trying to be super sneaky to avoid the cameras (most of us have Ring doorbells). So this time, I didn’t even know I had one—everyone was showing pics of their baskets and I didn’t see one on the porch so I thought okay maybe I missed being in this round (no biggie). And then I went outside and found this in front of the garage door!
When your husband is out playing poker with the boys, you invite your bestie over to play in makeup. (I am sure the kids are still alive downstairs somewhere.) And then since we had our make up freshly done at 8 o’clock we went out to Marshalls.
But this time we know it was one of our neighborhood mom group… And this isn’t my basket but someone else’s because my kids tore into ours so fast I couldn’t get a picture. At least they handed me the wine.
So one night a few days ago the doorbell rang and we didn’t think much of it since Amazon always rings the bell and we get lots of deliveries. But the kids usually run out to see. Today Katie did and said she saw a kid running away—but he left a bag of Halloween goodies with a note that we had to pass it on! We looked at our camera feed and saw the kid but we have no idea who it is! Well the kids were super excited for TREATS! CANDY! SLIME! and definitely wanted to Boo other people.
Thankfully Tom stepped up and did it with them because while I did want to be a part of the neighborhood, I didn’t really want to do all of it. He took them shopping. He supervised the building of the baskets. My contribution was printing out the instruction. Then Tom took them to the houses where they successfully delivered the baskets without being seen!
So today we did a thing. Britt is a busy mom of two littles and came to me bare-faced hating her skin…and left with such a HUGE smile on her face and LOVING her new easy look in colors she never would have picked. New to her? Pink shadow. Darker pink lips. Filled in brows. It was so exciting watching her discover how great she looked in these products and the awe she experienced looking at herself. And she was amazed how great they worked compared to her $$$ products.
P.S. I kinda hate how amazing her lashes look and I will now be attempting to apply my own mascara exactly like she did because wowza.
P.P.S. Yes we forgot a before photo. 😣
The running joke for countless years has been that Tom was only in this marriage for my dad’s tools. Well, the time has finally come…my dad agreed to give up some of his tools that he just doesn’t use anymore.
So Tom and David drove up to the U.P. with a trailer (and David’s truck) to haul everything back. David had never been up there before so of course Tom had to take him up Brockway Mountain.
They were only there for about an hour and a half siteseeing and loading and then it was back home in the same day! They left at 5a and got home shortly after 10p!
And then a strange yet cool photo that happened accidentally when trying to put together a collage.
First games of the season were so hot you couldn’t stand it. Today? We’re in winter coats, gloves, and blankets!
They won 13-3 in six innings!
Owen getting his trophy!
We didn’t get any great team pics this season due to social distancing and temperature.
It was the last game together for these boys. Aden is transferring to a different city team and Jackson is moving to travel ball. Jackson’s dad is the head coach which means he’s moving to be with his son…so that means Tom has decided to be the head coach next season!!
We are removing some of the dead shrubs and trees so tonight Tom had help with the stumps. David was happy to oblige. Now Tom wants a truck even more.
Caramel Apple and Strawberries and Cream jello shots.
I might have also scooted around the neighborhood tonight delivering testers. Katie and Owen came with me—I needed Katie to carry the shots in her bike basket. And she liked announcing “jello delivery” at each house.
And then a friend wrote a poem about me. LOL
Today we explored another new nature reserve with Anna and David and the kids. I generally don’t take many pics but I did think this tree was super cool.
My friend Angela told me she had something for me. Her husband found it while he was mowing the lawn…
My missing margarita earring!!! I mean really, what are the odds?! (Of course I’d already bought two replacement pair, but still.)
She thought it was so lucky that she bought me a scratch off, too…but unfortunately that wasn’t a winner.
So recently Sam’s Club had my favorite egg chair on clearance so I bought another one and Anna also got one. We often video chat from our chairs but we are never in them at the same time and one or the other is doing something where we can’t get there. I said one of these days it will happen or I’ll make it happen.
Today was that day.
She called from her chair and I was just in the kitchen so I ran out to my chair!
We commemorated it with a screenshot.
1. Drinking outside in 50° weather with our neighbors so we can stay socially distanced.
2. Washing my face even though I had way too much to drink. But…I realized the next morning that I had forgotten to take out my contacts!
I took this picture so on an upcoming day when she’s being a little brat, I can point out to Tom that there was a point at which she was being cute and sweet.
We did have Anna take a family photo later on the walk to prove we actually got out of the house.
Going off trail to explore the lake. They were so excited you’d think they’d never seen water before.
Plot twist! #lifehacks #winning
