T&L

To jump start one of my resolutions to try something new as often as possible, this week I am experimenting with making my first meals in a slow cooker. So far so good, though from what I’ve heard it takes talent to screw up a crock pot meal. But if it just isn’t working, there’s always the stock pot on the stove to the rescue, right? To continue with the new theme, I’ve also decided to make two dishes I personally have never made before – chili and pulled pork for pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and carnitas. Today’s adventure is the chili. I combined the elements I liked from about 5 different chili recipes, so here’s hoping it turns out well. I don’t mind following a good recipe exactly, but I’m also a big fan of adding more or different ingredients to it if I think it’ll amp up the flavor and/or nutritional content. I had to make my third trip to Kroger in two days (which is far too often to be in Kroger, btw) because not a single one of the chili recipes mentioned that with all the meat, beans, onions, peppers, spices and diced tomatoes in that slow cooker, you might need more liquid in there to balance it out then just a 1/2 cup of beef broth. So off I went in pursuit of tomato paste. It’ll be another seven hours before it’s done, but I really like the convenience of getting dinner cooked in the morning and out of the way so I don’t have to worry about it tonight.

I’m also excited to finally be baking an apple rhubarb crumble! How, you may wonder, since rhubarb is virtually unavailable in fresh or frozen form in Cincinnati this time of year? Well, I received two packages of rhubarb from my mom & dad-in-law for Christmas! I was really surprised to unwrap such an unusual package from a pile of gifts under the tree, but it was perfect and I’m really grateful since it is definitely something I’ve been wanting and hunting for for at least a month now. How’s that for creative, thoughtful gift giving? I’m pretty happy about it. The apple rhubarb crumble recipe is the same one I made for the Sweets & Sips Welcome Party to kick off our wedding weekend in Door County for our guests. There was so much going on that I never got to try it for myself (I made three of the six desserts and didn’t find the time to try any of them!). The crumble is made with maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar, and it sounds phenomenally savory to me!

We’ve determined that the mysterious, enormous stain that appeared on the hallway carpet next to the bathroom while we were gone is most likely a leak in the pipes somewhere in the walls. I used the holy grail of carpet cleaner to clean it up when we got home Tuesday night, and it was gone instantly. Problem solved. Except when we woke up the next morning it had partially reappeared. I cleaned it again, and it came back again, so I repeated the process again, and the stain keeps coming up. The carpet by the seam of the wall is also wet, which contributes to the leak theory, so for now we’ll have to deal with a huge ugly stain until our landlord can get someone to come out and rip apart the wall in the closet to get to the pipes. Being responsible for a house is so adult of us. But at least it’s our home and no matter how cold, or uninsulated, or leaky it is, I love it.

To cap off this post, I have to throw this disclaimer out there. I hate thinking of myself as domestically inclined because it instantly conjures up images of the 1950s housewife who went to college to find a husband and then use her education to clean the house, but since I just wrote an entire post about cooking and housekeeping I’ve apparently been feeling a touch homebound lately, which I certainly hope will change quickly and in the near future with the addition of a job. It’s nice to be able to cook fresh, flavorful, homemade meals for us daily, and to be able to blog at my leisure, to live in a tidy house, and to not keep a strict, hectic schedule, but not nice enough that I want to keep it up much longer. I like working, especially for non-profits and companies whose missions I support. I love using my education for its intended purpose – which is not sitting at home while Ted works all day. I really like being around people (but not the stupid ones) instead of being alone during the day. I’m not dissing stay-at-home moms, because parenting is an incredibly important contribution to society, but I’m not parenting now or in the near future and the stay-at-home job (and it is a totally valid job) just isn’t for me, so I’d like to be contributing to our lifestyle and to our community in a way that is a little more profound than cooking and cleaning our own home. So that’s that. And with the chili in the crock pot and a rhubarb crumble in the works, I’m off to continue the job applications. Wish me luck!

This is my last post of 2010!

2010 certainly brought about a lot of major changes for us – and all seemingly at the same time! Let’s take a look back and revisit some of them before we say our fond farewells to such a memorable year:

JOBS: Throughout most of 2010 I continued to work at the Magik Theatre (one of our nation’s largest professional children’s theatre companies) in San Antonio, TX. I started working there in 2009 and finally hit my stride in 2010. It took many months to get adjusted there, but when I finally did I was happy to have a job in theatre, enjoyed the kiddos I taught, and loved working with my hilarious co-workers. I was sad to leave Magik in October (after two great farewell parties) and I still miss working there. For the past few months I’ve been getting used to my new (temporary) job as a housewife while I search for employment. I don’t love being unemployed, especially because it is so difficult to find a great job, or any job at all, in theatre. Ted graduated with his Master’s degree from MSU in May. Both Ted’s family and my family traveled to Lansing for the occasion. It was a proud moment to see him complete such a wonderful task! We enjoyed a fun weekend together, and it was a nice opportunity for our families to meet! In September, after a long and arduous job search, Ted was offered a job at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  He started the job on November 1st and he’s been busy there non-stop for the past two months, getting adjusted, starting to make changes and settling in.

TRAVEL: Lets face facts – when you’re in a long-distance engagement, a fair share of travel comes with the territory. Thank God for frequent flier rewards programs! I flew to Lansing for a long weekend on average of once every 6 weeks to visit Ted for the first half of 2010. Mom, dad, Kim & family and I flew to Lansing for Ted’s graduation in May, and then to Chicago for my bridal shower at the end of September. In early October Ted & I traveled to Cincinnati to house hunt, followed by a trip up to Door County for a very special event! Ted did his share of travel too for job interviews – mostly throughout the summer and early fall. Mom and dad came to us for Thanksgiving, and most recently we drove to Wisconsin to celebrate the holidays with family.

MARRIAGE: One of the most monumental and life-altering changes of 2010 came when we got married! We got engaged in October of 2009, so we spent most of 2010 in a tizzy of wedding planning for our totally DIY destination wedding. Wedding planning when you are 1500 miles apart from your betrothed and your wedding venue is the ultimate test of patience, sanity and just how badly you really want to be married to each other. There’s the dress and accessories shopping, all the church documents, designing a personalized ceremony, researching and booking vendors, selecting cake, food, wine, registry items and flowers, making and compiling decorations and invitations, and a slew of other activities such as bridal showers, a rehearsal dinner, and planning destination wedding weekend activities for ourselves, family and friends. But it all came together phenomenally and we were married October 22, 2010 in Door County, WI in an intimate and beautiful ceremony. We celebrated, surrounded by our family and friends, with an autumn themed reception with a 9-piece big band, a bonfire with s’mores, hot cocoa, hot apple cider, and personally made decorations. The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying a fantastic beach-side fish boil rehearsal dinner, and spending time having fun with those we love and each other. I’d say becoming husband and wife was a pretty high point in our 2010! We’ve only been married two months so far, but we’re loving married life (and we’re really loving that we don’t live 1500 miles apart anymore!)

FAMILY: In June I became an aunt to my new nephew Declan Thomas and in July Ted became an uncle to new niece Alexis Marie.  They’re both super cute cuddlebugs! Over our wedding weekend we were lucky to be able to see our entire family – both immediate and extended. It was awesome to have everyone in the same place and to see aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, nieces, nephews and friends we hadn’t seen in a while! And, of course, Ted and I became our own little family this year and united our two families into one big happy one!

HOME: In October, one week after our wedding, we made the big move, our first as husband and wife (or boyfriend and girlfriend as we’ll always be) to Cincinnati. All in the span of three weeks I left my job at Magik, packed up all my belongings, got married in Wisconsin, and moved from sunny, warm San Antonio to cool, urban Cincinnati with my new husband in our new, first home. I do miss living San Antonio, as it has been my home for 23 of the 24 years of my life. I’ll always be a Texas girl at heart. In June, after graduation, Ted moved from Lansing, MI to his childhood home in Green Bay, WI while he job hunted and struggled through the last stretch of wedding planning. Then he moved again in October, this time to Cincinnati. We are enjoying our first home – a rental house – together and learning a lot about lawn care, home decorating, and home repair in the process – but it’s wonderful to have a place all of our own. We both really like Cincinnati so far – there are so many things to do, places to see, fantastic restaurants, and fun arts and cultural activities to keep us occupied for a long time. We are centrally located enough that we can hop in the truck for a few hours and be at any number of relatives’ homes. For now, Cincinnati is home sweet home!

So what’s to come in 2011? We’re hoping a great new theatre job for me, for Ted to get more settled and happy in his job, more involvement in activities that we love (from spending time together to soccer and camping to theatre and dance), a honeymoon somewhere amazing, and visits to spend time with our family and friends. We pray for health, blessings, love, joy and hope – for our friends, for our family, for strangers, and for ourselves.

As we say goodbye to a very joyful 2010, we look forward to a bright 2011. And we wish you all the same.

Rise and Shine – but hopefully not as early as I had to! As you read this we are well into our 9-hour drive to Green Bay, WI for Christmas and New Years. We are praying for good driving weather, safe travels, and hoping our house will be just as we left it when we return. Or maybe even better if Santa’s elves and reindeer feel up to insulating our basement and installing shelving in our absence when they stop by on Christmas eve to drop off our golf cart snow plow and winning Ohio lottery ticket so we can pay our electric bill.  I don’t think that’s such a stretch – we’ve been pretty good this year. Last night we celebrated our first Christmas together as husband and wife. We opened our gifts from each other, enjoyed our lighted Christmas tree and watched a wonderful Christmas movie my mom sent us. That’s even nicer than pre-installed insulation!

While we spend the day nestled all in snug in our bed truck while visions of sugarplums snow-covered cornfields in Illinois dance through our heads, with five pieces of luggage, four bags of presents, three trays of baked goodies, two winter coats and a partridge in a pear tree, I didn’t want to leave you without something mildly entertaining to read on your Christmas eve’s eve. You can breathe that big sigh of relief now. You’re welcome.

And now, a story. Yesterday, like any other normal day, I walked outside to get the mail praying my long awaited package had arrived (it did!), only to find our mailbox knocked off it’s wooden post, dented, and laying face down in the snow. HUH? Two workmen were trimming the trees/messing with the power lines and, in the process, littering our entire driveway with tiny tree shards, apparently wiped it out with their giant utility truck. Excellent – the day before we leave town and actually need that mailbox to be operational. So Ted came home early and off we went to our old friend Home Depot. We are now owners of a new mailbox – freshly installed by my handyman husband. Dear Companies Who Work for Duke Energy, in the future, please ASK before parking your mammoth honking truck in our driveway, leaving branches haphazardly scattered about for us to clean up after you, and if possible, try to avoid taking out our new mailbox. Thanks.

I’ve done some thinking over the past week or so about what our 2011 does and does not need. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Things we don’t need in 2011:

1. An obscene heating bill – Two nights ago we got our electric bill for the past month, which includes our hot water, heat and electricity. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you too Duke Energy and you’re welcome for the jolly holiday raises everyone got from our electric bill alone. Our bill was 50% more than we budgeted for. When I hear people talking about an outrageous electric bill I used to assume that it was because they were heating their home to a swampy 84 degrees and using their house as runway lights for Lunken Airport. We’re pretty conservative with our electricity – we keep our house at a cool 62-64 degrees when we are home and at an even cooler 50-55 degrees when we aren’t home, because that’s what we thought we could afford. We only leave the lights on in rooms we are presently in. If we leave the room, we turn the light off – always.  And while I do love a nice hot shower, I don’t spend hour upon hour in there nor do I shower three times a day. All of this careful energy consumption and the bill was still several hundred dollars for a two-person family. Ridiculous. No wonder so many people in our nation cannot afford heat and have to make the decision between putting food on their table and freezing all winter long. So we’re brainstorming ways to lower our bill. Maybe we turn down the hot water heater, maybe we limit ourselves to 3-minute showers, maybe we keep the house at 60 and wear sweaters when we’re home. I don’t know. But we definitely do not need another bill like this one every month. We are grateful that, unlike so many others, we are fortunate enough that we can afford any kind of heat at all. I know we are very lucky and truly blessed, but I think Duke Energy is a little too blessed this time of year. I can’t imagine how a single parent with two kids can afford heat this time of year.

2. A storage-only garage and basement – Our house is all unpacked. What isn’t unpacked yet is the garage and basement. It’s not that we have an incredible amount of junk we’ll never use, it’s that a lot of it is tools and equipment that we don’t need in the house, but still need for work purposes. It is somewhat organized in terms of where everything is, but we cannot fit my Buick into the garage right now, nor can we easily get at something specific in the basement without having to move box after box. Fortunately, we do already have a plan of action. We have purchased a DIY shelving system for the basement that will allow us to line one of the walls with hot yellow lumber (aaaahh yes, thank you “damaged” Ikea doors) hanging shelves so we can neatly store boxes off the ground. It will also help us get stuff in the basement and out of the garage so the garage can be functionally used as, well, you know, a garage. And the basement will be roomy for the bowling alley, big screen TV, air hockey table, and bar (with Leinie’s berrywies and woodchuck ale taps!) we intend to put down there with the winning Ohio lottery ticket from the elves.

Things our 2011 does need:

1. A Lara job – If our asinine electric bill isn’t enough to drive the point home, I need a job so we can comfortably pay the rent on this house we love, pay our bills, shop at the grocery store (since they don’t approve of stealing), keep our vehicles running and put money away for savings and retirement. I’m still looking for a job in theatre, a job I’ll be happy at that matches my qualifications, experience and education, and is fun and challenging. But right now that is too much to ask for when I need a job – like a month and a half ago. So at this point I’ll take any job I can find. I’ve been applying and applying and eventually one of them has to bite, right? I’m hoping that after the mad rush of the holiday season that I’ll get some calls. Then once we have enough income to cover our expenses, I can start looking for a job that actually suits my intended career.

2. Exercise – Because nobody likes to feel like a blob. I already make sure we eat pretty healthy, but we’d both like to get into an active routine that consists of more than running around at work (well, maybe not Ted – he has a very active job as it is) and running errands.  We like taking walks, bowling, roller blading, biking, and dancing. They’re all fun, all widely accessible here in Cincy, and now we just need to prioritize and make the time to do it. And if all else fails I seem to get good exercise running from coyotes and shoveling our driveway of doom. But we’ll set our sights above mediocre and aim for something a little less terrifying.

3. Travel & a honeymoon – I think taking time for yourselves and your family should always be a priority. We have plenty of siblings, parents, cousins and other family we’ve love to see more of. Being in Cincy we are in a reasonably central location – enough that we can hop in the truck for several hours and spend a long weekend with them or even meet them halfway and explore a new city in the process. Family is family and there’s no excuse for not making time to see them. It is definitely tricky to find vacation days, especially when you’re new to a job and don’t have any really, but there’s always the weekends. There’s also plenty of places we’d like to discover on our own. We’d love to drive Route 66, we’d love to vacation in Alaska, I’d like to check out some of the Eastern sea towns, and some of the Southern cities. Kentucky horse races are literally next-door. We also have a honeymoon to take – delicious exotic foods, awesome excursions and adventures, a complete change of scenery, and time for just the two of us – YES PLEASE. We’ve saved the money for it, but we have to find the vacation days from work to make it worthwhile.

Since you actually took the time to read all of that (assuming you didn’t freak when you saw how long this was, pansy out a quarter of the way into it, skim the rest and cut to the bottom), I suppose I can put up a few pictures as a reward for your patience and diligence. I know I can be long winded – and anyone who puts up with that should receive something in return.

No picture of our newest addition (the mailbox). Sorry. Merry Christmas eve’s eve!

Today we are celebrating our first Christmas together before we head home for the holidays….and our two-month anniversary!

We’ve been married two months today…wow! But with all that we’ve accomplished since the wedding with a move to a new state, a new home, unpacking, adjusting, new jobs, etc., it feels like we’ve been married much longer! I can hardly believe that only two months ago we were in beautiful Door County, one of our most favorite places, beneath the bluest sky and most vibrantly colored trees, promising our lives to one another in a church we drove by two years ago and said “hey, let’s get married there one day!” surrounded by so many people who traveled so far to celebrate with us. We had a gorgeous sunset, delicious food, a 9-piece swing band, cozy bonfire, flavorful wines and dancing galore. I think we both wish we could go back to that weekend, though we’ve decided to try to make it up to Door County for at least a weekend on every anniversary. I love our house, I like Cincinnati, we have so much love and support from our family and friends, and I have a wonderful, funny, loving husband. In that I find all I’ll ever need. He is the best Christmas present ever.

Merry Christmas indeed!

Today is Lara’s Buick Appreciation Day. In honor of this day, let’s all marvel at how brilliant my Buick is, shall we?

Anyone who knows me knows I have a major crush on my Buick. It’s gorgeous and is, quite simply, the best car ever made. Buicks get crap for being an “old person” car, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because everyone else is incredibly jealous of how sleek and roomy they are. I adore my Buick. I’ll go out of the way to park next to another Buick in a parking lot, and I can spot other Buicks on the interstate from hundreds of feet away. It’s a sick talent. While I think most Buicks are nice, mine takes the cake (obviously). I’ll give others a quick examining glance before declaring that mine’s prettier – and it is. Ted likes to rag on my Buick from time to time (read: daily), but I know deep down he loves it just as much as I do. And what’s not to love? Anyway, I’ll get to the point. Today Buick got a bath and if I had another twenty bucks to spare I’d be tempted to go through that car wash myself because that is one sparkly Buick sitting in front of our house! Buick was filthy – between the dirt from the cross-country trek up from Texas, dingy brown snow, salt, and Arkansas grime, this bath was long overdue. So I went to one of the nice places – you know, the real nice ones where the track takes it through all these crazy blasting machines and colored soaps while you watch through a tunnel with windows. I know if I were covered in Arkansas grime I’d want a monster cleaning too. Seriously – this place rocks. They vacuum every crevice, they scrub the interior, blast the salt from the underbody of the vehicle, polish all the windows, and apply a gloss coat of goodness over the whole shebang. I wish my shower could do that! Anyhow, please take a moment to appreciate a Buick near and dear to your heart today as you make a quick run to the bank, grocery store, or barber shop. When you see one, give it a quick pat and say Thank You for being hardworking and beautiful.

Today my goal is to find a way to use up all the food in our fridge before we leave for Green Bay. This includes fruit, a ridiculous amount of vegetables and some other random things like lamb, pumpkin, and cheese. I have little hope of finding one glop casserole recipe that could incorporate all these ingredients without sending our taste buds into a tizzy. So I might have to make two or three things tomorrow. I’d prefer to find something that freezes well. If not, It’s all coming to Green Bay with us because I can’t stand to waste food.

Still waiting on our pro pics to come in. Our photog said he mailed them last week and is surprised they’re not here yet. I may go ballistic if our post office was dumb again and returned them to sender like they did with our marriage certificates. Also still waiting for my medicine that I ordered over a month ago to arrive. I’m not thrilled about that either. Lately, I have little faith in or praise for the USPS. Which is sad because John, our mail carrier, is super nice.

Hope everyone has a productive and happy Monday.

While Cincinnati has been busy making these…

We’ve been busy too!

Making these…

Yum! We also played round after round of Mario Kart on the Wii. Sometimes you just need a night to do nothing but melt chocolate and play games. We still have Thank You cards to finish stuffing and plenty of other odds and ends to tie up, but I think a night of relaxation and time together was totally necessary. Today I met Ted for lunch at UC and then spent the afternoon with him at CCM helping him rearrange and reorganize his office. Also met a few of the department’s faculty who had some pointers on possible jobs. I’ll look into it and see what comes of it. On Friday night we’ll be seeing Cincy Ballet’s The Nutcracker and on Sunday we’ll make the 2-hour trip up to Columbus to visit with some family. We’re both really looking forward to that, but not so much the winter storm we’re supposed to get slammed with tonight. Bummer – guess that means I won’t be leaving the house tomorrow. Ted says South Dakota is experiencing nice weather right now – maybe I’ll migrate there for the winter. You know things are messed up when it hits 30 degrees and Thin Skin (um, that’s me) walks outside and thinks “Man, this feels nice!” because it isn’t -1 like it was when we woke up this morning.

On the way home I noticed our neighbor put up a reindeer in the front yard – I shall call him Glitter for appropriate reasons.  Time to try some of those goodies we made!

Today we’re headed out to a tree farm in the Ohio countryside to cut down a Christmas tree – and hopefully come home with a fresh wreath too! We accumulated some snow overnight and the flurries are still falling – it’s a winter wonderland out there! I hope it sticks long enough for us to search for our tree in it! Add in some hot cocoa and Christmas music and we’re well on our way to a wonderful day! While we find our perfect tree, we’ll entertain you with this…

Newlywed Survey

1. Our favorite thing to do for fun is: Spend time together at home – watching movies, playing Wii or board games, eating dinner and just relaxing. We also like exploring new restaurants and things to do in Cincy. Bowling and a fire in our fit pit are fun too, though we haven’t had the time to go bowling yet.

2. The best decision we ever made was to: Go out for a drink one night after work. That’s how we got started :-)

3. On a Friday night, we can be found: Catching dinner at new restaurant in Cincy and a show at CCM.

4. The best part of our wedding was: Getting married of course :-) And Door County! The bonfire, live swing band, and pumpkin “ring bearer” come in close third though.

5. What is your spouses’ favorite food? Ribs. He could live on ribs and tacos.

6. The worst thing about living in Ohio is: Well, we’ve only lived here a month, but I think we’d both say the weather but for different reasons. For me because it’s too cold and for him because it’s not cold enough!

7. The best thing we’ve done this year is: It’s kind of hard to compete with a fabulous wedding! So, I’d say getting married and starting our married life together with a fresh start in a new state.

8. The worst thing that happened this year was: Dealing with a long distance  engagement, wedding planning (it’s so rewarding, but a huge pain in the ass sometimes, especially when you do it all DIY), and facing periods of uncertainty with employment and where we’d end up living.

9. An ideal date night would include: It kind of depends on the season – there’s ice skating at Eden Park in the winter, outdoorsy stuff in the spring, drive-in movies, ice cream and mini-golf in the summer, and nice indoor activities like science museums, movies, football, or bowling in the fall. But for a relaxing evening out you can’t go wrong with some shopping, trying a new restaurant, a trip to the movies, or exploring a new part of town.

10. Our dream vacation is: the Honeymoon we have yet to go on! We’d like to go to Alaska, Iceland, Sweden and Finland so we can do the Blue Lagoon, Ice Hotel, see the northern lights, go glacier climbing, husky racing, snowshoeing, and see all the cool cobblestone-street towns, palaces and cathedrals. We’d also love to return to Door County every year for a weekend to celebrate our anniversary. And Door County has so much to offer! Though right now I don’t think either of us would mind a mini-vacay to Cedar Point or King’s Island roller coaster theme parks!

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I saw this tea set almost two years ago and have been lusting after it ever since. Since I’m the only tea drinker in our two-person family (and since we, coincidentally, have a running joke about a dragon and a tea cup), this Chado Tea Room Tea for One cup and pot set in Dragon is perfect.

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I have a thing for rain boots. I love them and every single time it rains and the bottoms of my jeans get cold and soaking wet, I wish I had them. Oddly enough, I have never owned a pair. I stalk them online several times a year searching for the perfect pair, but when, after days of looking, I finally find a pair I adore (like these green paisley lovelies above- size 8 please!) I can’t bring myself to part with the seventy bucks they cost. Functional and completely adorable, I’m bound and determined to finally treat myself to these one day (uh, when I have a job that is.)

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A new battery for my 12″ iBook G4. My current battery is headed for that big battery heaven in the sky. If I don’t keep it plugged in at all times my battery power drains like quicksand and is gone in about an hour. As for the laptop sleeve? I can think of nothing that would not be improved by the addition of a dinosaur. This gentle herbivore is totally necessary.

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Warm lounge wear please!! Two days ago I was wearing long underwear bottoms, a green sweatshirt and green striped knee-high wool socks to keep from freezing. Ted took one look at me and asked where my pointy green hat and jingly elf slippers were. The ones I have (the roll-up ones on the left) are so well worn and loved that there’s kitty-claw looking holes all over the back of them. I think that’s a sign that I need new warm, comfy skivvies!

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Yes, one of these masterpieces will do just nicely. Warm and colorful – such perfection. My tweed pea coat from two years ago is too big on me now and no longer keeps me properly warm. Living in a cold climate, I think a solid winter coat is definitely a must.

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New Puma Voltaic II’s. I loooooove these sneakers! Worth every penny. Can I help it if they are the most comfortable sneaker I have ever owned? I have the white/silver/orange pair and I am dreading the day they start to die on me. I’m considering picking up two more pair the next time they’re on sale. Every time I slide my feet into them I am still amazed at how marvelous they feel and how well they fit. I love this green/black/gray pair – too bad they’re the men’s version. I always seem to prefer the dude colors over the chick colors. I wonder if they carry these in the equivalent of a woman’s 8.5?

A nuzzle from my Sancho. I really, really miss this sweet guy. It sounds ridiculous, but this separation from him has been really hard. He’s the number one thing I’d like to see under my tree on Christmas morning.

What’s on your big kid wish list this year?

P.S. – Last night I made a delicious cranberry crumble pie. I had a bag of fresh cranberries left over from Thanksgiving to use up so I made this recipe. It’s super easy and speedy to make, requires very few ingredients, tastes delicious, and is a great low carb dessert for diabetics (especially when you use the splenda mix sugar and brown sugar). Cranberries are perfect for December desserts – puts you right in the holiday spirit. And it’s husband approved.

This morning we are off to get Ted’s license, inspection, title, registration and plates done (in the icy snowy cold). Today will be more of the same for me – job applications and unloading boxes – blah. But tonight we’ll be seeing the dance show at CCM which should be really neat! Enjoy your Friday!