halloween is officially over.

every year sean's parents' street in highland rents a "cherry picker" to put up christmas tree lights on their houses. at the end of the day they raise watermelon, pumpkins, and this year hundreds of bouncy balls up...then, you guessed it, they let 'em drop! this was the grand finale of dropping.

before...

after...
and yes, in my excitement i taped the whole thing sidewards, but trust me, it's well worth the neck creek!!! or for those of you with fancy computers you can turn your monitor;-)

thanksgiving, here we come!

pinch me!

i think i'm dreaming...

note: bell peppers make great teethers.

of course i can't post only once per day, are you kidding? i have been very analytical this evening. you know those days, where you read into everything and everyone around you a little more than usual? this can be good or bad, and sometimes both. i will spare you the saga, but the lesson learned is "play nice."

things i did today:

doc apt for brennan, stats follow...

(22.3 lbs, 90th perc.; 27 1/2 in., 70th perc.; & one freaking huge head)

barnes & noble to pick up the books listed previously (plus two more i couldn't resist)

...click HERE and HERE to find out the two...

ate/made lunch, watched taped grey's from last night

made cheddar biscuits (recipe to follow)

met sean's fam for dinner at bajio

(i had the pineapple shrimp salad, TDF--to die for)

hung out with sean's fam

now it's time to go...

Sing it slowly with me folks!

"now's the time to say goodbye

To all our company

Through the years we'll all be friends

Wherever we may be

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse

Forever let us hold our banner high

M-I-C - See ya real soon!

K-E-Y - Why? Because we like you!

M-O-U-S-E!!"

awww...britney, what happened?!

cornmeal cheddar biscuits:

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. yellow cornmeal

3 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. butter, room temp.

1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

(i also added 1/2 c. mont. jack b/c jack i love you--the cheese folks)

1 c. milk

step 1: all dry ingredients into large bowl, then mix butter in with hands (i know, it gets in the nails and feels yucky, but it's worth it) until crumbly. stir in butter until moist, add cheese, stir together.

step 2: drop about 1/4 cupfuls on ungreased baking sheet. bake 425 F for about 14 minutes or until light golden brown. serve warm.

notes:

if you like red lobster's rolls, you'll die for these! took me 40 min. from start to finish, and i had to stop to help brennan a few times.

i'm just writing today

i am writing today. just writing. no pictures, just writing. AND i'm going to try to write ONLY ONCE. ha,

tune in later to see how well i do;-)

so

snuggle up and enjoy!

...

so i paid $33.36 for 17.6 gallons of gas yesterday at Costco. i still can't seem to get used to all of this extra cash! holla ya'll, "ya-hooooooooo" with me. i seriously had to look twice. i actually paid under $2 for gas, unBEliEVable. i just CAN'T get over it. i have been budgeting $70 for our gas. don't you LOVE when you budget for more and end up spending less?!

(well, most of do at least!)

...

the christmas season is upon us, no matter how hard i resist listening to christmas music before the day after thanksgiving i haven't been able to dodge a few jingles on commercials...target stores...sean's singing...etc. it's taking all of my will to not pull out my personally made christmas mix, a cd i created and decorated with red and green sharpie pens in college

(complete with a tree and presents underneath).

...

click HERE for my favorite thanksgiving book. B and i are going to barnes & noble to pick it up today, along with THIS if they have it. i used to have both in my classroom when i was teaching, but had to leave them behind...seeing as they were not mine and that would be stealing, ah yes, i'm OH so noble. ha!

...

so i'm watching the today show this morning and they put up the Rockefeller plaza christmas tree. the story behind the tree was fabulous. i can't remember the story exactly and there's nothing on todayshow.com, so i'll try my best to get it right. so, there was this cute old couple in this place somewhere. like my memory so far? this cute old couple had a christmas tree. imagine that! after christmas the cute old lady of the cute old couple planted her beautiful and "normal sized" christmas tree in their lawn. now, 80 years later (or some big number like that), the tree is all grown up and BIG. someone from the today show was flying over their cute old house and saw this massively beautiful christmas tree. yes, they scout the Rockefeller plaza christmas tree. it may not have been someone from the today show who scouted it, but i'm sure it was someone important like that. anyway, the cute old couple have both since past, and this cute story is now national b/c the important people from the today show (or something like that) paid some astronomical amount of money (they didn't say that, i'm just saying they probably did) to that cute old couple's family so they could cut down the all grown up and BIG christmas tree to prop up in Rockefeller plaza. sean was sad and said if he ever did that his grandma casper would kill him. i thought it was very romantic and a cute little legacy of a tree, now making two christmas's merry!

...

maybe you can find the story here and let me know what the real facts are?

note: don't you love watching those tall little rockettes dance?

baby brennan laughing will cheer up any gloomy day!

like my new dew?

call

Kim @ the Style Suite

to schedule your apt. today!

801.569.1288

baby meets broccoli

i just decided to let him get "real" messy. there was lemon on it, see it in his face?
it was entertaining him so well, until he remembered, "oh yeah, i flail my arms around and everything drops onto the floor." as you can see, the broccoli was not the first floor fatality...

so funny to watch. i love you brennan! you make us laugh all day.

wait a minute!

so i'm driving to meet ann marie for lunch on tuesday (you know, taco tuesdays?), and i had to look twice. i couldn't believe my eyes! i haven't bought gas for about a week and am just used to astronomical prices, so i don't look at prices until i buy (b/c you know, the price will go up 10 cents in one day, i KNOW you know). i was watching the man change the price on the unleaded fuel here and thought he had made a mistake when i saw him putting up the number zero. i mean, there's NO WAY gas is within cents of $2!!!

i remember listening to the radio two years ago and hearing the dj say, "in two years $2 a gallon will look like a bargain."

i laughed and thought, "no way! never."

i stand corrected.

you can bbq it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it...

"shrimp is the fruit of the sea. you can bbq it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. there's, um, shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. there's pineapple shrimp and lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich...that's, that's about it."

-forest gump

when i got married my mom gave me

her favorite cookbook:

"60-Minute Gourmet."

i have slowly tried some of my favorites that she has made.
the idea is being able to cook a gourmet meal in 60 minutes or less
i give you...

"broiled butterflied shrimp"

i can't tell you how easy this was to make!!! and WAY under 60 minutes. the rice took the longest b/c i spent 30 minutes making my rice in a rice cooker...well, i didn't spend 30 minutes, i spent 5 minutes sticking the rice in the cooker, and then it cooked for 30 minutes all on it's own ;-).
i steamed some broccoli and serve with the rice and...
"vvvwwwaaaaallllaaaaahhh!"

you can do it too!

...

INGREDIENTS:

1-2 lbs. shrimp (the bigger, the better--think costco)

1/2 c. olive oil (evoo is best ya'll)

2 tsp. finely chopped garlic (i use pre-cut garlic from jar)

2 tbls. parsley (or whatever is in your spice rack)

1/8 tsp. crushed dried hot red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. crushed dried oregano (or whatever is in your spice rack)

2 tbls. fine soft bread crumbs

salt, pepper, and lemon to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. preheat broiler to high

2. peel shrimp and butterfly (cut down the back side, but not through)

3. throw shrimp in bowl with all ingredients

4. mix shrimp with hands to get "stuff" all over shrimp

5. foil on cookie sheet, spread shrimp on cookie sheet in one layer

6. place cookie sheet w/shrimp 3-4 inches under the source of heat

7. cook 5-6 minutes (yup, that's all!!!)

8. baste shrimp with oil mixture (if there's any left over) or serve as is (i forgot to baste and it still tasted awesome!)

*******

serves 3-4

(depending on how much you LOVE shrimp)

total cost: $14

(and the shrimp was $10 of that)

i can't figure out what's different today...

can you!?