We made ornaments tonight

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know I sure did!  I made the best turkey.  I do have to say I am awful proud of myself for hosting my family this year for the first time.  Everything turned out so well and the food was A-MAZING!

Tonight the family sat at the kitchen table and made gingerbread ornaments together.
I wish I could share pictures with you all but of course I was at my Dad's and forgot my camera a few days ago.  I'm terrible at keeping track of that thing!
We made a few gingerbread people, 1 for each member of our household and a few others that I cut bite marks into like somebody had been eating on him.  It's really super cute.  Stockings, Candy canes, our Son's little hand print, a heart with our finger prints inside of it.  That one didn't turn out so well.  I think Salt Dough would work better for that idea.
Maybe I'll do a few of those this year as well.

Lastly, I would like to share that this is my favorite time of year.
I love the spirit of Christmas, all the beautiful Christmas music, Christmas lights that people use to decorate their homes, hot cocoa, peppermints, cookies, CHRISTMAS SHOWS like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Peanuts, Frosty, Rudolph, etc. etc.
I've already started a little bit of my Christmas shopping and my tree is up and decorated, now I just have a little house decorating to do and I'll be finished with that.  Everything makes me so happy this time of year!


I would also like to encourage you to buy a toy and donate it to your local toy drive.
We all know there are to many kids in this country that won't have a Christmas and it's the least we can do to help a family out.  I know a lot of people are broke in general and especially this time of year but just remember you don't have to spend a lot of money to show a child love and make them feel special.

When I was a child the place of employment my mom worked at burnt down a few weeks before Christmas and the community we lived in at the time donated items to the families that were effected.  My siblings and I received 2 gifts each and we all were more grateful that there were people (total strangers) out there that cared enough to share their love with us.
Be a blessing and give a little to someone that's in need more then you, your friends, family and even your children.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Apple Cider Rosemary Pork Chops.

While thinking of what to fix for dinner, I knew I was going to make pork chops.  I figured I would bread and fry them like I normally do but after opening the fridge and seeing the apple cider on the top shelf I had an amazing idea.  Why don't I fix baked apple pork chops?  Sounds pretty good eh?  Well, just so you know...  It really was.  You can't beat that it's so much more healthier then breading and frying them, too.  Win, win!

Ingredients:
4 thin pork chops,
2 small apples cut and cored into quarters,
(I think I used Gala, they aren't "baking" apples because they're soft but my family and I enjoyed them.)
1 medium onion peeled and cut into quarters,
2 Teaspoons of dried rosemary pitched and crumbled,
1 cup apple cider,
Salt and pepper.

You'll also need:
Baking dish and foil.

Directions:
Line your baking dish with foil so your food doesn't stick to the edges and for an easy clean up.
Place all 4 pork chops into baking dish, sprinkle salt and pepper and pitch and crumb dried rosemary over the top of them.  (Side Notes:  When using dried herbs you should always pitch and crumble them because it releases the aromatics and that's whats going to give you flavor.  You can use fresh rosemary if you prefer.)
Cut and core 2 apples and cut each apple into 4 quarter pieces.
Peel and cut the onion into 4 quarter pieces as well.
Place apples and onions on top and along the sides of the baking dish.
I stated 1 cup of apple cider but I didn't really measure it so I'm guessing 1 cup.
I poured the cider into the bottom of the dish until the bottom of the dish was covered.
Place baking dish into a preheated oven set at 400 degrees F, uncovered and for about 30-45 minutes.  Again, I'm guessing because I forgot to look at the clock when I put mine into the oven but if you're a freak about under cooked meat then I highly suggest you insert a meat thermometer into the middle of a pork chop and look for a temperature of 160 degrees F.
After your meat is fully cooked, take them out of the oven and let them set for about 5 minutes.
Serve and Enjoy!

Next time I'm going to mix the apple cider with apple cider vinegar.  I felt like they needed a little more pizazz, not much, just a little.
If you try this recipe and you add a splash of apple cider vinegar, please let me know how it turns out.  I would love to hear your feed back.

Harvest Photos Of My Baby Boy

I went to a corn maze down the road from my sister's place and the lady that ran the place let me and my son in for free so I could take these amazing photos!

I'm head over heels in love with all of these pictures.










































My Son the Hobbit

This post is definitely 9 days late.

Sorry about that...  Oops.  I've been surprisingly busy this past week and a half.  It's funny how life can get so crazy all of a sudden.

 

I won't make you wait any longer!

Here is the picture of my son in his Halloween costume.

Not many people got that HE was a Hobbit nor a BOY!  Poor thing keeps getting called a girl because of his long hair that his father and I are in love with!

 

 

This picture I know doesn't have the best quality but it's been extremely hard taking pictures of him lately because he's been such a little busy body.
I made his Hobbit feet and cloak, the cloak was made out of an old black adult sized t-shirt.  The shirt, jacket and pants I bought at Goodwill.  I dyed what were khaki pants into brown ones and then I cut his pants and shirt to give them that "worn 'n' torn" look about them.  It was such a fun outfit to put together for him.  I think he makes the perfect little Hobbit.  I also had a double finger feather ring that was tied in with his cloak under his chin and a leather strung necklace with an old ring on it. 

 

Here's a picture of our pumpkins that David carved that I have to show off.

I drew faces on the one in the middle and the right side.
My Babe couldn't make a cool face with his (on the left) because the skin of the pumpkin was at least a quarter of an inch thick.  Tuff stuff!  You can tell how thick it is in the picture because the pumpkin is all black.  You can't see any light through it's skin like the other two.
The way we figure the pumpkins...
The one of the left is David, the middle is our son and I'm on the right.
Aren't they/we adorable?

 

We had such a fun time taking our son out Trick or Treating.  I rolled/sprang/fractured/something that hurt my ankle really bad and left me half crippled the day before Halloween so I hobbled around the neighborhood we were in trying to make the best of it.

 

Perhaps you're wondering how I hurt my ankle?
EVIL SPIDER!
I saw a tiny EVIL spider on my living room wall, I grabbed a flip flop and jumped up and smacked it's guts out and landed on the side of my right ankle.  OH MY LORD!  I have a terribly ugly black, purple and green bruise all over my foot and it swelled pretty badly.  I wasn't able to walk for 3-4 days, I can walk on it now but it start to hurt really bad after a short period of time and driving even hurts it.  Ouch!
Some say "I bet you learned your lesson, killing that spider and all."
My response "Heck NO!  It might have gotten me to hurt myself but I killed him!"
So who really won this battle?

Spider 1 - Me 2

Brouhaha.

Again, I know this is late but I hope you all had a safe, happy and memorable Halloween.

 

Peace, Love & CANDY TIME!