I'm A Winner!!!

I'm so excited! I won a give away on Donna Downey's blog on Thanksgiving Day!
Check it out!
http://donnadowney.typepad.com/simply_me/2009/11/i-am-thankful-for-you-giveaway-basket.html

The goodies look amazing and I cannot wait to get it and check it out. I'm so very thankful to my friend Patti who posted the giveaway on facebook. I'm going to share some of the surprises with her! I always say I never win anything... can't say that anymore!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. We were with family all day. Greg and my brothers and nephews headed up north for a weekend of hunting and the girls and I were on our own. I spent way too much time messing with my laptop which had a virus and then somehow lost its wireless card. Frustrating, but now fixed. Thank you Austin!

I decorated the house, did a little shopping (but not at 5 a.m!), saw a movie (The Blind Side - excellent) and made a very cool ornament wreath. Tonight I have a headache that is trying to become a migraine. I'm off to bed in hopes it goes away!

Paper Ornaments

This year the LSS where I work, Masterpiece Memories is putting a decorated tree in the Festival of Trees. This is a huge fundraiser for the local Junior League. Our tree theme is "Cut and Paste" and all ornaments on the tree are made of scrapbook paper. This is a fun, but time consuming project! Kim put lots of hours into this and our tree looks amazing! I made hundreds of paper beads, sealed and glittered them and then strung them for the garland on the tree. Let me just say, there is glitter in places where glitter shouldn't be!!!

Above are the last batch of paper beads that I made for the tree. They are so colorful,

shiny and pretty!!

These were fun to make too, and I put beads on some of them. They didn't work well on the tree for the Festival, so we'll use them on the store tree. Great way to use up left over

Christmas scrapbook paper.

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments that made it on the tree. The folded paper wreaths are amazing and the little paper ribbon bows are just too cute!

And TA-DA!! The finished tree. So cute!!

Let the Christmas Season begin!

Tatertot Casserole

I made one of our families favorite dishes last night -- tatertot casserole. The recipe is so easy and it's a quick weeknight dinner. Last night it was Greg, Allison and I home for dinner. Usually, we'd have leftovers (which I LOVE for lunch the next day), but for some reason it tasted so very good that we ate the entire casserole!! Yes, we are pigs. No leftovers today!

Tatertot Casserole

1 lb. ground beef, browned
1 can cream mushroom soup
milk
1 can green beans
1 bag frozen tatertots
cheddar cheese

In a casserole dish, mix a little milk with the soup to make a sauce. Add the browned ground beef, tatertots and green beans; mix well. Add about a handful of shredded chesse, mix in. Then sprinkle another big handful of cheese over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 degress for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
Enjoy!

(How do you like my technical recipe... a little milk -- a handful of cheese... sorry - that's how I cook!!)

Another little hint for quick weeknight dinners. I cook several pounds of ground beef at one time and freeze one pound containers. When I'm ready to make a casserole, chili or tacos, I just pull the already cooked beef out of the freezer and microwave for a minute or so and then add to recipe. Easy peasy!

The Circle

Bon Jovi's "The Circle" is out today! I'm on my way to Target....

Best Day Ever!!

I got my BON JOVI tickets today!! Woo Hoo!!

Chicago in July with Lisa and Kim. I cannot wait!

Halloween Party

Happy November everyone... can you even believe it's November? I really cannot. Christmas shopping this month. Wow!

Saturday night Greg and I had a few friends over for Halloween fun. Jello Shots for everyone!

We had good food, good friends, lots of laughs and several cocktails!!

And, I was so very excited to have about 15 trick or treaters visit the house! I love little costumed children asking for candy. Such a fun night!

And today, my poor Greg has a terrible ear ache. Possible double ear infection. Off to the doctors office this afternoon. He is so dizzy that I will drive him. And, who just called me, but Allison. "I think I'm getting sick again". NO NO NO!! We MUST not be sick in our house again.

MUST NOT BE SICK.

Lysol wipes, here I come.