100 Things I'm Thankful For-4th 20

Almost to the end! Here is the 4th set of 20 things I'm thankful for. I know November is over, but that's no reason to stop being thankful!

61. I'm thankful for the one-on-one dates I have with Haley when Serenity is in school. Sometimes we go get ice cream or go to the library or have a playdate.

62. I'm thankful that Serenity has taken to school so well. She loves it and I love seeing her learning and her social skills are growing.

63. I'm thankful our neighbourhood decorates, I love seeing all the Christmas lights.

64. I'm thankful our house has 24hr maintenance and we don't have to pay for lawn or trash service.

65. I'm thankful that Carrie has been my friend for the past almost 6 years even though she has to hide it from her family. It's too bad her mom is such a hateful person she has to tell her daughter who she can and can't be friends with.

66. I'm thankful we have 2 working vehicles. They may not be the prettiest but at least they work...for now.

67. I'm thankful for my relationship with my husband. I have truly found a passionate yet undying love in him.

68. I'm thankful I can trust that God sees all. Even when people lie and try to hide things.

69. I'm thankful for Christmas traditions. I love sharing them with my kids and stepkids.

70. My dad taught me to budget at an early age and I've managed to keep a pretty good budget. When we are completely broke (like one time when the ex had our bank account levied and we had $5 to our name) I always manage to pull money out of thin air somehow.

71. I'm thankful for activists. They are the people that help change the world. I choose to be one of them.

72. I'm thankful for humor. I love love to laugh!

73. While they annoy me sometimes, I really am thankful for dirty little handprints and running feet through my house. Some people don't have that and I blessed to.

74. Thankful for Adoption. I myself am adopted. My husband adopted his ex sister-in-law's son and raised him. He is also in the process of adopting my daughter. Adoption is a beautiful thing.

75. Thankful for my camera. No explanation needed there.

76. I'm thankful there are some sweet little girls around that play with my girls. It's nice to know your kids have friends.

77. This is totally superficial but Baskin and Robbins has this Dark peppermint bark ice cream. I have them make it into a shake for me and I am in loooove!

78. Pandora. Like I said before, I would be so lost without music. And I definitely can't afford to buy all my fav music on ITunes.

79. I'm thankful for my friend Kelly. She is one of the very, very few people who knows what it feels like to deal with problems like mine. I love that girl!

80. I'm thankful for my friend Shantel. She is such an encouragement and so giving to everyone around her. I love her too.

In case you missed my last 3 20's. here they are...

3rd set of 20
2nd set of 20
1st set of 20

Friday Fashion Faux Pas-Bad Bangs

For this Friday's Fashion Faux Pas we are going to be laughing at bad bangs.

Wow here are some bad, bad bangs. If you can call them that. First pic is like a mullet or something. The bangs aren't even distinguishable from the rest of the hair. The top two have a super bad dye job. Who dyes their bangs? For some reason macaroni and cheese comes to mind. The bottom girl needs her bangs trimmed. They should be side swept or short enough to be bangs. And the last chicks bangs are awful because they are cut straight across. Such a straight across cut makes her hair look like a wig.

 

Here we go. These are so much better. The first picture is cut straight across but there is shape to the bangs and they are not in her eyes. The top pic is a gorgeous example of side swept bangs. They are very nicely blended into the rest of her hair. And the last pic is a pretty good example of a good side swept bang. It's me of course so I'm a little critical, I think they need to be blended in just a tad bit more but otherwise perfection!

Sweater Weather Tag

I got this from my friend Elle over at ElleSees I admit I AM doing this to procrastinate from homework haha! I love doing little surveys though, so here goes.

1. Favorite candle scent? Probably peppermint but I like vanilla and coffee scents too.

 

2. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Coffee and coffee and coffee. But sometimes I'll have hot coco with my kiddos. O and there is this yummy night night tea that makes you sleepy. It's nice to drink before bed sometimes. 

3. Do you switch up your makeup routine for the season? I have to mix two colors to make my foundation a little lighter since I'm much whiter in the winter.

 

4. Favorite Thanksgiving food? O that's a hard one! Love sausage stuffing and green bean casserole.

 

5. Hats or scarves? Honestly, I never wear either, but I'm going to start wearing scarves this winter I think. It's so fashionable.

 

6. Most worn sweater?  I don't really have any sweaters but I have a green Marine hoodie that's my go to winter warmth.

 

7. Must have Fall nail polish? Dark red or green

8. Football games or jumping in a pile of leaves?  Football allday errday

9. Skinny jeans or leggings? Well jeggings actually. For those of you that don't know, they are denim but very soft and are tight like leggings.

10. Boots or Uggs? Boots. I don't get the Ugg fad at all, personally I think they are ugly.

11. What is your #1 favorite thing about Fall? Too hard to pick! Bonfires and boots are at the top.

12. Do you have a song that gets you in the Fall mood or just a song you're loving at the moment? Wellll I have to confess I love Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus. Fall song would have to be Sweater Weather. It gets stuck in my head.

13. What is the Fall weather like where you currently live? It's chilly especially at night but not too cold. Just enough to be fall-like but not so bad you don't want to go out of the house.

 

This is a mixed media painting I did. I personally love how it came out.

I tag YOU!!

Peppermint Tree Christmas Craft

So you know how I'm like all obsessed with peppermint and stuff? Well I made up this awesome craft that is easy, cheap and smells of lovely, lovely peppermint.

You will need those Styrofoam cones they sell at the dollar tree. They might sell them at Wal-Mart too. You can actually have any shape base of Styrofoam, a ball, a square, whatever be creative!

You will also need several bags of peppermints. They are $1 a bag at Dollar Tree and 1 and about 1/2 bags fully covers one cone.

Take a low temp glue gun and put a circle of glue on the back of a peppermint. Stick it on the cone, pressing a few seconds. Follow along in a line going all the way to the top.

If you come to a place where a whole peppermint doesn't fit, you can break it in half and stick it in the bare spot.

When you are done it should look something like this....

 

Make several of these for a centrepiece or put them around the house to smell it up like peppermint.

Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake

Have I ever mentioned how much I like bundt cake? It's just so round and pretty! And of course what could be better than a CHOCOLATE bundt cake? I made this cake for Thanksgiving with my family and it was yummy yummy!

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
2 cups all-purpose all purpose flour, plus more for the pan
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


The Glaze

For the chocolate glaze:
1 bar Ghardelli peppermint bar, crushed or grated
 1 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup (or agave nectar)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10 or 12-cup Bundt pan and set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder, salt, and water and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring, just until melted and combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add half of the melted butter mixture and whisk until completely blended. The mixture will be thick. Add the remaining butter mixture and whisk until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until completely blended. Whisk in the sour cream (or Greek yogurt) and the vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert onto a rack. Let cool completely before glazing. (It's important to fully cool or your glaze will be runny)

5. While the cake is cooling, make the chocolate glaze. Place the chopped peppermint and corn syrup (or agave) in a medium bowl and set aside. Combine the heavy cream and sugar in a small saucepan and put over medium heat. Stir until the cream is hot and the sugar is dissolved. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth.

6. Generously drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Cut into pieces and serve.

The Girls's Thanksgiving Photoshoot

I did a little photoshoot with the girls for Thanksgiving. We entered it in a competition and Haley won 1st place and $50.

 

 

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a great Thanksgiving!

 We were hoping to go up to see the boys, at least for a day or two since we didn't see them last year. It was our year, but we were still living in SC and couldn't afford the $5000s in plane tickets to see them. Even because of that, do we get a little time with the boys this year? Nope. Not only that, Hubby requested a call, day before Thanksgiving, nothing. Thanksgiving comes around...nothing. They didn't even pick up the phone. I got about 5 calls from extended family and my husband's ex sister-in-law even wished us a Happy Thanksgiving. Hubby let the ex let know he wouldn't be available day after Thanksgiving so we (the girls included) would really like to talk to the boys for the Holiday. So what does she do? She has the boys call on the day after Thanksgiving. HE WAS ON DUTY!!!! Let me break it down for the less educated...duty means you can't be on your phone, social media ect. because he has an important job dealing with sensitive government material. Either there is some complete stupidity in this situation or clear manipulation and an attempt to completely isolate our family from the kid's lives. Episodes like this scream Parental Alienation.

So anyway there was that sadness deep inside that was missing the boys, but we still had an absolute wonderful Thanksgiving. I love that my family is so close, we can do stuff together so much more. My mom has taught all 8 of us to cook so there is never a shortage of deliciousness.

Here we have green bean casserole (I made), rolls, sweet potato casserole, ham, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, and an apple/grape/apricot salad. And in the cups in the front there is a delicious coffee my brother makes. He has perfected the perfect cup of coffee. I know he uses a French press but other than that I can't give his secrets away hehe!

And at the drink table we had orange/lime water, tea and peach tea. My brother and sister have funny looks on the faces!

The token "kids" table at Thanksgivings.

Its cute that my oldest kid and my youngest brother are only a few months apart. They are really, really close.

 

I wish I had taken a pic of dessert, but I was so full I couldn't get up! We had a pumpkin pie made by my 13 yr old sister (Isn't it cool she can make stuff like that at such as a young age?) Pecan pie, a peach cobbler, a sour cream bundt cake (made by me) Ice cream and homemade whipping cream. (Yeah that yummy fluffy, light cream, way better than Redi-whip)

 

 

 

Sour Cream Bundt Cake

(Recipe coming soon!)

 

The men/boys went out and played bocci ball and threw a football around. The girls chatted and cleaned up some.

 

My brother set my little brother on top of a bush. So funny!!

 

 Look at that gorgeous background at my parents place!

(I'll do a fashion post on my outfit soon)

 

 

 And a gorgeous family too, if I do say so myself!

 

 

 I love us. Our weirdness makes us perfect for each other!

True Love!