It's over!

Guys, we did it. I blogged every single day (usually after the day, but that's ok) and for the most part, they weren't just garbage posts about nothing! Though I usually feel so exhausted after this month is over from blogging, this year doesn't feel too bad. I'll do a few posts nearing Christmas, but for the next 2 weeks, I'll be pretty busy with school - finals start a week from Monday so I gotta focus on those. I might have a few blogs if I find myself with time, but just in case...

Pumpkin Spice Truffles

So I had a little mix up of events this week and thought I had something going on on Thursday. So I made a treat, like usual, and then I learned that I didn't actually have it going on, so now I can enjoy my treats all to myself! Not good for my waistline, but good for my mouth. :D Here's the recipe:

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 and 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full sheet graham crackers)
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 ounces white chocolate chips, melted

With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar together in a large bowl until creamy - about 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin and beat on high until combined. Add the graham cracker crumbs, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and melted chocolate. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until everything is combined. The mixture is supposed to be soft and thick. Cover mixture tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 24 hours. (I chilled for about 6 hours) Chilling is mandatory.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Begin rolling chilled mixture into balls (about 1 teaspoon per ball) and place the balls on the baking sheets. The original girl had 35 on hers, I think I barely made it to 30, and that was making my balls pretty small, for me.  Chill balls in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. (I went overnight, felt like a good enough amount of time)
When you're ready to start dipping the truffles, begin melting the chocolate. Remove balls from the refrigerator and dip them in the chocolate. I used toothpicks to do this, but really, go with what makes you comfortable. Top truffles with a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs, if desired.
Place balls back onto the baking sheet after you dip each one. Allow chocolate to completely set in the refrigerator before serving.

Guys, these are super delicious. I love them.

Miscellaneous Monday

Now, I've not had children in this house for extended periods of time. I've had kids over for babysitting, a few hours at a time, but never overnight like this, with this age of kid. And let me tell you, these jokers are exhausting. I understand that as a childless couple, Husband and I keep knickknacks in reach of kids, because we don't have them around here to grab stuff. So now that we have these two here, I'm learning that basically every single thing in our house is grabbable and is easily thrown as well. this is insane and I've packed up my entire house, basically. But we can get through this.

There are only 3 weeks left of school. I'll probably be counting down the clock until finals are over, so get used to hearing about it. And in an amazing twist of greatness, the last paper that I had due in Ethics has been cancelled, so I don't have to worry about that either! I can't even begin to tell you what a load has been lifted from my shoulders, papers are genuinely my Kryptonite. But now that this one is cancelled, the only one I have left to do is for my accounting class, and I finished that tonight! Man, I just need to buckle down and focus, and finish strong.

THERE IS TOO MUCH SNOW IN UTAH TODAY.
That is all.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

At least, now in my house. Today Husband and I put up our tree, and some decorations. We didn't put up all the decorations because turns out that the little jokers in my house now grab everything they can grab, so I'm not putting stuff within arms reach anymore. So I put up my tree, and my mantle stuff, and my letters, and I feel appropriately decorated.

Let's get our Christmas celebrations on!

Visitors!

Guys! Darth and Gecko are here for the holidays! I picked them up from the airport this morning and already there was some love with Gecko.

They were sleepy from their early morning but they rallied and we had a fun day of snuggs and fun. I'm jazzed to have them here for the next month and look forward to our fun times.

Black Friday

Happy Black Friday everyone! If this day isn't your jam, I hope you had a good day at home. I had a successful day of shopping, in which I found many things for myself, and a few gifts that I'm excited to give. I have no stories to tell; nothing crazy happened, and no pics, because I wasn't taking pics of myself shopping ha ha. Now Christmas can officially begin!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I ran the Earn Your Turkey race this morning, and boy was it cold. And I did my best, getting a PR! PLUS! I got 5th place in my age group! Here are some grand pics to see.

 Here am I, before the race, being mostly warm. What a cool outfit I'm rocking.

And this is me with my sweet ribbon. The fella in the back is PJ's bro-in-law, who ran it with us.

Hopefully you enjoyed your turkey!

Darth & Gecko

These cuties are just getting better and better, guys.

 This guy has such crazy hair. I can't wait to touch it.

 He put on his dads coat and then wandered around, what a guy.

He just has the weirdest faces.

National Gingerbread Day

Sadly, that day isn't today, but yesterday, Monday the 21st was National Gingerbread Day. And I celebrated by making some cookies. I picked a recipe off Pinterest and gave it a go.

What a mistake.

The problem was that this girl didn't have nearly enough flour in her cookies. These things were a sticky mess. But by the time I figured it out was after the 30 minute refrigeration time, and I didn't want to throw everything back in the mixer and hope to get the flour measurements right. So I just made boring circles instead of making them into cool shapes, and then I decorated them. I have no recipe to share, because I sure as heck am not going to share hers and have you guys as disappointed as I was. So here are my cookies to look at, with the resolve to find a better recipe.

Miscellaneous Monday

Today, my friends, starts the beginning of Thanksgiving vacation. I know, you're excited for me, what did you do?! And let me tell you: I went to IKEA. Aw yiss, IKEA was the place for me today. I brought my SIL, who had actually never been! We had a good time, ate the famous meatballs for lunch, of course, and I bought so many things I hadn't even been intending on, but that's what happens with that place, lets be honest. And now that I'm done, I'm onto the next big task: assembling the dresser that I bought. I bet I can do it, let's find out (when I post it later).

I also got on top of things and finished the math homework that I have over this long weekend. It's technically not due until Tuesday of next week, but since I like to be done with things ahead of time, I finished it today. I just keep thinking, I have only 3 weeks left. 3 more weeks until I'm done with the hell that is calculus, and the garbage that is this math. WE CAN DO IT! We just have to get through finals!

This is also the week of amazing Black Friday.  I do so love this day. I'm a purist though, I don't believe in going on Thanksgiving. That's a day for families, for celebrations, so when people say they're open on Thursday, I am so dang sad for the companies that force themselves open and make their employees work on a holiday. And it makes me angry that people go shopping on Thursday, making people work. The cycle is endless. And it makes me sad for those forced to leave their families. I know it's no skin off the company's noses, not having my paltry money that day, but still, I like to make my stand here.

Crockpot Chicken Parm

All right all right, Sunday, which means crock pot day. Tonight I chose a new recipe, and gave it a go. And I gotta say, I like it. Let's jump right in.

2 (24-oz.) jars tomato sauce. (I mixed it up and used my regular Paul Newman's, but I did one regular marinara sauce, and one of the garlic sauce, delicious.)
1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. oregano
1 lb. penne pasta
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese (turns out I didn't have any, so I just used the one in the green can, the sprinkle kind, still worked)

Add the chicken to a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Sprinkle over the salt, pepper and oregano. Pour the pasta sauce over those.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours, without opening the lid during the cooking time. When the slow cooker is done cooking, prepare the pasta on the stove-top according to the package directions. While the pasta is cooking, remove the chicken on to a plate and cut into bite size pieces, the chicken will shred very easy, but I still like to cut it up a bit so there isn't long strings of chicken. Add the chicken back to the sauce. Drain the pasta very well. Add the pasta to the chicken and sauce in the slow cooker. Stir. Flatten the pasta out into an even layer. Sprinkle over the shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Cover for 15 more minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

All right, this was delicious. And it made a lot, so be prepared, you can definitely cut the recipe in half, if you have a small crew. I wish I had, because I think I'll be eating this all week. That's all right, it's  delicious enough, I'm all right with it.

Congo Bars

So, here's the thing. I got this recipe on Pinterest. I have no idea why these are called Congo Bars. I don't know what that's in reference to. I don't understand the name at all, and that's all right. I had decided to make these tonight, and after I had softened my butter and was all ready to get going, I realized, I don't enough have any brown sugar in the house. Me! No brown sugar! Gah! So I googled how to make some (just in case you could!) and found a recipe. So in addition to making these cookie bars, I made my own brown sugar! To make your own, you do 1 cup of white sugar and 1 TB of unsulphured molasses, and mix those up. That's it. So I did that, and then, made them. They are:

2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup salted butter (softened)
3 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add in eggs and vanilla and stir until combined. Add the baking powder and flour, by cups, into the bowl. Fold in chocolate chips. Grease a 13x9 pan. Press dough into pan (you can either do this with your hands or a spatula, I used a spatula. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until lightly browned. Test with a tooth pick. (The dough should be soft in the center.)

So, there they are. As an added bonus, I threw in like, a half a cup of mini M&M's, just for color and fun. Did a forget to take a picture? Yes. Did everyone eat them before I remembered? Yes, but take it from me, they were delicious, and should be made.

Foto Friday

I don't know if anyone reading this has encountered Sheldon before, but he is a tiny dinosaur who thinks that he's a turtle, so he wears a small acorn for a shell. He is exploring the world and having adventures. I just love these so much, and this is one of my favorites. 

Darth and Gecko

Look at that adorable hand on his face. It looks like he's genuinely thinking a problem out.

Basically, Darth gets supes grumps all the time and just has to cry it out sometimes.

This looks like the kind of casual photo one posts on the internet after trying to take it about 50 times.

Christmas is a-comin'

You guys, Christmas is just around the corner. Yes I know that Thanksgiving is next week, and that's all well and good, but otherwise, Christmas is just so dang close. I'm already trying to prepare, in the week right now of almost having no school, because I know that come finals time, there will be no time to be getting ready for Christmas. So lately, I'm trying to hurry and think of the gifts I should get people, and I'm trying to decide on neighbor gifts and thinking ahead to stockings. I know it seems early for this for me, but actually, I really am enjoying being on top of things. And with this delightful holiday on the way, there's another great thing: Hallmark Christmas movies. It's time! They're here! AND in some stroke of luck, the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel is on a free preview right now, so that's double my movies, double my fun. So far I've watched 2 new ones, and they were as great as they usually are.
Now, let's all buckle up for Thanksgiving, and the fun we'll all have there, and then, Christmas! It's here! Woo hoo!

Sad kind of day

The thing about sad events is that you never think they'll be close to you. You hear of them in distant places, or even not-so-distant places and still think, nah that'll never happen here. But this morning, such an event happened here. The high school near my house, where my YW go to, had a stabbing this morning. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured, but what a terrifying thing for them to go through. I heard about it right as I was getting to school, and immediately sent every YW a text, finding out if they were safe. Thankfully they all were, but this will for sure be something that sticks in their heads and hearts for a long time. I'm hoping they can all heal, and can get past this horrible event.

Miscellaneous Monday

Today, my SIL went to Hong Kong. She's serving an LDS Mission, and she left us back in September, but today is her actual day of leaving to China. I'm excited for her and the opportunity she has to go serve and teach the gospel. They got their visas at the last minute, they were a little worried that they wouldn't come in time, and they wouldn't be able to go, but luckily they did. And I have already sent her a letter today, I want her to make sure and notice when it comes, I'd like to know how long it takes for things to get to China from here in Utah. I can't wait to see how her mission goes!

Today was the day. I got the score from my calculus test back. I studied really hard for this one. For the entire week leading up to it, I did homework every single day and studied every day. My SIL who is a math teacher came over the morning of the test, to help me cram beforehand, also. I sat down to the test, and I felt confident in it when I turned it in. Of course, I did on the last test also, and definitely didn't do well. BUT! When we got our scores back, I got a 94! Believe me when I tell you, it was all I could do to stop from crying, I had worked so hard on this and to actually get a good score?! I couldn't believe my ears, with how hard this class has been. So now, with this test, I have lifted my grade to a B-, and I just need to hold onto this grade for dear life until the end of the semester in 1 month. Let's all just have a little bit of faith!

You guys, we have made it. It's the week before Thanksgiving. Celebrations are in motion for having the week off from school. Basically, I just need a break. And the teachers need one too, I can definitely tell. And of course, during the break, I know I'll spend most if it just working on Christmas presents and studying for finals, but at least it's a break from having to go to school, so that's something to look forward to. I'm excited for this semester to be over, and the holidays to begin.

A Delicious Roast

One of the greatest inventions of the world is the crockpot. You throw a bunch of ingredients into a bowl, turn it on, and then a few hours later, blam! A delicious meal that you can enjoy. Sunday is usually my go-to day of crockpotting, Today I chose a Pioneer Women recipe, and got started. It'll take 100 years to recreate her recipe on her, so I'm just going to do a link:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008_the_year_of_the_pot_roast/

And of course, I naturally forgot to snap a picture of my food before I ate it, because I was so dang hungry. Just know that it was delicious, and I definitely recommend this recipe.

Holiday Card Swap

Today was our last card swap of the year, and on the last one, we do neighbor gifts as one of the cards. So we gathered this morning, and passed around our crafts. They were all stinking cute, and I love seeing what everyone comes up with. If we all remember, I did the hot chocolate cones. So here's a pic of what everyone brought:

I just love all of these! And that's a wrap on cards for the year, stay tuned for next year to see all the great stuff people come up with!

11 Days

Well, we made it 11 days into this before I had nothing to blog about. I just don't have any pictures to share, and life is made of tests and whatnot right now, so that's what I've been doing this week, studying for my calculus test that I took  yesterday. Now I just need to wait until Monday to find out my score, and if I get an actual good score on it, I will just cry my heart out in happiness. I suck at this subject, and I am barely hanging on to a passing grade. But tonight we went to a dinner for Husband's schooling program, the Thanksgiving party. (We also have a Christmas one, apparently they'll do a lot). I definitely felt like the dummy there, they kept talking about their schooling and papers and theories...man, I needed someone normal there to talk to me! Hopefully at the next party, they'll relax on talking about school a little and talk about normal things.
Lets all hope I can find actual things to blog about for the rest of the month.

Weekly Gecko

Alas, there were no pics of Darth this week, so just Gecko it is.

 Tbh this kid is sometimes as creepy as the Chucky doll. It seems very likely that he'll kill us all someday.

 Look at those sleepy fatty cheeks, what a cutie.

He just likes to hold onto spoons. All the time. Like a security blanket.

Looking for Careers

So today, I had a meeting with a career counselor at school, I'm trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Before I went in, I took a few tests. One was to figure out my personality type (ISFJ, in case you're wondering) and one was to figure out my interests. I went into my appointment and after we had chatted for a while, we went over the results. Here are the top 10 careers this test thinks someone with my personality and interests would be good at:

So, yeah, there they are. A farmer. Someone in the military. Goodness gracious, how will I choose?
I'm still trying to figure out what to do, but for now, I just need to register myself for some spring classes!

Election Day

Today is one of the most important election days of our lifetime. And I don't care where you lean - Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Independent, you have to admit that this is a scary year. And I'll be honest here, it's my blog, my prerogative. I voted Hillary. #I'mwithher I am not ashamed of this, and I actually don't really hide it in real life. Trump honestly scares me so hard. I really think that he would be so awful for this country, he would burn us to the ground. I genuinely am so terrified of a Trump presidency. And I know some people feel that way about Hillary, and that's all right. The benefit of a country with democracy is that we get to disagree and we still get to be friends about it. We can still hold hands and skip afterwards. But I voted today. I hope that you did too, no matter who you voted for.

Miscellaneous Monday

Guys, lets take a moment and celebrate. I finished the Book of Mormon yesterday. I started it at the beginning of the year - January 1 to be exact. I wanted to finish it before the end of the year, and I did it in plenty of time. I was also rereading it for my YW Personal Progress, I have decided to work towards that. Apparently it's much different from when I was a kid. When I went through YW myself, there was a necklace/award for each section of YW. So I got my Beehive PP done, I got my Mia Maid PP done and then I just slacked when I turned 16 and didn't finish. But now, you just work on the whole program as you go through, so I just have to do everything all over again. It definitely is a lot of work, and I'm hoping to finish it by maybe February. I could do it, I just need to buckle down for it.

Today as I was rushing to get ready for school, I was getting my shoes on and just about to leave the house when I thought, oh I'll check my school website to see what's going on in this one class. Luckily I did, because my teacher had cancelled class! I'm just so dang glad that I figured this all out before I left for school. It would have been just my luck to not find out until I was there - like last time. I'm glad to have the extra time off, but I swear this teacher cancels class at least once a week. I wonder if he's like us and he just can't wait for the semester to be over and just cancels class when he feels the vibe. Good for him.

I can officially, as of  right this moment, say I am done with all my organizing. I've done every room, been through every nook and cranny, and finally I have put all the stuff on the walls I want, and everything is done. I don't know why I decided to work on that this week, but it was really nice to figure out what's in the house. I got rid of what I could, but Husband is a little bit like his parents, he's kind of a hoarder, he holds onto things he doesn't need anymore and probably will never need, JUST IN CASE. So we do have many a box around here filled with old books and clothes and knickknacks. But I'm feeling so productive right now, like I could take on the world.

Hot Chocolate Cones

For my card swap club, I have to make a neighbor gift for one of the cards. This year, I tried something new. I made hot chocolate cones. You know what I'm taking about, here's a pic:

It was actually super easy too. Let me tell you how I did them. You'll need (this is to make 8 cones):
16 frosting bags, 12 inches
Hot cocoa mix (I can't remember how much it was, but I used like, 12 of the small individual sized bags and that was enough)
Bag of mini marshmallows
Bag of chocolate chips
Ribbon/tulle
Clear rubber bands (I definitely used hair bands here, they work)

Ok in one of the frosting bags, put 4 TB of hot cocoa mix. Then cut off the excess bag, and secure the top with a rubber band. Put this cocoa cone into a new frosting bag, making sure the seams line up. Add 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, and then 1/4 cup of mini marshmallows. Twist the bag, and then secure with a rubber band, and then cover that up with a pretty ribbon of your choosing. There was a choice of maybe making this look like a reindeer, but I didn't want to deal with all of that, so just FYI you could.
Anyway, I was pretty jazzed with how these turned out, and I'm glad it was much easier than I anticipated!

Choco Chip Cookies

I'm always on the lookout for the perfect recipe for chocolate chip cookies. All the ones I've had are delicious of course, but I always want to see if a new one I find is just a little more delicious. So tonight I tried a new recipe. Let's break it down.

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
1 Tb vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp  kosher salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Melt butter in a bowl in the microwave. Add brown sugar to a large bowl, then pour melted butter over brown sugar. Stir to combine butter and sugar. Let stand 5 minutes.
Add egg and egg yolk; stir to combine, and stir in vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Using a medium cookie scoop (or your hands if you don't have a scoop, I just do, it's about a tablespoon+, drop scoops of dough 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Guys, these were super delicious! I really dug these, and they were so fast and quick to make, when I finished, I could hardly believe how easy they were!

Foto Friday

Lately, I have been in a cleaning and organizing mood. I took all the Halloween decorations down and put away, I did all that weeding, and today I tackled the indoor stuff. I organized papers, did laundry, vacuumed, put up some art, and cleaned Cookie's cage. This weirdo decided that since I was cleaning her cage, she needed to be up in my face to remind me it was her cage, I think. After a while of cleaning and finally being done with it, Cookie had had enough, she was spent trying to deter my cleaning. 

But come on, how cute is that?

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

So, here we are. It's now fall. The air has a chill, the leaves are falling, and it's time to cuddle up under a blanket and watch the Food Network all day. (Why the Food Network? Honestly I don't know, but they are comforting to me). So I decided to make some soup for last nights dinner. I picked something with potato because frankly, I had a bag of potatoes that I needed to use up, since they didn't get used up last week with the fridge shenanigans. I found a recipe online, and got it going. Here's the recipe for those so inclined to use it:

4 peeled and diced Russett potatoes (honestly I'm not sure what diced meant, and I can't hand dice equal potatoes so I just did my best)
1 small onion, diced
4 cups chicken broth

Put these into a crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours. (mine is a really hot running one, so you may have to adjust your times on this). After the 4 hours, when you want to eat in 30 minutes, here is a new list of ingredients:

4 TB butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup cream

In a small pan on the stove, melt the butter, and then add the flour. Whisk until bubbly. Then slowly add in the cream and sour cream, heating through. Add this to the crockpot, stirring well. Let it cook for another 30 minutes. When ready to eat, use your favorite baked potato toppings. I just used cheese and bacon pieces, yummmmm.

This soup was crazy delicious! I had some reservations throughout the day, but when it was finished, I was so pleased with the results. I ate with a delicious crusty roll, so pick those up (or make, if so inclined) and have a super delicious warm meal. Happy Fall!

Miscellaneous Monday (on a Wednesday)

Ok so here we start. Yesterday, my sister texted me to let me know that Darth, all of the 2 years old that he is, has figured out Halloween. He knew in advance that his mom would be in charge of the candy, and took the initiative and hid his candy all around the house. What a freaking champion, I am so proud of him. I can't wait to see him for Christmas.

This week I have done so many outdoor activities. By this, I mean, yesterday, the day after Halloween, I took the initiative and took down the Halloween decorations. It took me only about a half hour to get everything down, and I was so proud of myself. I put up my lone Thanksgiving block decorations, and mostly, I am just excited to have the holidays here. It's time! We made it!

Then, today, my other outdoor activity was weeding. Our backyard garden has become OVERRUN with weeds. I kept asking Husband to do it. Literally, have been asking him since like, July. After getting the brush off for this many months, finally I just decided to take care of it, since it needs to get done before the cold weather and snow falls. Luckily it only took about 45 minutes, but nice for all it to be done. It looks so good back there I just want to take a picture and show the world! But unless they know what it looked like before, they really won't be that impressed. Oh well. I'm impressed enough for everyone that I actually did some outdoor work.

It's that time of year...

Well, guys, it's that time of year again. Now that we've hit November, it's here. National Blog Every Day Month. Will I try this? You betcha. Will I fail a little? Maybe. Will I do my darndest to get it? Sure. But they will probably be posted late. And they will probably be about school. Or just garbage posts in general. But I am going to give it a try. With school also. Ugh.
Let's do this, guys!