Winter planting

Last weekend, Jay and I worked our asses off in our yard planting our winter plants. At the time we were thinking, "why in the world did we decide to do this landscaping?" But in the end, it's totally worth it. We were popping pills for about three days straight because we were so sore, but we think it looks great! And so do many of our neighbors that drive by. We did pansies again this year, but instead of just the purple and gold, we added white. We took out the dusty miller, and added really pretty snap dragons instead. And along the walkway I went with petunias.

We also replaced the two camellias that were on either side of the front windows (the other ones fried in the ridiculously hot summer we had here), and they are blooming now (thanks to two good soaking rains), and they are GORGEOUS!!!

In the back we pulled up the four camellias that died this summer, and replaced them with two hawthorns from the front, and two Mexican key lime bushes. Nice and pretty green!

This is the view we get to look at every time we sit on our patio. I LOVE IT!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving. Today is my favorite holiday, mainly because it's always been about family.  And to me, that is the most important thing in my life. I'm not gonna lie... I didn't really want to do Thanksgiving this year. It's hard for us because mine and Jay's mom don't get along so well, and we were trying to figure out how to see both sides of the family on the same day. So, reluctantly, we hosted. Of course, I was a mess. The table and the food turned out nice... I can't say that there wasn't any tension in the house, because there was - a lot of it - but we made it through. And as I'm sitting here typing this, I realized that I didn't even take a picture of the table. Dang it! Jay's brother had to take a picture of the turkey plate (I garnished it with cranberries) and said he was going to post it on Facebook with the caption "I'm at Thanksgiving dinner at Martha Stewart's house." I guess I could be called worse!

Unfortunately, today brought us some sad news as well. Jay's best friend, Bubba, lost his mom today. She had a long fight with cancer, and finally went to a better place today. Whether or not you know Bubba, I ask that you keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. It wasn't unexpected, but that doesn't make it any easier.

So... now on to the CHRISTMAS DECORATING!! I totally can't wait for that! We bought our tree yesterday (Jay is going to the lease this weekend, so he'll be out of town, and I wanted to be able to decorate it this weekend), and we brought it in the house tonight. It's perfect!!! I bought some new ornaments to put on it this year, and I have a new idea for the ribbon (I always struggle with the ribbon), so we'll see how it works out. Let the decorating begin!

Test Run

A couple weeks ago at our neighborhood Thanksgiving party, we had fried turkey cooked in an oil-less fryer. Yes, you heard me correctly.  Fried turkey cooked in an oil-less cooker. Although at the time we didn't know it was an oil-less cooker. But as soon as we found out, you guessed it. We had to go buy one for ourselves.

We always do a fried turkey on Thanksgiving, but the worst part is a) the price of the peanut oil; and b) what to do with the peanut oil after we're done. This product solves it all. I am not kidding. Awesome. Turkey.

We did a test run today just to make sure we knew what to do, and it turned out great! Here's a few pics from the experience. YUM!!

Gotta love live TV

College Gameday was in town today at UH. Pretty big deal, if you ask me. I wanted to go, but then thought about all of the crazy college kids that would be there, and opted to watch from my bed instead. And man, what a treat those of us watching on TV got! Lee Corso DROPPED THE F-BOMB ON LIVE TV. Yes, you read that correctly. I had to rewind and ask some friends via text if I thought what just happened actually just happened. And they all confirmed that it did. As he was picking the winner of the UH / SMU game, he tried to fool everybody by pretending to pick SMU (he had an SMU cheerleader's megaphone), but then through that down, and as he did, said "f$%@ it" and put the Shasta head on. But it was too late. Holy crap, I love live TV! About 20 minutes later he issued an apology on all of the ESPN networks. Wonder what the FCC fine for this one is going to be?

In case you missed it, here you go (gotta love YouTube, too!)

Surprise visit!

Scott, Amy, and Ella surprised us yesterday with a visit! Baby Ella is getting so big and she is absolutely adorable!!! (yes, I am a little biased because she is my niece). Thank you Scott, Amy, and Ella for coming to visit us. We love you!!!

PLEASE NO!

I still don't understand why people want this man, pRick Perry, to be our next President. PLEASE, NO!

Spooky!

I hope you all had a great Halloween with lots of little ghosts and goblins at your door. We had a lot of trick-or-treaters again this year, and they were absolutely adorable. My favorite was Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, and a little cowboy. So. Cute.

And speaking of cute, here is what our house looked like all decorated up for Halloween. I hope you don't get too scared!!  :)