Christmas Gifts

I’m super late with this post but I still wanted to share....….because I said I would :o)

As we all know gifts are not to true meaning of the season but what the heck I love giving them and sure do LOVE receiving them so here we go……….

*New coffee pods for my Keurig! Cinnamon Roll and Carmel Vanilla Cream, yum-yum!
*Super cute coffee mugs. Kent and I feel so fancy drinking out of them. Who wants to come over for a spot of tea

* Yes, I’m a proud owner of a Snuggie! If you missed the funny clip of Parker helping me open this gift click HERE.
* My best friend Martha’s book, Encyclopedia of crafts. 
* Martha’s Entertaining book. Oh Martha how I love you so! 
* Cooking Light Slow cooker cookbook. We do slow cooker Sundays at our house so I was wanted a slow cooker cookbook real bad and Santa came through.

 

Perfect gift for a crafty girl!

Rosanna coffee mug! Can you tell that I'm a coffee freak? If I'm going to drink it I might as well do it in style :o)

Sorry for another blurry picture but I just LOVE this necklace!

And the completely unexpected gift that had me bawling like a big baby……….

 

I was shocked and of course excited! I have no idea how to use it, hence all the blurry pictures in this post. I’m working on it though. I’m supposed to take my niece's senior pictures this Friday so I need to start figuring this thing out asap! Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Practicing with the New Camera

Seriously, this dog LOVES Christmas! Gotta love his crazy hair.

A nutcracker from my collection

My Aunt’s dog Sassy-Ann. She’s such a cutie!

Rachael Ray's Stuffed Cabbage Stoup

Nope that’s not a typo this is really called a stoup.....the consistency is thicker than soup and brothier (yep made that one up) than a stew. Put those together and you get a stoup. I made this for dinner and it was delish!!! Perfect on a cold night and great for a gal on a diet. But wait it gets better......it's a 1 pot meal (not including the pot used to cook rice). Oh how I loves meals leave don't leave tons of dishes behind.

Click this HERE to see the full recipe.

I changed things up a bit. Here's what I did:
-Double the amount on all spices used excluding salt
-Substituted white rice for brown rice
-Used ground turkey meat instead of meatloaf mix
-Added extra cabbage
-Do not, I repeat do not add rice to soup and simmer it will get soggy. Use a spoon or ice cream scope and top the stoup with it before eating (refer to picture)
-Let it simmer on low heat for 30min after all ingredients were added.

Pointers
-Use Rachael’s technique for slicing the carrots. It works really well and gives them a great texture
-Be sure not to skimp on the smoked paprika. It gives the stoup a wonderful smoky flavor which is the main flavor of the dish

ReminderToday is the last day to enter in our book giveaway. I will announce the winner tomorrow.
Click HERE to enter!!

I Have a Secret……

I’ve been debating weather or not I was going to share this juicy secret
with you guys but as you can see I’ve deiced to spill the beans.

I was in Barnes and Noble killing sometime when a cheesy romance novel caught my eye. My exact thought was...."Why in the world do authors think silly, cheesy, covers (like the one I was holding in my hands, sorry Jeanine :o) will make people want to read their books?" "I would be embarrassed to read something with a cover like this in public.” But I flipped the book over to see what it was about and started to get interested and........yep, I bought it; even though I was a little embarrassed when I checked out (again, sorry Jeanine). Let me tell ya I am sooooo glad I put the cover aside and gave this series a chance because I am head over hills in love with it!!!!! I will even say that I LOVE these books more than Twilight. Yes I said it! I never thought that would be possible but I really do! I’ve torn through the first 3 books and am working on the 4th. The other great thing about this series is that it’s a continuing series so Jeanine Frost (the author) will continue to release more and more novels and I don’t have to say goodbye to the characters....at least not anytime soon!
The reason I was not too sure about sharing this little gem with you guys is because it’s an adult romance novel and as some of you know those usually come along with in depth sex scenes. This is NOT a book for teens. I even felt a little guilty reading it sometimes but hey let me be honest, I kind of liked it too! Sex is not the main drive of the book and is only sprinkled throughout every now and then so don’t let that turn your nose up.
I’m sure not many people are still reading at this point and I apologize that this is so long but trust me if you are a Twilight fan and an adult GIVE THIS SERIES A TRY!!!! It’s full of action, love, lust, and laughs.
Just because you guys are so awesome and this is my 100th post (I know I can’t believe it) I’m going to giveaway the 1st book in the series to 1 lucky winner. I’ll even make it easy for you.............

*Just leave a comment with a way for me to contact you. For a second chance to win tweet about this giveaway and come back here leave another comment letting me know that you just tweeted about our awesome giveaway. That’s it, easy-pezzy!*

Just to be fair: Please only enter this giveaway if you are actually going to read the book…..not add it to your pile of books to read. I need some peeps to dish over this book with!

If you’ve read or currently reading this series…..e-mail me!!!! I’m dying to talk about it with someone.

I’ll announce a winner on January 10th
PS… I’m going to a Twilight party this weekend. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures to share next week.

Series Title: Night Huntress
Author: Jeanine Frost
Books: 1-Half Way to the Grave, 2-One Foot in the Grave, 3-At Grave's End, 4-Destined For An Early Grave