Snow! Cue the holiday music!

There are flurries today! It may be barely visible but it is there. SNOW!

For me, it is not truly Christmastime until after Thanksgiving. Lights hung up and lit, Christmas items in the stores, and misc other thing pre-turkey day result in TOO EARLY! I don't care if it is the week of Thanksgiving. It's too early to me.

Now the day after Thanksgiving equals CUE THE SILVER BELLS! FIND THE SINGING ANGELS AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE READY FOR THE HARK! SANTA BE READY TO ROCK AND ROLL! RUDOPLH ARE YOUR RUN RUN-ING SHOES READY? It is like a switch goes off and all the lights are oooh inducing as that holiday warm and fuzziness hits me.

True there will be times of Christmas related arg-ing like burnt cookies and paper cuts from wrapping but it's hard to focus just on the negative. I try to be a positive person as much as possible. It is not realistic to say that I am always positive but I can't let the bad moments and the emotional vampires win out.

I have Christmas music on right now and I'm sitting here with my foot tapping. I have even added New Kids on the Block (holiday) to my station after Erin's mention of their themed release. I actually still have my cassette tape of that. I also have The Happy Hamsters Christmas tape. It is basically a Chipmunks rip off that my Great-Aunt found years ago. It has the same elements but the names are different and the voices are obviously not the same. It's still cute.

I think I'm going to have to drag out the old radio with the tape player now.

Like It's Quidditch

I like the G6 song mostly because it is sooo catchy and will be included in my spring running mix. Now I find out that there is a Harry Potter version?!?!?!?!

I've already tweeted this but I'm already playing it again and so have to share the greatness.

Rain rain rainrainrain

I recently lost another umbrella to downtown Chicago weather. If you have never had to deal with the crazy wind/rain combo in the city, kudos to you since it is truly a pain in the butt. Many times I have decided just to forget about the umbrella, put up my hood, and get semi wet... or you just put a garbage bag with a hole in it over your head. That works too.

So sans my umbrella and sans a replacement in my bag, of course it rains today. Luckily it was on the way home and so if I got wet it wasn't a huge deal. I get off the bus and it's coming down a little but just enough to be annoying so I decided to run home - or rather run/jog/slow to a walk to readjust messenger bag/RUN. That's when Mother Nature decided to mock me.

I am completely serious.

I would speed up and it would start coming down harder. I'd slow back to a walk and the drops would magically shrink. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me so I kept focused on the sidewalk. Yup. It was true. Half dollar sized drops that I was anticipating becoming hail made me finally give up. I didn't want hail.

It's a bit chili in this house

Today was another Slow Cooker Sunday. I woke up this morning wanting chili and Hubs was game. (He was also focused on watching the Bears game.) This way we could each have a relaxing Sunday and not have to stand in the kitchen making dinner.

It was a pretty basic combo of ground beef, beans - black, chili and kidney, canned tomatoes, frozen sweet corn, and a mix of spices including cumin, chili powder, onion salt, red/black pepper shot, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes and paprika. It ended up a nice heat that didn't hit right away rather than other times when it is super spicy the moment you taste it.

Today was a total lazy day especially after a busy long weekend. I managed to catch up on some recorded TV and knit. Frankie wasn't happy that he couldn't sit on my lap/chest like he does all the time. Luckily I stopped him before he plopped down on my circulars. True, they would have probably scared him more than actually hurt him since these knitting needles aren't very sharp but I still would have felt bad.

The Family Stone is on right now and even though I own the movie and have seen it numerous times, I am watching it again. My knitting project is garter stitch based so it will result in that zone out to both mode.

Excuse me do you have the time?

Early bird shopping yesterday has seriously messed up my internal clock. I kept forgetting what time it was today and at times what day it even was to begin with, though I always loving long holiday weekends! I had planned a mellow night of tv watching and knitting all curled up on the couch but I'm thinking a nice nap will work as well. Naps rule! Tired drools!

We ran out of pumpkin pie this morning. I should say I did rather than we since there is still a slice of my grandmother's pumpkin pie in the fridge. It is for Hubs and I won't eat it since I know he loves pumpkin pie. I actually considered making a pumpkin pie this morning until I realized we didn't have any condensed milk. I normally don't keep a can in the pantry but we had discussed it before while thinking holiday related food shopping. Safe to say it will be on the next shopping list!

Since the baking fairy was buzzing around my head (like a G6 - yes I know I'm corny but that song has been stuck in my head all day!), something was going to be made. I remembered seeing a bread recipe Jenna has posted awhile back that included walnuts and cranberries. It technically is Cranberry Walnut Orange Bread. I only had walnuts and so modified it a bit. A tiny jar of maraschino cherries and a bit of the juice replaced the cranberries and I omitted the orange all together. It turned out extremely tasty even with it being a bit burnt on the edges. A mix of my wacky oven and the added sugar from the cherries I think were the main reasons since I did watch the time. I will definitely be making this recipe again be it the modified version with a bit more baking time watching or the original if I can remember to pick up fresh cranberries. Hopefully it will be a bit more photogenic too since right now it sort of looks like a less dense fruitcake.

The remainder of the loaf will not be the base of a doorstop joke though. I had to put it away in the microwave before I ate the entire thing. The microwave keeps ity bity kitty teeth from attacking baked goods. They will gnaw through plastic wrap AND tinfoil if they are that determined. Frankie was head butting me earlier after getting a few crumbs. This bread is now on the "Annoying Cat Wants to Eat..." list.

Gobble wobble and early alarms

I have my Thanksgiving traditions. Dinner at 1pm at my parents house. A table filled with everything from turkey to sweet potatoes to brussel sprouts. My Gram's amazing pumpkin pie. Cheesecake for an evening snack. Pumpkin pie and/or cheesecake for breakfast the next day. Bowl of stuffing made using great-grandfather's recipe for lunch. Yesterday and today had all those traditions as well as adding the dog show and a football game on TV.

Hubs and I decided to start a new tradition last night. Perhaps it won't be a new tradition but early morning shopping on Black Friday wasn't something we normally do. If someone wants to stand in line outside of a not yet store in the cold, more power to them. I like my warm bed. Now getting breakfast in bed pre-going to the stores that have already been open for a short time super early works perfectly to get me moving.

After my brain registered that it was in fact 3-something am, we were out of the house by a little after four and done by 7am. Kohls was packed but the lines were moving ok. Best Buy was a mad house and we stood in line for 40 minutes. On the bright side I now know which microwave, dishwasher, and oven/range I want if money was no option from inching our way through that line and the major appliance section.

The best part is we are mostly done with our holiday gifts and saved a good amount of money. Being able to stay within budget and get things for a good number of people is great. Now I have to wrap and keep the cats from lounging on the paper while I do so. Seriously they are little purring homing devices for anything paper. (As Frankie now scampers through the living room merrow singing.)

Challenge(d)one

Today, I tried the saltine challenge that has been blogged about. I like saltines. I may be weird but I can eat an entire sleeve of them. Plain. So I figured really how hard could it be since I am "used" to eating them.

HAH!

There is no video and there most likely will be no video. It was a cross between Cookie Monster and that moment when someone wants you to answer a question the moment after you popped a piece of taffy into your mouth. Hilarious and crumbly messy. Am I glad I tried? Sure. Why not. It was worth the laugh. Will I seriously try this again? Nope. I'll just stick to eating them.

Speaking of food challenges in the more large scale sense, I was happy to see Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman challenging Bobby Flay. I've watched Throwdown with Bobby Flay before but this time was much more OOOH! inducing since this was a big deal to me. "BLOGGER! I read! TV!" is probably what Hubs heard when I had him set the recording for me. I loved watching the episode as well as seeing her get more recognition. C'mon she IS a big deal. If you don't agree with me, go read her stuff, look at her pictures, and then get back to me.

Watching the show and the traditional aspect of the meals hit home especially with the lasagna disaster that recently happened. Maybe disaster isn't the best word but when the majority of it isn't eaten because it really isn't that edible, it's not that great. Crunchy noodles are supposed to be in Chinese recipes not Italian ones. Hubs didn't realize that my plan was spinach with roasted red pepper. He was thinking a traditional meat based one. I like both and think both are very possible but it was interesting to see his thoughts. I ended up realizing that I was going about four steps beyond the norm with some things. Four steps might not be that far but when you are expecting classic stuff and get something wacky, it's a big jump.

I don't plan to stop being creative but I do want to step back and slightly go back to the basics. I found myself trying more and more and not getting the basic stuff down. I won't let the lasagna beat me but it won't just be noodles, meat, sauce and cheese either.

That would be boring.