Happy New Year 2017

Hope it's a good one......

VEGAS, BABY!

Merry Christmas to me!!

My son came out to visit for 2 days!
We took him out to dinner, he loves sushi so we took him to Tides for his birthday dinner...Wow, that was really good! He got the Shashimi Quartet and the Skinny Dip, so good! I love the shrimp tempura there and the ahi! After that we went to play bingo and he won the very first game and got 50.00!! How fun was that?!!

The next day I took him over to The Art of Shaving so he could learn some things about taking care of his beard and he got a beard trim and some nice stuff to keep it looking clean and smooth. His wife, Rebecca could not come out as they have lots of rescue, foster animals and someone needs to look after them. She loves Travis's beard so he wanted to make it look nice for her! Sweet!!

We did a little christmas shopping and then came home. I recreated a class I took at Surlatable, it was Tanya's Christmas gift, we learned to make Gumbo and Red beans and rice, peel and eat shrimp, and bananas foster! That was fun, My hubby and Travis thought I was going to burn the house down lighting the rum on fire but I showed them, it went just fine and they loved the dessert! I passed on making the gumbo, this was enough food! Roumalade and Red lobster biscuits were added to the mix.

After dinner we sat around the table and learned how to play Mexican Train Dominos, by the rules, not just our own made up rules! Lots of fun and strategy going on!

I hope Travis and Rebecca and My sister and her husband can come out in the summer for a pool party, that would be lots of fun!
Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you get to be with the ones you love even if it is only for 2 days!

Celebrate Me Home....

I struggled with decorating this year, it is so tough to get all the boxes down from the attic...but my hubby really wanted a little Christmas cheer, so I got most of the stuff down while he was at work.
I knew he had his Christmas party at Key insurance office from 3-6 so I got to decorating while he was gone.....I love my snowmen, and now I am so happy I decorated:

The tree is a 6 foot fake, it is already strung with lights and folds up in 3 pieces, pretty easy to put up, just have to unscrunch the branches and make them full looking.

The jukebox area, snowmen are everywhere!

More snowmen and our Santa hats for going out

All my Jim Shore snowmen on the fake fireplace, I tried to collect all the ones of snowmen with cats he made.

And when I got all done decorating and I sat down with a glass of wine, my favorite holiday song came on, Celebrate me home by Kenny Loggins, the perfect end to a long day of decorating!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wintertime, soups and crafts...

Almost winter in the desert, the air is really cold and crisp, I am wearing my scarves and boots and sweaters. Making lots of soup and keeping busy in my craft room.

I wonder if we will get snow this year??? So Fun!

I love to make the copy cat version of Olive Gardens Minestrone soup, so good!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 cup fresh or frozen and thawed green beans
• 1/2 cup zucchini, sliced
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cans (15-ounces) red kidney beans, drained
• 2 cans (15-ounces) great northern or small white beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounces) can tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 cups hot water
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup small shell pasta

Instructions

1. Measure olive oil into a large stock pot and heat on medium.
    
2. Put the onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini into the pot and saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent.
    
3. Add the vegetable broth, drained tomatoes, beans, carrots, hot water and spices to the pot.
    
4. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.
    
5. Add the spinach leaves and the pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

I usually serve with salad and garlic bread. Yummy!

I have been busy making Christmas gifts, and cards:

I made this bingo cup for a bingo friend I play with, so fun, made it with the Cricut!

I love this fun card, made with Lawn Fawns gingerbread men:

Cracks me up!

Hope you are enjoying the cool weather and making fun stuff, summer will be here before you know it!