Happy Valentine's Day!

Ah, love. Today is the day to celebrate ALL types of love, IMHO.

As a teenager, I HATED Valentine's Day as I was a perpetually single gal (Ah, the shallowness of teenage boys *sigh*). Then, my Junior year of high school, when I was still relatively new at the school, a group of new friends included me in their Valentine's Day celebrations. It was simply giving me a card and a carnation, but it totally brightened my day and I never forgot it, and the fact that there was nothing romantic involved but I could still celebrate other people I loved. Ever since, I've enjoyed Valentine's Day as a way of celebrating EVERYONE I love! Not every year, but most years I send out Valentine cards to my family and friends. Typically my mom, my grandmas, and my best gal pals. One of these years, I'm going to organize a Galentine's Day celebration.

This year's batch of Valentine's, made by MOI

Then in 2003, Valentine's Day got a whole lot sweeter when The Hubs agreed to be my Valentine. :) We were friends and coworkers for a year and a half prior, and we'd been flirting for the last half-year when, at the end of January 2003, I worked up the nerve to ask The Hubs out. We hung out after work, and I used the smooth line of asking if he'd be my Valentine that year. He said yes, we had some beverages while watching "Chasing Amy" and making out a little. (Funny sidenote: YEARS later he admitted that when we ran into each other on campus the next day and it was kind of awkward, he was considering breaking it off with me because he didn't want to ruin our friendship. Luckily for both of us, he either thought better of it or wussed out ;D)

We still consider Valentine's Day to be our official first date, even though we were already hanging out fairly regularly by then as a couple (but we were still keeping it on the DL from our coworkers 'cuz they were a bunch of gossips, and we also were still keeping things at the make-out stage because we didn't want to rush/possibly preserve friendship if we changed our minds). Our date was a movie followed by dinner cooked by me! The movie was "Daredevil"; the reason for choosing THAT gem was due to me being a huge fan of the comic book and having high hopes for the movie (which they did NOT meet). Man, The Hubs still hasn't let me live that down. The movie was a dud, but the meal was NOT.

I tried this recipe for the first time because it was easy and sounded good. Luckily it was both, and to this day it is The Hubs' favorite meal that I cook. I've made it so often that I actually have the recipe memorized. It's called Gourmet Chicken, and to be honest it's not gourmet but it's quite rich and tasty.

This V-day will be our 10th V-day together! The Hubs has requested his favorite dish to commemorate the occasion, and I am gladly obliging. I'll also be making chocolate fondue for dessert with pound cake and strawberries for dippin'. And, of course, sparkling wine! Yum! For my V-day gift to him, I bought us tickets to our local minor-league professional hockey team, which we'll go to on Saturday. Whooo!

If you're curious for the recipe for Gourmet Chicken, here it is!

Xmas How-to: Boozy Hot Chocolate

Yes, this is the simplest thing ever, but sometimes a person just needs explicit instructions.

Plus I wanted to take pictures of my new mug. :D I have a thing for glassware, apparently - probably because it can hold booze.

Here's how to make perfect alcoholic hot chocolate:

First, you need booze and hot chocolate. Hot water, spoons, and mugs also help. The best type of booze for hot chocolate is liqueurs; I prefer Baileys and Kahlua, but peppermint schnaps is pretty awesome, too.

The how to:
Pick an awesome mug. (This is an early Xmas present from The Hubs, in honor of my favorite Xmas special - "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for life, yo!)

 
As the water heats up, prep the booze and cocoa mix: Pour in the cocoa powder, and then pour in the booze. Since we're adults, we're going for a decent dose - I basically pour until it covers the powder (so about 1/4th of the mug). We pour the booze first so we don't take up too much room with that stupid hot water. Stir until it's a slurry of booze and cocoa mix.

Once the water's hot, pour and stir to get the chocolate as smooth as possible.

Stir, stir, stir until frothy. Best served with some delicious sweets cooked by your loved ones - my MIL and SIL made these bad boys. (Chocolate chip cookie made with Andes mints instead of regular chips, "slutty brownies" which is a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough followed by peanut-butter oreos with brownie batter on top [OMG SO DELICIOUS], and homemade fudge.)

Enjoy while watching the appropriate Christmas special that coordinates with your mug.

Happy Holidays if you celebrate, happy Tuesday if you don't!

Goals Update/Keeping Busy

(Here's the post of the original goals)

My health goals have slipped. I've been better this week, but it's still a bit of an uphill climb to get back on track. I seem to do well during the morning/afternoon, but when I get home I lose all sense of restraint and I'm like "EAT ALL THE CARBS". Urf. On the plus side, we have tried to eat out less this week, and next week our schedule is a little more predictable and stable so we should be able to cook at home more.

No pumpkin-carving party this year, so I'm going to start thinking about an optimal time for a gingerbread bash! I haven't made a gingerbread house since I was a little kid, and Xmas is my favorite holiday of the Holiday Trinity, so I'm pretty psyched. Of course, I need some of that pesky thing called spare time before I can plan anything. *sigh*

Volleyball is moving forward in that I've found a local open-gym night on Thursdays (that of course was closed the first week I'm free) and joined a Meet-up group (that of course has no current scheduled games). I think XOSO's next season starts in November, so come hell or highwater I WILL PLAY VOLLEYBALL SOON.

Finally, my crafting by hand has been on semi-technicalities, but I'll  count it because at least it's making me be creative and take a moment to work with my hands. I technically missed the second week (although I did create some very cute bulletin boards for my classroom, even if my T.A.s technically put half of them together), but last weekend I drew my RPG character for the new campaign my friends and I are playing. (Yes, I'm one of those nerds!)

Guevana, a gnome Rogue. If you don't know what that means, you were probably popular in high school

Tonight I prepped my possible costume for Wednesday - IF it's cool to wear costumes at work. I would think it is, and my costume is perfectly acceptable for teaching (I'm dressing as a "citizen of the Capitol" a la The Hunger Games - I couldn't find an Effie Trinket-style wig, so I settled for a platinum bob wig), but I want to double-check first. I didn't really have to make anything specifically for the costume - heck, the only money I spent was for the wig, because the rest is from my closet. I had a feathery-thingie that's been in my crafts cupboards for years, so I attached it to a bow headband I had from my New Year's Eve dinner party costume (I'm also using the same dress, belt, and earrings). Et voila:

It's gonna look AWESOME with my wig. Very Effie, I think.

I wish I had more to do for Halloween - this year our usual crew was busy helping our friends move into their new house today! Whooo! Unfortunately, though, that means we don't have any plans. Might see if my cousin and her partner will let me come over and pass out candy - that way I can still wear my awesome costume if I can't wear it to work, haha.

Other than that, my schedule is still crazy but I think it might be slowing down and I can catch up (famous last words!). This is in reference to work schedule, of course - the next three weekends are booked solid as well. Oy. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be so busy, being unemployed drove me NUTS; I think I just like having the right to complain about it. ;D

Hello, Autumn!

Can I just state for the record that I much prefer the term "Autumn" instead of "Fall", because I think "Fall" the noun is too easily confused with "Fall" the verb? Not to mention "Autumn" is such a lovely word to roll off the tongue.

Sorry, the English teacher took over for a second there, I'll stop.

It only took until early October, but we are officially experiencing Fall (Autumn) weather around these parts! Which is nice, it's actually a little early this year. Usually our area has a far-too-long "Indian Summer", but the last few days have been slightly crisp and gorgeous. What a relief!

There are several things I like about the Autumn season:

• my birthday (I'm very self-centered)
• the colors of the trees as they change
• the cold weather demands warmer foods and drinks
• the smell of the air
• cute Halloween costumes on little kids 
• coming in from the cold and the feeling of your body getting warmer
• sweaters and cute boots
• enjoying Turkey Day, then hosting my extended family for ye olde day of Gobbling (Thanksgiving)

I still want to have a pumpkin-carving day, but I suspect that considering we're having folks over next Saturday for my birthday hootenanny (basically just making a chili bar for sustenance and then hanging out and playing games - hence my hesitation to call it a party) it might be too soon to have another party thingy. But the urge to carve pumpkins is still strong...

Regardless, since I mentioned it, yes it IS my birthday next Sunday! It's also homecoming week at the high school where I work, so it's going to be pretty insane this week *sigh* - at least in a mostly good way. The Hubs is coming out to the Homecoming game Friday night at my request to see my classroom and also support the team. ;D Saturday is a baby shower for friends in the morning, and then my hootenanny that evening, followed by Sunday (actual bday) with my folks coming up to go out to lunch! It'll be a fun week/weekend, but to have to go right back into a work week with no real break is not something I'm looking forward to, to be honest. What can I say, I've become a workaholic now that I'm back in the classroom. It's exhausting and stressful, but I love it (for the most part ;D).

Anyway, yes, it's officially my favorite season and it makes me happy. Cooler weather, my special day, SF Giants are in the playoffs... it's good month/season!

The Holiday Trinity: Big ol' Wrap-up post

IT'S OVER.

I feel like I should be sadder about the holidays being over, but TBH it was a lot of anticipation for a rather lackluster affair. It's not that my holiday was BAD, just... a little dull. Nicely dull! But still, a little dull. Plus having to drive around to see all our family for several days straight is pretty exhausting, which doesn't help. Most of my family gifts were of the gift card variety, but friends got me cute ornaments, pink stuff (!!!), and The Hubs got me this BEAUTIFUL opal pendant necklace - even better because it's similar to one he gave me for our first Xmas together that was later stolen when our apt. was robbed. I can't wear it yet, though, because we need a new chain for it - I have a big neck.

Even with the dusting of dullness, I still had a good holiday season. I've been either too busy or too depressed to celebrate with much enthusiasm in recent years, so having the holiday spirit was REALLY fun for me and made my holiday season great. (Plus I always have a tendency to blow things up to be bigger in my mind than reality could EVER live up to, so there's that.) Of course, now I have to figure out how I'm going to store all this holiday crap away, since our decorations (and ornaments) have doubled this year. Heh. Oops. I also have to restrain myself from running to Michael's with my Xmas present gift cards to stock up on discounted Xmas decorations. DON'T... NEED... MORE...

So now I've got New Year's Eve to look forward to, esp. because this is the second year in a row where we have PLANS! NYE used to always suck for me, no one ever seemed to want to do anything, or had plans with different friends we didn't know, and it was frustrating. This year is our friends' 15th wedding anniversary (they were practically fetuses when they got married), and they are celebrating it a little early by making it a joint NYE party. Bonus: They love having themed murder mystery dinners, so it's a costume party, too! The costumes? 80'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, BABY! So awesome! The Hubs and I are a married couple named Joe and Natalie Nebraska - "Joe Nebraska" was the star quarterback and his now-wife "Natalie"was head cheerleader! Awesome. I have my outfit ready, I just need to get some accessories and we need to figure out The Hubs' costume, too. SO COOL! There WILL be pictures, I assure you. Because we will look awesome.

As I tend to do at the end of the year, I've been reflecting on how this year has gone and what I want from the next year (but then again, who doesn't do that at this time of year). Warning: There might be some navel-gazing posts up in here in the next few days. I'll try to keep it shortish and sweet, but I tend to have a lot of feelings and a desperate need to share them. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Hope you got some rest from the craziness!

THT Xmas: Easy "Extra Family" Gathering Hostess Tips!

So how many of you have divorced parents? *raises hand* I can legitimately claim going through 3 divorces before I was ever even married myself. (And one of them resulted in their getting back together 2 years later!) It's already frustrating to arrange to see your family when you're significantly other'd, add in multiple groupings of family and OH MAH GOD it is a pain in the hindquarters! One unfortunate side effect that has happened is that I rarely get to actually spend the holiday with my siblings, as we share a dad, but we grew up with our mothers. Our two mothers get along fine, but they have their own families they spend the holidays with, so getting us together on the actual holiday was a rare occurrence indeed. Same frustration for extended family from random sides of the family. Or hell, sometimes your families just suck all the fun out of the holidays and you'd RATHER spend the time with your friends, but your family would never let you get away with it. (This isn't the case for my family sitch, but sometimes I almost wish my friends didn't go to their families that stress them out and could just come hang out with us, y'know?)

Solution? Have a little pre-Xmas Xmas gathering! (Or pre-Holiday-You-Recognize, sorry! I celebrate Xmas, but I know people celebrate the other ones.) If you have agreeable people, you could even make it a "traditional" Festivus party! ;D

How we did it:

• 2 weeks before, I texted the people who we wouldn't for-sure see on the actual holidays we celebrate to see if they'd be free either day of the weekend we wanted to try and arrange for gathering. Found out who was in, and who was out. Asked everyone to bring something to share, but we'd also provide basic beverages and foodstuffs as well, and agreed that this would be when we exchanged prezzies. 
• Day before, wrapped all the gifts of people who were coming and pre-made any food that could be pre-made so it wouldn't drive me nuts the next day. Seriously, when I'm hosting, it's all about what can be made with as little attention paid to it the day of - crockpot, pre-made, or takes-5-minutes-to-make is how I do. As for decorating, well, the apartment's already decorated for the holidays so all I did was add a little decor for the table (pictured above). That was just carefully layering ornaments in my cylinder vases - man, for only paying a $1, I freakin' LOVE those things, man. So many uses!
• Day of: Give the house a good once-over (we've been keeping it tidy regularly, so all we really needed to do was wipe down surfaces, dishes and garbage, and vacuum), and dolled myself up in the easiest way possible. Seriously, I have my own primping rules for being a presentable hostess while not stressing myself out (noticing a theme here? I totally overthink so much crap, I have to force compromises on myself so I enjoy the hosting instead of over-stressing it): slightly glammed-up basic face by adding a darker brown eyeshadow in the corner of the crease and slightly heavier mascara, the nicest hairstyle I can do that takes 10 minutes TOPS to style, and one of my go-to "hostess outfits" - nice elastic-waist black pants and one of several nice jersey tops, or a sweater dress over leggings. I always end up looking nice and feeling good without freaking out.
  

  

  We also dressed Daisy, but she wasn't into it. At least we left out the beard this year!
• The Menu (that we provided, doesn't include what was brought):
  

  

  The Spread
• Appetizers: Ham pinwheels (flour tortillas spread with flavored cream cheese, add lunchmeat ham and lettuce, roll up and wrap with plastic wrap, chill for at least 2 hours, then slice up); cream cheese with hot pepper jelly on top, served with wheat thins
• My ex-stepmom D. made crockpot meatballs and they were DELISH - pre-made meatballs with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce and half a jar of orange marmalade. SO GOOD, they smelled fantastic, too. 
• Main Meal: Slow-cooker Carnitas, refried beans and fixins' 
• Dessert: Oreo Mint cookies (Hey, they taste good, amiright?)
• Beverages: Water, Hot Cocoa Bar (Hot Cocoa and Liqueurs to mix in), Wine
• Entertainment: Our favorite holiday cartoons ("Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas") and movies, holiday music, and our own company! Seriously, my siblings and I have to watch those two cartoons together or it doesn't quite feel like Christmas, at least for me. (If we can't watch it together, I'll at least watch them on my own - they're my favorites!) We also exchanged gifts, which was awesome. Everyone liked their gifts from me, thank goodness!

 Of course, there's always the alternative of hosting an actual dinner party, but we don't have the space for that. My friends do, though, so we're having a potluck the day before Christmas Eve! I'm excited - we get to enjoy our friends for the holiday before we spend the holidays running around to our various family gatherings. =D Hope you find a way to celebrate with EVERYONE you love this holiday season!

THT: Xmas Cards (and a My Memories Software GIVEAWAY!)

So you know that review I did on My Memories, the software program? How at the bottom of it I showed off the prototype of the Xmas "card" I was going to send out this year?

Well, I was waiting on the photos from the photo shoot my parents arranged (and let The Hubs and I have our own little mini-shoot so we could have good professional photos of just us), because I was hoping the photos would turn out good and look nice for the card.

They did - and the card looks great, too!

Yes, I revamped it drastically from the prototype I originally posted... and I LOOOOVE it. All the embellishments are from a FREE DOWNLOAD My Memories offered on their website. They actually have a lot of free downloads, which is awesome, 'cuz I am a cheap-@$$ b-word, yo. They have several Xmas-themed ones, and I chose "Christmas Lace" because it looks really elegant to me. =D

Now my only problem is figuring out how to print the stupid thing out so it looks as gorgeous printed as it does as-is, but can also be mailed with little-to-no mussing (or additional postage costs, haha). Any tips are more than welcome - "Hot Mess Housewife" is not merely a clever blog name, after all, it's an accurate descriptor of yours truly.

I'm not SUCH a hot mess that I can't give away an early ChrismaHannaKwanzakkuh gift (a descriptor coined by The Hubs - we need to make merchandise, seriously), though! Intrigued by this My Memories software I keep hawking? Like the look of scrapbooking but don't feel like spending all the time, money, paper, and glue making one yourself? Love free stuff like me? GOOD! I have 1 My Memories software package to give away!

This is my first giveaway, which is VERY exciting! As such, I'll be gentle on myself and make this easy. Here's how you enter:

• Comment on this blog post. (Make sure to leave a valid email address in the appropriate box!) That's it! I prefer it's a friendly comment, naturally. 
• BONUS ENTRIES: Share this post via Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ using the buttons at the bottom of the post (each Social Media share counts as a bonus entry):

 

If your Twitter/FB/Google+ usernames are different from the name you  comment on this post with, please post a separate comment linking to your share or explaining the name difference. Four entries max per person! All entries will be assigned a number in the order they were received (as best as I can approximate), and I'll use the random number generator to pick a winner!

This giveaway is open from Monday, Dec. 12th to Friday, Dec. 16th! Winner will be announced Monday, Dec. 19th! OMG YOU GUYS ENTER, I WANNA GIVE YOU FREE STUFF!

The software I used, the Suite, is $39.97. For my readers (do I even have any?), My Memories has offered a $10-off coupon code as well. If you just want to buy it now rather than risk the giveaway, here's how:

1. Go to http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software 
2. Click on Add to Cart.
3. Enter the Promotional Code STMMMS56332 in the Promotional Code field on the shopping cart page
4. Finish the checkout. To download the software, go to http://www.mymemories.com/my_accounts/downloads and click on the link to download the software. Your product key will also be displayed on that page (you'll need it for installation). Install, and have fun!

The Holiday Trinity: Xmas Decorations, Including an Easy Xmas Wreath Tutorial!

So, I love Christmas. Like, love love LOOOOOVE it. I wanna make out with it. I wanna gay-marry it in NYC, that's how much I love it. Not for religious reasons, though I do love that it's all about showering loved ones with gifts and celebrating the end of the year with your family and loved ones. Peace on Earth and Good Will Towards Men, baby.

What adds to this year's excitement is also the fact that this is the first year in a while where I've really wanted to decorate. Previous years have been either because I was too busy working as a teacher to give a crap (and by the time you're on vacation and CAN ACTUALLY CARE, it's the week before Xmas so what's the point if it's only going to be up for a week), or I was too depressed because I was unemployed to give a crap. Weird cycle, I know.

Well, this year I'm unemployed but REFUSING to be depressed about it (and I'm mostly successful in this refusal, I'm proud to say), so I had the time and energy to devote to it. This is probably the most decked-out I've had ye olde apartment, and since I'm doing it on a restricted budget, I'm ok with that.

We actually talked about getting a REAL tree this year, which would be either of our first time's having one on our own (i.e., without our parents doing all the work), and while you can get them for a reasonable price at the supermarket, I saw a fake 6" at Big Lots with pre-installed lights for the same price as the supermarket trees - and figured since we'd still need all the crap for the real one, let's just get the fake one that doesn't require a tree stand and constant watering. We bought some cheap ornaments while there, and got out all of our other Xmas stuff (which has now accumulated to a point where I needed a bigger container for all the decorations [with some of my Fall stuff thrown in] and a separate one just for gift wrapping stuff) and Xmas-bombed the apartment.

I only forced The Hubs to humor me for the actual tree piecing-together/decoration; we put on Christmas music and got to work. The best moment is when we plugged in the tree to make sure we'd put it together correctly, and the lights came on; my face broke out in the hugest grin because as a kid, we always used the multi-colored lights and it was so amazing to see them for some reason, that little bit of magic came back for just that millisecond. I happened to glance at The Hubs right after, and he had this sweet smile he gets on his face when he sees I'm delighted. It was a special moment for me.

For this year's tree, I stuck to red, silver, gold, and green sphere ornaments, with some gold-edged (fake) crystal ones put near lights for extra sparkle; I also put up special-meaning ornaments I have, like the ones my ex-stepmom makes for gifts most years (she takes clear ones and decorates them with glitter and ribbon each year, and usually that fake-glitter snow inside - they're really gorgeous!) and my "baby ornaments" that my mom gave to me when she decided she didn't want to put up trees anymore.

The blue china ornament is from our honeymoon; the green w/ white decoration is my baby ornament, the gold angel is also from when I was little, and I bought the pearl M at Michael's a while ago ('cuz our last name starts with M)

Other decorations include a little pastiche of ornaments near the front door (my mom painted the 3-piecers!) that didn't fit in the tree's "theme" this year; some cute tealight lamps and another ornament that's too heavy to be on the tree on the bookshelf; and a welcome mat and wreath for the door.

The "pastiche" - the Snowman ornament actually has a music box that plays "Frosty the Snowman"!

The tealight lamps and the too heavy ornament with a secret...

... it's also a music box! I love the little skating scene inside. It plays "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

The front door wreath!

That wreath, btw? I "made" that. "Made" meaning bought a wreath and added ornaments to it as I saw fit. (STILL COUNTS.) The best part is that I did it in such a way that I'll be able to keep using the base wreath but change up the colors/ornaments every year! It was easy, took me an hour, and I took pictures so you can do it, too! Click the "Read More" link to find out how...

The Holiday Trinity: Xmas! My Gift-giving Philosophy

IT'S DECEMBER! I'M OFFICIALLY ALLOWED TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!!!!

Out of personal preference to not get TOO consumer-obsessed with it, I wait until Dec. 1st to indulge in anything Xmas-related, at least "officially". I mean, I'll casually think about it, but it's not ON until the 1st. SO IT'S TOTALLY ON RIGHT NOW, YO.

I don't know why I love Xmas so much, but I do. It's by far my favorite holiday, other than my birthday. (YES, a birthday counts as a holiday, dammit!) I think it's the spirit of GIVING - I don't even think about what I want for Xmas (anymore, at least - as a kid, naturally, I had a mile-long list of goodies), I just love coming up with gift ideas. My goal with each gift is that it's something they can enjoy as well as actually use - but I'll err on the side of enjoy more than use most of the time. I tend to mentally file friends or family with 2-3 things that I know they really enjoy (a trait I picked up from my mom) - for example, my friend D is an old-school gamer, and equally music/bacon-obsessed. (Seriously, he had tray passes of bacon slices at his wedding as part of the appetizers - which is why we're friends. ;D)
 
Unfortunately, due to the unemployment issue, I can't afford the types of gifts I'd REALLY like to buy my friends sometimes. If I had no financial limit, I could probably easily spend $50-$100 per person (if not more!). LUCKILY for The Hub's sanity, there IS a financial limit so I have to be reigned in. Oddly enough, I like that challenge, though! What can I find for my loved ones that is unique, interesting/fun, and reasonably priced? I do a lot of brain-storming and internet-searching (GOD BLESS the internet for this reason), and then I make a list in Word of who I need to buy for, what I want to spend in parentheses, and what I plan to buy for those people - and I strike the items out as I buy them, esp. if it's a gift that's made up of multiple parts... which it often is.

It depends on my mood that year, but usually I'm fine buying one quality gift versus a quantity of gifts, but if I can't find the quality, then I'll spend the equivalent amount in quantity and getting those little fun things instead. It depends on the person, also - some people just want one good thing, others just like getting stuff. (And honestly, who doesn't like getting stuff? Well, 'cept for my friend J.)

Anyway, to make this post a little less Christmas-themed navel-gazing, here's some (IMHO) great theme gifts I've done in the past that you are free to crib for your own gift-giving needs:

• Movie Night Out/In: Buy a g.c. for either the equivalent of a full-price movie ticket(s) or a month's subscription to Netflix/Blockbuster (whichever you prefer), and buy a cheap basket, movie-size candy boxes, and microwave popcorn (if it's "night in" themed) - and maybe a mini-bottle of wine if the recipients are into that. 
• Keeping Cozy Kit: Buy a cute mug, fill it with individual servings of tea/coffee/hot cocoa (the giftee's preferred poison) (and some candy if so inclined, 'cuz who doesn't like candy?), a bookmark (I usually make mine), and a g.c. to a bookstore! I've also added slipper socks or homemade things like crocheted fingerless gloves or reheatable pocket-warmers for my loved ones who live in colder states than I do.
• "Proper English Tea" variation: Fill the mug with individual "English Breakfast" tea servings, and mini-sizes of "tea time" foods from Cost Plus - and the other stuff mentioned above.
• Girly Fun Time: Buy all those little cute girly things in those bins at Target and/or Wal-Mart (whichever store you prefer) that only cost, like $1-3 a pop. Lip gloss, nail polish, eye shadow, glitter gel pens in their favorite colors, etc. Throw in some samples of beauty products for hair or face (My local beauty supply store gives literally 5 samples for every 1 product you buy, it's AWESOME - I have a HUGE stash of the things, hahaha). Pony up for one nice item that you know your friend will love, like decent jewelry, a digital photo keychain, or a nice scarf, and a nice bath product, like a bath bomb from Lush or shower gel from Bath & Body Works. If your girlfriends drink, a cute mini-bottle of pre-made cocktails (like Cocktails by Jenn) is a nice little finishing touch! (This is basically how I did my bridesmaids gifts, btw - which were a BIG hit with my girls!)

Anyway, if I think of more "theme gift kits", I'll add them. I know I've done more before in the past, but I can't think of them right now, annoyingly. These are some ideas to get you going, though!

Next gift-related post will be easy stuff you can make (and links to them), but the next Xmas post will be my Xmas decorations, including my tree! WHEEEEE, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Wrap-Up!

I have so much to say, and yet it feels like any more discussion of a holiday that was over half a week ago is unnecessary for everyone else while still relevant for ME, since MY version of the holiday just happened last night.

So rather than do a long recap (which is only interesting to ME, let's face it), let's just do a list. Who doesn't like a list!

Successes:

• Despite falling a half-hour behind my self-made schedule, the food was on the table and (mostly) warm at the "scheduled" time. 
• Turkey skin was brown AND the meat stayed juicy! 
• The Hubs was on FI-YAH; Once all the cooking was done, I poured myself a "ghetto pour" glass of wine and relaxed; he was on the dishes like white on rice, we have barely anything to clean up! Such a great guy. 
• Everyone said the food was great (or were at least nice enough to lie).
• My centerpiece was gorgeous and we had a lovely table setting. Of course, I'm so caught up in hosting that I never end up taking a proper picture, but I took a pic of the centerpiece during the "aftermath":

Et Voila.

Failures:

• My first time making gravy was a big fat fail. Well, there was a brownish liquid that looked kind of like gravy and tasted kind of like gravy, but it was bland and watery. Going to have to find an easier recipe for next time. 
• My mashed potatoes tasted delicious, but my biggest pot could only hold half of the potatoes at a time, so the first batch of boiled potatoes kind of refused to truly "mash", so they were REALLY lumpy. Cooked through, but the starch just wouldn't let me break them down completely. (They still tasted great, but they just taste BETTER when they're smooth.)
• The corn-casserole-in-the-crockpot burned all around the edges. Luckily, the middle was delicious and the exact texture I wanted, but it kind of halved the final output. Still, I put it in a separate dish and no one knew, so it only bugged me. 
• I made way too much food, as usual. But that's ok, 'cuz there's LEFTOVERS!

Using that last "fail" as a brilliant segue, here's what I'm doing with my LEFTOVERS!
~ Making THE ULTIMATE LEFTOVER SAMMICH.It turned out REALLY good, and it's REALLY rich. I loved it on the biscuits - and you'd think the cranberry sauce would be weird, but it's actually a perfect touch of sweet (if you spread it on thin). BTW, that's MY article I'm linking to.
~ leftover cranberry sauce was mixed with chili sauce (found near the cocktail sauce) and a good-sized spoonful of garlic-chili paste and poured over frozen meatballs for one of The Hubs' fave dinner/snacks for dinner tonight.

Plus I just eat the leftovers as is. I've come to realize that I actually CAN keep eating the same meal if I find it to be really tasty and I have a "palate cleanser" meal in-between; e.g., if I had Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner, I'll be happy to eat some for lunch or dinner again as long as I had something different in between the last time I had leftovers. I know, I'm weird.

I know this is WAY late, but I just got out of a depression episode (nothing major, just couldn't fight off the "Mean Reds" for a week), and now I'm in the thick of Christmas prep, which will be posted VERY soon! YAY THE HOLIDAYS!

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Menu!

The cool thing about Thanksgiving, IMHO, is that it's a basic menu that most people follow, but there's room for individual twists and spins. I loooove reading housewifery magazines to see what variations they offer for recipes, but I'll admit that my own menu is fairly traditional because, well, I like the traditional stuff, and The Hubs is finicky so I don't even have that much room or point for variety. Seriously, of my menu, The Hubs will most likely stick to turkey, a little stuffing, and lots of mashed potatoes with gravy. That's IT. Sheesh. (Though in his defense, he loves my step-grandma's food, which is where we will eat on actual Thanksgiving - he chows down on her cornbread dressing and greens, and hell, I don't even like greens.)

So since I enjoy seeing what the possibilities are from other people, I figured it was only fair to share my menu and my version of the recipes. Hopefully this is helpful, and makes you hungry for Thursday!


Wondering where the rest of the meal is? I'm asking my in-laws to bring a dessert and my cousins to bring an appetizer, so all I have to worry about is the main meal and the drinks (which we already have leftover unopened bottles of wine, beer, so all we need is soda). I'm picking up a can of mixed nuts, too, so there's something to nosh on if people arrive hungry.

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Timeline!

So I'm UNEMPLOYED unemployed right now. It's a weird position; I'd been working rather steadily for most of Sept. and Oct., and then the work ran out. They might need me again, but so far no. In the meantime, I've interviewed and lined up some part-time work, but they're not going to start yet. I'll be taking some college courses soon, but that doesn't start until January. So in the meantime there's... nothing. Lots and lots of NADA. It's a weird place to be, at least for me, and it kind of sucks me into this vortex of lame, where I don't want to do anything. It used to be a lot worse (and last a lot longer), but now I'm feeling better and I think I'm crawling out of it.

One thing motivating the crawl out: The holidays. Big Holiday #2 is right around the corner, and this week is my big prep week.

Now, TBH, I will TOTALLY own it that I'm probably making a bigger deal out of it than I need to, but... well, what else do I have to do? Plus I LOVE hosting. The only thing I've ever hated about it is the guest list, and that's only if it's a strictly friends list or I'm inviting people over for the first time. If it's family, feh, it's family! I love my family (for the most part), and they already know my shortcomings. ;p

Either way, I seriously made an outline for the week. Curious? Of course you are. Keep in mind that my hosting of Thanksgiving is the Sunday AFTER, because it's for my in-laws and my MIL works the actual Turkey Day. So here's the plan:

The Holiday Trinity: Holiday 2, Turkey Day Prep!

So Halloween has come and gone. I'll admit, it's the least important of the Holiday Trinity for me. I like it, and as I've gotten older I've circled around to being MORE into it than I used to be, but it still pales in comparison for me to Turkey Day and Xmas!

Turkey Day is the middle child, unfortunately, when it comes to my excitement. Like Halloween, my excitement for it is growing as I'm getting older, but that's because I'm more involved in it now. Growing up, it was just a day where I feasted on Southern-style Thanksgiving foods made by my step-grandma, and we hung out watching basketball and movies. THAT'S IT. Boring, but delicious.

A few years ago, as my mother-in-law's work schedule started requiring her to work holidays, I offered to take over Thanksgiving, and we have it on the Saturday after. This benefits me nicely, in that I get to actually enjoy Thanksgiving the way I did growing up (yes, it can be boring, but it's also DELICIOUS), and yet I still get to host and cook the meal on my own! I've blathered about this before, so I won't repeat myself, other than to say that I'm aiming to extend the guest list this year. 3rd time's the charm, and the last 2 have been successful enough that I'm comfortable offering for my parents, siblings and their mom, and my cousins who live in town to join us this year. =)

I'm also going to work on more decorations this year. I bought the makings of a Autumnal wreath for the door at the Dollar Tree, and busted out my glue gun! For $6 and a podcast of "This American Life", I made this:

I considered making a tutorial, but honestly, there's not much TO this. I wrapped the ribbon around the wreath, then tied a knot and glued the knot to the wood. The pumpkin pieces were pre-"bunched" floral picks from Dollar Tree - all I did was bend the wire stems to wedge them in, and once I liked where I placed them, I used a glue gun to secure them. Then I picked some leaves from a bigger bunch of autumn leaves and filled in gaps where I saw fit.

Some tips for first-timers (in lieu of a step-by-step tutorial):

• Fake flowers/plants are usually detachable and interchangeable - the second picture (which you'll notice is slightly different from the first one) shows me taking the "wheat" off the bunch on the left and adding it to a bunch on the right. I had an extra "wheat" and replaced another bunch that had a weird sprig-thingie on it. 
• Use a variety of leaf shapes and colors - it's more visually interesting. Just place them around until you like how it all looks!
• Start small and take frequent breaks to stand back and assess. This way you don't "gild the lily". I had to refrain from adding gold pinecones several times, but I'm glad I didn't use them (and I have other plans for them now, muahahahahaha).
• Glue the pieces to the WOOD - plastic doesn't adhere well to plastic when the glue is hot, all it does is melt it. 
• Use the individual leaves to cover areas where you can see the floral pick stems or where you could see the ribbon knot through the wreath (if you have that problem like I did). 

Other than that, it's all about individual tastes. Take it slow and enjoy the process - that's the whole fun of crafting!

I'll post my official Thanksgiving menu and plans for execution closer to the actual day, as well as my centerpiece/table decoration once I decide on it and how I plan to make it. (I'm fairly sure I know what I want!) Yay for the Winter holidays! Weather-wise, Spring is my favorite season, but the Fall/Winter holidays are my favorite time of year!

Halloween - doin' it my own damn way!

So I bemoaned the lack of Halloween goodness in my life last week. After I wrote it, though, I decided that rather than sit here and pout, I could figure out SOME WAY to have fun for Halloween.

Of course, I decided this on the WEDNESDAY before Halloween, so it's not like I had a ton of time. I chose to just have some friends over, cook them some fall-themed food (ever so kindly linked in the menu plan - the food was a big hit, btw!), and watch a scary movie. We invited our local "couples" friends, who were kind enough to bring some scary movies for us from which to choose.

Go figure, though, when we all voted, we ended up voting for "Clue" - which is a great movie, but not exactly scary. Hahaha, guess we're wusses! It was merely an excuse to hang out with good friends and call it "celebrating Halloween".

I didn't decorate the house, but I DID decorate myself!

My nails! I painted them myself! (Except for the heart & crossbones, that's a sticker. I'm not THAT good.)

Whipped up a quick ribbon brooch in Halloween colors!

I also wore my orange-and-black Swarovski crystal earrings that I made for when we go to SF Giants games (who have the same colors as Halloween, luckily), and a brown top. So I felt Halloween-y, even if I wasn't wearing a costume. So it wasn't a GREAT Halloween, but now at least I feel like I HAD a Halloween!

However, I'm saying it now: I'm having a party next year, come hell or high-water. I want to dress up! I had, like, a MILLION great costume ideas this year and no reason to buy/make/wear them! =(

Missing Halloween

Halloween was never a major holiday for me growing up, or at least it was never consciously a big holiday. I mean, sure, it was FUN - you get to dress up, you say magic words and are rewarded for your efforts with "Oh how cute!" and free sugar. Who WOULDN'T like that? Plus I was fortunate in that my Halloween was never ruined by having the crap scared out of me. I don't like being scared... had that happened, I would probably hate Halloween now.

I kept up the shenanigans for a little while into junior high... by mid-High school, though, I had stopped bothering, but I was bummed we didn't get more trick-or-treaters. As a costumes person, I enjoyed seeing the great ideas people came up with more than anything.

In college, the town in which I attended school had a rather notorious reputation when it came to Halloween (if you live in Nor Cal, you can probably guess which school I'm referring to). I indulged for a year or two, but the shenanigans were crazy in good ways and in personal-safety-being-threatened ways, so going out lost its sparkle once the cops were on every street corner to maintain order. Not fun for the people who weren't causing any of the trouble. (My favorite costume I wore in college: Frat Boy from Ay Phelta Thi. Totally pulled it off, too!)

As I got older and settled into married life with The Hubs (also not a big Halloween guy), Halloween has become one of a few non-Holidays that just don't matter as much when you're a childless adult. Now that I'm of an age where we're prepping for children to enter the picture (hopefully) soonish, though, I notice more and more I want Halloween to be a bigger deal. The last time I dressed up was 2009, which was also the last time I had plans. It was a blast! All we did was hang with some friends and hand out candy, but I loved it! Loved the costume-wearing, loved the kids and parents walking by, and looked forward to the next year!

Unfortunately, next year didn't happen... I'd even started prepping a costume, but no plans formed! Plus we don't really have any kids in our apartment complex, so we don't even get to see little kids in their costumes. =( This year is shaping up to be similar, which bums me out. (I had a GREAT costume figured out for The Hubs that he FINALLY agreed to - and now no plans! LAME.) I planned to still at least decorate a LITTLE for the holiday, making a wreath for the door and carving a small pumpkin, but my temp work picked up in the last few weeks and I haven't had the time. So another Halloween looks like it will pass by without my participation. Again, I'm so bummed!

I understand that this is a holiday aimed at kids, but it's still fun to participate in the festivities on a more grown-up level. It's trickier for adults when the day falls on a weekday, as the weekend is when we can best celebrate if we don't have children.

Oh well. There's always next year, right? Right. In the meantime, I've made a GREAT Pinterest board with all sorts of cute ideas (and some ideas I can still use for Turkey Day), and I'll turn my attention to the end-of-the-year holidays, including my FAVORITE one: Christmas!

Oh, and because my last official costume was the SHIZ, here it is: Roller Derby Girl!

My number was 666; my Christian parents were less than pleased with that choice, but my mom still thought I looked adorable ;D

Thanksgiving Weekend: When I actually have Thanksgiving!

As I'm sure more of you are used to than not, we have the unique situation in our household of multiple in-laws due to multiple divorces that demand time and attention when it comes to seeing us for the holidays. "Fortunately", neither The Hubs or myself are in contact with our fathers currently, so it greatly alleviated the stress this year when it came to Thanksgiving. The actual day of Turkey was spent with my parents (mom and stepdad) at my step-grandma's house, where she cooked a delightful meal as always. I didn't have to do a damn thing except bring the rolls, which I am all about. Saturday, though, is my turn to host for my in-laws. My in-laws are a small group (thank GOD), consisting of my Mother-in-law and my sister-in-law, as well as my sister-in-law's vegetarian boyfriend.

I hosted the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year, too, and it was my first time doing so! First time roasting a turkey, first time trying to figure out how to get all those sides prepped and still get the turkey done on time... it was CRAZY, stressful... and the same time, awesome! Go figure. The turkey, by the way, turned out EXCELLENT! (The secret: butter.) The biggest rookie mistake I made was of making too much darn food, so that was corrected for this year.

Last year's menu:
- cocktail franks in sweet sauce (appetizer)
- 13 Lb. Roast Turkey
- Mashed Potatoes
- 2 Stuffings, vegetarian and non-vegetarian (both box mixes, but the vegetarian version required a lot more work!)
- Broccoli Casserole
- Enchilada Casserole (vegetarian "main course")
- Creamy Corn Bake
- Biscuits (from a can)
- Pear Crisp

This year's menu:
- chips and dip (appetizer)
- 8 lb. Roast Turkey BREAST
- Mashed Potatoes
- 1 stuffing, box mix (the vegetarian will just have to deal, he barely ate the non-vegetarian one last year, dammit)
- Broccoli Casserole (It's officially "the dish" they want now)
- Biscuits (from a can)
- Mac and Cheese (Mother-in-law is making/bringing)
- store-made pumpkin cheesecake

So yes, as you can see, I've cut WAY back. Partly due to cost, and partly because THERE WAS SO MUCH FOOD LEFT OVER BLEH. Apparently my SIL and her boyfriend partied too hearty the night before, so they barely ate a damn thing (but at least took home a significant chunk of the food), and no one even touched the pear crisp because they were too full! UGH! Regardless, I was still insanely proud of myself for how well it all went - everything was done and still hot by the time I wanted to serve dinner, and all my prep the night before helped a TON, so boo-yeah! I also went pretty far-out on setting up a nice table; bought fancy (for ROSS prices, anyway) tablecloths and monogrammed napkins, a new pitcher/glasses set for water, etc. I felt so grown-up, even though we were using patio chairs for dining chairs because we can't afford a nice dining room set yet. (Still can't, but this year we don't care enough to sit at the damn table - they can sit on the couch.)

This year is pretty casual compared to last year; I just don't have the newbie enthusiasm yet, and I don't think I'll really feel like going SUPER-all-out until we have an actual house, dining room, chairs, etc. We're still in a cozy 1-bedroom apartment right now, where our kitchen/living room/ dining room take up the first half of the apartment. Still, I'm fairly confident that this year will be lovely as well, and I still glow with pride when I remember how "grown-up" I felt putting on my first official Thanksgiving dinner (with a good dose of help from The Hubs, btw - he was a total champ at being my assistant house-cleaner/ sous chef). I still look forward to when it's our first time hosting the ENTIRE family TOGETHER, which I do hope will happen one day... not next year, maybe, but eventually one day I think I'll be able to take it on! =D