Getting ready for Turkey Day

We woke to another beautiful morning.  The sun is shining and temps are wonderful!  It was a slow moving day for me but once i got myself going i got my kitchen cleaned up to mess it up again.  That just doesn’t sound right does it?  I decided to go ahead and get my baking done today instead of doing it tonight.  Well .. kind of ..

First on my list to tackle was an Apple Crisp and I wanted to do something with some pears and apples i had in the refrigerator and i got online and looked up what i could do with them and i found this recipe. http://culinarycory.com/2008/12/30/pear-apple-crumb-pie/ I decided to give it a try.  I changed mine a bit and didn’t add the crust to the bottom (less calories) ..  Here is what it looked like before cooking. I made 2 of these but i wrapped 1 up and it’s in the freezer to be baked at another time. 

The finished product .. looks and smells so yummy. 

Next was a pumpkin pie and once again i wanted to change things up a bit and i found this recipe online .. http://caloriecount.about.com/upside-down-pumpkin-pie-b592104?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_20121120&utm_term=title1 I did add the crust to this one as i was afraid of being able to get it out of the pie pan.  

The finished product .. looks and smells yummy .. can’t wait until tomorrow to try it .. well that is if i can keep hubby out of them. 

While my goodies was baking in the oven i was outside in the lounger reading and relaxing.  It’s another beautiful day and i have the door and windows open to let some fresh inside.  It’s way to nice not to be outside.  Although i did have a bit of a mishap while baking.  I put the crisp in first and thought it was baking but when i came in to check on it the oven was off.  I know i lit it and had it heating up .. hmm i re lit the pilot and turned the oven on and checked it a few minutes later .. nope not working .. ughhh  .. i went outside and checked the propane bottle .. oh no RED .. one of our tanks we thought was full .. wasn’t!  so i switched over to our new tank and turned it on .. yes propane and went back inside and lit the oven and now it’s working good.  Now we have to have another tank filled .. ughhh

With my baking done and just heating up left over’s for dinner I spent the rest of the evening just surfing the net and relaxing.  My kind of evening.  We enjoy our friends and i love being around people but i have to admit i am also enjoying the down time we’ve been having with just hubby, me and the dogs.  The dogs seem to enjoy us being home in the evening again too.  Roo loves to play ball and even though we played outside today, tonight she kept bringing me her ball to throw.  She never tires of playing ball. 

Shopping Day .. ughhh

We woke up to another beautiful day.  I did my usual morning routine and before you knew it my morning was gone.  Dinner tonight is a crock pot meal (my version of Hobo stew).  I thawed some precooked pork and broth out yesterday.  One thing I did manage to do this morning was get the broth going.  I added some onion, celery and carrots and let that cook for awhile .. later in the afternoon i added some chopped up potatoes, gravy mix and the meat (precooked) and let it finish simmering while we went to town to do some grocery shopping.   YESSS .. i did grocery shopping today .. the one type of shopping that i dread and hate doing!  We always spend wayyyy too much money and today was no different. 

First on the list we went to Mac’s fresh market and picked up some sale items .. pork chops for $1.49 a lb, hamburger $1.97 a lb, and several other items.  $25.16 poorer we left with our few bags of groceries.  We are finding that it’s the same as always .. the south seems to be higher then the north when it comes to food prices. 

   

next on the list was Kroger’s .. they had some nice sales going as well.  Lay’s potato chips (hubby’s favorite) 2/$4.00 and so we stocked up.  That’s the cheapest we’ve found them in awhile.  Celery .77 cents, cauliflower $1.99 .. $10.61 poorer we left and headed to Super 1 Foods … this is where we really racked up the bucks!  It’s my kind of store, it is very similar to a food giant or shop 4 less that i just love because they have great prices!  Some of today’s sales were … soda 4/$11, Turkey’s 50 cents per lb .. limit 2 (we purchased 2 even though we have one in the freezer already .. we love turkey and you can’t beat the price for meat) potatoes $2.98 for 15 lbs, mushroom soup .48 cents, canned veggies, .48 cents, and many more great sales.  Hubby says i went into my hoarding stage again.  Our cabinets were beginning to look 3/4 used and i have this fear that if my cabinets, freezer and frig are not overflowing with food, i freak out.  $81 poorer we headed home!  YES you read that correctly. In my defense, we had not done any grocery shopping since before we left Illinois and another thing ..  We have decided to have our own little Thanksgiving meal and the spend the day just the 2 of us.  Unless we change our minds before then. 

We came home and i had to find extra room to store our purchases.  I filled the freezer, refrigerator, cabinets, pantry and had to use another cabinet where our entertainment center is for the can goods overflow, plus i stored the extra chips and box things that needed to be in a tote in the basement outside.  I also have my stocked up pop stored in the basement :))  I took a few pictures to show you what my cabinets look like. Hey I'm ready for anything :)

Dinner was ready when we got home and it was a good thing as we were both exhausted.  Fighting traffic in Alexandria in the afternoon and before a holiday is torture!  After dinner the rest of the evening was spent just relaxing and enjoying a nice quiet evening at home with just the 2 of us.  Since arriving here until last night we haven’t had an evening of just us.  We’ve been enjoying friends and since their all away visiting family, were taking advantage of enjoying each other .. well some what .. hubby enjoyed his football last night but we’ve done some snuggling tonight :))

Winter Camp over

I was lazy and slept in and then i did my morning routine of browsing the net, straightening up.  It’s a beautiful day with the sun shining and temps are climbing nicely.

 

Winter camp ended today and the road was busy with vehicles leaving.

 

I enjoyed seeing the kids have fun … although i have to admit i will not miss the sound of boom, boom, boom.

 

this afternoon the campground was empty and it’s back to peace and quiet!  First on the list after lunch was to take the dogs on a much needed walk, they were not happy being stuck indoors while the kids were here. Then I spent my afternoon basking in the sun just relaxing.  Later in the afternoon friends Snuffy and Jean left to head their daughter’s house to spend Thanksgiving with family.  They will be back on Sunday night and friends Tommy and Diane will not be back until Tuesday.  So it’s just hubby and I here in the campground.  I’m by the end of the week i will be lonely, but we are looking forward to some quiet time with just us.

Dinner tonight was left over's and our evening was spent hubby watching football and me reading blogs i follow until i retired upstairs to watch Hallmark Christmas movies. 

A Lazy Weekend

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day.  I spent the entire day being lazy and just relaxing.  I spent the morning browsing the web and catching up on some things.  The afternoon i spent watching Hallmark channel.  Later that evening we went out do dinner at CiCi’s pizza.  It was good and then we played cards with Snuffy and Jean.

Today i slept in til 8.30 AM and then i had to hurry to get ready for church.  We attended First Assembly in Alexandria and it was a good service, although a sad service as the pastor there resigned last week and this was his last sermon.  Afterwards we went out for lunch at Piccadilly.  I had the stuffed Bell Pepper, carrot soufflé and fried okra.  It was very good. 

After we got home i decided to go lay in the bedroom and watch the Hallmark Channel, the only problem was my eyes closed on me and i took a 2 hour nap!  It felt so good.  Jean brought us dinner from the dining hall which was nice since i didn’t have to cook :)  Later we played cards and before we knew it .. it was that time to head home and relax a bit before heading to bed. 

Sometimes we need down time and although I've enjoyed being busy with friends .. i also needed some down time to just rest, relax and do absolutely nothing!

The weather has been nippy in the mornings but by 10 AM the sun is out and warms up nicely.  I’m enjoying these wonderful temps.  It’s suppose to be even warmer all this coming week.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

A Beautiful Day!

 

I woke up to nippy temps but the sun is out and warming up nicely.  I spent part of my morning just being lazy.  We’ve been busy here in LA with friends.  Haven’t been having a lot of alone time which i love.  Although i have to admit i do enjoy alone time once in awhile.  I picked up, did the few dishes i had and took the dogs on a golf cart ride.  Before I knew it was time for lunch and my morning was gone.  After lunch i wanted to take a few pictures. 

This is the road we drove on coming into the campground

  

The campground entrance gate

  

coming in through the gate .. this weekend is winter camp for the kids and some of the girls decorated the driveway with these ..

 

I sure hope it doesn’t do this here :)

 

I enjoyed watching the girls put these out, it’s great to see the kids and the campground has definitely liven up a bit.  By tonight there will be over 300 kids here

 

Once you enter the gate you take the first gravel road to your right to the campground. 

the first road to your right is part of the old campground, a missionary (in motor home -which we’ve never seen) and Snuffy and Jean (5th wheel) are parked there. They moved there when they were re-doing the newer part of the campground and never moved back.

 

Our satellite dish had to be setup at the edge of the road on the old part, the guy thinks were running around 200 ft of cable .. you can see our home hiding behind the trees.

  

Here we are all nestled in hiding in the pine trees. 

From this view you can see that we have a huge front yard, in fact i believe we have the biggest yard and YES you guessed correctly .. the dogs love it!  Their chains reach just at the edge of yard. 

 

This is the new campground on the other side of the road across from us.

Wonderful friends Tommy and Diane are parked across from us. 

This is the new campground on our side, we are on site #1  We had to pull in as the hookups have been installed on the wrong side.

  

On the plus side you have enough to pull in, unhook and pull out.  

 

Can you see my babies looking out the door?

 

Here is a close up picture of them .. such sad looking faces .. they are thinking .. hey i want outside with you too .. they are just so adorable huh??

 

They were not happy campers yesterday when both times they had to go in a cage while the guy was working on our satellite.  Just 2 of them have to be caged because Lexi (red) does not like strangers in her home and Roo (blonde) likes to escape any chance she can get.  At least they don’t mind snuggling together.

 

Before i knew it was time to get ready for dinner.  We all went out to dinner at Fuzzies again for fried fish!  It was good and after dinner we played chicken foot and before you knew it was time to head home and relax a bit.  I snuggled up in bed and watched Hallmark Countdown to Christmas .. i love Christmas shows.

Satellite?

I had to get up earlier then normal as the Dish Network guy called a little after 7 AM to get directions and make sure he had the correct address.  He arrived a little after 8 AM and went to work on getting our satellite working.  A little after 10 AM he had it working great and all was well in our home again.  YESSSS .. I’ve been missing my Hallmark Channel and hubby has been having withdrawals from his History and Discovery Channels.  We can get several stations here on our antenna but let’s be honest .. they stink! 

I took the dogs on a walk around 11 AM and when i returned home, NO TV!  Ughhh i tried several things that i knew to do from past experiences and no luck.  I finally called the number the installer left me and no answer and he didn’t return my message so i called the company number.  We tried the same thing i had already done but as you know you have to satisfy them that you do it with them.  Once that was done they said they would send the guy back. 

Diane called and said she needed to run into town to get a few things for tonight and i needed some things as well.  I rode with her.  The satellite guy called and is on his way.  Finally he got us up and going again.  It was one of our cable’s that was bad.  That is why hubby would hit it and lose it.  No wonder he couldn’t get it to work.  Oh well .. I’m just thankful all is well again in our house hold .. I have my Hallmark Channel again!

Tonight’s dinner potluck was Mostoccoli, garlic bread, sweet potato casserole, corn and Pecan Pies.  Another yummy meal, of course we had to play games, tonight’s choice of games was Mexican Train.  David and Amy joined us for dinner and games.  We had another great day here in LA

Shopping Again!

I woke up and got things straightened up and a load of laundry going.  Then I took the dogs on a walk.  They have a nice concrete side walk around the area and it makes walking for me so much easier then trying to walk in the gravel or dirt.  The dogs are enjoying their daily walk.  The weather hasn’t been bad, not what i prefer but not bad, it’s tolerable.  It’s been chilly in the morning but by 10 AM when i am finally up and moving about the sun has come out and warmed up to a nice temp.  YES, i require long sleeves but normally a coat isn’t needed.  By lunch hubby is shedding to short sleeves, but not me .. i’m still required to wear more clothing then i prefer.

After lunch friend Diane needed to run into Alexandria and do a bit of shopping, so i rode along with her since i needed to go by the post office to mail a letter.  First on the list and most importantly was the RV store (they needed a black water handle), then went to a consignment store but it was priced way to high.  Even with their discounts, not for me.  Next we went to Big Lots and spent some time and then a quick trip to Dollar General.

We got home in time to gather our dinner items and get them together.  We’ve been having potluck dinners and tonight was Taco Soup (Jean) and Potato soup (Diane) and I provided shredded cheese and crackers . 

After dinner we had a pecan cracking party.  Tommy and Diane brought 5 gal of Pecans from home.  Tommy and Snuffy cracked them while hubby and us ladies picked out the pecans.  We got that done and still had time to play a game of cards. 

It was getting late and we made it home in time to relax a bit before heading to dream world.  Were having a busy and great time here in LA with good friends.