Hubby, Hound, & Home

January 1, 2014 · 6:57 pm

Goodbye 2013…

Y’all, I had such big plans for Christmas posts. I have several still in draft format waiting to be finished (most just needing pictures added). I had a long list of topics I was going to blog about: goodies I made, my method for saving Christmas cards, traditions I enjoy (and want to enjoy), Christmas movies, Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls…. but none of these posts ever came together. And that is really unlike me. I think I’m feeling unmotivated and uncommitted since only like three people regularly read this, if that.

Though they are the least read, I really enjoy my book list posts. So those always take priority for me. But in the New Year I hope to be more faithful and consistent in writing about things that YOU want to read… what might that be? Baking? Cooking? Crafts? Home management? Dog stuff?

We welcomed 2014 in last night with a gathering with my husband’s family. We played games and ate lots of great food. Too much food. (Dinner at Olive Garden before was a bad decision!). I played Nertz and dominoes, and thankfully avoided being part of the 4-hour long Mexican train extravaganza. With my family our midnight tradition has always been to toast with sparkling grape juice, it just isn’t New Year’s without it. I had taken some along so we could do that last night. But my husband’s cousin- their tradition is to eat a few bites of black eyed peas right at midnight. So we did that as well. It’s always fun to add new traditions!

For the new year I didn’t want to make “resolutions”- those seem so easily broken and forgotten. So I’ve thought of a few things I want to change by 2015. One of these involves beginning Weight Watchers, again. This will be my fourth time to do this program. I was successful once before, but then let myself gain it all back. So I enter this new beginning VERY excited about getting healthy. That’s my main focus. I’m sure some of that will appear on the blog. And maybe, sadly, a little less baking (but we’ll see, because that’s my favorite thing to do!).

And with that, Happy New Year and welcome to 2014!

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December 22, 2013 · 1:55 am

Christmastime is here!

I cannot believe Christmas is in three days! I usually really don’t like when people say that. I mean, it’s been coming all year, it didn’t just appear. But this year has felt different, maybe because Thanksgiving was later, or because stores seem to be putting up Christmas stuff earlier. And now here at the last minute we’re all distracted by Duck Dynasty rather than the beautiful season of Christ’s birth.

I really love Christmas. The best part of Christmas is what it’s really all about- the birth of Jesus and Him coming into the world in love to save us. But I also enjoy the lights, decorations, shopping, music, and baking! All make it such an exciting time of the year.

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is decorating the house, inside and out. I don’t really have a theme to my decorations as some people do, I just find things I like and hope it all works together. If I had to come up with a theme name, it would be “Hobby Lobby” because almost every decoration is from there. LOVE me some Hob Lob.

So come along on a tour of our house decorated for the Christmas season!

We bought our tree back in 2010, our first married Christmas. We bought most of the ornaments then too, but have collected more along the way. Some of the ornaments are from decorations used at our wedding, and some were decorations at my in-law’s 40th anniversary party last year. There are lots of penguins (I love penguins!) and lots of tractors (my hubby loves tractors!). We even have some tractor lights.

I love the garland on the mantle. It works so perfectly with the tree and fireplace. It all comes together like such a perfect Christmas picture.

Most of my life I have hoped to someday have a full Christmas village. We don’t have a great place for it, but one day this season I was at Walmart and came across the village pieces and just decided to buy some and hope I would find a good place! So my village is small, but hopefully will grow each year! So far there is a Bakery, Tree Farm, Horse & Carriage, carolers, people making s’mores, a dog house, and a few trees. I love it so much!!!

I want Jesus and our Nativity to be the focal point of our Christmas decor, so I decided to put it on our entryway table. I bought that table runner at Hobby Lobby just to add a little, and that is a red snowflake Scentsy with Festival of Trees scent in it- my favorite at Christmas!

My mom gave me this chalkboard a while back, and while she was at my house over Thanksgiving she wrote this. It’s so perfect! It makes me happy each time I see it and adds some festiveness to our kitchen.

We have red and white lights outside- not LED. I haven’t felt like making that upgrade yet… I just don’t like the look of the LEDs. I love my little tree by the front door. Seeing my house lit up at night makes me happy each evening. I’ve noticed not many people put up Christmas lights this year. So sad! But we have us a few others on our street so that’s nice.

Thanks for coming along and checking out our decor!

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December 16, 2013 · 12:10 am

Our 3rd Anniversary

On November 20th we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! As I may have mentioned before, we are celebrators. Michael will never be one of those husbands who forgets his anniversary because we start talking about it and planning months in advance. (Though, I’m sure that may change once we have kids… I hear they take up quite a bit of time….).

For gifts, we use this opportunity to be creative and we go by the traditional/modern gift lists. Since it’s so close to Christmas, we will get “real” presents then, and we love having a theme and thinking outside the box for the anniversary. 3rd Anniversary gifts are leather (traditional) and crystal/glass (modern). Kind of a challenge on a small budget!

My gifts to him: a belt, leather key chain I made him from a kit, and the Leather Scentsy bar (here’s a secret: he’s more into the Scentsy than I am….).

His gifts to me: a pretty cross covered in broken glass and a beautiful leather journal to use as a “couple’s journal” (he has always been such a thoughtful gift giver).

After gifts, we had a dinner at Olive Garden and then drove to my parents house in Houston to leave Oliver with them and head out for a New Orleans trip the next day! We only had 2.5 days in New Orleans, but we were able to do a lot in that time!

Here is our trip told through pictures!:

Dinner at Gumbo Shop. Delicious! I don’t eat seafood, but I did branch out and try the red beans and rice- so glad I did!

Cafe du Monde. We went in the early evening, so we beat the crowd and it was so delicious and relaxing!

We are not gamblers, but set a limit and wanted to have some fun! We ended up winning over $200! Came out ahead by a lot.

We are not gamblers, but set a limit and wanted to have some fun at Harrah’s! We ended up winning over $200! Came out ahead by a lot.

We went on a ride on the Steamboat Natchez. This was my husband’s favorite part- I think because you got to go into the engine room and watch the steam engines work.

The National World War Two Museum is not to be missed while in NOLA! But plan to spend several hours there. We only had two hours there before they closed and we had to rush! So many interesting things to read and look at.

On our last morning we explored the French Quarter and had hurricanes at Pat O’Brien’s.

Oak Alley Plantation. My favorite part of the trip.

What a great 3rd anniversary!

What I’ve Been Reading- November 2013

I read quite a variety this month… non-fiction, new adult fiction, and Christian fiction.

Prophet’s Prey– Sam Brower (Non-fiction, 2011) : Fascinating, and sickening, look into Warren Jeffs, the FLDS, and polygamy. The author was a private investigator who spent many years looking into this religion and knew the ins and outs and had first-hand sources. But, he isn’t an author, and that made it hard to read at times. Overly detailed, repetitive, confusing timeline, hard to keep track of everyone involved in the story. But, even with the writing issues, it is still an excellent source for information on the church and Jeffs. In the book, Brower makes reference to a few other books written by former FLDS members that I hope to read soon.

Losing It– Cora Carmack (Fiction, 2012): This book is written by a best friend of one of my best friends. So, I had to read it, even though it’s a bit on the scandalous side. I actually read it one night. It was a very fun story with some great characters that are so easy to connect with and care about.

Faking It– Cora Carmack (Fiction, 2013): Carmack’s second book. Again, scandalous, but fun, sweet, and funny. Really enjoyed the story.

Fifteen Minutes– Karen Kingsbury (Fiction, 2013): As I mentioned in September’s post, I am a huge fan of Kingsbury. Her books are so meaningful and draw you in to the story in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Fifteen Minutes is no different. Though, I would say it’s not my favorite book of hers. It felt kind of fake/contrived, especially with multiple references to pop culture. But it’s an interesting look into fame and family and following God’s leading.

M&M Chocolate Oat Bars

I saw this dessert on Pinterest and was so excited to make it. It’s basically oatmeal cookies with fudge in between, topped with M&Ms. It seemed sort of like a fall dessert, though as the recipe points out, you can just change the M&M’s out to make it themed for any holiday and time of the year!

M&M Chocolate Oat Bars– Lil’ Luna

1 1/2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, melted
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag milk chocolate chips
2 TBSP butter, softened
1 cup M&Ms (For the fall version, I bought a “large” size bag and picked out the red, yellow, orange, and brown. Then you get to eat the rest!)

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and 1 cup softened butter with a spoon. Remove 1 cup and set aside.
Press remaining mixture into the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan.
In a small pot, melt condensed milk, chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of butter over low-medium heat. Stir constantly until chips are melted and all is mixed well.
Pour chocolate chip mixture over the bottom layer and spread evenly. Sprinkle leftover cup of oat mixture over the chocolate.
Top with M&Ms and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting, if you can! (I couldn’t wait!)

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November 19, 2013 · 9:22 pm

Oliver’s Adoption Day Party

This post is over a month late, but I still really wanted to write about it. On October 13th, we celebrated Oliver’s One Year Adoption Day. Can’t believe we’ve had our sweet boy for a year! I have no idea how we ever lived without him. Since we will never know his actual birthday, we also celebrate his “birthday” on this day too. We may have gone a bit overboard, but we had fun and he did too! He really could tell something was different and he was being loved on. He was very happy!

Our presents for him: elevated food and water bowls (before this his bowls had been on a cardboard box… so this was probably more for us than him!), a new tennis ball (he doesn’t really play fetch, but we keep buying him tennis balls anyway…), a new rope (ropes are his favorites and he tends to go through them quite quickly), a stuffed owl, and a card.

His special treats included cheese cut into bone shapes (he LOVES cheese) and Starbucks whipped cream (did you know you can ask them for a “puppy whip” when you go through the drive-thru?).

We sang “Happy Birthday” to him and his face just lit up!

We attempted to take a family picture… but this is the best we could do:

So we opted for individual pics

Happy Birthday, our sweet Oliver! Your mommy and daddy love you very much!

We are so grateful God led us to him (seriously, God’s hand was all over our adoption story) and look forward to our second year of fun adventures with our buddy!

Cheddar Soup and Beer Bread

I made this soup and bread one day in mid-October when a cold front hit Texas. A much, much needed cold front. And it stayed cold for about a day. I took full advantage of that chill in the air to make some “fall” recipes I’d been storing away for that very moment- the first chill of fall. It also worked out really nicely that my best friend happened to be coming over for dinner that night. So she got to be a guinea pig for my new recipes 🙂 We got to have a lovely, candlelit dinner on the patio.

This cheddar ale soup pairs perfectly with the beer bread. The soup was a somewhat challenging and involved recipe, but definitely worth it. We later decided it would be great with some potatoes added in. I didn’t take the best pictures of this because I was focused on hanging out with my friend, but you’ll just have to make it for yourself and see how yummy it looks and tastes!

Ale and Cheddar Soup– Closet Cooking

1/2 pound bacon (preferably smoked or double smoked), cut into 1 inch slices
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2+ jalapeno peppers, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 (~12 ounce) bottle/can ale
2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
cayenne to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the bacon in a pan over medium heat and set aside on paper towels to drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the grease in the pan.
Add the onion, celery and jalapeno and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
Add the butter and let it melt and get all bubbly then sprinkle on the flour and let it cook until it starts to turn golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the ale and broth and deglaze the pan before adding the bacon and then let cook for 10 minutes.
Add the cream, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and cheese and cook until the cheese has melted without bringing it back to a boil.
Season with cayenne, salt and pepper to taste.

Buttery Honey Beer Bread– Cookie Monster Cooking

2 cups flour
1 cup bread flour (but all-purpose can be substituted)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp honey
1 bottle (12 oz) beer
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 in loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add in the honey and beer and mix until just combined.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Evenly pour the melted butter over the top of the batter.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
Cookie Monster Cooking also has a recipe for honey butter to go with the bread. I didn’t make it, but you can check that out here.

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November 5, 2013 · 3:38 pm

What I’ve Been Reading- October 2013

This month I only read two books, which is low for me. I tend to average one per week, or more. But this month I decided to start watching Scandal. I know, I’m a little late to the party on that one, and I’m a big Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice fan so it would have made sense for me to watch Shondaland’s newest addition. But I was scared. It seemed really intense. So I put it off, and off, and off… Until one day in October I was bored and Netflix was there taunting me, luring me away from all the productive things I should be doing. I will admit, I’m a binge-watcher. Once I find a show on Netflix to watch, I watch until done. So far I’ve done this with The Office, 24, How I Met Your Mother, Breaking Bad, Parks & Recreation, Undercover Boss, Arrested Development, and some others that I don’t care to admit to. But Scandal drew me in more than any of those other shows. I COULD NOT stop watching. If you haven’t watched it, do. But I have warned you. You won’t be able to stop.

So, the two books I read this month….

Seating Arrangements– Maggie Shipstead (Fiction, 2012): It took me awhile to get through this one. The entire book covers a span of only three days, so each section is a very long and detailed account of each day. It wasn’t a bad book, I did enjoy it somewhat, just kind of boring, And once I was finished I wasn’t sure what the point was, though I think the theme may have been centered on this quote that stood out to me from page 91, “When does youth end?”. It really seemed like a book that you would read in English class and analyze.

Summer People– Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction, 2003): I discovered Hilderbrand through Bachelor “star” Ashley Spivey who tweets about books she has been reading (and usually has some really good recommendations!). This book was such a fun, light read with some interesting plot twists. It was perfect for bedtime reading. I really enjoyed it and have already checked out a couple more of her books from the library.

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November 3, 2013 · 11:22 pm

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

One morning a couple weeks ago, the Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. That combines like three of my most favorite things: Pioneer Woman, pumpkin, and cinnamon rolls. I HAD to make them. And I did, that very night. Well that night and into the next morning since it took me four hours to make them. But maybe that was just me. And they were WELL WORTH THE TIME. Lots of cinnamony, pumpkiny, cream cheesy goodness.

It may have also taken me four hours because around 11:30, in the middle of making them, I discovered A SNAKE on our living room floor. Michael was already asleep and so I screamed and screamed until he woke up and came into the living room very confused. It was a harmless snake… BUT STILL. NOT OK to be in the house. I was freaking out, but did get close enough for a picture (because who was going to believe me without proof??). Michael did pick it up and take it outside unharmed (but I think maybe slightly traumatized by my screaming). (Side note: Our house is really nice and in a nice area, it is not normal for creatures to come in!).

Proof.

So back to the cinnamon rolls… they took a long time to make, but it was a fun challenge. I had never made any kind of “sweet rolls” before and it’s about time to learn! I definitely need to perfect my rolling technique, but I’m sure I will be making these a lot more, and also plan on trying her regular cinnamon rolls around Christmas.

Ready to be rolled up!

This recipe made four pans of rolls, so I sent some to work with Michael. One of his co-workers loved them so much that he paid me to bake him some for a Halloween party! My first baked good sale. Very exciting.

The recipe is pretty detailed and Ree gives such excellent directions and pictures on her web site so I am going to direct you there for the recipe. Her pictures are very necessary the first time you make these.

I hope you make them and let me know what you think!

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October 22, 2013 · 12:36 am

Award-Winning Salsa

A few weeks ago, Michael entered a salsa contest at work. They do fun things like that from time-to-time. Salsa, chili, beans, watermelon seed spitting… Of course he waited until the night before to find a recipe and buy the supplies, and I was tasked with scouring Pinterest for a good salsa recipe. I came across the Pioneer Woman’s (of course!) and it sounded perfect so that is what we settled on.

He ended up winning Second Place! (First Place was green sauce which really shouldn’t even count….).

I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of it, so here is one he took during the contest

This recipe was easy, delicious, and cheap.

Restaurant Style Salsa from The Pioneer Woman

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, with juice
2 cans (10 oz each) Rotel
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, quartered and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
Juice of half a lime
1/2 cup cilantro (or more!)

In a blender or food processor, put all the ingredients.
Pulse several times until it is the consistency you like.
Enjoy with chips! So easy! (and perfectly delicious)

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Hubby, Hound, & Home

Goodbye 2013…

Christmastime is here!

Our 3rd Anniversary

What I’ve Been Reading- November 2013

M&M Chocolate Oat Bars

Oliver’s Adoption Day Party

Cheddar Soup and Beer Bread

What I’ve Been Reading- October 2013

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Award-Winning Salsa

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