Christmas Quiz

Ok, it is officially Christmas season now!!! This is a Christmas quiz and if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged. (If you don't have a blog, feel free to email me your answers!)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real

3. When do you put up the tree? We haven't gotten a tree of our own yet, but probably the 2nd week in December so it wouldn't die.

4. When do you take the tree down? See #3, but probably around New Years

5. Do you like eggnog? Yup, especially spiked egg nog ;)

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't remember....

7. Hardest person to buy for? This year, its my mother-in-law, thankfully she/we just decided we won't exchange this year, so that cuts out that dilema. Second hardest would be my step-mother-in-law b/c she still has not given me her list.

8. Easiest person to buy for? S b/c we aren't exchanging

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, it probably won't see light again this year...

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I have no idea

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Wow, geez, I don't know, there are so many

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I started shopping for gifts for this Christmas at Christmas time last year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? probably

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Food ;) My aunts wedding cookies were the best, and the only time I got her cookies was around Christmas b/c that's when we would go to visit her, so probably wedding cookies

16. Lights on the tree? Yes

17. Favorite Christmas song? Hmmm, again with the picking, I don't think I have one favorite

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I dont think I've ever had a Christmas at home, so probably traveling to see family

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Viren, Vixen, and Rudolph....right?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I think growing up we mostly had a angel, but I do remember us switching it up a few times with a star or big ribbon

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The rude shoppers and over commercialization of Christmas

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like a lot of ornaments that we have even though we don't have that many.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Wayne's roast, i think its pork...It's amazing!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To be with family and friends

Merry Christmas!!! Happy Holidays!!

Goble, Goble, Gulp!

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I've got TURKEY in my tummy! ;)

I hope everyones Thanksgiving was as good as mine! What all did you eat?

We had:
Oven cooked Turkey
Fried Turkey
Stuffing/dressing from inside the turkey
Pan stuffing/dressing

*side note:what's the difference between dressing and stuffing? Is there a difference? Why do some people call it one and others call it the other?

cranberry sauce
mashed potatoes
sweet potato casserole
candied yams
some sort of corn salad
green bean casserole
fruit
deviled eggs
rolls
2 chocolate chess pies
2 lemon chess pies
pecan pie
Kentucky Derby pie
I think I'm still missing some food.....

Lots and lots of food!!! and lots of good company too! Maybe a picture or two to follow, but I didn't take any (bad me!), so I'll have to wait for others to upload there's.

Interesting Thanksgiving Facts

$1 is the average cost per pound of a frozen whole turkey.

3 is the number of places nationwide named after the holiday's tasty gobbler. Turkey, Texas, is the most populous, with 496 residents; followed by Turkey Creek, La. (357); and Turkey, N.C. (267). There also are 16 townships around the country named "Turkey," three of them in Kansas.

8 is the number of places and townships in the U.S. of A. that are named "Cranberry" or some variation of the name (e.g., Cranbury, New Jersey)

20 is the number of places in the United States named Plymouth, as in "Plymouth Rock," legendary location of the first Thanksgiving.

• Plymouth, Minnesota is the most populous, with 65,894 residents in 2000.
• Plymouth, Massachusetts had 51,701.

13.7 pounds is the amount of turkey consumed by the typical American -- no doubt a good bit of it at Thanksgiving time. Per capita turkey consumption was virtually the same as in 1990 (13.8 pounds), but 68 percent higher than in 1980 (8.1 pounds).

256 million is the preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2005. That’s down 3 percent from 2004. The turkeys produced in 2004 weighed 7.3 billion pounds altogether and were valued at $3.1 billion. And that's a lot of turkey.

44.5 million is the estimate of the number of turkeys Minnesota expects to raise in 2005. The Gopher State is tops in turkey production. It is followed by North Carolina (36.0 million), Arkansas (29.0 million), Virginia (21.0 million), Missouri (20.5 million) and California (15.1 million). These six states together will probably account for about 65 percent of U. S. turkeys produced in 2005.

649 million pounds is the forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2005, up 5 percent from 2004. Wisconsin is expected to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 367 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (170 million). Oregon, New Jersey and Washington are also expected to have substantial production, ranging from 18 million to 52 million pounds.

1.6 billion pounds is the total weight of sweet potatoes — another popular Thanksgiving side dish — produced in the United States in 2004. North Carolina (688 million pounds) produced more sweet potatoes than any other state. It was followed by California (339 million pounds). Mississippi and Louisiana also produced large amounts: at least 200 million pounds each.

457 million pounds is the record held by Illinois for total U.S. pumpkin production — followed by California, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York which produced at least 70 million pounds worth.

$5.2 million is the value of U.S. imports of live turkeys during the first half of 2005 -- all from Canada. Our northern neighbors also accounted for all of the cranberries the United States imported ($2.2 million).


Go here and see how cute these placecards are!! There are other fun crafts to do too...

Earings for the windows

Well, we finally got the curtains up. I took some before and after photos and changed the balance a little. Let me know what you think. So far the score is 1-don't like em and 1-not really sure.

Before:

During:

After:

If you need to see them in person, I totally understand, stop on by anytime ;)

Our New Toy

Well, we got a 4-wheeler!

Ours is the black one, and the red one is S's BFF, Red's.












We took them for a little spin today, but tomorrow we'll seriously break em in :) Can't wait!!

Mountain Man

S had a blast this past week and weekend on the mens retreat. They went up to the Pisgah National Forest and spent Thursday through Sunday hiking and camping over 40 miles.

Here are some pictures of my mountain man on his journey:

Cool suspension bridges







Goofing around while taping up a blister.

Catching a nap after lunch one day.





Home Sweet Home

I made him take a picture before he got a shower after returning.

I'm so glad he's home!

The End!

My Kids...for now...

I would like to introduce you to my babies. My oldest, Ford, is just over 2 years old and the baby, Shelby, is 10 months old.

Say Hi guys!

Guys!? It's time for your photo shoot! GET! UP!

Ok, fine, take your time and I'll start with the baby pictures...

This was Ford's first night in his new home, he was about 6 weeks old. Look how small he was compared to my shoe! (I wear a 7 1/2)

And this was Shelby's first night home! She was also about 6 weeks old, we got them both a little young...(Ford was about 17-18 months in this picture)

You guys ready yet? Ok, lets get some pictures: (Warning: some of these are going to be a bit blurry-bare with me, I've got a treat in one hand and I'm trying to coach both of them verbally while taking pictures with the other hand while looking down at the camera so its hopefully level with them b/c if I get on their level they wont stay where I want them. Enjoy!)

Thats a meter stick behind Ford's right ear, just for an idea of how tall they are...

That's all I got out of them tonight (these are just the decent ones out of all the ones I took)

Thanks guys! You can go back to sleep now!

Hey! That's not what I had in mind! Shelby your on my side, scootch! Please? Oh, fine, you can stay. Sweet dreams!

P.S. The last time we weighed them, which was mid-October I think, Ford weighed 93 lbs and Shelby weighed 82 lbs. They were both 9 lbs when they had their first vet appointment about 2 days after being home. They've grown a lot!