Thanksgiving is over..countdown to Christmas!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Plenty of good food and a great day with family. I have pics over on facebook, but here are a few!

My nieces, Sarah and Morgan posing with the pilgrims.



Kelly and Mr.B



Kelly, Randy, and my nephew David relaxing after dinner



Now we are on the countdown to Christmas! I love this time of year, so cozy and festive. I want to enjoy every minute of it!



Take care and God bless!
~Love & Hugs~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Wishing you all a blessed day with family and friends.



I will be be busy around here the next few days, but will catch up with everyone over the weekend.

Love to all...

Thanksgiving, 21st birthday & Chicago

Thanksgiving is just a few days away! Lots of family coming, last count was 28 people here for dinner. I will prepare the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans & Pecan/cranberry/white chocolate pie. Everyone else brings a dish or two to pass, plus there are many desserts to go around. It is a busy day to prepare for, but it is so nice to spend time with family and friends giving thanks to God for each other and all He has blessed us with!



Kelly turned 21 on November 11!! Wow..where does time go? Kelly's friend Ashleigh made her a very cute birthday cake.



In photo~Ashleigh, Kelly and Zoey, Ashleigh's daughter.

Birthday celebrations started the weekend before Kelly's birthday. Kelly and I and Ashleigh and her Mom, Shelli went on a trip to Chicago. It was so fun!! Lots of shopping, eating, and making wonderful memories.



Click here for my facebook public link to the Chicago Trip photo album.

Take care everyone, God bless you. I hope to get around and visit everyone over the next couple of days. Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!

Images Of Autumn

Here are some pics I have taken this fall. I know I already posted these on facebook, but I know not everyone is on facebook. I have many more photos, maybe I will post some more another time. Autumn is my favorite season, I love October especially.

Wow..it's been 2 months!

Lots has happened in the past two months...

Here are just a few...

I am one year older!

~birthday flowers~
Also thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!

My brother Tim got married!

~Tim and Jennifer with my parents~

We got a puppy!!!!!
Meet Bentley, our Goldendoodle. We have had him for about 5 weeks now.






Be blessed everyone and Happy November!

Healthy Chili and Zucchini Bread

I did some cooking and baking today!


I made Healthy Chili from my book, "Naturally Thin" by Bethenny Frankel.
I love this book and Bethenny has fabulous ideas and recipes for eating healthy.



Ultra-Healthy Mexican Chili

This serves 1(double, triple or quadruple to serve more people)

1/2 medium onion, chopped
nonstick cooking spray
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 each red and yellow pepper (or just chop half a bell pepper of any color)
1 8 oz. can of pureed tomatoes or tomato sauce
1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
1/4 lb. ground turkey breast
1/4 cup red pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1. Over medium-high, saute' the onion in a nonstick skillet coated in cooking spray until soft. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.
2. Stir in the garlic and bell peppers, and cook until peppers are soft and garlic is golden but not burned. Stir in the tomato sauce and the zucchini.
3. When all the vegetable are soft, add the turkey breast and beans. Let the chili simmer for at least 10-15 minutes. The longer you simmer, the better the flavor.

*** I used ground chicken breast as well and I brow the chicken or turkey breast with the onion before combining with the rest of the ingredients.

This chili is very delicious and healthy! I made a huge pot of it today and then divided it up into several containers and popped them in the freezer for future meals.


I baked a loaf of Zucchini Bread this afternoon. My recipe is the normal zucchini nut bread that you see everywhere. I do substitute with some healthier ingredients. I think today I may have over baked it a bit, it is a tiny bit crumbly. But still yummy!




Zucchini squash, it's an amazing veggie. It can be used in both savory and sweet dishes.


God bless!

Art & Greek Cuisine

Dan and I had dinner at fabulous Greek restaurant last night, Manos.




Delicious food, yummy!
We both started out with a Greek salad.


Dan had leg of lamb dinner and I had the stuffed grape leaves dinner.


They served us so much delicious food that I was too full to order a very delicious sounding desert...Athenian-Delight. Maybe next time. :)


There is a beautiful wall mural on one side of the restaurant dining area. I took a few pics. Also if you visit Mano's website you can see pics and video about the mural. Gorgeous colors!






Happy Wednesday everyone, hope your week is going well.

~HUGS~

Bridal Shower & Polka Dots

Happy Tuesday! I helped with a bridal shower on Sunday for my brother's fiance. Everything went well and it was a fun time for all. My brother Tim is getting married next month to a great gal, Jennifer. They are a lovely couple and I look forward to Jennifer being a part of our family! Here is a pic of the cake we had at the shower.

Jennifer's teenage daughter, Morgan made the cake, isn't it awesome? Not only did it look beautiful, but tasted delicious as well.
One of the games we played at the shower was using toilet paper to make a wedding dress. lol We were divided up into teams, each team was given 3 rolls of tp and each team picked a model for their group. We were given 10 minutes to design and "dress" our "brides". Here is a pic of one of the models, my niece Rachel. Another niece, Megan is standing behind the "bride".

Fun times!

For some reason I have been drawn to polka dot patterns lately. Found a cute apron and some adorable icecream cone shaped icecream dishes.




Hope everyone is having a happy week so far. I will be around to visit soon.

~Hugs and Blessings~

Local Wildlife and Weekend Plans

We saw the cutest sight this morning! There was a Tricolored Heron across the canal on the end of one of the docks, trying to do some serious fishing. Then along comes a young ground hog trying to make friends! I took the following pics through our dining room window, I didn't dare open the door and go outside for a closer look because both the ground hog and the heron would have taken off. The ground hog would get very close to the Heron, the Heron would shoo him away..then the cute ground hog would run back to land for a minute and then come right back for more! Dan and I and my nephew David watched this curious interaction for several minutes.








Dan has a few nights off, yay! He goes back to work on Tuesday night. It will be nice to have him home and spend time together.
Tomorrow evening we are going out to dinner with our dear, dear friends Debbi and Steve. Actually they are just like family to us. Kelly and her boyfriend Dane are going with us as well. We will be celebrating Debbi's birthday and enjoying time together. Debbi and Steve are in the process of moving to Florida, so soon we will no longer will we be living close to each other. Boo Hoo!

Sunday afternoon, after church, Dan and I are heading over to Devil's Lake for a couple days. Hope to have a quiet, relaxing time there and we plan on taking Patch with us. Did I say, quiet and relaxing?? Hmmm...with Patch along? lol

Take care everyone! God bless and I will catch up with you all soon.