Semi-Homemade Holidays

I woke up this morning and felt the chill of the upcoming fall season. I cannot wait. Mind you, by noon today it will be 90+ degrees, but I can enjoy the morning chill while I drink my morning pot of coffee. Then suddenly, the chill brought thoughts of wrapping paper and spending WAY too much money on Christmas gifts.

The thought has crossed my mind several times to have homemade Christmas, or a limit on gifts. That is hard with kids. You love your kids and want to make them happy. And with that in mind, I am going to attempt a compromise. We are going to have a practical/Semi-Homemade holiday season.

What is that you ask? I am not sure, but my ideas are:

• Price cap on overall gift cost. My oldest is 8, and understands that if he gets 2 BIG gifts and the little ones get 8 small gifts that he was not shorted somehow by Santa.
• 1/2 the gifts need to be practical gifts. (Examples: Books, clothes, new bike gear, Scout gear, gift cards for roller skating rink, Sonic, etc... all places that my kids love to go all year round.)
• Limit the amount of toys. With an 8, 4 and 3 year old - we, as parents probably won't buy ANY toys since that is the go-to with Grandparents, aunts and uncles.
• My oldest (and I) will go at least once (hopefully more) to volunteer at a place in need. My youngest will pick out and take at least one gift to a kid's shelter.
• We will make homemade gifts for Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Teachers, Friends, etc. (Not Popsicle stick frames, but we will get Pinterest crazy and make cool gifts.

I do hope to keep this a tradition. I don't think we will ever be a completely homemade/material gift free family, because lets keep it real - Christmas offers some amazing sales and gifts are fun!  Anyway, wish me luck! I am going to be starting now, because the other thing about this idea - you can't wait till the last minute. Lucky for me, I work retail - so for me, Christmas starts in September anyway.

Merry Christmas!!! And all ideas are welcome...

Cupcake Pot Pies and My Issues with Chicken...

Chicken. I love chicken. But, I am picky with my chicken.

I don't want skin, and I sure don't want a bone. I don't do fried chicken. Well, I can cook some mean fried chicken - but, me eat it? No thank you! The texture of the skin - not my thing. I can't eat chicken off of a bone. In fact, I don't really like meat on a bone. I can eat ribs, but I am always told I waste meat. Something about maneuvering around a bone weirds this lady out! So, I have chicken on a bone with skin marinating for my family to eat tomorrow night for dinner while I work late at work. I don't want them to suffer for my weirdness with foods!  (Chicken rant over! Ask me one day about pickles...)

Chicken Pot Pies on my Birthday Bucket List to make. So here goes my attempt. I am going to make Cupcake versions for my kids for lunch. Wish me luck!

Ingredients

Prepping for the Pot Pie Cupcakes

• Canned Biscuits (I used my family's favorite & want I had on hand - Honey Butter Biscuits)
• Mixed Veggies of your choice (My kids love Sweet Peas & Carrots)\
• Chopped up chicken, cooked
• Can of Cream of Chicken coup (I had Cream of Potato with Bacon, so that is what I used - plus, you can NEVER go wrong with bacon)
• Cheese (which I omitted because we are a family who is 80% lactose intolerant, and the soup will be enough)
• Spices (Onion powder, garlic salt and basil)

HOW TO

Very simple:

• Take EVERYTHING, sans biscuits and mixed it up.
• Press the biscuits into your cupcake pans and press up the sides.
• Scoop your mixture in, and fill it up good.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes depending on your biscuits and voilà!

RESULTS

Final Product

And the results... The kids LOVED it. :) Bacon was a great addition. I had extra mix, so I also made a larger one for dinner! This will become a regular in my meal planning rotation!

29 things to DO before I hit the BIG 3-0!

28 things in my 28th year FAILED. Haha, I accomplished  6 of them. Six? Come on Catherine! You are better than that! Six?

Anywho... Here comes year 29! And it's a BIGGIE. Last year of my 20's. When did I get old? A few amazing things came out of my list last year:

1) I made it back home to California. I got to spend some amazing time with some amazing people. Stayed with my BEST FRIEND, Beckie; stayed with my amazing older brother, Paul and his beautiful wife and daughter; stayed with my beautiful Mom, and my awesome Stepmoms drove all the way down and we visited with family we haven't seen in years. My Aunt Dawn and Uncle Ed are some of my favorite people! Drank a LOT of coffee during that trip. Lots of good, long overdue coffee.

2) Our Book Club Rocks! We are on our 3rd book, and just had our 2nd meeting. Good food, good drinks and good people. So what if it started off with like 12 people, and then there were Four. We are Four Strong. Maybe that should be the name...

3) I love painting. Went to Easley Amused with Kristyn, and I want to go all the time and paint all the time.

Now on to my "29" list.

1) Florida. This has been on my list since I moved to Mississippi 6+ years ago. Had the opportunity to go this year, and then life got in the way.
2) Garden. - We are in a new place, and I would like to start my garden again. I am going to do herbs in the kitchen, and I shall figure out some stuff to plant outside. Get the kids involved too. Maybe we can find some stuff to recycle as planters.
3) Pot Pies. - You know, this has been on my list for 2 years. I am going to do it this year. I think the kids will LOVE that they can be individual. Maybe, I will make a dinner party out of it. A POT PIE POT LUCK!
4) Go Wine Tasting with the Mister. - I <3 Wine. The Mister is new to it. I am going to find a place to take him tasting as a date. *FINGERS CROSSED* he will like it!
5) Go back to school. - I know what I want to do, and the kids are old enough now to allow me time to concentrate. I am going to do what I need to do to get back, even if it is just part-time to start.
6) Maintain Book Club. - We are 3 months in, and I would love to be able to have maintain this new and improved group ALL year. Themes and all. :)
7) Family Pictures. - This will only take ONE day and has been on my list for 2 years now. HAHA, I take more pictures that I will ever need, but I have like 12 in total of ALL five of us. That needs to change STAT!
8) Become a Member at Church. - This takes 4 Sundays. I usually work Sunday's, I will find 4 to get this accomplished.
9) Date Nights. - We make time. Which I truly do think is key, but I would like to make MORE time. More regular.
10) Become more routine. - I have started this with set bedtimes, and trying to wake up times, and small routines. In the next 2 years, I will have 3 kids in school. Well, that seems like it might be easier - this will require more work. Homework, afterschool activities and such. I am going to routine all 3 together early.
11) Kick the soda. - I need to kick caffeine. And this is an easy way to maintain/lose weight. Plus, if I had to choose between a soda or a beautiful cup of coffee - Coffee wins EVERY time.
12) Write more letters. - When unpacking, I found all these awesome hand written letters from grandparents, cousins and friends. It was awesome. My kids were in awe of these "letters." In a world of Tango, Skype and Facetime, handwritten letters are things of a museum. I love Snail Mail.
13) 5k. - I love to walk. I miss doing these with Beckie.
14) Mom's Night Outs. - Like our Book Club, I would like these to become regular. And more drunk. LOL
15) Take a Family Trip. - Anywhere.
16) Quit biting my nails. - I have a feeling this one will ALWAYS be on my list.
17) Send out Christmas cards. - I actually made Christmas cards and found them months later. Guys, you will probably get cards from us in November, but it will be this year! Haha
18) Figure out how to work in Books/Reading. - With the demise of book stores, I need to explore other options.
19) Tattoo. - at least ONE of my many planned.
20) Go to the beach. - I went to San Diego this year, and didn't go. CRAZY!
21) Go to the Romance Writers Convention that I believe is in New Orleans this year. -  Or one in Houston. Whichever is more convenient for Kristyn and I. I need a FANGIRL moment bigger than my heart can handle.
22) Paint. Easley Amused or elsewhere.
23) Make a memory quilt. - Shirts, baby blankets, curtains, wedding stuff. I want to make an AWESOME memory quilt.
24) Buy a "new" car. - New is in "new" because it just needs to be new to me. LOL
25) Have a BFF trip. - Weather it is seeing 50 shades in Texas, celebrating the big 3-0 in Vegas, me and the BFF are seeing each other this year!
26) Make tamales, at least once this year. - this is probably the thing I missed the most about the holidays as a child. Helping make tamales, and it has been 2 years since I have made them in a larger quantity. Maybe New Year's...
27) Plan a trip to visit my Dad in Montana. - Malakai really wants to see where Grandpa lives, and I just adore small towns. And I adore my Dad. Kill 2 birds with one stone. Also, Malakai thinks he wants to live there when he is 18. (Mainly because the fishing license is cheaper there than in Mississippi. But I told him he could look into going to college there. He liked that idea.)
28) Send ACTUAL Birthday cards, on time. - Back to the Snail Mail. And the fact that I love Birthdays. And I think everyone does too. It is your day to feel special. I would like to help with that!
29) Read my Bible. - I have started, I would like to finish. I think it is very important. I choose to read it a little each day to ensure I understand it all. And I think, the kids and I will talk about it too.


What would be on your "BUCKET LIST" if you took the time to make a list? I would love to know. Maybe, it will be on BIG 3-0 list.

The Mother of ALL rants... today, at least!

My blog is a lot of fun for me. I love finding awesome and FRUGAL stuff to do with my kids. I adore my husband, and LOVE my Crockpot. My books, they are like my boyfriend. And my husband occasionally gets jealous of the time spent with the books on my shelves. But, when he is gaming and I am reading... All is well in the Crook World.

THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE BLOGS! This is a WHAT IRKS me today blog... Enjoy!

1) Retail should be a REQUIRED class before graduating high school.

Call me crazy (I will answer!) I love retail management. I cannot do the same thing over and over. Drives me up the wall. You don't get that in retail. You get all different kinds of customers and all different kinds of employees. And I love it. Even the crazies. I have been called everything from a pregnant bitch to a racist, and yet I still come back. In defense of the lady who called me a pregnant bitch:  1)Yes, I was pregnant. 2) Yes, I was a BITCH after, and only after having to deal with you. (Ask my co-workers!) In defense of the lady who told me I would not help her because she was of a different ethnicity: 1) I tried to help. 2) Not that it is ANY of your damn business, but my husband and THREE kids share your ethnicity.

With that being said, I understand that you are the customer and I work to ensure you have a pleasant time in my store. I actually enjoy that fact. It is a controllable, and I love being able to control the controllables. But, you would never believe what else is a controllable? Your attitude! Your ability to treat us retail employees like human beings. I am constantly approached by people who don't understand why I can't help them THIS second. (I am helping someone else THIS second, and think for just a second how you would feel if I stopped helping you to help them!)

Just trust me, Mr. President - make everyone work ONE holiday season, Black Friday included before you release the wolves to the rest of us, and everyone will be happier. I know that retail employees are NOT magic elves. Just because you think we can give you that item at 90% off because that is how YOU read the sign, doesn't mean we can. And please, call the BBB on us. I am sure, those kind folks who have probably worked retail before are going to TOTALLY going to understand how you interrupted the sign.

Final note on #1, this is my REAL JOB! You calling my job any less is insulting. After all, if I wasn't there to take the brunt of your abrasive and abusive talk, your husbands and wives would probably leave you!

2) Door Knobs

This rant is partially due to the lack of sleep I got this morning due to a door knob! I understand the security purposes of door knobs. The books and PS3 in our house are grateful for not being stolen due to doorknobs, but in the house. EVERY door knob (bathrooms in particular) should have a secret parental unlock button on the outside.

Scenario:

Enter 3 year old who locks himself in the bathroom.

Enter Mom working on 4 hours of sleep with hammer.

45 minutes later, 3 year old out and Mom blogging half asleep with a demolished door knob next to her laptop.

END RANT #2.

3) GOOGLE

This last topic today is more brought to you by the jealously I have that my children will never know card catalogs at the library or the insane amount of time "googling" research in those damn encyclopedias. I think kids need to know our pain. I had to hear about how our parents had to walk so and so miles in the snow to school everyday. YEAH, I am sure guys: We lived in San Diego, California. If it snowed, the entire city would shut down! And also, I walked to school! Plus, you didn't have cell phones and email. Well, I had a pager. And we had to make codes for letters from the numbers. At a young age, my generation was bilingual in "Pager Talk" 1 70173 17 or 143637. We still had to be creative! My 3 year old can work my phone and the Ipod better than me. My kids can lock me out of electronics! (and bathrooms, see #2!) Yeah, ok... I am jealous! But, I do feel better now... :) Thank you Interweb for listening...