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...

A New Series and Ramen Noodles in my Crockpot!

Hello y'all!

Today marks a new adventure for me. I have decided to venture into the world of Ramen noodles. A must have for my daughter. She would eat them EVERYDAY if I would make them for her. I have the cookbook, '101 things to do with Ramen Noodles,' but I want to take it a step further and utilize my handy dandy Crockpot. Wish me luck!

On another note, I have found a new series with a new Fictional Boyfriend for me to go GA-GA over! The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. It stars a strong female lead, by the name of Catherine. Just call her Cat. Unless you are Bones, a Vampire who is a bounty hunter of sorts; he calls her Kitty, Kitten or just about anything else that she doesn't want him to call her. His English accent is heavenly and together, Cat & Bones makes an epic team. A 1/2 Vampire who hates vampires, and the vampire who loves her.

I am just about done with the 1st book, and I have gone ahead and ordered anything else I could find with this series. There is the series itself, along with novellas and a spin-off series where your favorite supporting characters become the lead. I love that concept after how much I fell in love with the Love at Stake series and that type of approach.

Anywho, I will keep you updated on my reading of this series! If you are looking for a new good book, try this out!

Jeaniene Frost's page!

Love at Stake..

Have you ever wanted to know how to Marry a Millionaire...Vampire? :)

I will be honest, Romance has never been my genre of choice. And then I was introduced to the paranormal genre a few years ago. It was more paranormal with a romantic undertone. And slowly with Karen Marie Moning's Highlander books, I found myself reading Romance with a paranormal undertone. I LOVE IT!

Kerrelyn Sparks mastered this with the Love at Stake series. While packing, moving, unpacking, full-time job hours and full-time Mom of Three hours; I managed to read the first 11 books in this series in about 10 days. She leads the series off with a Millionaire that you find it hard to not fall for. He loses his fang in a VANNA doll (read to find more out about Vanna White & Vanna Black!), and desperately needs to find a dentist who has vampire friendly hours.  

Enter Shanna. Conveniently, she is immune to the powers of mind-reading vampires, and that is intriguing like nothing else to Millionaire scientific genius, Roman. (YUM!) These two are polar opposites, and yet you root for Roman in his pursuit of her. 

You find yourself either loving or hating the many faces in the supporting cast of this first book. And to my hesitant excitement, I was eager to keep reading once I realized that I would be reading about a different person in each installment while the characters I became attached to in the previous book would become a supporting character! The thing about paranormal romance that keeps me reading is the "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE" aura that comes with these story lines. Each "world" is different depending on how the author sees it. Ms. Sparks hit one out of the park with her vision of the Vamp world!

 The world she created is so much like ours, you find it hard to think that this isn't actually reality. You have DVN (Digital Vampire Network) with vampire soaps, and even in Vamps in the City, you have a storyline within a reality TV show, "Sexiest Man on Earth!" There are nightclubs, harems and so much more. Okay, the harem isn't par for the course nowadays, but these are some seasoned vampires. And what vampire series would be complete without some eager slayers? Unfortunately for the head of the government's STAKE OUT team, Sean Whealan (Shanna's father) these slayers are not as hardcore with their hatred of the undead. Sean and his team are immune to the mind-altering effects that vampires can have on humans due to varying levels of psychic ability. Throughout the series, the team slowly begins to disband as it comes to light that this world of evil, blood-guzzling (from a bottle) isn't the nuisance they were taught.

All the pairings are of the unlikely nature. (If they weren't, why would you continue to read?) Levitating children are born, were-panthers are adopted, some mortals are turned, the Malcontents continue to cause problems, the very thing that allows these Vamps to be civil bottle drinking beasts is threatened, and so many kilts and accents. Wow!

Sparks writes in vamps that are considered fledglings too.  "Gori" is one I never thought I would care to read much about. He is a playboy, a womanizer and a lover of disco. He is a newbie. His mother, a psychic who knows when you have found 'THE ONE' is still alive and worked with Roman before his son was attacked and turned to save his life. In his installment, "Sexiest Vampire Alive," you learn why he comes off the way he does and details in his past that having you rooting for his success with the daughter of the president. You read that right, the President of the United States of America! Ms. Sparks goes there.

When you think she has covered all she can, you are introduced to were-bears who eat Bear claws by the dozen, drug dealers turned good vampire just trying to take care of his family while claiming he is the Doctor of Love, and so much more. Every person you meet evolves throughout this series from Sean to the old grouch, Conner. Finally, I will close with how much I love the catchy and sometimes cheesy, pun-filled titles. The titles like "Eat Prey Love," "Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo," and "All I want for Christmas is a Vampire."

Kerrelyn Sparks has found a lifetime fangirl reader in me. I tell everyone about this series, find myself trying to figure out who the next book is going to be about! These books are so out of this world awesome, I could write a book about these books. But that would be silly, when I could just be re-reading these and daydreaming about if I could get my husband to wear a  kilt and pick up a Scottish accent! Until next time, keep writing Ms. Sparks! YOU ROCK MY SOCKS!!!

To check out this series, go to the author's website:
Kerrelyn's Website

Or to her Facebook Page:
Ms. Spark's FB Page

And may the odds be ever in your favor...

I have tried this before, the whole book club thing. And it was with only ONE person I personally knew, and I felt this overwhelming pressure to read and felt almost intimidated by the level of participation that some members were contributing. Plus, we were tackling the 101 Books to Read before you die - a little too heavy for this point in my life. (With 3 little kids, a full-time job and a full-time husband, LOL)

So, on to attempt #2. 'For the Love of Reading' is what it is called, until (and if) we ever come up with a more clever name. July has been our first month and we read THE HUNGER GAMES! The Facebook group has been casual and laid back. A good amount of book chatter and I am excited to visit it when I have the extra time. It is made up of 5-10 people who all know each other personally or through someone else. I think this time we found something that works for us. And if you ask me - I could not be happier.

On to the book.

I worked at Borders for years, and was there during the Hunger Games craze, and apparently - I am too cool to follow the popular crowd, and read what they are reading. This makes me both sad and relieved. Sad: How did I wait so long to read this? Relieved: I would have never made it through having to wait for the 2nd or the 3rd one to come out! I would have been in a straight jacket with padded walls. For real! Suzanne Collins is a genius. This genre has never appealed to me, but the emotions I felt for the characters in District 12 and the others I met throughout the 74th and 75th Games. Brilliant. It was a roller coaster for 3 solid books. There was little to none when it came to smooth sailing with this series;  even with the main character, Katniss, was all alone in a tree with just her thoughts - you were on edge. I felt like I was Katniss. I felt the confusion that young love brings. I felt the pain she felt when Primrose's name was called at the Reaping. I felt the anger and the excitement as she prepared for the Games. I felt myself fall for that damn bread boy. I felt it ALL. And I couldn't take my eyes off the pages until I knew what happened next!

I felt right with Katniss and the rivaling emotions with Peeta and Gale. My mind goes back to a conversation that Peeta and Gale had, where Gale tells Peeta something along the lines of "Katniss will choose who she needs the most." I was torn with this statement for many reasons:

1. Throughout the trilogy, Katniss was the stronger of the 2 tributes. Peeta is smart with regards to the camouflage, but a warrior - no.
2. Gale is a provider, a hunter and a "man's man."
3. I thought this statement was meant as a blow to Peeta at the time. I felt like Gale knew he was the smarter choice. The one (in a survival state of mind) that Katniss would need the most.
4. Peeta is a more privileged Baker's son. I feel like they always thought they were beneath him.

In the long run, I think Peeta was always the one. She never forgot what he did. He has this unending desire to take care of her. It might not be in the way she is used to, with the coal miners - but she is not the normal girl either. There were little cues throughout the book that were unspoken signs of her feelings for him. With Gale, it was more of losing her best friend.

I looked throughout several discussion questions that were given in regards to these books. And I just relived them all over again. What happened to Cinna, the Avox's, the controlled environments of the districts, and the raw emotions. The one thing that killed me, even more than the death of Rue; was Prim's seemingly unnecessary death. It broke my heart on so many different levels. And the fact that it was left unanswered as to who was at fault. I know that was a pivotal point in the relationship of Gale and Katniss - I just hated it.

Finally, overall, I give this entire series a FIVE. It was so well written, and I cried and died a little inside for the characters.  Even though this series had an epilogue, which I despise - it was what the readers needed to have closure. I wanted a book about how Peeta and Katniss got to that point. I love the details, the background and more.

Our 1st book club meeting was at Cheddar's! (Nom nom nom, Monte Cristo!) It was fun, casual and very laid back. We talked about who we loved, the differences in the book and movie, which characters were your favorites and not so favorites, saddest point and how we would have done it differently. It was only 4 of us this time, but still a blast!

For the month of August, we are reading Life of Pi and having book club at Mugshots! :) Cannot wait!