Quote

"If we ever find the meaning of life, it will be a musical note." - The Who

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Stuffing or Dressing?

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!  This is always my favorite holiday.  It's about food and family.  No gifts and little stress.  Although, I am very disappointed in how this holiday is becoming a shopping holiday.  Stores open on Thangsiving....its just a disgrace.

But back to food I, wanted to share my dressing recipe.  In case you do not know, the difference between stuffing and dressing is stuffing is stuffed in the bird, and dressing is not.  Luckily, my family has always done stuffing- I just don't know how I feel about something being shoved up a turkey's @$$!  LoL. 

This dressing recipe was shared to me and my sister by my grandma- my mom's mom- a few years ago.  And every since then, we have been in charge of making it.  It's easy and delish!  I'm not going to give you the exact recipe, since it is a family recipe, but I took pictures along the way. 

Step 1: Chop some onions and celery.  I also added some fennel this year to add a little something different.

Step 2: Gather spices and ingredients.  Note: Krazy salt is a MUST!
 

Step 3: Sautee veggies and add spices.


Step 4: Gather bread.  I usually use plain white bread, but this year I wanted something different, so I used Sourdough.  I didn't even use the French from the picture.  I only used 1 1/2 loaves of the Sourdough.


Step 5: Cut bread into cubes and add to a large bowl.  I have a much bigger bowl, but my sister has it because she always hosts Thanksgiving. 



Step 6:  Add veggie/spice mixture and chicken stock.  Combine with your hands and add more chicken stock until bread is moist.  You may need to add more spices too.  The key is to smell it.  If it smells good, it will taste goo. 

No picture because my hands were all yucky.  :)

Step 7: Add to pan and cook at 350 for 45 minutes with foil on, then an additional 15-20 with foil off.

Enjoy!  :)

Thursday, November 20, 2014

School Days, School Days

I have been in a school haze lately!  We are offically on our 65th day of school (Yes, I am counting) and it has been a stressful year!  My class is WoNdErFuL (Except a few) but we have new standards, new report cards, and it seems like every school year, I take on more responsibility! 

Tomorrow is our last day before Thanksgiving break, so it will be nice to get some R&R (and maybe blogging) over break.  Of course while enjoying some family time and family traditions!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

#GlessGoVacay

At the beginning of this month, Toby and I went on vacation to Florida.  We went to Naples and stayed with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins in their summer home.  It was nice and relaxing~  swimming and laying out all day, and delicious food and wine at night! 

We then decided last minute to all go to Key West for a day and a half.  Toby and I had never been there and were really excited!  We boarded a boat (which sat 400 people) and sailed away for a 3 1/2 hour trip.  The boat was very nice and had a full bar!  Here are some pics of our adventure in Key West.

The infamous Mile Marker 0.  We went to a really cool bar there called "The Green Parrot".  The bar tender went to WVU and its technically the furthest bar south in the US!


Of course I have to find a cat..... These were some of the 6 toed cats that Hemingway housed.  We didn't tour the Hemingway house, but I caught this photo from jumping and angling my camera over the fence.  :)

I LOVE this photo!  I had it in Instagram with "#GlessGoVacay in a nutshell.  #KidsArePooped #AdultsParty" and that about describes it!  :)

This was the Smallest Bar in Key West.  This is all it was.  The bar tender was some Jamaican dude and Bob Marley was playing.  I could have stayed there all day!


Toby and I went out to Sloppy Joe's Bar while everyone else went to bed. It was a great bar.  There are sooooo many other cool bars and places.  It's definitely a place I want to visit more often! 

Well, school has been in session for four days now.......ugh!  But Kori and I are going to the Renaissance Faire this weekend!  Huzzah!

Monday, July 28, 2014

The Clark's @ Fayette County Fair

It was a very eventful and fun weekend!  Friday marked the annual tradition of seeing The Clark's at the Fayette County Fair!!  It is an event that first took place 5 year ago for my Bachelorette party....Yes, I went to a county fair and walked in cow shit for my bachelorette.  It was a blast though!  The Clark's got their start in 1986 and would perform at the Fayette County Fair.  They even talk about it in a song (video to follow).

So the last 2 years, Toby, me, Kori, A, and my mom and dad have made the trip to Uniontown, ate Fried Oreos, enjoyed many (too many) beers, and a great concert by The Clark's!  I've seen them in concert other places and their shows at the Fair surpass all the other venues!

Ahhhh.....Deep Fried Oreos....and last years Clark's shirt (I've been getting a new one each year!)

Robert James (Left) and Scott Blasey (Right) 2 out of 4 members

Selfie!


"Cigarette"
"Snowman"

Also on Saturday, a teacher friend of mine got married.  Toby and I attended the reception and had a lot of fun!  We then head out to our favorite dive bar and had a lot more fun!  Needless to say, Sunday was spent lying vertical to recover....  :)

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children



 

I just finished the second novel in the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series, and WOW!  I am in love with the books!  I swear it will be the next Harry Potter! 
There is a 3rd book coming out in 2015 and I can't wait!  But I really can't wait until July 2015 when the first book becomes a movie directed by Tim Burton!  OOOOEEEMMMMMGGGGG!!!  I think I'm even more excited about this than the Fift Shades movie coming out Valentine's Day...which I am excited about, but eager to see how they do the Peculiar Children movie and I love all Tim Burton movies!!
If you are looking for a good read, I strongly suggest.  Now onto Divergent trilogy...Oh how I love summer!  When I actually have time to read!!  :)

Basement Renovation- Virtual Tour

As promised, I am adding some pics of our basement after the renovations in January 2013.  And I'm pretty proud of myself.....2 posts in 3 days!  Wooo-hoooo!  I'm on a roll! 
Walking down our stairs to the basement.  I want to change the sign to "Swango's Woman Cave" since I am down there and have more partied than he does.... LoL.

This is as soon as you walk through the door.  This is our "oldie" corner which houses our Old Tyme photos and a very cool rustic wine rack.  Yes, I'm lacking on filling the wine rack.  I drink it too quickly!  :)  Too bad two of the bottles are empty and only there for decoration!  Cat food is also in the pics because our kitties live down there.  More cat photobombs to come....

As you turn right once you come through the door.  Bistro and bar section, featuring a Ziggy photobomb!

Continuation of the bar and our fireplace seating area.  We got a really good deal on that electric fireplace for only $100 on clearance at Wal-Mart.  It really helps in the basement in the winter.  It's very cold down there, so we keep that on to keep the kitties warm.  Sputz Mackenzie photobomb....

The seating area, which is where we spend most of our time when we are home, aside from eating dinner and sleeping.

The TV!  Aka- Toby's prized possession. With Cleo and Mario photobombs....can you find them?

A close up of the Bistro area and the Penguins mural my talented mother did!

Close up of the front of the bar.  Another awesome "Swango's Old Irish Pub" mural my mom did with the help of me.  And the WVU one I did all by myself!  An old 80s overhead projector from school came in handy for those murals.  Defiantly a time saver!

Behind the bar view.  Did I mention that the TV swivels and pulls out from the wall?  Prime sports watching area right here.  And did I mention....SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!

Close up of the WVU mural and our make shift sheving unit.  Goal is to get a nice console for behind the bar to hold glasses and bottles of alcohol.

Close up of seating area with a gorgeous WVU pallett, made by my one and only talented mom.  I swear she should open an Etsy store.  She'd make a fortune!

The kitty korner.....suprising no photobombing from them.  They were too busy nibbing.  But they do love this cat tree.  It was their Christmas present this year.

Close up of the 70" with me and Cleo.  :)

Entrance to the second room.  There is a closet on the right that goes under the stairs.  It holds all of our holiday decorations and a bunch of other things.  Mario photobomb!

And this is the second unfinished room or also called our gym.  Exciting isn't it?

 

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Well......Hello there!

Wow!  I can't believe it has been a year and a half since my last post!!  I have failed my poor blog... Well, life has been VERY busy!  To sum up the year of 2013 and thus far in 2014:
  • Basement Project- In the beginning of 2013, we completed our basement renovation.  When we bought our house 2 years ago, the basement consisted of two rooms- both unfinished- but studded out and ready to go.  We hired a crew to complete the biggest room, which gives us a little less than 1,000 extra square footage.  Since its completion, we have had parties, binge TV show nights on our 70" TV (Yes, Toby got the TV of his dreams...), and weekend sleepovers down here with the kitties. The other room is still unfinished, but is currently becoming our gym room.  Who needs a fancy room for a gym, right!?  The goal for that room is a half bath, and in-law suite- or gym.  But the half bath is a definant.  We have just been pretty broke after this year, so it's time will come soon.  I will post pictures soon....once it's cleaned and staged nicely.  :)  
  • Wedding- In July of 2013 my sister got proposed to (finally!).  Since then, we have planned and done a bachelorette party (Which was a 5K and night out in Balitmore....very fun.) and a "Jack and Jill" shower AKA Couples Shower.  The wedding was on June 7, 2014 in Annapolis, Maryland and was absolutely beautiful!!  I was the Marton of Honor, and the speech went very well!  In my BFFs wedding, my speech bombed horribly.  So I was very proud of myself. 
  • Vacationing- Last summer we went to Naples, Florida to stay with my aunt, uncle, and cousins in their vacation home, and we will be returning there the first of August.  We went to Ocean City a few weeks ago and had a nice time with Toby's cousin, his wife, their daughter, and a friend.  Also, have a birthday weekend planned in September, and a wedding in October in Lake Tahoe.
  • School- Last school year was a very rough year.  I had a class from hell....it was stressful, not to mention ALL the other responsibilities I have taken on at school.  So that took up the majority of my time.  I just returned to school today to prepare my room for this school year.  I am very optimistic that this school year will be the best in a world!
In addition to some babies in the family (cousin's babies), lots more traveling, parties, and holidays, that about sums up the last year and a half in a nutshell.  I really enjoy blogging and would like to try to keep up with it better.....fingers crossed!!