Do... Shoot!

This is SO an experience I must scrapbook!

This past Saturday, we went to the ex-laws to celebrate an early Christmas, before cold & flu season really settle in... and before snow. 

Oh, "what is an ex-law" you ask?  Aha... therein is quite a story, but for this post, I will give you the down and dirty details.  My dear husband was married before I met him.  Actually, he was married when I met him.  The wife before I met him was ex-wife #1.  The wife I knew when I met him is now ex-wife #2.  Me?  Well, so far, I'm "third time's a charm"... and hopefully will NEVER be "third strike, he's out". 

Anyway, before I go into any more gruesome details... the long and the short of it is that our elder two children are from his first marriage.  And skipping all kinds of nasty details, his ex-wife no longer talks with her family (mother, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew).  In fact, her kids no longer stay in contact with her either.  So, at some point in time, her family contacted me for "permission" to see the kids.  I'm not in the business of coming between families, as I told them, so arrangements were made and over the years, this family has embraced me instead of their own daughter/sister, et al.  So, twice a year we get together... their family reunion and at Christmastime.  Not knowing what to call them, as they are not my family, and "my husband's first ex-wife's mother/sister" is a little cumbersome, I now refer to them as the ex-in-laws... or, the ex-laws for short.

But I digress.  We went to the ex-laws to celebrate their Christmas before all kinds of illness and snow took over.  Now... the ex-laws live in a rural part of the state, and thus... well, they are very down-to-earth people who enjoy hunting season.  Since deer-gun season opened today, they were going to spend some time this past weekend sighting their guns.  I, not being a person who has ever touched a gun, guessed that this meant they were making sure the gun was shooting where they thought it was shooting. Good guess!

After "the Men" (cue Tim Allen caveman grunt here), went out and shot off several rounds at a target, they came back inside.  I don't know HOW this happened, but the bro-ex-law said to me, "do you want to shoot?"

Pause.

Not a long pause, because my mind does travel fast.  But a pause.  My mind spun... it is a "Do" year... this is an opportunity to do something I've never done before... when would I have an opportunity like this again... "Okay, sure, I'll shoot."

Pause.  A slightly bigger one this time.  I think I surprised people.  Then loudness... people talking all at once.  "Okay!"  "Let's go."  "I've got to see this!"  "Get my camera!"  And my husband,  "You sure?

Out we go.  I throw a heavier shirt on (it's cold).  And then, they pulled the target in.  It was out 100 yards, but they pulled it up for me... 40 yards.  Still a respectable distance, I think.

A quick "how to work the gun" course by my husband.  The bro-ex-law (picture, Larry the Cable Guy), heads out to tape up a target.  He comes back and they all start telling me to look for the orange dot (the bullseye) and cracking jokes.  I'm laughing and can't see the target through the sight on the rifle.  I'm laughing and can't keep the gun steady. 

Okay... I *think* I see the target, so I say so (everyone laughs) and I pull the trigger.  Uh.  Nothing happened.  My dear, loving husband reaches over my shoulder and disengages the safety.  Heh.  That helps.

Shot #1.  "Did I hit the target?"  Everyone laughs... no one can see but they think they heard it hit a tree.  More laughter.  Photo op.  Shot #2.  I can NOT keep the gun steady enough to keep the target in sight.  Shot #3, #4, #5.  I have to rest my arm.  This piddly rifle is heavier than it looks!  Okay... hold my breath (helps to keep the gun steady), shots #6-10.  I'm out.

"Let's go see if you actually hit it!"  Bro-ex-law reaches the target first and ... he really sounded impressed... says, "you got quite a few in the black!" and then counts off the holes "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9..."  Yep, one shot unaccounted for.  I chalk that up to my first shot.

"Look," says the girl-niece, "look how proud she looks!"

She wants to try so she shoots off a bunch.  Of course, she shows me up.  And I want to go again... I sit down this time and shoot faster after being able to better steady the gun.  I felt good.  I really felt like I was aiming well. And...
Check It Out!

One Bullseye!!

ANIMAL!

So... anyone who knows me well, knows I LOVE The Muppets, especially Animal.  I was very saddened when Jim Hensen died so many years ago and they haven't been the same for me but... BUT...

My sister posted this on her Facebook page a few days ago, now I'm seeing that it has "gone viral" so I had to share it here too... LOVE IT! 

The Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody:



Oh! And tomorrow, I'll be back to tell you about my 'one little word' moment (remember, my word is DO this year). We visited the ex-laws today and I had a Do moment...

Turkey Day Desserts

It's nearly midnight on Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving day.  I just got out of the kitchen for the first time since 6pm.  And I still didn't get all the desserts done.  I promised a friend a pumpkin cake for their Thanksgiving dinner since she has had some repeated health issues and surgeries lately and I did not get that done.  I feel guilty, but I have offered her other options... as in I can make it tomorrow, or Friday and they can have it for their anniversary on Sunday.  I hope that's okay.

Want to see what's on the menu?  While I am NOT the best food photog out there, here's what we've got going on for dessert this Thanksgiving:

First, the one I didn't make:

Peanut Butter Pie

My friend made me that one.  Although, I took the richness one step further and added the chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups on top.  My youngest, a Reese's cup fanatic, will love this.  Although she's not one for rich desserts, so we'll see.

Next up, was my pound cake.  Had a little trouble so it's too dark around the edges.  My racks weren't set up right in the oven.  That makes all the difference sometimes.

This isn't a dessert in and of itself... it's for the Dessert-With-No-Name.  These have since been cubed up and will be layered, tomorrow, with pudding, fruit and Cool Whip.  Yum.  Too tired to finish it tonight.

Next up... my pumpkin pie.  Or, as my son says, Punkinpie. 

This smelled soooo yummy while it was baking.  Believe it or not, I don't like pie but the scent of it baking... MMMMmmmmmmmm... it sets my mouth drooling.

And last but not least, my apple pie.  I had a discussion with my son today as we were making this.  He was such a champ and peeled, cored and sliced my apples for me.  That job kills my hands so I was super grateful for this.  He asked me many questions.  One of them was, "do you know how many apples you need for this?"  He was asking because as he was peeling and cutting, he didn't think we'd have enough but as it turned out, I had bought the exact number of apples needed.  I told him that  I'd been making the pie for a very long time and I have a good idea on how many apples I need, depending on the size of the apples.  He was impressed. 

Another question was, "was your pie always this good?"  I told him that it was as good as the first time I made it... in Home Economics class in High School... when I was 16.  I think it surprised him a little that I have been baking it for so long.  I told him that my dad only made two suggestions when I made it for him... 1) tone down the sugar (depending on the apples) and 2) chunk, don't slice, the apples.  And I've been making it that way ever since. 

I also don't make a two-crust pie.  I use a crumbly topping.  Here I am putting the topping on... my favorite part:

My son took the photo.  Look at those yummy apples.  I'm a little concerned how this will turn out because I didn't use my old stand-by apples for this pie.  I typically use Mutsu/Crispin apples, but I missed the season to get my half-bushel.  So... we'll see how it turns out this year.

Oh yum, this pie was smellin' up the house with cinnamon-y, apple aroma wafting around.  Finally, out it came and here is the result:

Look at that gooey appley juice dribbling out.   As it cools it will flatten out; right now it's still heaping.  But yum!  Too bad I don't eat pie.  LOL!

My son asked me, too, "if you don't eat your own pie, how do you know it's good?"  I laughed and said, "you've requested it every year and everyone I've made it for has liked it so I go by that indicator."

I wish I had been able to make the pumpkin cake and take a photo of that... it is my pride and joy.  My sister made it when I was a young to mid-teen.  I was afraid to try it because it had pumpkin in it (I detested pumpkin at that age).  But she enticed me because it also has chocolate chips in it.  I have been HOOKED on it ever since and have many people ask me for that every year too.  YUM!  Well, when I get to it, I'll try to remember to take a photo and post it.

Anyway... as I sit here yawning... I hope you have yummy things planned for tomorrow, whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving.  I know I'm ready for turkey and peanut butter pie! 

Enjoy all... and Happy Thanksgiving!

I Went, I Survived... I Created!

So... most of last week was devoted to working at my local scrapbook store's "scrapbook camp".  As always, it was a blast and as always, it was exhausting.  I get very stressed leading up to this retreat, just because there's always so much to do to prepare for it... not to mention just general life, my day job, my family and being in the midst of the holiday season.  Every time, I take everything including the kitchen sink and every time, I get sorely disappointed about how little I get done.  This time, while I still was packed to the gills, I did purposefully leave things home and I set a very small set of goals:

1)  Complete a calendar for a Christmas gift for one of the ex-laws
2)  Complete a pack of handmade cards and gift holder for one of the ex-laws
3)  Start, if not complete, creating my Christmas cards.
4)  And with all of the projects above, I set a goal to K.I.S.S.  (Keep It Simple, Sweetie)

What did I get done?  #1?  Check.  #2?  Check.  #3??  CHECK!  Well, I didn't get ALL of my Christmas cards done, but I did complete two sets of cards (two different designs), which is a huge start for me.  Wanna see?  I knew you would! 

Okay... lest I bore you with twelve months of calendar pages, here is January and July so you can get an idea of how well I kept it simple.

Nothing major, but I liked it when it was all done.  Let's see... here are a couple of the cards I made for the gift set.  I made a set of 6, two of each design:

And, last but not least, here's one of the Christmas cards I created.  I'm only showing one of the sets so far, because the other one may be going to a few people who might just glance at this blog, and really... why ruin the surprise?!

It was very flattering, too, that as I was making some of these cards, some of the women who were at the retreat were very flattering and complimentary.  One woman, in particular, bought all of the product I was using for one of my Christmas cards (not shown) to scraplift my card for herself.  I was very flattered and a little excited.

Is that wrong?

Anyway, I just wanted to share what I'd been up to since I've been missing in action recently.  I hope to get a little more scrapping done ... the rest of my holiday cards at least... this Thanksgiving weekend.  I do have some travel and work over the weekend and into next week, but I'd love to carve out a couple hours to get that done.

Wish me luck!

Full Scrap Mode Now!

I think we're having fun now.  Don't you?