merry christmas!

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!

Peace, love, health and happiness to you and yours. :)

cranberry walnut bourbon goodness

I got this recipe from my friend Colleen last year when she brought us a meal during Gary's stroke recovery/rehab. I fell in love with this dessert immediately. Moist, colorful, very flavorful and so easy to prepare. You NEED to make this cake...really!

cranberry celebration bundt cake
[ CRANBERRY CELEBRATION BUNDT CAKE ]


INGREDIENTS
1 - 18.25 oz. box vanilla cake mix
1 - 3.5 oz. package vanilla instant pudding
5 medium eggs
¼ cup bourbon
½ cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup Private Selection Cranberry Celebration (can be found in the deli)

ORANGE GLAZE
2 TBSP orange juice
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar

[DIRECTIONS]
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray Bundt cake pan with non-stick spray. Combine first six ingredients in a bowl. Fold in Private Selection Cranberry Celebration. Pour cake batter into Bundt pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cake cool and top with orange glaze.
Then share it with your family and friends and wait for the accolades. Or don't share, I won't tell. I'm not one to judge.

It's good stuff, you don't know what you're missing!

yep, yep, yep...we're goin' to the zoo

A couple weeks ago, Michael, Carole and I went to visit my aunt at work. This may sound like a boring thing to do...visit someone at work, but a visit to HER work place is anything but boring. That's because she works at the Columbus Zoo. I'm not sure of Suzi's exact title, but I think she is the Promotions Director. Suzi and her staff coordinate all of the animals used by Jungle Jack Hannah during his visits (and her visits) to Good Morning America, David Letterman, etc. etc.

That day, I was visiting her to work out some details about a charity auction I was working on with The Care Train of Union County, but it turned into a behind-the-scenes tour for us...as usual. Waaaay cool! Suzi also hosted my wedding shower and baby shower at the zoo (way back when)...which was so unique, so amazing and SO FUN!

Our visit started off when Suzi asked if we wanted to see the two baby cheetahs. Ummm, that would be a YES PLEASE! They were only 24 days old when we saw them - so CUTE! It was feeding time when we arrived (that's my aunt on the right).

After they were fed, we were able to hold them (OMG, OMG)!

Michael up close with a baby cheetah and leaning in for a kiss.

Carole getting some soft snuggles...

Aaaawwww...

Hard to believe these little babies grow up to look like this (below). The big cheetahs were very interested in Michael...as a snack...really. Michael didn't even notice - he was glued to the movie on his iPod.

Then her staff brought out a snow leopard for us to check out and pet...but only for a short while because it was getting a little rambunctious and unpredictable (they can jump and they are quick!)

Check out the size of its paws...and notice flattened (I'm done with this) ears.

We saw lots of other animals too (a fennec fox, a dingo, a sloth)---I completely forget the names of some of them. This first one is a clouded leopard.

This is an albino boa constrictor.

What a great time (as always, thanks Suzi-love you tons)! I'm so glad that we live so close to such a fabulous zoo. Make sure you get to the zoo for the Wildlights before January 3rd...it's amazing!

summer dreamin'

Michael helped me clean off the deck and prepare it for winter the other day, when it was a balmy 45 degrees out (it's much colder now).

I think he was a little disappointed his pool wasn't filled with water. Any more, the winter months just seem to get colder and last longer. The thing is, winter hasn't even started yet...

Brrrr, I just get shivers thinking about it.

breakfast casserole

When I need to feed a large gathering for breakfast, I usually make this warm, hearty dish. A good 'ole breakfast casserole.

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS
1 pound pork sausage
1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated crescent roll dough
8 eggs, beaten
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano


Place sausage in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Line the bottom of the greased baking dish with crescent roll dough, and sprinkle with crumbled sausage. In a large bowl, mix beaten eggs, mozzarella, and cheddar. Season the mixture with oregano and pour over the sausage and crescent rolls. Bake 45-50 minutes in the preheated oven or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.


Oh, you could also mix in any kind of veggies or leftovers, creating a shepard's pie kind of breakfast casserole. The possibilities are endless!




I'm sure most of you have a favorite breakfast you prepare for the fam...please feel free to share the recipe. I'd love to add something more to my arsenal!

thankful

Thankful for our family and friends. Thankful for full bellies from good food. Thankful for playing games (Tripoli, euchre, iTouch games) and enjoying each others' company. Thankful for laughing so hard we were crying (one wild and rambunctious game of 6-handed euchre...I think the girls were ahead by like 30 points).

What a wonderful Thanksgiving day! Hope yours was just as nice.

where have I been?

I'll give you three guesses where I've been:

1. Some far-away exotic vacation, complete with massages every day, delicious food and generous beverages, and beautiful scenery.

2. In line to claim a gigantic winning lottery ticket.

3. Under mountains of dirty, icky laundry caused by one little boy that has had (and still has) a stomach virus for almost 2 weeks now, that the doctor has said we "just have to ride it out". Let alone being buried by all of the other things that need to get done, that are NOT getting done because this little boy is home sick and is very cuddly (and at times, that equals needy); and also having 2 wonderful online classes that I registered for much earlier that are going on right now.

I would SO opt for number 1 or 2 right now. Number 1 and 2 combined would be even better! I mean, who wouldn't want an exotic vacation or millions of dollars. :) Unfortunately, it's number 3.

Oh, and the icing on the cake is that Gary is having symptoms similar to his stroke last October, so we've been calling doctors and arranging for tests to figure out what's going on, how do we fix it, etc. That is the biggest concern right now.

There's always good news and bad news in life, for example:

• BAD-I got laid off; GOOD-I am available to take care of Michael when he's sick (what employer would've let me take 2 WEEKS off for what he has right now?)
• BAD-our 14 year old washing maching broke; GOOD-we bought a brand new one with a Sanitary Cycle that is seriously being put to the test
• BAD-Gary is having stroke symptoms; GOOD-we're able to catch it early and hopefully prevent something more serious

I'll be back later...once things are headed back on track! It's all good baby...

time sure does fly....vacation-part 1

Strap yourselves in, this post is gonna be a long one. In fact, I'm going to make it a two-parter.

I swear, I think we were just on the quickest vacation ever! It went by much too quick, that's for sure. So we had to make even more crazy arrangements to get to Florida than I previously mentioned. Refunding G's one-way ticket that we purchased at the last minute so that G could be a pallbearer for the funeral (which was an honor to say the least). It worked out better that way, so G's dad didn't have to drive down with the boat by himself. They even made a little side stop to see our niece, Christine, at Moody AFB.

G's mom, Michael and I were on our own Friday afternoon, as well as Saturday and Sunday before the boys made it down. Well, whenever Carole and I are on our own we tend to get a little crazy. One day I'll have to spill some of those stories: driving by the baseball players during spring training in Tampa, trips to the nursery for plants and mulch, the first time [and not the last time] I called her a beyotch during a card game, the truck stop tour to Pittsburgh, the shopping sprees, it goes on & on.

We had just picked up our rental car and we weren't even 15 minutes from the airport when we decided to stop at Rain Forest Cafe for lunch and to get our shop on at Downtown Disney. Nevermind the fact that we still needed to get all of the groceries for the week and get to our little cabin on the lake an hour and a half away. Let's just say that grocery shopping at 11pm is so much easier - no crowds or screaming kids to upset Michael. Yes, Michael was a trooper this whole time and was pretty pleasant as can be for being up so late.

Transformer (that matches Michael's pj's) and dragon made from Legos.

$37,500 for a jewel-encrusted Cinderella castle....CRAZY!

The best part about Rain Forest for Michael was finding the cool rocks to play with and "talking" gma Carole into buying him some as a souvenir.

Catching rule-breaking rebel Michael in the act (his way or the highway, baby). He was trying to play in the pool of water in the rocks.

The next day, we hit the road again to visit my 80-year-old gma...Michael's great gma. I started calling her GG this trip (that's what my sister and I used to call HER mom), so Michael could distinguish between gma Carole and her. Anyhow, we did the usual lunch and errand running and chatting and hugging.

Then made our way back to the cabin by 10pm...earlier than the day before, but by this time poor Michael has been in Florida, at the lake, for two days and has yet to see the water.

We decide that it is finally Michael's turn to really enjoy himself, so Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, we do nothing except hang out lakeside at the beach.

Loving Michael's 'turtle tracks' down to the water.

He thought it was fun jumping on me to make me scream and laugh. He wasn't afraid of the water at all. In fact, it took all we could to keep him from drinking the lake water. Eeewww.

The next best thing to playing in the sand and water, is the fun of riding in gpa's boat with daddy.

Gary had Michael drive the boat all by himself. The thing is, Michael only wanted to make right hand turns so we kept going in one big circle.

(Please, please look away from the big spit at the beginning, I had no idea that was gonna happen..shudder; ick!)

Michael signing "GO"...he loves going fast. There is no fishing going on in gpa's boat when Michael's on board.

To be continued....don't fly away, there's more in the second post....

No, really...come back. I know I'm getting carried away with all the pictures, but I promise it's almost over.

time flies when you're on vacation-part 2

I knew you'd come back for part 2!

My gma (yea, GG!) gave us 4 passes to be used at either Busch Gardens or Sea World (part of her retirement package-nice, huh). We chose to go to Busch Gardens...did you know that they pass out free beer there? To sample... kind of like wine...with cheese and chocolates? We had no idea, but it really makes sense because of the tie to Anheuser Busch...duh. It was pretty enjoyable, not only for the free beer, but because it was air conditioned in the beer sampling room. It was 90-frickin' degrees and very humid every day of our trip, so that sampling room was a big hit with this hot chick.

Cheers!

Because of the tickets savings, we bought the optional Serengeti Safari package that loaded us up in a big open-topped jeep that drove us right next to the animals. Really pretty cool.

But it got waaaay cooler when we got to PET and FEED the giraffes. So exciting!! Even Michael held up his lettuce leaf w/G's help and fed a couple of giraffes. We all had such a great time!

Gar is so tall that when the giraffes were leaning into the jeep for the lettuce leaves, they kept bumping into him and knocking his hat off.

There was one giraffe that evidently didn't want me to take pictures because it bopped me on the head with its mouth and then got me again when he bopped his mouth onto my camera lens.

Before we left for the safari, we stopped by the Lory Landing to feed the birds (lorikeets, I think?). At first, they startled me when they landed all over my arms and head to get to the food, so I handed the food off to Gar and Carole. Michael did okay through it all...the birds didn't seem as squawky as the lorikeets at the Columbus Zoo. We left when he tried to squeeze one of the birds sitting on Gar's arm.

We got back to the cabin in time for one last sunset...

The next morning, we packed our bags, cleaned up the cabin, and said our goodbyes to the Gray's (who we rent the cabin from and take such good care of us, making sure we have everything we need---good people, they are). We also said goodbye to the boys, who had to stop off in Myrtle Beach for a few days of golf with the guys.

Later that day, we were back home in 54 degree weather wishing we were still at the lake. Those days sure went by fast. Can't wait to do it again next year!