Suzy Homemaker
I'm featuring 3 dishes in this edition of Suzy Homemaker. First up, I had seen a few recipes for sausage and potatoes and wondered how good that would be as a meal. So, I found a recipe I liked (on Pinterest of course) and gave it a whirl. It ended up being pretty good. It got a thumbs up from the Hubby so, I guess it'll officially be added to the list of dinner options:
Next one puts a smile on my face to think about. Kelvin has always loved when I fry catfish. Probably because I hardly ever do it. I like to fry it outside so that my house doesn't smell like grease for days. Nevertheless, I set my electric skillet up on the back porch and did my thing. Kelvin was out and about running errands while I was cooking, so when I was done I simply sent him the pic you'll see below to let him know one of his favorites that I cook was ready to be served:
I always love it when Kelvin and I pair up to cook a meal together. Kelvin cooks a mean pork chop on the grill and I don't do too bad on sides; so we teamed up to create this delicious dinner. Here you'll see grilled pork chop, spicy fiesta ranch new potatoes, and steamed green beans with butter and garlic. Yum yum yum yum yum....delicioso!! Lol!
Last but not least is the whirlwind of a night I had making cookies for Brooklyn's class Christmas cookie deco party. I googled a sugar cookie cutout recipe online (not on Pinterest) with low sugar content and it was super easy. Thought I'd post a few pics of what it did to my counter tops.
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Craft Corner
As promised here are the rest of the wreaths that I made for all the pre-orders I took for the 2012 Holiday Season. This was the first AND WILL BE THE LAST time I dabble in Craft Cornering for money...lol!
Up next in Craft Corner, take a look-see at my first stab at making Brooklyn a tutu! Of course this was a result of a tutorial I saw on Pinterest, but not too bad, huh? I probably paid about $8 in all for material to make this and I'm sure I would have paid about $35 had I went out looking for something like this to buy already made. It came in handy for her first Christmas performance with her dance class at a nursing home not to far from the dance school. She was definitely looking pretty festive with it on :-)
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Natural Hair Following
I've been really good about sticking to my regimen here lately with the natural hair. Weekly deep conditioning and daily moisturizing have helped a lot. I'm also able to wear a protective style the first couple of days after I deep condition and just evolve that style over the course of the week into several other styles until it's time for my next wash and deep condition. I've also managed to make sure to watch a video or two from my fave girl to follow on YouTube to keep me inspired to rock my natural do's. So here's a few of the styles I've worn here recently:
This one is called a Bantu knot-out. I posted a pic of one version of this style on my last post (I think) where I started with wet hair and had to wait for it to dry before I took the knots down. This one was done on blown-out dry hair and I used one of my new favorite products (Isoplus loc and twist molding cream) to get it to set extrememly quickly. I put the knots in and an hour later had the hair style. It was super neat and precise for work that morning and by the evening it was big and fun. I loved it!
This next style was simply two flat coils on either side of a middle part. This is my go-to style close to the end of the week or when whatever style I'm wearing is getting old and I don't have time to wet my hair and start a new style. I'm usually able to dress it up by wearing nice earrings and making sure I have on makeup when I wear my hair like this.
Up next was a wash-and-go. I typically don't wear my hair like this, but it didn't look too bad when I did it this time. I used Eco Styler gel with Olive Oil and it worked out great. It even evolved over the next few days into a not so bad looking pull back.
Last but not least was a style that made me feel like a little girl when I first did it. After a deep condition, I gelled my hair into a ponytail and left some bangs out in the front. I then used some of my Isoplus Loc and Twist cream and put my hair in the ponytail and my bangs into several medium sized two-strand twists. It made for a fun little hair do. After the first few days, I pulled the bangs back and pinned them to the ponytail and wore that for a few days. Finally, I took the twists down and the ponytail holder off and made a grown up looking up-do out of it for Christmas parties and church over the weekend. Had a lot of fun with this one! I forgot to take pics of the second phase of this one so I only have the first and last phase but I'm sure you can imagine the twisted bangs pulled back :-)
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Daddy-Daughter Breakfast Time
Real men sit at the Dora the Explorer Table and have breakfast with their daughters :-)
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When She's Tired....She's Tired
Anyone who has kids or spent any time around kids knows they can be a big ol' ball of energy at all times!! That would explain why when they crash...they crash...lol!
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A Recent Facebook Post
I'm adding this pic because it's just too funny not to share with my blog followers. This is how Brooklyn left her doll sitting on the table one day. Never mind the fact that the doll is naked...I was too tickled by the pose she was striking...lol!
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A Little 'Tude
I love these little plates I saw at Hobby Lobby here recently. They remind me so much of my days working in the retail pharmacy...lol!
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Thanksgiving at the Loring Estates
I love spending time with family on the holidays!! It's my favorite thing to do. Especially now that I'm in the house with my own little family--it's always such a warm comforting feeling to pretend as if I'm back in my childhood days reminiscing with my parents and extended family. I also love spending time with Kelvin's family and being able to be just as comfortable around them as I am my own family. This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house and even though Christmas was at our house last year, this felt like the first time for us to showcase our culinary skills. I think we did pretty good! Kelvin had a smoker built and perfected his smoking skills and delivered a 2 turkeys and a ham that were awesome!! I brought Super Suzy Homemaker out and pumped out several sides. The food was great, but because I was having sinus and allergy troubles and had been taking Claritin-D my appetite was shot :-( The result- I actually lost some weight...lol! But it wasn't because the food wasn't good though...
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My 2012 Black Friday Story
First of all let me say that I think I might be on the bah-humbug side of Black Friday starting on Thanksgiving. What's Black FRIDAY about that? Anyhoo, we didn't have anything pressing enough to bust through the doors for ourselves for this year, but since Mama Pat was keeping Brooklyn I volunteered to do her Black Friday doorbusting shopping for her. My mission-- a toaster, a coffeemaker, and a griddle from JC Penney which did not actually open until 6am Friday morning. So, I was able to get rested up for it. I had decided that since I was not out to get any fancy tv's or electronic equipment surely I didn't need to camp out for JC Penney, but was I wrong. When I drove onto McCain Mall's parking lot at 5:45am the line to get into JC Penney was pretty long. Since it was raining, I decided I would go inside and wait around the mall entrance to get into the store and just go in after everyone was done busting the door. I put a pic above of everyone surrounding the door. So, I decided I would hold the wall up beside the door so I wouldn't be in the way of anyone getting in. At 6 am, a JC Penney employee comes to the spot I was standing and begins to open the door, so I'm the 2nd person in the door!! Feeling and hearing the impending rush of the crowd now behind me I did what came natural to do...I took off running...lol!! I was only able to secure 1 out of 3 of the items I was sent there for, but that was because JC Penney pulled a fast one and didn't even have the other 2 items in stock....BOOOOOOO JC PENNEY!!!! I still had a good time thought :-)
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Let the Christmas Crazy...Begin!!
Although it wasn't the day after Thanksgiving, we managed to get our Christmas deco up in a timely manner this year. Now that I'm self-proclaimed crafty, I definitely think it's time for me to step my holiday deco game up. So this will be the last that you see of some of these decorations. I was hoping to be waiting in line to get in Hobby Lobby and Eye Catching Decor on December 26, but we all know how that turned out!!!
Brooklyn's Holiday
Although this is Brooklyn's 4th Christmas it almost feels like her 1st one to me because she's at the age where it's all making sense to her. She knows it's Christmas time. She knows who Santa is. She's helped decorate. She put all the presents I wrap under the tree. There's just been so much to do and I must admit I've had just as much ( and probably more ) fun than she's had along the way. In the pics below, you'll see pics at Christmas Lane, getting ready for Christmas card pics, her class cookie deco party, her school Christmas program, and of course a pic with Santa. As I started to type this post, we were getting ready for the 3rd Christmas party we were taking part in for the weekend which is our annual Christmas cookie deco party with our cousins. Then it was time to have our annual Christmas Eve night in with Mama Pat, Papa, Aunt Brandi, Aubrey, and Presley!! I just love the holidays. So here's a whirlwind look of the holiday season for Brooklyn so far. I'll post the culmination of it all on the next post. I've probably already overdosed you for now:
