O Christmas Tree

I love decorating the Christmas tree. It is hard for me to wait until after Thanksgiving to put it up. One month just doesn't seem long enough to have it out. I convinced Lee that since we were going to Arkansas for Thanksgiving we should put it up a little early so it would be waiting for us when we got home. We had another silver and gold tree. I loved it so much from last year..I just made a few additions. Here are some of the million pictures I took of our tree this year :)

 

Fall Leaves

 The leaves finally changed color here in the Dallas Metroplex a few weeks ago. I took my camera and went down the road to a neighborhood trail and took some pictures. I thought I would share a few...enjoy!

Christmas Table

I was in World Market last week and saw some really cute Christmas plates. I couldn't leave without getting a few! I am kind of dish crazy. We have lots of plates, bowls, glasses and serving dishes. I can't wait until we have a house so we can actually have room for them all! We have a set of everyday black and white dish sets and these new Christmas plates mix so well with them.  

I love them! I may have to go back and get a few more :)

Other than the two plates and the snowflake napkin rings (I made them!), everything else I used were things we already had. Our new dining chairs are not quite finished so that is why they are missing.

I love how the table turned out!

Christmas Craft: Glitter Ornaments

I love decorating for Christmas! Decorating the tree is my favorite. I found a link for some glitter ornaments on Pinterest and decided to try making some. Today is the Christmas Craft Link Party at Hi Sugarplum!. I thought I would share these glitter ornaments since they turned out so well!

Supplies: Glass Ornaments

                                        Mop & Glo (or any kind of floor wax)

Funnel

Q-Tips

Glitter

 I used an inexpensive glitter for the first ornament and I would not recommend that. After I did the first one, I went back and got Martha Stewart glitter from Michaels that I ended up liking a lot better. First, take the tops off the ornaments.

Put some Mop & Glo in the ornament and swirl it around covering the inside. Dump the excess back into the bottle. Wipe any bubbles with a Q-Tip.

Use a funnel (or I used an envelope with the tip cut off) to help pour the glitter into the ornament. Swirl the glitter around until the ornament is coated. Then put your finger over the opening and shake the ornament to make sure every spot is filled and the top of the ornament is covered. Dump the excess glitter back into the container. Let the ornaments dry with the tops off. Then put the tops back on and hang them on the tree! 

These pictures show the difference between the glitter. The inexpensive glitter is on the left and the Martha Stewart is on the right. They both look good. It just depends if you like the glitter packed and covering the ornament or not.

The ornaments were so quick and easy to make. The nice thing about these ornaments is the glitter is on the inside so you aren't covered in glitter if you touch them like most glitter ornaments. They look so pretty on the tree! Is anyone else making anything this Christmas?

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches

Lee really loves to cook. I really love to eat what Lee cooks :) I do help Lee though. My job is usually chopping up the veggies. Since joining the website Pinterest, I have found a lot of new recipes to try. I thought we could start sharing some of our favorite recipes. We just made this french dip recipe the other night to eat while decorating for Christmas. It was a very easy crock pot recipe and was really good!



Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
slightly adapted from Baking Bites

Beef Chuck Roast
16oz. Beef Broth
1 10.5oz. Can Condensed French Onion Soup
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 T Grill Seasoning
Salt and Pepper
French Rolls
Sliced Provolone Cheese


1. Trim excess fat off of beef roast and season meat all over with salt and pepper.
2. Pour beef broth, condensed French onion soup, red wine and garlic powder into slow cooker and place beef roast into liquid.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Slow cookers have different time intervals that you can select, so work with your cooker. Depending on how the settings on your slow cooker work, the time will vary.
4. Evenly distribute cheese between rolls and lightly toast the rolls and cheese. Divide beef onto rolls and spoon the beef juice into ramekins or other small bowls and eat everything while it is hot. Serve each sandwich with its own dip.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone....and Go Pack Go!!

 Packers vs 49ers    November 2009

Lambeau Field

 Packers vs 49ers    November 2009

Lambeau Field

 Packers vs 49ers    November 2009

Lambeau Field

Packers vs Dolphins    October 2010

Lambeau Field 

Packers vs Dolphins    October 2010

Lambeau Field  

Packers vs Dolphins    October 2010

Lambeau Field 

Trail Ride



Howdy y'all! You ready for a ride in the wild wild west? We got in our best cowboy attire and headed out to the ranch for Becky's birthday. Black Mustang Ranch is located just a short drive north on the trail of McKinney.

Our instruction of how to ride a horse consisted of climb up and swing your right leg over. As you can see from my smile, I am confident in my abilities to ride a horse even though I have never really ridden one. My horse was named Blazer which I learned during the ride was misleading. 

 Becky, on the other hand, was once in a horse show when she was a young buck. Our guides were very impressed with her skills and gave her a horse named Puppy. Puppy was a free spirit.

When Puppy wasn't kicking up dust on the trail.....

he was getting a snack in the trees!

I was taken by surprise as Becky and Puppy went speeding by me. I was supposed to have the fast horse.

But in reality, Blazer kept his slow and steady pace.

We stopped by a lake to take a break. Blazer needed a rest and took a little snooze. Notice Puppy trying to eat the branch and Blazer is perfectly posed and calm. It only took 10 minutes to get our horses together for a picture but we finally got it.

Becky was able to capture the fall foliage with Blazer leading the way on the trail. Just looking at that picture makes my butt hurt again.

At the end of the day, we all had a great time. Blazer was ready for a well deserved rest and hopefully Puppy got some feed. Becky and I, however, couldn't walk for the next 2 days.