The Giving Season

Wow – I got so many great ideas on homemade Christmas gifts!

  • Cookie mixes in jars
  • Chocolate covered popcorn
  • Framed Pictures
  • Picture Books
  • Ornaments
  • Accessories
  • Flavored Vinegars
  • Flavored Vodkas
  • Granola
  • Family Calendars with all the birthdays included
  • Mixed CDs
  • Homemade nut butters
  • Oranges studded with cloves
  • Hot cocoa mix
  • Soup mix
  • Sugar scrubs
  • Baked goods basket
  • Tea basket
  • Jam
  • Wine & Cheese Basket
  • Homemade scarves and blankets
  • Dinner invite

Nick and I already have a few things on the list of what we’re going to make to give for gifts this year, but I definitely have a few new ideas now!

I can’t wait to start getting things ready, and I guess we better start soon. Christmas is going to sneak up on me!

 

Lunch today turned out great, considering I really just wanted leftover pizza :)

I made a wrap with some TJ’s garlic hummus, spinach, romaine, and shredded carrots.

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Plus some Garden Salsa Sunchips on the side – the best flavor! I haven’t had these in forever. I love Sun Chips.

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And a clementine!

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Eh…today has been super busy with work…and I’ve got to get back to it.

 

But first –

Football games – this is Championship Weekend!

12:00 PM ET No. 5 Cincinnati at No. 15 Pittsburgh

12:00 PM ET No. 21 Houston at East Carolina

12:00 PM ET No. 23 West Virginia at Rutgers

3:00 PM ET New Mexico State at No. 6 Boise State

3:30 PM ET Arizona at No. 18 USC

4:00 PM ET No. 1 Florida vs. No. 2 Alabama*

6:30 PM ET No. 19 California at Washington

8:00 PM ET No. 3 Texas vs. No. 22 Nebraska*

8:00 PM ET No. 10 Georgia Tech vs. Clemson*

8:00 PM ET South Florida at Connecticut

11:30 PM ET Wisconsin at Hawaii

 

In keeping with the giving season…

*You can still give to help Holly raise money for the well in Cambodia! Just click here!

 

What’s the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received?

Best you’ve given?

 

Homemade

Good morning and happy Friday!

I’m feeling back to normal today, thank goodness, and am ready to start the weekend.

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My oatmeal is European today!

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My oatmeal base is the usual:

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1 cup water
  • pinch salt
  • cinnamon
  • 1/2 banana, sliced

But with fun toppings!

  • 1 Tbsp Nutella
  • 1 Tbsp biscuit cookies in the package I got yesterday from Nicole  :)

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Nutella is just so good – and I’m getting close to the end of that jar…

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These biscuit cookies remind me of those little cookies I used to get at McDonald’s when I was younger – does anyone remember those? They were shaped like the McDonald characters.

 

New Christmas / holiday related question!

What would you make for Christmas gifts to give to others?

My family is doing all (or mostly) homemade gifts this year, so we can save money for a trip to Honduras next summer + send money to Jovenes for things they need instead.

I already have a few ideas of what we’re going to make, but I can’t say them on here – my family reads the blog and I don’t want them to know! :)

 

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Pizza Pizza

I got a lot of random stuff done today! I love when that happens.

  • Personal Property Taxes – paid
  • Package picked up from post office – done
  • Clean out file cabinet/sort bills and paperwork – done
  • Gather stuff for a fun giveaway coming up :) – working on it!

My stomach is still a bit off, but it’s better than it was last night so I’m hoping I’m completely back to normal by the morning. I guess we’ll see?  At least it’s nor worse, right?

Fun thing today!

Nicole and I decided to do a swap a few months ago, and I got to pick up my package from her today!

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There was so much stuff! It felt like Christmas and was so much fun to see things I’ve never heard of before.

Sodas, bars (mini Lindts!), candy, Swiss ovaltine, I think(?), Ricola!, Toblerone…

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I’ve seen these Eat Natural bars on a few blogs before and am excited to try them – all the flavors sound great. I also got a ton of little chocolates and candy…

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…this “crunchy cream” which smells like a malted chocolate spread (!)…

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…a Lindt Sea Salt bar straight from Switzerland  :)

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Thanks so much Nicole!!! So sweet to send all of this! I can’t wait to try it all.

After that excitement, I took it easy on the couch for a while with a few episodes of One Tree Hill  :) 

I was all ready to make pizza for dinner around 5:30, but Nick called and said he was going to be a little late getting home so I watched some news and worked on something for work for a bit until he got home.

And then – Pizza Pizza time!

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2nd confession of the day? I used premade crusts tonight.

I was going to make my own, but I just did not feel up to it this afternoon – and these turned out pretty good!

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They were Mama Mary’s Thin Crust and came 2 to a package, which was perfect for tonight.

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We had 2 pizzas, mostly because I wanted both kinds and because that meant we would definitely have leftovers for tomorrow night.

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This one had:

  • homemade tomato sauce (tomato sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, Italian seasonings)
  • diced red onion
  • cremini mushrooms
  • 6-7 slices pepperoni, diced
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese

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And this one was awesome!

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This one had:

  • 3 Tbsp Mezzetta Pesto (as the “sauce”)
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese
  • 1 roasted garlic chicken sausage, sliced
  • diced red onion

I had 2 small slices of each with my salad of romaine, carrots, red onion, and garlic almonds…

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…and then I had one more slice of each.

I’m pretty full + happy now :)

I normally wouldn’t have this much pizza, but I never had a snack this afternoon…and it was just too good!

The football game comes on in 10 minutes…I may make it half time…but probably not  ;) The late games are just as bad a late tv shows: too hard to stay up for!

 

Do you
have any new/different pizza combinations to try?
I love normal pizzas (cheese, pepperoni, veggie), but it’s fun trying new flavors!

 

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Confession Time

Today has been busy, but in a weird way. My normal work tasks have been the same, but I have a few other things to work on that are taking up my time.

I’m actually taking this afternoon off from work – my stomach still just feels kind of off from that shot yesterday, and I got everything done this morning at work that needed to be done so it will be nice to relax and take it easy for a few hours.

I have to go run some errands (post office, pay some bills, etc) after I eat, but at least it’s not raining today! 

Lunch was quick, easy, and delicious.

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Even though the rice/quinoa mix is gone from dinner last night, I just heated up a serving of the TJ’s Indian dish/green bean mix and had it with our last whole wheat Naan with some hummus.

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This garlic hummus is awesome! Super garlicky, but not that fresh garlic burn, you know?

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This, with a cup of water, for the heat + spice = perfect gloomy day lunch.

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Okay, I’ll also give a confession.

I am obsessed with One Tree Hill, but this just happened like in the past 3 weeks! I know! I don’t know what it is…I’ve caught a few reruns on tv and am hooked. Of course, I’m about 6 years late on this, but I’ve been watching the reruns and want to get the seasons on Netflix, but I know Nick won’t watch them with me…I’ll need to just take like 2 weeks off from work to catch up! ;) I haven’t watched any of the new episodes yet because I don’t want to get confused.

 

Are there shows you just HAVE to watch? Have you ever found one and rented/gone back and watched all the seasons to see it from the beginning?

I used to love Dawson’s Creek in high school, and this kind of reminds me of that, but with crazier stuff! I mean, that stalker that Peyton had? I think that was the first episode rerun I saw and it just hooked me in – crazy.

 

*Football tonight!

9:00 PM ET
No. 16 Oregon State at No. 7 Oregon, ESPN