Menu Planning Monday

After the holiday break, it's time to get back to our regularly scheduled menu planning!

Sunday: Baked Mostaccioli with turkey sausage and salad
Monday: Chicken Parmesan Paninis
Tuesday: Make your own pizza night (bbq for me, cheese for Michael)
Wednesday: Puff Pastry Chicken with boursin cheese
Thursday: Pesto shrimp pasta
Friday: Take-out

25 Days of Christmas Journal

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it is time to look forward to Christmas and December.

December is such a fun month with so many fun activities going on: picking our Christmas tree, decorating the house, shopping, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, parties, etc. Last year I kept a December journal to capture all the fun things we did to celebrate Christmas. This year I am doing the same thing but I pre-made a scrapbook for each day so all I have to do is put in pictures and journal about what we did. I think it's a neat keepsake for our family to do every year especially as our family changes and hopefully as we add little ones!

These are some pictures of what the book looks like. I got my supplies on Etsy. I'm going to record my pictures and journal on our blog as well to help me catalog the 25 days just in case I don't have time to scrapbook it everyday.

My parent's Christmas tree

Ever since I can remember we have put up my parent's Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving. It started out as a way to help my mom because she would be out of the house at 4 am wrestling and elbowing women for the latest Cabbage Patch doll or IOU sweatshirt my sister and I were begging for that year. So my sister and I would drag up the 30 boxes (I might be exaggerating, but only by a few!) of Christmas decorations and start setting them all up in the house. By the time my mom would return in the late afternoon the house would be almost ready for Christmas, except the tree.

My sister and I would assemble and set-up the tree, which is no small feat, believe me. The tree is 9 foot tall and has all individual branches that need to be shaped and inserted into the tree. We would wait for my mom to come home and she would put the lights and garland on the tree and then all four of us would put the ornaments on as a family.

Their tree is not one of those fussy, theme trees with no character. Each ornament on their tree has its own story to tell and we tell these same stories every year. The stories are mostly funny especially the terrible handmade ornaments and old embarrassing photos. We can remember where every ornament was bought or vacation it was from or who gave it to us. It's a stroll down memory lane every year. It is honestly one of my favorite parts of Christmas; it's the kick-off in a sense. It is even more fun now that I am married and Michael gets to take part and Arla has Teddy to take part as well. I can't wait until we have kids to take part in this long-standing family tradition.

Here are some pictures of the Ebeling family tree for 2009.

 

My parents go all out on the outside of the house as well. My dad is an expert in exterior lumination!! Here's a view of the outside. We had the grand unveiling last night!

Our 2009 Christmas Tree

Today instead of venturing out at 4 am to buy a $50 laptop or get a doorbuster for 50% off footie pajamas, we ventured out to pick our fresh Christmas tree. This is our third year getting a real tree. I had never had one until we bought our own home. We always had faux trees in the Ebeling household. I love having a fresh tree. The smell is amazing and it really doesn't create the mess people make it out to be. As long as you keep your tree watered, you shouldn't have any problems; plus there are specific varieties of trees that are known for better needle retention.

So here she is, the 2009 Dworianyn Christmas Tree! I can't wait to see her all dressed up with lights and ornaments! Oh, and by the way, I've decided Christmas trees are girls because they get all dressed up, wear skirts, sparkle like crazy and they love presents close by!!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's hoping yours is bountiful, blessed, and family filled. Have a great one everybody!

Putting the "thanks" back into Thanksgiving

I just have to say, Thanksgiving really gets the shaft.

As soon as all the tricks and treats are handed out, it seems like the Christmas trees pop up overnight in every store and Christmas music starts playing the first day of November. I mean don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but I think each holiday deserves its own appreciation. I love Thanksgiving because to me it is about family and reflecting on how lucky we are. I think this is even more appropriate this year with everything that has happened in the world in the past year.

So I promise not to give Thanksgiving the shaft this year and in that spirit, here is my list of what I'm thankful for in 2009.

1. I have the most incredible husband and we make each other happy everyday
2. We are so lucky to be surrounded by wonderful family
3. We both have great jobs in a very unsteady economy
4. We are healthy and making a conscious effort to be even more so
5. Our family and parents all live close so we can see each other often
6. We have a beautiful home and a warm bed at night
7. We have a fun and crazy puppy to love
8. We are planning to expand our family in 2010
9. We were able to go on 3 vacations this year and have 2 planned next year
10. We have goals and big plans for the future and are getting close to obtaining them

Menu Planning Monday

Well it's a short cooking week for me since it is Thanksgiving and I'm not the one doing all the cooking. I only have to make an appetizer for Thanksgiving.

Sunday: Slow cooked bbq turkey legs and salad
Monday: Pizza and salad (we're celebrating Michael's brothers' birthday at my in-laws)
Tuesday: Baked mostaccioli with turkey sausage and salad
Wednesday: Katsu don
Thursday: Thanksgiving, I'm making stuffed mushrooms
Friday: Going out with my parents after setting up their Christmas tree (It's a family tradition)

Weekend Recap

We have had a great weekend so far. I am looking forward to just relaxing and spending the day cuddled up together. Yesterday we were going from 6 am till 10 pm so its nice to have a day full of rest. In fact, Michael and Porkchop are cuddled up on the couch taking a little afternoon siesta right now.

Yesterday we headed down to my parents and had a little Christmas photo shoot for our annual Christmas card. I already ordered them from Shutterfly this afternoon since they are running a 30% off special and free shipping.This is the winning photo, I will not reveal the final card design until they are out!

We went to 3 Christmas craft shows that were down in my parents area and I got a bunch of new Christmas decorations for the house. I also got a great necklace and headband I'm going to wear on Thanksgiving. It was a fun day spending time with my family. We hung out at my parents the rest of the day and went to dinner and then we went back to their house to try out the new Toy Story Mania game we got for Wii. It was super fun; it is just like the ride in Walt Disney World. My parents had a blast playing it! We ended up leaving their house a little after 9 and came home and crashed.

This morning we got up and went out for breakfast and then went to see New Moon! I loved it; I thought it was even better than Twilight. We went to a 9 am show so it wasn't crazy, but I was surprised how packed the theatre was for that time on a Sunday morning. After the show we ran all our errands and then went grocery shopping and grabbed some lunch. I am getting ready to put some turkey drumsticks in the slow cooker for dinner tonight and just relax.

I am not too bummed that the weekend is coming to a close, because I only have to work Monday and Tuesday this week, which is so nice. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and putting up the Christmas decorations next weekend! We are going to pick out our fresh tree on Wednesday so it will be all ready to decorate on Saturday. I will post our menu later today or tomorrow. Have a great week everyone!

So excited for the weekend!

I am so looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow I am working from home which is always a nice break from getting up at 5 am and heading into the city and getting home at 5:30 or 6. Michael and I usually have lunch together which is always a nice treat! On Saturday we are heading down to my hometown to see my parents and go to 3 local Christmas craft shows we go to every year. We're also going to do a little family photo shoot with Michael, Porkchop and I for our annual Christmas Card. Then we are going to stay and go out to dinner with my parents.

On Sunday, Michael and I are going to go see New Moon, which I am super excited about; I can't wait!!! After the movie we're gonna do grocery shopping and just relax and watch football or try out some new Wii games we just got. We got Toy Story Mania which is a 3D game based off a ride in Disney World that we love and then we also go the new Super Mario Bros. game as well. I'll post some reviews after we play them.

I'll have more details and hopefully some pictures after the weekend! Have a great one everybody!!

Menu Planning Monday

Here is our menu for the week. There were a few things from last week we didn't get a chance to make so they were bumped to this week.

Sunday: Parmesan crusted pork tenderloin with chive mashed potatoes and salad
Monday: Honey chicken tenders and salad
Tuesday: BBQ turkey legs
Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan and spaghetti rigati
Thursday: Chicken quesadillas and spanish rice
Friday: Sesame Chicken and fried rice (this sesame chicken is honestly way better than take out!)

Weekend Recap

This past week was a rough one. With everything that happened last weekend, it just continued the rest of the week. Work was extremely crazy this past week, and Friday was particularly bad. Of course it was Friday the 13th so I think that had something to do with it.

I was having the day from hell and then my mom called me to tell me that squirrels chewed through all of the wires on her engine and she had to have her car towed from work and then she got home and got the mail and had a weird letter from some random company thanking her for her purchase only to find out her credit card was stolen. She went online and there were 13 different transactions charged to her card. So my day was not that bad, but I felt terrible for my parents since they have had just the roughest week with Chewy passing away to have to deal with anything else.

I had to work late on Friday so I missed a dinner with my in-laws which stunk, but Michael was able to go. He then surprised me by coming home with some special surprises for me! He went to a holiday open house at a local nursery by us and bought me all kinds of cool Christmas ornaments and Christmas decorations. It was so sweet and just what I needed after the past day and week. He always knows how to make me feel better. He also informed me that he hired a cleaning lady to come on Monday so that I didn't have to spend all weekend cleaning! He's the best!

On Saturday, we did some organizing and cleaned out the garage and put away all our seasonal stuff like patio furniture cushions, hoses, etc. We put away all the Halloween tubs and Michael also pulled out all my tubs of Christmas decorations for the day after Thanksgiving! I'm so happy everything is all organized and put away and I am even more excited to come home tomorrow to a sparkling house after the cleaning lady!

On Saturday night we went to an engagement party for my cousin Chris. He is actually getting married on New Year's Eve but they are only having a handful of people so this is the only celebration we get to share with them. Here's a picture of Michael and I from the party.

After the party we went back to my mom and dads and hung out for awhile. Then we got a great gift from my parents. My mom has an amazing Dept. 56 village for Christmas with literally hundreds of pieces. She never gets to put everything out because she has so many pieces and it takes up so much space. So, my sister and I were lucky enough to get some of my parent's collection. We each walked away with an entire village we got so many pieces. I can't wait to put it up in a couple of weeks!

Today Michael and I did our ritual breakfast and grocery shopping for the week. Then we spent the rest of the day shopping for Christmas and we are all done! It was great, and I am super excited for some of the surprise gifts we have to give this year! I'm just glad we are done, it takes a lot of pressure and stress out of the holidays and now we can just enjoy it.

It was such a great weekend and we got so much accomplished, I love that feeling. I feel a lot less stressed and I am excited that the holidays are so close. I have one full week of work left this week and then I only have to work 2 days Thanksgiving week. I can't wait!

What's for dinner???

 Most people dred this question every night, I used to dread it too. It's not easy to work all day long and then get home and be hungry and then have to figure out what you are going to make to feed your family. Every night when we first moved in together, Michael and I use to go back and forth with, "What do you have a taste for?", "What do you want to eat?". It was grueling; and then we probably would just give up and go out to eat. So that's why I decided to start planning weekly menus.

It just makes life easier. I've mentioned before that every Sunday Michael and I go to breakfast and while we're there we plan our menu and then make our grocery list based off of the menu. We also bring the Sunday paper with us and check the flyers for Jewel and see if there are any coupons we can use. It's really efficient and it works for us.

I think there are two main benefits to menu planning: 1) You always know what you are going to make for dinner. I will say that we don't always make what's on the menu on the assigned day, sometimes we change the order depending on if we have a taste for something else that day. 2) It saves a lot of money. We only buy the items we need to make the meals on our menu that week. If you go into the store with no plan, list, or menu you usually just buy what looks good and you end up buying a lot more than you need and then most of it ends up going to waste. The only thing we will usually buy that is not necessarily part of the menu is meat. If chicken is on sale for instance for $1.99 a pound, I will buy 12 or 15 pounds and then individually freeze the chicken breasts for upcoming weeks. Anytime meat that we like is on sale I usually try to buy a lot of it so we have it for a couple of months. I also try to plan my menus according to what meat I have in the freezer so it gets used up and then we don't have to buy meat every week

So how do I decide what is on the menu? Well I love to cook of course and we have our favorite dishes that I make regularly, but then I rely heavily on a lot of the blogs I read. I use my Google Reader to read all of my blogs so I can star and catalog any good recipes that come along. When we're in the need of some new recipes, I go to my Google Reader and pick something new to try.

Menu planning really works for us and takes the stress out of that dreaded, "What's for dinner?" question.

Warning: Chaos + Menu Tuesday

I'm running about 2 days behind on just about everything right now. It's been a rough couple of days with a death in Michaels' family and then the loss of Chewbacca. Everything is a little chaotic at the moment. Work is super busy; it just feels like everything is happening at once, it's nuts! I have all my Halloween decorations down but they are currently residing on my dining room table waiting to be packed away, hopefully this happens before the Christmas stuff goes up in 2 weeks!! The house is a mess, according to me, Michael just thinks I'm crazy! I barely got the bathrooms cleaned and laundry done this weekend. I am hoping for a very quiet and productive weekend coming up so I can get everything back in order. I'm too much of a planner type girl sometimes I guess; I have a hard time dealing with the chaos.

Anyways, we amazingly were able to get our menu planning and grocery shopping done on Sunday, so here is our menu a few days late. I still plan on doing a post on menu planning, I just don't know when, hopefully this weekend.

Monday: We ate at my parents and had ribs, onion potatoes and salad (It was delish!)
Tuesday: Turkey Sausage Ragu - I am super excited for this new recipe, it sounds delicious!
Wednesday: Buffalo Chicken quesadillas
Thursday: BBQ Chicken pizza
Friday: Parmesean crusted pork tenderloin and crash potatoes

In memorium

 I got a call from my mom tonight that they were rushing our family dog Chewbacca to the hospital tonight and when she called me back she told me that they had to put Chewy down because he had a brain hemorrhage. Chewy had been having a pretty rough year, he had been getting chemo for cancer but it had worked, and he was cancer free. Chewy was 9, I was a junior in high school when we got him. Yorkies usually live 12-15 years so its really hard that he is gone so soon. It is never easy to say goodbye to anyone, even a pet. I believe pets are true members of your family. Chewy was such a great dog; super loving with such a funny personality.

 My parents are going to have a really hard time without him. When they found out that he had cancer my parents said that they wouldn't get another dog once Chewy was gone, but I really hope they consider it. My dad especially needs a dog around since he is retired. It gives him a reason to go for walks and keeps him company during the day.

We're going to miss you Chewbacca...

How do you like me now?

The Dworianyn Love Nest has been renovated and has a new look! It was time for an update from the standard Blogger templates I was using. I got my new look from Shabby Blogs. They have all these super cute free templates for your blog and they were very easy to apply. They just so happened to have the perfect theme for the love nest!

Look for some posts this weekend on menu planning and a weekend recap. Thank goodness tomorrow is finally Friday!

Book Reviews

Here are the book reviews I've been promising for the past couple weeks. These are the books I've read in the past month. 


The Lost Symbol: Dan Brown

The next chapter for Robert Langdon lies in Washington D.C.. If you liked DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, you will like The Lost Symbol. I was surprised to see this book is getting poor reviews on Amazon and other book sites. Some people feel that this book was too formulaic, but I just think that its Dan Brown’s writing style. I loved this book, I couldn’t stop reading it. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I literally gasped several times towards the end.

I hope they make this book into a movie like the other two, because I think it would be the best one yet.

Official Book Club Selection: Kathy Griffin

For those of you who have seen her show, "My Life on the D-List," you would expect Kathy's memoir, Official Book Club Selection, to be a light hearted tome that dishes on celebrities and reveals little about Kathy's true background. Surprisingly, Kathy has written a serious memoir that delves into where Kathy came from and her experiences that made her the comic she is today. She discusses her Catholic school nightmare that makes her question organized religion today, her difficulties with getting her family to accept that one son was a criminal and child molester, her difficulties in becoming a stand up comedienne in Hollywood, her struggles to get parts, her poorly considered plastic surgeries, her obsession with all things Oprah, and her failed marriage.

She comes off as humble and hard working. Despite her hard work, she seems as surprised as anyone by her success today. Her memoir is incredibly well written, funny and insightful.  Kathy does dish on celebrities, as you would expect, but she also gives them their due. She loves Hollywood and its excesses, even though she will never be accepted by it.

Blue Bloods: Melissa de la Cruz

Well I got sucked into another vampire series…no pun intended! It started so innocently with the “recommended for you” section on Amazon; it got good reviews it’s about vampires on the Upper East Side in New York, it’s a series of 4 books, I just had to download it! These were my vacation books and so far they are a great read. The one thing I notice in every vampire series I read is how different vampires are portrayed by the authors. Their abilities, back stories, and limitations really vary. When I was down with the Twilight series and moved to the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series, I kept thinking, “Edward couldn’t do that…” It was an adjustment period that I had with the Blue Bloods series as well.

In this series the vampires live for cycles and then go into a resting period before they are reincarnated and keep coming back in different eras starting from birth again and they don’t realize they are vampires again until their 15^th birthday, when they are flooded with all their past memories. It sounds odd, but they explain everything in the book. This series seems to be going for a Gossip Girl/Vampires thing. Trendy NYC locations, designer brand clothes, teenagers who act like they're 25. It's trashy and ridiculous; and a fantastic quick read. I am excited to see where this series goes since a lot of this first book was all of the teens turning 15 and coming to grips to their realized vampiredom.

Masquerade: Melissa de la Cruz

This is the second book in a series of 4 books so far in the Blue Bloods series that I read on my vacation. The great thing about this series is that it reads like a television show or movie. The author follows several characters and doesn't just limit you to one perspective. It is like she is telling three stories at the same time but they all work together. In this book many of the questions you have from the first book are answered and new questions are raised. These books are just so good that I literally cannot put them down until I am done. I am starting to read the third book, Revelations, this week.

Disney Vacation

I finally got all of our pictures transferred from our Disney trip last week. We went with my parents and my sister and her fiance. We spend most of our time at Magic Kingdom and Epcot so that is where most of the pictures were taken.

While we were there Epcot was hosting it's annual Food and Wine festival. It is fantastic, they have booths representing over 25 different countries with 3-4 dishes and 3-4 wines from each country. We definitely did our fair share of sampling from many of the booths! Our favorite booths were China, Poland, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Here we are enjoying our pierogi and kielbasa from Poland.

One of the other special events that was going on while we were there was Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It is an after hours event once the park is closed and they have trick or treating throughout the park and then a special parade and fireworks you can only see if you attend the event. It was amazing.

 

 

 

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village and it was beautiful. It is brand new and just opened this summer. There were animals everywhere. This is a picture of the lobby when you walked in.

Animals on the savannah at the resort.

Here are some of my other favorite pictures from the trip.

 

 

 

 

Menu Sunday

It's always nice to go on vacation, but it's good to be home! We had some amazing meals on vacation, our favorites we're in Japan at Epcot and Ohana's at the Polynesian Resort which was like a brazilian steakhouse but with some Hawaiian influence.

I am happy to be back in the kitchen this week!

Sunday: Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup in sourdough bread bowls
Monday: Pub burgers
Tuesday: Honey chicken tenders
Wednesday: Homemade pizza & salad (Cheese pizza for Michael, BBQ Chicken pizza for me)
Thursday: Chicken Parmesan Paninis and salad
Friday: Sesame Chicken and fried rice