Blogmas Day 5: What's in my purse video.

Neither Nicki or I vlogged on Monday. I also didn't attend BSF this week. In part because the last few weeks have been crazy busy and I felt like Marc and I had not had any downtime as a couple in forever. So when he came from work we spent the evening vegetating on the couch talking and watching TV shows we had missed. And surprise, surprise....we didn't fall asleep! LOL Since I made a pack with myself to post something everyday I thought I would combine vlogging and blogging and do a "what's in my purse" video (and if you know anything about me you know that I am a Handbag addict, so this was right up my alley). Granted it not the best video out there in YouTube land, it works for me. Hope someone else finds it fun to watch. LOL

Thanksgiving Day Vlog

Nicki just posted a video featuring our Thanksgiving with family in the country.

Blogmas Day 4: Sunday Wrap Up

I didn't vlog yesterday just because Sunday mornings (and in this case even Sunday afternoons are usually pretty chaotic).

I did get a snippet from Marc's sermon on my phone when he preached at the afternoon service for a long time family friend.

The Pastor, who's 8th anniversary we were celebrating was actually not there because of sickness. I don't know what this bug is that is going around, but when Marc and I got home I made both of us drink some vitamin C. The last thing I need is another week of being sick. Getting my tooth pulled on this Wednesday is going to cut into my schedule enough.

Our day wasn't over after the two services either. We left from the second service to attend a baby shower for one of our young adult members. I'm pretty sure this was Marc's favorite part of the whole day. LOL Both of our girls were in attendance as well. I didn't pull out the camera at all during the shower just because we were around a lot of people we didn't know personally. I'm hoping to do better next week, so stay tuned.

Blogmas Day 3: Christmas Parade with Mickey and Santa Claus

Today was one of those "good" days. And mostly because I got to spend it with family. I started the morning off by working on my planner. I can see myself getting addicted to planning decorating just as I did with scrapbooking. So I'm going to try to limit how many things I purchase and use them up as I plan each month. You can see my completed planner page here. I will be doing a countdown until Christmas on my Treasured Creations blog with all of my Christmas planner pages.

Nicki and headed to my hometown to join the rest of the cousins for the annual Christmas parade. I didn't know until later that Q would be there as well. So I got to spend the day with both daughters.

Our cousin Reg was in the parade.

Like I said, what makes a good day for me is any time with family. I wish Marc had been there but he has two sermons to prepare for Sunday.

My high school band played Disney songs, and than Mickey greeted us at the end of the line.

I grew up on a peninsula, so its only fitting that Santa would show up in a boat!!!

My auntie who was in my Thanksgiving Day post unfortunately was in the hospital this weekend. She is doing better, but I did run over to the hospital with my cousin Pat to see her. My mom is actually in New York this weekend so I probably won't see her until Christmas. I hope you all are enjoying my blogmas entries (that's if anyone is still reading the, LOL. Am I the only person who still follows peoples blogs?

Vlogmas Day 2: Red Beans and Rice with a side of veggies

I promise that not every Vlogmas post will be food. It just worked out that the last few days I have really been in the mood to cook. And when that happens I have to go with the flow. LOL Nicki is still behind in her editing but I took some raw footage of todays meal on my channel. When I say its raw, I am not joking. I really need to learn how to edit so I can male my videos more exciting. But my goal this month is to stay on task...so I'm going to post like I promised, and I don't want to get behind. I promise there will be more "polished videos of vlogmas on Nicki's channel very soon.

Anyhow, my food cravings were all over the place yesterday. Hence this modpodge of a meal that can be eaten separately. But since I was not only craving sausage, beans and rice. plus stir fry veggies I just decided to do both. I usually add sausage to my veggie dish, but this time I ate the veggies on the side.

There is not a lot of precision to this recipe so don't look for exacts when it comes to the ingredients. This one is my own recipe.

I cut up a half red onion (you will see that all of the cuts are big chops). 1 whole zucchini, and 3 peppers (red, yellow and orange).

I slowly added each vegetable to my fry pan and stir fried them in light Olive oil until they were translucent. I personally like my veggies to still be a bit crunchy, but if you prefer them softer you can just cook a bit longer until they are completely soft. The only seasoning I added was my simply Asian seasoning I get at Sam's Club. Its very low and sodium so its great for me with my high blood pressure.

I than made some long grain rice from a box (hey you do what you have to do). The recipe calls for you to cook in a saucepan, but I cooked my in olive oil and added the season pack to the mixture after it had browned a bit. My oil did get to hot at one point and the white rice puffed up. But when it was done cooking the rice was soft and still tasted (I believe), the same as it would have if I had prepared it in a pot. I cooked the sausage separately with some garlic (1 tablespoon) and onions and added the beans and sausage to the rice (I also drained the rice before refrying them again with the meat and beans). I didn't use any other seasoning other than what came in the rice.

The finished product, and a link to the snippet I shared on YouTube. Hope you enjoy.

Blogmas Day 1: Banana bread

Nicki and I are trying to commit to Vlogging and Blogging every day leading up to Christmas. So yesterday I took over the camera and started out by sharing my "famous" banana bread recipe. The vlog should be up sometime tomorrow (or even late today depending on the editor...aka Nicki).

So I though I would share my recipe here on my blog as well. Technically Vlogmas begin yesterday, but since we are filming and Nicki has to edit and load them up after doing a full day at work, they will probably be one or two days behind. Unless something changes you should see a pre-vlogmas video on her MyPKLife757 channel before the day is over. I will say this. Vlogging is a lot of work. I was pooped out last night after we finished filming. I don't even want to think about all of the work that goes into editing. I do have my own YouTube channel but usually I only share "snippets" of when we travel. You can find me here.

Ok, so enough with the chatting (you will get enough of that over the next few weeks lol).

I have been needing a new loaf pan for some time, so I picked up one a few weeks ago when I went in to get some decorations from the Target dollar spot for my Christmas breakfast table.

I tried real hard to prep in advance of filming so that I could keep the clips short enough to send to Nicki for editing.

Eventually I moved everything over to my "baking" station for easy access to ingredients while I was trying to film and use machinery at the same time.

You will need to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Than add the following ingredients to your mixing bowl. 1/2 a stick of butter (softened). 2 eggs, 2 or 3 ripe bananas. 2/3 cup of sugar and mix on medium speed until the bananas and butter have a mashed consistency to them

The recipe says to mix these ingredients in a bowl separately at first but I just mix them directly in my Kitchen Aid mixer and than add 1 1/3 cup of all purpose unbleached flour, along with 3.4 teaspoon of salt. 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. I than mix the wet and dry ingredients together and although its not required I add in a cup of walnuts and mix again until my batter has a think consistency to it (you will be able to see this whole process in the vlog).

I line a loaf pan (or you can make muffins) with some Pam and coat with a couple of spoons full of flour before pouring the mix into my pan.

I bake it in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes depending on the size of my pan, and I test I with a toothpick before pulling it out to cool.

The finished product!

I wish there was such a thing as smellavison because the aroma that filled my house after I baked this was heavenly! I actually found this recipe on Pinterest a few years ago and I have been using it every since then. The best part about this recipe is that it is quick and easy to prepare and my family loves it.

Thanksgiving

No Thanksgiving in my house would be complete without watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. I was sad for a bit because my girls were not there to watch it with me. But thanks to some great PW's on Facebook I got to enjoy it by interacting with online friends (you would have had to be there to understand lol).

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with family at my cousins home in the country. This was my contribution.

Loved the Thanksgiving tables! And the tree. She leaves her tree up year round and changes the theme based on the season.

The youngins.

My mom and sis. I think I caught them off guard. LOL

Hubby and my sisters boyfriend. They look like they are in a deep conversation.

You can't have Thanksgiving Day end without group photos. LOL

And if you have any sense you certainly will not leave without spending some time with the Queen of the family. My auntie is the one person I submit my own crown to. LOL

The hostess with the mostess!

Last week Wrap Up

Sorry this post is so late. I'm not even sure where the week went. Last Wednesday I ended up in the emergency room after experiencing the worst pain I have ever had in my life. Turns out I have a kidney stone. Granted, they said it was small but honestly the pain was worse that I experienced going into labor with my children. Speaking of my children they are the best a mom can ask for. My daughter Nicki took me to the hospital along with my son who never left my side. Than before I knew it my other daughter was at the hospital as well. We were there for what seemed like hours but the staff were very nice and had me hooked up to iv and pain meds in no time at all.

I had a few other health issues going on at the same time so needless to say I am beat.

Unfortunately it was probably the worse weekend for me to get sick because it was also the weekend we celebrated 8 yrs at WABC.

The day was made extra special because our friends showed up to love and hug on us. This past year has been really rough in ministry so seeing a few friendly faces really made a difference on Sunday.

I'm so proud of this man. He is one of the hardest working men I know, yet he deserves so much more than he gets on a daily basis and somehow he still manages to keep a smile on his face.

And since last week was Veterans Day, I couldn't end this post without giving a shout out to my hubby and son in lub for their service to our country. Very proud of them. Got to say I am still tripping over the fact that Nicki (who swore she would never marry someone like her dad...not because he's bad or anything) married someone like her dad. Even down to being an Army man. LOL

Weekend Wrap Up

The youngest celebrated her 31st birthday on last Thursday.

Saturday her and I attended the wedding of her BFF from Kindergarten.

My moms birthday is on Halloween but since I would be at church that night, Marc and I surprised her after service on Sunday while she was eating with friends.

The birthday girl took an extended leave from work during her birthday weekend. Monday she was at my house painting a few items Target for her computer corner.

Monday night we were set up for Trunk or Treat at church. My husband is known for having a "truck full of stuff", so what do you do when that happens? You throw a blanket over everything and surround it with flowers, pumpkins and candles. LOL

Some of the other trunks that night.

My girls "Halloween" outfits. I love that they still have a childlike spirit but aren't wearing crazy or over revealing outfits. Some of the stuff I see just makes me shake my head (and makes me feel really old lol).