EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK

It's about time I write about our long weekend in Houston, TX. We had gone to Houston on January 17th and returned on the 21st to celebrate Mark's mothers 85th Birthday! We had the most wonderful time. The day we arrived my MIL had a turkey dinner for us. We got to meet little Snowball who was a Christmas present for our nephews. I brought two Bohemian Hoskas for everyone to enjoy and they did! They were a big hit. The next night we had pork, dumplings and sauerkraut which has been a Bohemian tradition in both our families. We did plenty of socializing and drank some tasty wines.

 

On Saturday it was birthday time. We ran out and brought mom some flowers, picked up a few pies for dessert. (she wanted banana cream) We also bought her a new microwave oven. We had a fun birthday dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and enjoyed the pies at home after dinner.

We spent Sunday at my brother in laws home to watch the playoff games. It was a fun family day with some delicious food! There is nothing like a family gathering and it's a shame we don't all live closer to each other.

 

On Monday we all gathered in the kitchen to have some pizza and hang out for a few hours before we headed to the airport. I had shared the fact that all three couples who flew in had issues that day with out flights but we did all arrive home safely which is all that matters.

 

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For Super Bowl Sunday it was just Mark and I. Amber & Dylan were invited out and Adam & Tristen had friends over at their place. We can hardly remember a time when we may have watched a Super Bowl game alone before. Anyway Mark was convinced that we had to order Aurelio's Pizza from Chicago. They now ship their pizza frozen and this is our favorite thin crust pizza and it's all about their sweet sauce and Chicago Italian Sausage. The pizza was awesome!

 

I have to share with you some information about this order. I don't think we will ever do again and I will explain why. We buy six Lou Malnati's deep dish pizzas for $106. dollars shipped. The six medium pizza's from Aurelio's were a little over $200. Absolutely ridiculous and most of that charge was for shipping. If I had placed the order we would not have had them because I would never have agreed to that price!

 

I made a dip that I use to make years ago when I worked at a Regional office for Hormel. Actually some of the guys would have use make it for them and they would take it on sales calls with them. It's a layer of cream cheese, a layer of Hormel Chili and then cheese on top. Bake at 350 until melted. We use to use peppered jack cheese but like it with sharp cheddar too. We didn't have much of a spread for the two of us. I also made a dessert that I saw on Pinterest called Creamy Berry Goodness. It's whipped cream, berries and Jello Cheesecake pudding mix.

 

 

 This was my favorite commercial!

 

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Did you notice the green ball that Snowball is holding in the pictures from our trip to Houston? I bought one for Snowball because I know how much Skye enjoys hers. I can say go get your green ball and she knows exactly what I'm talking about even though she has at least 30+ toys.

BEFORE ^ AND AFTER

It was definitely time for a haircut which

she got last Friday.

 

Can you see her tag, it's a mini CA Drivers License

with all her information on it....too cute!

 

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As the Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.

We finally got around to seeing Lincoln on Tuesday evening. I really enjoyed this movie. It is a short span of time when Lincoln was President but a very important time for our country when it comes to freeing the slaves. We have a lot of wonderfully talented people in our world but I must admit I think Daniel Day Lewis is one of a kind. He is always excellent in the roles he plays.

Lincoln was a tough man but also a big teddy bear. This movie held my interest the whole time and even though it is a long one I didn't have to run out to go potty which is pretty amazing when a movie runs 150+ minutes long. I think they could use an intermission like they did years ago. Of course back then they had to change the reels of film!

Sorry for the long post.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you are into other award shows the BAFTA awards from London are on BBC Sunday evening. Set your DVR! I watched them last year and they are similar to our Academy Awards which are on Sunday the 24th of February this year.