A-Z and work work work

Well I am finally off my 5 doubles in a row.  I was exhausted yesterday after work.. clocked out with 43.65 hours.  Good thing I gave away my Christmas Eve shift, otherwise I would have been at lease 50 hours!  I know a lot of you probably work 50 hours plus. But serving tables for 50 hours a week sucks ass and is exhausting.   Tonight is New Years Eve and I close the bar.  Luckily it's a bar in a restaurant that closes at 11pm so I can still have the chance to see Nate at midnight just in time for the kiss!

I have been seeing a new trend on blogs I read and am totally jumping on board!  Here is my A-Z!

A. Age: 28

B. Bed size: King, it's amazing!  We still want to upgrade to a Temperpedic (sp?) California King... we both are big and need our space :)

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom.  Living with 2 boys and only 1 bathroom in the house sucks.  I leave that to Nate. 

D. Dogs:  2, a 3 year old cockapoo named Sadie, and a 4 month old Doberman named Panzer

 

E. Essential start to your day: I always check facebook and blogs as soon as I wake up to help me wake up for the day

F. Favorite color: dark purple

G. Gold or Silver: White gold

H. Height: 5'7 (and 3/4ths)

 

I. Instruments you play: I played piano from 1st to 12th grade.  still dabble a bit

 

J. Job Title: Depending on the day I am either a manager, bartender or server, but I tell everyone I am a manager

K. Kids: 8 year old step son Nate Jr.

L. Live: Mankato, MN

M. Married: 11-11-11

N. Nicknames: It used to be Mezzy, Mezzacorona, Mez... but that was because of my maiden name.  Now I don't have any nicknames.

O. Overnight hospital stays: None

P. Pet peeve: Waiting for someone when they said they were going to be ready at a certain time. 

Q. Quote: "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

R. Righty or Lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: older sister, Beth

T. Time you wake up:  it's different every day.  My schedule changes daily. 

U. University attended: University of MN - Duluth, University of Birmingham England (studied abroad a year), Minnesota State University - Mankato, and now Rasmussen college.  I have a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Family Consumer Science Education, but I am going back to school for nursing.

V. Vegetables you dislike: Mushrooms

 

W. What makes you run late: my husband.

 

X. X-rays you've had: my wrist and my teeth

Y. Yummy food: Apple Pecan Salad with Chicken (I get it almost every time I work)

 

Z. Zoo animal favorite: The otters are always really cute!

 

I was going to post more, but my husband needs the computer to work... so on that note.. Happy New Year!  Everyone be safe!

 

The Post-Christmas blah's

  I am seeing a trend while reading blogs... everyone is in a blah state.  I am also.  I need to put my house back together, put away gifts, do laundry, dishes, etc. I will, just not right now :)

Weighing myself this morning and I weigh 220.0.  Not as bad as I thought.  Just gained a couple pounds which is standard over the holiday.  We had an excellent Christmas Eve dinner.  My sister is an amazing cook!  She made ham, au graten potatoes, and garlic green beans.  I had seconds.  Then my mom made a chocolate chip pie.  I shouldn't have had a slice, but I did anyway.  Christmas day we had an assortment of good food.  We hosted Christmas at our house and everyone brought a dish to share.  I had some spinach dip, pasta salad, bruschetta, bbq meatballs and weiners, and artichoke pizza.  There was nothing on the menu that was good for you, so I just (tried) to stick to small portions.

Our Christmas Eve dinner table

Christmas Eve is our tradition for opening the presents from family members, then Santa comes Christmas day to fill our stocking and deliver one more gift.

Here is our truck going to my parents house filled with presents.

Once we were done with dinner and gifts my family and I played the game Quelf.  This game is hilarious! 

 

 It is definitely more fun with alcohol.  There it's like the drinking game categories, where there can be rules, stunts, or different categories you have to name.  It is best to go into this game with an open mind and don't hold back.  Everyone will have to do something embarrassing, so it will be more fun to just go with the flow and do what the card says.  I had to recite Shakespeare on my knees, and talk with my belly button!  It is guarenteed laughter!

 

We also had 4 dogs at my parents house.  My mom, sister and I all have cockapoos and then we also have our doberman.  Needless to say it was pretty chaotic at times. 

 

 

My Sadie wearing a doggie hoodie. :)

 

 

My sister getting the dogs to sit... looks like Sadie and Gracie got it down, Panzer is still learning :)  (Gracie is to the left of my sister, behind the table... you can only see her head and foot)

 

I promise I will get back into trying to eat healthy and exercise soon.  I work the next 12 days in a row... starting with 5 doubles.  I will be busy for the next 2 weeks, but we will see what happens.  Weigh-In Wednesdays will also come back!  For now, might go to bed soon.. another 10 hour shift tomorrow bartending :)





Posting a Doberman's Ears

We got our Doberman about 2 months ago, and around 6 weeks ago we got his ear's cropped.  We took the bandages off today and they are standing up pretty good!

The first night we got him, so little! 

Picture of his floppy ears on Halloween (he was a pirate!)

First bandage from the Vet

We glued his ears to a foam block for a little while so his scabs would heal on the sides of his ears

Then they were posted with foam tubing and tape

Looking good Panzer!

Now he looks like a real doberman! He now just needs to grow into those paws!

 



They should stay standing when he is alert from now on.  If they don't we will continue to post them.  We also gave him calcium pills to help with the development of cartilage.  Right now he is about 26 lbs.  His dad was 138 lbs.  We are hoping he will get to be around 100lbs.  We will see!

Holiday Link Up!

What's your favorite holiday movie?
I just watched Home Alone the other day for the first time in years... it is still hilarious!  I always watch the Sound of Music around the holidays as well. 

Do you have any special traditions?
Go to my parent's house on Christmas Eve and have a nice dinner, go to church, and then open presents.  Wake up the next day to see what Santa brought... yes he still comes even though my sister and I are 28 and 30... :)

What's your favorite ornament or decoration?
I made a wreath last year out of ornaments (thank you pinterest).  I still love it!

Best gift you've ever received?
My husband gave me a car starter 2 years ago.  It's amazing! So nice to go into a nice warm car when getting off work at midnight!

Worst gift you've ever received?
Not sure about this one... everyone usually sticks to the list!

Favorite winter accessory?
Scarfs!

Real tree or fake?
Fake

When and how did you find out that Santa was not real?
I think I always had a hunch that it was my parents putting the presents out from Santa.  I definitely snooped one year and found all the stocking stuffers (sorry mom!)

Wednesday Weigh In!... or not so much...

What a week!  I got sick last Thursday with the start of a long, achy, sniffling cold.  I am still sick.  Longest. cold. ever.  I don't see it letting up any time soon.  I am also on my period.  I know TMI.  But sorry, it's nature.  This means I can't get enough chocolate!  Even through my feeling like shit, I have made chocolate covered Oreo balls, chocolate coconut clusters, and chocolate chip cookies... oh boy.  Reason 1 why I will not be weighing in today. 

I think I am going to wait until after Christmas to get back into the grove of working out and weighing in.  I know I should just stick through it, but  I am sick and I don't feel like it. 

This weekend was pretty eventful.  We had Nate's work Christmas party on Saturday night and we hosted a Christmas party with his immediate family and my immediate family on Sunday afternoon.  That means Saturday we spent the day cleaning out house.  I love those days!  Sunday was fun, people started arriving around 2pm.  We made pasta, garlic bread, Caesar salad, and had bruschetta and chips and salsa for appetizers.  We also had 4 dogs running around!  My mom, my sister and I all have cockapoos.  So we had Gracie, Bella, and my two Sadie and doberman puppy Panzer.  Good thing my mom bought some bones to chew on, because that at least kept my two occupied (the two rowdiest ones!)  She just informed me that she bought enough to occupy them over Christmas day also :) what a good mom!  I have pics of this day on a different camera, but I don't know where the thing to put the SD card in to go into the computer is. So, those will have to wait. 

Monday and yesterday I was still pretty sick. Did not want to do anything.  I had to close the restaurant last night, so I didn't get home until about midnight.  

Today I have been trying to organize my life by paying bills, doing some laundry, and organizing cupboards and drawers.  I have now organized the spice/baking cupboard and have an official drawer for all the extra party paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware... I don't know what we are going to do with them all, we have a ton of them!  And I finally have a drawer that is for towels and oven mitts.  (I know, this is what it's like being an adult, I am excited about organized drawers!!)  Now I just have to organize the 4 other junk drawers we have in the kitchen.  (if it was up to me I would just take the whole drawer out and empty it into the trash... but Nate wouldn't be too happy with me...)

I am hoping on Friday (my day off) to organize our bedroom and put all the laundry away. (yikes) I want to get this house pretty organized before my two weeks of working with only 1 day off (Christmas).  Yep, that's what I get when I ask the scheduling manager to schedule me as much as he wants.  I work Christmas eve day, and then the day after Christmas for the next 12 days straight.  Awesome. 

This post was kind of boring.. I will try to make the next one more interesting with pictures :)

Wednesday Weigh In!

This week I have been a slacker.  I have no excuse for it, I have been sleeping in and not working out.  My diet has been okay.  I have been conscious about what I have been putting in my mouth.  This includes all the m&m's, pop, and pizza... ugh.  I will say that it is final's week and a week before my period (TMI?) which means I am stressed and need chocolate every second of my life. 

On that note here are the stats.

                                       Last Week                 Total
Weight:      218.6 lbs.     -1.4 lbs.                 -2.2 lbs.
Waist:        35 in.            -2 in.                      -3 in.
Stomach:   46 in.              0 in.                      -2 in.
Hips:          50 in.              0 in                      -1 in.
Thigh:        25 in.          -1.5 in.                    - 2 in.
Arm:          15 in.             0 in.                     0                                
Calf:           16 in.           -.5 in.                     -1 in.
Total:                          4 inches lost         9 inches lost                                 

Well that isn't too shabby!  I am noticing that I lose inches fast in my waist, but not in my arms.  I should pay special attention to my arms.  I have to admit, I have been weighing myself every day, and with my busy weekend schedule of usually working 30 hours in 3 days on my feet, Saturday is the day I weigh the least.. I was at 216.8.  Maybe I should do a weigh in Saturday? just kidding.  I will keep to the Wednesday's because then I know it's true. :) 

Now I have to take a Medical Terminology Final I have been putting off... wish me luck!!!

Sunday night randomness

If you work in the restaurant industry you know that your work week is usually over the weekends.  I have been working weekends for almost 12 years now.  I don't mind it, I am just glad right now I actually have Sunday's off so I can do my homework. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday I put in about 10 hours each day serving tables and/or bar tending.  I went to the gym Thursday morning doing a body reform class.  I had every intention on going to the gym Friday morning and Saturday morning, but I am always so exhausted.  Working 10 hours on your feet is SO tiring.  I have worn a pedometer while at work and it averages out around 10,000 steps per day. Breaks are only if there are no customers that I have to wait on.  I think on Friday it took me an hour to eat my lunch because we always had customers, and Saturday my lunch got thrown away because it had been that long since I touched it. :(  I know it will be the same when I am a nurse.  At least I am used to being on my feet all day!! I couldn't imagine a desk job.

My diet has been okay this weekend. Lunch's consist of salads and sweet potato's.  Once my shift is done I am usually starving, my husband almost always has pizza on weekends. ugh. and he ordered half a pizza with my favorite topping (pineapple) which he won't touch.  I would feel bad if I didn't have a slice... I know that losing weight is going to be super hard when you live with someone who likes junk food.  I will have to keep healthier options in the house and try not to give in to the bad stuff that smells so good... and tell him not to order pizza with my toppings on it. 

Today I went to the dog park with my pups.  It was SOO SNOWY! I was a little nervous driving there, but I was meeting friends, so I couldn't turn around.  The pups had fun! They like chasing each other and chasing after balls. It was a good way to wear them out also so I could focus on homework later.

This week is finals week! YAY!!! I have A's in all my classes and hope to maintain those this week.  I would have to do some major damage not to keep them, but there is always a worry that I will screw something up.  I have never gotten straight A's in high school or college.  Now that I am back in college, I am really applying myself and this will be the second quarter of straight A's.  I am pretty proud of this. 

Tomorrow I am planning on going to step class at 8:30 in the morning and then take a final in Anatomy and Physiology. By Friday I will be done for the quarter and have 3 weeks off!! Can't wait to not worry about school for a little while. 

I was trying to upload pics from my phone, but it's being difficult, so those will have to wait.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Down a notch!

Went to another class today at the Y.  This one was called Body Reform.  I was (again) intimidated because the description is " an intense, interval-based class that combines bursts of cardio and strength training to improve endurance and build muscle " intense was the word that scared me.  I sucked it up, dragged a friend with me and we went to class.  This one was hard, but good.  I was dripping with sweat within the first 10 minutes, but that's good right? 

I will say that I avoided fitness classes for years for fear of being the fat kid in class and not being able to keep up.  I have to say that I am glad I went yesterday and today, and I will continue to go.  There are people all ages and sizes.  I might be slower now, but that is because I have 70lbs of extra weight that I am carrying around.  If any skinny person wears an extra 70lbs of weight on themselves, they would be slower too.  I have to keep telling myself that.

Oh, and I am down a belt notch!! wahoo!!! hopefully soon I will out of the 18's and into the 16's. :)

Wednesday Weigh-In!

I decided to do weigh-in's on Wednesdays.  Not only because I will have a catchy name for my post, but it for now it's my day off during the week so I have more time.  This might change with my school schedule changing come January 7th. 

Today I weighed in at 220.0.  I lost .8 lbs this week.  Kind of disappointing.  Although my measurements put me in a better mood!

Waist:      37 in.        down 1 inch from last week!
Stomach: 46 in.        down 2 inches from last week!!
Hips:       50 in.         down 1 inch from last week!
Thigh:     26.5 in.      down .5 inches from last week!
Arms:      15 in.         stayed the same
Calf:        16.5 in.      down .5 inches from last week!

That is a total of 5 inches lost in one week... not too shabby!!!

Today Nate and I went to the gym after dropping Jr. off at school.  I knew my friend from work was going to a step class the same time I would be there, but I was hesitant to go considering I can hardly get through a Jillian workout.  I wasn't going to go, I was just going to do the treadmill and maybe elliptical.  Then she texted me.  So I sucked it up and went.  It was awful awesome.  I struggled though it.  There were all shapes and sizes in the class which made me feel more comfortable.  Even two older men in the class.  Those two men had so much enthusiasm! They were doing the counts with the instructor and shouting encouraging comments out while we I was struggling. 

Then one of the guys came up to me after the step workout and asked if it was my first time... (how could you tell?)  Apparently I was stepping on the step wrong.. oops my bad.. leave it to the fat newbie.  

I am glad I sucked it up and went.  It was a great work out and I will definitely go back.  Since I didn't want to creep anyone out by taking a picture of people, I waiting until nobody was in the room after class to snap a pic.

After the workout I went to meet up with Nate in the weight room and told him I was going to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes.  Well that didn't last long.  My workout pants were falling down when I ran.  Good thing and bad thing at the same time. Looks like I need to go shopping for smaller pants!!

This coming week I need to lay off the Christmas goodies... worst time of the year to start changing my habits. I believe that was the reason I didn't show much loss on the scale this week. 

Until next time!

please wear deodorant

Made it to the gym today.  Did couch to 5k, and it was painful.  I don't know why I was struggling with it so much.  Here's to hoping the next workout will be more successful, which won't be until Wednesday :(

 After I struggled though the running workout I went on the elliptical. Not two minutes later there was a horrible stench.. someone forgot their deodorant today and they decided to hop on the machine next to me. Oh man it was awful.  First, of course I checked to make sure it wasn't me.. it wasn't, I smelled "shower fresh" and it was wonderful.  Too bad I couldn't continue on the elliptical with my nose in my armpit to get rid of the odor that was to the right of me.  I contemplated getting off the machine and onto another one, but I thought that would be too obvious.  Then I see that she is getting off the machine (thank the lord!).. only to get on the machine to the left of me... ugh. Now the stench has traveled and I am in a bubble of this women's (yes it was a woman!) body odor.  So now it is time to get off, because I am gagging.

Nate was working out in the weight room and still had a half hour left, so I decided since it was so nice out to walk home.  (We live less than a mile from the Y).  I would have stayed and done another machine, but I needed to get home anyway to shower because I had to get to class.

In other news, the flu has made it to our house :( Jr. got sick tonight.  I will be staying home with him tomorrow (which is why I can't make it to the gym until wed.)  Hope my flu shot I got this year will save me from flu season.

Finally, saw this on facebook and have to share it. 

Awesome moments in history -- In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston marathon. After realizing that a woman was running, race organizer Jock Semple went after Switzer shouting, “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers.” However, Switzer’s boyfriend and other male runners provided a protective shield during the entire marathon.The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines, and Kathrine later won the NYC marathon with a time of 3:07:29. [Wiki] / ~ In appreciation of all you strong women and all your supportive partners out there!

 

 

Now get out there and run!

 

I'm Still New at This

I am still new at this whole blogging thing.  I am loving it!  I am loving stalking following all you crazy ladies!  I am still learning everyday.  My blog is still a work in progress.  I still can't figure out the buttons.  I had to google what GFC meant.  I thought I was cool and added an awesome favicon, but I still don't see it.  Hopefully in a year soon I will have a fancier blog and be up to par with all you tech divas out there! 

30 day shred

I like starting things on the first of the month... or on a Monday.  Well this whole morning I thought it was December 1st so I started the 30-day shred.  I JUST looked at the date in the bottom right of my laptop... November 30th.. HA! I guess I am ahead of schedule.  Well that's good, I probably needed that extra day... holy crap I hate that workout dvd!  I struggled through it.  I stopped when she told me not to, I was watching the easier version of the workouts and then made my own easier version.  I.am.so.out.of.shape!  BUT, I need this.  I am obviously going to struggle, I have 50 lbs of extra weight weighing me down.  I am glad I did it. 

I took out a workout mat my husband bought me for xmas last year (per my request), and yep I never opened it...

Still in it's semi-box. 

 

I do have to say, thank you to Sylvia who commented on my last post.  As I was waking up this morning, I check my facebook and email, and to my surprise I had a nice encouraging comment waiting for me.  It was what made me think about starting the 30-day shred to actually doing to it. 

 

Today is my longest day of the week.  I get to bartend all day (10:30-9:00).  Good money, but like I said in the last post, working at a restaurant sucks when you are trying to lose weight.  Especially since I get free food for being one of the managers.  When I used to pay for my meals, I wouldn't eat there because I didn't want to pay.  Now, it's saving me money if I eat there, since I don't have to bring food from home.  This is what I had for lunch yesterday and probably the most healthy thing I could think of. 

 

 



6oz chicken breast, broccoli, and apples and grapes.  With a side of bbq.  (I had to dip the chicken in something!).  I will probably be having the same thing today.. yippee!!

As my mother would say.. "another day, another dollar".. let's hope I make more than a dollar today! (and hope that I am not so sore from Jillian by the end of my shift that I am crawling out of the restaurant.)

Cheers!

Back at it

I'm gonna try this again.  Went to the gym today with my husband.  We are both in workout mode right now, let's see how long this time lasts.  I can't be the only one that is in workout mode for a couple weeks, then stops for a couple weeks months.  Well here we go again!  Hopefully this time I won't tell myself that how I am is okay.  I tend to tell myself, "I am okay with being a bigger girl", "why do I have to be skinny".. The reality is because being skinner is healthier.  I am not healthy right now.  I don't want to become pregnant starting at 220lbs.  I don't even want to be 9 months pregnant at 220lbs.  So here we go again.  I took all my stats.  Hopefully in a month, every number will be smaller. 

Weight: 220.8 lbs (surprised I am maintaining since last time I weighed myself... I thought I was 225 or 230)
Waist: 38 inches
Stomach: 48 inches (yes 10 in difference between the smallest part of my waist and biggest part of my stomach.. weird.)
Hips: 51 inches
Thighs: 27 inches (in a perfect world, my waist would be this small)
Arms: 15 inches
Calfs: 17 inches - I buy wide calf boots.. if you want to know where you can get big girl boots that actually fit over large calfs AND jeans let me know!

Front view.. Team Mama tank... MamaLaughlin is my inspiration check out her blog here

 

 I have a side tattoo that goes from my side boob to lower hip.. I want to show that off this summer!!!

 

Started Couch to 5k (again!).. started on week 2 this time because week one seemed easy... at least that is a plus!

 

 

Random pic of our puppy Panzer, got his ears cropped so we decorated his post.  :)

 

Now I get to serve tables for the next 8 hours.. yay! Working at a restaurant that serves awesome food makes it SOOOO hard to lose weight... ugh.

 

Happy Thursday! 

 

 

 

We have a visitor...

Nate and I have both experienced some weird things happening in our house. It's not like doors randomly closing or opening, or things falling off shelves, we have a ghost that likes to say "hi" to us.

Okay, I know what you are thinking.. you people are crazy! I thought so too! Until it kept happening, every couple months! We both now have had two times by ourselves that the ghost says hi, and once when we were in the same room. When we first questioned it with eachother, we described the same voice... cccrreeeeeeeppyy!! It's a little girl, probably 7-10 years old. So here are all the encounters with this girl.

Nate was in his truck going to work when he heard someone say hey! in his back seat, sounded like a little kid. Since we have an 8 year old, he looked in his back seat to see if he was there... no one there... weird. When he told me that, I just shrugged it off.

  Fast forward a couple months later, I am sleeping in, nobody is home and I am awaken (is that a word? awaken, woken up by.. that's better) I was woken up by hearing "hey!" I look around the room, obviously no one is there.. I brush it off, maybe I was dreaming.

A couple months later, Nate is working on our hot tub outside late at night (nobody home again) and here's a little girls voice say "hi there!" He searches around the outside of the house.. nobody. At this time I told him about my encounter in the bedroom, he asked what it sounded like and we both said little girl... creepy!

Then we come to this morning. I am sleeping in (what else is new) and I hear my NAME!!! Sarah.. in a little girl's voice. She knows my name! w.e.i.r.d.

  I never believed in ghosts before, until I started watching Long Island Medium.. that shit is for real! So we have a little girl that just wants to say hi to us hanging out. I tried researching the history of our house. It's not that old.. built in the 50's. I came up with nothing. Maybe I will have Theresa Caputo come to the house and see who this girl is and what she wants.

  They say dogs have a sense for these things... Sadie (our cockapoo) definitely barks at nothing on occasion, maybe she see's her! who knows..

  Tonight we are going to do a EVP recording to see if we hear anything... with our high tech phone app (HA!) I will let you know if we hear anything.

Blog Party!

I am linking up with some pretty cool bloggers to meet more bloggers! :)

Black Friday.. I mean Thursday!

Nate and I decided to go shopping after Thanksgiving. I have never gone shopping on Black Friday, I work in the restaurant business and that is a busy day for us as well, so I am usually working.  I can't say yet what we bought because we may have gotten a present for my only follower.. but I will say, we got a great deal and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  We went to Walmart and everything was very organized.  They had different lines for different things that were on sale that were big ticket items.  Our line was about 7 aisles long :).  Oh, and we did NOT leave our Thanksgiving early to go shopping, we left at a reasonable time and drove an hour and a half back home, chilled out for a little bit and then went to the store.  Here are some pics! 

Last row at Walmart, I think we even made our own parking spot.

 

We got to the home stretch of the checkout line!

 

Chilling out in the freezer section while waiting for our item (pun intended)

 

Like I said, I had a great time! Talked to a lot of people in line.  This one older lady was at her second store of the night and was still going to another store after Walmart... all while walking on a broken foot with no crutches!! What a trooper!

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we went to my aunt's house about an hour and a half away.  I was in charge of baking the pies... and boy did I bake!  I have learned a couple things while baking pies this year...

1. pie recipes will almost always have you make for filling than a pre-made pie crust can hold.
2. make sure to READ the recipe!

 My first two pumpkin pies... Creamcheese pumpkin pie!... this recipe made 1 1/2 pies, ... the pie on the left is only about half full

 

 

Before shot of my apple pie.. never made this recipe before, it was delicious!

 

 

How many apples I had left over that the recipe called for... probably could have filled another pie, but I didn't have enough crust

 

After baking.. yum!

 

 Chocolate swirrled cheesecake!

 

 

My lesson of making sure to read the recipe, there is even a picture on the can!! I bought sweetened condensed milk, when it asks for evaporated milk!  This makes the third trip back to the grocery store for forgetting ingredients.. oops!

 

 

I put the already made pumpkin pie mix in the fridge until I bought evaporated milk, ended up making the pies the next day.

 

And now Thanksgiving dinner!  There were 26 people total I believe.  Everything was wonderful!

 

 

The table went in the living room and turned into the dining room to have enough space

The desserts! My favorite part :)

 

 

 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

 

We even had time to do black Thursday shopping.  That post will be next!

 

My First ever Link-up... hope I do it right?!?!

Some bloggers that I have been following are doing a Turkey Day Link Up. Since I was to be as cool as them, I am going to try to do this... but I am probably doing it all wrong.. bare with me. A lot of them did a video blog.  Let's be honest, I am still new to this blogging thing.  A video blog will not come until I have mastered typing!

1. What do you look forward to more: the food, football or parades?
Out of the three, I would definitely look forward to the food the most.  I like to have the parade on in the background, and I could care less about football... unless the Vikings actually are in the play-offs.. then I act like I know everything about football ;P

2. What is your favorite non-traditional Thanksgiving Day dish?
Non-traditional? Our family is pretty traditional when it comes to Thanksgiving.  Although I have some aunts that like to make things that they see in magazines, on Oprah (when it used to be on), etc.. sometimes those dishes are a little non-traditional.  For the most part its Turkey (obviously), mashed potatoes, yams, green beans, salad, pie, etc.  Oh, now that I think about it... I have one aunt that ALWAYS makes glorified rice... do you know what this is?? rice with  colored marshmellows... i have never tried it, and i never will.

3. After dinner, is it football or a nap?
After dinner is.. football will be on the tv and all my uncles, and my father will be sitting around the tv watching  it  napping.  The women are usually visiting in the kitchen cleaning up.  I know, my family has sex roles down to a T.

4. Do you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Which is your favorite float?
Thanksgiving day parade is usually on the tv, but we never really sit down to watch it.  It ends at noon usually (right?) so it's a nice way to relax with the family either before going to Thanksgiving dinner, or before everyone get to the house.

5. Where do you go to celebrate and eat your big meal? Who is there (family, friends)?
This year we are going to my aunts house.  There will be about 30 of us there.  It always is usually a big get-together.  My parents also like to host, so it usually is every other year at their house, and every other year at one of my aunt's/uncle's house.  (My parents like to host because there are always a ton of leftovers ;) )

6. What is your favorite turkey day dessert?
I LOVE dessert.  This year I am in charge of most the dessert.  For 30 people... I will probably make pumpkin pie, apple pie and cheesecake.  My husband hates cooked fruit, so this is the only time I can enjoy apple pie :).. but he loves pumpkin pie.. so that's why I am making that... and what is Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie?!?!

Okay, I hope this link-up works! 

Well, we got a new puppy!

Meet Panzer.. pronounced pawn-zer not pan-zer (he's not a pansy!)

He is a doberman pincher and currently 11 weeks old.  We just got his ears cropped last week (spare me the comments on how that is horrible for dogs, etc... he wouldn't look like a doberman without them cropped)

He is our second doberman, our first one (Diesel) we had to put down in March because he got into Advil, and that will shut down a dog's kidneys. 

Panzer has been such a good puppy! We are still working on potty training.  He knows that when he is outside he should go, but sometimes indoors he doesn't give us enough warning that he is going to go right then and there.  We have been learning that he whines when he needs to go out, but he also whines if he doesn't know where we are, or if he is bored, or if he can't get to Sadie (our other dog), or if he doesn't want to be in his kennel, etc.  So needless to say, we still haven't mastered all the whining.

For the most part he is sleeping through the night also.  Well that being from 11-midnight to 6 in the morning (when Nate usually gets up).  Lately he has been accidentally scratching his ears, which are still healing from the surgery, so he will yelp, but then go back to sleep after that. 

The ears will take a couple months to heal. We will keep them cropped up with the block for a while.  That is just a foam block that we glued his ears to with a non-toxic glue.  We give him Calcium pills every day to help the cartilage in his ears to stay standing and not flop over.  After about 2 months of bandages, Diesel's ears stayed up permanently.  We are sure that Panzer's will do the same. 

Okay here are more pics of Panzer and a couple pics of our first Doberman Diesel, who we miss very much. 

 

First bringing Panzer home

After getting his ears done, totally bandaged for a week.

 

Diesel was such a momma's boy! <3 Love <3

One Year Anniversary!

This past Sunday, Nate and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary!  We started the celebration early, going out to dinner on Saturday night at Bucca De Beppo.  Then we met up with some friends up in the cities.  On Sunday, it was a pretty low key day.  After getting home, we napped for a little bit (we didn't get much sleep at our friends house).  Then I did my Sunday routine... try to get all my homework done before midnight!  Another Sunday night tradition is watching The Walking Dead and we tried a little bite of our wedding cake we had in our freezer.  Randomly, we took the bites at 11:11pm.  This number comes up a lot in our lives considering we got married on 11-11-11, our address is 1111, etc.  The cake wasn't the best, it tasted like freezer, but we didn't put it in an air-tight container... just saran wrapped it.  It was hard to throw the cake away, but it had to be done.

Here are some pics to sum up the best day of my life :)

Seeing eachother for the first time

The church

Dad walking me down the aisle

Giving me away

The whole wedding party

Lighting the Unity Candle

First kiss as husband and wife

Getting introduced into the reception

Father Daughter Dance

Let's get this party started!! (Dancing to Party Rock by LMFAO)

And then this happened... YES!!

Best time of my life!