Thanksgiving Desserts & House Hunting

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday! This year I offered to make dessert for my families big luncheon. I made an apple crumble pie/tart thing and a buttermilk pie. I've been wanting to try and make an apple pie, and this seemed like as good a time as any to try it out. Here is a picture of how it turned out, fresh from the oven.

Alas I was not quick enough on Thanksgiving day to take some super cute pictures of my desserts, so this is what I got.

My family is like vulchers when it comes to desserts or something! They were a BIG hit {obvious by the pics lol} and I didn't even have any leftovers of them to bring home.

So after the food of Thanksgiving and the thrill of Black Friday shopping had pasted, it was time to continue our house hunting. We ended up seeing somewhere close to 11-10 houses during the holiday break/weekend. And let me just say, that's a lot of houses to keep straight. Luckily some of them were put in the definite NO category and a small few were in the maybe/possible category. It's amazing to see what some people do to there homes. The best find from this weekend of house hunting had to be hands down the house that had an entire bedroom for their little dog. Yes the dog had it's own bedroom in this house, and here's my proof.

 The dog's bed had more pillows and frills on it then my bed! There is even a little light on the wall next to the bed. All i can really say is that these people really really really love their dog!!

**Link-Up with #YOLOmondays

Caddo Lake Weekend

For Mike's birthday I was trying to do something very special for him. I first tried looking into getting Saints football tickets and we would spend that weekend in New Orleans, but football tickets are expensive. I mean they weren't even winning games when I looked and tickets way up at the top were still in the $120-200 range. That's crazy!!! So then I had to change my plan since Saints tickets don't just fall out of the sky, and a weekend in New Orleans itself isn't cheap.

Caddo Lake view from the Camp

I came up with this oh so awesome idea of spending a weekend at my Nanny's camp and I would get his best bud to come too. It was an awesome birthday idea, if I do say so myself. {I guess I just did lol} We brought our little aluminum boat up with us and the plan was that the boys would go out and fish and the girls would just relax on dry land.

 Well the second part worked out fine, but the boat's motor didn't want to start. The boys had fun anyway paddling themselves out and fishing some. Did I mention it was in the 40s aka cold as can be?! Needless to say, the fish were not there or even biting {boys swear they got two bites} but I think they still had a pretty fun time on the lake.

 A bonus find this weekend was my cousins Nintendo64. Yes we did spend some of the evening/night playing Mario Kart and Zelda.

 I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I haven't even finished my grocery shopping yet. What are y'all doing tomorrow? I have to bake a pie and a cake for my family's luncheon. Wish me luck that my oven works!!

**Link-Up with Ramdom Wednesday

Birthday Shopping

I had a great birthday! Mike even said we could leave after watching the Saints some, and go shopping for my birthday. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever. Lol! My Nanny gave me a gift card to Barnes and Noble {Best Gift Ever}. That poor gift card didn't even last a day in my wallet. Here is what I got:

Sorry for the blurry phone pic

• Young House Love   By Sherry and John Petersik
• Back to Basics   By Ina Garten {aka Barefoot Contessa}
• Foolproof    By Ina Garten {aka Barefoot Contessa}

I LOVE BOOKS!! Hopefully all of these books will come in handy in the future. Monday I might finish my birthday shopping because I am off of work.

P.S. We are still waiting to hear back on the offer we put in last week.  {insert a worried/stress face here}

**Link-Up with #YOLOMONDAYS and Random Wednesday

Pumpkin Cookies & I'm Getting Old

Here is the recipe for those pumpkin cookies I was talking about yesterday. You know, the ones Mike said I would make before he actually asked me if I could. Luckily I found this easy peasy recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.

Melt in Your Mouth Pumpkin Cookies:
2 cups butter, softened {aka 4 sticks of butter}
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 15 ounce can pumpkin
4 cups all-purpose flour

I really like my Martha Stewart Containers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
In a large bowl, beat 2 cups butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add  sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat until combined. Add eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.{I did tablespoon size heaps} Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

Must Let Cool....but They are SO Yummy

Then Enjoy these super easy to make cookies.

There is also a recipe for a frosting that goes on top, but I figured one box of  butter was plenty on these cookies. I had to make them low fat somehow. ;) 

Also today is my Birthday!!! My mom asked my today if I felt old since I'm now a quarter of a century! AAAHHH!!!!  Here's a picture of my Birthday {Cheese}Cake from this weekend. 

This is where I gained so much weight over the weekend. Damn you cheesecake! Why do you have to taste so damn good?! I hope today is a good day because it's my Birthday and we put an offer in on a house!!!

House Hunting and Birthdays

We have been so busy lately that it isn't even funny. We looked at some houses last week and fell in love like with one house, the only problem was we saw it when it was dark. So on Saturday we went back to see it in the daylight and what do we see, major foundation problems!! I was completely bummed out, but I realized we had just started to look and we would eventually find the right house for us.

I don't think I've told y'all this yet, but Mike and I both have early November birthdays. It's a little crazy how close they actually are. So this weekend my mom planned and cooked us the most yummy dinner. I probably gained 10 pounds over the weekend, but it was COMPLETELY worth it!!! For Mike's birthday {Monday} I cooked one of his favorite dinners for him: meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I must confess that I didn't actually make the meatloaf, I bought it and cooked it. I did make the mashed potatoes for scratch though. {That has to count for something, right?}

Tuesday I was off and went vote. Yay civic duty! I also went and looked at three other houses. I like one, and Mike likes what he sees in the pictures but I refuse to rush into placing an offer without him actually going look at the house. Call me crazy but I think that's insane! I also made pumpkin cookies for Mike's work, since he already informed the guys that I would make them. {Gee Thanks} I had never heard of pumpkin cookies before this, but luckily through my awesome powers of google/pinterest searches I found a recipe. Thank you Better Homes and Gardens!!! I will post about these cookies tonight when I get home.

Happy Hump Day!

P.S. My Birthday in tomorrow!! I wonder what Mike has planned for me???

We Got Approved!

The pass couple of days have been super stressful for us, because we were waiting to see if we were approved for a home loan. We got the yes or ok yesterday!! So now begins our "official" house hunting. I say official because I've been looking at houses online since before our wedding. 

This has just made my week, and I'll tell you why. Mike's plan was to wait until December to start looking, but I somehow talked him into going drive by a few homes that we liked. So we scoped out the areas, and scratched a few off our list pretty quick. It's amazing what the right angle for a picture can hide {crazy junk yard neighbors}. We really like two homes that we saw, so much so that Mike pushed up his plan of December to November!! {Ok technically it was Halloween but who cares?!}

I'm just one step closer to actually being able to use some of our wedding gifts, that we had absolutely no room for in our little nursery yellow apartment. So what I really really need form y'all is any tips and helpful advice about buying our first home. Any {positive}advice from y'all will be greatly appreciated!