Thanksgiving

We are right in the middle of our Thanksgiving festivities! We have three days (yes, Thanksgiving 3 times!) worth of delish food and awesome family to enjoy! Yesterday was spent with my parents and a skyped phone call with my brother and his wife.

Mum's gluten-free pumpkin-raisin bread

We ate yummy food all day, played games, watched the Macy's Day Parade (a family tradition!), a little bit of the dog show and had a great fire in the fireplace to combat our cold ears and cheeks from our walk with Reese. The day was topped off with a later dinner, dessert, coffee and a couple killer games of UNO!

Dad playing with Reese

I am working today but Matt has taken Reese down to his parents house where we will be eating dinner tonight and then tomorrow we'll gather with the extended McKenna clan for leftovers! If my pants still fit on Monday I'm going to be excited!! LOL

I feel so very blessed to have so many wonderfully dear family and friends to share the holidays with - I sincerely hope nothing but the best for all of you!
~To friends and family far away, know that I carry you in my heart and cannot wait until I see you again. I'm so thankful and grateful to have you all in my life! ~

Change of Plans!

Thanksgiving Decor 
Yep, this was going to be about the little changes I made to switch from Halloween to Thanksgiving - but instead this little guy decided to show up early! (which is TOTALLY better than talking about decor!)
His due date was Dec 2, so while I'm bummed about not having another December birthday in the family - I can't stop smiling!!! Literally!!! cannot. stop. smiling. maybe its more like a perma-grin.

Sandlin was born this morning (very early 4.11am)! 

So excited! So HAPPY everyone is healthy and doing well!!

Thanksgiving Menu

Plans changed a bit this year due to Dad's working schedule, so this year we are hosting Thanksgiving for my family on Thanksgiving Day! I love waking up and cooking/baking with the Macy's Day Parade and Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Special where Snoopy makes toast and popcorn!

Apps:
bacon wrapped scallops
pumpkin dip w/fresh veggies
Dinner:
spinach cranberry salad
onion soup
Turkey & turkey gravy
cranberry chutney & cranberry from the can
stuffing: cornbread (gluten-free), sausage, onion, apple
creamed onions
green beans
roasted beets & greens
Dessert:
crust-less pumpkin pie
apple crumble

There are some new recipes mixed in (pumpkin dip, stuffing, both desserts) with old favorites this year and some things got changed entirely! (Like the soup!) I will be sure to report back and tell you how it all went down :-)
I'm sorta excited about how the schedule changed things up this year - aside from having 3 Thanksgivings - my tummy is already groaning - I get to see so many friends/family!! That's absolutely my favorite thing about Thanksgiving. Everyone is busy over the summer months and then school starts up - but Thanksgiving is the first BIG holiday of the season and so everyone gets together to celebrate and catch-up. Well, that and the Dog Show after the parade!! How can you not love all those cute faces?! :-)

UPDATE: roasted beets and greens has been switched out for radishes and greens!

What a Week!

Reese has been our main focus as he's been sick. Really sick. Been to the vet 3-days-in-a-row-refusing-food-and-water sick. The kind of sick that makes me worry like a crazy person and have tissues at all times. But oh, did we learn a lot about the guts of Reese this week!
His bones are beautiful and strong and wonderfully aligned,
His tongue, teeth, ears, blood, lungs, liver, colon, kidneys are all good!
His stomach was not. Hello, foreign object that looked like a weirdly shaped way-too-big kidney bean.
Luckily, with the help of barium, the odd shaped thing passed through to his colon with no surgery needed! whew!
He's home again and eating small portions of food and water with some medication to make sure his insides go back to normal. That being said, not much got done around our house this week - aside from cleaning and washing. The washer/dryer have been going overtime to try and keep up but we still lost a few items that were already pretty worn out and couldn't be cleaned.
I do have to give a shout out to LLBean dog beds! His has taken a LOT this week, including the washer/dryer several times and still come out good as new on the other end! Also, LOVE my Maytags - one of our BEST investments with the house. I would buy them again in a heartbeat!
So here it is... finally Friday! The weekend will be filled with prep for Thanksgiving, guests and catching up on all the bits and pieces I normally get done during the week. You know, fun stuff, like bills, mail, emails, food shopping, errands, dishes and regular laundry!

Thank you for all the well wishes and concerns and hugs we've received this week. Matt and I truly appreciate each and every one of you. If there was ever any doubt, this week has truly reminded us how much Reese is a part of our little family and how much our vet and their office staff rocks our world - he received such wonderful care and we are so thankful to have him home and on the mend.

Basement: Supplies Arrive!

Reese was the first to let us know that the BIG Truck had come down the driveway and was unloading. I managed to run outside and get a quick picture before they started.

Reese kept a close eye on them the whole time moving from window to window. 

I didn't let him out to say hello since there was big machinery involved.

Everything went straight into the basement! (2x4's)

Insulating foam boards

interlocking floor tiles that will raise the wall to wall carpet off the concrete slab

And this was only delivery #1!

Whew! The whole basement smells like trees/wood

I have to say the interlocking tiles are pretty darn awesome! This black plastic side will face down onto the concrete creating a small air pocket that will insulate the rest of the room from the cold concrete slab. It also means, that if we have any water seepage (they will be sealing the crack before work begins - but just in case!) it won't damage the carpet or the room and can evaporate back down into the ground as it has done in years past.
The good news is that we've had NO water seepage since the new front gutters were installed! wahoo! That was part of the 2-step plan to keep water out of the basement. 1- remove it from the outside by installing new gutters and pulling the water away from the house and 2 - sealing the crack in the basement foundation.

Guestroom Update.... Again

In preparation for a visit from an Old Friend from college (Annelyse!) I pulled together the guestroom in a more cohesive manner since when the guestroom and study were flipped I just sort of threw everything in there!

I moved the bed to the middle of the wall and hung the two Maine Lighthouse pictures above being careful to make them high enough pillows won't hit them, but low enough to still enjoy and look balanced on the wall. I thought about putting them above the lamps instead, but I feel that we'd need a headboard in this room in order to make that work. Maybe another update later on? :-)

The grey comforter made for too much grey in this room so I switched out for a cream wool blanket and a white quilted coverlet. I put another white cotton blanket across the end in case she got cold. That is the one downside to this room - it sits above the garage and thus gets chillier than the other bedrooms in the colder months. (You can't see it, but I also added a mini space heater to bring the temperature up a bit.)

I used the same picture hooks that were there for my study and swapped out some pictures in order to flank the window with a bit of color. This empty wall on the right with the light switch will (hopefully!) soon hold my long black dresser (it's currently being re-finished). At that point, the rocking chair may feel too cramped and need to find a new home, but I'm going to wait and see on that one.

You may be able to see a bit of the copper stripe on the cedar chest which is currently living in the nook behind the bedroom door. This is a cozy guestroom, but I almost like it better in this slightly smaller bedroom than the larger green one (currently holding our office/study space) - the furniture fits without feeling cramped or too small in too big a room.

Matt and I shared a townhouse apartment with Annelyse for 2 1/2 years while we were all in college - we had a blast and as we discussed over this game of LIFE, we'll always be family - there is a special bond between roommates in college when you're trying to find your way in the world and balance work, school and life!

Next up: Thanksgiving Menu and maybe a Basement Update? :-)

Sleep? Nah!

There's something about this time of year that makes me think hibernating for the winter might not be a bad idea! It's dark early, it's getting colder by the day, people are getting sick, run-down and stores are already playing Christmas Music. THAT alone makes me want to run and hide - it's waaaay too early and totally distracting!!
Matt has started a new thing (apparently) with taking pictures of me and Reese while sleeping. This one he claims he took because Reese looked funny - he is sleeping in his 'dead bug' pose: on his back, nose up, legs in the air! LOL

I do love the fires in the evenings though. They make the first floor so warm and cozy. Then we all pile onto the couch and I'm done. Perfection!
I'm also LOVING this easy, protein-filled dessert: 8oz plain greek yogurt + 2 TB Peanut Butter + 1 tsp Vanilla + 1 TB mini-mini dark chocolate chips. You may see the recipe online (cough! Pinterest! cough, cough) with other things added like honey/stevia/sugar - I don't think it needs it. Also, some like the choc chips to be milk chocolate - I like the dark chocolate (and it's better for you! as long as its 70% or higher).
In other news, an old friend will be visiting for the weekend and we couldn't be more excited!!! I even hung up some pictures in the guestroom - I should take photos for you :-) She's never seen the house or met Reese so there's a TON to catch up on in a short amount of time - Matt says we can do it if we don't sleep....I'mmm not sure I can manage that anymore, but we'll see! and I'll be sure to share!!

What are you up to for the weekend?

Prepping for Our Biggest Condo Project Yet!

THE BASEMENT.
The ever looming, elephant in the room, always on the brain, seemingly HUGE project that we've wanted to tackle ever since we bought the house!
Previously used for storage, spare TV area, Matt's home office. AKA the cold messy room - LOL

bottom of the stairs

as you round the corner

all the way to the left - under the stairs

straight ahead - aka TV area.
Matt's desk is the right - just outside the picture

It's now all in the garage. 

well, the heavier pieces were moved into the utility room

empty basement

This is where Matt's desk was - door goes to utility room

Looking back towards the stairs

THE PLAN.

Dad helped us with measurements and basic drawings.
There is no basement under the garage - it's on a slab, hence the 'L' shape.

But here's what you really want to know! The basement will be finished as one large space with a few additional closets put in for storage (reminder: we have no attic storage!). The ceiling will have a few bumps due to lovely utilities that could have been planned better, but weren't. ah, well. The 3 highlighted spaces are what we have to work with once the closets go in. We tried to place the closets in the funky corners to even out the space a bit and make it more usable. Blue is the family/TV and couch area. Yellow is Matt's home office space and Green is the workout corner where Matt's weight bench, my yoga mat, etc will go. 

This is basically the same general layout we had down there before, but there will be some finagling once everything is finished. I want to make sure it flows and is comfy to have people spend time down there - the goal being that the big screen tv, surround sound, xbox, will all go down there and be set up for awesome game watching and/or movie nights! :-) Too bad we didn't have it done for the World Series!! :-) There's always next year!

Reese after supervising the movement of all the stuff in the basement. Poor little guy was pooped! :-)

We hope to have the whole thing done by December 21st - I will keep you updated as we go along. Should be a crazy-fun-learning-awesome experience!

Pumpkin Time!

It's Pumpkin Time!! Everyone has out their pumpkin coffees:

Starbucks

Dunkin's

and now it's time for the food!! Thomas's English Muffins have once again brought back their seasonal Pumpkin English Muffins - YUM!

I hear they are great with butter and a sprinkling of your favorite fall spice - nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon - OR, try them with whipped cream cheese to keep it a light flavor/texture!
I'm getting ready to make up another delish batch of pumpkin squash bisque and try out a crust-less pumpkin pie - because a gluten-free pie crust is just gross.

What is your fav pumpkin dish?