December 20, 2009

I've been around the house a lot for the last 4 weekends; busy with all my bake sale baking, and Christmas stuff. I like to have movies on in the background when I'm home, and these are my Christmas favorites that I've been watching over and over and over.

• It's a Wonderful Life

• Elf

• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

• A Christmas Story

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles

• The Santa Clause

I've also been watching “Dirty Dancing” and “Liar Liar”, just cause they make me happy, not because they're Christmasy.

So, did I miss any of your favorite must-watch Christmas movies?

~BigSis

December 19, 2009

Today, I'm sharing with you one of my favorite TomTom Santa photos. I did publish this one last year, but just in case you missed it, here it is again. Doesn't he look festive?

BigSis still hasn't been able to convince her two little furkids to pose in their new Christmas outfit she bought for them this year.  Since there's only one December ‘Caturday' left this month, I thought it might be fun to invite our readers to share any Christmas photos of their kitties dressed up for the holidays.

If you have a photo that you'd like to share and would love to see posted on our final December ‘Caturday' next Saturday, just send it to me as an attachment in an email to lilsis at bigsislilsis dot com. Make sure the photo is already resized to no larger than 450 x 340. I know this isn't much notice, but if I have the photos by Wednesday, December 23rd, I'll promise to have them up on Saturday the 26th!

Come on…it'll be fun. Don't tell me that BigSis and I are the only ones who dress up their furkids in Santa Hats and Reindeer Antlers! 🙂

~LilSis

December 17, 2009

We still have donations coming in following Monday's SPCA of Texas Bake Sale, so I'm not telling you yet how much money we were blessed to collect!  Maybe by the weekend I can let the cat out of the bag.  Not that I would ever put a cat in a bag; that wouldn't be very humane.  Unless I had to do that to get the cat out of a dangerous situation and couldn't do it any other way.  ^..^  Do I have a touch of rambling Christmas delirium?  Think so.

I also have some recipes that you have to make if you're trying to figure out what to bake for Christmas!  These were my favorite things to make for the bake sale, but it occurred to me that they are also awesome things to make for Christmas gifts.  I'm not burned out on baking yet – weird, I know – so I may make more of these before we hit the new year since we had nothing left after Monday's sale!  I would feel comfortable mailing all of these except for the Snowballs.  They're a little fragile so keep them at home.

• Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies: plain, with mint Oreos, or with chocolate chips and walnuts.  I know I talk about these ALL of the time, but they're my favorite brownies and I love them.  We sell the HECK out of them at bake sales.  Not because of my baking prowess, but because it's an awesome recipe!

• Vegan Pumpkin Bread: no one believes there are no eggs or dairy in this bread.  It's moist and flavorful, and absolutely one of my favorites.  I have to add walnuts.  Have to.

• Fudge: chocolate, cinnamon and peanut butter.  Just use the regular fudge recipe on the marshmallow cream jar, and substitute cinnamon chips and peanut butter chips for the semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I like to pour the fudge into little silicone molds with Christmas shapes.  When they're cool and set, you can easily unmold them, sprinkle with sparkling sugar (brown on gingerbread boys, green on Christmas trees, and red on stockings).  For a final touch, add some royal icing accents here and there.  For the sale, I packaged them two different shapes to a treat bag: one chocolate and one cinnamon or PB.

• Pecan Pie Bars with Chocolate and Bourbon from the Pastry Queen: these got a little oozy, but they were fudgey and boozy, so who the heck cared?  Nobody!  I love the original flavor of these, and was shocked that I loved this over-the-top variation even more.  Wicked!

• Chocolate Mint Snowballs: based on RecipeGirl's Snowballs. I used mint chips and pecans instead of peanut butter chips and peanuts.  Roll these in green sugar and powdered sugar, and pack in a cute treat bag with a ribbon, or a box with a window so you can peek at them.

Happy baking, little kitchen elves!

~BigSis

December 16, 2009

I love lists! I've discovered over the years that it really motivates me to have an ongoing “To Do” list, not only on my Outlook, but also specific tasks and phone calls written down in my planner each day. Not only do I check it off of my Outlook task list when it's done but I also mark it off my written list with a big fat red Sharpie. I don't know why I enjoy this so much, but I do.

Luckily, I finally made some progress on my Christmas “To Do” List. Yes, it is now officially crunch time! Only eight days and some odd hours til Christmas!! How are you doing on your list?  I'm still a bit overwhelmed with all there is left to do before we leave on Monday, but I'm making progress.

I'm doin' a little happy dance today since I FINALLY got all my Christmas cards in the mail and finished up the shopping on gifts that need to be shipped out of state. I know, I know, for all the early birds out there, this probably seems late to be doing this, but I'm just so glad that it's finally done.

This morning is now designated for wrapping, and packaging the gifts that need to be shipped. I'm sure I'll still be standing in line at the post office as you read this. 🙂

I don't mind though. I'm actually going to take my iPod with me to the post office to listen to some Christmas music while I'm in line. I may even wear a Santa Hat today! I'm so thankful that I finally got some Christmas spirit. I had almost decided not to decorate this year since we'd be out of town, but then I decided that wouldn't be fair to HayHay. (Christmastime is still really hard on our family since we don't have our Dad with us so we all have to make a real effort to not be down in the dumps.)

So, that being said, I'm just happy that it's starting to feel a bit like Christmas around here! Once we decided to go ahead and decorate, we had to get in gear! In the past two days, we've got the decorations out of storage, put up all the lights and outdoor decorations, decorated the inside of the house, put up and decorated a small tree, addressed and mailed all the cards, bought wrapping supplies and containers for neighbor gifts, and finished up the shopping for out of town gifts.

Once the packages are shipped this morning, I think this is all that's left on my list to do before we leave on Monday.

• Finish shopping for gifts we're taking with us on plane.
• Wrap gifts and pack in suitcase. (Pray it doesn't get lost.)
• Make list of ingredients needed for neighbor gifts.
• Make, package and deliver neighbor gifts.
• Buy boots and scarf for trip.
• Pack laptop, camera, iPod, video camera, and chargers.
• Dig through closet for warm clothes to pack.

At least by Sunday night, I'll have everything marked off my list and we'll be able to enjoy Christmas with the family without any last minute rushing around.

I am not at all prepared for the below freezing temperatures in Chicago, but HayHay is going to be thrilled if we have a White Christmas this year.

~LilSis

December 13, 2009

I know everyone has probably seen these before, but there's still something about dancing little elves that makes me laugh every time! Take one minute to watch…I hope it'll make ya laugh, too! 🙂

Wanna make your friends and family laugh? Then take just a couple of minutes to Elf Yourself and put them in the dance with you. You can include up to five people.

This year the site makes it really simple to upload to Facebook and Twitter!  I'm going to have to make one with SisMama doin' some Hip Hop with BigSis & LilSis. Silly, I know, but hopefully it'll make her laugh! 🙂

~LilSis

December 9, 2009

Last week I shared with you some cute photos of TomTom in his new Santa Hat and scarf and I decided that since he was so patient during that photo shoot, I'm going to get him something special for Christmas this year. (Plus I feel guilty because we will be in Chicago for Christmas and he'll be home with the pet sitter.)

I think he's been trying to tell me that he'd like to have a really tall perch to hang out on. This past week, he found a new hiding spot up on top of our cabinets out in the garage. The first time we found him up there it was about 11:00 p.m. and we had been looking for him and calling his name for about a half an hour. We were starting to get worried that he may have accidentally gotten outside when I finally looked up and saw him.  I think he was really amused sitting up there being quiet as a mouse watching us look for him. HayHay snapped this photo once we found him. He looks crazy, doesn't he?

Spooky TomTom in his new hiding spot.

Even though he's a real pain in the butt sometimes, I'd like to get him a really tall perch for inside the house. If I could find room, I'd love to get something like this Cat Tree House Condo that I found on Amazon. These are normally way too expensive for me to even consider buying one so I was surprised when I saw this one on Amazon for less than $85.00.

Cat Tree House Condo

This next item is a little more extravagant and I won't be getting one for TomTom, but a little kitty with claws would be thrilled to find this waiting for them under the tree on Christmas morning. For $160.00, The Sweet Lounge by Marmalade Pet Care is made from recycled cardboard so it's comfy for napping or for doubling as a scratching post.

There are so many cute little Christmas gifts online for the kitty or doggie in your life. These next two items for dogs are so cute I can barely stand it! Wouldn't it be cute to walk your little furkid wearing a pair of these Doggles.

These are adorable for $19.95!

Or how about one of these cute little Hound Hoodies from Annie's Sweatshop for walking on chilly mornings? The Hoodies are $45.00, come in a choice of eight colors, are reversible and custom made of 100% fleece derived from recycled plastic. I love the cute removable pom pom on the hood.

The Hound Hoodie

These Hoodies almost make me wish I had a little doggie to dress up in cute little clothes!

So whether you're doing your shopping online or venturing out to the malls, don't forget about your four legged friends! They'll love ya for it! 🙂

~LilSis

December 5, 2009

How 'bout we kick off this month's series of ‘Caturdays' with a early Merry Christmas wish from TomTom? Can you tell how much he loves his new Santa Hat and scarf?

"Fa La La La La La La La La"

"I better have a nice present under the tree after being put through this!"

Here's what happened after the photo shoot was over.

Hopefully, we'll get to see some photos of BigSis' little furkids in their Christmas hats since they wouldn't cooperate at Halloween!  🙂

~LilSis

December 1, 2009

December's gifts – custom, ceremony, celebration, consecration – come to us wrapped up, not in tissue and ribbons, but in cherished memories. This is the month of miracles. The oil that burns for eight days, the royal son born in a stable, the inexplicable return of Light on the longest, darkest night of the year. Where there is Love, there are always miracles. And where there are miracles, there is great joy.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein

~LilSis

November 26, 2009

Do you know what today is? Yes, I know it's Thanksgiving, but today is also BigSis' Birthday! (Since we all know how much of a cat lover BigSis is, I think she might get a kick out of this!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG SIS!!!!

It was this time last year when BigSis, SisMama and myself went to Vegas to celebrate BigSis' birthday. This year we aren't as fortunate to be together for her birthday.

Since it's Thanksgiving, I'd also like to say that I'm so thankful for having such a great sister! I know some women aren't lucky enough to have a sister and some have sisters that they aren't even close to, which I can't imagine. So, I consider myself very blessed, and for that, I'm very thankful.

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time when we all give thanks and express our gratitude for those things in our lives that are most important to us.

For me, it's simple. I can sum it up all in one word; family. I give thanks, not only today, but every single day for our family. After losing my dad and my brother in law, both suddenly, I tend to live life a little differently than before, in a positive way.

I could go on and on about how rough this past year has been on us, emotionally, financially, spiritually, and realistically speaking, the toughest year we've ever had in almost 20 years.  Instead of going into specifics, I'll just say that my husband and I try to live life these days believing in the theory that “when one door closes, another one opens.”

We just live life today being thankful for each other, for our health, for our parents, our siblings, our five wonderful children, and our three beautiful grandsons. At the end of the day, nothing else really matters.

~LilSis

November 24, 2009

I'll be taking our family's go-to tater recipe – Holiday Make-Ahead Potatoes – to Thanksgiving lunch at SisMama's house this year.  If I needed to whip up anything else, you can bet I'd be choosing from this group of fab-you-luss recipes!

Breakfast

• Mom's Monkey Bread from Ezra Poundcake

• Cinnamon Eggnog Scones from Baker's Banter

• Pumpkin Brioche Cinnamon Rolls from Girlichef

Appetizers

• Goat Cheese-Stuffed Mushrooms from Food & Wine

• Parmesan Artichoke Crisps from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy

• Aged Gouda Biscotti with Walnuts from Food & Wine

Side Dishes

• Shiitake Mushroom Stuffing from RecipeGirl

• Savory Cranberry Walnut Biscuits from Food & Wine

• Tomato and Corn Pie from Eat Me, Delicious

• Cheesy Cornbread Pudding from FoodNetwork

• Mashed Potatoes with Manchego and Olive Oil from Food & Wine

• Zippy Baked Carrots from Taste of Home

• Creamed Spinach from SmittenKitchen

• Herb-Gruyere Biscuits from Food & Wine

• Mushroom Green Bean Casserole from Taste of Home (no canned soups or canned fried onions)

• Brussels Sprouts Hash with Caramelized Shallots from Epicurious

• Chantilly Potatoes with a Parmesan Crust from Food & Wine

• Sweet Potato Casserole from AllRecipes (no marshmallows!)

• Wild Mushroom and Spinach Stuffing from Epicurious

Desserts

• Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake from AllRecipes

• Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake from the Food Librarian

• Caramel Apple Bars from SugarPlum

• Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bundt from My Baking Addiction

• Pumpkin Swirl Brownies from Meet Me in the Kitchen

• Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Bundt from the Food Librarian

• Spiced Apple Cake with Eggnog Sauce from Epicurious

• Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars from Meet Me in the Kitchen

• Toffee Pecan Shortbread Cookies from Baking And Boys

• Easy Refrigerator Pumpkin Cheesecake from Ezra Poundcake

• Brown Sugar and Spice Cut-Out Cookies from Bake at 350 (Have you seen this lady's decorated cookies?  Go, now!)

• Cranberry Streusel Shortbread Bars from Evil Chef Mom

• Texas Pecan Pie from Taste of Home

• Caramel Pumpkin Pie from Epicurious

• Pumpkin Ice Cream from David Lebovitz

• Thanksgiving Cherry Berry Pie from Cookie Madness

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

~BigSis