The gift that even Santa can't deliver...

You've got to be kidding me.

This is O.M.F.G. funny (and I don't use that term lightly)!



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Merry Christmas - and you're welcome (ho ho ho!).

Organized office love

So I know that usually you think of organization after the first of the year, but I'm hoping that over the Christmas break we will FINALLY get to work on our own home office! It's such a mess right now, and I would love if it turned out as awesome as this one from Dallas designer Jane Waggoner.

Do you have any projects planned for the Christmas break??

Oops!

Work has just been crazy this week (everyone wants their carpet and rugs by Christmas!!), and last night I was busy "crafting" a present for a Secret Santa as well as packaging up the gifts I give out to my better clients.... so there's no Trim-It-Down Tuesday today.

But, instead, I thought I'd feed your sense of humor with this awesome picture!

We should totally do something like this for our Christmas cards next year....

Christmas Cookie Recipes

Over at the Life Accounts blog, they have SEVENTEEN - 17 - different holiday cookie recipes posted today!!

I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend!

She's got everything from fudge to pine bark to snickerdoodles to the wreaths you see above!

For yummy holiday treat recipes, go here.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Blog Award!

I've been awarded the Sugar Doll Blogger Award by Krista!

The rules are that I need to share 10 interesting facts about myself and then pass this award along to 10 other bloggers. In the spirit of the season, I thought this might be more fun if I posted 10 interesting (or humorous) facts about me that have to do with Christmas or this time of year!

Let's get started:

1. I was born in Indiana and lived there until I was 9. I really miss the snow at this time of year - I used to love making snowmen and snow forts!! Of course, since I was so young I never had to shovel the sidewalks or anything fun like that, so my memories are just of childhood snow fun.

2. Once I was old enough to assist, I have loved decorating Christmas trees! In fact, when I was a teenager, my Mom would often stand back and just let me have at it. My sisters would try to help, but most of the time I would move whatever ornament they hung to a new and "better" location on the tree. See, it's all about balance, people. You don't want two large ornaments right next to each other, and you don't want two of the same color right next to each other!!

3. One time, in high school, while I was up in the attic looking for more Christmas decorations, my foot slipped and I actually fell through the ceiling and into the garage! How embarrassing is that?? Luckily, I was young and had good reactions! I was able to catch myself with my arms so that I was actually hanging through the ceiling, holding on the the rafters. I was able to drop myself down safely, but my Mom didn't believe me when I went inside to tell her. Still to this day, I'm not really sure what she thought I meant when I said "Mom, I just fell through the ceiling."

4. One of my earliest memories was receiving a pair of ice skates for Christmas. Of course, I was super disappointed because they were black double-runners (they had 2 blades instead of 1), and not the pretty white single-blades that the GIRL ice skaters wore on TV! My Dad tells me that I straight up told him that I couldn't wear them because I was a girl, and girls didn't wear black skates. Those were for boys!

5. One year for Christmas, my crazy aunt thought it would be *cute* to get my sisters and I matching sleep shirts and socks. The problem was that 1.) I was in high school and had no desire to "match" my younger and way-uncool-er sisters, and 2.) The shirts had the (very realistic) line drawing of a pig on them! The front of the shirt showed the face of the pig, and the back had the rear. The socks?? Oh, they had hooves on them. Yeah. Best present ever.

6. My favorite holiday movies are "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (the one with Herbie the Dentist and Yukon Cornelius, naturally) and "A Christmas Carol". Both make me tear up and cry. I'm a big baby when it comes to all the Christmas love.

7. I love holiday music! I have a couple of mix-CD's (cause I'm a dork like that) of Christmas music, and about the week before Thanksgiving I can't wait to throw them in! My favorite songs?? Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas is You", "Happy Christmas (War is Over)", Band-Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmas?", Elton's "Step Into Christmas", "Holly Jolly Christmas", "O Holy Night" (the "real" version AND the one by Cartman!), "Little Drummer Boy"...... really, I could go on and on, but I'm sure that this is enough for you all.

8. I love real trees, especially Frasier and Noble firs, but Chris bought us a pre-lit tree on sale after Christmas a couple years ago and I must admit that it is pretty nice to not have to put on the lights. Plug in and go.

9. My grandmother used to make the best watermelon-rind preserves. We'd have them every Christmas, and since she's been gone I kind of miss them. Memories are strange - watermelon rind preserves = my Grandmother's house at Christmas!

10. Chris and I argue every year about when most people out there open their presents - I say Christmas morning (duh!), and he says Christmas Eve. I was always brought up opening my presents on Christmas Day. His family has the present bonanza Christmas Eve (sometimes really late at night). So I want you to leave me a comment and tell me WHEN you open presents for Christmas - this year I'm taking a poll!!

And for the nominations:

Linda (Silly Little Mischief)

Jenny (Jenny.Lee)

Bean (Without Adornment)

Jen (Mrs. Life Accounts)

Erika (Wine-Oh!)

Christin (of the Nicholas clan - my SIL)

Jenny (My Favorite and My Best)

Kate (the Neo-Traditionalist)

Emily (Wiley Wifey and the Culinary Couple)

Marianne (Haven and Home)

Ladies, feel free to post or not... but know that I really enjoy reading your blogs!!

Trim-It-Down Tuesday: Special Occasion Lasagna

Today's recipe is actually called "Rachel's Special Occasion Lasagna". I'd love to take credit, but it's not mine. :-(

But, it's very very good, very easy to make (even for a lasagna novice like me), and under 300 calories per serving!! How about some warm cheesy lasagna goodness for a cold night??



Rachel's Special Occasion Lasagna

You can make this dish ahead--just cover and refrigerate or freeze after you've spread the final layer of marinara sauce. Serve with a salad and breadsticks to round out the meal.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) package uncooked lasagna noodles (about 9 noodles) **I used the no-bake kind, which turned out great!
1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) fat-free cottage cheese
3/4 cup (6 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup (6 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free pasta sauce, divided
Cooking spray
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Combine the cottage cheese, cream cheese, and ricotta cheese in a large bowl; stir to blend well. Stir in Parmesan and next 8 ingredients (through egg).

Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 3 noodles over pasta sauce; top with half of cheese mixture and one third of remaining pasta sauce. Repeat layers once, ending with noodles. Spread remaining pasta sauce over noodles.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella; bake an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 284 (28% from fat)
Fat: 8.8g (sat 5.2g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.4g)
Protein: 15.7g
Carbohydrate: 34.2g
Fiber: 3.3g
Cholesterol: 53mg
Iron: 0.9mg
Sodium: 657mg
Calcium: 179mg
Sarah Jones, Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2005

Et Voila! My Black Lampshade

It was actually pretty easy to do, and I am loving how it turned out! You can see exactly how I did it on Elizabeth Anne Designs here.

It's the obligatory Christmas tree photos!

Welcome to my house!

It's the first year for my fun multi-colored tree.

If you look closely, you can see the ornaments from Crate and Barrel.

The stocking my grandmother made for me when I was a baby. All those beads and sequins, sewn on by hand...

When my mom was making adjustments to the stocking (adding "TCU" and my Greek letters) some of the patches my grandmother had done were removed and saved. I was able to attach them to a new stocking for Chris. And then I tried to make a Texas Tech symbol for him. Didn't do my grandmother's work justice.

Flowers, anyone?

This weekend, I took some fabric that I found on sale and made a pillow for our bedroom.




I had been kind of putting it off because I kept wanting to wait until I could learn how to sew a zipper. But I finally realized that it may be a while until I know how to sew a zipper into a pillow (and do it well), so I decided to try an envelope closure which is much easier.



I'm really pleased with how it turned out! It's floral, yes... but I like how it pairs with the olive drab army blanket on our bed. Brings a little feminine to that masculine blanket.

Trim-It-Down Tuesday: Slow-Cooker White Chicken Chili

Today's recipe is kind of an adaptation from the back of a McCormick's spice package... I'm not going to lie. But my chicken chili is really good, and very easy!

Slow-Cooker White Chicken Chili

Ingredients
Approx. 1 pound of chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 can of Northern beans, or other white beans
1 can of diced tomatoes with chilies
2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 cup of frozen corn
1 package of white chicken chile seasoning (such as McCormick's)
green onions, cilantro, low-fat sour cream, and low-fat cheese for garnish

Directions
Add uncooked chicken and all other ingredients - except for garnish - to a crock pot. Set on low and cook for 7 to 9 hours.
Add garnish and serve!
(Simple, right?)

Generally, this recipe will produce about 6 "meal" portions. And as long as you keep your garnishes low-fat and to a minimum, you've got a hearty and healthy chili!

Sick Day

I was out sick yesterday (boo!), and so I am playing catch up today at work.

I promise to be back with fun posts as soon as I can! I have a great white chili recipe to share, and somebody (me) recovered a lampshade with black fabric!