Karen's Refrigerator Nightmare

My frig o'pictures! Ha ha! Sorry I couldn't resist. Love you!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! And that your day was filled with love and laughter. Aaron and I stayed home and enjoyed a relaxing day. We ate a southern fried dinner with our friends, The McAdams. It wasn't traditional but it was delicious!

Glory to God

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2: 8-14

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas
...from our family to yours!

Boone's Photo Ops

Even though we tried, he was not feeling the Christmas spirit. I believe the tongue says it all!

His idea of helping to shovel the driveway.

His new facial after he tried to eat all the snow we were shoveling!

We got over 15 inches this past few days. It is a pain to shovel and drive in but it sure has been beautiful up here. There was quite a storm yesterday and Aaron and I ventured out to L.L. Bean. It was fun to be out on the roads when there were no cars. It was only a little after 6 pm and the place was a ghost town. The ride home was slow but the storm made it a winter wonderland outside.

Christmas Pickle

I have seen/heard about the Christmas pickle for a few years now but I never bought one. Well, today I did because the ornaments were 50% off. Woo hoo! It is fun to have a little something special hidden in the tree. I searched for the story behind the pickle ornament and found the following from the website mymerrychristmas.com :

"The Christmas pickle is not really a pickle at all. It is a pickle-shaped ornament that is the last one hung on the tree on Christmas Eve. The first child to find the Christmas pickle gets an extra gift from Saint Nicholas. Or so the so-called legend goes.

There are two other versions of the origins of the Christmas pickle. One is a family story of a Bavarian-born ancestor who fought in the American Civil War. A prisoner in poor health and starving, he begged a guard for just one pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and found a pickle for him. The pickle by the grace of God gave him the mental and physical strength to live on.

The other, perpetuated in Berrien Springs, MI, is a medieval tale of two Spanish boys traveling home from boarding school for the holidays. When they stopped at an inn for the night, the innkeeper, a mean and evil man, stuffed the boys into a pickle barrel. That evening, St. Nicholas stopped at the same inn, became aware of the boys' plight, tapped the pickle barrel with his staff, and the boys were magically freed.

Berrien Springs calls itself the Christmas Pickle Capital of the World. They celebrate with an annual Christmas Pickle Festival held during the early part of December. A parade, led by the Grand Dillmeister who passes out fresh pickles along the parade route, is the featured event. You may even purchase the German glass pickle ornaments at the town’s museum.

Rumor and speculation place the origin of this tradition in Germany. However, few in modern-day Germany recognize or have even heard of the Christmas pickle. Some in West Germany blame generations of East Germans who may have had nothing more than pickles to decorate their Christmas trees with after World War II. But even families and historians in East Germany shrug at the mention of the Christmas pickle tradition."

My very own Christmas pickle! I hung it on the tree before Christmas Eve but I figured since I didn't have kids I could get away with it. I don't want Boone sticking his nose anywhere around the inside of my tree. Who knows what kind of mess he would make!

Do any of you out there have a pickle hanging in your tree?

Ghosts of Christmas Past

I was going through a photo album that my dad made me a few Christmases ago and I came across these photos. It was cool to peek back into my earlier Christmas memories. I guess that is why I love taking pictures so much. It is cool to and look back on things and see stuff you might have forgotten. I also like seeing how the times change as well as the people. Although, some of these pictures make me look crazy even as a kid!

Obviously, I have no idea why the sour face! Whatever it was much not have bothered Nickie.

There is so much I love about this picture. It is Nickie, me and Alicia. It is awesome that we all have the same boots on. The looks on Nickie's and Alicia's faces are funny to me. And I loved that police car. It was like a powerwheels. Or maybe it was a powerwheels, who knows but it provided hours of fun!

Here I go again looking like a crazy person. I must have been really excited about that doll!

Here I am with my bowl cut. Hot right!? I am not sure if you can tell or not but in my lap is a Berenstain Bear doll. My Nana made me all the characters that I loved to read about so much. She rocked!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I know it isn't Christmas yet, but I am so sick of hearing people say 'You have to be careful who you say that to. It might offend someone'. Ugh! I am going to say it as much as I want, when I want. And if you don't like it, don't accept my holiday wishes! People say their version of holiday wishes to me all the time and I don't get offended. Where is the love!?!? It's Christmas for goodness sakes! :o)

Ice Anyone?

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful..."

This past week we had a fun ice storm here in Brunswick! Mother Nature and Old Man winter went nuts. First it rained awhile then it all froze. Fun times! Not really. We had no power all day Friday. And we were told at one point that the power wasn't coming back on until Monday. Thanks goodness that person was wrong and the power was back on Friday night. There are still lots of people without power though. I hope lady luck shines upon them soon!

"But the fire is so delightful!..."

We bought an artificial tree this year due to clean up issues last year. I did however, buy a Christmas Tree candle from the Village Candle in town and it smells wonderful! It has helped trick our noses into believing it is a real tree!

"And since we've no place to go..."

Well, there were plenty of places to go on Saturday. My Saturday was spent hanging out with friends (Catherine, Becca, Jase and Chipper). We had a fun time at the Battalion Children Christmas party. I wish I could say the same for Jase. He loved the cookies and presents but not Santa! Although, I think he is a pretty smart kid, grab the gift and run from a crazy stranger in a suit! I have known this little guy for a few months now and this is the most upset I have seen him. He really is a great little kid!

I hope you all had a fun weekend filled with plenty of electricity!

Our Tree Is Up!

We decorated! I wish Christmas would last longer. I love having the tree up and the lights shining around the house. There is something so soothing about the soft light! It is kind of like the poor man's fire place. Ha ha ha!

Boone with the tree. I tried to take one of him in front of it with just the Christmas lights on but he was to dark to see.

If you check out the new title picture, you will see one of the newest ornaments we have purchased. It is cool to look at the tree and remember the fun places Aaron and I have got to explore together already. I look forward to seeing where all we can gather new ornaments in the future to document our adventures.

I was messing around with my camera in and around the tree. I love this bulb because it is a snowflake. It was right on target for the theme of our wedding 4 years ago this January. Wow, time flies!

I was sticking my camera inside the tree and taking random shots. Some of the best shots I have taken have been not looking through the view finder. Anyway, I found this shot in my 'roll' and thought it was pretty cool.

I hope your Christmas decorating is going off without a hitch!

Christmas Traditions

Aaron and I have been married for almost four years. We have developed a few Christmas traditions on our own but not many. I am sure that will come with time. But we both have great memories of traditions we grew up with and I thought I would share just a few of mine with you.

There are two that stand out in my mind. The first involves Alvin and The Chipmunks. Ever year, when we would get ready to decorate our Christmas tree, my parents would put on Christmas with the Chipmunks. We would dance around and sing while hanging the lights, garland and ornaments. My sister and I looked forward to it every year! This past Saturday before Aaron and I put up out tree we made a trip to Wally World to purchase the CD. After searching the whole store we finally found it! When we played it while putting up the tree, all seemed right with the world!

The second tradition we had at my house was that Santa always left a stuffed animal on our beds for us to find Christmas morning. My sister and I were so excited to wake up and see what we had gotten! There were even nights we slept in the same room hoping to catch him leaving us a gift. We would compare stuffed animals but Santa always knew the perfect stuffed animal to leave for each of us. Santa continued to bring me a special something at the end of my bed until I was about 22 years old. This is a special tradition that if we are blessed to have children I would love to carry on in our family.

My parents always made Christmas time special, maybe that is why I love it so much! Are there any Christmas traditions that you love? I would love to hear about them!

Can you resist this face?

(Please click picture to enlarge! Darn Blogger for not letting me make it bigger myself.)

I thought I would share one of my favorite pictures I took on Thanksgiving vacation. I know, I know, it is of a dog but still can you resist this face? This is Angus, he belongs to my sister, Nickie. (Yes Erin, he is a German Shorthaired Pointer just like Clyde and Star.) For those of you who like AC/DC you understand the name. For those of you who don't like AC/DC well, you probably don't care to have me explain anyway. Doesn't he just scream 'love me'?

"In the meadow we can build a snowman..."

I started getting out all of our Christmas decorations yesterday. It instantly got me in the Christmas spirit! Aaron has been gone for a few days so I didn't want to do to much without him. We are putting our Christmas tree up Saturday. (I can't wait!) But I knew he wouldn't mind if I put up my snowman tree. I saw my cousin's, Christine, snowman tree years ago and loved the idea so much I decided to make one of my own.

Tree in regular light.

The tree lighting up the room!

My tree topper (for now). I need to find a little snowman who doesn't mind a light up his bum to stand proud a top my tree! ;o)

The best part about my snowman tree is that it can be left up the whole winter season. And well, honestly...I have been known to keep it up all year round. I haven't done it in awhile but can you blame me?! Who doesn't love a little snowman tree to brighten up their life?!

I'm Warning You...

We had a great visit with our families over our Thanksgiving vacation. Time seemed to fly by really fast! I always have a good time taking pictures of everyone. I hope you enjoy the ones I choose to share. There are a lot of pictures. You can't say you weren't warned!

The first stop was at my dad's house. We had a great time but unfortunately, I didn't get the camera out. I am an awful daughter! Next time I will go picture crazy at their house.

The second stop was my mom's house, where we met up with Nickie and Sydney.

Syd sure loves her Uncle Aaron. They had a good time watching the Macy's Day parade.

The crazy pups! Angus (left) belongs to my sister and Gunner (right) belongs to my mom. They are brothers so they have a blast playing together.

Snowball making class.

Boone had a blast playing in the snow. We don't have any here yet so he was eating as much as possible.

My cute niece and I.

Crafts after dinner. Our family loves crafts!

I had to share this one. I definitely think they are related. Ha ha!

Our family.

The third stop on the trip was to the Pearsall's house. They recently built a new house and it was fun having everyone together there.

Aaron and Ryan

Trevor, Myles & Matt

Proud Grandparents with Ryan and Briana's little girl, Delaney.

She is so adorable! And she was so great sitting there while I took a bunch of pics.

Briana, me and Allison.

I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours! I know I had/have a lot to be grateful this year!

Just the Beginning

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. Two Fridays ago, Aaron and I started out on a crazy week. I met up with him Friday night at the Attitash Grand Summit Hotel in Bartlett, NH. He was there for the Army ATC and Saturday night they had their Battalion ball. This was my 3rd ball so I knew what to expect. The best part is getting to dress up and see Aaron in his dress blue uniform.

For those of you that remember last years pics from the ball, I am wearing the same dress. I figured why buy another when none of these people have seen it? Plus, it helped the stress level not having to find a new dress, shoes and jewelry! I had lots of other things going on like wrapping all our Christmas presents. But that is for the next few posts.

See below for a few photos...

Isn't he handsome!?! And no, I have no idea why my arm is so stiff. :o)

Aaron and our friend, Garrett.

Catherine (Garrett's wife), me and Rebecca.

Sunday morning we headed out for a week with our families. There will be lots of pics to come of the trip. This is just the beginning! Right now I am just trying to sort through them all. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Be Grateful

We Miss You

Ben's final resting place.

In memory of CPT Benjamin D. Keating 3-71 CAV
KIA Nov. 26 2006 Kamdesh, Afghanistan

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil;
My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

The 23rd Psalm

Happy Birthday Nickie!

(Me, Sydney, my mom and Nickie)

Mini Tote

My friend, Elizabeth, asked me if I could make a tote for her daughter Megan. Megan is already developing a love of purses at a young age! I thought why not!? I knew how to make a regular size so what was the harm in trying to scale down the pattern.

(photo courtesy of At Home with the Cunninghams)
Isn't she so cute!

I had extra fabric from my tote so I decided to see if I could make a practice tote. (My niece Sydney will end up with the finished product.) It came out much better than I thought. I didn't make a liner (I will going forward with every tote no matter the size.) and I thought the pocket would be cool on the outside. It isn't perfect but I am still pretty excited!

What the heck?

I don't know about you guys, but around the holidays the mailman seems to deliver an obscene amount of catalogs. Most of the catalogs we get are from places I have never heard of so how they got my info, I have no idea. This weekend we received a catalog from Hammacher Schlemmer. On the front cover they claim to be 'America's Longest Running Catalog'. I have no idea how this is possible because I didn't find one thing in the catalog that I think normal folks would want to buy.

The most interesting item I found was The Fish Agility Training Set. Yes, you read it correctly a fish training set. Does this strike anyone else as odd!?! What the heck? The set actually includes hoops, soccer balls, slalom course, etc... The catalog states that the set 'uses techniques similar to those used to modify circus animal behavior'. Seriously!?!

(pic couresty of hammacher.com)

I thought people bought fish because it was an easy pet to take care of or maybe they buy fish to help reduce their blood pressure. Do people really buy fish to train them in agility? I just can't get my mind around this idea.

I actually started to feel bad for my fish Gilligan (A goldfish I bought at Wal-Mart for less than a dollar years ago.) because I never thought to train him. Did he feel as though I didn't love him? Was his short life a bore because all he did was swim around in circles? (He died after only a few weeks. Darn Wal-Mart for selling faulty fish.)

Rest in peace Gilligan. I am sorry I was such a bad owner that you never got to know the feeling of scoring a goal or making a basket. And although you were good company, I still don't think you were quite worth the $39.95 it would cost me to (apparently) give your life more meaning.

Well, I am off to see what other madness I can find in these random catalogs. I am not quite sure I can find something to top the above nonsense. Stay tuned!

'The Good Old Hockey Game...'

Aaron and I attended a Portland Pirates hockey game Saturday night. We hadn't been to a hockey game for so long we were going through withdrawl. I used to go to Buffalo Sabres games a lot when we lived closer. So when we heard the Pirates were hosting a military night we thought we would go check it out.

To our surprise the Pirates, as of June 2008, is the new feeder team for the Buffalo Sabres. It was cool to be able to see the guys in action who might one day make it to play for the Sabres in NHL.

(pic courtesy of portlandpirates.com)

The Pirates wore special stars and stripes jerseys to honor the military.

After 3 periods, the Pirates came out victorious over the Philadelphia Phantoms 5-3. We definitely want to go to another game before the season ends. The arena was pretty full and the fans were electric. We had a great time!

Sister's Blog

My sister, Nickie, finally started a blog of her own. Here new blog is Whole Lotta Fowlers. I am sure there will be a lot of quirky stories about Nickie, my crazy niece, Sydney, and their dogs.

Enjoy!

Happy Veteran's Day

Pumpkin Drop Cookies

I made pumpkin drop cookies the other day for work and they were a big hit! So, I thought I would share the recipe in case you were feeling like a cookie:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg

Glaze:
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency. Drizzle over warm pumpkin cookies.

Yummy!

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, so it is not an original from me. I think I will be making these every year from now on. I have said it before and I will say it again...I love pumpkin!