Monday, November 27, 2017

Turkey Time 2017.

Happy Monday, friends!  I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving!  Have you been hitting the Black Friday sales this weekend?  I'm curious if you got out and fought the crowds or if you are strictly an online shopper during Black Friday weekend.  


I've been working pretty much non-stop since Friday morning in order to get Etsy orders out on time but I've been able to multitask enough to catch some great sales!!  I've posted a few finds over in my FB group (here) when I see them.

I'm just about caught up to where I'm back to a normal work schedule but I am quickly burning myself out, y'all.  Right now I have exactly 140 open orders.  For every order I ship out, three more come in!  Most definitely, not a bad thing.  ;)  Just stressful and exhausting.  It's very hard to find balance as an Etsy owner during the Christmas season.  It's the most lucrative time of the year for us maker mamas so being a hot mess mom for several weeks leading up to Christmas, just kind of comes with the territory.  


Could I hire someone to help?  Yes.  Trust me, I've thought about it.  But the time it would take me to find and train someone else right now and then oversee their work to make sure they were doing it to my standards would just make it worse.  I've been putting Craig to work as much as possible, running to Home Depot for wood, cutting boards and sanding them.  I can't imagine how far behind I'd be if he wasn't there to help!

But I was able to have a very happy Thanksgiving day with my family!

Last Wednesday, my in-laws arrived from Louisiana with my niece, Scarlet.  Scarlet is Craig's brother's daughter.  She's been coming with Craig's parents to stay with us for Thanksgiving for several years now and the boys look forward to it all year long!  They LOVE their cousin.  


(By the way, as soon as I jump off the Hot Mess Express, we'll be getting these boys some haircuts...just in case you think I haven't noticed.  #ihave)

On Thanksgiving Day, my parents and grandfather drove in from Texarkana, TX (2.5 hours from Mckinney) to be with us for the day.



Craig was in charge of the turkey (thank goodness) so I handled most of the sides.



Craig's mom always brings the dressing.  (Stuffing?)  



My favorite desserts are Craig's mom's mini pecan pies and my chocolate chip gooey cake.

I grew up on "gooey cake".  I think some people call them Neiman Marcus bars.  But it was always my favorite dessert growing up.  My grandmother used to make it for Christmases and Thanksgivings and then I started begging my mom to make me gooey cake at other random times throughout the year.  I started making it for myself once I got married.

 A few years ago, I saw the same recipe on Pinterest but they threw in chocolate chips.  So I decided to do that too and oh my goodness.  I never make it without them now.


And I may be in the minority here, but I prefer them cold. Straight out of the refrigerator.  ;)

Here's the recipe.  So easy and perfect to bring to holiday parties!

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:
1 box butter cake mix
 (I use Duncan Hines Butter Golden but any of the yellow "butter" cake mixes will work)
1 egg
1 stick butter, melted

Filling:
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 16oz box of powdered sugar
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup (or more!), chocolate chips
(I eyeball it. Sometimes I use more.  And I prefer the milk chocolate chips but any kind will work!)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9x13 pan.  In a bowl, combine cake mix, egg and melted butter and mix well with electric mixer.  Pat into the bottom of the dish.

You can use the same bowl to use the electric mixer to beat your cream cheese until smooth.  Add your eggs and vanilla.  Slowly add in your powdered sugar and beat well.  Carefully add in your melted butter and mix well.  Stir in your chocolate chips.

Pour mixture over the crust and spread evenly.  Bake for 40-50 minutes.  You want the center to still be a little gooey and wiggly.  Let cool completely before cutting. I always sprinkle powdered sugar over the top before I cut them.  Serve right away or store in the fridge and eat them cold.  :)  I love how chewy they get when they are cold.

Anyway, we had a great meal and a great day with our families.  My sweet granddaddy is the best.  I think he had fun playing ping pong with Mason.  


Papa (my dad) is still a big kid at heart so he was fully on board with helping the kids work a puzzle.



Mimi (Craig's mom) got in on the action too!


The grandkids love to play cards with Mimi.  They had a fierce game of Go Fish going on later that night.


And then again the next day.  ;)  (The extra kiddo is our neighbor.)


Let's all pretend we don't see their dirty feet all over the table.  K?  We only use this table once a year so I'm sure by next Thanksgiving, I'll have forgotten about their feet.  Right?

And if you're looking at my living room and dining room and thinking to yourself "Man, she could really use some rugs in there...".  I know.  I think it too.  Unfortunately, my dogs are old and getting senile and rugs and old pups just don't mix, if you know what I mean.  Someday, I will have a cute house with pretty Joanna Gaines rugs, curtains that aren't from Ikea and furniture that isn't covered in dog hair.  Someday.  But not today.  ;) #idreamadream

Saturday night, I finished up working, got the boys in bed and took over the living room.  This is my favorite place to be during the holidays.  Twinkly lights, glitter and a Christmas movie.



Right?!


Today, you can find me in the waiting room of an oral surgeon's office.  Craig is having a minor procedure done but he has to be put under so I will be there with him.  It shouldn't take too long, we hope.  The last time he went under anesthesia though, he had a little scare coming out of it so we're praying he won't have a bad reaction to it this time.

I'm hoping to use that time to check out all the awesome Cyber Monday deals though while I wait!  And speaking of deals, here are a few of my favorites that I saw over the weekend.

For the kids:

Walkie talkies are so stinkin' fun, no matter how old you are.  I saw these for just $14 through Cyber Monday!



They also had cute pink ones (here) on sale as well. My friends and I would have had the best time with these!

And this Cars train table is on sale for almost 60% off!  If my kids were still little, this would be an immediate purchase!!  (Why do they have to grow up!!!)

And since I'm dreaming of them staying little forever, I'll go ahead and dream that I had a girl and I'd get her a Frozen dollhouse.  ;)  If I saw this under my tree on Christmas morning when I was little, I would have flipped out.


But my kids aren't really into toys much this year.  Mason wants a hoverboard and Matthew wants his fixed.  We found out it will be cheaper to just get Matthew a new one than have it fixed.

I saw these and they are definitely in the running.  On sale for only $150!

And I've been asking on my Facebook page and on the group page about these Fire Kids Editions.  Sounds like the earlier version weren't great with storage but these are 32GB so that shouldn't be a problem.  Matthew uses Craig's iPad for games and stuff and Mason is using an old Samsung (now that he broke my old iPhone...).  I wanted something he could play his games on but didn't necessarily need all the stuff that comes with an iPad.  (Like the cost.  Plus he doesn't need the internet and all that.  He needs games and that's it.)


Amazon also gives you a 2 year warranty!  No matter what your kids do to it, if they break it, Amazon will replace it for free, no questions asked.  Mind. Blown.

We're still feeling out our options but the more research I do, the more I love the idea of the Fire Kids Edition!  (Built-in parental controls too!  Thumbs way up on that.)

And for the ladies in your life (or yourself!), don't forget about these FAVORITES!

(Oh my gosh...so much THIS!!)

Anyway...

This is still the coolest cosmetic bag ever.  (Read more about my review on this HERE.)


Check out THIS for a 2 for 1 deal on these cosmetic bags!!


And this brush cleaner is the easiest and quickest way to clean your makeup brushes. (I did a little review about this HERE.) 


Both of these things would make awesome gifts for some makeup lovin' ladies!

I'll be posting more fun gift ideas as I stumble upon them this season, so if you'd like to see what I find, join me over there!

Have a great Monday, everyone!





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6 comments

  1. So glad that you were able to have a great Thanksgiving with both sides of the family!! I use to be a crazy black friday shopper when I was younger....but now not so much!
    Hope Craig does well today with his procedure.
    xoxo Heather

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  2. Whoa! This post has EVERYTHING!! I loved it ALL!!!

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  3. Girl!!! Those orders stress me right out! I'm hoping you get them all filled today. ;)

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  4. I do all my shopping online, although it is fun to go out sometimes, I just don't anymore. Those gooey bars look amazing!! I hope everything goes well with Craig's procedure!

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  5. I bought that Cars table on Friday! I could not believe the price! My little guy is 3 and sleeps with lightening mcqueen tucked into his little arms every night so he will go absolutely crazy when he sees it! My husband might go a little crazy too when it arrives (I did not run the purchase by him... nor did I mention the bat cave that is en route as well) They're only little once!

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  6. Just now catching up on my blog reading. I hope Craig's surgery went well. I have to have a root canal this Friday and am dreading it. Never had one before, but I would wish this pain on my worst enemy. And your Thanksgiving looked so relaxing. I'm so behind on Christmas shopping but oh well.

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