Leaves, Family Dinner, Pizza, etc...

This may be better titled "November Randomness"  but I have more November to post so I went more general....Now on to the radnomness...

 My favorite color is Fall.  But I wouldn't want it year round because then it would be normal and I wouldn't love it as much.

There must be a picture taken in the leaves every year.  These are 2014's.

  

You are wrong Aaron: You are never too old for a picture in the leaves....Wait it feels like I have posted this already...but I didn't see it looking back on my blog.  I did post it on Facbook though.  This is one reason I don't like you FB.  You make me forget if I blogged it or FBed it.  Ugh. 

  We had everyone over for dinner one Sunday back in November.  The baby Harmon's had sick kiddos so they couldn't make it.

We had lasagna, and chicken alfredo roll-ups, salad and garlic bread.  I have realized I miss hosting things and I am glad to have our own home to do it in again (not that we couldn't have while renting but it makes me feel less guilty for not having done it if I have an excuse).  In 2015 we will have some one other than family (they can come to we just need to have friends over too) over once a month for dinner.  I am making resolutions.  I usually frown upon that type of thing (because I am a rebel at heart and when I put my mind to something I feel the need to rebel against myself and not do it...I know that sounds crazy.  It is) but it is happening this year.   While I am at it:  WE WILL TAKE A FAMILY PICTURE EVERY MONTH NEXT YEAR.  All caps makes it even more serious of a resolution.  I said this for 2014 and it happened maybe 4 times.  It is not hard to snap a quick family picture of 3 people once a month.  It will happen in 2015.

   The next few are self explanatory.  Same jump, different day.  It is kind of our thing.  We are awesome like that.

 Jake was taking a few minutes to jump on the trampoline after we took Sadie on a walk.  She thought we should go again and was trying to steal her leash back.

 YUM!  Homemade pizza is sooo good.

And look at this low carb version I made for myself.

It looks good right?


Well it ins't.  I gave it a try and it is a no go.  The crust is basically cream cheese and egg.  It actually wasn't a bad flavor it was just too heavy.  It said to put it in a 9x13 pan, but when I put it in it didn't even cover the bottom so I put it in a 8x8.  It did kind of rise so maybe it wouldn't be so heavy if I had put it in the 9x13...

But I don't know if it is worth trying again.  That will be a lot of pizza for just me to eat...especially if it still isn't great!  I am going to try the cauliflower crust next time.  I have heard that is really good.  I kind of think regular pizza is really good and it may be a food you just eat and not worry about the carbs!

But a low carb alternative that I can live with is: Spaghetti Squash.  I am capitalizing it because it is just that good.  I mean it is technically a proper noun but you really don't see it capitalized...that may be more because you just don't see it very often rather than the fact that it doesn't have to be...either way it is correct so I can stop rambling on about it! 

I didn't cook it quit enough-I got a little nervous and took it out too soon.  But I just threw it in a pan for a couple of minutes to finish it up.  

Yum.  It is like buttery noodles of deliciousness.

I want some right now.  My new quick friend is also frozen meatballs from Sam's Club.  They changed brands and I really like the new ones (my homemade are better but quick and cheap it good at times).  They only have one carb a piece.  In this picture I only added butter and garlic, but I have had it with Alfredo sauce since then and it is awesome.  I am going to try zuccinni (sp?  too lazy to look it up and spell check isn't responding so we will go with it) noodles too.  A friend of mine told me they are better with marinara.  I am a huge spaghetti fan (it is probably my favorite food) so finding alternatives that are something healthy that you could literally eat every day is an amazing thing!

 Aaron this will be a Christmas spoiler if you read this so don't.  My guys would love these but there is no way I am spending $9 on one ornament.  I have an alternative that I will post another time...because it hasn't happened yet...but will.

This is another ornament I wouldn't buy but would love to make and will...I love Christmas time for so many reasons.  One of them being a great excuse to CREATE!!!!

We had to go buy camo for our family pictures with the Harmon's.  That paints a picture of how unredneck (new word) we are.  My guys didn't have camo to wear in the pictures...We had to buy it.  

Obviously we just bought cheap t-shirts but Jake was amazed at the options. :)













And here is a bigger version (than what I have already posted) of that family picture...just because:

 
And pretty November clouds...just because.

 This is a picture of my kitchen on Thanksgiving when I was getting ready to make pies, stuffing, and gravy (I cooked the turkey the day before).  I love this kind of mess.  It is a happy mess.  I was happy even though I tried to run the dishwasher the night before and it wouldn't work.   And we thought it was broken.  We called the manufacturer who also thought it was broken.  Friday morning (the first chance Aaron had to take a look at it) it was fixed.  By Aaron.  Who discovered something had come unplugged.  He is handy like that.  And it saves us a lot of money.  Ranee was convinced we should buy a new one on Black Friday.  I am so glad we didn't.

 And I guess I took one more from a different angle.  Oh yeah.  I forgot I made green bean casserole in the crockpot for the first time and it was delicious.  Thanksgiving is the once a year I make it since no one really likes it but me.  I need to make it in smaller servings for myself more often!  I have a tiny crockpot and I am sooooo going to do that ASAP!

 I have an heirloom.  I wish I had pulled it out to decorate the month of November with it!  It was Ruby Mae Smith's.  My grandmother I never met.  It is on my shelf in the kitchen right now....In fact I am going to go take picture of it right now and post that too.  It will be a new tradition to decorate with.

 But before I do that...here are some more Thanksgiving prep pictures.  My garbage bowl (thank you for the genius idea Rachel ray.  She was also one of Jake's first crushes when he was 4ish) is a bowl that my mom used when I was little.  I guess that makes it another heirloom in a way.

 See that Stove Top stuffing.  That is right I will say it loud and proud:  I am not a stuffing snob.  I love Stove Top.  In the bird stuffing I like Pepperidge (sp?) Farm.  Maybe some day I will make it from scratch.  I know it isn't hard but when you love the cheap and easy version why bother?  I guess so you can say you did it.  So I will at some point.

The pies all done (homemade minus the crust), on a tray that I have painted and repainted a thousand times and one a placemat I made.  This picture makes me feel very domestic.  I guess next time I could make whip cream instead of buying it.

 This is the reason I need a girl.  Seriously.  It is too adorable and I have no little girl to buy it for.  No niece...Wait I do have one friend who has a little girl that may just need me to buy this for her because I need to buy it for someone!!!!  (It is from Target so it isn't expensive)


I am done with the November randomness and there are just a couple of events left that require posts of their own.  November is almost done.  I am getting close to being caught up with almost half the year!  And it only took until December to do it!  Go me!

And here is the platter in my kitchen. :)