LADIES CHRISTMAS PARTY INVITES

Let me just say I am so excited about my annual ladies Christmas Party. It should be a lot of fun this year. Looking forward to it. I did a cheesy theme this year and I can hardly hold back my enthusiasm. I just know this party will make for some awesome pictures!!

34th BIRTHDAY

Feeling super lazy today. Not my husband. He "was" on a mission. Got the Christmas lights all spread out in the front yard and ready to hang on the house. As soon as he gets on the roof it started raining. Has not quit most of the morning/afternoon. To me this makes for a perfect lazy day to lounge at the casa. All I long to do is watch TV, nap, put my Christmas decor up, nap and stay inside to spend time with my boys. Did I mention nap??


I went into the living room and my husband had wrapped me a gift from my boys. Best part it was wrapped in newspaper with masking tape. AWESOME :) It was my Paula Deen cooking set that I have really been wanting. I have not had a matching set of nice cookware. These are so pretty I just want to sit and stare at them. Feeling like a pretty lucky girl!





I baked a WONDERFUL YUMMY BIRTHDAY CAKE! Actually it's so good you can take it for any occasion or event. It's so dang DELICIOUS~ I am almost sure it's FAT FREE TOO. *I better get no comments about how wrong I am on this* I have seen and heard several variations of this cake including the name....

~~BETTER THAN SEX CAKE~~
You make it and you be the judge!

BETTER THAN SEX CAKE

1 pkg. German chocolate cake mix 1 jar of caramel ice cream topping 1 can sweetened condensed milk 12 oz. Cool Whip 3 or 5 Heath Bar candy bars (you can buy packages if this instead of individual bars) Prepare German chocolate cake mix according to package directions. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven - poke holes in the cake (lots of holes, I used wooden spoon handle) and pour the can of sweetened condensed milk over the entire cake. As even as possible. Then pour the caramel ice cream topping over the entire cake. Refrigerate immediately. When cake is completely cool; top with Cool Whip and crushed Heath Bar candy. If you love caramel add more all over the top of the cool whip before adding the crushed Heath bars. KEEP REFRIGERATED!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY

My Thanksgiving festivities kicked off Wednesday night. Got to see my siblings and that felt really good since we don't hang out all that much. Keisha keeps busy with her job (works for the state & travels all over Oklahoma), Juli lives in Arkansas (buyer for Dillard's) & my baby brother J keeps busy with his job and a lot of hunting, since it is that season. There was defiantly a full house at the Anderson's! All of Mike's (step-dad) family was there. After several attempts we finally got a half way decent family photo.

Above: Liam with Pat's hat on ~ Charlene with her great-granddaughter

Thursday~ Got a chance to actually sleep in and prepare myself for turkey feast #2. This time we went to Wendy's (Hubby's oldest sister) to spend time with his side of our family. I must tell you we had 7 kids there total. 5 boys & 2 girls, all under age 9. The boys just love to wrestle Uncle Mike. I got a good pic of this below

MATHIS BOYS: Ryan, Noah, Ashton, Brody ~ Check out Cameron & Brody :)

Miss Lilly with her Uncle Mike ~ Her first Thanksgiving

Oh Miss Breighlee ~What a doll with her Grandma Shirley. PIGTAILS ROCK!!

The only thing missing was Stephanie, Tony, Natalie & Kaleb. They moved to Texas this year and due to their jobs were unable to make it. Hopefully we will see them at Christmas.

We got to talk to Kyle today and see how his Thanksgiving was going. He said they had some turkey and ham (he swears it was spam in disguise). He had also been outside a lot enjoying the weather. It was actually warmer than normal and made for a beautiful THANKSGIVING! We let him know how much we all love and miss him.

I am thankful for all the people I was surrounded by the last few days. I am thankful my boys are both healthy and know how much I love them. I am thankful my husband and I both have our health minus needing to lose some weight ;) It could be much worse.

After the eating we caught a couple of early black Friday sales (Michael's & Old Navy) then went to have a few drinks with our friends. I must get me a shower & a power nap so I can get my shop on.......I have a strange feeling I will have a story to share about that later.

RAMBLE ON SISTER

I have 100% fallen in love with a photo editing website. LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!
PICNIK

I wish I could get paid to create. How outstanding would that be?!?
Not sure what else I can bring to the table today since my time is limited~

I have work to get caught up on (since that is what they pay me for), birthday today for the boss man, Thanksgiving dinner preparation for "The Anderson Family Gathering" being held tomorrow night and more baking (going to be a late night) in addition to date night with the hubs tonight. Did I mention date with the hubs includes Jim Brickman?? This makes late night holiday preparation worth it.




*DATE NIGHT*

I need my spirits lifted a little so maybe this just might do the trick.
Oh and my attention is being pulled over to my annual ladies Christmas party planning. Better get in the spirit quickly cause December 15th is knocking at my door.

PECAN TOFFEE TASSIES

Okay - so I attempted to expand my baking portfolio tonight. It usually consists of pre-packaged, pre-cut throw in the oven type of cookies and very limited cakes. Limited meaning right out of the pretty box with the beautifully displayed cake that mine never seemed to mimic. I'd also like to make an awesome pie. Something I am known for and people long for until the next get together.
I can buy some awesome tasties like nobody's business.
I'll add a couple of links of my favorite local cake shops (for your viewing pleasure).
YOUR WELCOME!
www.JohnniesBakery.com
If you live in the OKC/Metro area you are aware of Raspberries N' Creme unfortunately they do not have a website *SHAME*
I have copy & pasted the recipe below using www.pauladeen.com

Pecan Toffee Tassies

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated piecrusts
1 (10-ounce) package almond brickle chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Unroll piecrusts onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into 2 (15-inch) circles. Cut out 48 circles using a 1 3/4-inch fluted or round cookie cutter, re-rolling dough as needed. Place in 1 3/4-inch muffin pans, pressing on bottom and up the sides of each of the mini-muffin cups. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, and eggs in a large bowl, mixing well. Add vanilla. Stir in pecans and brickle chips. Spoon pecan filling evenly into pie shells. Bake for 25 minutes, or until filling is set and crust is lightly browned. Cool in pans on wire racks.

Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

Servings: 4 dozen
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 25 min
Difficulty: Easy

MY MAN MIKE

April 3, 1999
MICHAEL & ANDREA ASH

Don't marry the person you think you can live with.
Marry the person you think you can't live without!

~Favorite photo with MY MAN MIKE~

Ever sit and wonder how in the world you ended up with the person you are married to? I often do. If you say you don't I think you are fooling yourself! I could name off all the things that bug the hell out of me about this man but they will NEVER equal all the things I LOVE about him. Nothing is perfect about our marriage. Not by any stretch of the imagination. We have our trials and tribulations but the great thing about it all is we keep making it out of them TOGETHER.

REACHING YOUR DREAM TAKES COURAGE

This is something I found and LOVED! I sent this to my Kyle in hopes he takes something from it as well.

Courage is admitting that you're afraid and facing that fear directly. It's being strong enough to ask for help and humble enough to accept it.

Courage is standing up for what you believe in without worrying about the opinions of others. It's following your own heart, living your own life, and settling for nothing less than the best for yourself.

Courage is daring to take a first step, a big leap, or a different path. It's attempting to do something that no one has done before and all others thought impossible.

Courage is keeping heart in the face of disappointment and looking at defeat not as an end but as a new beginning. It's believing that things will ultimately get better even as they get worse.

Courage is being responsible for your own actions and admitting your own mistakes without placing blame on others. It's relying not on others for your success, but on your own skills and efforts.

Courage is refusing to quit even when you're intimidated by impossibility. It's choosing a goal, sticking with it, and finding solutions to the problems.

Courage is thinking big, aiming high, and shooting far. It's taking a dream and doing anything, risking everything, and stopping at nothing to it make it a reality.