Wednesday, November 26, 2008

turkeys, for example...

So I couldn't help but give you a taste of the depictions of turkeys available on the web. I guess I have too much time on my hands (no really I'm supposed to be cleaning out the baby's room--its a mess). I've just shared some classic depictions and the only question that pops into my head is where did we come up with the notion that turkeys have multiple colors of feathers (red, blue, green, yellow, orange, etc)?
Turkey #1= decent looking bird, but definitely not something I'd consider eating. See any brightly colored feathers?
Turkey #2=scrawny, looking bird I'd probably feed my Thanksgiving turkey to. Is that wrong? No brightly colored feathers here...
Turkey #3= fat and juicy and happy as can be--pilgrim hat and all. Riiiight!
Turkey #4= Much less fortunate. Hopefully that stuffing makes for a cozy resting place--forget the casket.
Turkey #5= The happy memories for my child craft idea. Oh wait does his sign say "Eat Cheese". Whoops, sorry guys he's on protest!! Happy Thanksgiving! If you consider this option maybe you should change the sign to say something a little more "politically correct".

for the love of turkeys!


So I'm not a big fan of turkey on Thanksgiving. Gasp! Well, I'm not. Its usually too dry. Plus their huge and brown--remind you of anything else? On that same note have you seen them in real life? They're even more ugly. Now to quit "dogging" them, I'll throw a few positive their way. I love you when you're sliced thin and processed so I can make grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches and most recently I love the fun craft treat ideas that make you look so lovable and delicious! Here is the most recent idea:

Turkey Cookie Treats Recipe:
Prep Time: 1 hr. 15 mins.

Sugar Cookie Dough (this recipe is from Betty Crocker so it uses prepackaged mix)
1 container (12 oz) Whipped chocolate frosting
Candy Corn (I used 6 per cookie)
1 tube (4.25 oz) yellow decorating icing
Miniature candy-coated semisweet chocolate baking bits
1 tube (.68 oz) black decorating gel

1. Make cookie dough and Bake cookies.

2. Frost and decorate 1 cookie at a time. After spreading frosting on cookie, add candy corn for feathers. Pipe yellow icing for beak and feet. Add baking bits for eyes; pipe black gel for center of each eye.

Copyright: 2008 General Mills

**I didn't have time to make sugar cookie dough and when I planned this didn't want to use the store bought stuff, so I substituted sugar cookies for rice krispies treats. I made them as usual and then put them into cupcake tins and decorated them from there. It was a lot easier (especially with my mother-in-law's help) and less time!! Here's the finished product...

** Let me just note, we did this in like 15 minutes and were very hurried for the ward talent show. Also, I couldn't find the mini chocolate bites in Orland so we used the Red Hots I had on hand. Just think of these little turkeys as scared to death of being eaten (or on drugs) whatever you prefer. Also, the icing was very tough to work with I'd try a different brand or make my own next time. I loved the rice krispie swap alot!

a deadly fate for scrabble?

So I love playing board games. Growing up it was the only thing you could do on a Sunday evening it seemed. Well, Ryan unfortunately isn't the most excited when I suggest that as the evening's activity. He'd prefer pumping iron together over boardgames anyday. Who wouldn't right? Well, HE'S A GREAT SPORT--most of the time. So I recently bought scrabble and we'd played it a few times over like a 2 week period. I think I won everytime we played. I'm no genius, most my words are four letters and consist of things like SNOW, TOY (add the "S" on the end the next turn around), FUN (what we're having at the time), PLAY...you get the idea. Every now and again I get a big word. Ryan is a perfectionist and doesn't see the point of the game unless he can make amazing words, so that leads to frustration. If we keep score (which I full heartedly believe in) and I get more than 20 points ahead he just gives up. This is what happened during our last game. I was really enjoying myself (ofcourse I was I was ahead by 25 points and I'd made like a 7-letter word that night) and he called it quits abruptly. I was disappointed to say the least. How will I prove to my scrabble mates that this was a legitimate win when he didn't finish the game? Riiiiight. Well, more upsetting was the tiff between us.

The GOOD NEWS of this post was what I woke up to the next morning. I had to take pictures cuz it was a clever and sweet surprise. I am a fan of creative makeup techniques and this one definitely melted my heart. Thank you honey!


P.S. I guess I'll have to let him win next time, if there is a next time (he promises there will be).

Sunday, November 23, 2008

It's a boy, by golly!

The day of anticipation has arrived! We finally found out what we're having, besides a human being--ITS A BOY! We're so excited! I've posted the details on our blog I had started for the little guy, so I might as well use it right? We can't wait for his arrival! Eighteen weeks to go!!! Go here to see the original post and ultrasound pics! If you have a desire to share name suggestions we're still open. We have a list of about 5 right now we can semi-agree on.