Celebrate the holidays with your pets too!

If your still looking for that special gift for your furry friend, but aren't sure what too get. Here are a couple great recipes for cats or dogs and won't break the bank. I got the cat treat recipe from Amy Bites. The only alterations I made was instead  of catnip, I used tuna flakes(try using actual tuna). I then used Christmas cookie cutters to give them that holiday feel and made a yogurt icing. I got the icing recipe from Just a Pinch. My cats are kind of in between being good and picky eaters. When it comes to treats they like the store bought stuff the most. They mostly liked the icing and just left the cookie. Boy does this sound familiar. :) For the dog treats I got the recipe from 17 Apart. The only alteration I made to this one was I added ham to half the batch. Some of them looked like Christmas cookies all iced up and the rest were sliced to look like beef jerky. :) My parents dog loved them! Now all you have to do is find or make a cute little toy and your all set!  I would have to say I went all out this year on the pets in our family. I got a cardboard city scratcher and treat gift bag for our kitties. Christmas cookies, kong bones, and candy cane raw hides for the family dogs. I almost want to go as far as buying stuff for the bird! :) I think the best thing of all was when I finally got to donate to the animal shelters. Its just a great feeling! :) If you can't think of anything and feel rushed on time. Why not donate to the Morris Animal Foundation. Right now if you donate they will match it!What are you doing that's extra special for you pets this holiday season?

National Cupcake Day

Today was chalk full of good things! Got to see a Christmas Show Rehearsal because I will miss the real one tomorrow.  Everyone was fabulous!  Then my husband and I on visited his grandparents.  His grandpa is fighting cancer at the moment.  :( He is definitely a one of a kind person though because he has such a good sense of humor and does let anything get him down. :) After this we went to a light festival called "Winterhaven". It's when you walk through a neighborhood that is decorated very creatively with lights. It's just something fun to do around this time of year. While we were perusing through the house, right in the middle are food truck with cocoa and other goodies! To my surprise there was a cupcake truck! Of course I had to get one in honor of National Cupcake Day!  Best gluten cupcakes ever!

Holiday Catch Up

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is make a gingerbread house. I would like to say that my skills are improving. Last year my house looked very simple, but this year I feel like I went all out. :) I made the dough and frosting from scratch and bought whatever candy I felt was best from Target. I got the recipe from Sprinkle Bakes and it is amazing. The frosting I just used the recipe on the back of the confectioners sugar bag and it held very well. I even made some Mickey cookies with the cookie cutter I just got from Disneyland! :)

I don't know if any of you have issues with your pet adoring the tree around this time of year like my kitten, Nutmeg, but I've found a partial solution. She loves to get on her hind legs and grab the closest plastic ornament with her two paws. It's cute, but gets irritating after the 20th time. So I bought her a clear plastic ornament of her very own from Michaels and for the most part now she leaves the tree alone. :) 

So for Christmas this year we decided to do a photo Christmas card. I went with Shutterfly because my sister has used them and I saw tons of deals coming from them. I love our cards and they have all been sent already. I am so on a role....maybe. :) 

So who was brave and ventured out on Black Friday or did Cyber Monday? I did Black Friday and it actually wasn't too bad. I was more along for the ride. I'm more of an online shopper or small shop shopper. I like the unique stuff. :) I got the two Disney Movies I had been wanting, one gift and a couple cookie pans that I really needed. I was also psyched later to go online and find the measuring cups that I had been ogling on sale!  Hope your shopping has been successful too! :)

Hello everyone!

Well it has started to calm down a bit for me for now this holiday season. All I feel like doing right now is taking a big nap! :) It's funny how you can have so many plans and their supposed to make things easier, but then at that exact moment twenty other things get in the way. I'm a bit ashamed to say this because Christmas is my favorite holiday, but I've lost a little bit of my holiday spirit this year. :( Last week we spent all week rushing our cat, Santana to the vet. Hoping that they could help him with whatever problems he had that were keeping him from using the litter box. He's had problems before, but they were able to help him with antibiotics. This time I just felt like every time we went he kept getting sicker and sicker. Unfortunately last Thursday we had to put him to sleep. :( I was so heartbroken. We've had him since the beginning of our marriage. He was there for all the tough times and I was so looking forward to him being their when we finally able to have children and many more years. I'm just happy that he is in a better place now. :) I apologize for the Debbie downer stuff and thank you all for listening.

Busy, Busy, Busy

                                                                        

                                                                      I just want to say that I give props to all you 

bloggers out there that blog everyday. I really honestly do not know how you guys do it sometimes. It has been busy, busy busy over here. We just got back from our trip to Disneyland, which was awesome! I had an amazing Thanksgiving with my family and now I'm using the last of my energy to get back into my work routine! I'm really glad that I got most of my shopping and I put up my decor before Thanksgiving or I think I'd be pulling my hair out right now. :) Anyone get some killer deals? I didn't do any real big shopping. I just got a couple things I had been wanting for a while.

 

Well enough about that, let me catch you all up. So along with the Disney trip we also stopped at Hermosa beach. My in-laws like to call it their beach because it is their last name. It was so refreshing and such a change from the dry Arizona weather. Disneyland was great! Going at this time is always something you'll remember. I missed my cats so much and I know they missed us that I got them a present ! Nutmeg is giving Mickey a piggy back ride. :)

I would like to say that I put to much on my plate this week. I promised to make a birthday cake for when my sister came down. I'm no pro, but the cake taste great. It was suppose to be cheetah and zebra. I added a hidden mickey and to make it special for my niece I wrote " Party, Party, Yeah!" This cake was to make up for 4 missed birthdays my sister couldn't be here for. I would like to say it looks pretty good for being made at 12 in the morning. :)

Because I love pets and feel they should be included too, I made this turkey leg for my sister's in-laws dog. 

As a request from my brother in law I made his favorite, eggnog. 

All you need is:

6 eggs separated

3/4  cup sugar

1 pint heavy cream

4 pints milk

1 cup wild turkey whiskey

1 tbsp. vanilla

nutmeg

In a mixer on high mix egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar till fluffy. Place in a bowl. Now mix on high the yolks and remainder of the sugar until fluffy and place in another bowl. Next beat heavy cream til thick. Add  yolk mixture to cream and fold in the egg whites. Mix in whiskey, vanilla and sprinkle nutmeg. Chill in freezer. This eggnog will be a winner every time with your guest!

Even though I left Disneyland , the magic stayed with me! :) We had a girls day and I got my nails Disneyfied! Also because it was so slow at work I decided to amp up my java skills and do designs in my coffee. One of course being Mickey! 

Well that's enough for now. Hope everyone's holiday was truly amazing!

Disneyland inspired shoes

I am so excited about our trip coming up next week to Disneyland.  I've seen a lot of great clothing ideas that help you to fit right in with the theme park. One of those item's was shoes. I've seen that a lot of people liked to paint their own design on the shoe.  This is totally fine but it cracks really easy. Since I've recently become addicted to printable vinyl I knew this would be the way to go for me. All you do is print and iron on to your fabric.  Make sure the shoes you pick out is canvas or else you might run into a bit of a jam. I love my shoes though and totally think they are ready for my trip! :)

Mint Chocolate Swirl Cookies

Hope everyone has had an enjoyable weekend! Mine was busy as usual but fun! My husband and I went to a State Competition for a high-school band that he helps. Unfortunately it was the end of the road for them and they didn't make it to Super State but they all had a great time anyway!  Since these kids have captured my heart I decided to make cookies for them. I got the recipe from Better Crocker. Its really simple and it delicious!
You will need:
1 sugar cookie package
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tbsp. flour
1/4 cup powdered cocoa
green food coloring
1 tsp. mint extract
Mix cookie mix, egg and butter together. Now separate into two pieces.  Add the food coloring, extract and 2 tbsp. flour in one, and cocoa in the other.
Roll out chocolate dough on wax or parchment paper, place wax paper on top, roll mint dough out and place another wax paper on top. I placed the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to and hour.
Now take out and place the mint on top of the chocolate dough.  Start rolling and wrap in wax paper.  Place back in freezer for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350° about 30 minutes before you take the dough out. Take dough out and cut into slices.  It makes about 20 cookies.  I did 6 cookies per cookie sheet and for 15 minutes. Let cool before you ice.
I just used Pillsbury vanilla frosting because of the amount of cookies I was making and didn't want to be baking til the crack of dawn. :) My plan was to use these cool edible markers I got for my birthday, but for some reason even after all the time spent trying to harden them enough it was just a no go. I ended up piping on 60 cookies until midnight " State 2012".  :)