The best part of Thanksgiving

 Hi everybody!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I sure did.  I would love to list all of the blessings that I am thankful for, but there I no way to do that.

This year I'm spending Thanksgiving with my in-laws.  I am one of the lucky people in this world that have amazing in-laws.  I am loving every minute of our visit with them!  Thanksgiving was filled with food, laughter, and love.  My favorite part of the whole day was this:



Monday Night at Baker's

Well kids... it happened.

I did not spontaneously combust.  I did not self-destruct.  I didn't even embarrass myself too badly.

Yes, this picture is real.  Yes, she was as sweet and kind as I had ever imagined.

On Monday morning, my friend Amy and I drove 3 hours to Omaha (well, technically Bellevue) to wait in line to get our cookbooks signed and to meet this woman.  We waited in line for 3 hours.  It was a 3 hour drive home.  And it was worth it all.

Also, we kinda had a lot of books for her to sign (6 between the two of us).

The signing was scheduled to start at 5.  We had no idea when a line would start forming, so we wanted to get there plenty early.  We even kicked around the idea of leaving Sunday night and staying in a hotel so we could get in line first thing in the morning.  I think we made the right choice, because that would have been overkill.

We knew we were headed for Baker's, but being out of state we had no idea what Baker's was.  I just assumed it was a book store.  Turns out it's a grocery store.  We got there at 11:30 am, and went inside to check things out.  We talked to a staff member who was still setting up to see what we should expect.  He said that his "security people" were going to start setting up ropes for the que between 1 and 2, and yes, he did expect a line to form early because we weren't the first ones to inquire.  We decided to go to Famous Dave's for lunch, then spent a few hours at Target (which was in the same strip as Bakers).  We finished up at Target at 3, and then noticed a line was forming inside Baker's, so we figured we should skedadle on in.  We got in line and the waiting officially began.

Although we stood in line for 3 hours, we had a good time.  The people around us were so nice.

These are our new friends Nancy and Paulette.  They were pretty awesome.  In front of them were two sweet little girls who were (very well-behaved and) excited to meet Pioneer Woman.  They brought along their mom, aunt, and baby (as in, 8 weeks old!) brother for the ride as well.  And they live only 30-45 minutes away from us!  The lady behind us in line was from our area, too.

And Pioneer Woman was not alone!  She brought her boys.  Including this one.

Marlboro Man!  He actually got more cheers when he walked in (they drove, so he dropped her off) than Ree did.  But he was working the crowd a little more. We did get a picture with him, but sadly we don't have it.  The stranger that we met who took it for us never texted it to us :(

Once the signing started, it was about an hour before we got up to her, and I would say we were really toward the front of the line (we got to wait inside, after all!).  The line stretched all the way down to the Target entrance--which was at the opposite end of the store, so we're talking the length of an entire Target store-- the wrapped back and went past the Baker's entrance in the other direction.  The one of the Baker's staff said she usually has 2000 people at her signings.  And she stays until the last cookbook is signed.  Also, there was no limit on how many she would sign.  I think that's really awesome of her... I don't think I could do it.

Like I said, totally worth it.  Meeting PW was great but honestly, I just enjoyed spending all day with Amy.  Roadtrips with friends are the best.

Real Life with the Taylors: Tim Bakes Cookies

Tonight we came home from church around 6:45, I started putting away the chili we had for lunch.  Tim came in and I explained that I wanted popcorn (I needed the chili pan to make the popcorn).

"How about chocolate chip cookies?" he asked.  (I had a box of cookie mix that I won as a white elephant gift at Bunco on Tuesday).

"We can do both."  I said.

So we did.  He pre-heated the oven while I washed the pan for the popcorn.  The instructions on the box said to add a tablespoon of water, which I think he did.  I said I would have added a tablespoon of vanilla.  So he did that, too.  Then he tasted the cookie dough, closed his eyes, and said "Mmmm.  I think we've made a mistake."

"What?" 

"We preheated the oven."

Operation Odor Elimination Part 2: The Battle Continues

As I mentioned Monday, we've been having trouble with the dogburts, specifically one.  To make a long story short, our house-- particularly the living room carpet-- stinks.

Monday night we tried using a steam cleaner and a 50/50 combination of water and vinegar.

Here's the thing I'm noticing about vinegar: People seem to think it's the miracle-eco-friendly-works-amazing-solution-to-every-life-problem.

Here's my question:  Vinegar has been around a long time and if it was really all that why would people have bothered making new products?

What I'm trying to say is this: it didn't work.  BUT, in vinegar's defense, we didn't use much mixture, because we only had so much vinegar, so maybe we didn't soak the carpet enough.

Regardless, we're changing our tactic.  Tonight I went to HyVee and came home with this:

4 boxes of baking soda (two for sprinkling, two for setting out ), Febreeze Pet Odor Eliminator carpet freshening powder, Rug Doctor Pet Formula carpet shampoo, and Sensodyne Pro-Namel toothpaste.  I ran out a couple weeks ago(I've been using Tim's normal toothpaste in the meantime) and my teeth have been taking a toll, which is really inhibiting my ability to enjoy leftover Halloween candy.

Real Life with the Taylors: Pet Odors

As you all know by now, we have three dogs.  While we love them, they do come with certain...challenges. 

Recently one of them in particular has been causing trouble.  I think its because (s)he doesn't want to spend the time outside to do what (s)he needs to do out there.  After all,  it's cold outside!  So (s)he thinks it's ok to do it in the living room.  

We beg to differ.

Since (s)he's done it before, and (s)he smells it, (s)he thinks that's his/ her spot and (s)he can always to that.

We're fighting back.  We borrowed a steam cleaner, and we read on The Google that using a 50/50 mixture of water and vinegar eliminates odors.

Tim's doing the heavy lifting tonight.

Real Life with the Taylors: Progresslessness

It's time for another episode of Real Life with the Taylors.  For those of you who may be new around here, Real Life with the Taylors is where I take some time to air my dirty laundry, and show you all the messes and imperfections of this life of ours.  I just don't wan't you thinking its all fun and games.  But there are a lot of fun and games, too.

A couple of weeks ago, Ellie came over to help me with a project.  We made a lot of progress, too!  Cupboard doors were removed, several cupboards were emptied, and the cabinet bases were painted.  The door (with all of the hardware still attached) have been sitting on the front porch ever since...completely untouched.  Virtually no progress has been made on this project for the last 3 weeks.