Great Balls of...Oreo!

Oreo Balls
I made Oreo balls (similar to cake balls but better!) for a party that I went to last night and they turned out great.  I made some covered in white chocolate and some covered in milk chocolate. 

Recipe (Courtesy of my Mom)
One package of Oreos - crushed in a blender or food processor
One 8 oz package of room-temperature cream cheese - I used low fat, even fat free would be fine
One bag of white chocolate chips
One bag of milk chocolate chips

Blend/process Oreos until fine.  Combine Oreos and all the cream cheese in a mixer, mix until it all comes together.  Roll in little balls and put them on parchment paper and in the freezer for a few hours. 

Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave, dip the balls in the chocolate and let harden on a piece of parchment/wax paper.  Repeat the process with the milk chocolate chips.  Put them in the fridge until ready to serve.

Eat and enjoy!

Christmas One and Christmas Two... Merry, Merry Christmas to You!

Christmas One: 12.22.10 Dallas, Texas
We celebrated Christmas twice this year, one at home in Dallas and one in Griffin, GA with the Eidsons.  Mom doesn't trust us to not open packages before birthdays, holidays etc (when I say 'us' I really mean Will).  So, she finds alternate ways to deliver packages to us.  Example: For our first married Christmas we stayed in Lincoln, NE, Mom being 'mom' she wanted to surprise us and found a neighbor of my Mimi in Tennessee who's daughter lived in Lincoln. Convoluted, I know. Anyways, the day before Christmas our doorbell rings and Will answers it in his house robe, since we were not expecting any visitors of course, and it's all our Christmas presents being delivered by the neighbors of my grandmother! I digress...
Back to Christmas number one, Mom had all our packages delivered via a Spanish Fort neighbor, Brenda*, who was driving out to Dallas to have Christmas with her daughter and son-in-law (Courtney and Tyler). We had lots of fun opening packages together the night before we left for Atlanta. Evidenced below.

Will looking out the window for a new car (hoping it would come with the car-care kit!).

Man in his favorite material - spandex.

Running outfit from Mom (I just happened to have matching socks already)!

Thanks for all the Christmas presents Mom, Dad, Alan, Mimi, Big Daddy, Nannie and Carla!

Christmas Two: 12.25.10 Griffin, Georgia
We arrived in the Atlanta airport at 10:00 am on December 23rd, for those of you doing the math, we lost an hour and had to get up at 3:20 am...we are crazy, I know.  Ah, Atlanta...

Most of our time was spent laying around the house on the couch, doing nothing but relaxing and eating; exactly the way a holiday should be spent!  I must note that Mr E and I did get in a few good runs while I was there, too bad we don't live closer, he would make a good running buddy (minus the outfits... sorry Mr E but it's true... we know what to get you next Christmas now!).  I would say that you could run with my Mom in those outfits because she runs with pigs, but even little Linda has stepped up her running-outfit game and has some nice, new, pink dry-wick clothing thanks to my Dad. 

Mrs E hosted a pre-Christmas luncheon and kindly invited over the Classens, Stagers, and some friends from The Woods, Will's Grandma Doris's retirement home.  There were lots of desserts, a fried turkey, and many a casserole, broccoli, sweet potato and vegetable to name a few.  We had a very nice time with all the family.

Will and Jennifer working on a Christmas puzzle.

Kissing under real mistletoe from the yard. If it looks like Will is being forced to kiss me, he was.  He really loves public displays of affection :)

Below are a few photos of the Christmas decorations the Eidsons have put up. They put my decorating to shame, three Christmas trees, 26 nativities (yes, twenty-six!!), and rooms and rooms full of decor!  Mrs E is one of the most avid collectors I know and she did a lovely job spreading holiday cheer.

A special thanks to the Eidsons for getting me my own personalized stocking holder!

We woke up early on Christmas day and found presents galore!  Santa had come in the middle of the night and showed up with stockings and presents.  We must have been extra-good this year because he had already brought us stockings and presents to Dallas!

Thanks for the presents Mr & Mrs E and Mr Harper!
Merry Christmas to all!

*Shout-out to Brenda, thanks for always reading my blog. It's nice to know that I'm not just rambling into cyber-space!

2010 Book Review

Here's the list... check it twice... so you'll know if a book was naughty or nice...
I am a fairly avid reader by most standpoints and I always appreciate it when someone suggests a good book to me.  So, I thought I'd do a short and simple book review of the books I read in 2010 in case you're looking for a good read (or what to avoid!).

Naughty
I will go ahead and state that I am not claiming to have a great taste in books and most everything I read is fiction and easy reading. So the books listed below are not necessarily bad books, just ones that I did not particularly enjoy. (And Rose, or anyone in my book club who may have recommended anything below, sorry, but these were not good.)
Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity By: Mark Batterson
Naturally Thin By: Bethenny Frankel
Parrot and Olivier in America By: Peter Carey
A Confederacy of Dunces By: John Kennedy Toole
*Netherland By: Joseph O'Neil
Tortilla Curtain By: T.C. Boyle
Real Estate Sales Professionals
Sales and Marketing 101 for Real Estate Professionals

*I did not read this book, but everyone at my book club hated it.

Nice
Into Thin Air By: Jon Krakauer
The Piano Teacher By: Janice Lee
Into the Wild By: Jon Krakauer
Push By: Sapphire
Memoirs of a Geisha By: Arthur Golden
The Girl Who Played with Fire By: Stieg Larsson
Water for Elephants By: Sara Gruen
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest By: Stieg Larsson
Contagious Joy By: The Women of Faith
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress By: Rhoda Janzen

So-So
I decided to create a third category of books that were only okay.  If these books are available to you for free or you have nothing else to read, they aren't bad.

Born to Run By: Christopher McDougall
Committed By: Liz Gilbert
Slouching Towards Bethlehem By: Joan Didion
The Bell Jar By: Sylvia Plath

On My List
I've just picked up The Art of Racing in the Rain By: Garth Stein for our trip to Atlanta for Christmas and have read great reviews about it, so hopefully this will go on my nice list. And, I'm also currently reading Three Cups of Tea By: Greg Mortenson.

Here are some more that are on my list for 2011 (in no particular order), so if you have read these or read reviews about these, please let me know!

Eiger Dreams
Tipping Point
She's Come Undone
The Glass Castle
Love in the Time of Cholera
Girl in Translation
The Long Song
Touching the Void
The Nineteenth Wife
*The Forgotten Garden
*The Hunger Games
*If I Loved You I Would Tell You This
*Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
*Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
*Even Silence Has an End
*Too Good for Her Own Good
*Secret Life of Bees
*Like Water for Chocolate
*The Good Earth

*Book club books for 2011.

Sorry if this post was boring for you, keep it in mind if you are ever looking for a good book. If you would like details on any of the books I've read, just let me know.

Merry Christmas!

A Glimpse for You, Into 5422

5422 Monticello Avenue
It's been quite a while since my last blog entry and I figured I'd better put up some new content...but what to write about?  We haven't gone anywhere lately (except to about ten holiday parties) and Christmas isn't here quite yet so what have I been up to?  Decorating. Yep, I'm finally (almost) done with the living room.  It's taken two years to finally get to this room but I like the direction it's going.  If you own a home, then you can empathize with me -- moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a house with lots more space is a challenge to fill up!

If you've never seen our cute little house, here is the outside.

So, without further adieu, here are a few photos of the before  and after photos of our living room. 


Ta-da! Finished! Just kidding.. this is the 'before' photo



And after...

Teeny tiny Christmas Tree!

Thanks to Caroline for letting me use her steamer on the curtains :)

(The Christmas decor is obviously not usually part of this room).  Hope you like the new decor and peeking into our living room.  Stay tuned for more house updates in the future!

Merry Christmas!

Visitors From Lincoln

The Big 12 football game is in Dallas this year and the teams playing are Nebraska and Oklahoma.  Will and I lived in Lincoln, Nebraska for our first year of marriage when he worked for Judge Beam.  While a very cold year, I did meet a good friend at Union Bank, Amy Asbjornson. 

Amy and her boyfriend, Scott, drove down to go to the game and I was so happy that we were able to get together for dinner and catch up. 

Scott and Will trying to start the fireplace

Amy and Scott

It was so good to see you, Amy! Come again soon :)

17 Relatives and Counting

Thanksgiving 2010

For the first time in many years, all of my mom's side of the family got together for Thanksgiving and my parent's house in Cleveland, TN.  When I say "all," I mean all!  I didn't really think of us having a large family really, but I guess it's because we aren't all together at once very much.  Throughout the week, there were 17 of us total:  Mom, Dad, Alan, me, Carla, Nannie, Robbie, Tammy, Anderson, Mattson, Gibbs, Chris, Susannah, Scott, Michelle, Morgan, and Trevor.  Samson was also there, but he spent most of his time hiding in the sauna in the basement.  Will was the only person who missed out - he decided to stay in Dallas since he had just started a new job, I think the more I described the activity at the house, the more content he was at home by himself!

Samson comfy in a chair prior to everyone's arrival

Dad was home with us for a few days and then left early Thanksgiving day to go hunting; he missed most of the crowd and Thanksgiving dinner, but if he was at home, he would probably be in the sauna with Samson! 




Preparing salad with Mom's greens

Mom harvested all her crops in Alabama and brought all her veggies up to Tennessee for dinner. We made salad with her lettuce, herbs and peppers and for Thanksgiving dinner, we used her crop of broccoli and it was delicious!

On Thanksgiving morning we went to downtown Chattanooga to do the 'Greatful Gobbler' walk. Carla was the organizer of this outing and then treated us all to brunch at her house after the walk.

Two Turkeys

Chris and Susannah

All the Gobblers at Carla's house

*Carla, this picture is especially for you.

Thanksgiving Table (1 of 3)

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to see the Lost Sea.  It's a giant cave with a big lake in it.  When I told Will where we were going, his comment was "what a red neck vacation thing to do"... that turned out to be a pretty accurate statement, considering I was standing in line behind a woman with camo-overalls on, one strap undone.  The cave tour took about an hour or so and we walked around and looked at all the rock formations and such as our guide, Sheenah, pointed out special formations to us.  One particular formation they call "bacon" because, as you will see below, it looks like strips of bacon.  At the bottom of the cave you get on a little boat with a glass bottom and take a ride around the lake and look at the albino fish. All in all, it was a neat trip and Nannie even went on the cave tour, she did a pretty good job of keeping up, especially when we have her a snickers bar for a little energy!

Waiting to get into the cave

Will, see what you missed??!!!

Alan did a little shopping at the gift store at the Lost Sea and found these fabulous hats. They were on sale so he couldn't resist.  I asked him if they were Christmas gifts for people and he said "no, I don't think so, but I could probably do all my Christmas shopping here."  The girl behind the cash register looked at us and responded in all seriousness, "That's what I do!"  I tried to keep a straight face.

After all the company left, my childhood friend, Caitlin Johnson Rogers came over to visit and brought her brand new, 6 week old baby, Mabry.  She was absolutely precious and very good. Caitlin looked great and seemed to have adjusted to motherhood with ease. 

I want one...just not now!

Mabry wide-eyed and awake

That pretty much sums up Thanksgiving this year, lots of family, lots of food and a whole lot of fun.  We will have to get together more often... I'm certainly thankful we were able to be together this year.

*Note: I apologize if you are not in any of the photos, Alan was in charge of taking pictures for me and he missed a few people.